Accidentally Pregnant With The Billionaire Heir

Walking into a café with eight bodyguards is a great way to ensure nobody asks if you’re finished with the chair next to you.

Honestly, I may sound a little conceited when I say this, but I’ve always hated someone taking the empty chair next to me. Like, I know I’m sitting here alone, but the chair was my only company, and now it’s gone. But today, I’m a hundred percent sure that no one would take the extra chair next to me.

Plus, even if they did, I won’t mind because I have more than enough company.

The Savina Café is a small, high-end sanctuary on Ring Road. We were not even inside yet when I started to smell roasted Arabica beans, and my stomach rumbled. It was then that I realized I was hungry.

Now I’m inside and my mouth actually waters. Savina Cafe is the kind of place where the background music is expensive jazz, and the patrons wear uniform coats and walk at the same pace, with the same step. Lily is practically vibrating beside me, her small hand tucked into mine as she stares at the glass display case filled with colorful macarons. If I were her age, I’d already be doing a dance around the place. But since I’m older, I try to be more composed.

Our security detail doesn’t exactly blend in. They stand at the perimeter like dark, unmoving pillars, their earpieces shining under the warm pendant lights. I feel the weight of every gaze in the room. But there’s only one that really matters.

Dr. Alistair.

The second I remember his name, my palms start to sweat again. I take a deep breath and square my shoulders, trying to muster all the courage and confidence that I can find inside me.

After looking around for a second, we find Dr. Aris at a corner table near a large bay window. He looks up from a book, his silver spectacles sliding down his nose as he offers a surprisingly warm smile. He looks like a man who spent his morning saving lives and his afternoon looking for a good scone. The sight immediately calms my nerves and I take another deep breath to release those nerves.

"Emily," he says, gesturing to the seats across from him. Then he smiles at Lily. "And you Princess, I’ve not seen outside the mansion before. Welcome."

Lily offers a polite curtsy that she definitely practiced many times because it looks very graceful. I settle into the velvet chair and slide my semi-damp palms over the arm of the chair. Dr. Aris doesn’t waste time and I mentally note that he’s a straightforward man. He orders a chocolate muffin for Lily and a black coffee for himself before leaning in, his expression turning professional.

"I’ve spent the last hours reviewing the data from your synthesis yesterday," he says.

I frown. "You started reviewing it since yesterday?"

He gives a simple nod. "Yes. Once I saw how quickly it worked on the Old Madam with no side effects, I had little to no doubt that it would turn out to be an authentic remedy. The purity levels are unheard of for a manual preparation. I’m prepared to offer you the full backing of the Institute. Now, tell me. What are your terms? Money? A lab of your own? I suspect you could ask for a small island and the board would find a way to buy it."

I take a slow breath. I’ve thought about this since I was sixteen, hiding my mother’s journals under a floorboard while my stepmother screamed in the kitchen. But somewhere along the hustle and bustle of life, I lost sight of my dreams and ambitions. I don’t know when it happened, but it all of a sudden started to feel like a pipe’s dream. Something too far to reach.

Now, it doesn’t feel like that anymore.

"I don’t want an island, Doctor," I say. I keep my voice steady, though my heart is a drum in my ears. "I want a seat."

He cocks his brows. "A seat?"

I nod and continue. "I was supposed to apply to Etlan University of Medicine years ago. Life got in the way. I had to drop out before I could even start. My father didn’t see the value in a girl with a stethoscope, and my life... well, it became about survival."

I look him in the eye.

"If the Institute wants my formula, I want in. I want my admission to Etlan. I want the knowledge I missed out on. Even if you can’t help me with the school, the licensing deal stands. I want this medicine to save people. But I want the chance to develop more. I want to be more than just the girl who got lucky with a vial of amber liquid once."

Dr. Aris stares at me for a long moment. His face is unreadable for a few seconds, but then I see a twitch at the side of his lips, and his eyes seem to brighten. He looks like a father whose child just won the Nobel Prize.

"Intellectual aspirations are rare in a world obsessed with dividends," he says. He reaches out and pats my hand, his skin like old parchment. "Etlan is the gold standard, Emily. It’s basically a lion’s den. The place is filled with the smartest and richest people in the country, and the combination of those is enough to break a normal person. But after seeing you handle Alistair’s family today, I think the lions should be the ones worried."

He pulls a leather-bound planner from his bag and scribbles a note.

