SEDUCING THE BILLIONAIRE

Chapter 27

“It was supposed to be a one-night stand.”
“With a married woman.”
“Yes, that’s what made it perfect, she had a husband so she wouldn’t expect more from me.”
“but now you’re in love with her.”
“Yep!”
The therapist sighed and closed the notebook, he had started seeing Clement after he lost his child then eventually got divorced.
“And how do you think this will end?” he asked him.
“well she’s gonna leave him, they already don’t sleep on the same bed. he knows that we’re together, but he doesn’t know my identity, he cut her off when she told him about us,” Clement explained
“Clement, I don’t mean to sound judgmental but are you certain that she is not using you?”
“for what? She is married to a billionaire, my salary is pocket change to him” he laughed “but she still chose to risk all that in order to be with me, that shows that she really does have feelings for me.” He argued in defense of the relationship.
“well, at least she’ll get something in the divorce settlement” the therapist mumbled, he really wasn’t for the idea of Clement dating a woman with no source of income, one who completely relied on him. Thought it would put a lot of pressure on Clement and start stressing him out and whenever he got stressed too much he would start getting migraines then resort to abusing pain killers which made him unproductive then being unproductive would stress him even more and it became a vicious cycle.
“I highly doubt it, he’s a brilliant businessman, definitely had her sign a prenup” he said confidently, once he realized that he was developing feelings for Audrey, he had dug a bit deeper into Duke just to know what he was up against and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit intimidated but all he had to do was remind himself that Audrey was with him, even while married to a man with so much wealth and social standing she still chose to be with him.
“I am worried about you, if she gets divorced and you two continue with the relationship it might be a lot of pressure on you financially, it sounds like she’s living in luxury.” The therapist pointed out.
“she’s not that materialistic,” he dismissed the insinuation “…and I walk away with k70,000 after taxes, I think I can manage to give her a comfortable life.”
Clement worked as an junior investments analyst for an international company and his direct boss was getting k120,000 per month after taxes, that was before they even added fuel allowances, accommodation, airtime etc, Clement also received such bonuses. Their salaries were dictated and processed at the head offices in California and were quoted in dollars so sometimes it would be higher sometimes lower, according to how the kwacha was doing against the dollar, but ever since he got promoted to junior investments analyst, it had never dropped below k70,000.
Since he didn’t have a lot of responsibilities and he really didn’t want to start side businesses, he usually locked his money with his bank, making fixed deposits earning him a reasonable interest.
“Just think it through and be certain that this is what you really want.” This was the therapist’s final advice for the day.
The moment he left the therapist’s office, Clement went to meet up with the agent he had contacted, yes he loved his bachelor apartment but he figured maybe Audrey would want something homely so he was looking for a bigger house, he got $1000 per month as his accommodation allowance so when the agent showed him a beautiful four bedroom house with two self-contained bedrooms, geysers, a spacious paved yard with a garden at the back, a lawn with flowers, water tank, inbuilt kitchen units in the spacious kitchen with an island, walk-in closet in the main master bedroom….The house was going at k10,000 per month and Clement could picture himself living there with Audrey, maybe if they were lucky they could have two or three kids running around. It was in a nice secure neighborhood with a shopping mall, some schools and a private hospital close enough.
He wanted to send the pictures to Audrey and ask what she thought but stopped himself, maybe that would scare her away thinking he was moving too fast, so he decided to just stay casual about it and act like he was just relocating because he wanted more space and not because he wanted to prepare a home for her.
He was still sending out her CV to friends and associates hoping something may come up.
..
.
Before they could sign an agreement as to how they would navigate co-parenting, Duke had taken Connie to the hospital. He had been indifferent to the entire situation but when he looked at the screen and saw the grey blob which was supposed to be the baby, when he heard that heart beating, something in him seemed to melt. Was that really a child growing in there? His child?
“Everything seems to be okay” he heard the doctor say but he was barely listening as he pictured the kind of life his child would have with him for a father and Connie for a mother.
‘you’re doing a decent job with Lindsey, it’ll be fine’ he tried to reassure himself, but he was still scared.
After the doctor’s appointment, Connie wanted to have lunch saying she was craving grilled fresh fish.
“how much will it cost to have you give up the baby?” Duke asked her as he drove.
“Excuse me?? I told you am not aborting” Connie frowned at him.
“I didn’t mean that, I meant let me have full custody, sign over all your rights and let me raise our child” he clarified and Connie felt a tightening in her chest, how dare he make such a proposal? This baby was supposed to be bring them together!
Duke on the other hand was thinking maybe if he paid Connie off and she disappeared he could manage to convince Audrey to stay and raise the baby with him, just like she had been doing with Lindsey, she would be a great role model and he wouldn’t be too worried and scared about raising a messed up spoiled brat.
“I’m not abandoning my baby” Connie refused “no amount of money will get rid of me Duke, so just accept that you’re stuck with me forever because we’re raising this child together” she said firmly, and he winced. Why did it have to be her? Perhaps if he hadn’t met Audrey, they could have made it work but now each time he thought of Connie he saw her as the reason Audrey was now rejecting him.
After lunch they were supposed to go to Jerome’s office and go through the agreement, but Connie changed her mind.
“after the stunt you tried to pull in the car, I think I need a lawyer to critically analyze whatever document you put before me to sign, I will not have you and Jerome tricking me” she refused
.
Connie went and hired the lawyer who had been representing aunt Brenda.