Page 44 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“You knew I had a work emergency that day. You knew there was trouble at the company.”

“I didn’t realize it was that extreme. You said you needed to go into the office. You always say that.”

“You just finished telling me how things have changed, though,” Eli said. “How Istoppedprioritizing work. Well, you were right. And my whole company is paying the price now, because I lost a client.”

“Eli, I’m sorry you lost a client,” Maddie said gently. “But that’s something that happens, isn’t it? Even if nothing had ever happened between you and me… sometimes clients end their contracts.”

“You don’t know anything about the business world.”

That was a slap in the face. “You don’t need to be rude. I might not be in that world myself, but I’m not an idiot. I do understand how things work.”

“Then you should understand that clients stay or go depending on the level of service they’re offered. My client ended our contract — costing me and my associates millions of dollars and jeopardizing the business — because he wasn’t happy with the service he was getting.”

“What on earth was he expecting? Service in the middle of the night? You’re allowed to have times when you’re not on the clock, Eli. Everyone is allowed to have that.”

“I should have had an eye on my work. I allowed myself to focus on things I shouldn’t have been paying attention to, and because of it, I lost an extremely important client. I know you had a point about me needing to spend more time with Charlie. I’ll have to figure out how to make that happen without things like this going wrong at work. That doesn’t mean I have time to spare for — anything else.”

“For me.”

“I have people who depend on me. My company relies on me being there. I need to keep my attention where it belongs, Maddie.”

“Don’t you see how backward all this is?” Maddie demanded. “Okay, I get it — you work as hard as you do because you want to provide a good life for yourself and your son. But it’s flipped around now. It’s gone too far in the opposite direction. You’re not working hard so that you can have the life you want. You’re sacrificing the life you want for the sake of your job.”

“This is something you wouldn’t understand,” Eli said firmly. “And I don’t expect you to.”

“You’d be surprised what I can understand. Maybe you should try me.”

“You’re already showing me that you don’t understand. You disagree with the choices I’m making here.”

“Of course I do, but that’s not because I can’t comprehend your reasons for making them, Eli. Do you think I’m an idiot? I know what’s going on.”

“Okay, then tell me.”

“You’re hiding in your work,” she said. “You feel like you have control at work, and you can’t handle it when anything is out of your control, so you’re hiding. You’re using it as an excuse to pull away — to put up a wall between the two of us, when we just managed to break that wall down.”

“Or maybe you should trust me that I know what I’m doing. I’m sorry things aren’t going to work out between you and me, but that just can’t be my top priority.”

“You want me to trust you,” she repeated. “Trust you, after everything. Trust you after I finallyallowedmyself to trust you only to have you pull away from me again.”

“Is that so much to ask? That you put a little faith in the fact that I know what I’m doing, even if it isn’t what you hoped I would do.”

“Where has trusting you gotten me so far? For that matter, where has it gotten Charlie? I told you not to get him used to the idea of having you around if it wasn’t something you would be able to keep up. He puts a brave face on it, but he’s devastated, you know. He doesn’t understand why you’ve stopped coming home early to be with him.”

“Don’t bring Charlie into this,” Eli said harshly, clearly infuriated that she would even consider it. “I’ve put up with a lot in terms of you telling me what to do with my son. But you need to remember that I’m his father. I was his father before you came into our lives and I’ll be his father when you’re gone. I’ve listened to your advice, but there was never any agreement or understanding that I would do whatever you told me to do. Not when it comes to my son.”

Maddie shook her head. “You can do whatever you like with me,” she said. “You’re right. We should probably never have crossed that line. But for God’s sake, treat Charlie with some more kindness. He’s your son. He should be your number-one priority in all the world — miles above some stupid client. And I will never stop telling you that he deserves that. If you don’t want to hear it, fire me right now.”

Eli stared at her for a long moment, and Maddie wondered whether he really would fire her.

But he turned and walked away, leaving her alone in the foyer.

CHAPTER 17

MADDIE

“Can we make eggs for dinner tonight?” Charlie asked.

He was sitting at the kitchen island with a coloring book open in front of him, kicking his feet against the woodwork. Maddie thought about telling him to stop. She hadn’t been feeling well all day — she was nauseous and had a bit of a headache. But Charlie wasn’t doing anything wrong, so she forced herself to put up with the kicking sounds.

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