I looked at Bradley as we rode up in the elevator. He didn’t look nervous one bit but why would he? He was a billionaire of an amazing company. You didn’t get to become one by showing your emotions across your face all the time.
But I was nervous. And it was because Bradley had asked me to come with him to see Winter and her lawyer. When he asked me, I thought he had lost it. What would be the point? But he told me that I being there would unnerve her — that he loved me enough to bring me there, that he had nothing to hide in regards to her. For some reason, I couldn’t picture Winter ever unnerved, especially by me. I thought back to the time she spit in my face. At least lawyers would be here now. Would she really attack a pregnant lady?
That was another reason Bradley asked me to come with him — the pregnancy. He said knowing that I was there, pregnant with his child, would throw her off balance. It would be his last hurrah before he signed off on the divorce agreement.
The doors slid open and I realized my palms were sweaty. I tried to wipe them off on my blouse. I kept telling myself that I had nothing to fear as the girl behind the desk led us to an office at the end of the hallway. She knocked twice and then opened the door for us.
Bradley’s lawyer was at one side of the table, an older black man who was going through some papers. On the other side was Winter’s lawyer, a tall Hispanic man with a narrow face. And then there was Winter.
Her hair was still dyed the flattering brown color that made her appear more adult than her blonde locks had. She was wearing a pantsuit — how modest of her — and her fake nails had been removed, as if that made her appear more down to earth. But her makeup couldn’t hide the fact she had bags under her eyes that showed she hadn’t been sleeping. She appeared older too, as if she had been aging at a faster rate than normal.
When Winter saw me, her entire body froze. She went extremely still, from head to toe and her eyes narrowed. I wanted to turn around and leave just then, bolt down to Bradley’s limo and just wait it out. Me being here didn’t unnerve her at all. No, instead she looked as though she just wanted to kill me.
“What is she doing here?” Winter spat, not averting her gaze from me.
“This won’t take long and we’re going to lunch after.” Bradley lied, his tone mild.
She seemed to get angrier, “I still do not understand what she is doing here.”
Bradley pulled out a chair for me next to his lawyer and I sat down, trying to smooth out my skirt and look natural. Bradley sat next to me and laced his fingers through mine. Winter’s gaze narrowed.
“Is she allowed to be here?” She said, turning to look at her own lawyer, “This whore of my husband’s shouldn’t be allowed in here.”
“Ex-husband.” Bradley connected lately.
Winter’s gaze narrowed at him, “We’ll see about that.”
Bradley’s lawyer cleared his throat and began to tell Winter that Bradley was agreeing to the terms of the divorce and would be paying the sum she had requested. I watched her face very closely. It seemed to fall as his lawyer talked on. She had been hoping he was going to stay and fight, I realized. That was all that this was. Deep down, I knew that Winter wanted Bradley to hang around forever and maybe change his mind and come back to her. I wonder if she could tell now that it wasn’t going to happen. It must be sinking in for her because her face was darkening.
“So what, that is it?” She snapped.
Bradley didn’t reply, just left his steady gaze upon her.
Winter kept going, “You’re just going to go through with the divorce?”
“I told you in the first place that this would be happening.”
“Because you’re with this slut? You know she is using you, Bradley. Her family is broke and now you have all the money she would need, don’t you see that? Listen, I’ll take you back. We can start over. Have children of our own. I’ll forgive you for cheating.”
Bradley shook his head, “Winter, it is not cheating if I’m not with you anymore.”
She seemed not to hear him but to keep going on, almost desperate, “You don’t need her. Look at her. She’s plain and dull and won’t keep your interest, Bradley. You should be back with me. Come back with me, Bradley!”
“Please keep your insults of Serena out of your mouth.” Bradley replied, firmly.
Her mouth opened and closed, like a fish. Her lawyer shook his head at her, as if willing her to please be silent. Winter shut her mouth and looked at Bradley and then her gaze flicked to me. Her gaze had no warmth, just a steely coolness to it, as if this was all my fault and I had ruined everything
“You’re making a mistake, Bradley.” She said, in one last attempt to get through to him.
