Page 54 of Grumpy Bossy Billionaire Enemy

I headed back to my car and took the route down to Troy’s house. Troy opened the door. He looked like he needed a good sleep, as he hadn’t been sleeping since Camille left his house. Mother wouldn’t stop trying to get him to leave his wife.

“Mom offered to pay George Howards off,” Troy began as he poured me a glass of wine.

He did the same in the empty glass before him. “You know she’s not going to give up, right?”

Mother’s resilience had brought the business this far, and the same resilience gave her kids a headache when it came to our personal lives.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Troy, and he sighed.

“I was hoping you’d tell me?” Troy responded. “You always know how to get ahead of the indispensable villain.”

I chuckled. Troy giving me credit about being Mother’s duplicate didn’t feel like a compliment.

Now I felt like I’d be the villain in my own home when I started to have kids.

“Did George collect the money from her?”

Troy shook his head. “No, he didn’t,” he affirmed. “I’m afraid he may be tempted if he’s offered it once more.”

Troy filled me in on Camille’s father’s appearance in Richmond and how disoriented Camille was after finding out about her father’s ties with our family. She was still angry with her father for leaving her when she was young; she was just accepting the reality that her father would be in her life for a long time.

Goerge didn’t plan to stay in Richmond for long. He had a family in Quantico he’d like to return to the next day.

“You need to offer him something better than what Mom is offering,” I said. “Something he won’t be able to say no to.”

“More money?”

“No,” I replied, “the man is left out of a hospital he started together with our father. What do you think he wants more than a seat on the hospital’s board?”

“You want me to give him some shares in the hospital?”

“Yes,” I answered sternly. “That’s the only thing that man wants next to a good relationship with his daughter.”

Troy smiled. “You’re a genius.”

“I know I am…and that’s because you won’t stop reminding me.”

Troy chirped about how difficult it might be to get Julia to sign the consent form for her baby’s DNA.

“If she doesn’t give consent, you might have to get a court order after she’s given birth,” Troy said as we went over Julia’s pregnancy.

“She’s seven months pregnant,” I reminded Troy. “Are you saying I have to wait for another two months to know if I’m responsible?”

Troy shrugged and offered, “I’m sorry, there is nothing much we can do about that.”

I rubbed my eyes. Proving I was not the baby’s father was the first step to getting Amelia back into my life. Now, it was unbelievable to hear that I had to wait for another two months. Two months without Amelia would kill me; it would turn me into a shadow of myself, and I’d go on like the living dead.

“You have to convince Julia to take the test,” Troy informed me. “That’s the only way out of this.”

Troy poured himself yet another glass of red wine. He raised his head as he reassured me of my unique problem-solving ability. Troy and I drank more bottles, and we threw a toast to the women in our lives. Troy laughed hard; it was quite unbelievable that we’d both were sitting down to drink because of women. I stood up from Troy’s dining table, slightly drunk. I was determined to see Amelia before she got off from work.

“I’m not drunk!” I reassured Troy, also too drunk to stop me from doing something as stupid as that.

I made a stop at the florist a few blocks before the hospital and got Amelia her favorite. I staggered into the hospital, and my loud voice got security's attention. Amelia came out just in time. Her shining hair complimented the lip gloss she had applied to her lips. I wished she’d smile at me, but instead, she dragged me to a corner with a frown. She told the security to leave me and asked me why I had come to the hospital half-drunk.

“I miss you, Amelia,” I began. “I just want you back in my life. The baby is not mine, I swear on my father’s grave.”

Amelia was about to speak when a male doctor interrupted us. My drunk state took the doctor’s niceness as flirting.

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