Page 22 of The Billionaire's Contract Baby

Then she spoke, "Um…you should leave now. I have a visitor." She pushed the door wide open and rushed into the room. I followed her in. There was a crib in the middle of the room where she put the child. He turned to face me, her body acting as a wall between me and the child. What was so special about the child? Was she a mother? Was that it? But she was a virgin, I was sure of that. How then? If she was acting as a nanny for someone, probably her friend could explain the presence of a child living here; still, that wouldn't justify her attitude right now and the fact she calls herselfmommy.

"Is that your son?" I didn't know what she saw in my face, but she suddenly looked terrified and sick. "Answer me! What are you hiding? All this time you've been pushing me away from coming to your place, was it because of this?" I waved about, gesturing at the baby decorations.

Crystal was stammering - not saying anything coherent. The baby was now standing in the crib, his hands around her waist - holding her. “Mama, mama... Bad guy. Sorry."Interesting.A child? Hiding it from me… I didn't know what to think.

"Crystal, what's going on? Who is this?" The woman beside us was looking at both of us in bewilderment. Crystal was shaking her head at the woman - some sort of communication happening between them. She turned to me, her eyes hard and her stance making her look haughty. “Lorenzo, please leave. You're causing great distress to my friend and this child here." She motioned for me to get out.

I lightly pushed her aside and advanced on Crystal who seemed ready to cry. I stood in front of her, watching her eyes dilate and her body shake. I felt she was hiding an important truth from me, else why would she be so terrified. "Lorenzo, please don't. Just leave… I'll explain to you later. All of it." Her voice was shaky and rough with fear.

Suddenly, I remembered how she said “no” in my car when I wanted to push our relationship further. I steeled myself not to feel any pity. When I touched her shoulder, she looked deflated - there was no fight left in her. I pulled her away from the crib only to see a young boy not more than two years old, holding the railings of his crib and looking at me with curious green eyes. We looked at each other. I don't know what he was thinking, but I could swear I saw something like recognition in his eyes. What surprised me the most was that I was seeing a perfect replica of myself, staring right back at me. "How?" I asked no one in particular.

I picked the boy out of the crib and carried him in my arms. My heart felt too big for my chest. I immediately felt a connection to him: this was my son, this much was clear. "What's your name?" I asked him almost reverently.

"Al…feee" He giggled, holding my face looking at me in amazement. "His name is Alfred." Crystal was standing in front of me, her eyes filled with tears. Seeing her face ignited a surge of anger within my body. I turned away from her and walked out of the room to the living area. Here, I was able to see his face clearly.

Why had she done this? Hidden my son away from me for all these years. I didn't know what to feel but what registered most was my anger. The betrayal and lies left a bitter taste in my mouth. How could she have done this? Was I such a horrible person that she would keep me away from my son for so long.

The joy I ought to have felt at this moment turned sour. I turned around sharply ready to unleash my fury at her. She was walking out of the room with her friend, who was trying to console her. I held back. I didn't want to lose my cool in the presence of this stranger, and I had Alfred in my arms. They both stood some distance away from me - watching me warily. "I want to talk to you. Alone." I leveled a cool gaze on her and her friend. She looked at her friend, uncertainty in her eyes.

This made me question myself. How did I look right now? Like an abuser? That idea disgusted me. Even in my anger, I would never lay a hand on a woman. And though I felt particularly angry at Crystal, I could not bring myself to do anything more than raise my voice at her.

"I don't know who you are although I have my guesses. However, Crystal is my friend, and I would do everything I can to protect her. If you have something to say, say it to both of us." The woman linked her hand with Crystal's that gave her a measure of confidence.

I sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I won't harm her. I need to speak to her and it's important. Crystal, you know this, and you owe it to me. I want to talk about my son and why… Why after all this time didn't you say something - after everything. Was I so horrible to you?" It was as if I had slapped her. She flushed and looked away, pulling her friend along with her. They said things between them. I didn't care about that. I wanted answers, and I was going to get them.

"Bad guy makes mama cry. Bad guy…" Alfred used his small hands to punch my shoulders. I let him distract me from my anger and walked from the living area to his room.

