Chapter 3: Finding Her Baby Daddy

Amelia stared at the screen in disbelief. What were the chances? Kalia stood behind her. "Oh. My. Goodness."

"Right?" Amelia said.

The Girls' Night had been last night and Kalia had stayed over. Their mission today was to find out who was the father of Amelia's baby. Isabel had left last night after the shocking news. Amelia still didn't know what to think about being pregnant.

"You need anything? Food?"

Amelia knew she should eat something, but she was tired of throwing up. Would this last the whole pregnancy? She couldn't imagine doing this for the next eight months.

"Crackers. I'm craving crackers," Amelia said.

"Hopefully you keep those down."

Amelia nodded. Her stomach was as empty as it had ever been in her life. Kalia set a bowl of crackers on the table beside Amelia's computer. She ignored them for a moment still taking in who the father of her baby was.

"I can see why you slept with him. Those blue eyes are to die for," Kalia said.

"He was sweet and charming. He'd also saved me from a group of male gamers," Amelia said.

She hadn't shared much of the story of her night with Alex.

"What's your next step?"

"I guess I go see him. He needs to know."

Kalia settled into the other chair in Amelia's office. She didn't seem to be as shocked as Amelia was. Somehow, she hadn't recognized the head of the hottest new gaming company in the industry. Had the men known who he was? Probably not, or they would have called him out on him pretending that Amelia was his girlfriend.

Alexander Hillen, from what Amelia was reading, was a notorious bachelor. He probably had one-night stands at every conference. She'd bet that he had a phalanx of lawyers to pay off maternity claims. Still, he needed to know that he had a child coming into the world.

This was going to be an uphill battle, but she was used to those. With Kalia by her side, she could conquer the world.

"What about the other part of this?"

She waved away any talk of that part of it. She would deal with it another day. "I can't worry about that right now."

"Do you think you can waltz into Hillen Enterprises and this guy will see you?" Kalia said.

She figured he was surrounded by layers of security. He was in a cutthroat business, and he'd be smart to keep himself safe. Just last year, half of the programmers for a hot company were in a car accident. Turned out their bus had been tampered with. A rival company was the suspect, but no one had been charged.

From the cyber end of things, Amelia's work had picked up. Everyone was now paranoid that their systems were hackable. Everything was hackable, but you could take precautions.

"No, but I can be persuasive."

Kalia snorted. "You don't have feminine wiles, A."

Amelia shrugged. "I don't, but I can approach him as if I have better security measures for him."

"True. He might still pass you off to his cybersecurity team."

She would cross the bridge if she came to it. She still had to digest that her baby daddy was the hottest property in her industry.

She sighed. "I have the address of the corporate headquarters. It's located twenty minutes from here."

"Really? I would have expected him to set up shop in Pittsburgh or Austin, Texas."

"He played hockey. His last team was the Flyers, and he chose to stay in the Philadelphia area," Amelia read from an article.

"Hockey player to a gamer. Seems like an odd leap."

Amelia agreed, but that wasn't her concern right now. "I need to know what I'm in for before I get there."

"Let's just go," Kalia said.

"No, I need to do this by myself. I'm a grown woman."

Kalia nodded. "Okay. I was just looking for an adventure."

Amelia shut down her computer. "I'm glad you can see some humor in this."

"I'm not making fun, A. I'm just trying to lighten the load here."

Amelia hugged her friend then they walked out of the apartment. Kalia gave her hand one last squeeze. "Go get him, tiger."

Amelia wasn't feeling that fierce as she pulled into the parking lot of Hillen Industries. It resided in an industrial park in a suburb of Philadelphia. It was north of the city with easy access to Center City. It was a glass and steel structure among warehouses and sat next to a distribution center for an online store.

She sighed and rubbed her stomach. "I have no idea what is going to happen, but you're mine and we're in this together."

She'd known from the moment that she found out about the baby that she would keep him or her. She couldn't imagine abandoning her own child. Would Alex feel the same?

Climbing out, she took in the campus. It was pretty amongst the square buildings. Like an oasis in a way. It gave her warm feelings that this was what Alex had built.

She steeled herself because she figured this would be a confrontation.

Surprised by the lack of security in the parking lot, she walked from the visitor spot past several reserved spots. Her heart stopped at the one she was happy to find empty.

She could talk to Alex. No matter how he felt about fatherhood, she would leave here doing her duty. Her conscience would be clear.

What the future held was still unknown. Her burgeoning friendship with Isabel would be in jeopardy, but that was sometimes how things went.

She stared at the sign one more time then thanked the stars that she hadn't come to work today.

Amelia pulled open the glass doors to Hillen Enterprises. Now she had to face Alex and tell him he was going to be a father. Again. And then somehow she had to tell her new friend Isabel, that her father had gotten her pregnant.