Chapter Twelve
Selena
I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. I’d scurried around the top floor of the mansion until I’d found a free bathroom, someplace I could lock the door behind me, slide in without anyone noticing, and pull out the pregnancy test. Peeing on the stick proved harder than I anticipated. It was a sloshing mess, and I’d been happy to wash my hands afterward. I mean, you’d think I could have control, but the truth was that I was a ball of anxiety. Seeing Brandon today had made me even more nervous. If that were even possible. I’d been tired, scared, and exhausted. Now, I realized that as much as I wanted to break things off with Brandon, do the right thing, even if I weren’t pregnant, then I wasn’t sure if I could.
It was like his very presence called to me, made my blood pound in my brain, and left me overheated and overeager. Being in that bedroom with him, I’d felt my heart thudding all over again. Even when I felt the deepest depression and fear of my life, I was still quivering underneath it all, still wet with need for him.
But it was all insane.
I glanced at my cell phone as I sat on the lip of the giant Jacuzzi tub. It was the longest five minutes of my life, waiting for whatever the test would tell me. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted. Obviously, if I had a child with Brandon, it would be a disaster. I could never think about getting rid of a child, but, at the same time, I couldn’t be public about it. Frankly, I couldn’t even finish college with a baby. I guess I’d run back home, tail between my legs, and be every bit the failure my mother was. Just another cautionary tale about not being careful while having sex.
What I couldn’t do was drag him down with me, ruin his reputation and make Tammy hate him. If I were pregnant, I didn’t think that Brandon could ever know.
I knew him now. He’d step up, do the right thing, but it could cost him his company, and Tammy’s love and adulation. I wasn’t about to ruin a family.
Then, as crazy as this was, a small part of me wanted to be pregnant, wanted to have that spark of life inside of me. A child with Brandon was an impossible clash of our worlds, but I knew it now, after over two months with him. I loved him. It was more than just the way he made my body feel. It was how he cared about my history; the life I’d had and struggled through before coming to New York. It was about how he seemed to know what I was thinking and feeling even before I did. The expert eye he offered on reviewing my pieces. If circumstances were different, we could be a happy family.
But they weren’t.
And everything standing between us was impossible.
My posture went rigid when the timer on my phone rang. God, the moment of truth. I inched over to the sink and stared down at the blue plus sign that was mocking me, that really only confirmed the changes I’d felt in my own body.
“Oh God.”
I was pregnant.
Jesus, God, what the hell would I do?
Tears stung my eyes, and I grabbed my purse. I could Uber home… Do anything to get out of here. I couldn’t hide the happy party façade when my very life and future was crumbling around me. As I reached for the positive test, the lock tumbled loose and the door open. I froze there, like a deer in the damn headlights, and gaped at the person before me.
Mrs. Stewart stood there with a triumphant smile plastered across her face. “I knew I’d find you here.” She eyed the test I hadn’t managed to grab yet. “I didn’t anticipate that but, knowing Brandon, I can’t say I’m surprised.”
My heart went cold as ice. “What?” I croaked out.
“He had mistresses during our marriage, but you knew that. I’m sure Tammy told you. I just never saw a little tramp like you working your way so close to our family to try and get Brandon’s money.”
“It’s not about the money.”
Mrs. Stewart nodded. “It won’t be. Like I said, Brandon’s got a way of avoiding pregnancy scares. I assume at some point he’s paid women to go away.”
I reached for the key from Tiffany’s around my neck. That wasn’t possible. I couldn’t just be a stupid girl he’d tricked, could I? “He’d never do that to me.”
“Do you want to stick around? Work for some sugar daddy money, you tramp?” Mrs. Stewart’s voice was glacially cold. “How is this going to work? Are you going to be the new stepmom for Tammy? Are you going to raise her baby brother or sister like everything you’ve done isn’t a slap in all of our faces?”
“I don’t know.”
She shook her head. “I think you do. Tammy means everything to me, and if you’re even a fraction of the friend you’ve pretended to be all this time, you’ll get lost. I’ll write you a check. A nice amount that my current husband will never miss, not with my shopping record. You take it, you disappear, and you never bother Brandon or Tammy again.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I don’t care what you want,” Melanie said as she leaned in closer to me. “Do you not get it? What you want doesn’t matter anymore, you child. I don’t care about Brandon. I’ve been used to his stunts for years, and that’s why I left him. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, but I do care about Tammy, and I hope you do too. You’re going to take the money, and you’re going to disappear like you never darkened NYU’s doorstep or lived with her. I don’t give a shit what excuse you have to make, but you are not going to break her heart.”
“I…”
Icy blue eyes met mine, something reptilian and devoid of emotion simmering in them. “I’m not the one who was fucking around, Selena. You’re the one who made this choice, who was so damn irresponsible. I’m just presenting you with a way out so that you can avoid destroying an innocent girl, someone caught up in all of this bullshit. Do you understand me? Unless you have a couple million stashed around, which is what it can cost to get a child from infancy to eighteen.”
I swallowed, hard. “I don’t want your blood money.”
She laughed; a cold, barking sound. “You only want Brandon’s. Trust me, you aren’t the first person to do this, to drag yourself to him. And you won’t be the last. Your mistake, Selena, is thinking you’re special, but you’re not. All I’m asking you is to be a decent friend—a friend at all—and get the hell out of here. Seriously, child, do you think he’ll still want you when you’re dragging him down with a family?”
“I don’t want to ruin anyone’s life. I’d never want to be that person.”
“You’re a homewrecker. You’ve betrayed my daughter’s trust. The best you can do, Selena, is run far away and hope you’re never discovered. After all, even the other bimbos who seduced Brandon over the years were smart enough to do that. Honey, you think you’re special, but you don’t get it.”
“I don’t?” I asked, my voice hoarse and barely recognizable as my own.
“No one’s special to Brandon. Now, are you taking the deal or not?”