by Joya Ryan
“I just…I thought Preston was different. I know he has some issues but I’ve been honest with him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I wiped my eyes and put a palm to my stomach. “But I want this baby.”
Kate nodded.
I wouldn’t go after Preston for anything. Not a dime, not his name, not anything. But this little thing inside me was mine. Something innocent and good, and I wouldn’t take that for granted.
Kate’s phone buzzed on the bedside table. She reached for it.
“Hello?” Kate frowned at me. “Hi, Judy. Yeah she’s right here.”
My heart stilled and I took the phone. “Mom?”
“I tried calling your p-phone but it went straight to voicemail and I know K-Kate was visiting...”
My mother was on crying and on the brink of hysteria. Damn it! I’d left my phone at the penthouse along with everything else. “Mom, it’s okay. What’s going on?”
“Your dad is m-missing.”
Dread and terror wrecked into me like a one-ton anvil. It was everything I could do to pull myself together and not vomit.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I woke up because I heard a banging sound. The front door was wide open and your father was g-gone.”
“It’s okay, mom,” I whispered, not sure at all if it really was.
“If he’s confused and wandering around lost—” a sob broke my mother’s voice and I clamped a hand around my own mouth to keep from doing the same thing.
“We’ll find him. I want you to hang up with me, and call the police. I’m going to the airport now.” I shot up and Kate followed suit, worry plaguing her face. She went to the closet and grabbed her coat. “I’m on the next flight home. You stay there, call the police and wait for them, okay?”
“O-okay.” I’d never heard my poor mother so scared in my whole life.
“Call me on Kate’s phone if you need, but as soon as I get on the plane I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.”
The phone clicked off and I grabbed my shoes.
“What’s going on?” Kate asked.
“My dad is missing. I think he wandered off and,” I choked then cleared my throat, “I have to go.”
“Of course!” Kate called for Adam and in less than two minutes he had a car waiting out front of the hotel.
“I don’t have my I.D. or any money—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Adam said, stuffing his cell in his pocket. “I have it covered. We’re taking a private plane out of here, it’ll be ready by the time we get to the airport.”
Tears ran down my cheeks but I smiled at him. “Thank you so much.”
He wrapped one of Kate’s coats around me. “You’re family, Megan.”
Kate nodded and put her arm around me, picking up her purse as we walked toward the front door and out.
“Everything will be okay,” Kate whispered, rubbing my shoulder. I looked at her and hopped to God she was right. Because I didn’t think I could handle losing one more thing I loved.
Chapter Twenty-One
Beep…beep…beep…
I clutched my father’s hand and stared at the heart monitor.
“Why don’t you come with me to the cafeteria, honey,” my mom asked. She looked fragile, as though she’d aged ten years in the past ten hours. “That’s okay. I want to stay with him.” By the time I had gotten back home, the police had found him shivering on a park bench about a mile from my parents’ house. When he first woke up in the hospital, he was disoriented and scared but relatively aware. The doctors got him calm and he was now sleeping.
“The doctors said he should be cleared to go home tonight.”
I nodded. They had hooked him up to an I.V. drip for hydration and ran several tests to make sure he hadn’t suffered any strokes. Everything came back clear. They think that he woke up confused and wandered off on his own, which was apparently not uncommon for dementia patients.
“I was going to ask them if we could still travel for your wedding tomorrow.”
“No, mom. I don’t want to push him. And…the wedding…” I gripped my father’s hand a little tighter.
“He wouldn’t want you postpone, honey. Have you called Preston? I’m sure he’s worried sick—”
“I’m sorry, mom, but do mind if I just have a few minutes?” Adrenaline was crashing and every emotion known to man was pulsing on and off within me like a spastic child flicking a light switch. I hadn’t brought myself to admit anything to my mother yet.
“Of course. I’ll bring you back some coffee, okay?”
“Thanks.”
With a pat on my shoulder, her soft footsteps faded from the room, leaving me alone with my sleeping father.
“Daddy,” I whispered, and hung my head. “I’m so scared.”
Tears ran down my face and hit the top of his hand I was holding. He looked older since I saw him last. Smaller. I felt helpless and didn’t even know where to begin sorting any of this out. For now, I focused on the positive things. He was alive and okay. And hopefully, he’d wake up and be relatively cognizant.
A warm palm ran down my back. I turned to find—
“Preston?” My voice held almost no sound. A tidal wave of warmth and relief crashed over me, then was quickly sucked up by an empty funnel of frost. Emotions warred and I didn’t know how to feel.
“I’m sorry, Megan.” He glanced at my father. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes.” I stood to face him, using the edge of the bed to balance my weak legs and tugged on my shirt near my belly button. His eyes flew to the action and something terrified and painful flashed across his face.
“Are you okay?”
I wanted to balk. How could he ask me that? “No.”
“Please, sweetheart…” he mumbled just loud enough to reach my ears. He reached out for me and I stepped back.
