I felt the tears rising again as I thought of Luke with other women. So Sabrina was actually just one of a bevy of women he'd bedded. My heart seemed to break, even as my brain acknowledged the truth of his words. I felt so lost and lonely, knowing Luke was a virile man but denying his need for regular release.
"Get yourself together," he whispered again harshly. "The guests of honor are on their way." Indeed, a hush had descended over the crowd and people were turning towards the main doors in anticipation. My face still felt hot and my chest constricted, but I turned around and put a smile on my face just to appear normal.
The doors swung open and a distinguished looking couple stood at the entrance.
"Surprise!" roared the crowd. The man was tall and fair, and the woman dark but stunning, both in their sixties. Luke walked forward to greet them, affectionately kissing the woman on her cheek and shaking the man's hand warmly.
"Mom, Dad," he said. "Welcome to your twenty-fifth anniversary celebration," he continued smoothly.
I felt myself go faint. The sandy-haired man was my biological father, Robert Woodson, and Luke's stepfather. Luke was deliberately outing us. The world around me blurred and the ground rushed up at me with alarming speed.
THE END
Read A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother, Part 4 next
Previously …
My son with Wildflower was also my nephew?
The girl I'd called Wildflower had walked out on me two years ago, leaving my bed empty and cold. I'd shuddered in her absence, my body aching as my mind whirled with worthless thoughts. How could she have done this? How could she have walked out on a relationship so caring, loving and mutually respectful? My body ached each night in remembrance of her warm, female heat.
But a chance encounter brought her back to me. Except this time the blonde has a baby in tow … and one look at the child was a revelation. His dark hair and grey eyes were a spitting image of me, from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes. No way was I going to let Wildflower waltz off with my baby … even after she revealed that we were actually stepsiblings … .
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Luke
I rested my head on my folded hands. My face felt flushed and hot, my body shaky as I leaned against the makeshift hospital bed I'd had wheeled into our bedroom. My wildflower lay cold and deathly pale against the white sheets, her pallor accentuated against the hospital whites.
She was so tiny! Her frame was so thin, she barely made a bump against the sheets. She lay corpse-like, her hands peacefully folded, skin waxen against the sterile setting.
I could barely breathe, putting my head between my knees before I hyperventilated. What had I been thinking? I'd dragged Wildflower to my parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, not bothering to tell her where we were going. I knew she was upset about the fact that we were step-siblings, but I'd been so angry with her that I wanted to throw her in the lion's den. The sudden sight of her biological father, Robert Woodson, had stunned her and she'd fainted in the ballroom, collapsing amidst the press of the crowd.
After that, everything grew blurry for me. I knew I'd acted like an animal, immediately on my knees beside her, her head in my lap as I tried to revive her.
"Call 911," I'd snapped. "Get the Club's private doctor here. Call my doctor as well and tell him to meet us at the hospital." I'd barked orders like a man possessed, cradling her lifeless form.
"Alana, shhh, hush baby, everything's going to be alright," I'd crooned, rocking her back and forth. Her limp body was still and quiet, even as the party guests thronged around us.
"Who is that?" I could her people asking.
"She must be someone special, Luke's on his knees," said another.
"She looks like Robert … " said a third.
I'd had this crazy idea that maneuvering a confrontation between Alana and her biological father would force us to take on the issue of incest, and spark a conversation about Georgie, our beautiful baby boy already born of the relationship. But clearly, I'd been dead-wrong. Robert and my mom had no idea who she was, and Alana had been wildly unprepared. So much so that my miscalculation had caused this … the love of my life unresponsive and dead to the world, hooked up to all sorts of monitors in our bedroom.
I cursed myself. Love of my life? Yes, that's what this horrific, terrifying situation had forced on me. The moment she'd collapsed, I'd had the sudden realization that nothing else mattered except for this woman. Not the fact that she'd left me two years ago without warning … not the fact that she'd kept my son from me during the two year absence … not the fact that our relationship was technically forbidden by rule of law. What mattered to me was that my Wildflower was alive and well, happy and content with our son in her arms.
I realized that every last barrier I'd erected had come crashing down. I'd been determined to take Georgie from her, crushing her in a custody battle with my superior resources. But now I was willing to give her anything … even if it meant taking Georgie to the far ends of the earth. I was a rich man. I'd find some way to see Georgie regularly, my boy would know his father.
But all of that seemed insignificant now. Sobs wracked my body, coming out in choked gulps as my lungs heaved for air. I clutched her hands in mine, terrified at their coolness, how small they seemed underneath my big fingers.
"Wildflower, I'm so sorry," I choked out. "I'm so sorry for everything … "
I caught my breath, knowing she couldn't hear me, but my heart was so full I needed to talk just to get things out of my system. "Wildflower," I started again. "You're everything to me. Everything that I've said to you in the past two weeks is bullshit. I was wrong, I was terrified too. I know you only had my best interests at heart when you left me two years ago."
"I was angry that you kept my son from me. But I know you did it to protect me – you were afraid of what people would say if they found out that we're stepsiblings. But don't you see? It's too late. Georgie's already here, and I love both you both with all of my heart."
"Yes, love," I gasped, almost barking out the words. "Do you hear that Alana Johnson? I love you. I always have. I loved you the minute I saw you across the room in that waitress outfit. You were like a shining star in the middle of a boring meeting, and I couldn't take my eyes off of you after that."
"And it's been like that for two years now. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, you haunt my days and nights. Every morning, I think of you as soon as I wake, and at night, I pray that I'll dream of you. Your warmth, your sweetness, has been what's kept me going all this time."
"And I've just found you again, you and our beloved baby boy. You can't leave me so soon after coming back. I'll do anything to make things right by you … whatever you need, you and Georgie will always be the ones for me, whether you stay here or go somewhere else. Please, just don't die Wildflower, it's too early. I can't let you go so soon after finding you again," I sobbed, my mea culpa barked and gritty, the outpouring of my feelings for this girl who had captured my heart two years ago and never let go.
I held her hands to my face, kissing her lifeless fingers, gripping her so hard that surely I must have cracked a few knuckles. But there was nothing on her waxen face to show that she'd felt any pain, or heard anything I'd said. She was truly in a comatose state, the panic of public shaming causing her to shut down, mentally even if her physical body was still there.
What had I done? I berated myself and buried my hands in my fist. My life was over when it had just begun.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alana
I could hear him sobbing through the haze that was my mind. My brain felt cloudy, as if there were cotton balls surrounding my senses, making it impossible to speak, move or give any indication of life. I could hear the beeps and hums of machines next to me, their incessant whirring a steady fade of white noise.
As I tried to clear my head, my eyelids flickered momentarily. I could see Luke with his dark head bowed against my hands. He sobbed, feverishly kissing my hands as his big shoulders heaved and hot tears coursed down his face. What was causing him to lose his self-control?
Suddenly, the events of last night came rushing back and I lapsed back into stillness, the anguish overwhelming. Luke had been so angry with me that he'd anally raped me before dragging me to a black-tie event. What I'd thought was a routine charity function as actually his parents' twenty-fifth anniversary. His parents being his mother and my biological father.