The Billionaire's Secret Wife (The Pryce Family Book 3) (Volume 3) (6 page)

He reined in his temper. “What kind of man do you think I am? You think I’m worried about paying child support?”

“It’s not about you.” Her shoulders slumped for a moment, but she squared them, her mouth tight now. “Unscrupulous women generally demand more.”

Except Vanessa wasn’t unscrupulous. She probably wished she’d never come to Chicago or told him she was pregnant. She obviously didn’t want him involved, as though he had nothing to do with the baby they’d created.

“No,” he said. “It’s my baby. I’ll be a father to it.”

“Justin, you don’t have to. Whoever you end up marrying won’t like it that you have a child with somebody else.”

“Remarkable, that you know so much about this woman,” he said sarcastically. It was either that or blow up on her as she spoke of him marrying another woman while she was carrying his baby.

“I’m a lawyer, remember? When you have the kind of money you do, people always think way, way ahead. To the estate. It’s not cynicism, it’s reality.”

“You’re right.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s only one thing left for us to do.” He smiled, watching her eyes narrow. “Get married.”

* * *

Vanessa sucked in a breath. “Definitely not. I didn’t tell you so you’d marry me.”

“So it’s something else then?”

“Look, I just…didn’t want this to be a surprise later on. I know what something like that can do to a family.”

“You’re referring to your stepbrother?”

She nodded. Her father had a son with another woman and had brought him into the fold. Vanessa didn’t have any hard feelings against Blaine, since it wasn’t his fault Salazar was a womanizer. Ceinlys had been absolutely furious, of course, and Vanessa suspected it had added another dimension to her mother’s sudden desire to divorce.

“Salazar didn’t do the right thing because he was already married. I’m not.”

“Justin—”

“Don’t make me fight you over this. If it goes public, it won’t be just me after you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Barron has been after me to marry and ‘produce an heir.’ Well, this baby is it. Heir to the Sterling & Wilson fortune.”

Vanessa bit her lower lip. “I want to keep our marriage quiet.”

“Quiet?”

“
Quiet
. Undercover, on the sly, in secret. Get it done outside the country or something.”

The muscles in his jaw flexed. “I’m not going to continue what we’ve been doing the last ten years. We’re talking about
marriage
here.”

“It’s important.”

“Why?”

Because it’s going to end soon
…
and badly
, she thought. Justin couldn’t even pretend he felt anything that was strong enough to compel him to suggest matrimony to her. Her parents had loved each other to pieces, and their marriage had eventually become a train wreck. The divorce was going to be just as bad with a bunch of over-priced lawyers squabbling over every penny.

Justin was her kryptonite, and unlike Superman she was too stupid to stay away from him. One day when she least expected it, he’d destroy her. And probably the child too. She put a hand over her belly. Children were always collateral damage in their parents’ battles.

She dropped her gaze to stare at the bottom of the steering wheel. “I don’t want who you are to affect my career.”

“I don’t see how it’s related.”

He had to be joking, but maybe he honestly didn’t get it. Everyone knew he’d been hand-picked by his great-uncle to lead Sterling & Wilson. He’d been groomed from a very early age to be what he was today, and nobody whispered that the only reason he’d become Barron’s heir was dumb luck or anything other than his hard work and intellect.

“If I were a man,” Vanessa began, “who I was married to wouldn’t be a big deal. But for women, it is more important than what they accomplish. When a woman is discussed in a professional capacity, they talk about her marital status, whether or not she has children. If she’s pregnant, they discuss whether or not she’s taking maternity leave. It’s sexist and unfair, but that’s the way it is, and I have to work within that.”

She could never forget what Dane had said:
It’s not like they’re hiring you for your brain
.
You can probably make partner without winning a single case
,
so long as you give them the Pryce family business
.

She’d rather die than prove Dane right.

