The Road To Price

by Justine Elvira

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next few weeks fly by. Sebastian and I are inseparable. I stop working at the estate and move my things over from the employee quarters to his bedroom.

  Any doubts I had about our new arrangement quickly vanish.

  Sebastian treats me amazingly. He is the most attentive boyfriend I could have ever asked for. I'm starting to realize how lucky I am to have found him. If I would have stayed in Georgia I might have missed out.

  He also took care of talking to the girls.

  Two days after we decided to try a relationship, Sebastian sat down with all of the girls. I wasn’t there so I don’t know what all was said but from what he told me, they were all pretty understanding. Everyone but Vanessa.

  Vanessa went off on Sebastian and said demeaning things about me. Sebastian reminded her of the contract she signed. Apparently, Vanessa and the other girls received a different version of the contract than I did. She understood fully what she was getting herself into when she signed her employee contract. He made no promises to her or any of the other girls.

  So she quit.

  I wish I could say I feel bad for her, but I don’t. I am glad that I won’t have to deal with all the idiotic things she might say. I'm also glad I won’t have to worry about her throwing herself at Sebastian. I know he wouldn’t reciprocate, but I still don’t want it to happen.

  I've spoken a little to Rachel and Michelle over the past few weeks; they seem to be really happy for me. It's obvious I'm in love with Sebastian. They also explained how they've never seen Sebastian this way. It's obvious to them that he loves me, too.

  All in all, everything is going great. The joy Sebastian gives me helps fill the void Miles left. It is still there, but it is easier to ignore the pain when I have Sebastian to focus on.

  I’m looking over myself in the mirror that is attached to the wall in Sebastian’s closet. I’m wearing a blue, floor length cocktail dress, beautiful navy Louis Vuitton shoes and a beautiful diamond necklace that is loaned out from the jeweler for the evening.

  My hair is down in loose waves over my right shoulder. I have on a decent amount of make-up, at least more than I usually wear, and I wear a set of diamond earrings that Sebastian gave me earlier this evening. I've never owned something so expensive before, but Sebastian insisted I have them.

  I hear a noise come from the other room and when I look up Sebastian is standing in the doorway. He looks so handsome. He's wearing a standard black tux, but Sebastian makes everything he wears look like it's made just for him.

  He walks over to me while I'm still facing the mirror. Standing behind me, his eyes meet mine in the mirror and he leans down to kiss my shoulder.

  “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I am going to be the envy of every man in the room tonight.” His words make me melt. I know there are going to be women much prettier than me at this event, but the fact that he thinks I'm beautiful helps me not to be self-conscious about my appearance.

  He wraps his arms around my middle and rests his chin on my shoulder. We spend a few moments just staring at each other. I'm so lucky to have him in my life.

  “We should get going,” Sebastian says to me as he lets go of my body. I instantly feel a void on my body from where his hands were a second ago.

  “I’m ready, I just need to grab my purse.”

  I turn around and start to leave the closet when Sebastian grabs me by the hips and thrusts me into his body.

  His lips come down to meet mine and I'm lost in him. Every brush of his lips across mine sends tingles throughout my body. My breathing starts to get harder and I can feel my insides starting to heat up.

  Just when I'm about to ask him to fuck me in the closet, Sebastian breaks the kiss and lets go of my hips. I'm panting hard and breathe out, “That was so unfair. You got me all riled up and now you're just going to leave me?”

  Sebastian chuckles lightly and replies, "I told you, we have to go. This is a big night for me and we can’t be late.”

  He takes a step towards the doorway and continues, “We’ll finish this tonight, I promise. It'll be good for you to feel a need for me all night. It will make it even better when we finally do have sex.”

  He is such a tease.

  We are off to a big celebratory event at one of the most exclusive hotels in Miami. Sebastian’s company has just signed a massive deal with a huge oil company in Europe. It means positive things are ahead for him and the party is to celebrate what the next year will bring.

  This will be our first public outing together. Sebastian and Darcy are still married in the public’s eye, and I’m not allowed to announce I am his girlfriend or hang on him all night, but he wants me to go for support. He let Darcy know that I'm going and surprisingly she's happy for him.

