The Baby Shower

by Tasha Blue et al.

  "You can't be serious... you wouldn't do that...." she whispered.

  He laughed at her and nodded. "Oh, you bet I would do that. Go on now, the clock is ticking. I think you could be packed and gone in... oh.... say, one hour? Yeah. I'll give you an hour. Better hurry up." He laughed again and she stared at him for a moment, then turned and hurried upstairs.

  She wept as she packed her suitcase, not sure at all how in the world she was going to leave her son behind, but she knew she had to do it, or she would lose him in course and bring public shame to Oliver and the family. She couldn't fight Lance and she knew it. She would be horrified if Henry found out about her affair with Oliver, and she didn't know if Henry would side with Lance if he found out about the affair. She knew she had no choice. She packed swiftly, and took it quietly down to her car, filling her car with all of it, and crying as she pulled the car seat out and walked over to set it on the work table.

  She went back to the library then, and found Lance sitting beside the bassinet. Mason was sound asleep. She walked over to him and picked him up, holding him close to her as she wept in agony. For one moment she thought she should run with him, but she knew she wouldn't get to the door, and she didn't want to take him from the home he was in.

  She nuzzled his soft sweet cheek and kissed him over and over until Lance finally stood up and took him out of her arms as she shook her head no, crying and begging him not to. She pleaded with him to reconsider, but he just laughed at her.

  "You had your chance yesterday, Grace. You blew it. Get out," he told her coldly.

  She reached for Mason one last time, but Lance jerked the baby away from her and tipped his head toward the door.

  "Time's up. Get out," he told her again.

  She took one long last look at Mason, and then turned and ran out of the room, going to her car, and driving away from the mansion she had called home, and the family that she loved with all of her heart.

  The Final Chapter

  Oliver walked into the nursery the next day, looking for Grace as he hadn't seen her around the house and she wasn't in her room. He was surprised to find a gorgeous redheaded woman in the nursery with Mason. She was petite, but very curvy with a tiny waist and a thick mane of red wavy hair. She had on a small dress and high heels, and a bright smile.

  Oliver stared at her. "Forgive me, but... who are you and what are you doing in here?" he asked curiously.

  She tipped her head to the side and smiled at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Amy. I'm the new nanny." She walked toward him and it looked like a real life pinup model walking to him. He shook her hand.

  "I'm guessing Lance hired you?" he asked with a sigh.

  She nodded and swooned. "He did. He's so handsome."

  Oliver almost wanted to ask her how old she was. Instead, he frowned and asked, "You don't happen to know where Grace is, do you?"

  Amy frowned back for a moment in thought. "Grace... oh! Is that the woman who was the baby's mother?"

  Oliver blinked at her. "She's the woman who lives in this room behind me, and she is the baby's mother, yes."

  Amy shook her head. "I don't think there's anyone in that room. Actually, Lance told me that Grace doesn't live here anymore and he was going to let me have that room if I wanted it. I definitely want it! It's so big, and it's so much nicer than this other little room where I am now."

  Oliver was stunned. "You may not move into the big room. What do you mean Grace doesn't live here anymore?"

  Amy shrugged. "I don't know. I guess she left. I just started yesterday, though, so I'm not sure what happened."

  "You started yesterday?" he asked her in surprise. He couldn't figure out where Grace had gone or when, and Amy wasn't much help.

  He nodded and thanked her and looked in on Mason who was sleeping peacefully in his crib. It occurred to Oliver that it was the first time Mason had ever slept in his crib.

  Oliver left Amy and went looking for Grace and Lance. His first stop was in Grace's room, where he discovered that all of her clothes and everything she actually really cared about where gone. It became obvious to him that she no longer lived there. His next stop was in the garage, where he wanted to double check to see if her car was gone.

  Not only did he discover that her car was gone, but he found that the car seat was sitting on the work bench, and then he knew. She really was gone. It had to be Lance, he thought. It had to be There would be no other reason for her to go, and nothing could make her leave Mason behind, except something rotten that Lance had managed to do. He began to grow angrier and angrier as he searched the house for his brother. He couldn't find him anywhere.

