Rival: A Billionaire Romance Novel

by Amy Hoxton

  I still wasn’t sold on the idea. Human contact wasn’t my forte, especially right after waking up. Regardless, when Brianna called again, I forced myself to pick up.

  “Hello?” I answered, trying to hide the annoyance in my voice.

  “Save it, there’s something you need to know.” Her words were hushed, perhaps attempting to keep the conversation a secret.

  “What do you want? And how did you get this number?” I queried, ignoring her request. Habits.

  “I got your number from Lucy’s phone. She kept it,” Brianna replied, taking an uncomfortably long pause at the end of that sentence. A deep breath later, she blurted out two words that floored me.

  “She’s pregnant.”

  My heart dropped, and so did my jaw. “Are… Are you sure? Did Lucy sa—” Brianna cut me off before I could finish speaking, though it didn’t matter.

  “I saw the test. Just thought you’d want to know.” She said matter of factly. Her tone betrayed her fear, or perhaps even anger.

  I nodded to myself in a vain attempt to calm down. My heart pounded like a crazed jackhammer. “Alright, thank you, I…”

  “Do the right thing, Alexander.” With those last words, Brianna hung up the phone.

  I set mine down onto the table and stared at the counter, leaning against it as I tried to make sense of it all. I remembered the nights I spent with her. I remembered how in the heat of the moment, using protection didn’t even enter the anti-chamber of our brains.

  We were both parts of this mess. The kid had to be mine, I had no doubts about it. Yet along with that realization came plenty of other, darker thoughts.

  My childhood hadn’t been the best. Money made it easy, but it couldn’t buy the love my father was too busy working to give me. My mom, I barely remember her. I have pictures of her, and nothing more.

  She died when my sister Annalise and I were too young to remember anything. She says she does, but we both know it’s a lie.

  Lucy’s case was similar. Francis Reynolds didn’t strike me as a loving man, though that could easily be attributed to the name I carried. Still, I needed to do something and be quick about it.

  The last thing I wanted was for Lucy to be alone. I knew my place was right beside her, and I couldn’t help but be angry at myself for taking so long to understand that.

  Whatever life had in store for us, we could deal with.

  Despite that rare moment of mental clarity, I still didn’t know whether or not Lucy would be willing to walk down that path with me.

  We parted ways and hadn’t talked since. Perhaps we were both trying get away from one another without seeing the rubber band that tied us together. One can run, but life always wins.

  In truth, I hadn’t even tried to run. I simply went back to my old life, and Lucy started the next chapter of hers. We were both blissfully unaware of the hidden machinations that worked behind the scenes to push us back together again.

  It took me way too long to understand Lucy was worth going against everything I was made to stand for. I couldn’t care less about the company. God knows I was on the verge of quitting and retiring to a private island in the middle of the ocean, just so I could live the rest of my days in peace.

  That phone call changed almost everything. I still wanted to quit, but instead of a tiny island, I saw a family. Before Lucy came along I would have never considered it, even actively shunned the idea. She was special, there was no denying that. I couldn’t let her slip away from me.

  The aluminum case of my phone was still warm when I picked it up, navigating its simple interface to get to my contact list. I tapped my sister’s name and fought back the wave of dread that washed over me as I prepared to tackle on the conversation she had been waiting years to have.

  When she finally picked up, Annalise croaked a less than warm greeting.“What do you want?”

  “It’s time,” I stated, cold and direct. It took her a while to process the information, as she’d never been a morning person.

  “Are you serious, Alexander?” Her words tinted with hope, bleeding through her stern facade.

  The answer appeared before my eyes. Crystal clear. “Next Wednesday, my office.”

  I hung up on her before Annalise could even muster a reply. We both knew she wouldn’t miss that chance. She’d been chasing it ever since our father died, and I had just served it to her on a silver platter.

  The company’s chair. I had no need for it any longer. Ever since I took over, I made work my first priority despite hating every aspect of it. If I could go back I would run like hell, away from that awful world.

