Billionaire’s Missing Baby Read online

  “And you’re obviously not pregnant,” he added as he looked down at her midsection.

  Theresa hesitated for a moment, then quietly explained, “I was. That’s why I didn’t think it was a good idea to go out. I didn’t know how to tell you about it.”

  Adam, taken aback by this revelation, glanced surreptitiously around her house for any evidence of a boyfriend or a roommate. Nothing stood out.

  “Did you want a cup of tea?” she asked.

  He blinked, gazing at her again. Her features had softened, and she was looking at him with a strange expression; something halfway between confusion, and… was it sympathy, or maybe some kind of plea? He couldn’t quite read it.

  “Tea would be—” he shook his head. Politeness was all well and good, but this wasn’t exactly the time. “I don’t actually drink tea. But if you have some coffee, that would be just fine.”

  To his surprise, Theresa offered him a dimpled smile. Small, like a sunbeam peeking out of a storm cloud, but it was there.

  “Sure,” she agreed, and added as an afterthought, “I don’t drink alcohol or I’d offer you something stronger. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

  He nodded grimly. “Yeah.”

  “So, in light of what’s been going on, I think I should explain a bit more about that pregnancy,” she told him when she returned from the kitchen with his drink. “It might sound heartless, and in hindsight I feel like it really is, but I was desperate at the time. I joined a surrogacy program, hoping to give some childless couple a chance at happiness. I wanted it to be for all the right reasons, but it was mostly because I needed the money. I mean, look at this place.” Theresa paused to look around the room and let out a heavy sigh before continuing with, “It’s a great little bungalow, but all of the repairs it needed were bleeding me dry. I thought I could handle it, and that I was doing a good thing. Except now, all I can do is cry. And the parents? Well, it doesn’t seem like they really even exist. I couldn’t even get ahold of them for an update. How can I even be sure my daughter is alive?"

  “What was their name?” he asked her, the beginnings of dread beginning to float around in his midsection.

  “The Connors,” she supplied. “They were specifically hoping for an interracial child since Jim was white, but his wife was black. The wife? I didn’t even get her name. God, I feel so stupid!”

  “Jim Connors, you said?” Adam asked as bile rose into his throat. “Young looking and blonde, like me?”

  He pointed to his own face, and Theresa gazed at him for a second.

  “A bit like you, yeah,” she said with a nod. “You could tell he came from old money by the way he carried himself, and he was a little patronizing sometimes. And now that I think about it, the two of you have a lot of similarities. The eyes are the same color, aren’t they. Even the smile. But he’s not nearly as good-looking, though.” After she'd added the last comment without thinking, her eyes widened with surprise. “Oh, God, forget I said that. Please!”

  “It’s fine,” Adam replied, trying not to smile. “What else can you tell me about them?”

  “Jim told me his wife was very shy and didn’t want to get to know me,” she said. “I never met her until she came to the delivery room to watch me give birth to the baby.”

  “Did she say anything to you?”

  Theresa tried to remember past the haze she’d obviously created while trying to forget. “There was really only one comment she made that stands out for me now. She said she looked forward to taking care of the baby, and that I didn’t need to worry because she’d have a great home. I thought that was weird at the time, that she never said ‘being a mother.’ She only said ‘take care of,’ but I didn’t pick up on it then.”

  She looked away as tears threatened again.

  “You were a bit busy,” Adam reminded her gently.

  Theresa brushed her tears away impatiently. “I’m so sick of all this crying!” she complained, and her voice broke.

  “I think I know who Jim Connors might be,” Adam shared with a sigh. He tugged his cell phone free of his coat pocket and called up the list of stored contacts, complete with their pictures. Turning it so she could see the picture, he said, “Little brother.”

  “What the shit?!” Theresa shouted angrily as she stared at the picture of James. “I thought I was doing this great thing, you know? Helping a couple who wanted a child. And the entire time I kept thinking, how am I going to do this? Can I really give a child up? I kept telling myself how wanted she would be, and how loved and—” She stopped and pointed a finger at the phone, then glared at the tabloid. “This is sick. Who would do this? Create a child just to throw her up into his brother’s face? I mean, what was he even doing?”

  Adam winced. "It’s old family stuff. Rich people drama, and yes, trust me, I know exactly how sick it is. And it’s even worse than you might think. I should have been a lot more suspicious when he asked me to… well, to go donate. He said they’d store my sperm in case I wanted to have a child but became too ill. I never would have thought he’d do something like this.”

  “She’s… she’s your daughter, isn’t she?” Theresa surmised.

  Adam stood up and her tiny, flimsy couch shifting under his weight. “I just can’t work out who he could have possibly gotten to help him. Who would go along with something like this?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then turned to Theresa with a hopeful expression on his face. “This mother. What did she look like?”

  “She was very short. I mean, maybe up to my shoulders. And dark. Darker than me.”

  He blinked in surprise. “Are you absolutely sure?”

  “Yes,” Theresa nodded. “Remember, it was all about the baby being biracial. He wanted a mother with traits similar to hers.”

  “Did this woman have a very soft voice? A South African accent?”

  Theresa thought for a moment. “She did!” she answered. “Yes! Do you know who she is?”

