The Billionaire(21)

I knew that Lynn was in traction in the hospital. I learned that her  attack was being investigated as a mugging, so now the whole city was in  an uproar because one of their elite had been supposedly accosted and  discarded in such a manner. The only thing missing from the story is  that she'd been left outside the Sanders' house. I guess he'd pulled  some strings there.

I tried to keep Ashley's whereabouts a secret, but they've gotten out  somehow. Probably some over enthusiastic worker who thought they were  being helpful. It didn't matter though because she had round-the-clock  security even with me being here.

No one was allowed inside her room except the doctors who were known by her security detail.

Today is her last day in here, she'd received the go ahead and her local  doctor back home, which she didn't have one, would take over her care.  That was first on my list of things to do.

Thinking of that reminded me of the conversation we'd had about her  visitors. After she'd dropped her little bombshell she'd gone into  hysterics and I'd been forced to cut the conversation short. But that in  no way meant we were through, not by a long shot. I wanted to know  everything there was to know about these two men shed' spoken of the  sooner the better. The monster she'd mentioned was the missing piece to  the puzzle. I'd already uncovered the fact that her father had planned  to sell her I just never knew who or where.

Today was also the day I'd chosen to tell her about the child she's  carrying. I'm not quite sure why I'd chosen to do it here, but somehow I  thought it was best to do it while she was still surrounded by doctors.

We were dressed and ready to go. She'd been given her walking papers and  the car was waiting to take us to the airfield, now was as good a time  as any. I had her sit on my lap while I tried to get my thoughts  together. I don't know why it was so hard to get the words out. Will she  be happy? Pissed, what? I don't think she realized that what we were  doing could lead to this. Her innocence was astounding.

"Blossom, baby there's something I have to tell you." I felt her body tense up under my hand.

"No no baby, it's something good, at least I hope it is?" For fuck sake  Gideon just say it. "You're pregnant." I held my breath and waited. She  just looked at me as if I'd spoken a foreign language, then she  collapsed against me as if all the air had been knocked out of her body.

She started to tremble and shake and scared the fuck outta me. "What's  up baby? What's going on? Talk to me." She clutched the lapels of my  jacket in fear.

"I'm going to die Gideon, please don't let me die."

My heart clenched in torment, the anguish in her voice … fuck.

"Baby...no you're not, why would you think such a thing?"

"Children kill their mothers."

Fuck you Cliff Sanders, you just earned yourself another moment of  torture before I put a bullet through your black fucking heart. There  was no doubt in my mind that he was behind this new terror. What the  fuck did you do to her you fuck? I calmed my racing heart by taking deep  breaths and held her closer because she'd started to shake  uncontrollably. The murderous rage will have to wait, revenge will have  to wait she needed me now and I hope like fuck I knew how to do this.

"Blossom, baby that's just not true, look at me, you didn't kill your mother."

"I was too happy, you made me happy now I have to die, he was right."

"No baby he wasn't, he lied to you your whole life. Look at me...Ashley  look at me." She turned almost dead eyes my way and tore the heart from  my chest.                       
       
           



       

Keep it in check Thorpe, don't lose it now, later yes, but right now she needs you to be rational.

"You did not kill your mother, children do not kill their mothers, if  that were true my mother would be dead and so would all the mothers of  your classmates. I kept my voice even and light even though it was  killing me to just sit there and not run and find his ass and end him  for this. Even this he'd stolen from her the fuck.

"But … it's true, it has to be. He said if I was ever happy I would die.  I've never been happy before and now I am for the first time and I'm  going to die."

Her body was a block of ice but I refused to let her go into shock,  which seemed to be where she was headed. How much more could she take?  What other bullshit was she carrying around in her head that he'd put  there over the years? I'd been so cocky thinking that I could undo the  damage he'd done. I had no idea of the true extent of this man's evil.  Death was too good for him I needed him to suffer. Death is final, he's  not getting off that easy this motherfucker is gonna bleed.

"Baby please I'm begging you, please listen to me. I know you had nothing to do with your mom dying but the proof is at home."

She looked at me disbelievingly. I took a deep breath, what I was about  to say was all kinds of fucked up but I had to shake her the fuck out of  this fugue she'd gone into. That bastard had done a real good job of  convincing her of this bullshit. I'm going to take great pleasure in  fucking his shit up.

Any qualms I might've had were vanquished completely by this. He was no  longer human to me, not that he'd been much of one to begin with, but  this, this was beyond fucked up.

To convince your only child, a young beautiful girl, that if she found happiness in life she would perish that. Just … fuck.

So now I'm left with the unenviable task of trying to shock her out of  this way of thinking. I was so not looking forward to this shit but she  needed a wakeup call and she needed it quick.

"Do you want to have an abortion?" I wanted to burn off my tongue as soon as the words left my mouth.

She jerked as if I'd punched her.

"What, no, what...Gideon...how could you?" She tried to get off my lap but I held her tight.

"Blossom be calm, I don't want you to have one either but if you believe  our child will kill you then there's no way I'm going to let that  happen."

"But it's just an innocent baby."

"Not if it's going to kill you." Please let this shit work; please don't let her start thinking of me as the fucking monster.

"But..." She covered herself protectively as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I don't know what to do, what should I do?" And that's when I knew why  I'd chosen to tell her here, why I didn't wait until we were at home.

"Come with me."

I settled her in the electronic chair I'd gotten her to get around in.  There was no point in her hobbling around on crutches all the time, this  way she could use the chair when she grew tired. I didn't want her over  tiring herself anymore than she had to.

We headed to the fifth floor, the nursery and exactly what I expected to  happen did. At least I hadn't been wrong in this. I knew her, knew my  baby's soft sweet heart he hadn't been able to blacken that. Her whole  face lit up when she saw the babies. I knew it would, how could it not?  With that heart there was no way she could destroy our child.

All that was left to do was rebuild her from the ground up. The damage  was worse than I'd ever imagined but it could be fixed I'd see to it. I  leaned over and kissed the top of her head and she got as close to the  glass as she could staring from one tiny bundle to the next with a look  of wonder on her face. That's my girl.

"You see baby, they're innocent and perfect just like you were."

She grabbed my hand and held on tight.

"I'm scared Gideon." When she looked at me this time, at least there was  no longer a look of stark terror in her eyes. She was still scared that  much was evident but I was no longer in fear of her slipping into  darkness.

"I know baby but I promise, look at me...I promise you that if you  believe in me, if you trust me, everything will work out great and in  about nine months we're going to have a beautiful baby boy or girl who's  going to grow up with both a mother and father who loves them  unconditionally."

She looked at me like I had the answer to the secrets of the universe.  I'd settle for the secret to how to erase everything he'd done to her.





Chapter 17



I got her settled in a room downstairs for the duration when we got home later that day.

My mom had been busy bustling around getting things in order and dad had  already thought to set me up with an agency that provided outpatient  service. There would be a nurse coming tomorrow and he'd hooked us up  with a good doctor that he knew and trusted. I wasn't sure about the  nurse thing anymore but we'll see how Blossom felt.                       
       
           



       

Right now she's asleep. She's being understandably needy, wanting me  near her at all times, which I can totally understand and it's no  hardship for me to give her what she wants.