  I grab my purse off the dresser in Sebastian’s room and turn to exit the room with him.

  “Ah, ah, ah, honey. Aren’t you forgetting something?” Sebastian says in a teasing voice.

  I look at him skeptically. I can’t for the life of me think of what I could be forgetting. I quickly look over my appearance to see if I am missing something crucial, but I’m not.

  “I have no idea what I could be forgetting. Enlighten me?”

  He shakes his head in a mocking tease to me as he speaks, “Your pill. Today is the first day you can start your birth control. I’m sick of wearing condoms for you, so you better start your pill tonight. I can’t believe I went along with this to begin with.”

  Oh, yeah, my pill. I had gone to the doctor’s office the morning after Sebastian and I decided to be together. When she asked if I had unprotected sex since my last period, I had to tell her yes. I wasn’t allowed to start a new birth control until we were positive I wasn’t pregnant. She wrote me a prescription for the pills and told me I could start them once I started my period.

  I filled the prescription immediately and then came home to tell Sebastian the news. He wasn’t too happy he had to wait a few more weeks to claim what he called “His pussy.”

  It has been hard on him the past few weeks, especially since I started making him wear condoms if he wanted to have sex with me. I explained to him that I had already risked it too much with him and I wasn’t going to continue. I didn't tell him when my period was due, but he isn’t stupid.

  A few days ago he approached me to ask if my period had come yet. Our first time was twenty-three days before, so he knew if it hadn’t happened yet it should happen any day now. I told him that the day of his party is the day I should get my period. I needed to tell him something so he would lay off me for a few days.

  The truth is, I'm already late. As of tonight, I'm six days late. I keep trying to push away all thoughts of my period and possible pregnancy, but Sebastian makes that hard. Him bringing up my pill again quickly makes my stomach flutter and my head become dizzy.

  I’m not feeling sick from morning sickness. No, I'm feeling sick because deep down inside I know. I know I'm pregnant and the minute I take the test my life will officially change.

  I also know I won’t have another baby. I won’t do that to the memory of Miles.

  Sebastian notices the change in my face right away.

  “Are you okay?” he asks me.

  I'm going to lie. I have to lie

  “I’m fine. I just felt dizzy for a second. I, uh, actually already took my pill today. I took it this morning.” I hope he can’t tell I am lying.

  His smile grows wide as his tongue comes out to lick his bottom lip.

  “I never thought I would be so excited to hear about a woman being on the pill. Only a few more weeks and I can stop wearing those fucking condoms. That night we should have a celebration and burn the condoms box. What do you think?”

  I laugh lightly at this because he is so happy as I reply, “That sounds perfect.”

  We head to the limo to go to the hotel in downtown Miami. I think us driving together is a bad idea. It might make everyone suspicious i
f he is seen leaving the limo with another woman so I offer to stay in the vehicle and enter a few minutes later.

  Sebastian immediately shoots this idea down. We are picking up Darcy and her assistant at Sebastian’s condo downtown. The four of us are going to enter the event together and no one will be the wiser.

  Once we have Darcy and her assistant in the limo we drive to the hotel. The ride only takes ten minutes, but it feels like ten hours. I can’t stop thinking about my period being late. Sebastian bringing up the pill earlier affected me more than I thought.

  This past week I've had no desire to confirm if I'm pregnant, but now… it's killing me not knowing. Every second that goes by makes me more and more anxious. I’m not going to make it through the night.

  The four of us enter the ballroom of the hotel together and then we go our separate ways. Darcy and her assistant mingle with some men by the bar while I am introduced to several of Sebastian’s business associates.

  Even though he doesn’t introduce me as his girlfriend, he also doesn’t try to demean me by introducing me as anything else. He simply refers to me as Ms. Dechino, with no other explanation.

  Halfway into the night I can’t take the suspense anymore. We are talking with two men from the law firm that represent Sebastian’s company. We have been standing here with them for a while when I excuse myself to go to the washroom.

  Sebastian grabs a hold of my elbow to get my attention as I start to walk away.

