Her Boss's One-Night Baby. Jennie Lucas

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      “Possible?” Antonio choked out, dumbfounded. “What do you mean, it’s possible?”

      “Just what I said.” The doctor looked at him gravely over his thick glasses. “We did the test, as you requested. And the results are conclusive.”

      It was good Antonio was already sitting down. He felt sick and dizzy at the news. The minimalist decor and medical equipment in the examining room of the private clinic swam in front of his eyes.

      “I don’t understand,” he stammered. “As I told you, I had a vasectomy eighteen years ago, at a reputable hospital—”

      “Yes. It seems your body has healed itself.”

      Antonio stared at the doctor in shock.

      All morning, he’d felt his insides churn, in spite of his best efforts not to think about the lies Hana had told him on the sidewalk: pretending to be pregnant with his baby, clearly in an attempt to extort money or a proposal of marriage. Going to the top floor of the skyscraper with his team, he’d pushed aside the feelings of betrayal and rage, and tried to focus on the details of the business negotiation.

      But the meeting had been a disaster. He hadn’t been able to find the right papers in the portfolio, or track down the points he’d previously marked to discuss with his lawyers before they formally presented the offer to Iyokan Airways. Hana had always been in charge of solving his problems, finding papers, sorting out details, arranging whatever he needed.

      Now he was alone.

      Abandoned.

      Betrayed.

      During the meeting, his lawyers and his Tokyo lead team had looked at each other worriedly as they were forced to repeat certain clauses in the contract multiple times to their normally razor-sharp boss. Emotion—rage and anger and, worst of all, hurt—had built inside him, until finally, it had exploded. He’d scattered the pile of papers in fury across the large glass table in his conference room on the top floor of the skyscraper, with its view of Tokyo.

      “Reschedule,” he’d growled, and stalked out, knowing they were probably wondering if he was drunk, or if he’d lost his mind—or his nerve. His business rivals would smell blood in the water. He himself had always enjoyed attacking the businesses of weaker opponents. He’d never experienced what it was like to be on the other side of it. Not since he was young, when he was helpless and alone—

      He pushed the memory aside. This was Hana’s fault. His secretary had betrayed him at every level. Personally. Professionally.

      He never should have slept with her. The success of his company was far more important than any sexual desire. CrossWorld Airways was the only thing that mattered. Once he expanded routes into Asia, he would build to Africa and South America. He would have the first truly global low-cost airline. His company was his family, his lover, his religion and meaning. His company was his soul.

      So why had he done it? Why, when she’d kissed him, that night in Madrid, hadn’t he had the strength to push her away?

      Yes, Hana was beautiful. But he’d ignored beautiful women before. It was something more. She’d been different. Pure fire. And when she’d kissed him, he could have no more pushed her away then he could have stopped breathing.

      He’d wanted her then. He wanted her still.

      But she’d been setting a trap for him, all along. Playing him for a fool, luring him in with her innocent beauty and apparent warm heart. All so she could seduce him and claim to be pregnant. He could hardly believe he’d been tricked so thoroughly.

      But that was the problem.

      The whole thing was hard to believe.

      And the more Antonio had thought about it during the business meeting, the more distracted he’d become, obsessing over a single question.

      How was it possible everything about Hana was a lie?

      For two years, she’d worked at his side. She’d been hardworking, loyal, honest to a fault. How could anyone maintain an act like that so well, and for so long?

      Antonio couldn’t understand it. And every time he’d tried to focus during the business meeting, he’d seen the eviscerated look in her eyes. You’re firing me? Because I’m pregnant with your baby?

      And he’d felt his heart, his guts, every part of his body twist like a rag wrung dry.

      Stalking angrily from the meeting, he’d grimly arranged to see the best fertility doctor in the city. Just to prove, once and for all, that Hana Everly was a liar. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the victim here.

      And now this.

      He’d come to the clinic for reassurance, not to discover his worst fears were actually true. He’d never expected he’d be told it was possible that he’d fathered Hana’s child!

      “No,” Antonio told the doctor hoarsely. “I had a vasectomy!”

      The other man stroked his white beard thoughtfully. “You had the procedure when you were very young. Sometimes the body heals itself, as I said. It’s rare, less than one percent of cases. But it happens.” He paused. “We can book an appointment to redo the procedure...”

      “What’s the point of that now? It’s already too late!” With a low snarl, Antonio rose to his feet and stormed out of the clinic. All he could think about was the stricken look on Hana’s face when he’d left her standing alone on the sidewalk. The shock in her brown eyes.

      If she was really pregnant with his child, and he’d treated her like that—

      Antonio pushed the thought away ruthlessly. It wasn’t his fault. How could he have possibly known the vasectomy he’d had as a teenager would fail nearly two decades later? Of course he’d assumed Hana was lying. How could he think otherwise? People had always proved themselves worthy of his worst assumptions.

      Everyone except Hana. But he’d been all too ready to believe the worst even of her. Because it scared him, how much he’d come to trust her.

      As he stepped out of the medical clinic, Antonio saw the rain had lightened to a drizzle, with flashes of sunlight like silver breaking through the clouds.

       You’re firing me? Because I’m pregnant with your baby?

      He felt another twist in his gut.

      “Mr. Delacruz, if I may speak freely...” His longtime bodyguard Ramon Garcia, who’d been waiting in the lobby, followed him toward the СКАЧАТЬ