Twin Babies with the Billionaire for Christmas

15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Rachel

My phone pings in my pocket and I glance at my smartwatch. It’s a text from Tristan.

I grumble something rude and hit ignore on my watch as I walk into the bar that Cara invited me to.

It feels good to be doing something that’s just for me. It feels good not to be sitting at my desk, struggling to write a book.

It feels good not to have to think about Tristan for a moment. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do.

I’m excited to find my best friend and her brother sitting around a large table and waving at me. I barely get enough time to hug and kiss them before Isaac pulls me down into a chair. “Sit, girl.”

I gently roughen his dark curly hair. Isaac has the most beautiful olive-brown skin ever, and his hazel eyes glow in the dim light.

"Spill," Cara demands as soon as I sit down. "How's life been hanging out with the rich and famous?"

I laugh, signaling the bartender for a glass of water. "It’s interesting,” I say carefully.

Isaac leans forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "How's working with the infamous Tristan Black? As dreamy in the boardroom as he is in the bedroom?"

I nearly choke on my water. "Isaac! The bedroom?"

He grins unrepentantly. "What? Don't tell me you haven't at least thought about it. That man is sex on legs, and you've had a taste, I can tell."

I feel my cheeks burning. "It's not like that. We're keeping things professional," I lie.

Cara raises an eyebrow. "Don’t lie to us, babe,” she chides.

I shoot her a sharp glance. She already knows my secrets and she clearly isn’t interested in keeping them.

“We already all know what’s going on,” she says placatingly. “You don’t need to keep us in the dark about all the details, right?”

I sigh, taking a large gulp of water. My mouth is still dry when I set it back down. "So, you caught me I guess,” I admit, my heart racing. “But it doesn’t mean anything.”

Cara rolls her eyes. “Whatever,” she scoffs. “Everyone who knows you falls in love with you. Tristan can’t be any different.”

I look around the table and huff out a big sigh.

“Things are…complicated.”

Isaac’s face grows more serious. “What’s wrong, babe?”

I instantly start crying. The waitress walks over to get my order and then frowns a little and rushes away to avoid my emotional outburst.

“Oh my God,” Cara says, reaching out a hand to touch mine. “What happened?”

I take another sip of my water and then sniff loudly. Isaac passes me a napkin, and I blow my nose. “I…I just found out…I’m pregnant.”

“Holy shit!” Cara exclaims, squeezing my hand. “That’s amazing news!”

I shake my head, “what?” Fresh tears stream down my face. “I found some things out while I was interviewing people at his company today. I…I don’t think that I even want to tell him.”

“Oh, gosh,” Isaac says, “are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’s pretty bad,” I whisper, sniffing loudly.

“Are you talking about that girl who worked for the company?” Cara says, her voice sharp.

I nod. “Denise said…”

Cara snorts loudly. “That bitch. God, I hate that woman. Tristan needs to fire her.”

I glance at Cara in surprise. “I mean, she seems a bit tough, but…”

“She wants to fuck Tristan. I figured that out the first time I saw them together at the same event,” Cara says bluntly. “I bet she can tell that you guys have something going on, so she decided to tell you a single part of the truth about that, just to make you feel this way.”

“What actually happened?” I ask, trying to get myself under control so that the poor waitress can come back to our table.

Cara shakes her head. “I only know a little bit of the information about it. You really need to talk to Tristan about it.”

“He’s been texting me but I’ve ignored him,” I admit, blowing my nose again.

“I’m sure he sent you information about what happened,” Isaac says. “It’s what I would do.”

“You wouldn’t do something terrible like that in the first place,” I insist.

Isaac sighs and shakes his head. “You don’t know what happened, Rachel. You could be wrong about this.”

“I just…I need time,” I say, shaking my hair back away from my face. “I want to raise this baby away from anything salacious, away from fame, away from the spotlight. It might not matter what information he sent to me.”

Isaac reaches out and touches my hand. "Rach, we get it. But aren't you just trying to close yourself off completely again? You deserve happiness too. You deserve some fun in life. You deserve to take a chance. You’ve been sad about all the stuff that happened in Alaska for too long.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” I agree with a sigh.

The waitress comes over to see if we want to place an order. I welcome her over with a watery smile and place my order. By the time she walks away, I have managed to get my emotions somewhat under control.

“Look, love,” Cara says to me as she sips from her glass of wine. “We’re here for you…for whatever you decide to do. A child is always a gift, Rach. You are going to be such a good mom.”

I start feeling like I’m going to cry all over again and I fan my face with my hands.

“Okay, okay,” Cara says to me. “Enough with the tears.” She leans closer to us. “Do you guys want to hear some truly amazing gossip I heard about Emmy Carter at a party last night?

I allow the change of subject, letting Cara and Issac’s words wash over me and soothe away some of my distress.

I have real things to think about later, but for now, I just want to be happy.

