Forgotten Stranger: A Billionaire Boss, Single Dad Mystery Romance

by Peters, Liz

  “And he would tell Raine her son was dead,” Mason finished, horrified. “How did you…” He shook his head. “How much did you pay Dr. Monroe?”

  “Enough.” Emily narrowed her eyes. “She was supposed to go away after that and stay out of our lives. How did she end up as your damn nanny?”

  “She… she’s working on a childcare degree, and she…” Mason trailed off. “How could you do this?”

  Emily glared at him, her eyes cold. “I did it because you slept with her… and got her pregnant. I did it to fix your mistake. Besides, you got Oliver, so why are you complaining?”

  When Mason just collapsed into his desk chair, her demeanor softened.

  “I panicked. I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened. She planned to keep him. What if she realized she’d slept with you and went public? She had to think her child died. And then, we couldn’t publicly say it was an adoption… it was too risky. Someone might have figured it out. It was easier to set it up so we could pretend Oliver was mine all along.”

  Mason had stopped listening and was cradling his head in his hands. He had no idea what to do now. How could he ever explain this to Raine?

  He closed his eyes. It was all too much.

  * * *

  Raine didn’t mean to eavesdrop. But she was just about to knock on the door to ask if the two inside wanted anything to drink when she heard her name. She paused and leaned toward the door, listening carefully.

  “… don’t know,” she heard Mason say. He sounded miserable. “Knowing this… what am I supposed to do, Emily? How can I be with Raine now?”

  Raine’s heart dropped, and she stumbled away from the door. She was shaking, and she felt her heart pounding. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she steeled herself and turned to walk away on trembling legs.

  On some level, she understood. Mason and Emily had been together for some time before she’d left. When Mason had spoken about his ex-wife, about the mistakes he’d made during their relationship, he did so with bitterness and regret.

  Now that she was here in front of him, why wouldn’t he want to work things out with the mother of his son so they could be a family again?

  Raine stifled a sob and fled downstairs. Oliver was eating breakfast, oblivious to what had happened, and she needed to get ahold of herself before he noticed her distress.

  She should have known things would turn out like this. She and Mason were from different worlds. And nothing had gone right for her in seven years.

  It would be fine.

  Their relationship had barely started, anyway. The pain she now felt wouldn’t last long. She would leave, and, eventually, her heart would heal. She would forget about Mason and Oliver and how they’d started to feel like a family.

  Everything would be fine.

  Chapter 15

  Eventually, Emily stormed out of the house, leaving a tense, awkward silence in her wake. When Mason found Raine and Oliver in the kitchen, Raine looked like she wanted to say something, perhaps to ask what had happened, but she just gave him a strained smile and set about her day. She carefully avoided touching him or getting too close to him, and she didn’t look anywhere near as happy as she had that morning.

  Mason was too preoccupied to worry about her sudden coldness, still reeling from all the revelations. He had known Oliver was the son of the unknown woman he had slept with so long ago. He had known his love of a child that belonged to that other woman had been what had finally driven Emily away. And he had thought he’d known that Emily and that unknown woman had decided everything themselves, all because he had been too embarrassed to face her himself.

  He should have just taken responsibility for the situation. He should have found that woman, apologized to her, and spoken to her about joint custody of a child neither of them had expected. He shouldn’t have been such a damn coward.

  If he had done the right thing, Raine wouldn’t have had to suffer for seven years over the supposed death of her child. Raine, who spoke about that time with such pain, had fallen to her lowest point because of what Emily had done… because Mason was too afraid to do what he should have.

  How could he face Raine knowing how much hurt he had caused her? When he looked at her now, he just wanted to cry at the injustice of it all.

  But what bothered him most was how he’d been such a fool. This thought struck him yet again as he watched Raine and Oliver play on the floor with Oliver’s toy cars. They looked so alike. Hadn’t he thought just the other day about how Raine’s hair, showing her natural color at the roots as it grew out, was the exact same color as Oliver’s? Now that he looked closer, Raine had also given Oliver her nose and her slender physique.

  Did Raine know? Mason didn’t think so, because she still spoke about her son as though he had died. Also, she would never have agreed to a relationship with Mason if she thought he had stolen her son from her.

  “Daddy, do you want to play?” Oliver asked, holding up the blue car.

  Mason hesitated at his son’s question and glanced at Raine. She didn’t look upset at the question, but the smile on her face was obviously forced.

  He wondered if she had overheard any of the conversation between Emily and himself. If she had, he was sure she would have demanded answers by now. Maybe Emily’s presence just upset her.

  He was upset that Emily had come here. And now that she had left, Mason could sift through all the emotions he felt about Emily showing up out of the blue like this.

  He was angry, because where had she been all this time? Why had she come back now? And where did she get the nerve to waltz back into his life as if she hadn’t abandoned him and Oliver? The hurt he still felt, all these years later, because he had loved her and had really wanted to work things out between them fueled his anger.

  But the emotion he felt most prominently now was disgust.

