The Convenient Wife (A BWWM Steamy Marriage of Convenience Romance) (17 page)

“You think this is some kind of
joke
?” my mother snapped, her voice
rising to levels that would make dogs whimper in pain. “Your little fake
fiancée leaves you and you think you can just ignore your responsibilities? You
disappeared before I could get the board to vote in a new CEO. I’ve been
running around, taking care of your silly little problems, but it’s like you’re
trying
to ruin us!”

“If I were trying to ruin us, I
could just leave the company in your capable hands Mother,” I said, laughing.

“You are behaving like a
child
, Dorian! Ever since that awful
woman left, you’ve been acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum. You’re just
like your father, always acting out when you don’t get your way.”

I just smiled. “I’m less like my
father than you’d like to think. You could control him, and I bet you thought
you could control me too. You were wrong, and I’m done playing your games.
Tonight, you’re going to sign over my voting shares of the company, and you’re going
to leave this damn city. You won’t touch
my
company ever again.”

There was a moment of silence on her
end, followed by a tirade that would’ve made Satan cower. “How
dare
you! You will not speak to me that
way, not now and not ever! I am your mother, I raised you—”

“You didn’t raise me. You hardly
even looked at me until I graduated from high school. No, I had
nannies
who raised me. I had
tutors
who raised me. I was raised by
people you thought were
beneath
you,
because you think that
I’m
beneath
you.”

“
Everyone
is beneath me!” my mother shouted into the phone. “You, your father—every
single one of you is less than me, and if I could I’d strip all that precious
money from you, I would do it in a heartbeat. You don’t deserve a single red
cent!
You won’t be getting your hands on
this company. It’s time for you to come to terms with that.
”

I smiled. She was practically foaming
at the mouth. For my own benefit, I rolled my finger in the air as she
stammered on, her rage making her words clumsy.

“Are you quite done?” I asked
calmly, though I could feel my hands shaking. “Because I have important
business to attend to, and you’re completely ruining my day.”

I tossed a small SD memory card onto
the table between us.

“I know what you did.”

My mother stared at the card, then
glanced back up to me with a questioning look.

“You blackmailed Gigi. You used her
family against her and you took my wife away from me in the process… And all
for what? A bigger slice of the pie?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about, and anything Gigi is telling you is a lie,” My mother said, her voice
lowering to an angry growl.

“Oh, I haven’t even talked to Gigi.
I wanted to hear what happened straight from the horse’s mouth,” I said,
smiling even wider. “Thankfully, you value your home security almost as much as
I do. I must say, the video was enlightening.”

My mother looked down at the SD
memory card, snatching it off the table and bending it in half before dropping
it to the ground and smashing it with the heel of her shoe.

“It’s fine, mother, I have copies.”

“I was trying to protect you
Dorian,” she said, taking on a softer tone.

“Don’t try to sugar coat this. You
threatened her father. You threatened our unborn child. You didn’t do this for
me. You didn this because you can’t control me. You did this because you want
this company and my father’s legacy all to yourself. Why the hell couldn’t you
leave me alone? Why couldn’t you let me be happy?”

Her face was flushing with anger.
“You’ve done nothing but squander our fortune for years. What makes you think
you’re fit to run this company? You think some sham marriage is going to change
that? She’s going to drag you down and take our family name straight into the
gutter. You don’t even know if she’s met the terms of your inheritance yet. If she’s
pregnant with a girl, you don’t have enough time to have a second child.”

“I won’t need to. You’re going to
sign over the voting shares you control. Grandfather left you in control of my
inheritance in the event I failed to produce an heir and a wife. I’m cutting
out the middle-man on this. You’re going to sign over my fortune. I’ll have
Ollie draw up all the legal documents,” I replied with a smirk.

“That will not happen!” she shouted.

“You’re wrong on so many counts,
mother. I might have jumped into this marriage looking for an easy ticket to my
inheritance, but I found something along the way… I found my purpose.” I
replied, holding her gaze. “I’m going to bring this company back around to the
right path. I’m going to raise my children the right way. I may not have
married for all the right reasons, but I’m not going to make that mistake the
second time around. I love this woman. If you’re not willing to accept that,
you can get the hell out of my life.”

