Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

HUNTER

Time had run out.

Our plan to produce a baby to satisfy the requirements of my grandfather’s will has failed.

Kathy is pacing the living room. The sound of her gold heels clicking against the porcelain tiled floor. Every step she takes is goading a reaction from me, so I turn away and block out the noise before I storm out of here.

“So, what now?” she questions with desperation, placing her hands on her hips while gazing at me with narrow eyes. “You said this would work, Hunter. I fall pregnant, and both of us get what we want.”

Why the fuck didn’t this work is the pertinent question. We’d sought the expertise of the best In Vitro specialists in the country. Followed every instruction down to me jerking off into a God damn cup. There were five embryos. The first two did not take. They tried to plant two on the third attempt to increase the chances, which didn’t work either.

And the supposed lucky last one was negative.

“How the hell was I supposed to know you couldn’t fall pregnant?”

Kathy stops mid-step, shifting her focus from the floor back onto me with a bitter stare. “Are you saying this is my fault? Just because I’m older than most women trying to fall pregnant, you assume it’s my body?”

“No,” I answer with an irritated tone. “The test was unable to find anything wrong with you or me. We are clearly just not compatible.”

She continues to pace, crossing her arms beneath her chest as silence falls between us.

The plan should have worked, and because I was the fool to believe it would, I allowed Kathy to make an announcement so it bought us time.

The lawyers appeared satisfied with the announcement, but family members were not so much. April left the moment she discovered the reason behind it all. Only because Kathy insisted on opening her mouth. They fought, as I assumed mothers and daughters do, then April packed her bags and moved out. According to Kathy, who still kept tabs on her, she’d moved to Australia and met some guy.

I didn’t ask any more questions. I had more significant problems to deal with.

Kathy insisted we try the old-school way of having a baby. Only once in the last few months did I succumb, and only when I arrived home drunk after a night out. I’m not one to drink to the point of being unable to walk, but perhaps my sighting of Alexandra in Manhattan played a big part.

I was angry.

Livid is perhaps the best word to describe my reaction to seeing her with him. It caught me by surprise how months after we ended, she evoked emotions from me I never knew existed. It was a fleeting moment, and in that moment, I barely caught a glimpse of her because I was in shock. Also, I thought it was my vision playing tricks on me again.

I’d heard through the grapevine she enrolled in NYU, which no doubt is all Edwards doing since he influenced her more than she ever cared to admit.

But now is not the time to dwell on her. I’m on the verge of losing everything. It wasn’t the house, cars, or luxurious assets I cared for. It’s my company and all the people employed.

It’s Meredith.

It’s everyone.

“I have a plan,” I simply say.

Kathy releases an unflattering laugh. “Really? Because your last plan has kinda failed.”

I grant myself patience to manage her outbursts, given she’s equally invested in this. If, in fact, she had fallen pregnant, she was to be entitled to half the estate. That was the deal that she eagerly agreed to.

So, naturally, without a single cent to her name right now, she is pissed the fortune she was promised is slipping away. No baby, then our marriage no longer needs to be in place.

“We make a joint statement announcing the loss of our pregnancy. We say it has been a difficult few months for both of us and wish for everyone to respect our privacy to grieve our loss.”

“That’s it?” Kathy barks. “You think that’s the answer?”

“It will buy us more time,” I tell her sternly.

With a whisky in hand, I drink it in one go and then place the glass back on the coffee table. Night has fallen outside, making the room dimly lit aside from the glow of the lamps turned on near the lounge.

“Okay, so say people, or the lawyers, buy this story? We still need to produce a baby somehow,” she reminds me with haste. “How do you expect to do that? Pull one out of a hat along with a rabbit?”

The only thing money can’t buy is the conception of a child. Only God, the universe, or whatever higher being is in control of this.

And that’s the cold hard truth.

I need a damn miracle. Something to save me from this mess I created and solve the answer to my huge problem…