  It surely had its benefits, however. My bank account sat safely somewhere in Switzerland, growing day after day. I often wondered where all of that money would go after my death. Thoughts of passing it down to an heir never crossed my mind, but after Brianna’s call, things were surely different.

  My job, the company and all of those assholes I had to meet throughout the years could go up in flames for all I cared. Lucy needed me now more than ever, and I needed her.

  The following days felt unreal. I had to check my phone just to make sure the calls I made and received the previous day had been real, and not the result of a weekend bender.

  They were real, much like the shrill noise coming from my alarm. Six o’clock, which meant it was time for me to face the world and that bitch of a sister I had.

  As soon as I set foot into my office, I headed for my desk, cracking my knuckles as I prepared to contact my team of lawyers. They’d need to prepare all of the documents I would no doubt spend a few hours signing, just so I could get out of this hell. For what I paid them, they’d better hurry.

  Hurry, they did. Some of them even talked about pulling overnighters, I simply told them they would be compensated for all of their efforts. In fairness, they did a splendid job.

  Wednesday came and with it, the end began. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, even as a jet black silhouette slowly walked towards me.

  The clock struck nine and my intercom buzzed. I didn’t even wait for my secretary to start talking, I already knew. “Let her in,” I said, after jamming my finger on the “talk” button.

  Moments later, the doors to my office swung open and Annalise walked in, followed by a team of lawyers of her own. Her heels clacked onto the hardwood floors, though I barely acknowledged her presence.

  Raising my eyes to meet hers, I noticed she seemed happy — and I couldn’t remember the last time I saw that look on her face. Happiness, sure, yet it was clearly tainted by a heavy dose of smug self righteousness. Every dog has its days.

  The black tailleur she wore made her seem all the more authoritative, and I must admit it looked fairly good. Her cascading blonde hair gave it a nice contrast, even if it framed a hard face that would hardly betray any emotion other than anger.

  “Never thought I’d see the day,” She spoke, after sitting down in front of me.

  I raised my eyebrows and cocked half a smile. “You and I both. Shall we?”

  Annalise gestured with her hand. Barely a second later, one of the gray suited lawyers she brought along stepped forward, placing a tall stack of papers onto my desk.

  I had mine ready, sitting in a drawer.

  “Wait,” She commanded, without any authority to do so. “Why are you doing this?”

  I took a sharp breath. “You’ll see it in time, Annie.”

  My sister’s expression changed as she heard her long lost nickname. “You haven’t called me that since we were little,” She observed, cocking her head to the side.

  “What can I say,” I shrugged, reaching for my pen. “Things change.”

  A few more days passed. Harris Electronics was no longer mine, after an ungodly amount of signatures. My hand was cramping by the end of it, but I was happy.

  Every day I fought the urge to run to Lucy with every fiber of my being. It had to wait until everything was ready.

  The sun was starting to dip
below the horizon. I took a quick shower, the second of that day, and changed clothes. The entire process took me less than half an hour, while usually showers alone took me twice as long. The anticipation was killing me as I drove through the rainy streets of Manhattan, heading towards the apartment Lucy and Brianna shared.

  About an hour later I arrived at my destination, or rather, close enough to it. I left my car at a nearby parking garage and walked under the pouring rain. That very same rain could have turned into acid and it still wouldn’t have stopped me. I had a purpose, a mission, and I would stop at nothing.

  The door to the apartment building had been left ajar by another resident. I let myself in, skipping the possibly awkward intercom buzz. I made my way to Lucy’s door and froze when I reached it.

  Fear gripped my throat tight and wouldn’t let go of it. Doubts and questions began to flood my mind, screaming at me to turn on my heels and run away. I ignored them, and rang the doorbell by slamming my hand into it.