Her lips pursed shut, her body
tense. “You can’t do this.”

“I already have, mother. If you so
much as try to stand in my way, I’ll release your little video to the press and
the police. I’m sure they’ll be interested in hearing about how you blackmailed
the wife of a billionaire. You’re not the only one who can throw their weight
around in a courthouse, mother.”

“It won’t last,” my mother said, her
eyes filled with venom. “It didn’t work for your father and I, and it won’t
work for you. Love never lasts.”

She didn’t say another word as I
stood up and left her at the table, but her final words echoed in my mind even
as I stepped out into the daylight and headed for my car.

The longer I thought about it, the
more I realize I had never once heard my parents say a loving word to one
another. No kisses, no “I love you’s,” and certainly no anniversary
celebrations. In fact, my parents had hated one another for as long as I could
remember.

It finally made sense to me that my
mother and father didn’t marry out of love—they married purely out of
convenience. Whether my grandfather had imposed the same draconian demands for
my father’s inheritance of the company was completely unknown to me, but
something told me that love had never been a part of the equation.

Wasn’t it like that for me and Gigi,
though? Didn’t our entire sham of a marriage start out with the two of us being
in the right place at the right time, all the for the sake of getting ourselves
filthy rich?

No. Despite how everything began, I
knew that our relationship was something different than the one that my parents
had. We’d at least had the
chance
at
love. Was there any hope for that love now? Any possibility at all that maybe I
could find her and convince her to give me another chance?

I thought about our child, about how
scared I was that she would be raising it alone, now that she thought that the
two of us were separated. My heart hammered in my chest. I couldn’t blame her
for her decision in the face of my mother’s evil threats, but I felt so much
pain at the idea of losing something I wanted to share with her.

I had to go to her. I had to win her
back…
But where would I even start?

I wracked my aching brain for any
clue of what I could do to get her to sit down and talk to me for even a minute…
To have enough time to convince her that it was going to be ok.

It hit me like a ton of bricks: the
perfect place to get Gigi alone—or at least,
sort of
alone.

I grabbed at my phone, staring at
the date and time.

I still had a chance. Our ultrasound
appointment for the baby wasn’t for at least another day.

I could be the man she deserved. I
could commit to her the way she needed me to, and deep down, I knew that I
could trust her. I should have never been upset with her in the first place. I’d
been so blind to my mother’s little game. Gigi wasn’t the kind of person to do
anything without a good reason—in that regard, the two of us were complete
opposites, and that gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, she still thought that
the two of us could work.

I could fix this. I just knew it.

I suppose I was thankful for not
breaking the lease on my apartment when I’d moved in with Dorian. If it weren’t
for that, I might have been forced to live out of a hotel for the last two
weeks. The trust Dorian’s mother had set up was ready to deposit my first
monthly payment into my bank account in a few days, but in the meantime I was
stuck here.

Not that it was
all bad…

Everything was almost exactly as I’d
left it, minus a few personal effects that I was dead set on
not
recovering from the penthouse. As
far as I was concerned, I’d lost all of it in a fire—burnt away and never seen
again.

Still… As I looked around at the
tiny apartment I’d called home for a few years now, it wasn’t relief or
thankfulness that filled me—it was loneliness. I’d never felt so alone in my
entire life.

I sighed and closed my eyes, resting
my hand over my womb. Inside of there was the only piece of me and Dorian’s
relationship that would actually last the test of time. It was my only
companion as I began a life far away from the man I almost spent my life with…

Somewhere inside of me, I knew his
mother had been right, that Dorian would have the time of his life now that he
had everything he ever wanted. He would go find Harmony or some other bimbo to
mother his child, and that would bring him his money, his freedom, and all the meaningless
sex he could ever want. I had been nothing to him except the means to an end,
and that was something I vowed
never
to be for anyone ever again.