  In exasperation, he decided to go back up to the nursery to ask Amy where Lance might be. He walked into Grace's room first, to check to see if he might be there, but he wasn't. Then he walked into the nursery, but Amy wasn't in the nursery, and Mason was fast asleep in his crib still, so he walked into the nanny's room, and stopped dead in his tracks.

  Amy was laid out nude on the bed, her mane of red hair flung wildly around her beneath her head, and Lance, who was also nude, was nestled in between her legs pumping himself slowly into her as he sucked at her breast.

  "Lance! What in the hell are you doing? Another one? You're screwing another nanny? Where the hell is Grace?" he demanded furiously.

  Lance moaned as he continued pushing himself into Amy's body and he lifted his mouth from her hard pink nipple, looking up at his brother in annoyance. "Seriously, Oliver, you can see that I'm busy. Get out or wait your turn."

  "NO!" Oliver shouted at him, "I want to talk to you now!" he demanded.

  Lance just looked up at him. "Oliver, this is going to take me a long while. This is Amy's first time having sex, and I'm not about to interrupt that just because you're pissed off that your girlfriend walked out on you and her kid. Now get out and leave us alone, I'm busy, and I'm going to be busy for a good long while," he said as he turned his attention back to the embarrassed girl beneath him. He leaned down to kiss her mouth as he squeezed his hand over her breast and pushed himself further into her.

  "I'll be in the library when you surface." Oliver snapped angrily at him and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

  He headed down to the library and after pacing for a long while, he sat on the sofa and watched the fire in the fireplace, waiting. After what seemed like an eternity, Lance finally sauntered into the library, looking enormously pleased with himself.

  Lance poured himself a scotch and walked over to the fireplace, leaning his elbow on it as he looked down at his brother. "So what's so important that you wanted to drag me out of bed with a redheaded virgin?" he asked with a smirk.

  "You're really sick, you know that? She's supposed to be the nanny! Plus, seriously... how old is she, is she old enough? Is she eighteen at least?" Oliver asked in disgust.

  Lance laughed at him. "Yeah, she turned eighteen last week. I wouldn't hire her before her birthday. She was waiting to turn eighteen so she could come work for me."

  "You mean sleep with you," Oliver said wanting to vomit. "She's not here for Mason."

  Lance raised his eyebrows and nodded seriously. "Oh, no... she's definitely here for Mason. Someone has to take care of the kid and it's sure as hell not going to be me, so yeah, she's here for him, but I guess you could say that I'm just one of the perks of the job. She's pretty pleased right now." He looked proud of himself.

  "Do you have any morals at all?" Oliver asked him with narrowed eyes and no disguise over the disgust in his voice.

  Lance shrugged. "I love to screw beautiful women. Sue me."

  Oliver rose up off of the sofa. "Where is Grace. What happened to her?" he asked pointedly. 'I know that you know... and you haven't said anything to anyone. Where is she?" Oliver's tone grew more urgent.

  "I don't know where she is yet, brother. She left. She's going to let me know where she is soon though." He laughed.

  "Why is that?" Oliver asked curiously. "What happened? Nothing could have
made her leave here except you. Now tell me everything that happened!"

  Lance shrugged and emptied his glass. "Alright brother, you asked for it." he chuckled. "I guess it's a good thing to tell you, after all, you're in this mess just as much as she is."

  He walked over and poured himself another drink. "She caught me with Dana and called the wedding off."

  Oliver frowned. "Yes, I know that." he said in a low voice.

  Lance looked up from the mini bar at him. "Well, did you know that dear old Dad took my inheritance away because Grace decided not marry me?"

  Oliver looked at him in surprise. "No, I didn't know that. That doesn't sound like Dad."

