Page 49 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“I’ve only had sex once, and that was three weeks ago.”
“Once?” She stared at my stomach. “With who?”
“With a very handsome man. A very wonderful man with a talent for cooking. He’s a chef on the verge of becoming a great success. And that’s why I won’t be telling him about our baby. He shouldn’t let me or the mess that’s now going to come along with me trap him into a life that won’t ever live up to his dream.” My heart thudded like a brick in my chest. It wasn’t happy with me or my decisions.
“His name, Jessamine,” she said. “Tell me his name.”
“It’s not like you’ll know him, Lily. But his name is Stone Nash. Along with being the best chef in the whole world, he and his four older brothers own a resort in Austin. They were even featured in a magazine. Believe it or not, I have fallen in love with a billionaire.”
“Not you,” she scoffed. “You hate men with money.”
“I did hate men with money. But I love this one. And that’s why I set him free this morning, right after I got back from the funeral home, which you should’ve come with me to, to make the arrangements. I have no idea how far people might be coming to attend his funeral. They have our father on ice to keep his body as fresh as they can, as they assumed we wanted to wait at least a week before burying him.”
“Of course, that’s what people of his social stature do. I hope you agreed with them on that.” She dabbed the corners of her eyes.
“You are wrong. I told them to get him out of the freezer and begin the embalming process as soon as they possibly could. I won’t let him stay like that. And I’ve set the date for three days from now.”
She looked horrified as she sat upright instead of slumping. “Jessa, what have you done? No one will understand this rush. And I won’t look even halfway decent in a mere three days. A week would’ve given my eyes some time to return to normal. You’ve already ruined this — and in such a short time!”
“See why you should’ve come with me?” I wasn’t going to apologize for a damn thing. “And you won’t have three days before going out in public either. The viewing will be in two days, and youwillattend.”
“Two days?” I’d seen my sister’s mortified expression more than once in my life, since she was so quick to go to dramatics. “I can’t possibly do that. I’ll call the funeral home and make changes to the schedule.”
“No, you won’t.” I wasn’t going to have her do nothing, only then to go in and undo the things I’d done. “You were given plenty of time to get ready to come with me this morning. You made your choice, and now that’s how things are. If you want to be a part of making these decisions, then I suggest you get showered and dressed and get your ass downstairs where I will be deciding on the rest of the arrangements with the help of our father’s esteemed colleagues.”
“You don’t seem to be listening to me. I cannot face people yet. You may not have a reputation to uphold, but I still do. No one can see me looking like this.”
“Everyone down there has the same red, swollen eyes, sister. You will be in good company, I assure you.” She was such a diva. “Wear sunglasses if you want to. It’s not like anyone will call you out on it.”
“No.” She slumped back in the chair. “I have no choice but to let you take care of everything. At the end, when people ask about why everything is going to hell, I’ll simply blame you.”
“You are a shitty, shitty older sister. I want you to be completely aware of that fact.” Fury had built up to the point of spewing out of my mouth. I was tired of trying to get her to do something she clearly wouldn’t. “I’ve got the weight of the world on my shoulders, and you don’t care. I’ve got a baby coming, and there will be no father for it. Neither will there be a man for me. But I’m going to go through with it anyway. And you — well, you can’t even pull yourself together enough to go downstairs to let the people who have been in our lives since birth share their grief with us and offer their condolences. You say you’re a high-standing member of this socialite society. Well, right now, you’re the member of nothing — not even the human race, in my opinion.”
“How dare you speak to me that way, Carolina Jessamine Moxon. You have no idea the weight that’s on my shoulders. I carry the weight of ignorance. I carry the weight of knowing, without a single doubt, that I will be a burden to you now. And if you care to know this about your older sister, I’ve recently realized that I was a burden to my father too.”
“Ourfather, and yes, you were.” I saw no reason to try to make her think otherwise. “Time to grow the fuck up. He might not have taught you how to do a damn thing, but I will. Or I will simply stop trying to keep this estate afloat. It’s as easy as that.”
With her hand on her chest, she seemed genuinely stupefied. “You would let all our money dwindle away instead of tending to things as Daddy did?”
“If you don’t come around and start trying to be a part of the team, then I will have no choice. I have a child to think about. I will not run my body into the ground to take care of your ass either. I will live to see my baby, and I will live to raise her or him. And I won’t let anyone get in the way of achieving that goal — unlike my dream of becoming a doctor, which has been completely derailed.” I could take no more. I ran back to my bedroom to let the tears that had been burning the backs of my eyes run free.
Damn you, Daddy, for spoiling rotten your oldest daughter—rotten to her very core!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Stone
Three days had passed since Jessa broke up with me and blocked my number. I’d accomplished more in those three days than I knew I could. I’d signed the lease at the hospital and hired my sister-in-law Sloan, to hire and oversee a crew to put together the layout she’d come up with for the bistro. And now, I was on my way, in our company plane, to Durham, North Carolina.
Thanks to the internet, I’d found the address of the Moxon family estate. I knew there was no way of knowing how she’d take my arrival, but I was ready to take a gamble on Jessa being happy to see me. She’d told me that she loved me — that had to mean she still had deep feelings for me. They couldn’t possibly have gone away that fast.
As soon as the plane landed, I rented a car and put the address into the GPS system. At the first traffic light that I got to, where I was supposed to take a left, I found a police officer on a motorcycle stopping traffic to let cars cross through the intersection. “Great, a funeral procession going down the same road I’ve gotta take.”
After ten minutes, the line ended, and the cop got on his motorcycle and followed behind them. I made the turn and slowly proceeded down the road. The GPS showed that I would be taking a right in only a mile, so I tried my best to be patient, knowing the line of cars in the funeral procession wouldn’t be going that way. That road was a private one that lead to the Moxon Estate.
But when I got closer to that turn, the cars continued going down the private road. It had to be Jessa’s father’s funeral. And the fact that they were going to the estate told me that he would be buried on their land. A shudder ran through me as I thought about how sad it would be for Jessa to see her father's tombstone every time she looked out of some window from the house.
Knowing that Jessa had attended the funeral without me made me feel like I’d waited too long to come to her. But there was nothing I could do about that now. I could only help her from here onwards.