  He was nodding his head again. “I think so,” he said finally. “I just can’t imagine why that particular person would be involved in something like this. Maybe he’s blackmailing her? Threatening her somehow?”

  “So what do we do now?” Theresa asked with a desperate sigh.

  Adam turned and cast her an enigmatic smile as he looked around her home. “Does this place have another bedroom?” he asked.

  Theresa nodded, her face becoming confused for a moment as she tried to work out what he was getting at.

  “And you… you would want her? Even knowing everything that’s going on? I mean, it’s got to feel a bit like a violation, something like this. Would you really keep her, after all of that?”

  Theresa nodded determinedly, without even thinking. “In a heartbeat.”

  “Then what we do now is obvious,” Adam said, his brow furrowed with a determination of his own. “We’re going to confront my brother and he’s going to return our child.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Theresa stared at the man who stood in her living room as if he'd lost what little sense he had. “But Adam, I don’t make a whole lot, though,” she told him. “I don’t have the money to take care of a child.”

  “Never mind that,” Adam insisted. “I could handle all of that myself. You know I can afford the costs. But first, I need to know that if I left her with you… would she truly be welcomed? Could you forgive me for the unwitting part I played in all of this? Could you forgive my family?”

  Theresa stared at him. He looked at her with that same shy, uncertain expression he’d been wearing when he asked her out. Like he wasn’t used to being this uncertain. Like maybe she was worth the effort. Something stirred in her belly and her brain went southward for a moment as she realized it had been Adam’s baby, and not Jim’s, inside her all along. The man she would have loved to say yes to when he’d asked her out. The man she’d been fantasizing about ever since. Willing those thoughts from her mind, she enthusiastically turned them back to the question at h
and.

  “Yes. Yes, God yes! I mean—” She paused, stumbling over her words in her excitement to be free of them. “I mean, obviously we’re going to have to work out some kind of schedule, and I really wouldn’t feel comfortable with you paying for everything since she’s mine too, but…”

  Adam tilted his head and regarded her with an amused smile quirking his lips. It was impossibly adorable and she blushed at how ridiculous she must sound, stammering in her half-finished bungalow in front of a man whose family probably had more money than God.

  “Yes, I absolutely want to be a mother to my baby,” she finished, and her voice, miraculously, didn't catch.

  Adam nodded briskly, as if it were all settled. A smile broke over his face. It was still one part snarl—he was probably imagining his brother’s violent death right in front of her eyes—but it seemed genuine enough.

  “Alright, then, first thing’s first,” he said decisively. “My brother and I are due for a chat. You might want to stay back for this. It’s likely to get quite ugly.”

  “No way,” Theresa fumed. “I want a piece of him, too!”

  Adam paused and chuckled, then grinned wryly at her. “You mean since it wasn’t a piece of him before?”

  “Ew!” she shuddered, glaring at him. Then her face fell with realization. “Oh, God, I didn’t even get a name. Sarah said it was a bad idea to discuss baby names with the parents, so I don’t even know what they’ve been calling her.”

  Adam gave her shoulder a reassuring but annoyingly platonic squeeze. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It hasn’t been long enough for a name to stick. We can call her anything we like.”

  A couple of hours later, still sitting on the couch in her living room, it became achingly apparent that they couldn’t locate Adam’s brother. Adam had called in a few favors from some of his friends, sending them to different places where James might be holed up, but each one reported back that he wasn’t at any of the locations he’d sent them to.

  “Well, I’ve exhausted every avenue I can think of,” he finally sighed.

  Theresa, who was becoming desperate, got up and began to pace.

  “Well, if not the brother, what about the so-called mother?” she finally suggested. “You did say you thought you knew who she was.”

  “I’m fairly certain it’s her,” he nodded. “I called the facility where Maggie works, but they told me that about two weeks ago she suddenly quit her job. Said she had to go take care of her infant niece. But we’re not going to be able to find out where she is by making a couple of calls. For this, it’s time to call in the reinforcements.”

  “Who?”

  “This is our daughter we’re talking about,” Adam insisted, rising to his feet as well. “I’m pulling out all the stops. Getting the best private investigator money can buy. Don’t worry, I know this guy. I’ve worked with him a few times before. But right now, I think you need to get some rest. It’s only been two weeks since you gave birth, and you’ve been worrying yourself sick. So, yeah, I’ll go see what’s happening at my dad’s house and see about calling my friend while you take a nice hot bath and get yourself some rest.”

  In a move Theresa didn’t expect, he put a hand under her chin and gently lifted her head, forcing her to look into his stormy eyes. They were actually quite nice, especially when they were full of conviction as they were now. She felt an altogether inappropriate urge to throw her arms around him and allow herself to be held, and she was sure the man would hold her, too, if she made a move in that direction.

  “We’re going to get her back,” he promised.

  “I believe you,” she told him, aching slightly when he let her go. She didn’t know if it was hormones, or the fact that her body was already intimately acquainted with the small part of him that had been their child, but she longed for Adam as she watched him go.

  ***

  James honestly thought, the first time he heard it, that the pounding in his head was just the headache. He had been meaning to cut down on his drinking, but the stress of upping his timeline had proved a little too much for that now. Last night he’d overindulged.

