The Billionaire Boss's Baby

Anger

Amara leaned back in her chair and rubbed at her stomach. Apparently, it was part of the women's "nesting instinct" to touch the belly--or something like that. She glanced towards Joshua's office, waiting for him to leave or go to the bathroom.

"So, we're going to be a team of three then?"

Amara turned quickly toward Gabby. "Hm?"

Gabby gave her a look. "There must be something about pregnancy that makes you distracted."

"Sorry." Amara shook her head. "What did you say?"

"I said, I guess with you, me, and Ethan--that would make us a team of three to raise the babies?" Gabby repeated.

"Yep, that makes three," Amara answered. "And my parents are going to be on speed-dial and ready to drive the three hours if they need to."

"Nice," Gabby said. "See? What do you need Mr. Leonard for?"

Amara didn't answer, but instead, continued looking toward his office.

"You still want this to end up being a family thing, don't you?" Gabby guessed.

Amara sighed. "Kind of. It sucks that I have to do this alone."

Gabby stared at her for a minute. "I know that look. You have a plan, don't you?"

"Yep," Amara answered,

"You're going to go in and talk to him?"

"Nope."

Gabby cocked an eyebrow. "What are you thinking now?"

Just then, Joshua exited his office. He disappeared into the bathroom

"I'll explain later," Amara said as she stood up. She made her way over to where his office was. the door was cracked open.

"Amara!" 

She paused at Gabby's call.

"You can't go in there!" Gabby continued. "Nicole Whimbleton's in there!"

"I know," Amara said. 

She continued into the room. As Gabby said, Nicole sat in front of Joshua's desk, looking at some papers. She only glanced up when Amara paused a few feet away from her.

"Yes?" Nicole asked.

Amara hesitated. She had been preparing herself for this all day, but now she was nervous. This woman held a lot of power and she was very put together. But she quickly snapped herself out of it, and mustered up the courage to speak.

"I need to talk to you," she finally said.

"Wait, I know who you are," Nicole turned to her with interest. "You're Joshua's pregnant receptionist."

Amara froze. "He's told you about me?"

"Only that you were bugging him," Nicole stated.

"Okay, um--" Amara pulled over a chair "--that's what I need to talk to you about."

"I'm intrigued now." Nicole put down her papers and rested her green eyes on Amara.

Amara forced herself not to back out now. "I'm pregnant--because Joshua and I slept together."

Nicole stared. "What?"

"Yeah..." Amara said slowly, feeling the weight lift from her heart. She knew now; Amara had done her part. 

"When?" Nicole asked, bringing a manicured hand up to run her fingers through her blonde hair.

"It was that week that you guys had that big fight," Amara explained. "He had reservations for dinner and didn't want to cancel--"

"Oh! I remember that," Nicole said relief washing over her face. "That's fine then."

Amara felt her face scrunch in confusion. "What do you mean 'that's fine?' "

"Oh, I was in someone else's lap that night too, believe me," Nicole laughed and sipped her water.

"I don't understand."

 "It's what we do," Nicole explained. "We fight, we go to cool off with someone else, then we go back to each other. It's what we do. Have been for years."

Amara stared at her. That was how they did things? That led to the next thought: how many other girls had he done this to?

"So, it doesn't bother you that he's the father?" Amara asked.

"Ms. Gray!"

Both women turned to the door to see a very angry Joshua. "What are you doing in my office?"

"She's telling me all about your night of romance." Nicole got up and wrapped her arms around her fiance. "As if it would bother me."

"Did she tell you the best part?" Joshua asked. "She thinks that's why she's pregnant."

Amara stood there, embarrassed and feeling the tears start to fill her eyes. This was not how this was supposed to go.

"No, she's too big to have gotten pregnant that recently," Nicole concluded.

"It's twins," Amara forced out. "I was going to tell you--but--"

"But it isn't true," Joshua stated. "Otherwise, you would have told me before."

"You wouldn't have believed me," Amara muttered.

"Of course not," Joshua agreed. "It's not mine."

"What are you, sterile  or something?" Amara finally asked. "How are you so sure that it's not yours?"

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. Joshua drilled his piercing blue eyes into her. Nicole glanced up at him, wanting to see how he was going to answer.

"First of all, you need to watch your tone with me," he started. "Keep in mind who's in charge of your salary and also, your job."

Amara looked down. She didn't want to see the smug look in Nicole's eyes. 

"Secondly, no, I'm not sterile," he continued. "But, like Nicole said, you look farther along than you say you are, and this isn't the first time someone's tried to claim I was the father, when a paternity test proved otherwise."

"Boy, you sure have a lot of patience," Nicole said, pulling away from Joshua. "I would have fired her by now."

Joshua didn't take his eyes off of Amara. "Believe me, I'm getting close."

Defeated, Amara left the room before they could see the tears spilling down her cheeks. She was humiliated. But she guessed she deserved it. How could she reason with people who had no morals?

"What's wrong, Amara?" A sickeningly fake-sweet voice called. Chantelle. "What, your sucking up didn't work?"

"Shut up, Chantelle!" Amara snapped.

She could feel Chantelle staring at her, and even Gabby stood up as Amara stormed past the desk to the bathroom. She ignored her calling and instead locked herself in a stall, where she could just let herself cry her eyes out.