Mr Billionaires Secret Baby

Chapter 9

The day after the meeting had been just as tiring. Not only had | had very minimal sleep the night prior but | also set an alarm for an earlier morning. In total, | think it would be a stretch to say that | had more than four hours of sleep total.

Most of my sleepless hours had been due to my mind refusing to let go of what happened earlier during the evening. | was partly still shocked and also confused at what had transpired between Dante and I.

He

His behaviour had been throwing me off big time. He had been the one who say he didn’t want me on his life any more. He was the one to sent me the divorce. papers. had been the one to refuse even allowing me to convince him other wise yet last night he was behaving like he was a wounded lover that had been abandoned. Dante questioned me about Adam like he was so entitled to know what the nature of our relationship had been. It was entirely out of line and | could not understand what had been going on in his head.

| really didn’t want to see him so soon after returning back to New York but | guess some things were unavoidable especially considering he was a major investor on the company that | now owned. It made it a little bit baffling that a man as sharp as him had not figured out that the business was a little bit compromised at present. He was just as surprised to see me there last night as | had been to run- in to him. | could say that | wished it had been the last time that | would see him but him being such a vital part of

that | would see him but him being such a vital the company made it impossible.

As for Pheobe, the woman was pathetic. Not that it came as any sort of a surprise to me but she had become too over zealous. The nerve of her to openly threaten me like | was. a harmless fly that she could easily smash with her pointed toed heel. | may have let her have her way once but I'd be dam ned if | allow her any sort of leniency ever again.

“Miss Miller?” | blinked out of my reverie at the voice of the butler calling my name. By the cl*pped tone of his, he had called me more than once.

“Yes?” | was a bit withdrawn but he motioned for me to enter the large house fit to be a mansion that my grandfather had left to me.

The entire estate had been breath taking and he had made a few modern changes to the place since | was last here. The front garden framed the long driveway that lead to the main entrance of the house. A large marble fountain was situated just to the right of the lawn and across the front door. Roses and other pretty flowers swayed in the gentle breeze and the light from the sun danced of them.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Shall we proceed to take a tour of the house?” He asked and | nodded while trying to fight of a yawn.

“Of course. That would be lovely.” | smiled warmly at him and allowed him to lead the way all around the home | once remembered but seemed so different now. Not that | minded it at all since | liked the changed that had been made.

The colours were more clean and neutral. The old carpets were removed and either porcelain tiles or wooden flooring had been fitted in its place. The light fixtures that | recalled hanging from the ceiling as a child were now gone and replaced with fancier lights.

The tour had last nearly an hour with the outhouse and by the end of it, | was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to just take a dip in the pool at the back of the mansion.

After staying at a hotel for almost three days, it was finally time to get settled and officially move in to a more secure lodging. | just made a quick stop here before heading in to the office to make sure every thing was in order for us to move.

“Thank you for your time. | will have my luggage sent over later today.” | informed him before leaving the estate and heading over to the office.

| had a meeting in half an hour with the managerial team and | had to get to it on time. | was enthusiastic to get to know the different departments and people in it.

| swiped my access car at the private parking and drove through parking my car right in the reserved spot allocated for me and close to the entrance and elevator. | reached for my hand bag and got out, straightening my pencil skirt and tucked in blouse before heading in to the building.

The meeting commenced shortly and important issues were raised to my attention. Issues such as the unstable rate of sales, accounts that have not been paid for some reason, and other significant problems that we discussed on a way forward to fix it. By the end of the meeting | had felt a little lighter knowing that | was slowly, bit surely, getting things on track one department at a time.

“The press conference will be held in the upcoming days. We will try and determine a decent stock price and take things from there. | must thank each of your for being accommodating and open to getting the operation back on track.” | concluded before the room dispersed but | stayed back in the board room for a short moment to take a breather.

| had been looking out of the large window at the bustling city below when a knock sounded on the door. | turned to see a young woman standing there with fiery red hair that reached the tops of her shoulders with big glasses framing her eyes.