Bradley stood up, helping me to my feet, “My lawyer will send the paperwork over to get this over with.”
He nodded curtly at Winter and took my head in his, leading us out of the room. The door shut behind us and I couldn’t help but think we had truly won.
Back at the house, Greg was playing that video game again as Bradley finished cleaning up the dishes. I watched Greg play, looking thrilled. The week was almost up for how long I told Bradley that I would be staying here. That was before…everything changed, however.
“You look like you’re thinking about something.” Bradley said to me as he dried off a dish.
“No,” I lied, “I was thinking about what I need to pack to get us back to the apartment this weekend.”
Bradley looked surprised, “You’re going back?”
“I didn’t want to make you think I was staying without even discussing it with you.”
“I don’t want you to go,” He admitted, “At all. I’d want you to stay here.”
“For how long?”
“Why not for good?”
I looked at him, my resolve already wavering him. Why think I still needed to play hard to get or make him second guess us? He was going to be divorced from Winter soon and I was pregnant with his child.
“I don’t know, Bradley. It is just going to get crazier here…”
“So let’s leave.”
I looked up at him, “What?”
“Let’s leave until after the baby is born. We can hire a tutor for Greg to come with us. We can travel the world and after the baby is born, we can settle down.”
My mouth dropped open, “But the business…”
“I can work on the business anywhere. Perks of being an owner. Plus, I’ve been putting off touring other companies and expanding. It would work well for me.”
I looked back at Greg, “But Greg pulled out of school? Shouldn’t he be around kids his age?”
“He’ll be around kids his age all over the world.”
I looked up at Bradley, “Let me think about it.”
Chapter 10
The lights glimmered in front of me as I sat down on one of the patio chairs. Both Greg and Bradley were fast asleep but my head was spinning. I kept thinking back to what we had discussed earlier that night — about us leaving till the baby was born, traveling the world and expanding the business.
It was crazy to think I could agree to such a thing. To just leave like that…what would everyone say?
But the small voice in the back of my head said — what else could they say? Could they say anything else that would be worse than what was being said now?
I thought of all the places I had wanted to see but couldn’t. My husband had been working hard in real estate and didn’t like airplane travel to begin with. Imagine long white beaches, kicking my feet up, watching Greg play in the sand while I caught up on all the reading I wanted to do.
I thought of going to Paris, walking along the streets, falling in love with the fashion. All the places I could have gone when I had money but never got to go to.
I tried to think of the downsides. People will think less of me for going, I realized, they will truly think I was with Bradley for his money. There would be no way to show them that I was with Bradley for love.
; I would have to stop thinking about them. I would have to decide to do things for myself. I would sit down with my father and explain everything. He wouldn’t care as long as I was happy, safe and he got to see the baby.
Then I would leave. Imagine seeing the world! How could I turn it down because people would talk ill about me?
Let Winter stay here and spread her lies and her venom. There was no way she wouldn’t do that after Bradley agreeing to pay her off and divorce her.
I stood up, feeling better. The lights shone in front of me. I had a trip to plan, I thought excitedly. But first — I had one more request.
It was the weekend and Greg was lounging on the patio. He was actually reading. A proper book too, nothing with tons of images or a comic book — an actual book. Bradley had mentioned it was good and had a lot of action which seemed to be all that Greg needed to hear to pick it up. Greg had taken to Bradley quickly. He liked it when he was around and seemed to be excited whenever they would hang out. Maybe he missed his dad or missed having that father figure in his life — I didn’t know. But I felt blessed that it was going smoothly.
Bradley was watching TV, wearing sweatpants and lounging on the couch. He was flipping through channels, unable to find anything that suited his interests. I thought he was just being picky. He seemed a little distracted but that was understandable with everything that was going on. I plopped down next to him.
“What’s up?” He asked me as he landed on a channel showing the history of the cheeseburger.
“I was thinking…” I started.
“That’s never good.” Bradley joked, turning to look at me.
I smiled, “I was thinking about us leaving, you know?”
“What about it?”
I took a deep breath, “I think we should.”
His face lit up and he sat up straighter, grabbing my hands, “Really?”
