I Choose You: A Secret Billionaire Romance

by Krista Lakes

  I snapped a picture of the pregnancy test on my phone and then wrapped it in toilet paper and tossed it in the trash. I thought about leaving it, but the idea that somehow Lauren would find it made me too nervous. I grabbed the bag and took it to the outside garbage.

  The night sky was peaceful as I walked to the communal garbage. In the distance a dog barked and I could hear a jet plane overhead, but overall, it was a quiet and soothing night. I looked up at the sky, wishing I could see just a few more stars to make a wish on.

  I had wished on stars for my job at ZephTech, and that had come true. Maybe, I could wish for everything to turn out right and that would happen too.

  I paused, sending up a grateful thank you to the stars for giving me my job at ZephTech. For the first time since accepting the position, I was glad. The salary would be enough to support me and the baby, and as a full-time employee I had excellent health insurance. Because of the job, I wouldn't have to ask Jacob to help with the baby.

  I smiled at the stars. The universe was telling me that I had made the right decision. It was putting me where I needed to be. Things were going to work out the way they were supposed to.

  I was going to make it. I was proud of myself. I didn't need his help or his love. I was strong enough to do this.

  Granted, Jacob could pay for a dozen nannies and a private hospital since he was apparently a billionaire, but I didn't want to ask him for a cent. I wanted nothing to do with him, even if it would make my life easier.

  He can spend his money on the baby, I told myself. I don't want any of his dirty money.

  I pushed away the small voice saying that it would be easier to do this with him. That I still loved him. I pushed away the voice that asked if I really could do this. The job was so demanding that I was barely making it while pregnant and I wasn't sure what I would do once the child was born.

  One step at a time, I told myself. One step at a time.

  I would keep my job until something better came along. Once the baby was born, I could move back home and ask my parents for help. I could work from home and I would have the support of my family. Until then, I would just save as much of my giant paycheck as I possibly could.

  It felt good to have a plan.

  Bing.

  A new email popped up on my phone. The subject line was about a new job opportunity. At first, my instinct was to ignore the email. Now that I had won the ZephTech internship, I was receiving job interviews that would have made me scream for joy seven weeks ago. But, there was something about this one that caught my eye. I recognized the company as one that made some of my favorite games.

  Dear Alicia Chambers,

  As the winner of the ZephTech internship, we would like to invite you to interview for a brand new position at our new off shoot company, DragonFury Gaming.

  We've seen great success in the past year and are in need of a new development programmer. We believe that your creative skills and passion for programming would be the perfect fit for our company.

  The details of the position are below. Please call to schedule an interview.

  I quickly scanned the email and my breath caught. It was a game development company that was branching off of one of my favorite gaming systems. I could barely believe my eyes. The more I read, the more it sounded like what I wanted the ZephTech position to be.

  I read it three times just to be sure. I'd been fooled into thinking that a job was exactly what I wanted once before, and I wasn't in a hurry to do so again. Yet, what harm could a job interview do? I didn't have to take the new position, but it might be a better fit than what I currently had at ZephTech.

  I put the phone back in my pocket and looked up once more at the sky. The universe really was looking out for this baby, I decided and I went back inside.

  Chapter 20

  It was now Friday at three, and I was ready for my interview. I'd barely been at ZephTech as a full time employee for a week now, and I was ready to pull my hair out. I hated it. Without having an end date, every day was worse than before. My heart just wasn't in doing everything for the company with only a pat on the back for reward. I was looking forward to this job interview. I was hoping it would give me something a little less demanding, something that I could continue to do once the baby was born. Even if it didn't pan out, I was excited for the job interview as a chance to expand my horizons.

  I wore my best suit. It was a dark gray with strong lines that I felt projected strength and dependability. At least, I hoped it did. Paired with some cute low pumps, I felt ready to take on the world.

  My phone buzzed. It was another phone call from Jacob. I didn't answer it. I still didn't want to talk to him. I'd told Lauren that he wasn't allowed in the apartment, and upon hearing that he had used my programming ideas, she was furious. She had actually gone out in the hallway the one time he had tried to see me and she told him off herself.

  After the cops were called by some worried neighbors, he stopped trying to come to the apartment. I was just glad his emails, texts, and calls were easy to delete, even if every one of them reminded me that I needed to tell him about the baby eventually. But, the key word in that sentence was eventually.

  I parked my car and made sure my resume was still tucked neatly in a folder along with some samples of my work. I was ready for my interview.

  Thankfully, my morning sickness was behaving itself. Since figuring out that was the culprit, I had changed my eating habits. I had ginger ale on me at all times and made sure that I had saltine crackers to keep something in my stomach. It wasn't exactly a cure, but it did seem to help.

  I parked my car and started walking to the interview location. We were to meet at a chess table in the middle of a large park nearby and I was given exact GPS coordinates. I was rather surprised that it was outdoors, but the woman on the phone said that the boss liked to be a little informal for job interviews. He felt that putting people in nature tended to show their true qualities, or something like that.

  Either way, it was going to be a unique interview.

