The Billionaire's Fake Fiance

Chapter Thirty

Richard had investigated into the matter. Elizabeth Parker did have a child, a girl named Jean. The Jean that was standing in front of him now, looking at him with her big, blue eyes.

He stepped away from her. "What if I said that you're the one who made me angry, what would you do?" He loathed her mother, so much. But, Jean? She was so different.

Jean came closer to him. "What did I do?" She asked, innocence staining her face. She wound her arms around his neck and looked at him, "Why are you so mad?"

As if she didn't know, he gagged. No, really, did she know? Did she know what her mother had done to him? Or she was just as clueless as he was? "It's....nothing....much."

"Rich," She spoke, her eyes shining with unfallen tears. "thank you."

"For what?"

"For giving me this ring, and for giving me the opportunity to be here....I've never been this happier, in my entire life." She stepped away, twisting the ring on her finger. "I know that this, is going to be over, soon. But, I really appreciate all the things that you've done for me."

He gulped down his saliva, unable to form words. She was nice. So very nice, but her blood? Her veins coursed with Elizabeth's blood. How good could it be? He sighed, looking at her again. Now that he knew the truth, he realised that her appearance was just like Elizabeth; red, flaming hair, warm skin tone, those freckles on her nose. Except....for her eyes. They were nothing like Elizabeth's brown, depthless ones. Instead, they were a tone of guileless blue.

Something moved in him, and he dragged her towards him by her hand. "I didn't do anything for you."

She stared at him. "To you, it may be nothing, but to me, it's more than anyone has ever done."

"Not more than your mother, of course." He threw his dagger in the dark, awaiting her response.

The response he got wasn't intended. Her body movement stilled to a shuddering halt, and her muscles stiffened up. She breathed abnormally fast. "My...mother?"

He immediately stopped thinking and scooped her up in his arms, making her sit on the couch. "Jean, it's okay. Breathe. I just asked about your mother, not a monster."

"Only....she...wasn't less than a....monster." She stuttered, tears flowing down her cheeks and within a second, she started crying, her body shaking convulsively.

He wanted to kill himself for making her cry like that. Elizabeth was a terrible mother too, he guessed, sitting on his knees in front of her. He took her hands in his. "It's okay, love. I'm sorry."

"All her life...she has ignored me...she ran away when I was seventeen...and not until recently, she contacted me and that too, only for...money." She cried, clutching his hand.

"Please...don't...mention...her again. It's bad enough that she's my mom..." She looked at him, expectantly.

She was innocent, wasn't she? Why did he ever think she would be like Elizabeth? She wasn't. She was Jean, his Jean.

His?

As the feeling of possessiveness gathered around his stomach, he felt it drop like a hot potato. He couldn't breathe. Jean wasn't his, she belonged to someone else. And Grace? Didn't he love her?

"It's all your fault!" He got up, jerking away her hands from his.

She gaped at him, silent and composed. Tears continued to flow from her eyes and she huffed. "My fault? What's my fault?"

He breathed in. "Ah, nothing. Just---let's not talk now."

Scarcely had he moved away from her than she held his hand and got up from the couch, facing him. "No! Tell me, what's my fault? What did I do?"