To make matters worse, it seemed
that Mrs. Lambert wasn’t entirely done tormenting me. The day after I’d made my
little deal with the devil, I was promptly fired from
Walters, Manning & Carlyle
without any warning.

Of course, I wasn’t overly concerned
about my current unemployment—after all, I had plenty of money to fall back on.
No, my only concern at that moment was the future of me and my unborn child—and
whether Dorian wanted to ever be a part of that life was up to him.

I picked up my phone and swiped over
to Dorian’s contact listing. Looking at the number of missed calls and texts
gave me a bitter taste in my mouth, though I couldn’t tell whether it was from
sadness or anger. I couldn’t stop thinking of the things he’d said to me in his
penthouse. Rather than read the messages or listen to the voicemails, I swiped
across his name and deleted his contact.

My
mother was right...
His
voice echoed in my head, bringing a fresh set of tears to my eyes. If only he
knew how much he had hurt me.

I shook my head and stowed my phone
back in my purse. It was almost time for my ultrasound, but first, I had some
business to attend to.

Starling & Sons Bank was one of
the best investment banking firms in the country, and I knew that if I was
going to handle the trusts for myself and my baby, I would need a little help.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Devereaux,” one
of the bank’s managers said, walking up to where I’d been seated to wait. “My
name is Charles. I understand you’re wanting to start up a new college fund
with us today.”

“Yes, that’s correct,” I said,
standing up and taking the manager’s proffered hand. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m
a little new to this.”

“That’s quite all right, Ms.
Devereaux, we’re more than happy to help you along the way with whatever you
need. If you’ll just come with me, we’ll step into my office and get you
started.”

The two of us went into a gorgeous
little office just off the bank lobby with swanky hardwood furniture and dark
red carpet. I liked the sense of class it added to everything, as though saying
“we know what to do with your money.”

“Now, let me just set this all up
for you, and we can start talking about how much you’d like to invest. What’s
the last name of the recipient?”

“Lambert,” I said, sitting myself
down in an overstuffed chair in front of his deck. “I haven’t picked a first
name for the baby yet—I have my first ultrasound today.”

Charles smiled. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” I said, returning his
smile with a faint one of my own as he started to type in a few strokes on his
keyboard. I cast my gaze down at my knees, doing my best not to meet his eyes.
I knew I shouldn’t be ashamed, but the stigma of being a single parent still
hung on my shoulder—especially being a single
mother
. Men got a clap on the back, women got the shame.

“Okay, just a few more details and
we can start talking about…”

Charles stopped mid-sentence,
frowning and tapping a few keys. His brows knitted together as he scrutinized
something on the computer screen. I didn’t like the look on his face one bit.

I touched my stomach defensively. “Is
something the matter?”

“No—well, I’m not sure. There
already seems to be a fund open for a baby Lambert. Opened by Dorian E.
Lambert… for quite a sizeable amount… Over one million dollars.”

I sat there in the overly comfy
chair, my eyebrows raised and my hands clutching onto the armrests. I could
feel my heart racing in my chest, my throat tight. Dorian had actually set
something up for the baby?

I dug my phone out of my purse,
hoping that maybe he’d sent me another text or even tried to call, but all I
found was a text reminder from my doctor about my appointment. Why didn’t I
take the time to read his texts? Why didn’t I listen to his voicemails?

But then, a darker thought crossed
my mind. How did Dorian get the money to create an account for the baby? His
own trust fund was limited in what he could withdraw. Paying off my student
loans had tapped almost his entire allotment for the year. If he had access to
the money, that could only mean one thing…

He’d produced an
heir without me…

Was that even possible? Could he
have been seeing someone else on the side, hedging his bets? Was Harmony
carrying a little Lambert of her own? The thought boiled my blood.

Charles made an uncomfortable sound
in his throat and I sighed. There wasn’t a point in even being here if Dorian
had already set up an account.

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time,
Charles. Clearly, my child’s father didn’t bother to inform me of his
intentions. I’ll be going.”

“I apologize for the mix-up, Ms.
Devereaux. Is there anything else we can help you with today?” he asked, though
I could tell her didn’t much like having his time wasted.