“Miss Miller, it’s nice to meet you.” She spoke clearly and with a soft expression on her face. | hadn’t seen her before now.

14:27 Sat, 27 JanG

“It's nice to meet you as well.” She might have picked up the note of confusion in my voice because she quickly introduced herself.

“I'm Lucy, your personal assistant.” She informed me and | smiled at her knowing where she fit in now.

“Hello. Lucy. | didn’t even know | had a personal assistant until now.” | said for conversation sake.

“| was in admin for a while since your grandfather’s passing and it’s nice to be getting in to a role | prefer again.” Lucy and | were going to get on just well, | could tell.

“| look forward to working with you.” She seemed touched by that but quickly gave her head a small shake.

“| almost forgot, there is some one here to see you. He didn’t leave a name but he refused to leave when | mentioned that you were occupied with a meeting.” She sounded a little annoyed by that and | frowned not expecting any one at all. Adam was away attending to his own meeting today and wouldn’t be done until a little later so it couldn’t be him.

“Okay, I'll see to it.” | said curious to see who it had been.

“He is in your office.” She said before turning around and leaving.

After Lucy had left, | exited the boardroom and moved down the floor to where my office had been. It was quite well kept even though it had been vacant all these years and not a spec of dust was in sight.

| pushed open the door that now had a plaque with my name mounted on it to discover that the man who had come to see me was none other than my ex- husband. Even though his back was faced to me as he looked out of the floor length window, | knew it was him. As much as | hated it, every fibre of me knew it was him.

“Mr Crawford.” | greeted formally then took enough steps to place me behind the large hard wood desk making sure that there was some thing between us.

It felt safer that way for two reasons. One being that I’d have some leverage in case this was going to be a tough encounter and two being that keeping space between was good. There was no need for us to share any kind of inappropriate proximity especially after what had transpired last night.

My I*ps still tingled and | hated it. | hated that he had any sort of effect on me at all. It wasn’t supposed to exist any more. After all this time, | was supposed to look at him, be in his presence, and think of nothing else but how much | hated him.

His tall pants and t-shirt covered length shifted from the window as he turned around

to face me. Dante’s face was unreadable and his eyes were a mask making me reinforce what ever walls | had up prepared for what ever he was going to throw at me.

“Mr Crawford?” He asked in distate like | had offended him.

| nodded. “I do believe that is the way you are to be addressed as in a formal setting.” My response was stating the obvious. What did he expect me to call him?

| let out an exhausted breath before setting in to my chair and motioning for him to take one of the two chairs across from my desk. Dante didn’t even look at the seat but stood where he did comfortably.

“There was nothing formal about what happened last night.” His words hung in the air and my cheeks instantly heated up.

“That was a mistake and you know it. You acted out of anger and it meant nothing. If any thing, it says more about you than me.” | mocked but he didn’t phase him at all.

“And what did you act out of?” His flung at me, walking around the room. “As much as | k*ssed you, you als

did k*ss me back.” Da mn it!

That was the stup idest thing | ever did.

“Perhaps it was anger as well.” | shrugged carelessly. “In any case, it doesn’t matter.” Dante’s eyes narrowed at me like he was waiting for me to crumble to his feet and beg him to take me back.

Well, if that was what he had been waiting for then he could wait for an eternity.

“Why are you here? | can’t imagine you have nothing to do but show up here to discuss a lack of judgement.” My choice of words had him clenching his jaw but | felt satisfied. “I’m here in the best interest of my own. As a vital share holder in this company.” There was some thing devious in his tone that made my shoulders tense up.

“| know what the other investors do not.” He paced slowly in front of my desk like a predator stalking its prey. “I have known about the battling finances of the company from the get go and | find it scandalous that you have not disclosed it to the shareholders first hand.” He pause right in front of my desk.

“Because it is a minor fix. Nothing to really cause any sort of unnecessary alarm amongst the investors.” | tried to brush it off but his eyes were to fixed on me that he caught the slight fear that flashed across my eyes.

“What guarantee can you give to us investors to ensure such a thing?” His words hung in the tense air of my office and my mouth ran dry.