Not telling anyone I was pregnant years ago meant I started over with a huge secret. Now my son is eight and I realize hiding his birth right might have been the wrong plan. He’d have been better protected.

Returning home though is causing a scandal.

The daughter of the maid and the son of a trillionaire are a #Disaster.

Except he brought us home, kept us safe and put our son in the best schools. 

I should be grateful. I’d had no idea the years would soften his heart. And he said he missed me, every second of every day since I’d been gone.

Crushing on him came back over me so fast.

He’s hotter than I remember, clearly working out, a trillionaire, a doctor by choice, and still has a little of that reclusive loner attitude I’d absolutely wanted to fix in him all our childhood.

Except he has no idea what I went through. 

I was not designed to be anything more than servant and there are rules.

♥ Even if I still ache for him.

✓ And even if he says he loves me.

★ And no one could ever replace him for me.

I set up myself up for heartache round 2, I knew it, and happiness was never in my destiny, but you’d never have expected what happened because I absolutely hadn’t.

Elon

A few weeks later

I still hadn’t found Clarissa, so I was home waiting for a call or text or email. Yet in Virgin Cove, life was one party after another. Granted, tonight’s party wouldn’t be the Great Gatsby type filled with random people. It was a family gathering that would feel like a party as most of the guests were related in our large, richer-than-most-people-can-ever-imagine world.

My parents were at the center. They were the only parents I remember and wanted to remember. However, before coming to them, I remembered feeling dirty, hating the color green, and screaming.

So I’d done everything to prove to Maman and Pedar that I was worthy of being adopted. I owned a chain of women’s health centers with plans to go national soon, though finding doctors who were also entrepreneurial was harder than it seemed.

Not that I had worked much since finding out I had a son. I was pretty useless right now.

The cake was brought out for Pedar’s birthday, and I headed through the crowd and hugged him tight. I was frazzled and unshaven compared to my father, who was impeccably styled in his black leisure suit.

He was the rock of our wealth, and Maman was the heart. I’d be no one without them. I backed up, realizing the rest of my brothers wanted a moment to congratulate him.

My brother Kir came over to me. We looked different and thought differently, but I knew he and everyone in my family were on my side. He’d just made a sound investment that earned the family ten times more than it usually made in a day. So the second he came over, I whispered, “Congratulations.”

He patted me on the back. “How was Orlando?”

My entire body stilled. I swallowed and only said, “Enlightening in some ways.”

“That’s cryptic.”

Probably was.

No one in my family except Jeff knew the truth.

Clarissa was gone. I should have followed through years ago on apologizing for my horrible behavior.

The look on her face when I’d told her “we’re done” and the way she’d lost all color had haunted me. I relived that moment over and over whenever I met with a patient who had relationship issues.

Maybe that should have been a sign that she’d had my son and not told me.

After eight years, I’d just found out about the boy yesterday and had flown back home as I had no leads on where Clarissa was now.

Pedar spoke about the meaning of having sons and stepped forward. Though I was across the crowded room, I felt his gaze on me.

Clarissa and my son, whose name I didn’t even know, deserved to have everything I could offer.

I clapped Kir on the back and said, “Let’s not talk about me. How are the markets?”

He shrugged. “Always going. I bought a new home in Pacific Palisades.”

He owned more real estate than anyone else in the family.

A waitress brought us both champagne and left. I sipped and asked, “Are you moving into this house?”

He shrugged. “I like to have places where I can be completely on my own.”

I laughed. None of us were ever alone. “Except for staff.”

Clarissa’s parents were part of my parents’ staff. Both were in uniform as her mother was head housekeeper and her father drove mine around.

Neither of them had heard or spoken to their only daughter in years. As Arman was giving a speech to honor our father, I followed Mrs. Brown, who was directing the staff, and waved to get her attention. She came over to me. “May I help you, sir?”

“Do you know where your daughter, Clarissa, is?” I asked even though I already knew the answer. “I need to find her.”

“She will never bother your family ever again and knows she is not welcome with either her father or myself. Have a good evening, sir.” She curtsied.

My shoulders were heavy. I was the reason for Clarissa’s family problems, but her mother’s coldness caught me off guard. She disappeared, and I walked back to the party. As Arman finished his speech, I widened my stance to stay focused.

Kir came to stand beside me. “I’m unsure how Pedar ran everything without ever taking a break.”

“He had a wife and twelve sons to support.”

Kir shrugged and finished the champagne in his flute. “Children are probably worth it. However, finding a woman to have them is difficult.”

I put my still-full glass to the side as drinking wasn’t something that interested me tonight.

My head was still processing what I’d learned about Clarissa. So I said to my brother, “You can have anyone.”

“So can you. It’s about quality.”

Clarissa filled that description. At twenty, I’d not seen that as clearly as I did now.

“True,” I said, and my phone beeped to signal I had a text. The investigator I’d hired to find Clarissa asked that I call him. I tapped my brother on the shoulder. “Look, I have to go.”

He nodded.

