CHAPTER 12: AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL

ATHENA'S POV

When I get to the penthouse, Xander is already waiting by the door with his jaw clenched and his eyes full with anger.

“What the hell were you thinking going there alone?” he shouts.

“I needed the truth!” I shout back.

“At what cost? Your life?!”

He steps closer and grips me by both of my shoulders.

“If something happened to you— if you or the baby—”

“You’re scared?” I challenge. “Now you know how I’ve felt since day one this happened.”

His hands on my shoulders loosen and he says, “I’m calling the police.”

“No,” I all but beg. “Not yet. Whoever killed Lennox works fast. If the police come sniffing around, whoever’s behind this will disappear before we learn anything.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

I look up at him. “I want us to find out who really caused that insemination glitch and why.”

Xander stays quiet for a long while, then he and exhales harshly, scrubbing a hand down his face.

“Athena we’ll find out who, but from now on, you don’t go anywhere without my security.”

“Your security?” I scoff.

“I don’t need a bodyguard, I need someone to believe me when I say I wasn’t randomly chosen.”

He stiffens. “Athena—”

“No.” I say and move past him. “You’re not listening, you never listen.”

I shut myself in the guest room— my room— and pull out the backup drive that I stole from the clinic before running out.

It takes hours to go through the large drive's storage, but I finally find what I'm looking for.

It’s labeled: Trial 9X – Genetic Candidate Archive (Athena Foster)

My breath catches and with trembling fingers, I open the document to see a whole list in black and white.

Name: Athena Foster

Genetic Compatibility Rating: 97.4%

Chosen Pairing: Xander A. Knight

Objective: Insemination for Phase III testing, heir viability expected. There's monitor maternal bond and response.

I freeze in shock AND disbelief.

So this really wasn’t just an accident?

I was selected to be matched like some lab specimen and there’s even a contract.

... Signed by Dr Lennox himself; that's WHY they killed him.

I read further down the contract and see that the whole thing was approved in the first place by someone else with the initials E.K.

I have no idea who that is yet, but now I'm very sure that this my pregnancy was never a mistake.

About 30 minutes have passed before I shake my head and get up, immediately going over to see Xander---- by now he should be in his office so I head there.

“Xander!” I call and burst into his office, with the printed contract trembling in my hand.

He looks up from his laptop, looking startled.

“What is it?”

I don't reply directly but instead toss the papers onto his desk. “Explain that.”

He frowns and reaches his hand out, picking them up.

As he reads, his brow furrows deeper and deeper than he looks up from it and demands;

“Where did you get this?”

“Clinic servers.” I say and cross my arms. “Did you know about this?”

His jaw tightens. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Athena. I didn’t authorize this," he says, answering me and meets my gaze.

"I didn’t even know it existed.”

Mentally I sigh, and study his face.

I want to believe him, I really want to but there’s this look he has on his face.

“I asked Lennox months ago,” Xander admits slowly, still holding my gaze.

“I asked if there was ever a scenario where my sperm could be used without my consent and he said no, that it was impossible.”

“And you just took his word for it?”

“I didn’t think I needed to doubt him,” Xander growls.

“How should I have assumed he was part of some experimental breeding program!”

“I’m not a program, I’m a person.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?” I ask, walking closer to him.

"Because the moment things don’t go your way, you cage me like I'm an object, and now you won’t even accept that we’ve both been used.”

“I’m trying to fix this,” he snaps and stands to his feet, placing both of his arms on his desk.

“Do you think I want to believe someone out there is playing god with my DNA? That you were picked like a broodmare from a file?”

His words sound ugly, but they make me fall silent and my hands fall to my sides.

Finally I tell him, “I don’t know what’s worse— that someone planned this pregnancy… or that you’re still pretending it doesn’t matter.”

-----------------

Later that night, I find Xander in the lounge with a drink in his hand.

I almost walk away— almost because I want to leave him to sulk in his denial but then I hear the anchor’s voice from the news report on the TV.

“…and in a stunning turn of events, sources close to the Knight family confirm that Veronica Sterling is not pregnant, contrary to her public statements just days ago.”