  “Everything okay? Are you still dizzy?” Sebastian asks me. His concern for me makes me want to jump in his arms and never let go. He's the perfect man.

  “Everything's fine. I just need to freshen up.”

  He releases his hand from my elbow and with a small smile I walk out of the ballroom.

  It takes me a few minutes to find a bathroom, but I do find one. I'm lucky that very few people have to use the washroom at this moment.

  A few minutes later I'm sitting in the handicap stall, in the nicest hotel in Miami, staring at the pregnancy test I just took.

  Pregnant. It's as clear as day.

  I am pregnant.

  My emotions are everywhere, but I'm forcing myself not to cry. I don’t want to draw attention to myself. The last thing I need is everyone talking about the woman crying in the handicap stall of the women’s bathroom.

  I pull myself together and stand up in the stall. I tuck the pregnancy test back in my purse and walk out of the stall, approaching the sinks against the wall by the front doors.

  On the outside I look fine. Not a hair out of place. On the inside, I am dying.

  I wash my hands and take a deep breath before stepping out of the bathroom. I can’t stay here and pretend everything is okay. I'm about to have a meltdown and I need to have it in private. This is Sebastian’s night and I don’t want to ruin it.

  I spot Darcy out the side door of the hotel near the bathrooms. She's having a smoke with her assistant. I walk over to the doors and step through them. Darcy is a little surprised to see me out there with her.

  “Mia! I didn’t know you smoke. You need a light?” Even Darcy’s tenderness towards me is making me emotional. The pregnancy hormones must have kicked in.

  “Um… no. I actually don’t smoke.”

  “Oh, okay. Did you need something?”

  I can see the confusion across her face. She's dumbfounded on why I'm out here with her if I don’t need to smoke.

  “Yes, actually. I’m not feeling well, so I'm going to go back to the estate and lie down. I don’t want to disturb Sebastian on his big night, so could you make an excuse for me?”

  I hesitate before I say my next words.

  “Don’t tell him I went home sick or he'll just leave to check on me. You can tell him I left at the end of the night. Let him believe I'm still at the party mingling with guests. Can you do that for me?”

  Darcy looks me over skeptically, “You sure you’re just feeling sick. Nothing else happened, did it? If someone said something to you, you would let me know, right?”

  Darcy seems to be honestly concerned for me. I want to ease her concern.

  “No, no one said anything to me. I’m really not feeling well.”

  “Okay, then take the limo. Gary, our driver, will take you home. I'll call him now to bring the limo around,” Darcy says as she grabs her cell phone from her purse.

  A few minutes later I'm sitting comfortably in the back of Sebastian’s limo on my way to his estate. My mind is racing with all the possibilities of what I will do. I know if I tell Sebastian I'm pregnant, he'll want to keep it.

  I can’t keep it. I can’t raise another baby.

  Can I have an abortion? I know the answer to this before I finish asking myself. I can’t… I won’t have an abortion. It's my choice and I know I can’t do that to my baby.

  This leaves adoption.

  Can I give my baby up to some stranger? Will I feel okay knowing someone I don’t know is raising my son or daughter? I know there are a lot of couples in the world looking to be parents. I know that most of them will be and are great parents, but I can’t do that. I won’t risk the possibility of giving my child to the wrong family.

  Sebastian will be devastated if he knows I gave up our child. We haven’t spoken much about children, probably because I flipped out on him the one and only time it was brought up, but I know him enough to know that he would want this child. He would want our child.

  Maybe Sebastian can raise the baby on his own. He'll be a great father. He'll love our child enough for the both of us. Darcy seems like a great woman; maybe she will help Sebastian, so the baby will have a mother figure in his or her life.

  What am I saying?

  If Sebastian raises the baby that means we can’t be together. I can’t give up Sebastian, can I? I love him so much. He makes me happy. He makes me feel safe. He makes me feel loved. No one has made me feel loved the way he does.

  The thought of losing Sebastian makes me physically sick. I throw up in the trashcan in the back of his limousine. When I finally stop I realize we are back at the estate.