I turned to leave but ran right into Maman, whose hair was up in a loose bun with some dark hair having escaped and hanging in curls along the sides of her face. She smiled up at me. “You’re leaving early, son?”

“Maman, I’ll explain soon.” I kissed her cheeks.

If either of my parents knew what I’d done, they’d be disappointed in me. I understood why better than the college kid I’d been would have, but I wasn’t ready to tell them the details yet. I needed to find Clarissa first.

She didn’t move at all. “You’ve been very mysterious in your search for Clarissa with me.”

My phone beeped again. I squeezed her arm gently. “Maman, I promise I’ll explain everything later, but I need to go—now.”

She took my hand. “Well, if you find her, please tell her to call her parents as well. They are worried about her.”

“I will.” My reply came out fast. I wouldn’t disappoint Maman by telling her  not everyone had a heart as big as hers. I slipped out of the party.

The beach house in Virgin Cove was large enough for the entire family and also not far from Manhattan whenever the business-minded among us needed to head to work.

I left the house and headed for the beach, where the smell of salt air filled my lungs. I called the investigator, listening to what he had to say as I walked. My heart leapt. She was back in Florida.

I’d take the private jet, so I could get there as quickly as possible. I turned back, heading toward the helipad. “She’s back in her apartment. You’re sure?”

The PI said, “I’ll forward you the pictures I took an hour ago.”

“Thanks,” I said and then called the pilot. I headed down the driveway to the far end of the house, hopped on a golf cart and drove myself to the helicopter that would take me to my jet. I needed to get to Clarissa, and thankfully, we were in the air in five minutes.

It didn’t matter why Clarissa had returned to her apartment. I was just happy she had. I was also glad I hadn’t yet paid someone to move her belongings to storage.

This wouldn’t just be an apology anymore. I’d offer to support her and my son and tell her I’d changed. I also needed to discover my son’s name.

Hopefully, she’d accept my offer.

On the flight, I again remembered how her face had looked when I’d broken up with her. No wonder every pregnant woman who came to my practice in tears over a relationship reminded me of her.

She must have known she was pregnant, and I’d fucked that moment up entirely.

And ruined her life.

* * *

A little more than two hours later, I followed the directions the PI had given me to an entertainment area where people walked a loud boardwalk holding drinks while music blared from small bars.

I assumed most of the people I passed were tourists as they spoke with various American accents and sometimes in foreign tongues.

My heart was pounding as this wasn’t a place I’d expected to find Clarissa. I followed the directions on my phone to a club located on a second floor.

The place was packed with groups of people, but the music was so loud I doubted anyone could hear anything.

Then I spotted her. She was glancing around the place but hadn’t seen me.

Her red hair helped me identify her, but as she turned and I saw her profile, awareness rushed through me.

She was still the prettiest woman I’d ever met, with flawless, soft skin and that gleam in her eyes that had captivated me.

She walked backward toward the bar area and back patio.

I rushed across the room to meet her at the door. I reached for her hand, and a spark traveled through me that ran to my toes and tips of my hair. I let her go and asked, “Clarissa?”

She let out a long sigh and cupped my face. “It was you who came to my house.”

My pulse quickened. I’d expected her to slap me. I shouted more than said, “I didn’t expect to find you in a club.”

She shrugged and said between songs, “Look, we can’t talk here.”

True. This wasn’t the place to have our heart-to-heart. “Can we go somewhere else?” I asked.

She pointed behind us. “Just go.”

A balding man, older than us by at least ten years, waved for Clarissa.

She walked away, and I tensed. I needed to regroup fast so I could get her full attention.

The balding man’s dark suit was at odds with the humidity. I stayed back but heard him ask her, “Do you have my money?”

“I get paid on Friday,” she shouted.

I edged closer. If I solved her problem, then she’d be free to talk.

The man told her, “Not good enough.”

I lifted my chin and decided I could handle whatever it was.

Everything wrong in her life was because of me. I approached the balding man. “How much does she owe you?”

His gaze narrowed as he regarded me. “Who’s this?”

“Sam’s father,” Clarissa quickly replied.

My shoulders squared. My son’s name is Sam. Adrenaline rushed through me, though it made no sense that Clarissa owed money to a man in a club.

The man said, “She owes me ten thousand dollars for that car of hers.”

She put one hand on her hip. “That’s broken.”

A car. I let out the breath I’d been holding. I’d feared something much worse.

The balding man said, “That’s not my fault.”

I stepped in front of Clarissa. “I’ll take care of the bill. I’ll need the account information for the transfer.”

He let out a laugh. “Yeah?”

“Don’t get involved, Elon.” Clarissa pressed a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want your cash.”

I needed to fix everything. She’d given birth to my son. I needed to offer her everything I should have offered years ago.

The balding man said, “The men are talking here.”

I met her eyes. “Don’t go anywhere, Clarissa. We need to talk.”

She crossed her arms and shook her head.

However, I used my phone to call up a payment app and paid off the man.

When I gazed up, she was gone.

My skin grew cold despite the heat in the air. So I left.

I’d find her and hopefully this time start the conversation off right.