All Chapters of The baby my stepbrother never expected : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

ELENA’S POVMy bad fever finally broke after three long days in bed. My body still felt weak and tired from getting soaked in the cold rain. Even so, my mind was wide awake. I pulled out my notebook, pulled out my calculator, and began to jot down numbers. I wanted to find out exactly what the Romano family spent on me in the last ten years.I pushed the calculator keys. “Let’s see,” I whispered to myself. “Four years of private high school tuition, three years of university tuition, art supplies and my camera gear.”I added up the share of groceries, utility bills and everyday living expenses since my mother married Uncle Marco 10 years ago. I pressed the equals button and the last number stared back at me from the small screen.Three million bucks.A weight fell upon my chest and a sense of foreboding came over me. I hurriedly reckoned up my own assets. My small life insurance inheritance from my late dad, proceeds from selling our old family home, and my own savings from side jobs.

ELENA’S POVThe second Valentina finished telling me about her wedding plans, my phone buzzed in my lap.It was a notice from my bank. The whole two hundred thousand dollars had just hit my account. Just beneath the bank alert was a text message from Valentina.”I paid you in full, Elena!Thanks for the great photos of me and my fiancé kissing. I cannot wait to print them and show Matteo how beautifully you captured our love.”I stared at the bright screen with only cold relief. I wrote a simple one-word reply: "Received."I pulled out my banking app and quickly transferred the payment to my main savings account. The last number on the screen updated. Three million dollars. I had finally reached my goal. I had every cent I needed to pay back the Romano family for everything they had paid for me in the last decade. A private, small smile flickered across my lips. I slipped away from the dinner table, went upstairs to change into a plain black dress and went out for farewell drinks with m