Chapter 2

A college friend had invited me and Bryan to his birthday, and Bryan texted to arrange a time to pick me up.

Before I clocked out, I spent a few minutes fixing my hair in the mirror. Dirk teased me about it. "Heading out on a date? All dressed up like that. You coming in tomorrow?"

I finished off with a bit of hair spray, figuring we might end up bar-hopping until midnight, and nodded. "I might be a little late tomorrow morning. Do me a favor and sign me in if I'm not there yet."

"Got it," he said.

The second the workday ended, I went downstairs and got into Bryan's Aston Martin, and we drove off.

Dirk, straddling his electric scooter, sighed enviously. "Must be nice, having a rich, thoughtful girlfriend."

Vincent thought it over for a second, then climbed onto his own scooter and pulled up the map.

We partied until almost eleven, when a few friends decided to go sing karaoke. While Bryan was pulling the car around, I caught a glimpse of Vincent in the distance, stepping out of the Laurelwood Hotel.

Was he here to eat too?

Bryan's car came up from the garage. I didn't think much of it, looked away, and got in.

The next day, Vincent was back to his usual self. He'd stopped watching me so closely, and without him hovering, I could finally check my phone in peace. That was a relief.

His clothes and styling kept getting more polished by the day, and the rest of us started whispering about whether he'd gotten himself a girlfriend.

One day, he walked into the office with an LV necklace around his neck, and, not so subtly, let his sleeve slide back to reveal a Rolex on his wrist.

Jimmy let out a low whistle. "Vincent, you've really been stepping up your look lately. That necklace looks expensive. Be honest, did you land yourself a sugar mama?"

Dirk eyed him with the same envy. "That watch looks familiar too. Some kind of luxury brand, right? Must have cost a fortune."

Vincent tipped his chin up, pleased with himself. "What do you think? It's a Rolex. Just over fourteen thousand dollars. My girlfriend knew I wanted one, so she went and bought it for me without a second thought."

Dirk and Jimmy crowded around him, admiring it with open envy. I glanced over once and lost interest immediately. A knockoff wasn't worth a second look.

Vincent suddenly walked up to me and reached into his pocket like he was about to pull something out.

That was when Liza appeared in the doorway. She looked at me first, then turned to Vincent, her gaze sweeping over the necklace and the watch, her face going hard. "Vincent, come to my office."

He answered with a low "Sure," then shot me a smug little smile on his way out. I had no idea what any of that meant, so I just put my head down and kept working.

I didn't expect the first thing he'd do when he got back was slap a pregnancy test result down on my desk, chin tilted up like he owned the place. I caught the two words on it right away: CONFIRMED PREGNANT.

"Your girlfriend's pregnant," he said.

I froze for a second, an instinctive "Huh?" slipping out before I could stop it. "Not mine, though."

The rest of the office looked up.

He faltered for a beat, then arranged his face back into that same superior look. "Of course it's not yours! It's mine! Sorry to break it to you, but your girlfriend fell for me at first sight."

Then he pivoted. "She's pregnant with my child. Do yourself a favor and back off before this gets ugly."

Dirk and Jimmy, both in the same office, stared at him with their mouths hanging open, too stunned to react.

"I told you she'd dump you eventually, didn't I? Guess the day finally came. She's carrying my baby now. Give it a little longer, and I probably won't even be working here anymore. I'll be marrying into her family and taking over the business."