Page 128 of Sweet Little Thing

I fought the urge to cover my stomach with both hands to protect my baby from his words. Things I would never allow it to hear. Especially from its father.

Stone was too broken. This battle was shredding him open. Or was this a part of him I hadn’t known was there. Damage from the childhood he’d survived. Regardless, the fact remained-He didn’t want our baby.

Admitting that, accepting it, was a blow I hadn’t been prepared for, but I wouldn’t break. I couldn’t. There had always been Heidi keeping me from truly falling apart and now there was another life that needed me to be strong. I’d do anything, absolutely anything, to protect my baby.

Wills didn’t have a mother that felt the same. If Stone didn’t protect him, no one would. Wills needed Stone and I knew he would fight every step of the way for his son.

My baby would have me. What Stone believed was a mistake, I saw as a gift. A life created by two people who loved each other. I would make sure he or she never once felt unwanted or alone. No matter the cost.

“I’ll have to fly back to Manhattan. I need to regroup with my attorneys and decide what to do now. I should also check in on Wills to see if he’s okay.”

I simply nodded my head. Yes, he needed to go. And…so did I.

He walked over and stood in front of me. His arms wrapped around me, and I hugged him back. Letting him hold me close,draw comfort, while my heart hurt so badly it was difficult to breathe. I would love this man until I left this world. I knew that.

But that didn’t change the fact I had to leave. I couldn’t stay with the man who didn’t want our child. Perhaps telling him was the right thing to do but those words would not come. I feared seeing his reaction to the news, would be more than I could bare. And my heart had met its threshold on how much it could break.

Chapter

Seventy-Nine

Stone

Beulah had withdrawn from me again. I had struggled with leaving her. I’d even considered calling Gerry and seeing if Beulah could take the week off so she could go with me to New York. I know Gerry would have let her, but Beulah wouldn’t have been happy about it. She’d be worried about leaving Gerry and I was trying to give her reason to smile. Not upset her.

What was waiting on me in New York wouldn’t bring her joy either. And all this shit I was dealing with wasn’t making me pleasant to be around. Things had been good until I’d gotten the call from Hilda. Beulah had been smiling and affectionate all week. We’d fucked over every inch of the apartment. When I was with her, inside her, the ever-present iron ball lodged in my chest was gone. Taking her with me, so I had her there keeping me sane, wasn’t fair to her and as much as I wanted to stay here with her, I couldn’t.

Staying wasn’t an option—I had to go. My first stop would be tocheck in on Wills since he hadn’t been available for phone calls all week. Then I was making a trip to my mother’s house. She needed to answer some questions for me. Starting with, who the fuck my father was. And, now that Hilda was no longer fighting for Wills, I had to meet with my attorneys to adjust our course of action.

When I landed at JFK Airport, I texted Beulah, but she hadn’t responded in over an hour. I arrived to check on Wills and debated whether to call her or check on Wills first. I decided she could be busy, and I would give her more time. If she hadn’t responded in a couple of hours, I would call.

When I reached the front door and rang the bell, I expected it to open within seconds, as it always did. My father’s staff was overly efficient, and if they weren’t, he fired them.

However, after a couple of minutes, I was still standing outside. I rang again and waited. Time ticked slowly, and no one came to the door. This wasn’t normal. It was so abnormal that I began to grow worried. I pulled my phone back out of my pocket and called the number to reach Wills’s nanny.

It rang and then went to a voicemail.

I called the main house line.

Again, I got voicemail.

As much as I didn’t want to, I called my father. This was his house, and no one was answering the door or phone, which was so out of character that there was no reasonable explanation. My worry was escalating to fear as my stomach knotted. Wills hadn’t been available all week. But at least I had spoken to the nanny.

This was complete silence.

My father’s voicemail was the last warning flag I needed. There was something off. This sudden lack of communication wasn’t just a coincidence. They weren’t all busy. This had been planned. Wills’s inability to talk to me all week was now suspicious and not bad timing.

I walked away from the house and dialed my father’s office. He may not be answering, but I knew that Richardson Enterprises would.

“Good Afternoon, Richardson Enterprises. How can I direct your call?” It was Margaret. She was thirty-seven, divorced, had three kids, and was sleeping with Harold from marketing. Harold was thirty years old and married, with no kids. I knew my father’s employees. I made it a point to know everything about them—something he never did and that I’d hoped would help me one day.

“Hello, Margaret. It’s Winston. How are you today?”

“Oh, hello, Winston. I’m doing great. Thank you,” the smile in her tone was always flirty. Even though she was fifteen years older than me and currently involved in an affair, she liked the attention from men.

“How did Bart’s tennis match go?” I asked, remembering she had mentioned that her oldest son Bart had a tennis tournament when I spoke with her last week while visiting the office.

“He was amazing. The kid is going to be a star!” she bragged.

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