Page 27 of Billionaire's Baby Mistake

I still haven’t worked out how I feel about Dad at the moment. I don’t know how to begin processing everything that’s happened, so I’m pushing it to the back of my mind. It might be something to deal with when the storm is over - when I’m starting again. I’m barely holding it together as it is, without adding more pressure.

I glance at Alex out of the corner of my eye, wanting to see how he is feeling about me at the moment, but from the hard set of his jaw and the narrow look in his eyes, he isn’t thinking about anything other than Van. Maybe it’d be best for him to never think of me again. It makes me feel awful because I’m sure I’m the first person that he’s ever truly opened up to. But I tore him apart in a stupid moment of making the wrong choice.

Deep down, it never was what I wanted to do. I can feel that it was wrong, but I continue along the same path because I’d had the delusion that it was my destiny for far too long. Now, any thoughts of fate and destiny just made me feel sick like I have been blaming something else for my stupidity.

“Here we are,” Alex eventually announces, shaking me from my thoughts. “Let’s go inside. Let’s do this.”

Then he stuns me by pulling a gun out of the glove compartment, sending my heart racing like crazy. I thought this was going to be a confronting thing, not a murder thing. Even if Van is an asshole, I’m not sure he deserves to die, and I don’t want to be a part of it. We’ll all be locked up in jail for sure for being part of a conspiracy.

Shit, how can I get out of this? How can I say that I don’t want a part of this without looking like I’m betraying him all over again?

“Don’t worry,” he reassures me, obviously reading the emotions written all over my face. “It isn’t loaded; it’s just for scare tactics.”

“Oh, okay,” I whisper shakily. “That’s probably a good idea.”

Nina positions herself in front of Van’s door, while Alex and I hide around the corner. We’re both panting heavily, our bodies pressed close. It takes all I have not to act on the feelings currently coursing through my body. I know what we’re here for is important, but how the hell am I supposed to concentrate on the mission when the man that I adore is so near yet so unattainable?

“Hello there, Nina,” we hear Van’s smarmy voice ring out. “Would you like to come in?”

With the creaky swing of the door, Alex jumps into action. I follow his lead because I don’t know what else to do. Van’s eyes widen in shock, particularly at the image on the other side, but when his gaze falls on the gun in Alex’s hand, an odd sense of acceptance crosses his expression.

“What do you lot want?” he asks, looking down at his feet. I wonder if he’s trying to think of an escape route. Hopefully, there isn’t any other way apart from this one. Maybe we didn’t think this through well enough…

“We want to come inside,” Alex replies, a little too sweetly. “We know that you have time, considering you were about to let Nina in – who by the way is a happily married woman – so I’m certain you have time for us.”

Van steps aside, but he grumble sunder his breath that Alex hasn’t exactly made his own attraction to Nina a secret. I find that revelation unsurprising. She is a gorgeous woman, and they have always worked closely together, but at least I can be certain that nothing has happened between them – Alex told me as much. He isn’t the one who lied. That’s been my department.

We file into Van’s small front room and sit uncomfortably on facing couches. “What is it you want?” Van repeats, wearily.

“You already know,” Alex says, sounding more sinister this time. “There’s no point in trying to deny it. It’s pretty obvious that you were in on David’s plot…”

“So was she!” he yells, indicating my direction, but Alex has no intention of being deterred. “Engaged to you or not, she was in on the plan.”

Shit, I forgot to tell Alex that he’s my fake fiancé. Luckily he bypasses the words.

“So what I need now is for you to tell me exactly what the plan is. We already know what David told Zaya is a lie, so why don’t you just tell us what’s really going on? Whatever reason David has given to get you on board with this isn’t exactly the truth. He might have started the concept for this formula, but he left the business, signing everything over to my dad in the process.”

“He was forced out,” he growls fiercely.

“He wanted to go against company morals and sell the drugs for far too much.”

“No, it was because of your mother…” Every lie and half-truth I’ve been told spills past Van’s lips too, proving he’s been as conned as I have.

“That was a separate issue entirely. The formula David started has been worked on by my employees for a very long time now. What we’ve created is mostly ours, and he doesn’t even want it for himself… a notion I might understand - he wants it to sell.” He stares at Van for a very long time, whose expression falters more than once. “So, why don’t you do the right thing and tell me what’s going on here? I know you’ve been motivated by money, which isn’t a game I intend to get involved in. I just want you to do what’s right.”

Van looks like he isn’t sure what to do, but his eyes are constantly drawn to the gun. Alex did the right thing with that one, it’s working well.

“Okay look,” he eventually starts. “I don’t want any trouble, so I’m just going to tell you what I know.” My heart beats faster. I begin twirling my hands in knots as fear circulates my veins. Thishasto be the truth this time. I won’t be able to stand it if it isn’t. “David is going to meet with the Chinese pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Yao Pin Manufacturers, at midnight. They must be the ones he has been dealing with.”

“So, how do we stop him?” I interrupt, staring intently at Van. He makes eye contact as if trying to work out my motives. I shake my head to ensure him that I’m not being threatened. “You know as well as I do that what he’s doing is wrong. This isn’t just some revenge thing since it’s a pill that could save lives. He needs to be told and pull his head out of his ass. In short, he needs to be made to understand the consequences. If we let him do this, it would change things forever. Even money can’t be enough of a motivator to think that’s okay.”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs helplessly. “If you didn’t stop him and his daughter isn’t motivation, then I can’t see anything that would be.”

We sit in silence for a few moments, trying to work out where we need to go next. I think of a face. This isn’t all about money and revenge, and it never has been. There’s another element to this, something we’ve all been missing when it could be the key to absolutely everything.

“I might not be able to stop Dad,” I say, with a smile starting to spread across my face. But I think there’s someone who can. It might be a risky strategy, one that could go either way, but right now it’s the only shot we have.”

“What is it?” Alex asks me anxiously, moving closer to the edge of his seat. “Time is against us, so I’m willing to do anything at this point.”

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