  This is where I have my moment of clarity. I'm finally seeing straight for the first time since I entered the limo. I know what I have to do.

  Our baby has to come first.

  I may not want to raise it or be in its life, but I want to protect it. Our baby deserves the best life possible and I know there is only one scenario that can make that happen.

  Gary opens the back door of the limousine for me and I thank him for giving me a ride to the estate. I immediately go up to the room I share with Sebastian. When I walk in the door I pause for a moment to take everything in.

  This will be the last time I stand in this room.

  I'll never get to see Sebastian again, talk to Sebastian again, kiss Sebastian again, and… make love to Sebastian again. These thoughts kill me, but I know it's for the best.

  I'm leaving tonight. I'll go through this pregnancy alone. I'll deal with the next eight or so months alone. Once I deliver our little boy or girl I'll contact Darcy.

  I will let Darcy know what happened and schedule a meeting with her to give her my baby so that she can give him or her to Sebastian. Sebastian is the only option for our child. Sebastian is the best option. He'll love his child unconditionally and that is all a mother can ask for.

  If I stay during the pregnancy I know he'll change my mind. I'll do anything for Sebastian and he will convince me to keep the baby. He'll convince me to raise the baby with him.

  I can’t do that to Miles.

  I walk into our closet to grab the duffle bag I arrived here with a few months ago. I fill it with the few items of clothes I came here with. I then go to my dresser to fill it with the few other items I have. I close up the bag and am ready to go.

  I still have my dress on from this evening so I slip it off and lay it out on the bed with my Louis Vuitton shoes. I also leave the borrowed necklace I wore tonight and the diamond stud earrings Sebastian gave
me. I won’t feel comfortable keeping the earrings.

  I slip on jeans and a t-shirt from my bag. Now I am ready to go.

  I think about leaving a note for him. I want to explain to him why I left. I want to tell him how much I love him, I want him to know I'll miss him every day… but I don’t.

  This is real life, not some romantic movie. I’m not the heroine. I am forever going to be the girl who left him during one of the biggest nights of his career.

  I sneak out the back of the estate and walk around the house looking for a way to leave without drawing attention to myself. I don’t want anyone to see me go. They might call Sebastian.

  After several minutes I realize I have only one choice. I am going to have to jump over the gate. There is a part of the gate that is low enough for me to escape from. It's about five hundred yards from the security entrance of the estate.

  Hoping I won’t get caught, I throw my bag over the gate then I climb over.

  Once I'm on the other side, I take my cell phone out and call for a cab.

  The cab picks me up about a mile down the road from Sebastian’s estate. I have no idea where I am going to go. My car is still on the estate grounds and I can’t chance driving it out of there. I have some money, but not a lot.

  Leaving me no other choice, I tell the cab driver where to take me.

  “Miami International Airport, please.”

  I don’t sound confident in my decision on where to go, but I know it's my only option. Without a car, I don’t have the freedom to go wherever I want to.

  “Where you headed off to?” the driver asks me.

  I don’t want to answer him. I want to stay here and be with Sebastian, but I'm making the right decision. I'm making the only decision that is right for our baby.

  With tears in my eyes I answer him, “I’m going back home… to Georgia.”

  Sebastian

  I watch Mia as she walks away to use the washroom. Something's been off with her all night, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. Maybe she’s just nervous because we are in such a public place together around all my colleagues.

  This night is a big fucking deal for me. I've been working on this oil contract for the past several months. Knowing the deal has finally closed is such a relief. This will free up a lot of my time so that I can spend more time with Mia.

  Mia.

  She looks so fucking great in that dress. She looks good in everything she wears. I am so glad that she started taking her pill today. I can’t wait to claim her as mine… again.

  Don’t get me wrong, because sex with Mia is amazing. I never knew it could feel this great, but I hate having something between us. She is mine and I want her to feel me inside her. To know, as she goes about her day, that a part of me is inside her.

  I know, it’s a man thing, a way to stake our claim, but nothing is sexier than knowing that the woman you love is filled with your cum inside her. The condoms we are using conflict with my plan of claiming her body as mine… daily.