  "Well, it wasn't the whole inheritance, it was the bulk of it. You know... the entire estate and all that. He was going to leave me with the little pittance of my original personal inheritance, which, considering that we are billionaires, would be insulting to say, anyone who wasn't even a millionaire, so I was a little put out. Or a lot. Yeah, I guess you could say I was pretty put out. Anyway, the old man tells me that since the wedding is off, he's giving everything to the little diaper dude upstairs instead of to me. I get the pittance, the kid gets the whole estate. Can you believe it? I think the old man has lost his mind, but whatever." He shrugged as he tipped his glass back again and swallowed.

  "How does this tie into Grace leaving?" Oliver asked darkly.

  "I'm getting to it, little brother, keep your shirt on. Anyway, Dad yanks the estate out from under me and I realize that I have to take immediate action. I was already planning on marrying that bitch just so I could get the estate... you see, Dad told me when I first got back that if I married her, and lived up to my responsibilities... that he would give me everything, except your little share, but I guess you aren't too worried about money. So, I agreed to marry her, so I could get the money, but then the dumb bitch called it off, and so I was back to square one!" he took a swig and then lifted his glass in the air. "What to do?"

  He walked around the sofa and looked at his brother with an evil smile. "Well, I had to go to plan B. I went up to talk to our little Grace, and make her an offer. I told her, you marry me, and put up with my girlfriends, or you get the hell out and leave the kid here. I also offered to give her a little of the old dog, but she turned me down. Stupid bitch."

  Oliver bit his tongue because he was still trying to figure out where Grace was, but the sin tally that Lance was racking up was getting him closer and closer to a technical knockout the minute Oliver didn't have anymore questions.

  Lance took another gulp and looked at his brother with a shake of his head. "She said she wouldn't marry me, so that took me to plan C. Plan C was that she leaves the house, and she leaves the kid, and she signs over custody papers to me, or I tell dear old dad that you two were sneaking around behind my back screwing each other while I was gone, and I take her to court for unfit parenting with our family attorney, who, as you know, has never lost any case, and this one certainly wouldn't be difficult for him. So, he wins custody of the kid for me, she loses all her rights and never sees him again, plus she gets her name, and bonus, she gets your good name, splashed through the mud in all of the newspapers all over the place. So... she finally wised up and listened to me, and she left. She's gone, brother. She's not coming back, thank God, and me? I win." He looked deliriously happy with himself as he polished off his second scotch.

  Oliver wanted to hit him then, but there were more questions. "Lance... how could you do something like that? There are so many reasons why that's one of the worst things I've ever heard."

  Lance shrugged. "So what?"

  "Why did you do it, Lance?" Oliver asked his older brother, suddenly wishing he never had an older brother.

  "Well, for the money, of course. Haven't you figured that out yet? It's all about the money. I want the money. I want the house. I want the whole estate. It's mine by right; I'm the first born. I was told I could have it if I married her, that didn't work out, so I had to find another way, and the other way was through the kid," he said with a chuckle.

  Oliver frowned and looked at him. "Why would a single bachelor like you want custody of a newborn baby?" he asked, looking at Lance suspiciously.

  Lance looked up at him and grinned. "Aha! You finally got it. Why indeed. Here's why, Ollie. See, If I have sole custody of the kid, then I am his guardian, and I have control of his money and all his property and possessions until he turns eighteen, which gives me eighteen years to get it all into my name. Trust me, I wouldn't need eighteen days to get my estate back from a baby."

  "So you made her leave and give up everything here with us, and her son, so you could get custody of him to steal back the inheritance that our father is giving to him, through your 'guardianship'. Is that right?" Oliver asked, walking slowly towards Lance.

  Lance nodded. "Yeah, that's basically it. Now, don't go getting any brave ideas, brother... if you think you're going to go tell Dad-"

  "I am going to go tell Dad right now." Oliver said with a furious glare.

  "-if you tell him, I'm going to divulge the secret of your sordid affair with my fiance. See how much Dad thinks of you then."

  Oliver couldn't believe it. He was being blackmailed. He couldn't go to his father. There was only one thing he could do. He reached his fist back about thirty years, and let it fly with every single ounce of emotion in him, and it landed squarely on Lance's jaw, knocking him back a few feet and laying him flat on his back on the floor. His mouth began to bleed and he reached up to hold his face as Oliver stepped over him and walked toward the half open door.