“On one condition.”
Bradley looked at me evenly. My heart was pounding even though I didn’t know why I was so afraid. I glanced back at Greg, reading on the patio, looking contented.
“I want you to marry me.” I said.
The words hung in the air for a moment and Bradley looked taken aback but didn’t let go of my hands, “Marry you?”
“Yes. Not now, obviously…since you’re divorcing still. But before the baby is born. I don’t need a big affair. We can go to the court house. I did the big wedding before…with my first husband. I don’t need it now.”
“This is what you want?”
I nodded, “This is what I want. For me and Greg. A new start, right? You don’t have to answer right away, Bradley but I want to be honest with you — this means a lot to me. This is where I want us to go. I know it is fast but I think we truly, honestly have something here.”
His gaze softened and he smiled, “Me too, Serena,” He leaned closer, “Can I tell you something?”
“Sure.” I said, my gaze flicking up to meet his.
He let go of my hands and started pulling something out of the pocket of his sweatpants. My heart stopped. It was a tiny box. He raised it to our eye level and then opened it slowly.
“I was going to ask if you would marry me.” Bradley murmured.
I was staring at an incredibly large engagement ring. Diamonds lined the band with the largest one raised and in the middle. It caught the light and shone beautifully. My heart stopped. It was beautiful. I felt taken aback by the turn of events. Bradley wanted this too, I realized, just as much as I did. The thought warmed me. I wasn’t rushing him into anything.
“Of course,” I laughed, a smile breaking out over my face, “How could I say no?”
He slid the ring on my finger where it seemed to glow. I had never seen anything more stunning. A shiver of delight ran through me. I looked up at him, smiling. This was exactly where I wanted to be.
***
Five months later
The ceremony was small. I hadn’t even needed one but Bradley insisted that we do something. It was on a beach in Greece, the sun high in the air and the waves crashing against the surf. The breeze swirled my dress around my ankles and my hands rested on my baby bump.
There were only fifty people, mostly on Bradley’s side. On my side — four. My father, Greg and Cathy who had brought her husband. She was swirling around the rich and famous, looking completely in her element. I had to laugh seeing how thrilled she looked.
Greg was stuffing his face with shrimp. He was tan now and loved climbing along the rocks on the beach. We had been in Greece for a month and every morning, when I woke up to look over the ocean, I couldn’t believe my life.
I looked down at my wedding ring that Bradley had slipped on my finger only an hour ago. The whole thing felt like a dream. Since leaving the states, we had spent two months in Paris and a month in Rome, followed by a month in London. Greg had flourished out of the strict school setting and stuck to Bradley like glue.
I hadn’t heard from Winter since the divorce was official two months ago. She had faded from the press. They were no longer interested in the billionaire’s ex-wife. Her claims seemed unfounded now that Bradley had swept me away, little old pregnant me and married me. Maybe she still was talking to the press — I had stopped checking the gossip mags.
Bradley slid up next to me, looking handsome and dashing in his tuxedo, “You look lost in thought.”
I shook my head, “Just happy.”
He took my hand as the photographer snapped a shot and then he kissed me on the cheek, “Happiness suits you.” He placed the palm of his hand against my swelling belly.
I smiled, “You were right, about having a ceremony. It’s lovely.”
“It seemed wrong to be in such an amazing place and just run off to the court to get married. This is quaint. Lovely.”
It was a far cry from his wedding to Winter is what he truly meant. I squeezed his hand. I looked back along the wedding party. Cathy had made her way over to the cupcake bar (my idea. My sweet craving due to the pregnancy was unreal) and was waving me over.
“I should go see how Cathy is doing.” I said, waving back to her.
“Go, before she tries to seduce one of my friends right in front of her husband.”
I laughed and walked over to her as she added extra frosting to her cupcake. I couldn’t help but remember that it was due to her all of this happened. Cathy was the one who had gotten me the interview. This was all thanks to her. I grabbed her in a hug, as much as I could with my belly between us and gave her a peck on the cheek.
This was a perfect life and it was all mine.
-END-
Claimed by the Billionaire: Rescue #3 Page 5