  I excuse myself from Creed and Timothy, my lawyers, and start to make my way over to the bar. I want to have an ice tea waiting for Mia when she gets back. She's been drinking them all evening.

  Unfortunately, everyone seems to want to stop and talk to me about this deal. I understand their enthusiasm. This deal will make a lot of people a lot of money and hopefully make life a lot easier for millions of Americans.

  I put a smile on my face when I'm talking to the people who stop me. I try to be polite while keeping the conversations short. The truth is I can’t think about business right now, not when I know Mia is walking around here looking hotter than fuck.

  It feels like it's taken forever to get over to the bar. I order an ice tea for Mia and a scotch on the rocks for myself. I look around the room as the bartender makes our drinks. It’s been close to a half hour since Mia went to the bathroom so I know she should be around here somewhere.

  After looking around with no success, I grab our drinks. I continue looking for her throughout the ballroom, but she's nowhere to be found. Frustrated, I set our drinks down on the closest table and head out to the lobby.

  Maybe she was stopped by one of my guests out here.

  I don’t see Mia, but Darcy is leaning against the wall next to the washrooms, having a conversation with her father. Maybe Darcy knows where she is?

  I wait until her father walks into the men’s room before I approach Darcy. I don’t want her father hearing our conversation.

  “Hey, Sebastian! The party seems to be going great,” she greets me. This is the first time I've seen her all night.

  “Have you seen Mia? She left to use the washroom over thirty minutes ago and I can’t find her anywhere.”

  Darcy’s eyes dart to the floor as she bites down on her lips. This is Darcy’s tell. Not everyone has one but Darcy does. She can never tell a lie because her tell gives her away every time.

  “Darcy? Where is she?” I am starting to get worried. I glance over the lobby again to see if I could have missed her, but I don’t see her.

  Darcy lifts her eyes back up to me. She looks guilty, of what, I don’t know.

  “Promise you won’t be mad? She made me promise not to tell you. She didn’t want to ruin your night.”

  What could she possibly tell me that could ruin my night? The only thing ruining my night is not knowing where the hell Mia is.

  I grind my teeth together as I slowly say, “I won't get mad.”

  Darcy looks a little relieved by my declaration.

  “Okay, well she came out to see me while I was having a smoke. She said she wasn’t feeling well and was going to head back home to the estate. She didn’t want you to know because she knew you'd leave with her. She didn’t want to spoil your night. I had Gary drive her back to the estate. He’s back already so it must have gone okay.”

  She's still feeling sick. That’s why she wasn’t acting like herself tonight. She's right about one thing; I would have gone home with her.

  “I’m going to head back home to take care of her. Will you tell everyone thank you for me. This night was great.”

  “Sure thing. I hope she feels better,” Darcy says as she gives me a quick hug goodbye.

  “Thanks.” I leave no opportunity for anyone to stop me. I run out to where the limousines are parked and search for mine. It isn’t hard to find. Gary has the back door open and is bent over, his ass facing my direction.

  “Gary,” I yell to him.

  He gets up and turns around to greet me. “Mr. Price! I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I would have driven around front to pick you up.”

  “I know that, Gary, but I need to head home now. I just heard about Mia and I need to go check on her.”

  Gary nods his head as he speaks, “Yes, Ms. Dechino was not herself tonight. She got sick in the back of the limousine. I was finishing cleaning up when you called my name.”

  She's physically sick? Is she all by herself at the estate? I have to get to her.

  “Gary, please bring me home as fast as possible.”

  I hop into the front of the limo with Gary and we drive to the estate. It isn’t that long of a drive so I'm happy when we finally pull up to the front of the house.

  I open the passenger door and get out of the limo.

  “Thanks again, Gary. You can head back now and wait for Darcy to finish up.”

  “No problem, sir.”

  I head into the house and straight to my bedroom. I have to make sure she's okay. I wonder if the pill is making her sick? I know any kind of medication can have serious side effects.

  I open the door to my room, but my bed is empty. Mia’s dress, shoes, and jewelry are laid out on the bed.

  She must be in the bathroom.

