CHAPTER 3: RUDE TALKS

ATHENA'S POV

Xander Knight towers over me, looking at me with his piercing gaze, clenching his jaw so tightly that I can see the muscles twitching.

He looks every bit the ruthless billionaire the media and tabloid always paint him to be; so commanding, and very dangerously composed.

Let me not even talk about his looks.

But behind that all that outward appearance, I can feel the rage trying to jump out of the surface.

I square my shoulders, forcing myself to stand my ground. “I don’t belong to anyone, least of all to you Mister."

For crying out loud I don't even know the man.

No one in this room is even saying anything about his ridiculous statement now.

His lips curl up in something that I can't say is a smile.

“You’re carrying my child,” he says again.

"That means you and everything about this situation falls under my control.”

I scoff, crossing my arms. “You say that like I planned this.”

Xander’s eyes darken. “Didn’t you?”

Now it's MY time to scoff.

“You think I did this on purpose?”

My voice rises while I looks at him in disbelief.

“Do you think I somehow engineered a system error just to get myself knocked up with your child?”

This arrogant man's eyes narrow. “It wouldn’t be the first time a woman tried to secure a fortune.”

My blood boils at this insult and I snap

“I work at this clinic, I built my career here. Why the hell would I risk everything just to have some rich asshole’s baby?”

His gaze moves just for a second and I can swear I just saw him blink, startled, but then his arrogance just goes back on to his face and ass.

“How do you expect me to believe this was an accident?” he asks coolly.

“That a world renowned clinic just happened to mix up my sample with your procedure?”

“Yes,” I say gritting my teeth.

God this is embarrassing, why did they even have to tell him about this?

He lets out a breath, rubbing his jaw.

His fingers flex as if he’s restraining himself from smashing something.

“Unbelievable,” he mutters.

“Fucking absolutely, motherfucking unbelievable,” he says glaring at me and I glare back up at him.

"It is believable you idiot," I spit out.

Damn him. It's not like I planned this. Assholes like him can make a woman wish never to get pregnant.

"What the fuck did you just call me?!" He barks coming right up closer to me.

Then the door swings open, and Dr. Patel rushes inside, looking all rushed up like she wasn't the one that set this meeting.

“Mr. Knight, I understand that this is—”

“Save it,” Xander interrupts.

“I don’t care about understanding— I want solutions.”

Dr. Patel looks about her “We’re still investigating—”

“I don’t give a damn about your investigation,” he growls.

“What I want to know is how the hell this happened in the first place. Who was responsible?”

I look at Dr. Patel and see her hesitating, bubbling her throat.

She knows something.

“Dr. Patel,” I say, calling out to her.

“Tell us the truth.”

Her lips press into a thin line, then she starts “The error was in the labeling system-----.”

Xander scoffs, interrupting her once again. “A billion-dollar fertility clinic just happened to mislabel my sperm?”

Dr. Patel visibly pales under his glare and replies him weakly.

“I’m telling you what we know. We’re still looking into the deeper details.”

Xander walks closer to her, suffocating the poor woman's space.

“You have twenty-four hours to figure it out,” he says coldly.

“Or this place will cease to exist.”

She blanches at this, “Mr. Knight—”

“I don’t make threats,” he says.

“Only promises.”

Somehow that makes more than just one thread of shiver to run down my spine.

Suddenly, the door slams open again, and I don't even have enough time to register the sound before a shrill, furious sounding voice fills up the room.

“What the fuck is going onnnnnnnn?!!!!”

A woman I have no idea on who she is storms in like an angry monkey whose banana was stolen, clicking her designer heels loudly against the floor.

Her eyes are wild, with long lash extensions and her perfectly sculpted face is fully twisted in anger.

“Xander,” she snaps.

“What is this bullshit?”

Xander doesn’t even flinch, “Veronica.”

So that's her name?

Her eyes move to me, narrowing before she then looks at Dr. Patel and back to Xander.

Then her already large eyes widen.

“No, the hell no.”

“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

Xander’s jaw clenches and Dr. Patel opens her mouth, but Veronica rounds up on me instead.

“You’re pregnant with his child?” Her voice is full of venom but I glare at her.

“Not by choice.”

Veronica laughs, bitterly.

“Oh, please. As if you wouldn’t love to have your claws in him.”

Those sting at me more than her overly long manicured nail can possibly do.

“I don’t want him.”

She snorts. “Yeah, right.”

Xander breathes out, sounding impatient. “Veronica, we don’t have time for this.”

Her eyes snap to him.

“Are you serious right now? Baby you get some random woman pregnant and you’re telling me we don’t have time for this?”

Xander’s eyes harden up and he doesn't exactly explain things to her. Instead he says;

“It was a mistake.”

She lets out a humorless laugh. “A mistake? Is that what we’re calling it?”

Dr. Patel shifts about on her shoe covered feet nervously. “Miss Sterling, I—”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BITCH!!!!”

Dr. Patel shrinks backwards and Xander pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Veronica—”

“I can’t believe this.” She says taking a step back and shaking her head.

“This is humiliating.”

“Then leave,” Xander says flatly.

She gasps and even I gasp too.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t have time for theatrics,” He says then turns away from her, facing me instead.

“Athena, we need to discuss our next steps.”

I stare at him like he has just grown horns on his head. “Our next steps?”

His gaze pins me down in place before his words do. “I’m not letting my child to be raised by a stranger.”

Veronica lets out a strangled noise and then all of a sudden she rushes at Xander, and collides her palm with his cheek, slapping him.

I suck in a breath, not knowing how to react and then I see all the doctors and nurses in the conference room, including Dr. Patel start walking to the door to leave the room for us.

Xander doesn't really react to the slap, he just tilts his head a bit.

“Are you done?” he asks without giving any sort of emotion in his voice.

Veronica's hands shake. “You— you bastard.”

She gasps as if she's about to cry but instead she spins on her heel and storms out of the room.

Just for a heartbeat, there is only silence and then Xander exhales, adjusting his cufflinks as if nothing at all just happened right here.

“Well,” he muses.

“That went well.”

I gape at him, shaking my head. “Are you insane?”

He lifts a brow, at me, surprisingly answering me.

“Possibly," he says and I groan, dragging my hands down my face.

“This is a nightmare.”

He cocks his head at me, watching me. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

I glare at him, wondering how I've managed to hold a conversation with him this long without lashing out or something.

“Oh, really?”

“Nightmares end," he says as a matter of fact.

"This is just beginning.”

I'm about to say something to disagree with him on this his sentence but then my phone buzzes and I nearly jump at the sudden vibration.

Digging my hands into my purse and pulling my phone out, I glance at the screen only to see a drop down message from a number automatically saved as UNKNOWN NUMBER.

I open the message immediately, wondering what it could be about and who it could be from.

It couldn't possibly be from Xander since he was right here, looking like he was about to loose his eye balls with how hard he was glaring down at me.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: < Stop asking questions. Walk away, or you won’t like what happens next.

I feel a scary thready feeling run through me and my fingers tighten around the phone.

Xander notices this and asks, “What?”

I swallow hard, shoving the phone into my pocket.

“Nothing.”

His eyes narrow down at me, "You’re a terrible liar.”

I snap at him. “Well then it’s a good thing I don’t owe you the truth.”