  I easily found the chess table and took a seat, making sure that I looked put together and ready for my interview. I was a couple of minutes early, so I double checked that I was in the right location. According to my GPS, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

  I took a deep breath and rehearsed my job interview questions in my head. I was half way through telling myself of a time when I went above and beyond on a project when I noticed someone walking toward me. It was a younger man in comfortable clothing, but considering anything went in the tech world, I wasn't terribly surprised. I stood up and smiled, ready to greet my prospective future employer.

  “Mr. Brandish?” I asked, holding out my hand. “Peter Brandish?”

  The man looked up from his phone and shook his head. “No, I'm here for the monster.”

  I stared at him for a good two seconds before he motioned to the table behind me. “What?”

  “Oh, I see it,” he replied, pointing to my table. He held up his phone and spoke into the speaker. “I'm Sorry Alicia.”

  I continued to stare at him like he was speaking in tongues, but he wasn't paying attention to me now anyway. He moved his finger across the screen and grinned before walking away.

  I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I just sat back down at the table.

  “Excuse me,” a young woman said, coming up to me. She held up her phone and spoke into it. “I'm Sorry Alicia.”

  “What?” I asked, not sure I had heard her correctly. “How do you know my name?”

  “I don't,” the woman replied as she grinned at her phone. “But it's how you catch the monster.”

  “The monster?” I was so confused, but the woman was gone. More people had come up to my area and were speaking into their phones. A murmur of “I'm Sorry Alicia” was filling the air as more and more people came and said it.

  “What in the hell is going on?” I asked completely confused.

  The question was really to
myself, but a young boy heard me and responded. “We’re here for the I’m Sorry Alicia. It one of the rarest Monsters that the game has introduced. Nobody has even heard of it before today.”

  “The I’m Sorry Alicia?” I asked. “What the hell is that?”

  But the boy was gone, replaced with another person speaking the words and attempting to catch the creature.

  Within seconds, the entire park was filled with people. They were all holding their phones, cramming up against my chess table. They all kept saying, “I'm Sorry Alicia,” into their phones and then grinning before walking away.

  “I don’t know any of you!” I shouted.

  “We don’t know you either,” one responded. She looked like an aging soccer mom. She wore the same smirk of excitement as the rest of the people surrounding her.

  “Then how do you all know my name?” I asked.

  “We don’t,” the lady said. “We just want to catch the I’m Sorry Alicia. The only way to catch it is to say 'I'm sorry, Alicia' into the mouthpiece. As soon as you do that, you get a special ball that can catch it.”

  A Monster? Like from the game? I thought. I was about to ask her more, but the woman was gone.

  I reached my hand down into my pocket to grab my cell phone. The crowd pushed past me, nearly knocking me over as they did so. I managed to stay standing as I opened up the Monster GO app on my phone.

  Sure enough, there was a Monster nearby. It was named “I’m Sorry Alicia.” I held my phone up to see the digital Monster standing on the chess table. It was drawn in the style of the other monsters, but it was obviously based on Jacob and me. Technically, it was two monsters, one male with blue fur and the other female with beautiful curly hair. Their hands were entwined, making them a single creature.

  Underneath, the information bar said they were lovers that were meant to be together. Separating them caused great harm.

  My mind was filled with confusion. A hand on my shoulder caused me to look up and when I saw who it was, I nearly dropped the phone.

  “Jacob,” I whispered.

  “Hey, gorgeous,” he replied.

  My heart stalled. He was so damn handsome. I had missed him so much this week, but I was still incredibly pissed at him. I wanted to hug him and slug him right in the throat at the same time.

  “You need to make these people leave,” I told him, raising my voice over the murmurs of “I'm Sorry Alicia.” I needed to stay strong. “I have a job interview...”

  He gave me a small, wry smile.

  “You're the interview, aren't you?” I asked, feeling incredibly annoyed as I figured it out. “It's how you knew I'd be here.”

  Jacob at least had the grace to look slightly abashed. “Peter Brandish is my uncle.”

  I felt my hand curl up into a ball, and I wanted to hit something. I had been so excited for this interview. It had been everything I wanted in a job and now I learned that I had just taken time off from my real job for something that didn't exist.

  “How dare you,” I hissed, though I wasn't sure he could hear me over the players still saying 'I'm Sorry Alicia.' “You knew exactly what would get me here.”

  He frowned, his blue eyes desperate behind his glasses. “It was the only way I could think of to get you to talk to me.”

  I turned to leave, but there was a wall of people blocking my way. The noise from all the people saying “I'm Sorry Alicia” was nearly deafening.

  “I can't believe you would do this,” I yelled, turning back to him. Tears caught in my throat. “How could you do this to me?”

  Jacob frowned and tapped something into his phone. This clearly wasn't going the way he had expected it to.

  “It's gone,” he announced to the crowd. A collected moan of disappointment rippled through the crowd. I glanced down to see that the monster was gone from my phone screen. There was nothing there to even hint that anything had happened.

  As quickly as the crowd had accumulated, it disappeared.