  I walk over to the bathroom, but there's no Mia. I check the closet, but no Mia. I go to check if she's in the kitchen, but again, no Mia. I'm starting to panic.

  I run around checking every inch of my house, but Mia isn’t anyw
here.

  Where the fuck could she be?

  I go to check the employee quarters as a last resort, but she isn’t there. I'm screaming her name everywhere. I'm pretty sure I have woken up everyone who lives on the estate with me… possibly even my neighbors.

  When I run back into my house, Walter stops me in the kitchen. Walter is head of my security on the estate. Being wealthy brings a lot of unwanted attention and things can get out of hand. Walter is there to make sure nothing happens.

  We are facing each other in my dark kitchen. The only light is coming from the light above the sink. Walter’s face is blank, hard; he never shows any type of emotion. I like this trait in my security.

  “Mr. Price, I have something you might want to see,” Walter says as he pulls out his tablet and pushes some buttons on the screen.

  He hands me the tablet and tells me to press play. The video is dark and hard to make out at first. I'm confused on why Walter is wasting my time making me watch this video. Just when I'm about to hand him back the tablet someone walks into view.

  It's Mia.

  She's dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She's looking around the dark yard to make sure no one is watching her. Then I watch her throw a bag over the fence and a few seconds later she follows.

  Once she clears the fence and is off the property, she is out of view. I don’t know which way she went or where she is going.

  The video cuts to black as Walter takes the tablet out of my hands.

  She's gone.

  “I’m so sorry, sir. I’m not sure how she got past security, but I'll take care of the problem immediately. Nothing like this will ever happen again.”

  She's gone.

  Shit! She is fucking gone. No goodbye. Nothing.

  Walter continues talking, “I will try to see if any of the surrounding properties have cameras facing the street. Maybe someone saw something…”

  Mia is gone. She left me. I know in my heart she isn’t coming back. Tears threaten to fall down my face as I drop down to my knees. I no longer have the strength to stand up.

  I can’t believe she left. I thought she loved me. I thought were starting a life together. I thought she was happy.

  I told her I love her.

  I fucking love her!

  The tears start to fall. I can no longer keep them back. All of my memories of her start to flood my thoughts. Our first meeting… our first kiss… the way she smells… her messy hair when she first wakes up in the morning… the way she hums quietly to herself when she thinks no one is listening… the feeling of her skin against mine when I wake up.

  I won’t make it without Mia. She is my world.

  I bring my hands to my face as I continue to cry my eyes out. I can’t control the tears. I let the floodgates open and they aren’t closing anytime soon.

  Mia left me. My reason to live is gone.

  I will let her have tonight, but tomorrow I am going to find her.

  I am going to find her and bring her home.

  We are meant to be together and I am going to make her remember that.

  I just need to stop crying first.

  The Road To Forgiveness (Price, #2)

  The conclusion to Sebastian and Mia’s love story and the second book in this two book series is available now!

  If you enjoyed The Road To Price please consider leaving a review. Reviews are important in letting others know why you loved this book. Thanks!

 

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  Books by Justine Elvira

  The Road To Price (Price #1)

  The Road To Forgiveness (Price #2)

  Lawful Overdose

  Rough To Ride

  Changing His Game (The Reynolds Brothers #1)

  Playing His Game (The Reynolds Brothers #2)

  Acknowledgements

  The journey of publishing my first book has been crazy. I'm so thankful to so many people and I couldn’t possibly name you all. I love you!

  My children, who give me such encouragement and they are unaware they do it. I'm thankful for them every day. They are the reason I'm able to stay home and write.

  I want to thank God, who has blessed me so much in my life and is there during all of my ups and downs.

  Thank you to all the online blogs and web pages who supported me. I received so much insight on how to publish on my own. Without these sites I wouldn’t know what to do.

  A big thank you to the readers who bought this book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for your support.

  About The Author

  Justine Elvira is a best selling author at multiple retailers. She is also a mother and the Queen of Procrastination. Writing is her form of therapy and helps her escape reality for a little while.

  When she's not writing you can usually find her with her kids, or attached to her kindle.