Page 168 of The Billionaire's Baby

Not the fact that the women are here in the room—Summer, Julia, Amelie, Victoria and her bump, Sienna with her baby, even Ava, had turned up to lend me support. Well, I am going to need all of it, and more, considering the asshole still hasn't showed up.

I glance away from the window; it isn't going to help if I surgically attach myself to the frame and look out. Mr. Grumpy Pants isn't going to show up. I'd been stupid to think of this as a way to get him to recognize what he truly wants. Had I actually thought that I could get through to him? To strip away at his conceit, the barriers he'd thrown up against the world, and reveal himself to me—had I thought that I could accomplish that? I snort, I must have been dreaming.

I walk over to the mirror in the corner of the room, then begin to pull out the pins from my hair.

"What are you doing?" Isla asks in alarm. Behind me, I see the expressions on the faces of the other women, mirroring her concern. Shit, will I have to go through life remembering how he stood me up at the altar—? Well, technically, I had stood myself up, since this entire plan had been my grand idea. Bloody hell. "He's not coming," I growl, "no reason for me to put myself through this torture." I slap the pins down on the table in front of the mirror and my hair flows down to my shoulders. There, that's much better. I dig my fingers into my scalp and massage. A headache throbs at my temples. "This is all that asshole's doing," I mutter. "I should have cut my losses and left him. What is wrong with me, that I decided to come up with this grand idea?"

"Love?" Her lips curve up. "You're a romantic at heart, Karina."

"Tell that to my head, which insists that this is the craziest idea I've had since..." Since practicing my yoga stretches in his cabin and then falling asleep in his bed. I shake my head. I'd done that, all right. Stupid me... Why had I not wanted to leave his bedroom that day? Had something inside me wanted to stow away on his boat? Had my subconscious already chosen him to be the father of my child? Shit. I press my palm into my stomach. Speaking of, I'd gone into this hoping to get pregnant, only somewhere along the way, the dream had changed to being pregnant with his child, to having him in my life. I’d had to try one last time, didn't I? I’d had to give him one last chance to redeem himself.

"Since?" Her eyebrows quirk.

"Since... Nothing." I press my fingers together. "Was I wrong in what I did? Should I have accepted his proposal and fallen into his arms? That would have made everything so much simpler."

"And allowed him to think he could take you for granted?" Summer walks up to stand next to me. "With the Seven, you need to stand your ground. They need to know that you won't hesitate to go toe-to-toe with them, that you are the kind of woman who'll rise to the challenge, every single time."

"You think so?" I bite down on my lower lip.

"I know so." Victoria walks up to stand behind me. "Do you think if I had simply given in to Saint, we'd have survived and made it this far?"

I meet her gaze in the mirror.

"It's only because I found it in me to stand up to him, that he took me seriously. It's only because I gave it back to him every time he decided to pull an alphahole stunt on me, that I got the man of my dreams."

"We make them better men." Julia draws abreast, next to Summer.

"They depend on us to bring out the empathetic side of them." Amelie glides over to join us. "Don't let their bluster fool you. These men have the softest of hearts, only they don’t dare show it to the world. It's almost as if they want us in their lives so they have the permission to show their mushy side."

"Mushy side?" I twist my lips. "I don't think Arpad A'hole has anything soft about him."

"Oh, we know he's hard where it counts." Summer raises her eyebrows, as I choke.

”There, there," Isla slaps me on my back.

I cough, accept the glass of water that Julia hands me, then sip from it.

"It's what all that hardness is hiding from you that we want you to recognize," Summer adds.

"I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say?" I place the glass of water back on the counter.

"Don’t give up yet," Summer urges.

"Yeah, about that. How long do I have left?"

Isla glances at her watch. "It's nine am.”

My throat closes. "Clearly, if he hasn't come by now, then what's the point? He knows I'm getting married at nine... If he had wanted me at all, he'd have been here by now."

That's when I hear a commotion outside the door.

57

Arpad

I raise my fist, when my shoulder is gripped from behind. "What the hell?" I swing around and come face to face with Edward.

The Father's eyebrows are drawn down. "Calm down," he cautions, "it's not over yet."