  He had known Emily could be calculating, a little cold, and even cruel. She looked at people as tools to use for her own convenience, and Mason had no doubt that her marriage to him had been about the money and prestige. But he also knew she had cared for him, and he had gotten to see the softer side of her, the one she showed to only a select few.

  For her to do something like this? He could never have imagined it. He had seen in her eyes that she’d had little concern—if any—for what happened to Raine after paying off Raine’s doctor (and he would have to figure out what to do about that later, too). Even now, she hadn’t apologized for what she’d done. She had gotten the result she’d wanted, and nothing else mattered.

  But Emily hadn’t anticipated her own feelings. She hadn’t realized just how hard it would be to see Mason dote on another woman’s child, knowing the only reason the child existed was because her husband had had too much to drink and slept with someone else. And, eventually, she’d broken. She’d left Mason and Oliver behind, unconcerned with what would happen to them next, just as she had used Raine to get what she wanted before leaving her to mourn the fabricated loss of her child.

  He didn’t know what Emily wanted now. She’d said she could see he’d had enough news for one day and had promised to return to talk later. But he didn’t want her to return. Mason didn’t want to see her ever again.

  She had destroyed any chance he would ever feel affection for her again the moment she had told him how she had ruined Raine’s life.

  “Yeah, I’d like that,” he answered Oliver at last, realizing, when his son’s smile faded, that he had hesitated too long.

  As he took the car Oliver held out to him, he glanced at Raine. She was looking away, carefully building a bridge of blocks under Oliver’s supervision.

  Where would Raine have ended up if she hadn’t ever met Mason? If Emily hadn’t manipulated her life? She was still young, only twenty-nine, but she had spent the last seven years—almost a decade—of her life drowning in grief and despair. Would she have finished her degree by now? Would she have started her own daycare or gotten a job in a school? Would she have found anoth
er partner, one who could give her children—children not stolen away by corrupt doctors and jealous ex-wives?

  Just thinking about it made his chest ache. Mason didn’t want to imagine Raine being with someone else. He was falling in love with Raine. He wanted her to stay with him for the rest of their lives.

  Knowing she was also Oliver’s mother should have made things much easier for them. Why wouldn’t he want to be with the mother of his child? But, knowing what he now knew about what had happened, it didn’t make things easier. It only made everything so much more difficult.

  Mason would forever look at Raine and know what he had inadvertently done to her.

  And, once Raine knew the truth, she would always look at him and know he was the cause of all her suffering.

  Things could never work between them.

  He honestly didn’t know what to do. Mason realized he would eventually have to tell Raine the truth. But he didn’t want to face that because he knew he would lose her the moment those words left his lips.

  He didn’t want to lose Raine.

  But he also knew it would be unfair not to tell her.

  Maybe she would stay anyway? She loved Oliver, so Mason didn’t think she would disappear from their lives over this. And knowing she was Oliver’s actual mother would make the bond between the two of them even stronger.

  For Oliver, she would stay. It was just the bond between Mason and Raine that would shatter. That was the bond Mason couldn’t bear to watch break right now.

  He would wait for just a little while, then. Not long, because Raine deserved to know the truth, no matter what. But he would treasure these last moments with her, even if he knew they had to end. Especially because he knew they had to end.

  I’m so sorry, Raine, he thought sorrowfully.

  He’d never wanted to hurt her. But now he had to.

  So, with a deep breath, Mason sat down and played cars with Oliver and Raine. He returned Raine’s smiles and even, once or twice, gently brushed his arm against hers, taking all the contact he could get before he had to tell her the truth.

  He would have fun now. Because, later, it would all be over.

  * * *

  Feeling a little cowardly but knowing he needed a moment to center himself, Mason told Raine that he was taking Oliver upstairs for a bath before bed.

  She looked at him with an unreadable expression, and then she nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  She leaned over and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to Oliver’s forehead. Oliver giggled and threw his arms around Raine’s neck, rubbing his cheek against hers, and Mason saw her whisper something to him.

  When she pulled away, her eyes were suspiciously bright though her smile was gentle and loving. As Mason watched her interact with his son—their son—he resolved to make sure that Raine would always get as much time as she wanted with Oliver. Even if she hated Mason, he was sure they could work something out so she got just as much time with Oliver as Mason did. It was the least he could do for her.

  “Come on, buddy,” Mason said to his son. “I’ll race you to the bathroom.”

  Oliver immediately took off toward the stairs. Mason laughed and glanced at Raine. She stared after Oliver with an unreadable expression on her face.

  “We won’t be long,” Mason assured her.

  Raine looked at him. That same distance that had been there all day clouded her expression, and it frightened him. He didn’t know what she was thinking.

  She looked a little conflicted, as though she was trying to decide something. After a moment, however, her expression cleared, and she smiled up at him. Then, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips.

  It was soft, full of that same overwhelming emotion that had engulfed them last night. He wanted to stand there forever with her, but she pulled back.

  “Okay,” she said.