“If you’re worried about maternity leave…”

“It’s not the leave. If people see that I’m married to you, they’re going to wonder how much your name has affected the kind of cases, performance evaluations and raises I get. I made it clear to my firm from the beginning that I would never bring my family’s business to them, and I’ve worked very hard to nip any hint of favoritism at the bud. And so far, I think it’s worked. But you’re different.” She raised her chin. “When I make partner, it’s going to be based on my professional accomplishments, not because I’m married to you.”

“You’ve been at the firm for ten years, right?”

She nodded.

“I’ll wait until July. That’s when you have your eval, right?”

Her eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“You mentioned it once. I’ll wait until then, and if you make partner, great. If not…” He shrugged. “I won’t wait beyond that.”

“But—”

“No buts. This is non-negotiable.” His eyes were cold, and his tone even colder. She’d never seen him like this before, and his hard expression killed her objections. “You won’t be able to hide your pregnancy by then anyway. And we’ll be living together as a couple.” He put a finger on the tip of her nose. “Discreetly.”

“I’m not moving to Chicago,” she said quickly before she lost all control of the situation.

He shrugged. “That’s fine. I can be in L.A.”

“You don’t have an office in L.A.” Sterling & Wilson’s California office was in San Francisco.

“
I
am Sterling & Wilson, not some building.” There was a quiet surety and confidence in his voice.

Her mouth dried. “Are we going to Vegas?”

“Nothing as clichéd as that. Take next Friday off. I’ll send a jet to pick you up in the morning.”

“If you tell me where we’re going, I can arrange for my own trans—”

“Don’t. I’m meeting you most of the way, Vanessa. So humor me on this. Also we should go back to my place and get you fed and rested.”

“Can’t. I have tons of work to do, and I don’t want another associate to suffer because I’m not pulling my weight.”

“Felix Peck?”

She nodded.

“Fine. I’ll send you home on my jet then. And don’t even think about driving in this weather.” He pulled out a credit card and handed it to her. “Put whatever you need on this.”

She stared at the black AmEx. This was too fast, and panic knotted her belly. “What about London?” she said, desperate to throw up whatever obstacle she could manage.

“I’ll take care of her. All you need to do is show up.”

Chapter Six

Sitting in one of the conference rooms at Highsmith, Dickson and Associates, Vanessa checked her phone again. Justin had to have gotten her text that morning, but so far there was no answer.

Sighing, she pushed the thoughts of Justin out of her mind and tried to concentrate on the mountain of papers in front of her. She needed to review them all. The opposing counsel was being a jerk. Apparently he’d decided to kill her with kindness by sending her every minute document.

Soon Felix strolled in with two Starbucks and a paper bag filled with fries. A Yale graduate, he reminded Vanessa of a hungry lion with burning dark eyes and brown hair streaked with golden highlights. His thin lips looked like he disapproved of everyone, especially when he set them in an unsmiling line. They worked wonders when he wanted to intimidate witnesses or difficult clients.

As usual, Felix was in another of his classic Armani outfits, although he’d dressed on the casual side for the weekend. Unlike Vanessa, he had come from a lower middle class family in Cincinnati, and he was extra aware of the image he needed to project even though he didn’t mind food slumming with her on difficult cases. In return, Vanessa hooked him up at La Mer or Éternité, two of the most exclusive restaurants in the city owned by her brother Mark.

“You sure you don’t want to take some time off this weekend?” Felix said, handing her her tea. “You look like hell.”

“No, but thank you for the compliment.”

“You know what I mean.”

Vanessa knew exactly what he meant. She looked and
felt
like hell. Apparently crackers didn’t agree with her, and now she was craving French fries with the heat of a thousand suns. “I’m a little behind. Besides, I have tons of work to do before next Friday.”

“I can’t believe Harry gave you another day off,” he said, taking his seat. “I was sure he’d say no. What’s the secret?”

“It’s conditional.” Dickson had made it clear if she got everything done by Thursday, she could take Friday off. Otherwise, she had to keep her ass in her seat and get the work done.

“Yeah, right!” Stan Rivers stuck his head through the open door and snorted. “You’ll be able to go even if you don’t finish anything. Everyone knows that.”

