Billionaire’s Secret Baby

7:28 PM Elliot Brand: A driver will arrive at nine to assist you with anything you would like to bring to the new apartment.

8:02 PM Elliot Brand: Ms. Johnson, I would like to confirm that you will be available at nine in the morning tomorrow.

8:47 PM Elliot Brand: Is something amiss? Have you decided not to take the job? Might I remind you, Ms. Johnson, that you signed paperwork this afternoon and are already a Brand Employee?

9:13 PM Elliot Brand: If I cannot reach you, I will come and speak to you face to face.

Elliot was fuming by the time he pulled into the rundown neighborhood that could only be described as the slums. Sirens wailed in the night air, far louder than any crickets had hoped to achieve.

The home looked to be held together with chicken wire and clapboard. Crumbling brick littered the front porch along with hundreds of cigarette butts.

Elliot knocked firmly on the door. There was a rustle behind the curtains and then the lights went off.

Did she think she could hide from him? He knocked louder, “We both know that you’re in there, Ms. Johnson.”

The door cracked open and the unmistakable sound of the gun being cocked ripped through his ears.

“Amanda?” Elliot’s hands tightened into fists. How dare she pull a gun on him?

The door opened a little further and he saw a woman in her fifties with a light between her yellowed teeth wearing a dirty housecoat.

“What you want with Mandy? You the fucker that put that baby there?”

Elliot could only stare.

The woman raised the gun to be level with his chest, “Better start talking fancy man.”

“What’s going on out there?” A man’s voice bellowed from somewhere inside. “Can’t a man get some sleep, damn it all to hell!”

“I’m her new employer,” Elliot stumbled over the words just as he heard a rustling behind the woman. He looked up and saw Mandy.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief, “Mr. Brand? What are you doing here?”

and unlatched the door. But rather than showing him inside, she went out onto the

Mandy had on a tank that had seen better days. The thin material left little to the imagination and he could make out her lovely

shorts she’d on weren’t helping. Her legs seemed to go

he breathed, “I’m so sorry for bothering you.”

her honey blonde curls to

apologize for my mother, she probably thought you were the

can I do for

wave of protectiveness washed through him. He couldn’t let her stay

“I have found that I will need your services right away,” he stumbled over the words. “I tried to text you.”

My sister had an emergency at her shop, and I stayed late to help. I just got home a few

Elliot nodded, “Can I convince you

She squeaked and covered her breasts, noticing how see-through her pajamas were in the

“Of course, I just need a

with the request. But he didn’t want to

this man had no idea how they really lived.

need to carry the boxes,” Elliot added with a smile.

holding, “All right, Mr. Brand. But just a

realized that the moment

Mandy was mortified, “I truly am very

up a hand and placed a long finger against her

“I’m glad that

skirted away from his, “Yes, well, something like that. Please come in.”

second-hand smoke hit them both. Mandy tried to ignore the way her mother was yelling at

rot and was damp. However, the bedroom that

voice was gruff, “Where are the boxes that

of the room and returned with three beat-up liquor boxes.

She blushed, “I don’t have much. Please just

She wished that she’d a chair to offer him. He looked huge

As she opened one of the drawers

“I can put these items in a box if you want.”