The Billionaire's Illicit Twins - Holly Rayner Page 0,19

daydream about what we’d done together. “What did you say?”

“I said that I wanted to make you an offer,” he repeated. “I… Well, I find myself in a position where certain members of my family are suggesting that it would be better if I had an heir. Someone to take over the family business, so to speak. Honestly, it’s the only thing my mom has wanted to talk to me about for months, now.”

I frowned. “Are you planning on dying soon or something? Because it seems kind of weird for them to be thinking about an heir when you’re not even thirty-five.”

A pause, and then: “You know how old I am.”

It wasn’t a question.

I shrugged, conscious of the fact that he couldn’t see me, but unable to stop myself. “I did some research when we were getting ready for the case, and then… afterward. So sue me.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, considering you already sued me,” he joked. “But no, to answer your question, I’m not planning to die anytime soon. Personally, I think it’s a ludicrous concern. I’m so far beyond annoyed at my family that I can’t even properly express it. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re set on it, and won’t let me rest until I do something about it. And it occurs to me that you might have inadvertently given me the perfect answer.”

At that, I sat up abruptly on the couch. And my stomach started shrinking. I’d been a part of enough negotiations and contracts to know how one started. And I didn’t like the sound of this one.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” I asked quietly.

“I mean,” he said slowly, “that I think our little indiscretion might have just solved my problem. I need an heir. You’re providing one. I’m still not sure that we should be seen together, given our history. But I’d be perfectly willing to offer the child a very good upbringing, all the safety in the world and everything he or she could ever wish for. I’ll give you ten million—enough to open your own firm, if you want to. You’ll never have to worry about anything again. And you’ll never have to worry about your son or daughter, because he or she will be safe and well cared for.”

I just sat there for a full thirty seconds, trying to get my brain to process what he was talking about. I mean, I heard the words. And the words made sense, individually. But when you put them all together…

“You want to buy the baby?” I finally gasped, horrified. “You want to buy the baby?”

“I know it sounds awful,” he said, his voice somewhat regretful. “But I’ll make sure our child gets the best of everything. And it would solve a lot of problems for me. For you, too, I’d say.”

I didn’t answer. Not immediately. Because he was right—it would solve a lot of problems. A firm of my very own. The ability to get to decide my own schedule. Enough money to pay for anything I wanted. A better apartment. A house, even—and maybe a car! Plenty of food, plenty of clothes…

Safety. The one thing that I’d never really had in my life. The one thing I was constantly searching for.

Ethan could provide that. I just had to give up the baby I was carrying to get it.

My hand went protectively to my stomach and I closed my eyes, focusing on that small spot of life that would become my son or my daughter. Could I really give them up just for money? For the sake of safety, and my career?

I wasn’t sure.

It would have been different if he’d been asking me to start a relationship with him. Share the kid. Share his life. Share the safety that he could offer me, and the prestige, and the security. Maybe, if that was what he was saying, I would have found a way around what I was certain would be career suicide.

Maybe. If I could figure out whether it would fit into the plan I’d drawn up so many years ago for my life.

But it didn’t matter, really, because that wasn’t what he was offering. It wasn’t what he was asking.

Because he didn’t want me. He only wanted the kid.

“I’ll have to think about it,” I said, suddenly furious. Suddenly so offended that I could hardly stand it—and so angry that I could feel it burning me up on the inside.

And then I hung up again, and turned