“Fuck…” he whispered, and halted. “I lost you, didn’t I?”
I didn’t speak. Couldn’t. After a night of crying and sick with worry, I wasn’t prepared to take him on. What I needed to say was stuck in my throat. Tears coated every syllable I attempted, and I began to choke on my words before they even left my mouth.
“I have nothing, sweetheart.” He stepped again, and again I moved back. “I have nothing to offer you, to show you, prove to you that I deserve you. Because I don’t.”
I bit my bottom lip but the damn thing trembled anyway. There had to be some strength left in me, I just needed to find it. Tell him that I was keeping the baby whether he liked it or not. Tell him that I didn’t need him, but just the thought going through my mind brought a fresh dose of gut-wrenching pain.
He stared hard at my face. “I tried to find you. When I learned about your father, I came here.” He ran a hand through his hair and his red-rimmed eyes glanced at the ceiling. “I’ve tried making sense of this all night. I’ve pored over documents, bank statements, bills and I found nothing.”
I frowned. Not understanding where he was going with this.
He apparently caught on to my confusion because he explained, “You have access to a lot. Money, credit, the Strauss name, and you didn’t use any of it. The weekly allowance I gave you was directly wired every Monday to your parents and that’s it.”
He was saying things I already knew, but obviously he had thought something very different about me. “Did you really think I would use you like that? It’s never been about the money, not in the way you’re implying.”
“I know what it’s been about. Because that’s what I made it about,” he whispered. Not blaming, just stating. “And I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me. I’ll never forgive myself for not being there for you last night, Megan. Not being the one you turned to when you found out about your father, because I pushed you away when you needed me most.”
A humorless laugh escaped his mouth and all I could do was stand mute, my heart breaking.
“I knew better,” he said. “The contract was meant to keep all of these kinds of things at bay. No mess. No emotions. You were supposed to be an element I controlled within my world.”
My head hung and my pulse pounded through my temples. He must have taken the opportunity to move closer when I wasn’t looking because I felt his heat surround me, chasing that nagging chill away. Then he did the most unexpected thing—he hit his knees before me.
“Megan, you are my world.”
He looked so defeated, so sad. His hands fisted in his lap, as if trying not to reach out for me.
“I don’t know how or when it happened. But it did. You. Are. Everything.” His voice cracked just enough to send a sharp sting of pain racing through my blood.
I shook my head. It hurt. All of this hurt too much. “Preston…you can’t just…”
I stepped back and his hands shot out and grabbed the back of my thighs.
“No, no don’t do that,” his plea was so low I could barely hear it. I’d never seen such pure fear mar a man’s face. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. So, so sorry. I can’t. I can’t lose you.” He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his face against my stomach.
“Either of you,” he whispered.
Tears fell so hard I couldn’t stop it. Large drops tracked down my face and plummeted onto the top of his head.
“I love you, Megan.” His arms encased me harder. “Whatever it takes to prove that to you, I will do. There’s so much I’m not ready for. Not good at…but I’ll try.”
“I just wanted to make you happy. Give you, help you get, everything you wanted,” I whispered. “I didn’t get pregnant on purpose.”
His breath fanned over my belly on a long exhale. “I know. And what I want is you.”
“Why?” I whispered, more defeat washing over me. “I can’t help you anymore. Your father made it clear that if you don’t get married tomorrow, you won’t get the three percent.”
That must be the reason he came back, to talk me into leaving today and the wedding—
“I don’t care about the three percent.” He buried his face in my stomach and splayed his fingers over my lower back. “I don’t care if I lose the whole empire. All I care about is you. Our baby. Our family. Your father is important and I’m staying here until he’s well.”
“Meg-Pie?” My father’s sleepy voice called out from behind me.
Preston rose to his feet and I spun to face him.
“I’m here, Daddy.”
He smiled and his eyes opened further, looking at me, then Preston.
“And who is this young man?”
I glanced at Preston. “That’s the man I’m in love with.”
My father smiled and raised his hand to Preston. He clasped it gently and shook. “Sir.”
“Well,” he sat up slightly in bed and I gripped his forearm. “You’re as fussy as your mother,” he playfully growled at me. “Let me sit up here so I can look at the boy.” He looked at Preston for a long moment then at me. “This is the one you’re set to marry?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Preston jumped in.
“If she’ll have me, sir.” Preston reached for my hand and I let him. Twining our fingers he whispered in my ear, “I’ll wait as long as it takes. Do whatever you command. But understand that I’m not letting you go.”
“Well, that sounds like a man who is worthy,” my father chuckled.
I laughed a little and Preston took me in his arms and kissed every last ounce of pain away. Hugging him tight, I pulled him as close as I could.
“I love you,” he whispered against my mouth.
“I love you too.”
“I’m glad.” He smiled. “Because we both know I’m not above bribery.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You look beautiful, Meg-pie.”
I clutched to my father’s arm and smiled up at him. “Thank you, Daddy.”
