Chapter 5

I looked at him. "David, give Andrew a message for me. This baby is mine, and it has nothing to do with him."

"But he's the baby's father."

"I know who the baby's father is. He doesn't need to worry about it."

David hadn't expected me to push back this hard, and he frowned. "Ms. Lane, I'd urge you to think carefully. You know Mr. Mason. If he sent me, he isn't going to give up easily."

"That's his problem."

I turned and walked into the complex without looking back.

When I got home, I shut the door and leaned against it, and my hands were shaking.

It wasn't fear.It was anger.

What right did Andrew have?

He hadn't cared about anything during the divorce, and now that he knew I was pregnant, he was sending people after me.

Was he doing this because he cared about me? No. He wanted the baby.

By his logic, I didn't matter. What mattered was the Mason flesh and blood growing inside me.

I took out my phone and called Emily. "Emily, David Shaw showed up here."

She said, "What? Andrew's lawyer?"

"Yeah. Andrew knows."

"How did he find out? I thought you'd covered everything."

"I don't know how he found out, but he knows I'm pregnant now."

The line went quiet for a few seconds. "Charlotte, what are you going to do?"

"I'm not seeing him."

"You think he'll drop it?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Then I get ready."

I sat down at my computer and opened a folder. It held everything I had pulled together over the past six months, including the divorce agreement, the property settlement, my pregnancy test results, and the records from every prenatal visit.

I said, "Emily, I need you to find me a lawyer."

"What kind?"

"Family law. Ideally someone who's handled cases against rich families."

"What are you planning?"

"I need to make sure of one thing."

I said evenly, "No matter what happens, I keep custody of this baby."

Emily was quiet for a while. "I'll find someone tomorrow."

"Thanks." After I hung up, I took the milk out of the fridge and heated a cup for myself.

My hands were still shaking, but my head was clear.

If Andrew really wanted to come, then he could come. I wasn't the naive Charlotte of five years earlier anymore.

Three days later, Andrew still hadn't shown up. Instead, he did something worse.

That morning, I went in for a prenatal checkup, and the moment I walked into the OB-GYN lobby, the nurse at the station gave me a strange look. "Ms. Lane, your, um, family member already set you up with VIP service."

I frowned. "What family member?"

"A Mr. Mason. He came in first thing this morning and said he was your husband. He upgraded all your prenatal care to a VIP suite and asked for Dr. Brown to handle every one of your appointments."

I stood there. "Where is he?"

"He's gone. He left a card at the front desk and said to charge everything to it."

I went to the front desk and saw the black card. There was no name on it, only a string of numbers.

That card was all too familiar. It was Andrew's personal account, and during our marriage he had given me one exactly like it.

I pushed the card back across the counter. "Cancel it. Put everything back to regular care. I'll pay for it myself."

The nurse at the desk hesitated. "But Ms. Lane, the gentleman was very clear."

"It doesn't matter what he said. I said cancel it, so cancel it."

The nurse took one look at my face, dropped it, and started on the paperwork.

I turned, went to the regular waiting area, and found a seat.

My chest felt tight.

Andrew had always been like this. He never talked to me directly. He used money.

He used money to show he cared, money to make a point, and money to fix everything, as if sincerity arrived the moment the money did.

What he never understood was that I had never wanted his money.

The checkup went fine. Pumpkin was healthy, and everything was developing normally.

I rubbed my belly, and my mood lifted a little.

When I walked out the hospital doors, someone was waiting. It wasn't Andrew. It was his mother, Margaret Mason.

She stood at the bottom of the hospital steps in a camel cashmere coat, her makeup flawless and her hair pinned up without a strand out of place.

An assistant stood beside her, holding her bag.

When Margaret saw me come out, her eyes moved slowly from my face to my stomach and stayed there for a few seconds.

Then she spoke. "Charlotte."

She said my name exactly the way she used to when I lived with the Masons, neither warm nor cold, polite in a way that looked down on me.

I stayed on the steps. "Mrs. Mason."

Margaret looked at me, and the corner of her mouth curved slightly. It wasn't a smile. "Is that Andrew's baby?"

"It's my baby."

Margaret's brow twitched. She took an envelope from her assistant. "I'll get to the point. This is a check for two million dollars. Have the baby and let the Masons raise it, and we'll take care of you from then on."

I looked at the envelope and didn't take it. "It's not for sale."

Margaret's face changed. "Charlotte, don't be ungrateful. You think you can raise this child on your own? You think the Masons don't know about that dump you're renting?"

"What you know is your business." I came down the steps one at a time. "But this child came from my own body. Whether it carries the Mason name is my decision."

Margaret stared hard at me. "So you're telling me you'll take on the entire Mason family?"

"Mrs. Mason, you came to me first."

I looked her in the eye. "I have never asked you for a cent. Not during the divorce, and not now. But you show up with two million dollars to buy my baby. Does that seem reasonable to you?"

Margaret gave a cold laugh. "Is two million not enough? Name your price."

"I told you. It's not for sale."

I walked around her and started across the street.

Margaret called after me. "Charlotte Lane."

I didn't stop.

Her voice chased me down the sidewalk. "You think you can run from this? Andrew already has the legal department on it. Whether you have this baby or not, you'll have to get through the Mason family first."

I stopped and turned around. "Mrs. Mason, give Andrew a message for me."

"What?"