  When that useless bitch, Maggie, called and told him she and the baby needed more money, it had only served to make his thirst that much more desperate. And, after pacifying her with a few extra dollars, he’d gone to the bar to take the edge off. That had been… he blinked blearily at his bedside clock. Hell, that had been hours ago now.

  The knock came again and he blearily stumbled around the room, heading for his front door, when—

  BOOM!

  It was so loud he wondered if it had been an earthquake. Adam stood framed in the doorway, looking massive, intimidating, and furious.

  “Can you try to keep it down?”

  “Where the hell is she?” he demanded, drowning James’ protest out.

  “Don’t know what you mean,” he replied. He’d wanted to deliver that calmly and coolly, watch Adam flounder, doubt himself a little, maybe ask a little nicer the second time. No such luck. He was a red-eyed mess, and Adam bore down on him like the painting of an avenging God.

  “I know what you did,” he growled, throwing the newspaper at James, who was too hungover to catch it. Damn him. “I know, James. I have had your house under watch all day, and my sources told me that you’d finally come home to roost after drinking yourself into a stupor. But I don’t give a damn about that. If they aren’t here with you, then I want to know where they are. I don’t know how you got Maggie involved in this thing, but whatever you bribed her or threatened her with, I’ll be willing to pay her double to give me my child and tell everyone the truth.”

  “What’s this?” James tried for his usual crooked grin, but his voice was laced with flint as he spoke. “Couldn’t keep it in your pants, huh, big brother?”

  “I saw the paperwork you gave to Theresa, James. It’s in your handwriting.”

  “Yeah, whatever you say, big brother. I mean, I can’t say I blame you. If I had a billion dollar inheritance on the line, I wouldn’t go around bragging about polluting the bloodline either. I mean, you could thank me for finding this woman and cleaning up your mess for you, but I guess chivalry really must be dead.”

  Adam almost went apoplectic with rage. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it should have been for James, especially as it was accompanied by his brother taking two strides inside so that the two of them were practically nose to nose. For a second, James braced himself for a physical blow, but Adam merely pointed an accusatory finger instead.

  “It’s a baby, James. A child. You literally created a human being just to try and screw me over. What the hell is wrong with you?” he spat. James opened his mouth to retort, but Adam waved him away dismissively. “You know what? It doesn’t even matter. You don’t even matter. She’s here now, and I’m going to find her. Mark my words, James: I will find Maggie, and when I do, I’m going to have your miserable ass thrown in prison this time. I’m done covering for you. If I knew you wanted the money that badly, we might have been able to talk about it. But now? Now I’ve got a daughter to think of, and if you don’t think I’m getting her back, you’d better think again!”

  “Well,” James began, trying to puff himself up, just as his brother had done, but ailing miserably. “Good luck, then. And think of me when you’re living in squalor and I have your share of the inheritance.”

  “Oh, hell no.” Adam’s smile was one James had never seen before; an angry slash across his face, hard as steel. “See, someone’s going to have to look after Dad while I’m gone. And given the fact that you’re willing to let a child be born just to get your money, I don’t think I’m too far gone to imagine you might just kill the old man. So, yeah, I’m going to make sure there’s not a single line changed on that will until all of this is resolved. I’m going to make certain you’re doing your damn best to keep our father alive.”

  “How?” James worked to hide the groan that wanted to escape. His head hurt too much for these game
s. Adam’s smile never wavered.

  “Just you wait,” he promised. “I haven’t even begun with you yet.”

  He turned and stormed back out again. James stepped forward and slammed the front door. He had thought his brother wouldn’t look for him at the beach house where he often went when he wanted to be alone, but he had been wrong.

  His mind trailed to Maggie and the baby. Maggie had the little dear at her home in Los Angeles, where he’d thought they could hide with relative ease. However, now that Adam had mentioned the woman by name, he knew it was a fair bet his brother was already well on his way to finding them there. He would have to do something about that right away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Annie was a great baby. It was something Maggie marveled at regularly. Annie only cried when she was wet or hungry, and in spite of being too young to sleep through the night, she slept in good, long, four and five hour stretches.

  Maggie felt like she’d won the new mom lottery. She had to shake herself and push those thoughts out forcefully, however, knowing that Annie wasn’t her child, and that she wouldn’t get to keep her.

  Still, looking down at the sleeping little angel, she thought it would be nice when James could tell his brother about the baby, and her proper family could come and claim her. She was such a lovely child it would be the easiest thing in the world to integrate her into the rest of the Costanza family. Even her racist grandfather would warm to her.

  That was before James came bursting through the door at six in the morning, though. He wasn’t there for his usual social call, that much she could tell by the set of his shoulders and the way his hands suddenly gripped her own.

  “Get yourself and the baby dressed now, Maggie,” he said in a panic, giving her a little shake. “The shit is about to hit the fan.”

  Maggie blinked in confusion. “What? Why?”

  “I just happened to pick up one of the local tabloids and my brother's lovechild is apparently headline news.”

  He winced at the idea, and Maggie clucked her tongue in sympathy.