  I heard a quiet shuffling from behind the door, and waited in trepidation. Chances were Lucy wouldn’t even open, but the doorknob turned. The door swung open and she flew out and into my arms, tears welling up in her beautiful eyes.

  I held her tight as she buried her head into my chest. Inside, I saw Brianna’s head poke out from behind a corner. I nodded my head downward, and mouthed a silent “thank you”, to which she smiled and retreated back to what I assumed was her room.

  Neither of us knew what to say. Words seemed superfluous. I simply wanted to keep her close to me, to protect her from whatever the future held for us.

  “It’ll be fine,” I whispered. Lucy looked up at me and the shadow of a smile grazed her face.

  “I know,” She replied, her voice trembling.

  “I’m sorry for being an asshole.” I had never uttered those words before. After a brief pause, I felt the overwhelming need to say something else. A hail Mary perhaps, but I needed to get it out.

  “I love you.” My voice was barely audible, nothing more than a whisper. Those words were meant for Lucy’s ears and no one else.

  “I love you too, Alex.” Those two words cleansed my soul of all the doubts, fear and anger I bottled up throughout the years.

  Lucy sobbed quietly in my arms. We stood in front of the still open door of her apartment, half shrouded in the darkness of the hallway and half illuminated by the light that bled from her apartment.

  “Let’s head inside,” I whispered, leaning closer to her ear. The fruity scent of her shampoo filled my nostrils in what would soon become my favorite fragrance in the world. Not because of how it smelled, but rather because she made it hers.

  We hardly slept, that night. Most of it was spent on her couch, talking about whatever topics we could come up with as we inched towards the elephant in the room. Even Brianna had a word or two to say before she was forced her to retire to her room — not by us, naturally, though we obviously needed some time to figure out where to go from there.

  Silence fell, and enveloped us like a warm blanket.

  “So…” Lucy began, trailing off right away. “Did Bree tell you?” She added, glancing at me.

  “Are you going to get mad at her if I say yes?” I replied, a faint smile making its way onto my lips.

  Lucy shook her head. “Mad? I should thank her. And I will, first thing tomorrow morning. I was so scared and…”

  “It’s alright, silly. When did you find out?” I asked, keeping my voice low. He last thing I wanted was to freak her out more.

  “About a week ago. I should have told you, I’m sorry,” She answered, her voice trembling.

  “Look,” I exhaled, uncrossing my legs. I leaned forward, taking her hand into mine. “I’m not going to abandon you. We are in this together.”

  She frowned. “But our companies…”

  Lucy’s face contorted into an expression I had never seen before. Fear and uncertainty, the two missing horsemen of the apocalypse.

  “About that…” I trailed off, inadvertently letting suspense build up. It wasn’t the time, and I quickly resumed talking. “I retired. Company’s headless for now, but my sister will take over soon.”

  “Are you serious?” She appeared to be stunned, and it was understandable. Lucy was well aware of the fact that I kept flirting with the idea of letting everything go, but at the same time knew it would probably never happen. The truth was, I simply needed a real reason, one that went beyond “I don’t like it.”

  “Yeah. An ideally your father could lead yours while we ensure nothing bad happens to…” I spoke, pointing at her belly, “…This. He knows the gist.”

  A beaming smile shone on her lips, casting the shadows of fear away from her expression. Lucy finally began to relax, as though I had given her the solution to a complex puzzle that had been driving her mad.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I just wanted to make sure my affairs were in order beforehand,” I confessed. “Resisting the urge to come here was tough. Just hearing your voice would have made me crumble.”

  She inched closer to me. I spread my arms and embraced her, feeling her warmth on my body once more.

  Lucy let out a soft groan. “My father’s gonna love this,” She declared, without even trying to hide the sarcasm.

  “Who cares? He’ll get used to it, eventually,” I shrugged, doing my best to appear relaxed. Deep down I knew the old man wouldn’t approve of us, especially given the circumstances.

