The billionaire's secret baby

V

artment like a gunshot. My face burned, but the pain in my chest hurt worse. I pre

cheap wine she'd been drinking all afternoon. "Eighteen years old

uniform that reeked of grease and desperation. My mother's bloodshot ey

urs a week, Mom.

hetic paychecks a contribution? We can barely afford this dump, and it's all your fau

ions of this speech countless times, but tonight felt

born," I whispered

y?" Her eyes nar

, filled with eighteen years of accumulated pain and anger. "I'm sorry I ru

ed stunned. Then her f

hing I've sacrificed for you, this is how

ne and hurled it at me. I ducked, and it shattered agains

med again. "Get out

ng apartment, her screams following me down the hallway. The tears I had been holdin

o family who cared. I was alone in the world, just like I have always been. The realizat

re. Gradually, the broken streetlights and boarded-up windows gave way to gleaming skyscrapers and e

get in. The sign read "Azure" in elegant script, and everything about it scr

t bitterly. What

he bouncer barely glanced at me before waving me through. Inside, the music was loud

order a drink. Then another. And another. The alcohol burned

you're drowning

gle. I turned to find a man beside me, tall, dark-haired, with eyes the color of

surprised by how ste

in my chest. "Well, we can't have that, can we

nd he listened. About feeling trapped, about being unwanted, about dreams that seemed impossible. He di

his fingers brushing against my hand

something I can't really phantom. When he leaned closer, I didn't pull away. Wh

luxury I'd never imagined. But I barely noticed the opulence. All I could f

first time in my life, I felt truly wanted, truly cherished. In his arms, I

ears. He stroked my hair and whispered things that made my heart soar. I never asked his nam

artbeat, feeling like maybe, just

or closing. The bed beside me was empty, the sheets already cold. I sat up, m

or the lingering scent of his cologne on the pillow. I dressed quickly, m

ent, the same broken life. My mother was passed ou

too heartbroken to function properly. I found another job, then another, eac

gas station, staring at two pink lines on a pregnanc

tranger who'd shown me one night of t

cold tile wall, and for the second time