***

We’re here for you…for whatever you decide to do. A child is always a gift, Rach. You are going to be such a good mom.

I hold Cara’s words close to my heart. They are helping me to hang on. I wave goodbye to my friends and step outside into the cold, damp night.

I turn around to start walking to my car…and run straight into Tristan’s chest.

I stumble back, holding up a hand as if to ward him off. I’m not sure if I just don’t want to talk to him or if I’m so startled that he is here that I’m just trying to give myself a moment to think.

“Sorry,” he says, holding up his hands placatingly. “I didn’t mean to crash into you.”

“What are you doing here?” I demand, feeling a little angry.

He has the courtesy to look abashed.

“Cara said she was out with a friend when I asked where she was. I knew it had to be you and I know this was her favorite place so…”

“Are you stalking me now?” I demand, wrapping my coat more tightly around my body. “Is that what happened with Amy?”

His brows furrow, and he shakes his head, taking a step toward me. “No! Rachel, that is not what happened at all. I sent you all the information about what happened. Didn’t you read it?”

I sigh. “No, Tristan. I have other things going on in my life than your sordid past.”

“Sordid!” he says loudly. “That’s rich, coming from someone who has been sleeping with the man she is writing a biography about.”

I feel the words like a physical blow. “Excuse me?” I whisper, my hand pressed to my heart.

He looks regretful and tries to take another step toward me. I step away, holding the distance between us. He looks uncomfortable and shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Are you going to refuse to finish the book?” he asks me bluntly.

I sigh and shake my head. “I don’t know right now,” I admit.

“I won’t be paying you for any of your time if you don’t agree to finish it,” he says to me, his tone petulant.

My eyes widen. I need the money from this book to help get Danny and me settled here. I need to do some repairs to my place, Danny needs some medical care that we couldn’t get access to in Alaska, and I would like to finally have some savings.

I cannot believe that he is holding the book over my head like this.

He never cared about me at all, I realize. He just wanted to fuck me and get his way. I feel my heart turn cold in my chest.

The weight of his words is pressing down on me. This is about more than just a book. This is about control, about Tristan asserting his dominance in a way that’s both infuriating and undeniably effective.

“I’ll get back to you tomorrow,” I say shortly, turning around and striding away.

“Rachel…” Tristan says, but I ignore him.

“Fuck you, Tristan!” I growl over my shoulder and walk faster. I swipe at the fresh tears that are slipping down my cheeks and try not to think about how hurt I am right now.

I get into my car and start driving back to my place, the road is blurry due to my tears. My phone pings with a bunch of messages and I see that they are from Tristan, but I could care less.

I make it home in record time, despite weekend traffic, and park my car in the garage. I grab my purse and slide out of the car, holding my coat closed as I hustle into the warmth of the lobby of my apartment building.

I ride the elevator up to my floor, feeling relieved to be heading to my own place. I’ve spent more than enough time at Tristan’s place lately.

I open the sticky front door and step inside, then frown. I hear the sound of running water. Worry curls through me as I shut the door. Moving as if in a trance, I wander toward the hallway that leads to my bedroom and come to a clumsy halt.

There’s water running through the ceiling of my place, down the walls, and flooding down the hallway. I carefully navigate the flooded hallway, my heels holding me out of the couple of inches of water that are puddling on the floor.

I step into my bedroom and grimace as the carpet makes a squishing noise.

“Dammit,” I mutter, wanting to just run out of my apartment and get in my car and never come back.

My phone rings in my pocket, and I scowl when I see Tristan’s name on the screen. Rolling my eyes, I take the call, just to get him off my back so that I can deal with this mess.

“What?” I snap into the phone, making my way across the soaked carpet to open my closet. At least most of my clothing is dry.

“Rachel…I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have said any of that,” he says, sounding a little frantic.

“You’re right about that,” I say ungraciously into the phone. I feel a sudden pang of morning sickness and bite my lip, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed for a moment.

“Look,” he says, “I don’t want you to feel forced to do anything. I just…I just would really appreciate it if you would take a look at the court documents and the HR reports I sent you. Denise…she’s bitter and not very nice and…”

I turn away from the wall and curse as I see that my coat is wet now, too.

“What’s going on?” Tristan asks, his voice concerned.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “My apartment is completely flooded. I think the water is coming from the floor above mine. It’s…really bad.”

“I’ll be right there,” he says abruptly.

“Tristan…no, I can take care of this myself,” I start to say, only to realize that he has hung up the phone.

“I literally have the worst luck of anyone, ever,” I mutter to myself, leaving my bedroom to go into the hall and rummage for my suitcase. I need to at least pack up some essentials since I will clearly be staying in a hotel tonight.

I mince into the kitchen to find the landlord’s phone number, which I tucked into a drawer with all of my lease documents. As I start to dial the number, I close my eyes and pray for strength.

I’m not sure how much more bad luck I can deal with right now.