"No. Not, bad guy. It's… Daddy. I'm your father." If I weren't stronger, I would have cried. I have wanted this - to have a child of my own and call myself a father, proudly. I guess I could feel good about the fact that he wasn't grown yet. There was still time for us to spend as father and son.

"Dada? No Dada. Mama says Dada travels away." He spread his arms and puffed up his cheeks. He blew out the air, imitating the sound of a plane.

"Dada is back. For good. I'll stay with you, my son." I ruffled his silky hair as I passed through the door to his room. I wanted to spend more time with him, but the conversation I was about to have with Crystal might get messy, and I didn't want him to be there. I would have preferred that this conversation never occurred, but I must face this now.

"Stay here and be a good boy. Daddy is coming back for you." I set him down in his crib. He looked up at me confused for a moment, then smiled and nodded. Seeing as he occupied himself with his Teddy bear, I walked out of his room and closed the door gently behind me. The entrance door closed as the woman left. Crystal stood by the door, her hands behind her. I watched her impassively, trying to figure out how we went from a great high to this bitter low.

"Let's talk." I walked back to her room. She followed.

Chapter 11

LORENZO

Sheclosedthedoorbehind her. Her posture showed her nervousness. Her hands were wrapped around her chest but not in defiance. It made her look small and frail. "Lorenzo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Crystal, I'd need more than that. How do you have a child that looks like me, but I never got to know him? You've been with me this long and never thought to tell me about him. That was cruel!" My voice was low to not disturb the peace of the house.

I let her walk past me to the bed. She sat quietly, looking at her shaking hands. “Alfred is your son. I gave birth to him three years ago. Believe me when I said it was a miracle. Three months after the surrogacy procedure failed, I discovered I had missed my periods and noticed changes in my body that scared me. At the hospital, I was informed that I was pregnant. I thought that was impossible, then I recalled the failed procedure. Immediately I decided to tell you, but when I went to your house, I was informed that you were traveling and wouldn't be back for months.

"Lorenzo, I didn't deliberately hide the truth from you. I couldn't tell anybody other than you about it and to be honest, there was no other way to contact you. I left and decided to take care of the pregnancy. I could not bring myself to abort it. Months later…" A small smile cracked the mask of her sadness. “I gave birth to Alfred. I was so happy. I wanted to come over to your place to tell you, but I… hesitated, seeing this child and realizing that he was here because of a procedure, and he wasn't mine. I knew you'd take him away from me, and I'd have no claim to him as his mother. I decided to keep him a secret and raise him away from public scrutiny. In fact, I never expected to come across you again. After graduating from college, I planned to leave Northern California, but I just couldn't. Maybe I still wanted my son to stay close to his father."

The way Crystal spoke showed how much she loved Alfred. In a way, my anger was reduced a bit, but her excuses did not clear all my misgivings. “After we met, why did you say nothing? I opened up to you but what did you do? You were evasive and hid this from me." I huffed and went to stand in front of her. She stretched her hand to touch me, and I moved away. I couldn't bring myself to accept her touch.

"I was carried away. I was afraid you'd hate me when you discovered that I had hidden him from you, and that's what is happening right now. Every chance I got to come clean, I held back. The fear and uncertainty chilled me to the bone. If you don't believe anything I've said, believe this. I wanted to tell you about him after our journey. I had hoped to have more time before I brought him to you."

"Do you think that what you said is enough? Enough for me to forgive you? That is my son, a child you kept away from me for three years! Three years of uncertainty, three years of loss, and isolation. That wasn't enough, no! You lied to my face. If you had tried harder, I would have seen my son and could be with him. You, Crystal, are a cruel woman…." I wanted to say more - that I hated her - but that would be a lie. I walked away from her, picking up my clothes from the floor.

I kept my silence, dressing slowly while trying to organize my thoughts. Now I was a father, and it was time I took on that responsibility… Time to bring my son home.

"What do you plan to do now?" she asked, standing by the door. I ignored her, putting on my shoes. "Lorenzo, please answer me. What can I do to make this better?"

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