Page 107 of The Billionaire's Baby

"You can, at least, tell me," she complains. "Is this another surprise?"

"Something like that."

I hadn’t wanted to do this. I’d wanted to make sure I spent the thirty days with her before arriving at a decision, but something about that scene earlier, the comfortable routine we had fallen into, had shaken me. If I stay on in this fake relationship… Well, it won’t stay fake for much longer. I’d always wanted her body…but somewhere along the way, I had started hankering for more. A real relationship, a real wife… A real mother to my child. The child she may already be carrying. Shit. I tighten my fingers on the steering wheel. I shouldn’t have embarked on this relationship. I should have turned her down upfront. But I hadn’t and now here I am.

We drive for another half an hour in silence. Then I turn off onto a sideroad. Another ten minutes, another turn off, this time onto a narrow unpaved road. Five minutes later, she gets restless. Ten minutes later, she’s peering out through the window at the foliage that grows wilder, thicker. Another few minutes and she turns to me, “Do you know where you are headed?"

"Do you?" I ask her.

“Obviously, not,” she snipes. She turns away from me to look out the window.

I guide the car to the very end of the road as it opens out onto a driveway. One overgrown with weeds and trees whose limbs reach out to each other to form a canopy overhead.

The sunlight seems to dim as I pull up next to a two-story bungalow.

I come to a stop in front of the steps that lead up to the house, then shut off the car engine.

Silence descends.

I push open the door, come around to find she’s already stepped out. Good. No use delaying this further.

I begin to climb the steps, then turn to find she hasn’t moved.

"Are you coming?"

"Are you going to tell me where we are headed?"

"You’re about to find out."

"I don’t like being surprised." She folds her arms around her waist.

"Too bad; you don’t have a choice in this."

She stands there for a second, then pulls up to her full height. "Fine, have it your way."

You bet I will.

She walks up the steps, brushes past me and bangs on the door.

It swings open and a man’s shoulders fill the doorway. He's dressed in a dark suit, dark hair cut close to this scalp. He jerks his chin at me, then his gaze lowers to the woman at my side.

Karina’s muscles freeze.

"Victor?" She stutters, "Wh...what are you doing here?"

37

Karina

"Kaykay," My middle brother addresses me by the name that only my siblings call me.

"Why are you here, V?" I frown.

He exchanges glances with Arpad, "You haven't told her yet?" Victor scowls.

"I didn’t have time." Arpad grimaces.

"What is it?" I stare between them, "Tell me what?" I turn to Arpad. "What's happening here?"