Page 36 of The Bonus

A grab for cash from one of America’s wealthiest men, the ultimate trap.

I imagine the tabloids and the media coverage.

Gabriel Ferrara’s former PA falls pregnant after having sex on his desk at the Christmas party.

I screw up my face in tears…oh my god, this is a disaster of epic proportions.

Gabriel’s going to hate me, and who could blame him.

All the plans he had for an Italian family…his hopes and dreams altered forever too.

I close my eyes at the horror, how the hell did I let this happen?

Why didn’t my pill work? What’s the damn point of taking it if the fucker doesn’t work?

Everything is changed now, and I can’t take it back no matter how much I want to.

This isn’t how I imagined my life would go, I’m supposed to be happy and fulfilled, feeling safe and secure, building a family and a home with a man that I love.

My husband.

I roll onto my side and curl up in a ball as I try to protect myself from my own thoughts.

I have to talk to someone; I have to get out of my own head, I can’t keep going round and round like this.

Tomorrow I’ll talk to Deb, she’ll know what to do.

10 a.m., I sit in the café; the morning sun is beaming onto the bench seat through the window as I wait. There’s a window planter box with pansies in every color, and the village feels alive.

“The two coffees,” the waitress says as she puts them down on the table.

“Thank you.” I smile.

Things look better today. Along with the sunlight, I feel stronger. But that’s how I seem to roll at the moment, brave by day, terrified all night.

My favorite thing about Greenville is my best friend, Deb. She also happens to be my cousin and the reason I found this place. It was her wedding that I came here for five years ago, and from the moment I stepped out of the car, I instantly fell in love with the place.

Deb married a local boy she met at college, his name is Scott and this is his hometown, they moved back here permanently after their wedding.

Deb bounces through the door and her broad smile lights up the entire café. “Hey you.” She trips on a chair leg as she sees me and stumbles. “Sorry,” she apologizes to the person who was nearly thrown out of their chair.

I giggle at her dramatic entrance. “Hi.” Deb is…how can I explain her?

Chicken soup for my soul…for everyone’s soul. Blond and pretty with a can-do attitude to everything.

She kisses my cheek and sits down. “Tell me you have good news.”

“What?”

“Well…” Her eyes dance with excitement. “You said you had something to tell me. He called, didn’t he?”

I stare at her as my brain misfires.

Oh…

“I knew he would.” She smiles. “I knew he would come back begging on his knees.”

I exhale heavily, one thing about Deb is she’s the ultimate optimist. “He didn’t call.”

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