Page 258 of The Billionaires

“Oh,” both of Sydney’s parental units say in unison before examining me as if I were a bacterium and they had just invented the microscope.

“You came with Adrian?” Juliet continues peering at me. “As a date?”

“I’m his fiancé,” I say, figuring it’s best to treat this like ripping off a Band-Aid.

They both gape at me in shock, especially Juliet.

“I thought it’d be just a matter of time before he’d wake up and marry Sydney,” Juliet says, more to Tristan than to me.

“And I thought he didn’t want to marry her because he was afraid of the commitment,” Tristan says. “But he’s marrying someone else?”

Do I need to be a part of this conversation?

Juliet’s eyes zero in on me. “Do you have a child with him also?”

“Not that I know of.” Grr. What does that even mean?

“Then why?” they ask in unison.

“You’ll have to ask Adrian,” I say, and thank my lucky stars because in that moment, I spot him coming our way.

Poor guy.

He’s just gotten out of the Sydney frying pan, just to get tossed into the fire of Tristan and Juliet.

CHAPTER 20

ADRIAN

“What the actual fuck?” Sydney demands as soon as we’re just barely out of Jane’s earshot.

“Excuse me? Is that supposed to be something I’m able to answer?”

“Are you taunting me?” she demands.

“Again, I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I say.

She looks ready to shoot lightning with her eyes. “I invite you to a party, and you bring some rando.”

I sigh. “Jane is not a rando. As I told you, we’ve been dating for six months.”

“Bullshit. I’d know it if that were the case.”

“With what, your ‘psychic’ powers?”

She narrows her eyes into tiny slits. “You know I’m an intuitive.”

“Intuitive is not a noun.” If she had any intuition at all, it would tell her how awful our married life would be. And that crystals don’t work.

She takes a deep breath. “Look, when you met her isn’t important. What’s important is that we have a baby together.”

I do my best to calm myself as well. For Piper’s sake, the two of us need to learn to get along… somehow. “She doesn’t want us to marry. Trust me.”

Sydney takes a step toward me, eyes gleaming. “Having a mommy and a daddy is the thing she wants most. You wouldn’t know anything different because your parents stayed together. Mine split when I turned five. It was terrible.”

This is a conversation we’ve had a million times. Sydney truly suffered when Tristan and Juliet got divorced, but she doesn’t care when I tell her that my situation was the exact opposite. My mom should have left my dad, and everyone would’ve been happier, but she didn’t.

“Piper will have both a mommy and a daddy,” I say conciliatorily. “I plan to be in her life. That’s the whole point of?—”

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