Chapter 10
I turned around to see William Hawthorne standing at the end of the hallway, looking perfectly put together in his tailored suit, carrying some kind of thermos and wearing this warm smile.
My childhood sweetheart. The guy who’d been in love with me since we were kids.
When he heard I needed a baby daddy for my little revenge plot, he’d hopped on his private jet and flew out here overnight.
William walked over and casually slipped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him while giving Harrison this ice cold stare.
“So Whitmore, you trying to steal another man’s wife and kid now?”
Harrison’s eyes went completely bloodshot. He jabbed his finger at William.
“Who the fuck are you? Get lost!”
“I’m her baby’s father.”
William’s voice was calm as anything, but it hit Harrison like a slap to the face.
Harrison lost his absolute shit, lunging forward like a rabid dog. “You’re lying!”
William sidestepped easily, making sure to keep me behind him.
“Ask Vivian if I’m lying.”
I looked at Harrison with zero emotion in my voice.
“He’s telling the truth. Like I said before–I was gonna find someone else to have kids with.”
Harrison just collapsed right there on the floor.
“Why…”
I gave him a cold little smile.
“Why? That’s rich coming from you.”
“I could ask you why you knew I’d been crushing on you for years but pretended you had no clue.”
When I brought up the past, Harrison suddenly scrambled toward me on his hands and knees, grabbing at my pants leg with tears and snot streaming down his face.
“Vivian, I fucked up! I didn’t mean to pretend I didn’t remember you!”
“I just… I thought I wasn’t good enough for you, so I acted cold on purpose!”
“Celeste was just a distraction! She meant nothing! Get rid of the baby and we can get back together! I’ll treat you better than William ever could!”
19:03
Fifteen Years of Love Lostin One Mabe with Die
Chapter 10
William frowned and kicked Harrison’s hands away.
“Have some self–respect, Harrison. You’re begging a pregnant woman to get an abortion?”
“Besides, you could never love Vivian like I do. I don’t give a damn if this baby is mine or not–I’ll love it like my own flesh and blood. Can you?”
Harrison’s face turned purple, but he had no comeback.
Before he could make up more lies, I cut straight through his bullshit.
“You didn’t think you weren’t good enough for me. You got off on watching me chase after you, seeing me hurt over you.”
“It fed your pathetic ego in a marriage where you always felt inferior!”
Harrison opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish, then finally croaked out: “You think you can fool my parents forever? What happens when they figure out the baby isn’t mine?”
William actually laughed. “So what if they do?”
“You think your parents are gonna piss off the Waverlys? Or the Hawthornes?”
“They already suspect, but I arranged all the medical records, and your D.C. trip timing lines up perfectly. Even if they know the truth, they’ll still claim this grandchild.”
Harrison went completely catatonic, just lying there.
I didn’t give him another glance as I followed William into my office.
His family kept him locked up for a few weeks, but he eventually escaped to track down Celeste for some twisted revenge fantasy.
He found her outside her new place, pregnant as hell and wrapped around some coal mining heir, looking like she’d hit the jackpot.
Harrison tried to attack her, but the rich guy’s security broke his legs and left him bleeding in the street.
His family didn’t lift a finger to help. Word was, people spotted him living under bridges, always talking to himself and mumbling my name.
Celeste didn’t fare much better. After nine months, she delivered a daughter.
The coal guy had been expecting a son, and when he saw it was a girl, he kicked both of them out without a dime.
Around the same time, I had my daughter–looked exactly like William, thank God.
When Margot and Maxwell came to meet their “grandson,” they were over the moon, calling the baby their “precious heir” without mentioning Harrison once,
William helped me run Whitmore Industries, cleaning up every mess Harrison had made and turning the company around completely.
A year later, I became the majority shareholder.
19:05
Fifteen Years of Love Lost in One Night with.
Chapter 10
The day I moved into the executive suite on the top floor, I stood at the floor–to–ceiling windows holding my daughter, looking down at all the traffic below.
William wrapped his arms around me from behind. “What’s on your mind?”
“Just thinking… maybe fifteen years of love wasn’t as unforgettable as I thought.”
After all, now I owned the Manhattan’s most powerful family dynasty–Whitmore empire, and the Hawthorne fortune would be mine someday too.
A little teenage heartbreak seemed pretty fucking trivial next to controlling billions of dollars.
19:05
Fifteen Years of Love, Lost in One Night with His Sugar Baby
