Page 28 of The Billionaire's One-Night Baby

‘It’s my back-up plan. If anything, and everything, goes wrong with the business, with us, I have this property to fall back on. I can live in it or leverage it to start something new. I always anticipate trouble, Elodie Kate, and I consider the worst-case scenarios. And then I prepare for them.’

Wow. That was a hell of a way to live. And this had to be a deep-seated belief because Le Roux International was one of the biggest and most stable companies in the country, on the continent. It would take an event of epic proportions to collapse it.

She could poke holes in his theory but wouldn’t. She had no right to. This was his journey to walk, his road to map out, his emotions to walk through.

She wouldn’t offer unsolicited advice. She had her hang-ups and issues and couldn’t judge his.

‘No comment?’ Jago asked her.

Dodi shook her head. ‘No. Anju was your wife, this is your house, and they are your mental processes.’

She wouldn’t judge him. She had her own defences and walls and was still trying to deal with her past—Lily’s death and Dan’s deceit.

The combination of her parents’ craziness and emotional neglect, Lily dying, and Dan’s infidelity and mind games made her accept—once and for all—that love was a fairy tale, concocted to sell Valentine’s Day cards and chocolates, engagement rings and wedding dresses.

No wonder she felt like such a fraud, owning, working at and making money from Love & Enchantment.

But this discussion wasn’t about her, it was about Jago and this house and his past. Dodi forced a smile onto her face and gestured to the door. She wanted out of here and felt a little claustrophobic, her chest tight. ‘Shall we go?’

Jago nodded and followed her path to the still-open front door, noticing that dusk had fallen and that the temperature had dropped, from hot as hell to hot. She pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear, thinking that she was due to give birth at the beginning of December, one of the hottest months of the year. Carrying a bowling ball around in that heat wasn’t going to be fun.

Jago punched a code into the alarm panel at the front door and locked the door behind him. Placing his hand on Dodi’s lower back, he steered her to his car, reaching around her to open the passenger door for her.

In the car, he started the engine, turned the air-conditioning up and they both sighed when cool air hit their faces. Jago flicked on the headlights before turning to face her. ‘I asked you to share a meal with me tonight so that we could talk more about the baby, and the future, but we haven’t even come close to broaching that subject.’

But she didn’t want to, not tonight. She was tired after a long week, and she was taking tomorrow off, leaving the salon in the capable hands of her second-in-command. Tonight, all she wanted was a cup of tea, a shower and to sleep.

‘I’m really tired, Jago, and not up for an intense discussion.’

He nodded before expertly reversing his car and pulling away. ‘I figured. But we’re going to have to talk about it some time, Elodie Kate.’

But not tonight and that was all she cared about.

Jago navigated his way through the suburb and within minutes they were on the freeway, and he was weaving his way through the evening rush-hour traffic. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again. ‘Have you told Thadie, or anyone else, about the baby?’

No, and she did feel guilty about keeping such a huge secret from her best friend. But Thadie had so much on her plate right now. ‘I haven’t. I don’t want my news taking away from what should be Thadie’s time and moment. And I think it’s sensible to, at the very least, wait until I’ve seen the heartbeat before I say anything. Most women are told by their doctors to wait until three months have passed before telling anyone, as most miscarriages happen early,’ she added.

He sent her a quick but intense look. ‘Is miscarrying something you’re worried about?’

Dodi shrugged. ‘I’m healthy but a lot of healthy women miscarry. Let’s wait for the first scan before we say anything. That will happen around eight weeks. If everything is fine at that point, we can talk about telling your family. And maybe we should delay the how-we’re-going-to-go-forward conversation until then, as well.’

His family. She didn’t have any of her own. God, she missed her grandmother.

She felt his eyes touch her face. ‘I’ll agree to keep the baby a secret until then but not the conversation. We are going to talk, Dodi, sooner rather than later.’

Ack.Well, she tried.

Jago took the exit that would take her home and stopped at the traffic lights, tapping his finger on his leather-covered steering wheel. ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ Jago asked her.

‘Pottering, mostly. Hopefully, I’ll catch up with Thadie and the twins, too.’

‘I’m heading to Cape Town tomorrow for a conference. Next weekend?’ Jago asked, pulling off.

‘Uh...’ God, it was embarrassing to admit that her social life was a wasteland. That she spent most weekends catching up on chores or binging series on Netflix. ‘Nothing exciting...why?’

‘There’s a wine and appetiser reception I’ve been invited to, to raise funds for a cancer research charity, at Moon next Saturday night. Would you like to come with me?’

To Moon? One of the swankiest venues in the city?Uh...

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