"I’ll personally handle your admission. Consider it done. We’ll discuss the financial royalties later. Go home, rest, and keep that brain of yours hungry. I’ll contact you in a few days to finalize the paperwork."

He stands up, offers Lily a wink, and leaves.

I sit there for a minute, staring at the empty chair. It’s happening. The door I thought was bolted shut for the rest of my life just swung wide open. I feel a dizzying sense of hope, a lightheadedness that has nothing to do with the lack of food.

"Can I have another muffin?" Lily asks, her face covered in chocolate crumbs. I didn’t even realize she had finished the first one. My nerves are all over the place and I can’t sit down any longer. I have to get to work!

"I’ll get you one. But let’s eat it at home okay? I have some work to do."

"Can I help? So we can spend some more time together?" She asks.

"Of course, darling!" I say, laughing.

We stand up to leave, but the atmosphere in the café shifts. The air feels suddenly heavy, cloyed with the smell of a familiar, expensive cologne. I look toward the door and my stomach turns into a cold knot of lead.

Julian Thorne is walking in.

He looks exactly like the man I thought I loved. He’s dressed in a navy blue bespoke suit, his hair perfectly coiffed, his chin held at that arrogant angle that screams corporate elite. He’s the poster child for the man who has everything and deserves none of it. He spots me instantly. Too instantly that it feels like he knew I would be here.

How would he know that? Or am I just imagining things?

He strides over, blocking my path to the exit. My bodyguards start to close in, their hands hovering near their jackets, but I give them a sharp shake of my head. I don’t need a wall of muscle to handle a ghost. And I don’t want to scare Lily.

Julian looks at me, his eyes traveling over my simple clothes and then landing on the bodyguard standing closest to Lily. He looks at Lily, then back at the guard, and a slow, smug realization dawns on his face. He looks like a man who just solved a puzzle and is very proud of his own stupidity.

"Emily," Julian says. "I heard the news. Chloe told me you’d found someone. I didn’t believe her at first. I thought you had more self-respect."

I stare at him, my irritation mounting with every second. "I’m busy, Julian. Move."

"I see why you did it," he says, ignoring my request. He steps closer, lowering his voice as if we’re sharing a deep, tragic secret. He gestures vaguely at the bodyguard behind me. "A bodyguard? Really, Emily? Is this what it’s come to? You married a man who carries bags for a living? And he comes with a child? You’re playing house with a divorced mercenary just to get back at me?"

I blink. I actually have to stop and process the sheer, unadulterated narcissism required to reach that conclusion. He thinks the guard is my husband. He thinks Lily is the guard’s daughter. He thinks I’ve settled for a "blue collar" life because my heart is so broken by his betrayal that I’m trying to punish myself.

Julian sighs, the sound of a man who finds his own empathy exhausting.

"I get it. I really do. You were hurt. You wanted to prove that you could move on, so you picked the first man who showed you a little bit of strength. You’re trying to spite me by showing me how ’happy’ you are in this gritty, working-class life. But look at you. You’re exhausted. You’re hiding behind a child that isn’t yours. It’s a fit of pique, Emily. It’s beneath you."

I look at him, and suddenly realize that I don’t feel the sting of the hospital room. I don’t feel the pain of seeing him with Chloe. I just feel an overwhelming sense of disgust, the kind you feel when you find a cockroach in a bowl of expensive soup.

"Julian," I say. I step closer, making sure I’m in his personal space. I can smell his cologne and it makes my nauseous. "Surely you don’t think I’m still in love with you?"

He winces, his eyebrows drawing together in a wounded, arrogant frown. "There’s no need to be bitter. I’m just saying, if you wanted to settle a debt, you didn’t have to ruin your life with a man like... that." He looks at the bodyguard with a sneer.

"A man like that is worth ten of you," I say. My voice is clear, drawing the attention of the surrounding tables. "He knows what loyalty is. He knows what a promise means. He doesn’t spend his time sniffing around his fiancé’s sister while she’s trying to have his baby."

Julian’s face flushes a deep, ugly red. "You’re being dramatic. You’re clearly in a state of emotional distress."

"The only thing I’m in is a state of profound nausea," I reply. I grab Lily’s hand, my fingers firm. "You’re a parasite, Julian. You’re a small man in a big suit, and the fact that you think my entire life revolves around your ego is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard. Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. If I see your face again, I’ll make sure the next thing you’re wearing is a restraining order."