The Beautiful Billionaire

LINDEN

I talked over the phone for hours with Deirdre, Estelle’s mother. From Estelle’s childhood to her failed marriage, her sacrifices, about Star LLC, to my relationship with her daughter and pregnancy. I was enlightened.

Deirdre was filled with wisdom. She admitted to failing in a lot of things and her success, but she kept her feet on the ground. When I mentioned marrying her daughter, she cried. She was happy and excited to be a grandmother, too. That was days ago.

I’d said something I wasn’t proud of. I’d done something I regretted. When I made mistakes, I made amends for them. Estelle, on the other hand, was strong-willed and stubborn. I didn’t visit her, and because she was stubborn, she did the same. I didn’t check on her. She stayed in her house. I chose not to call her, and she gave me the cold shoulder.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Right now, she hadn’t said a word until we pulled up in front of the house. She stood on her ground. Despite our misunderstanding, I was thrilled that our baby was perfectly healthy and Estelle didn’t experience difficulties in her first stage of pregnancy.

“The movers have brought some of your things here.”

“Without my knowledge?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Didn’t you know? Hasn’t Micah told you about it? Because last I talked to her, she said she already arranged movers for your things.”

She didn’t reply but was boiling inside, grunting like a mad dog.

“You should control your temper. That’s not good for the baby.”

“Now you talk. You shouldn’t have pissed me off.”

“I want what’s best for our child, Estelle.”

“What about the mother?” She stopped in the hallway as she glared at me. “Do you know what’s best for me? I bet you don’t. All you want is to control me. I just got away from a controlling father, and now my child’s father is as controlling as shit.”

I blew a breath. I couldn’t argue when we both knew how this would end. I opened the door to our room.

“I wanna stay in the other room.”

“No. You stay in my room so that I can look after you. You might need something or feel something in the middle of the night.”

“When most nights you’re not even in bed? That’s delightful. My life just leveled up from bad to worse.”

I closed my eyes for a brief moment before I turned to her. “I’m not perfect. Sometimes, I forget I’m in a relationship. Hell, sometimes I even forget myself, my lunch, but one thing I can promise you is I won’t let my child down. Hate me, punch me, hit me, but you can’t take that responsibility away from me because even if the world ends tomorrow, I won’t be like my mother. I won’t abandon my child.”

I went to open the walk-in closet. I was not the type of person who collected clothes with color-coordinated suits. I was a simple man before I began the Firm, and I was still the same even with the success of Osmium.

“You have half of the closets. You can take another half of mine if you need more space.”

She noticed the renovations. The last time she was here, I only had wall size mirror. Now she had a vanity mirror and a bathroom on her own.

“The room to your right is your bathroom. I chose slip-resistant flooring. And I thought you wanted privacy. If you need anything, just let me know.” I watched her as she went to check the closet and drawers one by one, but she hadn’t said a thing.

She checked what was behind the door, and I thought I saw her face light up. Just like her mother said, Estelle liked pastels and pink and flowers. Then that was what she got. I thought a royal bathroom design would suit her personality because, for me, she was my queen.

And the mother of my child, who never blinked an eye at thinking of removing her pregnancy, deserved pampering even if I was still pissed off with the way I learned about our baby. She didn’t have to hear that I would give her the world. I would just do it for her.

“Come with me.”

She didn’t hesitate. We crossed our bedroom. I wanted to surprise her with the room that she asked for. My heart melted. Pride spread in my chest now that I knew why she wanted an adjacent room. The clues had always been there all this time. I was just dumb not to put two and two together.

“You stopped drinking wine. You changed your coffee to decaf. You craved for ice cream. You enjoyed cuddling. You wanted a room next to ours. You’ve been showing me signs, but I was just stupid. I didn’t figure that out too soon.” I opened the door to the adjacent room. “When you told me you were on a pill, I didn’t protect myself because I trusted you, and you trusted me. I want to let you know that I’m blaming you.”

