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But it did mean a lot to me. I was very grateful that I had two wonderful people in my life. Erica was someone unexpected that had crept into my heart in no time at all, and Shane was my right-hand man from the start. If the whole world was against me after I had made the decision to go public with my love for Erica, it wouldn’t matter as long as I had the two of them.
I was thankful that I had them in my life. Money had always been the driving point, but I realized now that for the first time, I was truly a rich man.
Chapter 26
Erica
I had to tell Brett. I was getting more and more worried about him not knowing, but the longer I waited, the worse it would be to tell him. At first, I wasn’t sure if I should tell him at all. I was worried about how it would affect his company and his image, and I was pretty sure he didn’t want anything to do with me if I was going to have a baby.
Walking away from him would have been hard, but it would have been the right thing to do. At least in my mind. Now, everything was different. He had gone public. Brett had held a press conference where he had confessed his love for me. I wanted to be with him, but I was still positive he would change his mind when he found out I was pregnant. His press conference had been sweet and touching, and it seemed like the world was accepting it, but that was because they didn’t know about the baby.
Still, now that things had gone as far as they had—sleeping with him again hadn’t really helped my cause—there was no way I could keep it a secret from him anymore. Not without causing even more trouble.
On Friday I knew it was time. I was back at work despite my morning sickness, so I could do it face-to-face. It was the only way to do it. Of course, I wasn’t going to break the news to him at the office. Since he had talked to the press, everyone at the office treated me differently. After the first time everything had come out, they had gossiped about me and snickered behind my back. Now, even though some of them were still unsure, they treated me with the kind of respect I hadn’t expected.
I walked to Brett’s office. He was working on his laptop and smiled at me when he looked up.
“Well, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said.
“Are you always going to be this charming?” I couldn’t help but smile.
“Now that I’m allowed to do it openly, yes.”
I nodded, but my stomach turned. “Do you want to go to lunch with me today?”
“Absolutely,” Brett said. “Let me just get this done.”
“Let’s wait until after the investors meeting,” I said. “I’ll be glad when that’s off our backs.”
The investors had wanted to call an emergency meeting when Brett had done his press conference, but he had asked them to postpone for a couple of days to see how the world would react. And this time I was nervous of their reactions. I couldn’t handle the stress about the company on top of the stress of telling Brett. I had to handle one thing at a time.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Brett said.
I nodded and left the office. Brett had seemed more than happy about the idea to go to lunch with me. That was because he didn’t know what was coming. I was terrified of telling him. I didn’t want to do this to him, but I couldn’t keep postponing, and even if I didn’t want to tell him, there was no way I would be able to hide it after a couple of weeks. I had to do it now. I tried to concentrate on my work, but my mind kept wandering. I tried to prepare myself for every scenario. I expected him to be upset with me. I expected him to blame me, and I tried to think about what I was going to say. After all, I hadn’t made this baby alone, and even if we didn’t end up together, the very least he could do was accept his own involvement. It was much easier in theory than it would be in reality, but this was one of those things I wasn’t going to be able to get out of.
It was finally time for the investors meeting. Neither of us looked at the results Brett’s press conference had had yet. The numbers had come back only a short while before we headed to the boardroom, and Brett had the file under his arm. As usual, the investors were already in the boardroom when we arrived. They looked at us with expressionless faces, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if they were happy or if they were serious.
