Page 48 of Contract of a Billionaire

“What happened?” I whispered, as if I was afraid someone would hear us.

“We left that world,” Dad said. “I left my job. And we ran. Your grandparents didn’t take that lightly. Neither did my superiors. They hunted us. At first, we did well losing them. We moved every week from one spot to the next. But once you were conceived, we slowed down.” Maman and Dad shared an anguished look. “I got too cocky. I thought I had a handle on them. I monitored both criminals and special agents coming after me. I thought myself invincible, but then, your grandfather’s men caught up to us.”

A soft whimper left Mom’s lips and my eyes darted to her. When neither one of them said a thing, I almost didn’t want to know what happened next.

“And then?” I asked hesitantly.

Mom swallowed, opened her mouth and then closed it. She shook her head. “I-I can’t.”

Father nodded as if he understood. “It’s the reason you were born in August, instead of November, baby.”

Maman visibly paled and her lips quivered, while my eyes darted wide-eyed between my parents.

I blinked. “I don’t follow.”

“They induced your mother’s labor and then cut her open. To get their hands on you, Autumn.” Father’s voice rang in my ears. I comprehended the words but for the life of me, I couldn’t process them.

“But why?”

“To ensure I complied with their demands,” he explained. “They held the woman I loved and my unborn child. I had information on them that could put their whole organization under. The first piece of information I sent to the Attorney General was what pushed them over the edge. It was what had them cut her open so they’d make us pay.”

There was one thing for sure. I never wanted to meet my grandparents. Fucking ever!

“If they had Maman and me, how did you get us back?” I rasped.

Dad pushed his hand through his salt and pepper hair. “I gambled.” Then seeing I didn’t follow, he continued, “I had nothing to lose. Without your mom and you, there was nothing for me in life. So I threatened them. Either they give me the two of you back or I dump all their crime, details and evidence, into the press. They had connections with state officials but not the public. If people saw the crimes they committed, there would have been an uproar.”

“That’s not a bad blackmail,” I muttered. “Smart.”

Dad shook his head. “Not really, but it was all I had. They knew if I leaked it all, it’d impact your mother too. There were illegal dealings that were in her name so it’d take her under too.”

My eyes snapped to Maman. “You were a criminal too?” I gasped with shock.

“I helped my father once or twice in some dealings,” she admitted, shame on her face. “I was in line to take over his empire, and he felt I should be strong and ruthless. Just like a man.”

My mouth agape, I stared at my mother. The gentle mother who loved to sing and always jumped in to help anyone. I couldn’t see the lethal, ruthless woman that could lead a criminal organization.

She must have seen it on my face. “I wish it wasn’t so, ma chérie,” she murmured softly. “But that was the world I was born into. It was what I had seen growing up. I could kill a man nine different ways by the time I was fifteen and make it look like an accident.”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

“B-but you can’t even cook?” I said for no good reason. Dad chuckled softly, but he patted Maman’s hand as if he worried my words upset her.

“Now, chérie, I am getting better with eggs,” she protested. “And the toast is no longer burned when you get it.” I half-nodded my head. That much was true but people couldn’t survive on toast. “Cooking wasn’t something that was deemed important in my world. At least not for me, in line to take my father’s organization.”

“What made you want to leave?”

Maman’s eyes darted to my father and there was so much love in it that I felt myself choking up. I always thought my father would kill for my mother. Now I realized, it was also true the other way around. Maman would kill for him.

“Your father,” she murmured softly. “In his eyes, I saw what my life could be. More than the violence I grew up seeing. More than an arranged marriage.”

I blinked. “An arranged marriage?”

She nodded. “Yes. My parents formed an alliance through an arranged marriage. So did their parents before them. It’s a way of life. The husbands have many affairs. Some are more violent than others. Maman was lucky. My father wasn’t as brutal to his wife as other men, but he did have a wandering eye.”

“Was the story about how you met real?” I asked. This was information overload.

“Yes, we met at the pub I played at. Nobody knew me there. I always loved to play and sing. It was one thing I got from my own maman. The rest of me was shaped by my father. But the moment I saw your father, everything became background noise. It was like life restarted and he loved me despite all the ugly things I’ve done. He showed me how it could be - for us, for our future.”