Something Gained: A Billionaire Romance

Chapter 41

RYLAN

"Make these changes and bring them back to me. And don't forget to reschedule the meeting with Mr. Rivera." I handed my new assistant the file before leaning back in my seat. For some reason I was having a pretty bad headache.
    
"Yes, Mr. Parker." He closed the door behind him only for me to hear his voice not seconds later.
    
"Mr. Parker."
    
"Yes?" I kept my eyes closed while rubbing my forehead with my fingers.
    
"Someone's here to meet you." Not what I needed right now!
    
"Name?"
    
"Liliana Scott." I stilled in my seat as soon as I heard the name. Liliana.  The single name brought back so many memories.
    
"Send her up." He nodded and left before the door opened again, allowing me the sight of her. After six fucking years, she was standing in my office. I didn’t know what emotion to feel. It was all a hurricane.
    
"Liliana." I almost gritted the name out.
    
"Rylan. Uhh... how are you?" She took two small steps inside. I was honestly in no mood to share pleasantries with her. I stared blankly at her, showing my clear disinterest. She obviously got the hint by the way the forced smile on her face disappeared.
    
"Can we talk?" I gestured to her to take a seat.
    
"I guess we are talking." She gulped down before nodding.
    
"Yeah, right!" The awkward clearing of the throat was accompanied by nervous fidgeting of fingers and I was growing confused with each passing second. Why was she here? Why this act of being nervous all of a sudden?
    
"I—I am sorry—for everything that happened all those years back." I just stared at her with a stoic face while she expectantly looked for me to say something.
    
"I'm really sorry." I scoffed at her words.
    
"I bet you are!" She sighed audibly as I swiveled in my seat to the side.
    
"Rylan, look I—" I cut her off mid sentence.
    
"Why are you here, honestly?" I asked with a pointed gaze. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes for a split second as if debating her answer.
    
"I want to meet our daughter."
………………………..

    
"Hey!" I opened my eyes to Elena's voice. She was standing at the partly opened door to my study. Coming back from the office, I headed straight for the office. I needed to clear my mind before anything.
    
"Hey! Come here." As she came right in front of me, I held her wrist and pulled her down on my lap. She put her arms around my neck, her fingers weaving through my hair.
    
"Everything all right?" She asked most probably picking up on my distress. In fact the only thing running around in mind was the conversation with Lily in the office earlier today.
    
"I'm just having a really bad headache." I knew I would have to speak up and I had to do it now. I was just stalling the talk for a few more moments because even after multiple attempts I had failed to decide on how to start.
    
"Do you know what you need right now?" I raised a brow as she gently brushed back my hair with her fingers.
    
"A good sleep. Come on." She climbed down my lap and grabbed my hand in her smaller ones, gently tugging at it. Complying to her, I stood up and walked with her to our bedroom.
    
"I need to talk to you." I blurted out those words when she was about to step into the bathroom.
    
"I'll be back." I nodded at her before getting into the bed. In years, I haven't felt this nervous like I was feeling at the moment. I was leaning against the headboard when she came in.
    
"So what is it that you want to tell me?" She sat in front of me, looking expectantly.
    
"You wanted to know about Ava's mother." I saw her brows gently dipping.
    
"And now you are ready to talk about that?" I breathed out in response.
    
"I have to, sooner or later." I knew that she was searching my face to find out what was the reason I wanted to open up now. Finally she gave a nod.
    
"I uhh—I met Liliana Scott in college. She was a junior to me but we had mutual friends. Over the years, we became really good friends." She again nodded, waiting for me to continue.
    
"She was fun, intelligent, she was kind to everyone and…" I trailed off, a little hesitant about my next words.
    
"We fell in love." I looked up at her face which held a blank expression. She was trying not to give away anything of what she was feeling but the small gulp did a part of it. I took a moment before continuing.
    
"Everything was pretty great and I knew that she was the one for me until one day it was all over." She was quiet, only nodding her head gently, showing that she was listening and honestly it was nice.
    
"She stopped coming to college, didn't pick up my calls. She had kept our relationship a secret and I was forbidden to go to her house. After almost a week, she came to our house with her father. I learnt that I had gotten her pregnant." I looked into her eyes which were intently fixed on mine.
    
"You know, I was young at that time, in college but I wanted the child with her. I was ready to start a family with her and the baby—" She put her hand on mine as I cut myself off.
    
"What happened then?" I bit down on my lip and looked away.