Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Billionaire's Secret Baby : Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

LolaThat weekend I felt happy, for the first time in a long time. I played with Macy, and we went out with Sara to the park. On Saturday, I treated her to pancakes for breakfast, and cooked an enormous bowl of spaghetti carbonara in my kitchen for Sara, her uncle Sebastien and her son, Raul. It had been so long since I’d had the money to have people over for dinner, and Macy and I made a real occasion of it. I dressed her in a princess dress and she and Raul sat playing with their toys. And that evening, I put Macy to bed, and played Frank Sinatra on my stereo, and relaxed with a glass of wine. What had come over me?I knew, deep down, that it was Alex. Something about him had made me alive and alert to the world. His kindness hadn’t gone unnoticed. I couldn’t forgive him for his past actions—for leaving me and Macy when we both needed him. But now that they’d been in the same room, it felt easier somehow to separate them. Alex had seemed so uncomfortable, so awkward at Macy’s presen

We got out after the blades stopped. Even if I was perfectly used to traveling this way, I couldn’t help but feel the special sense of occasion for Lola. She was laughing hard, taking deep breaths, and I stepped towards her and felt a warm rush of desire for her.She was having an amazing time so far, but the rest was yet to come.We stepped down from the helipad and through a door. There, we descended a metal staircase.“I can’t believe it,” she kept saying. “We’re on a real skyscraper.”“You know I live on one of these?” I said.“Crazy,” she said. “How do you manage? I’m not sure I’d be good with being up so high all the time.”“The main problem is keeping your feet on the ground,” I said, as I rang the bell and called for the elevator.We dropped down two floors, and when it opened, the both of us breathed a sigh.Spacewas an elegant restaurant, up thirty two stories in the building. It mostly served the stockbrokers and super-rich of New York. We arrived at a gallery with a glass

“Lola,” he said, and smiled.“I don’t think…I mean, can we not?”“Of course,” said Alex, sitting back, pulling away, adjusting the rumpled lapels of his jacket. “I’m sorry, I just thought that…”“It’s really fine,” I said. “It’s not like—not like I don’t want to. But…”“Huh?” said Alex. “But what?”“But this isn’t right.”“Isn’t this what you want?”“It’s what part of me wants. But another part knows, you see? That it isn’t good when…” I put one hand towards me and the other towards him. I couldn’t say it out loud—the very thought of it would only inflame my desire more.“Oh,” said Alex. “I see.”“So I was thinking, maybe we should just stay friends. After all, you’re my boss.”“Well, can I see you again? Like this?”“Maybe that’s not a good idea either.”“You didn’t have a nice time?”“No,” I said, “I’m not saying that.”Will you…just…listen?I thought for a moment, though I didn’t say it. I didn’t want to be cruel. Not to him. Not even after everything that had happened between us.“I

“How about this afternoon?” I said.***“This is crazy,” I said in the car on the way. “What can they possibly throw at me? And why do they think I’ve committed a crime?”“Whatever it is, Alex,” said Jeff, “they’re not going to do this unless they have some serious evidence. I want you to be prepared.” Jeff had insisted on coming.“That can’t be true,” I said. “I bet Luca’s just told them a pack of lies.”But Jeff looked out of the window as we got to the station. “Like I said. Just want you to be prepared.”I couldn’t remember if I’d even been inside a police station before, but it wasn’t like I expected. The Fraud Squad had its offices at the 19th Precinct these days. It was a comfortable, clean looking place, with a white linoleum floor and a big, heavy desk.When we got there, I introduced myself.“Take a seat,” said the cop at the desk. Jeff and I sat down.Ten minutes passed, and there was nothing. We waited there, watching people come through. At one point a man passed with a p

LolaThe following week, were opened the Blue Orchid. But no matter how hard we tried, it was pitiful. Lunch was a disaster, and I watched forlornly from behind the bar. We’d had to take the bottles off the shelf, and it looked bare and empty from the front door.Dinner was no better.“I’m sorry,” said Cherise, “but we’re not serving alcohol tonight.”“Oh,” said the guy at the door. “It’s my wife’s birthday. We were kind of hoping to drink. Maybe another time, though.”The next people who came by were a family.“Hi there!” said Cherise cheerfully.But when she explained to them, the wife and the husband looked at one another.“You know,” they said, “on second thoughts, we’ll go somewhere else. But thanks.”Cherise turned and looked at me.“It’s hopeless,” she said.We sat fifteen out of two hundred seats for dinner that day. And more than a few people told us they were going to complain.“To who?” said Andy, as he stood forlornly in the beautiful wine cellar while I told him the bad n