Claimed By My Billionaire Ex

Chapter 25

OLIVE

Ididn't know where I was going when I took the taxi to the bus station, I just needed to get away. Get away from what? How could I even answer that when the escape I needed was from myself? Suddenly, a rush of nausea gripped me, and I leaned over and hurled at the spot. The stress was affecting me worse than I thought. I hated this.

After forwarding the sixth call from Lucas to voicemail, I'd finally shut off my phone. And as I tucked it into my backpack, I decided then and there that I wouldn't turn it back on until I knew where I was going.

Lucas's words haunted me in a way I couldn't understand, a trigger beneath my skin, an itch I couldn't reach. I had been about to make a choice that would have kept me entrenched in the same cyclical patten I'd been stuck in my entire life. It was as if the entire facade of my life had been stripped away.

 If I didn't trust the choices I wanted to make for myself, how was I supposed to know what choices I wanted to make for Claire? Never in my life had I left Claire behind for anything. But as I boarded the first bus that arrived, with no destination in mind, the sadness building inside my chest stemmed more from guilt than loss.

I wasn't capable of being there for Claire. Not right now. Not like this. As a mother, I was supposed to be selfless, I was supposed to think about what was best for her first, not for me.

And for once in my life, I had to admit that I wasn't doing that. I was thinking only for myself. Because the better option, the selfless option, wouldn't be taking Claire away from her father. It would be allowing him to become integrated in her life.

I had been about to do the same thing with Lucas that I had done with Adam.

Adam had done nothing but been there for me and Claire when I had literally no one else. And what had I done? The instant Adam had criticized me for my lifestyle—my job as a hacker, a judgement that had been more than valid considering the circumstances—I cut him out of my life.

And in doing so, I'd also cut him out of Claire's life.

I'd cut out his help, his friendship to Claire, his love. He'd not only been her babysitter, but also her uncle and her best friend. All because my pride had been too heavy of a weight to bear.

Up until today, I would have defended that decision to the death, but because of Lucas's words, my blinders had finally been removed. I'd made a choice with Adam, acted in selfish ways that had negatively affected my daughter. And I'd been about to do the same with Lucas, if he hadn't cut me off.

After the chaos at the press conference, I knew I needed to run, to start over, to figure out how to set my head on straight, but it didn't mean Claire had to come with me. Leaving Claire with my brother and her father was the best thing I could have done for my daughter.

It was with that thought that I boarded the bus, took a row in the back, stuffed my backpack at my feet, and pulled my sweatshirt over my head.

My eyes closed, and I was asleep before the engine had even started.

One monthlater

I woke to the sound of the tide lapping at the deck behind the in-law-suite. As I crawled out of bed, I slumped to the bathroom, grabbing the pregnancy test as I went.

The results were the same as the last three I'd taken this past week. I tossed it onto the pile in the trash, with the rest of the positive tests, and pressed my face to my hands.

A spiral of thoughts started pulling me down, and I washed my hands. Staring at myself in the mirror, I resisted the urge to touch my stomach. Ten years had passed, but wasn't I right back where I'd started?