  “Why the hell would you do this?” I asked him once it was quiet enough to talk again.

  “Because you wouldn't talk to me,” he replied. “That's all I want. Just to explain myself.”

  I scoffed. “Go for it. I'm not sure how you plan on explaining what you did, but you are welcome to try. Apparently, I have an hour that's no longer booked.”

  He motioned to the chess table and we both sat.

  “I never meant to hurt you,” he started.

  “Of course you didn't,” I sneered. “You just meant to use me.”

  He looked down, his shoulders slumping. “No, I never meant to use you.”

  I crossed my arms and leaned back. “Then why the hell did you do it? Why did you lie to me and use my ideas? Why would you do that?”

  He took a shaky breath in. “I didn't tell you I was a billionaire because I wanted you to want me, not my money. The money has been so overwhelming, that it was the best thing in the world to find someone who didn't know.”

  “You slept with me,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “You let me hunt for a job while you ran a billion dollar corporation and could have given me a job in a second.”

  “Because you would have wanted to earn it,” he shot back. He took a breath and pulled off his glasses, folding them in his hands. “You wanted to earn that job at ZephTech.”

  “So? I would have taken a job from you,” I told him. “I would have taken a job.”

  “I used your ideas so you could see how perfect they were.” He folded and unfolded his glasses, saying his words calmly. “My plan was to show you how successful your ideas were, how perfect you were for the job. Then you would have known that I didn't just give it to you, that it was your job by rights. Not by gift.”

  A crack in my hardened heart appeared. I couldn't help it.

  “I told my team that the updates were from a bright new designer, not from me,” he continued. “You earned the job I was going to offer you.”

  “Then why didn't you offer it?” I asked, tightening my crossed arms.

  “I was going to have you come to the office on Sunday and have the team there to welcome you,” he replied. “That's part of why I went in to the office on Saturday. It wasn't just to sign paperwork, but to get everything ready to hire you.”

  The crack deepened.

  He set his glasses down on the table. “But then you saw the picture. You saw the updates. Everything that could go wrong, did.”

  “Why should I believe you?” I asked. In my heart, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to jump into his arms and forgive him everything if it were true, but he had hurt me too badly for me not to be at least a little careful.

  He set his glasses down and focused the full power of his blue eyes directly on me. “Because I love you.”

  For a moment, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move.

  “I love you, Alicia,” he continued. “I've loved you since that first day in the park. You're my perfect match. You're funny and smart, beautiful and creative. You see my work and know exactly how to make it shine. I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever.”

  “But how do I know?” I whispered. My heart felt like it was going to explode. The cracks in the armor around it were too deep to stop it from staying in one piece. “How do I know that you aren't just making this up. How can I trust you?”

  He slid his phone across the stone table with the chess board printed on it. “Here's the credits for the game. If you want, you can call my update team and they'll tell you that I never took credit for the updates. It was always meant to be yours.”

  I cautiously picked up his phone and started reading. My name was featured prominently on the screen. According to the game data, it had been on there for the past two weeks. I'd been listed there before we'd had our fight.

  “That's why you didn't want me to take the ZephTech job,” I said quietly, sliding the phone back.

  He nodded. “I almost asked you there at the restaurant, but I was so close to having everyt
hing be official that I wanted to wait. I see now that I shouldn't have.”

  I sighed. “Do you mean what you said before?” I asked, looking up into his eyes. “That you love me?”

  “Yes. More than anything. I've missed you so much.” His eyes said it was true. He was so genuine with his words. I wouldn’t have been able to stay mad at him even if I had. Not now.

  “I missed you, too,” I whispered, choking back my emotion. “I love you, Jacob.”

  His smile was the sun. It made my world bright. “Can we try again? Please?” he asked.

  I looked up at him. There was one more thing I had to tell him. “There's something you need to know. I meant to tell you before now, but...” I trailed off, not sure what to say.

  “Nothing you say can push me away now,” he said. I believed him.

  “I'm pregnant,” I blurted out. My eyes shot downward and I felt tears well in them. I didn't know what I would do if he reacted poorly.

  He reached out his hands, folding them over my own. They were warm and strong and his very touch made my body react. I didn't want him to let me go. Ever.

  “Look at me,” he commanded.

  My heart sank, and I didn't want to look up. Eventually, I lifted my eyes slowly. What I saw on his face melted my heart. He had tears welling up in his eyes as well.

  “I couldn't be happier to add my first monster to my Monsterpedia.”

  I laughed. Naturally he'd find a way to turn this moment goofy. But that was why I loved him.

  “And, hopefully, we'll add many more.”

  I nodded, unable to find the words that I wanted to say. There weren't really words to express the absolute joy in my heart.

  “Maybe not one hundred and fifty, though. I'm not a Monster Go Master yet.”

  I finally laughed, tears flowing freely now. He leaned in and kissed me, right in the middle of the park for everyone to see. He kissed me like he meant it, like it was the first and last kiss of his life. He kissed me like I was the only thing worth living for and the only thing he'd ever wanted.