Page 2 of Bound To Be Mine

Adrian, our oldest brother, was the head of the company. Had been for almost three years, ever since our father very literally dropped dead at his desk. The desk Adrian now occupied.

We’d learned to step up and help one another. There were four of us to fill my father’s shoes, and even then, it still felt like we couldn’t fill the gap sometimes. If only he would have let us do more before the job killed him. He worked himself to death building the fashion empire we now ran. If he’d loosened his hold on control just a little, we might have been ready to step in earlier and give him a breath of retirement. Perhaps the job might not have killed him.

Adrian had stepped into the CEO role, and for that first year, we all worried he was going to follow our father into an early grave. And then he met Elizabeth. She pulled him into the land of the living.

And now they were having their first baby.

Bernadette’s phone vibrated on the armrest. She snatched it. “Mimi and Dash are heading up,” she said. “She was worried they missed it.”

My mother and younger brother strolled into the room a couple minutes later. Mom was carrying a black Blackwell Couture gift bag bursting with tissue paper and an embossed envelope. Her skirt swished around her ankles as she hurried over and embraced Sebastian and me, then Bernadette. The women shared an excited giggle and jig. Dash glanced at me, then Sebastian, then the pickle, and back at me. I shrugged.

“I swear, there’s always traffic when you need to be somewhere,” Mom said.

“It’s not like they give the baby back if we’re not all sitting in the waiting room,” I said.

“Stop,” Mom chided and clasped both hands under her chin. “This is a big moment. My first grandchild.” She looked at Bernadette and smiled. “And I can’t wait to meet my second grandbaby.”

That got my attention. “You’re pregnant?”

“No!” Bernadette said quickly.

Mom just laughed and patted Bernadette’s hand. “I mean eventually.”

“Mom, please,” Sebastian groaned. “We told you we weren’t trying until after the wedding. We have two shoots scheduled over the next six months.”

“I know, I know,” she said.

“What’d you bring the baby?” Bernadette asked.

Mom’s face lit up and she pulled some tissue aside to reveal silky black fabric. Bernadette leaned forward, eyes brightening. Mom spotted the glint in her eye and beamed. “I worked with Annika to create a little something special.”

Annika was our head seamstress. She created gorgeous formal gowns that aligned with our luxury designer brand, and her talents were incomparable, but I doubted she had any strengths designing for literal infants. Babies couldn’t wear gowns.

Right?

Mom pulled out a little black thing with shiny gold letters, BLACKWELL ORIGINAL.

“Oh my god!” Bernadette cooed. “Look at that!”

“I had two made. I like the black, very Blackwell, but I also had her make a pink one just in case. And look at these.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of shoes. Were they really shoes? Did babies wear shoes? If so, why? Where? Was that good for their toes?

Why the fuck am I thinking about baby toes?

“Those are so cute!” Bernadette took the shoes and examined them.

“They’re Italian leather,” Mom said. “Hand-stitched.”

“That gives me an idea,” Bernadette said. “You guys should totally think about a baby line.”

“I have a feeling Elizabeth will be all over that,” I said.

Elizabeth was a relatively new designer, but she’d already made her mark on the world. Adrian gave her the platform and she took the ball and ran with it. Her first line was what got Sebastian and Bernadette together.

“We’ll have to pitch some ideas,” Sebastian said. He held both hands up like he was creating a screen between his fingers. “I can see the promotional shots already. Four babies in bespoke suits. Black silk, with pocket squares with velvet floral textures. One baby swirls a bottle while the other studies a legal document with a soother in his mouth and⁠—”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said a little more sharply than I had intended. “We already have a lot of new projects being developed.”

Sebastian had moved away from modeling and into the role of creative director. He took it seriously and I could admit he was good at his job. Really good. The campaigns he came up with were fresh and did well. But billionaire babies? Nah.