  Lucy was worth fighting for. What we shared had become my first priority, work and art be damned. I wouldn’t let her father stand in our way.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lucy

  When Alex said he loved me, I felt fireworks light up my heart. I didn’t expect him to show up, though a tiny voice inside my mind kept reassuring me he would.

  Sure, I had Brianna to thank. My life would be radically different if I hadn’t stumbled upon her. I couldn’t even be mad at her for going behind my back and contacting Alex. That morning — which I will never forget — I left the test in the trashcan almost hoping she’d find it. Hoping she’d have the strength to do what I clearly couldn’t.

  My dear Alex. Soaked from head to toe by the torrential downpour, standing in front of my apartment. I flung myself into his arms, trying my best not to cry. That night we spent talking, baring our souls to one another made me realize he was the man I wanted to spend my life with.

  The road ahead would be full of bumps and debris. The first one would be perhaps the hardest to deal with — my father. We couldn’t just tell him I was pregnant, that would give him a heart attack. Mentioning Alex was the father would probably kill him on the spot before the end of the sentence.

  Regardless, I wanted him to be a part of this. As much as he hadn’t been a great father, perhaps he would be better suited for the role of grandfather. Hard to tell, at least for the time being.

  Alex and I devised a plan for what we jokingly referred to as “the big reveal”. Both of us would sit in my office, waiting for my father to arrive for one of those mentoring sessions he seemed to love so much.

  “This feels like an ambush,” I chuckled, looking over my shoulder towards Alex.

  He showed me his phone. “I have nine-one-one pre-dialed in case he faints,” He laughed, his wide grin filling me up with joy.

  I rolled my eyes at him, sighing in fake exasperation. “You’re terrible, Alexander.”

  He was, to others. To me, Alex was nothing short of perfect.

  We both sat there laughing and chatting along as though we hadn’t grown up at all. We felt free and happy, something I had long since experienced. I can imagine it would be the same for him, given how his life had turned out.

  A couple hours passed and my father finally decided to show up. Ever since he retired, he took punctuality as a hobby rather than an obligation, though I couldn’t put it against him. The man had spent years living by the corporate book, he’d earned some rest.

  I was feeling
nervous. Still, Alex’s presence gave me all the strength I needed. We would be fine regardless of how my father would react.

  He sauntered into my office, breaking the balance Alex and I carefully created. My father’s eyes darted from me to him in a split second, and a look of horror made its way onto his face.

  “What’s he doing here?” My father hissed, stopping dead in his tracks just a few feet away from my desk.

  “Francis. Always a pleasure to see you,” Alex nodded, and I stifled a laugh.

  I took a deep breath, preparing to speak the word my father hoped he would never hear. “Dad, there is something I — we wanted to tell you.”

  As we expected, it didn’t go too well. As soon as we mentioned we had been dating for some time, my father stormed out, huffing and puffing about rivals and “back-in-my-day-s”.

  I can’t deny it hurt me a little bit. Then again, he probably needed time to understand I no longer was his sweet little girl.

  “At least he didn’t faint,” Alex spoke, breaking the silence.

  I chuckled, trying to wash away the sour taste left in my mouth. “Yeah, I guess…”

  Alex took my hand into his, rubbing his thumb across my palm. “He’ll come around, just you wait. And if he doesn’t, we’ll be fine on our own.”

  I wanted my father to be in his grandkid’s life, but most of all, I wanted Alex and I to be there. We both had our fair share of issues growing up. It brought us closer together, made us feel as though we weren’t alone. There was someone that went through the same struggles, regardless of how easy one must think our lives had been. They were, for certain verses, but certainly not for others.

  The love we both needed, our parents thought they could buy. They couldn’t, naturally, but that never stopped them from trying. It’s a miracle Alex and I didn’t grow up to be monsters. When I found out about the pregnancy I vowed to always put my future child first, above my job and even myself. I wasn’t too sure I could do it alone, at least not at first. It all changed when Alex came back.