Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Aurelia’s POV

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I tightened my fingers around Hebvron’s and forced a smile on my face.

“Thank you, Father,” I whispered, the word feeling strange in my mouth.

“Father.” He gently squeezed my hand. “Listen to her. She already calls me Father. Rieck, do you hear that? She is a quick study, this one.”

“I heard,” Rieck shrugged.

Hebvron then turned to Elara.

“Make a list. Everything the baby will need. The best cribs. The Italian one with the canopy. We will start the nursery at the east end of the floor. Knock down the wall to my old guest suite. Aurelia, my dear, what colour do you prefer?”

“Father.”

It was Rieck. He had stepped forward and taken the champagne flute out of Hebvron’s hand and set it on the console with a small click.

“It is too early.”

“Nonsense, son.”

“We don’t even know the gender yet.”

“It’s a boy,” Hebvron said, cane thumping against the marble. “Of course it’s a boy. The first Valerius child is always a boy. I felt it the moment she stepped out of that elevator.”

“We don’t know that yet,” Rieck argued. “We will wait for at least twelve weeks. Then we listen to the doctor, and we listen to her. Not before.”

“Her doctor?”

“I have her cell number.” Rieck looked at me when he said it. The blue of his eyes hadn’t lost the brightness from the elevator. “She and I will be in close contact for the duration.”

A chill suddenly spread through my chest. But I forced my smile to remain steady. “Thank you for being so… careful, Rieck.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hebvron looked between us, his eyes suspicious. Then he laughed and clapped Rieck on the shoulder hard.

“I will go now, son. I will let the lovebirds breathe. But Aurelia.” He turned to me and his smile sharpened. “You eat. You rest. You take care of what is in there. Are we clear, my dear?”

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Chapter 15

“We are clear.”

“Good girl.”

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He kissed my cheek, leaving behind a scent of cigar and old leather and something new that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. It was earthy and musky.

After he left, the penthouse went quiet, with only the jazz music still playing in the background.

Elara headed towards the elevator with her tablet, Arnell had already left, and Marta moved quietly back to the kitchen.

Rieck and I were the only ones left in the white leather living room, staring at each other like two cards laid face up on a table.

“Twelve weeks,” I said. “You said twelve weeks.”

“I did.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did,” he said again and picked up his briefcase. “Eat something. I have a meeting downtown. Don’t wait up.”

And with that, he left.

DOGS PEDOU

At noon, I was sitting at the kitchen island with a piece of toast I couldn’t bring myself to eat.

Marta moved around behind me, drying a glass and putting things away. She didn’t say anything. Marta never spoke unless spoken to.

I broke the toast into smaller pieces with my fingers and made a small pile, but I didn’t put any of it in my mouth.

“Marta.”

“Yes, Mrs. Valerius.”

“Sit down.”

She sat down slowly on the stool beside me, keeping her hands in her lap.

I looked at her. Country eyes. Faint lines at the corners. A wedding band thinner than mine, polished down to a memory by years of dishwater.

“I am not pregnant.”

She did not look surprised.

“I know, Mrs. Valerius.”

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“You knew?”

“I drove you home.”

“And the celebration upstairs?”

“I assumed.”

I almost laughed.

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“They are all very sure I am pregnant, Marta. Everyone. My husband. His father. The poor woman pouring champagne. Everyone except the doctor. And me.”

She nodded.

“What do you plan to do, Mrs. Valerius?”

The kindness in the question almost overwhelmed me. But I steadied my voice.

“I need to actually be pregnant. And I need to do it before they figure out I am not.”

“But Mr. Valerius is a busy man.”

“I know.”

“And men, busy men, tired men, don’t always come home in the mood.”

“I know that too.”

“You will need to set the mood, Mrs. Valerius,” she whispered and there was a dry note under her quiet that I had never heard before.

“Marta. Can you keep a secret?”

“For nine years I have kept this house’s secrets, Mrs. Valerius.”

“Take the rest of the day off. Take tomorrow off too if you want. I am going to have my husband for myself tonight, and I don’t want anyone in this apartment but him and me.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t say one word of any of this. Not to him. Not to his father. Not to the priest if you have one. If anyone asks, the doctor said good things and I am tired, and the celebration was lovely. That is all I want from you.”

She looked at me for a long moment before placing her warm, dry hand over mine on the counter.

“Mrs. Valerius. You are not the first frightened young woman in this family.”

She gently squeezed my fingers and then stood up and untied her apron and neatly folded it on the counter.

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Chapter 15

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“I will be back tomorrow afternoon,” she said. “There is a casserole in the warmer for his dinner. Heat it for fifteen minutes at one seventy-five. He likes a glass of red with it. The bottle is open on the bar.”

Thank you, Marta.”

She didn’t say a word. She just patted my shoulder, the way a mother pats a child who is about to do something foolish but necessary, and she left.

I heard the elevator at seven thirty and I had been ready for an hour.

Standing in the kitchen, with my hair down over one shoulder, I wore a soft black wrap dress that I had pulled from the back of the closet, the one Elara had bought me weeks ago and I had not had the nerve to wear. The neckline was lower than anything I owned, and the slit on the side ran higher than was decent.

Barefoot and with a lip that I had nervously bitten, I waited as the doors opened and Rieck stepped out.

I watched him take me in. His eyes traveled slowly, down the dress and back up. And the pulse in his jaw

twitched.

“What’s all this?” he asked.

“Dinner,” I said.

I crossed the marble floor in bare feet. I hadn’t realized how loud my own footsteps could sound until they were the only sound in the room. I took his briefcase from his hand and set it on the console.

“Sit,” I whispered.

His mouth twitched.

“You sit and I bring you food. That is the order.”

“Tonight is a different order.”

I steered him toward the dining table and pulled out his chair. He sat, slowly, watching me the way a man watches an animal that has done something out of character.

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