  He didn’t know what that was for. There was something about that kiss that made his stomach clench, but he couldn’t say what. So, he just smiled at her and followed Oliver upstairs to the bathroom. He still had to figure out how to tell Raine the truth.

  He didn’t know just what he would say. How was he supposed to tell someone they were suddenly a mother? Especially someone who thought she had lost her son years ago? And how was he supposed to explain that this had all happened because his jealous ex-wife hadn’t wanted the media to know he had strayed while drunk?

  Even back then, he would have taken any number of hits to his reputation before he would have done what Emily did to Raine. He could still hardly believe Emily had come up with something so terrible.

  With a sigh, Mason helped Oliver out of the bath and patted him dry. He allowed his son to struggle into his pajamas on his own, smiling when the buttons proved too much and Oliver reluctantly asked for his help. Then, he took Oliver to bed.

  “Want me to go get Raine?” he asked as he tucked his son in.

  To his surprise, Oliver shook his head. “Raine already said good night.”

  “When?” Mason asked, confused.

  “Before my bath,” Oliver said, as though this was something Mason should have already known.

  Mason remembered seeing Raine whisper to Oliver as she had kissed and hugged him earlier. Had she wished him a good night then? If so, why had she done it so early?

  His earlier unease returned. Trying not to show Oliver how worried he was, he kissed his son and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

  Then, he darted across the hall. Raine’s door was open, which usually meant that she wasn’t there, but he needed to make sure. He needed to lay eyes on her to be certain she was still around.

  However, when he opened the door, only an empty room met him. The bed was neatly made, the open wardrobe was empty, and there were no books on the desk or clothes hung over the back of the chair. The suitcase Raine normally stored beside the wardrobe sat, closed, at the end of the bed, with a few tied plastic bags on top.

  Raine wasn’t there.

  Mason could barely breathe. He’d known something wasn’t right! When Raine had kissed him, had that been a goodbye? He swallowed the lump in his throat. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe there was an explanation for her empty room and her packed suitcase and her strange behavior with Oliver. He’d go downstairs and see if he could find her. She was probably just picking up in the living room…

  Mason was turning to go when he noticed a neatly folded piece of paper on the desk.

  He crossed the room. Raine had written his name on the outside of the paper. He didn’t want to read it, but Raine had obviously left it for him. His hands shaking, he picked it up.

  Mason,

  I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly. But Emily arriving today showed me that the three of you need time to become a family again. I don’t want to interfere in that.

  Please don’t contact me. I need a few days to sort things out and figure out what to do next. I’ll come back and get my things soon.

  Thank you for everything.

  Raine

  Mason dropped the note, numb with shock and horror. Raine had left because she thought he wanted to get back together with Emily?

  He should have spoken to Raine the moment Emily left the house, but he’d selfishly been thinking only of himself. He’d wanted just a little extra time with Raine, and now she was gone because he’d put off telling her the truth.

  Where would she have gone? Her parents’ place? Mason suddenly realized that he didn’t even know where that was. She had planned to take Oliver and Mason to visit her parents, but they had never gotten around to it. All Mason knew was that she lived on the other side of the city, and that was too large an area to search.

  He didn’t even know where to begin to look. Mason dropped into Raine’s desk chair, frustrated tears welling up in his eyes.

  How could things have gotten so messed up?

  He had to find her somehow. He didn’t know how he’d do it, but he had to track her down. He needed to tell h
er the truth.

  Because even if she left anyway… at least then he knew the mother of his child knew her son was alive. At least then she had an actual choice.

  * * *

  As the taxi drove away from the mansion, Raine allowed her tears to fall. She didn’t know what she would do now, but she knew this was for the best. Mason and Oliver deserved to be together with Emily as a family.

  Raine would only get in the way.

  Chapter 16

  Raine felt tears brimming in her eyes again, but she refused to let them fall this time. After sliding out of the taxi, she took in a deep, shaky breath and turned to grab her backpack, into which she had shoved a few essentials. She hadn’t felt comfortable trying to sneak her bulky suitcase out, pressed for time as she was, and she hoped she hadn’t forgotten anything important in her rush.

  She paid the driver, and he gave her a slight smile before speeding away. For some reason, she found herself watching as he left, standing on the sidewalk until he turned the corner and disappeared from sight. And that was that, she thought with finality; she was out of the Parkers’ lives and back home.

  Her chest felt too tight. She needed to get to her room before she burst into tears. But she couldn’t go inside while she felt like this; she wouldn’t make it to her room before she started to cry. If she came in crying, her parents would demand to know what happened, and she wasn’t sure she could give them more than the most basic details right now.

  Raine stood there a few more moments, steeling herself, and then she gathered up her bags and headed to the door. It flew open before she even knocked, and her mother drew her inside and into a hug.

  She had phoned her parents as she was packing to tell them she was coming home. She knew they were confused, but she hadn’t had time to explain over the phone. As it was, she still didn’t feel like she could tell them much without emotion overwhelming her, but she knew what she could say to appease them without actually giving them any details. She arranged her face into a mildly upset but calm expression.