The violin started playing, our cue. My dad gently cleared his throat, which sounded more like a low sob, and looked down at me. There was a misty sparkle in his blue eyes. Recognition.
It had been a few weeks since he woke up in the hospital, and since then, he was having more good days than bad. Something I was beyond grateful for.
“I don’t care what is happening today,” he said. “You will always be my baby girl.”
Batting my lashes against the rising tears, I nodded. Right now, my father knew who I was, and in that first step down the aisle, he was walking me toward the man I loved. This moment was the one I had thought of from the time I was a little girl. This was the moment I clung to when everything else seemed lost.
It was a moment of clarity.
I was walking toward a promise of something better. Something real. And that promise was in a crisp black tuxedo with the most hypnotic green eyes. Preston’s gaze never left mine as my father took me closer and closer to the altar.
In that moment, everything was perfect.
***
“Please God don’t make me do the funky chicken again,” Emma groaned.
Kate and I just laughed. We had taken a break from dancing and sat at the table. The reception had been in full swing for hours and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Charlie and Darlene didn’t bother showing up to either the wedding or reception, which was fine with me. Despite having to push the date back a few weeks, many of our guests still made it.
I looked around and took in every sight and sound of the magic in the room. My parents were dancing together and the smile on my mother’s face made me light up inside. Across the room, a pair of dark emerald eyes watched me. Even at a distance, I could feel Preston’s heat snare me.
“Is it just me, or does the man look even sexier with a wedding band on his finger?” I sighed, openly ogling my husband.
Husband. The word would take some getting used to. But it was definitely growing on me.
“I think Emma is more taken with the guy Preston’s talking to,” Kate teased, elbowing Emma’s side.
“Please,” Emma said and took a long swallow of champagne. “I’m not taken with anyone.”
“Oh, I think you are,” Kate said. “Who is that anyway?”
“That’s Preston’s friend, Rhys Striker. Emma, you’ve met Rhys.” I wiggled my brows at her.
She had been acting more and more flighty lately and never once spoke about Rhys since the night of the Armory. But the way they were staring at each other meant obviously something was going on there. Other than him formerly being in the military and a part of the millionaire club, I didn’t know much about him.
Emma’s gaze skated back to Rhys and I hid a grin. Just when I thought I saw a spark of interest in Emma’s eye, and hoped that she’d admit to whatever was going on with this guy, she glanced away mumbling something along the lines of Rhys looking like Thor. I didn’t really hear her because Preston was closing in on me, and the man made everything else melt away when he came near.
“Mrs. Strauss,” he said, and held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
My face already hurt from the amount of smiling I’d been doing, but at this rate, I’d never be able to stop. I was so beyond happy that life just seemed simple.
“Of course.”
Preston helped me to my feet just as the band began slowing the rhythm. Walking to the middle of the floor, Preston pulled me into his strong arms and swayed me effortlessly.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look?”
“Only about a thousand times.” I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him.
“I’ve been thinking.” He spun me then brought me back. “I want to put the three percent my father gave us in our child’s name.”
My mouth hung open. Though we hadn’t kept the original wedding date, John still gave his shares to Preston and was elated to find out we were expecting.
“It’s you’re company—”
“It’s ours,” he said, squeezing my right hand.
&nbs
p; “What do you think of naming him Leo?” he asked.
“My dad?”
Preston grinned. “Sort of. I was thinking if it’s a boy…” Cupping my hip, his thumb rubbed across my stomach. “We could name him Leopold after your father.”
I didn’t think it was possible for my eyes to produce any more tears that day, but sure enough, they started flooding again.
“I like it. Leopold Preston Strauss.”
Preston’s jaw clenched and so much happiness rippled off him.
“I’m so in love with you,” I murmured.
“And I’m beyond a rational thought in love with you, sweetheart.”
In the middle of the glossy dance floor, locked in Preston’s arms, I realized that he never had the power to drown out the world around me. He was the force that my entire universe spun around.
“I’m going to make you happy, Megan.”
I looked up at the man who started out as a wild one-nighter, then became a contract lover, only to end up changing the rules and possessing me completely.
“I believe you.”
The End
But…
Turn the page for some bonus material!
Adam and Kate
“I’ve been waiting all damn night to get you out of this dress,” Adam said, trailing his mouth from my lips to my jaw. He blindly opened our suite door while I frantically unbuttoned his shirt. We had just seen Preston and Megan off for their honeymoon and didn’t even make it out of the elevator before we were undressing at each other.
“Marry me,” he said, kicking the door shut behind him and backing me into the room.
“Yes,” I whispered, continuing to kiss him like crazy. That was the main feeling Adam brought out in me. Crazy. A few months ago that scared me. Now, I loved it. He was my anchor, just as much as he was my wings.
Every day he asked me to marry him, and every day I said yes. What he was really asking would be the question that came next. The same question he’d been asking since he proposed.