“What did she say?”

Xander doesn’t look at me when I ask though, he just nods at the screen so I turn to it.

> “Ms. Sterling has issued no comment, but several sources claim that her pregnancy announcement was fabricated in an attempt to pressure Mr. Knight into reconciling. The engagement has been officially called off.”

I blink, completely and absolutely stunned. “Wait… you ended it?”

Xander sets the glass down and finally turns to me. “This morning. I sent her an official statement and had the ring returned.”

Quietly, I join him on the couch and sit on the edge of it.

“She’s going to retaliate,” I tell him.

“She already is,” he says, "I know her well enough to know that.”

I glance at him. “But why now?”

“Because there’s no point pretending. The past is over and this… this mess is my present now.”

His words sound like a love confession except that it's not.

Hell, it's not even close to it, but at least it's something given the situation we're in.

-----------------------------------------

If one more headline mentions the word “mistress,” I swear I’m going to throw my phone out through the window.

I walk back and forth in Xander’s massive office with my fists clenched at my sides.

Yes I'm angry; why shouldn't I be?

Every screen in the penthouse is busy flashing my name, my face, and terrible half truths about me.

“Secret Surrogate or Seductress?”

“Knight’s Illegitimate Heiress: Billionaire Baby Drama”

“Pregnant Intruder Wrecks An Elite Engagement”

Apparently Xander breaking off his engagement to Veronica was just like adding fuel to a fire because now the media's attention on me is far worse than it was before.

Hell, now the headlines are way too much that it'll can as well fill up three 5th year Anatomy books.

Goddddddd!!!!!!

I feel like screaming.

And guess what? While I'm busy being worried, Xander is right now lounging behind his black desk, looking as calm as ever although his jaw is twitching just a little.

“Are you going to keep stalking the carpet,” he says, “or are you finally ready to listen to what I’ve decided?”

My eyes snap to him. “What you’ve decided?”

Oh, I’m boiling.

“You mean without asking me?”

He stands, not looking bothered at all by my anger that is now being directed at him, and walks toward the window.

“The media’s out of control as you know and we're both in the middle of----- call it a wildfire that won’t burn out anytime soon.”

I scoff. “I'm not the one that started this fire.”

“No,” he murmurs and turns to face me. “But you’re holding the match.”

I glare at him. “You’re unbelievable.”

He sighs, “There’s one way to end this.”

Again I scoff but this time I cross my arms. “Please, enlighten me, Lord and Master of All Things Complicated.”

Ignoring my sarcasm, Xander walks back to his desk, opens a drawer, and pulls out a small, navy blue velvet box.

"What is that?”

He opens it slowly and when I look in, I see a platinum diamond cut ring.

I gasp and take a step back

"Xander No."

“Yes. Let's get married.”

"Excuse me?”

He then steps forward with the ring box still open in his hands.

"It will solve everything. The scandal will die down completely, the media will stop painting you as a homewrecker, the child will have legitimacy and safety, and I will regain control of my board’s trust.”

Board----- as in Company board members.

This man is unbelievable.

“So this is a business merger now?”

“It’s strategy.”

“No. It’s manipulation!" I state, snapping at him and raising my voice without a care.

“You’re asking me to marry you so you can own the situation.”

Sighing, Xander closes the ring box and it makes a soft click sound.

“I’m offering you more protection and stability.”

“And what do you get in return?” I throw back at him.

“I get to clean the mess everyone else made.”

Hearing his new batch of words sends a bitter laugh escaping my throat.

“That's noble of you.”

“I’m not asking for forever,” he says, “It's just until the child is born then we'll divorce quietly with no drama or custody battles.”

I shake my head at him.

“Wait... you've already planned the divorce? Jesus, Xander!”

He exhales through his nose, "Listen this isn’t about romance, it’s about survival.”

“Then you should’ve proposed THAT to your boardroom.” I throw back at him and head toward the door.

Xander doesn’t stop me, but then his next words make me freeze in my tracks.

“You’re putting the baby at risk. Do you think those people won’t come after you again?”