It was almost half past noon. My lunch time was already halfway over, but it didn't really matter. My appetite was nowhere to be found. The way that Carter had shrugged me off made me sick to my stomach. His reaction to me wasn't at all what I had expected it would be. I had imagined him giving me a deep and passionate kiss, telling me how much he'd missed me during the weekend. Instead, I got the complete opposite.
I drew in a deep breath and sunk back into my chair. The papers that Carter had handed me a few minutes before were spread all over the floor in front of my door. At least I had work to do. I figured that might help me take my mind off of things for a while. I sat forward to check over the stocks but was immediately interrupted by someone knocking on my office door.
My eyes widened and I glanced up, hoping to see Carter. My expression fell slightly when I saw a stout and curly-haired silhouette behind the glass. But, then I smiled for my friend.
“
Carter was still inside me as he began to stroke my hair. “So, you didn’t really tell me if you liked this bedroom.”“I do,” I said.“How would you like to share it with me?” he asked.I figured he would try to get me to move in with him. “Are you sure? That’s kind of a big step.”“So is having a baby,” he said.I thought about it. “I think I want to stay in my own apartment for now.”“Well, I can pay for it for now. That’s not a problem. But I’m going to want you to move in with me by the time the baby is born.”There he was with that patriarchal attitude again. “Or maybe I’ll spend my own money to live the same way I have been living, and you can just buy the baby some gold-plated diapers,” I said. I couldn’t help but overdo the sarcasm a little bit.He shrugged, then moved his hand to my shoulde
I hadn’t even begun to drink in the fact that Carter’s penthouse loft had a helipad before my breath being taken away by the sheer size of the apartment itself.“Carter, this is huge!” I said, looking around the place. There was a piano, a bar, and an entertainment center. That was just what I could see from the main entrance.“You want to see something else that’s huge?” he asked. I slapped his chest playfully, then moved to check out the rest of the apartment. He didn’t let me, though. He grabbed me by my waist and brought me in for a kiss.I squealed in surprise. “What’s that for?”“I know it’s been less than 24 hours since I last saw you, but I feel like so much has happened since then.” He kissed me again. “I found out I had a baby, I found out who the mole was in my company, I had my name dragged through the mud in all the tabloids-”“Carter,
The second I was in the door of the SEC headquarters, I went to a pay phone. I was surprised these things still existed.I copied a phone number from my cell phone and punched it in. It rang once before a gruff voice answered. “Who is this?” it asked me.“Carter, it’s me,” I said.He sounded relieved. “Jane. I’m glad it’s you. Somebody else got this phone number earlier and I was afraid they were calling again.” There was a pause. “Why aren’t you calling me from your own phone?”“I’m afraid it might have been tampered with,” I said. “That’s not important. What’s important is that I met with Delaney. Cindy is the mole in your organization. You have to monitor her access in general, but in specific, monitor any emails that you had with Greg about New York Solar.”“All emails are backed up on a weekly basis, and-”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” said Roger Delaney, President of New York Solar Company. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I just squirmed in my seat a little bit. He sighed. “Look, you came to me, and now you’re wasting my time. What is it that you want?” I gulped. I really wasn’t cut out for this kind of confrontation. “I... I’m pregnant,” I managed to choke out. He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I hear celebrations are in order. Did you want me to go to your baby shower or something?” I looked down at my feet. I was so embarrassed right now that I thought I could pass out. But I had to keep going. I had to. This was the only way that I could keep Carter and support my baby. I looked back up at him. “I’ve also been fired from Winthrow Financial.” He snorted. “That’s what happens when you deal with a snake like Winthrow. You end up knocked up, thrown out on your ass, and the subject of a government investigation on top of
I pulled up the text from Maddy again. You’re on TMZ right now. I tried to put myself in Maddy’s shoes. Every new piece of information in this drama, from the boat ride to my firing to the pregnancy, she had found out by seeing it on TV. I had thought about telling her about the pregnancy a few times, and it had come up against last night, when formulating the plan. Who else did you tell about you being on the boat?Carter had asked last night. Nobody, except... Except my friend Maddy,I had replied. Somebody’s leaking information to somebody, Jane. Somehow, the press or Roger Delaney keep knowing everything about us. Do you trust her? I did trust her. Even when Carter had suggested telling her about the pregnancy first, to see if she would leak it to the press or to Roger Delaney, the CEO of New York Solar Company. I was sure that it would just
I walked into the doctor’s office with a mixture of hope and dread. Hope because I’d finally be able to share the news with somebody else that I was pregnant. Dread because of all the things that would follow. Still, I had to be brave. It was all part of the plan. I had promised Carter that I’d go to the doctor’s office, and he got to pick the doctor. It still seemed a bit too patriarchal to me, but I’d go with it for now. I hadn’t been to the doctor since I had moved to New York City. This doctor’s office was right between the building for Winthrow Financial and Times Square. I could only imagine what the rent was on a place like this. It was late, almost 8 PM, so I expected the office to be dark. It was lit up like it was open 24 hours a day. The receptionist area was like any other, but I could tell that it catered to a wealthier clientele than I was used to. Everything about it seemed to scream “boutique”. I walked to the receptionist and gave her