A gasp slipped through her mouth. Her blue eyes widened and danced with joy and amazement despite nothing to be seen except plain white walls.

“The paint is zero VOC.”

She went ahead to the room, a little more excited than what she saw in the closet and her bathroom.

Leaning against the doorjamb, I watched her from the door as she propped her hands on her waist. If I were to read her action, she just came up with great plans.

“I thought I would let you decide for this room. The color, the furniture, the themes, or the design. If you know an interior designer, just let me know, or I can suggest K & B. Adley’s friend, Blaze, runs it, but you can do as you like.”

“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.” Well, that was the nicest thing I heard from her for days.

“You’re welcome.” I couldn’t help but smile.

“The closet and the bathroom, you didn’t have to do that.”

“We’re making good use of plenty of rooms and space in the house. And I want you to feel comfortable because this is your house too.”

Thankfully, she loosened up a bit during dinner and ate what I cooked, but she still held her words and answered me with no longer than two sentences as if there was a swear jar for that.

I left her to herself when she asked if she could soak in the bathtub. I went to the boys in the back.

“Did you tell her?” Quinn met me beside the pool.

I inhaled deeply and shook my head. “Not yet.”

“You can’t tell her the day we leave, man. That’s not a good idea.”

“I know. You guys are okay here?” I looked at the guys chatting at the poolside.

“We’re good, man. Better than you.” It was Lynx. “Good luck with Ms. B.”

“Get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I went back to the room. Tonight I needed to rest. I have a lot of work to do starting tomorrow. When I couldn’t find her in the room, I went to her bathroom.

“Estelle, are you there?”

I heard her answer before I pushed the door open.

“So literally, I still don’t have my privacy?”

“I thought when you answered, that means I can come in.” I was already walking towards her in the bathtub filled with bubbles.

“I like the design. Thanks.”

“Remind me to send flowers to your mom.”

She looked at me incredulously. “You talked to Mom?”

“Yeah. Days ago, when we had a fight.”

“Great. Did you tell her I was a bitch?”

“Why would I? We talked about your childhood and stuff.”

“Payback, I see.”

“No. We talked about how you started your business and her failed marriage. We talked about us, and I asked for her blessings.”

“You didn’t have to do that because your plans for my life are already in motion. So I don’t have a say in all of this.” She gestured her hands exaggeratedly, causing her tits to show up from the bubble.

“You have a say in everything, Estelle. That’s your right. I’m not taking it away from you. We treat each other fairly as husband and wife. Just don’t keep things from me again, and don’t lie. You like to tell me half of a story, and I can’t fill the half.”

“So why are you here?”

“I’m going to bed early.”

“That’s a first.”

“You should too. We have a big day tomorrow.” I went to the door.

“What about it?”

I stopped and turned around. “We’re filing our marriage license.”

“Great.” She rolled her eyes. “What if-”

“No, Estelle. We’re getting married.”

“Okay. I’ll drown myself then.” She just dipped her head into the water. She didn’t even think twice.

I was quick to sprint and pulled her head out of the water. “What the fuck, Estelle?” I wiped off her hair out of her face. “Are you really choosing quick death over marrying me?”

To my shock, she wasn’t even bothered. In fact, she was grinning and making fun of my reaction.

“You think it’s funny? You’re pregnant for fuck-” I winced in pain as her fist hit my nose. It wasn’t strong enough to break a bone, but she caught me off guard. “Did you just-”

“You told me I could hit you, and I’ve been dying to punch you for days.”

My nose flared. She was acting like a child. What did I get myself into?

I said nothing as I helped her stand in the tub and take the spray. “Enough of soaking for tonight.”

I tried not to get tempted or think of how gorgeous she was standing naked next to me as I sprayed the soap off her body. She had soft and smooth skin, and the pregnancy glow was good on her.

Swallowing hard, I placed my palm on her little baby bump, which I didn’t even notice had been there, even though how many times she was naked before me. I didn’t know she’d been watching me until I lifted my chin.