Vanessa gave him a long, hard stare. A couple of years older than her, Stan was the most likely associate to make partner next, although there was some whispering that Vanessa might take his spot. She hated how people tried to pit them against each other, but most importantly she hated how smug and annoying Stan was. He was always bringing up the fact that she was a Pryce girl and knew a lot of people. He even talked about how she’d been invited to Barron Sterling’s granddaughter’s wedding—in a not so subtle way—to hint that she was being promoted at the firm only because of her connections.

It was just her luck he wasn’t even a terrible lawyer. He wasn’t great, but he was better than average—good enough to survive at the firm. Plus he knew how to be slick with partners and clients. He always dressed well and swaggered around like he knew he was a shoo-in for the promotion.

Which made her jaw ache.

“If I had the influence you think I do, you wouldn’t be working here.” Vanessa reached for her fries. “Felix, do you mind shutting the door? We have a lot of
billable
”—she looked pointedly at the pile of documents to review—“work to do.”

With an overly sympathetic smile, Felix shut the door in Stan’s face. “Can’t stand that guy.”

“You and me both.”

“I hope you make partner before him. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it if he does.”

“He’s not a bad lawyer.”

“That doesn’t make him great.”

Vanessa nodded and almost jumped when her phone buzzed. It was a text from Justin.

Why do you want my lawyer’s contact info?

Narrowing her eyes, she typed,
So I can tell him where to send me the prenup
.

A moment later, he responded,
Send YOU a prenup? Isn’t it usually the other way around with the Pryces?

She sighed.
Don’t be dense
. At 25 billion and counting, Justin was worth more than her entire family.

No prenups
.

You need to protect yourself
.

If I wanted your legal advice
,
I would’ve signed a retainer agreement
.

She glared at the screen. Felix looked over, his head tilted. “Who’s that?”

“A
friend
who’s refusing my legal advice.”

He snorted. “Not smart. I’d take your advice, especially if it was free. Does she have any idea how much you bill?”

“I know, right?” Vanessa typed,
Fine
.
Have it your way
.
Don’t blame me if things go south
.

Go south
.
As if
. A moment later there was another message.
Bring a white dress
.

Stupidly arrogant. But she should’ve expected that from Barron’s heir. Everyone had assumed her parents’ prenup was iron-clad…except her mother’s lawyer Samantha, shark that she was, had found a way to chip away at it. Now she was questioning the validity of the document in the first place, which was dragging out the horrendous divorce process.

Her phone buzzed again. Vanessa glared at it, then picked it up just in case it was a real client who actually wanted legal advice from her. Instead it was her mother.

I’m finally all moved and settled
.
There will be a housewarming party on Saturday at six
.
Bring a date if you can
.

Vanessa rolled her neck, trying to relieve the tension. Her mother had been avoiding her and her brothers for the last few weeks, and now came this last-minute notice for an event that was more or less obligatory.

Felix took a big gulp of his coffee. “You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just my mom.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Great, apparently. She wants to have a housewarming party.”

“Oh.” He knew—like everyone else in the legal community and Vanessa’s social circle—that Ceinlys Pryce was divorcing her husband of almost four decades. “Are you going?”

“I guess. I don’t know.”

It depended on Justin’s plan, which he wasn’t telling her.

“I understand your dad’s contesting the divorce,” Felix said slowly, each word carefully chosen in that lawyerly way of his.

Grunting, she nodded. She didn’t know the details of her father’s strategy. Her parents weren’t talking to her or her brothers about the divorce at all. It hurt her she couldn’t talk to her mother about her impending secret wedding and motherhood or her doubts about Justin. Her mother wasn’t the best mother—Vanessa knew that much—but it would’ve been nice to talk things over with someone.

Vanessa sighed and turned her attention to the documents, which had to be finished if she wanted to elope. She had a feeling if she didn’t show up at the airport like she was supposed to, Justin would send a platoon of his minions to drag her to wherever he wanted her.

And what a spectacle that would make.

* * *