Page 80 of Something New

I pull away from her apartment building with a heavy heart, loaded with guilt that I am not with her in this moment.

I drive straight to my father’s place. It will not be a calm conversation, because I know he’s still furious and I am sure this news is going to make it worse before he processes the information but no matter what - I will tell him. And then I will marry her regardless of his reaction. With her being the mother of my child, he wouldn’t dare harm her.

The mansion is quiet when I arrive. The loud, obnoxious noises of my brothers trampling through the place are not there. I walk into the front door and take a deep breath, my stomach churning, and knotting. It’s cold and uninviting without my brothers here. At least they add some life to the empty halls.

“Tuomo. What are you doing here?” My father’s voice booms through the house, coming towards me from down the hallway. I hear his footsteps approaching. He must have seen me on the security cameras.

“We need to speak.” I say, pushing my shoulders back and standing taller.

He walks into the foyer, where only a short time ago I knocked him to the floor and showed him he was, in fact, not stronger than me. I wonder how today’s conversation will go.

“Speak.” He says, rough and cold. No greeting. No welcome. No fatherly love. There never has been, so it’s no surprise.

“It’s regarding Nerissa.” I say and his face pulls tight, a sneer on his lips as he flexes his shoulder muscles. There is no point in dancing around the news so, I blurt it out right away.

“She is pregnant.”

He stares at me for a moment, then shakes his head.

“It’s not yours. Trash like that will be sleeping with everyone. What is she asking you for? Money? Is she blackmailing you? It might be easier to just give her what she wants to make this go away.”

I roll my eyes, doing my best to stay calm because in this situation it’s the only way to negotiate peace with him.

“I am one hundred percent certain the baby is mine. I have zero doubt in my mind.”

“For fuck’s sake.” My father mutters. I can feel the disappointment oozing out of him. “So, we have a bastard fucking child carrying our bloodline.” He sighs, running his fingers through his hair.

“Correct. But I will be asking her to marry me. My child won’t be a bastard.”

He nods. “She’s a maid, it’s a bastard.” I want to hit him again, “we will have to fix this, so we don’t look bad.”

“She’s a lawyer, not a maid.” I remind him she is not her mother.

It’s so strange how business like he suddenly becomes. With zero emotion he dishes out commands as though he is managing a meeting between board holders of his company.

“Contact the event organizer. We will have to spin this in the media as though it was planned. The wedding will need to be extravagant.”

But I have no intention of letting him manage anything that is about to happen.

“The wedding is going to be private. An intimate affair without the media.”

“Why do you have to make everything difficult for me, Tuomo?” He snarls. “Fine. Have yourintimatewedding. But then I need an interview and an article with photographs of the two of you together for the press release.”

He is negotiating as though this isn’t about my entire future, and my wife, and my child. But negotiating is good none-the-less. It’s better than flat out refusal to accept what is going to happen. Or worse, the reaction I expected, him having her killed.

“Fine. A press release will be acceptable.”

Again, his cold eyes are piercing into me.

I stare back with as much intensity as he is delivering. This ismy life.I will not give him control over it.

He looks away, then turns his back on me and walks off without another word.

I don’t care. I have what I came for. I have my father’s blessing. It would have been a hell of a lot harder without it - but I would have done it either way.

I walk out of the mansion lighter. Things could not be more perfect.

All I need now is for her to call me.

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