Chapter 15: Miss Bennett Is Pregnant

The next day.

Joy forced herself into work.

All morning, she ducked out under the excuse of the break room, slipping to the restroom twice to be sick.

Coming out of the stall the second time, she caught two coworkers gossiping just outside the door, voices lowered.

"Hey did you hear? Someone up in the executive office is pregnant."

"I heard. You think it's Joy Bennett? She's thrown up like three times today."

"Really? I didn't even know she had a boyfriend."

Joy froze in place, only stepping out once their voices faded.

Back at her desk, something in the air had shifted. Everyone kept their eyes glued to their keyboards, but the sideways glances and murmured exchanges felt like pinpricks against her back.

She took a breath, forced her expression neutral, sat down, and pulled up her work.

Just hold on.

Once this weekend's over, once it's done, everything goes back to normal.

Friday. Overcast sky.

Derek and Zoe went with her to Meridian City General.

After a long round of preoperative exams, she picked up her dry-cleaned coat and stopped by Dr. Reeves's office.

"Dr. Reeves the coat's clean now. Thank you."

Naomi took it, gaze lingering on Joy's pale, drained face, hesitating before she spoke.

As one of the city's top OB-GYNs, she'd seen countless women in this exact position. Somehow this one still managed to break her heart a little.

"Is the father not coming?"

Joy's lashes trembled, fingers tightening on her bag strap. "He's busy."

Naomi sighed and let it go.

"Surgery's tomorrow morning. Go home, get some rest."

Outside, the three of them grabbed a quick lunch. Zoe got pulled into an emergency meeting and left in tears, leaving Derek to walk Joy back to the office.

At 1:30, downstairs outside Cross Enterprises.

Nathaniel was heading out to inspect a branch office. Marcus hurried ahead to open the car door, hand still on the handle when his gaze snagged on something across the street.

Nathaniel followed his line of sight.

A silver sedan was parked along the curb. The driver's door opened a fair-skinned man stepped out. A second later, the passenger door opened too.

Joy.

The man leaned in, said something to her, concern written across his face.

Joy smiled at him and waved as she turned to head inside.

The man got back in his car and pulled away, passing right by the Maybach.

Marcus, unable to help himself, murmured, "Is that Miss Bennett's boyfriend? Good-looking guy."

The second the words left his mouth, he felt the air around him drop ten degrees.

He turned to find Nathaniel's stare cutting straight through him.

"right, sorry." Marcus nearly bit his tongue, shut his mouth fast, and climbed into the front seat.

The car pulled smoothly into traffic.

In the back, Nathaniel sat with his eyes closed, jaw locked tight.

That scene wouldn't leave his head.

That's the guy from the restaurant. Are they still together?

Did he take her to her follow-up appointment?

Up front, Marcus scrolled through next year's staffing plan on his tablet, frowning slightly. After a moment's hesitation, he glanced back at his boss.

"Sir, there's something I need your input on staffing for the executive office next year."

Nathaniel, eyes still closed, said flatly, "Go on."

"It's about Miss Bennett..."

At her name, Nathaniel's eyes snapped open, dark and unreadable.

"She'll likely be going on maternity leave next year..."

Nathaniel's fingers curled against his knee, knuckles going white.

"I was thinking should we pull someone internally to cover for her temporarily, or bring in an outside hire? Her role's too critical to leave to just anyone"

"Say that again."

The voice that cut him off was low, cold, dangerous.

Marcus swallowed hard. "I said we should look for temporary coverage in the office"

"Before that."

Marcus faltered. "...Miss Bennett will be going on maternity leave next year"

The temperature in the car seemed to drop another ten degrees. He shivered without meaning to.

Nathaniel's fists clenched against his knees, veins standing out along his hands.

Marcus, assuming his boss was just stunned Joy had always been single, after all hurried to explain.

"It's mostly speculation, honestly. A few days back, the cleaning staff found a positive pregnancy test in the restroom on our floor. Two lines."

"I quietly asked around the next day every woman in the office denied it was hers."

He paused, watching Nathaniel's face carefully.

"The only one I didn't get to ask was Miss Bennett, since she was out that day. But she's looked awful lately, running to the bathroom constantly, throwing up..."

It fits the pattern.

Marcus, feeling rather proud of his own thoroughness as an assistant, added:

"So it makes sense to start planning ahead, so she can take her leave without worrying about the workload."

"Having a baby?"

Nathaniel forced the words out through gritted teeth, voice barely above a whisper and somehow more unsettling for it.

Marcus pressed his lips shut, not daring another word.

Nathaniel closed his eyes. Something enormous surged through his chest, like a blade twisting somewhere deep, leaving nothing behind but hollow, aching emptiness.

She's pregnant.

"Take me to The Scarlet Room."

Marcus: ??

...

The Scarlet Room.

The private room sat dim, thick with smoke and the smell of liquor.

Five or six empty bottles littered the table.

Nathaniel had two buttons undone at the collar, tie discarded somewhere on the floor, radiating a dark, reckless energy.

Whatever was eating at him refused to burn itself out the more he drank, the worse it got, and somehow, the more clear-headed he became underneath it all.

"Nate what is this?"

Ethan pushed the door open, yawning. He'd landed at noon, barely gotten thirty minutes of sleep before the club manager blew up his phone. He could barely keep his eyes open.

He took one look at the graveyard of bottles and froze. "Are you trying to drink yourself into the ground?"

Nathaniel ignored him, tipping his head back to drain another glass.

Ethan dropped into the seat beside him, poured his own glass, and tried reasoning with him.

"It's just an assistant, man. Is it really worth this? Plenty of women out there and honestly, she's nothing special to begin with."

Nathaniel said nothing, eyes bloodshot.

"I genuinely don't get it. She's got no looks, no figure, nothing going for her."

Ethan pressed his lips together, then snapped his fingers.

"Alright enough moping. Let me get you something better to look at.”