  "Go to hell, Lance," he said coldly as he reached for the door handle.

  He didn't see that his father had been standing there the whole time, having seen Lance pass him in the foyer, where he followed him to the library and stood listening as the whole conversation played out, right up to the punch, when he turned and walked silently away, heading to his office. It was half an hour before Lance was back on his feet and the bleeding had stopped. He sat on the sofa in the library, his hand up to his jaw holding an ice pack, when Wilson walked in.

  "Hey, Wilson, would you get me another drink?" he asked carefully as he held his jaw.

  Wilson just looked at him. "No, sir. Your father is waiting in his office for you. Please go see him now." And with that, Wilson turned and walked out of the room.

  Lance shot him a dirty look and groaned as he pushed himself up off of the couch and headed down the hall to his father's office. He tossed the ice bag on the floor before he got to the door, he straightened his clothes, and then he walked in with as much of a smile as he could muster. "Hello, Father," he said politely.

  Henry looked at him gravely. "Sit down."

  Lance got a bad feeling about whatever it was that they were going to discuss, and he sat down carefully.

  "What can I—“ he began, but his father interrupted him.

  "Don't speak. There is nothing that I want to hear you say. I will do the talking," he said quietly. He sighed heavily.

  "I love you, Lance, you were my first born, the oldest of my two sons, and I tried to do my best for you. I have failed, somehow, and you have failed even more so." Henry leaned back in his chair and regarded his son with sad, broken hearted eyes.

  "First, I'll tell you this. Our family attorney is on call for the three of us in this family, and that's always been the case, but I guess you didn't realize that part of his position requires that he send all activity he does for the family to me. I get copies of everything. I've gotten copies of business your brother has done; companies he has bought and sold, his last will and testament, things like that. For you I have gotten copies of lawsuits, and infringements, I have gotten court documents for fines and tickets and bail outs. I have seen everything that you have done behind my back over the years, never telling me the wrongs you have done, and never knowing that I knew all along. Perhaps I should have punished you more, or done more than talking to you as a way of intervention, because
if I had, perhaps you might not have gone as far as you did this last time." He reached onto the top of his desk and picked up a file, then sent it skittering over his desk toward his son.

  "Do you know what that is?" he asked quietly.

  Lance sighed. "I bet I could guess." He didn't reach for it.

  "I bet you couldn't. That is not the file that you had done for Grace. I saw the Grace file, and I was horrified and embarrassed. I cannot believe that you would go to such lengths to do such great harm to this family, to the mother of your child, and to your own son and his future. It boggles my mind to imagine it, but there it is in that file off to my side." He tipped his head, indicating another file beside him.

  Lance looked down at the file in front of him. "If that's her file, then what's this?" he asked in confusion.

  His father leaned toward him. "Before I tell you what's in that, I also want you to know that I stood at the library door a little while ago while you were speaking with Oliver, and I heard everything you said to him. All of it."

  Lance's face went white as a ghost, and his stomach dropped out of his body. "You heard it? All?" he asked with a dry mouth.

  Henry's eyes grew cold and angry. "Every word, Lance. All of it. That file before you is your own future, Lance. Open it up."

  Lance reached hesitantly toward it and opened it, looking down in shock at the check that was sitting on top of everything in the file. It was the pittance he was so disgusted to be inheriting, the amount that would be insulting to a millionaire, and not even negligible to a billionaire.

  He looked up at his father for an answer.

  Henry narrowed his eyes. "I am fed up with your abuse of everyone around you. I'm done letting you bully everyone around here and treat everyone else like they are beneath you and not worth anything at all. You will take this money, you will pack everything you want from this house that is yours to take, and nothing more, and you will leave immediately. Your son stays here. You will never come back. As of right now, and as much as it breaks my heart to do this, you are no longer a part of this family. Take your precious money and your things and go. Goodbye Lance, and good luck. I have a feeling you'll need it."