“No, thank you for your time,” I
said and showed myself out.

The entire drive over to my doctor’s
office I checked my phone, so much that I started to feel almost a little obsessive.
Dorian had attempted to call or text dozens of times over the last few days,
but now, there was absolutely no contact. Was this some kind of game? I’d
worked myself up so much that by the time I was at the parking lot for the
doctor, I made the decision that when I was done here I’d go over to his
penthouse and give him a piece of my mind.

The lobby was all but empty except
for a young pregnant woman and what I could only assume was her husband. I felt
a bitterness rising inside me as I watched them, smiling at one another so
warmly. I almost want to cry right there.

I managed to draw my eyes away from
the happy couple and walk over to the front desk. I envied those two more than
I’d ever admit, wishing that just one more time I could see the father of my
unborn child. The young woman behind the desk looked up at me and gave a
practiced smile.

“Good afternoon, ma’am. Do you have
an appointment?”

“Yes, Georgia Devereaux for three
o’clock. I’m having an ultrasound.”

The young woman looked over a small
appointment book. “I have an appointment for a Georgia Lambert…” she said
quietly, glancing at my finger and the indent where my wedding band used to be.

“We’re separated,” I said quickly.

She nodded, her smile turning into a
bit of a look of confusion.

“The doctor is waiting for you now,
Ms…..
Devereaux
,” she said, pressing
a button on her desk that opened an automatic door. “He asked me to send you
back as soon as you arrived. I’ll call to the exam room and tell him you’re
here.”

“I—thank you,” I said, glancing over
at the married couple who seemed more than a little annoyed that I’d apparently
cut right in front of them.

“Room four, please,” the medical
assistant called, waving me on.

My gut told me that there was something
strange going on, but for the life of me, I couldn’t put my finger on it. My
stomach felt like it was being twisted into knots as I came up to the door to exam
room four, which was shut tight. I almost felt like something horrible was
waiting for me just beyond.

Before I could reach the handle, it
pulled back of its own accord, and as the door opened wide, I laid eyes on a
man I almost thought I’d never see again

“Dorian?” I gasped, looking up into
his smiling face. “Oh, my God…”

“Yeah,” he said, “It’s me.”

“You dick!” I yelled, smacking him
right across his face. “All of those things you said to me! You called me a
golddigger
, Dorian! You were drunk!”

“I know!” he said, holding his arms
up over his face for protection as I started to swat at him with my purse. “I’m
sorry! Can we just—ow! Jesus, Gigi, can we just step inside? Please!”

I glared up at him for a second
before pushing him aside and entering the exam room, all at once having my
senses assaulted by the colorful blooms and fragrant aromas of countless
flowers all around the exam table. I wasn’t sure what to do. My chest starting
to heave as a wave of emotions all crashed over me at once.

“Dorian, are all of these for me?”

“Is it too much?” he asked, closing
the door behind me. It took me a moment to notice that the doctor was standing
right by the exam table.

“I—but I thought—”

“I wasn’t thinking straight. I was
drinking,” he said, but then sighed and shook his head. “No, that’s not an
excuse. I was insecure and stupid. I should have seen straight through my
mother’s games, but I didn’t. I let her manipulate her, and I tried to hide
from the truth.”

“I can’t do this Dorian. I just
can’t,” I whispered.

“You can, Gigi. I know what my
mother did to you. You don’t have to worry anymore. I took care of it, and she
will never threaten your family again.”

“You’re damn right she wont,” I
muttered. I’d already made the decision that Mrs. Lambert had pushed me as far
as she ever would.

Dorian gently placed his hand on my
lower back, his thumb brushing the base of my spine. “I want you in my life,
Gigi. I don’t want alcohol or parties or my goddamned mother. I want you to be
there with me every step of the way while we raise
our
child together, because I love you.”

Hearing those words come out of his
mouth for the first time made my stomach flutter and my heartbeat quicken. I
almost couldn’t believe that he’d said it just like that. It was so perfect and
so simple that I couldn’t figure out how to describe my own feelings about it.