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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

PARIS — FRANCE

Another trip and meetings like so many others in which I’ve participated.

Lately, however, my concentration has been failing. Not even the completion of the purchase of the French TV company has managed to hold my interest.

On the outside, I’m the sophisticated man the world knows. Rich, cultured, owner of whatever I want.

Inside, I am a neanderthal who does not accept anything other than conquering and making the world bend to my will, even if, at that moment, it is completely prohibited.

I’ve never had the experience of having a woman run away from me, and if it were anyone else, I’d be sure Cecily was playing to keep me hooked.

The twist is that she isn’t, and for the first time I feel trapped in a negotiation.

I desire her. She wants me.

She doesn’t want to lose her job. I can’t imagine living with an ex-lover in my home when our affair eventually comes to an end.

Especially with someone who is responsible for my son.

I look around the room and notice the executive of the TV station I just bought trying to get my attention, putting a lock of her long, silky hair behind her ear, and looking at me through her eyelashes.

Since the first time I set foot in here, she’s been throwing herself at me, and since she’s not going to continue working for me, although she doesn’t know it yet, I could satisfy my sex-starved body by spending a few hours between her thighs.

The problem is that I know myself and I know it won’t bring me satisfaction. It’s not the blonde I want but my redheaded, unfiltered girl.

The innocent but daring virgin, who even though she was ashamed, told me that she masturbates thinking about me.

Just the memory of Cecily makes my dick feel like solid wood, something that the Frenchwoman’s pronounced cleavage, the sexy pout she makes with her mouth, and her hoarse voice couldn’t do.

Until I met Cecily, I thought that was the type of woman I was attracted to, and perhaps it was in the past, since even Sue was anything but na?ve in bed. She knew how to satisfy a man and had no shame in delivering what was demanded of her.

Even though my late wife swore that Joseph’s biological father had been her only lover, I never believed it. I didn’t confront her about it, either. I wasn’t interested in her sexual past, only in her remaining faithful to the family we were forming.

It was my inexplicable feeling of protection for Joseph, still in utero, that made staying with Sue long-term a real possibility. There is no explanation for why I fell in love with a baby I didn’t even know yet, so the only conclusion I can come to is that it was our destiny to be father and son.

I remember the day I met her.

She was trying to operate an old stroller, which she later told me she had just purchased secondhand, near my office. Her pregnant belly was already very pronounced. Even though I didn’t understand much about babies, I knew she must be just a few months away from giving birth.

She was a small, very pretty woman, but she looked exhausted. I asked Anderson to stop the car to help her, and that’s how I found out she was hungry and didn’t have anyone to support her. In fact, as soon as we helped her, she fainted from hunger, and that really bothered me.

Sue was sweet and polite. She never changed and seemed absolutely committed to the pregnancy, eager to see the little boy she was expecting born.

I offered her one of my apartments to stay in and financial help so she could have her baby in peace.

She told me about her life with her ex-husband, now dead, and how he attacked her when he was drunk. On one of these occasions, they were arguing near a window and the son of a bitch, after beating her, lost his balance and died.

There’s not a gullible bone in me, so of course I checked her story.

She spoke the truth.

The ex, a man named Keith Bates, was an enterprising young chemist who’d invented a women’s deodorant that lasted up to seventy-two hours.

He sold the patent to a well-known company in the market, and before even completing the project, became rich.

They met at a diner where Sue worked, about a year before she became pregnant with Joseph. She told me that at first they had a perfect relationship, but soon the attacks began.

When she discovered she was pregnant, she decided that she needed to put an end to the abusive relationship, in the name of the baby’s safety.

The day she told him she was leaving was the day her ex died.

The first thing I asked was where the money from the sale of the patent ended up. Her life felt like a puzzle with missing pieces. As a wife carrying his heir, it would be natural for them to get everything.

She told me she had no idea. Neither her nor the lawyers she hired. Apparently, he sent everything to an untraceable tax haven, which shows that he really had no principles.

Who would leave their own wife penniless, and on top of that, pregnant and helpless?

Someone without honor.

Without me planning it, a bond formed between us.

I never went to her house. I would check over the phone to see if she was okay, or she would send me updates on the baby’s development, like ultrasound images and assurances that she was taking the vitamins the doctor recommended.

I monitored the end of the pregnancy remotely. I became attached to her, but mainly to the unborn baby.

One day, she invited me to dinner in return for the help I was giving her, and despite not particularly wanting to get involved with her, I accepted.

Halfway through the meal, Sue went into labor. She panicked and asked me not to leave her during the birth.

I went with her to the hospital. I watched as my son breathed outside his mother’s belly for the first time. The loud crying telling the world that he was here, despite all the difficulties he went through while sheltered in his mother’s womb.

I only had to look at him for a second to know he was mine.

My son. My boy.

Mine.

From an early age, the love between us was solid and reciprocal, which made staying with Sue an imperative. I wanted Joseph with me, and the only way to make that possible was by marrying his mother.

I was never in love with her over the few months we were together, but I loved her. She was a good wife and mother. Calm and smooth.

The opposite of Cecily, my storm.

“So with that, I think we’re done with the meeting,” says the CEO I hired to run my new TV station, and I nod, completely oblivious to what was said and knowing that I’ll have to resolve the issue with Cecily so I can focus on my professional life again.

Joseph has been at Elina’s house since I returned to France.

As much as I can feel how much Cecily adores my son, I never take risks. Leaving a stranger, technically speaking, alone with him is not something that will bring me peace. I need more time with her to make sure she’s trustworthy.