Page 74 of Billionaire Temptations

“Do you really like it?”

“I love it. But you didn’t have to do this.”

“You’re right. I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” He smiled.

He took the bracelet out of the box and placed it around my wrist. I looked up at him as he softly wiped away my tears and placed his hands on either side of my face. “We’re in this together, Emma. You don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be there every step of the way. I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but I came back for you because I love you. I’m so madly in love with you, and being away for five months drove me insane. I’m here for you whether you want me to be or not.”

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him, burying my face in his neck. I didn’t know where this was going, and I wasscared. I was so scared that I couldn’t even tell him that I loved him too.

“Why did you leave me?” I blurted out unexpectedly.

“Because, at the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. I was trying to save you from me. I was scared, Emma, frightened of my feelings for you. I was confused and unsure. I was so focused on getting out of New York and getting out from under my father’s control that I couldn’t see straight. Had I known you were pregnant, I never would have left. Did you know you were pregnant?”

“No. I didn’t find out until a week later, the night your father paid me a visit.”

He broke our embrace and looked at me. “What? He came here?”

“Yes. We got into it, and he grabbed my arm and called me a filthy whore.”

“WHAT?!” he shouted, and I flinched. “He put his hands on you?”

“I found out I was pregnant that night after he left. I started having really bad cramping, and Kara took me to the hospital. I thought it was appendicitis because I had been sick prior to that. It was when the doctor did an ultrasound that I found out.”

Max got up. “I need to leave for a while, but I’ll be back. Go lie down and get some rest.”

“Max, no. Don’t confront him.”

“I have to, Emma. He won’t get away with this. He had no right.” He walked out of the room and out of my apartment.

Max

The rage I felt inside me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. How dare that man harass Emma as he did. I took a cab over to my parents’ house and called Darren to meet me there and wait outside. I ran up the steps and threw open the door. My mom came running down the stairs.

“Max. What the hell is going on?”

“Where is he?!” I yelled.

“Who?”

“Bradshaw. Who else?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” my father asked as he stepped into the living room.

Just the mere sight of him made me sick. I lunged at him and threw a punch, hitting him hard as he went down.

“Oh my God, Max. Stop!” My mom grabbed my arm and tried to hold me back.

“Did he tell you, Mom? Did he tell you how he went over to Emma’s apartment and grabbed her arms, calling her a filthy whore?”

“What? Bradshaw, did you do that?”

He lay there on the ground, holding his jaw. “Yes. I did.”

“Why?” my mom asked in anger.

“Because she wouldn’t cooperate and tell me the truth.”

“You son-of-a-bitch.” I lunged at him again and grabbed him by the shirt. “Don’t you ever fucking go near her again. After you left, she had to go to the hospital for severe stomach pains due to the stress you caused her. You know what she found out? That she was pregnant with my child.”

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