A Baby For The Billionaire (6 page)

She located her clothes and quickly
pulled them on before picking up Vanessa’s dress and dropping it
into the laundry hamper. Alicia knew that it was the day the
housekeeper would be cleaning the bedroom and doing the laundry, so
she wasn’t worried about Vanessa discovering that somebody had been
wearing her clothes. She wasn’t due home for a few days yet, so
there was plenty of time for everything to be back in its rightful
place.

As for the empty champagne bottle,
that could be attributed to Chase drinking it and wouldn’t look out
of place at all. After all, he wasn’t likely to tell his wife that
it had been drunk by the woman he’d spent the night fucking, was
he?

Alicia made her way to the bedroom
door, opening it slowly and peering out to make sure that nobody
was around to witness her leaving the room. A few moments later she
was back in her own room, fighting the urge to slam the door and
throw herself down on her bed to have a good weeping fit. Instead,
she ran a bath and scrubbed herself clean in a desperate attempt to
rid herself of any trace of the man she’d spent the night
with.

Pulling some casual clothes on a short
time later, she couldn’t help berating herself for being so stupid.
What on earth had possessed her to even go into Vanessa and Chase’s
room in the first place? She’d never done anything so underhand
before, and then to make matters worse she’d not only got caught,
but she’d spent the night having sex with her boss. She was nothing
short of a complete idiot.

She needed to go and do something to
get her head together. She sure as hell couldn’t stay around here
today because she was pretty sure that she would give herself away
if she did. She looked around her room restlessly and caught sight
of her cell phone on the dresser where she’d left it after speaking
to her mother the night before, and a thought came to
her.

If anyone could calm her down and help
to put things into perspective it would be her mom, and now that
she had an extra day off it would be the perfect time to go and
visit. It would probably do them both some good to spend a couple
of days together, she mused, and started to throw clothes into a
small overnight bag.

She didn’t bother to call her mom to
let her know she was coming. She knew her mother would be happy to
see her whether she was expecting her or not. Thirty minutes later
she had informed the head housekeeper that she was not going to be
working that day and was driving out through the gates of the
impressive estate on her way to her mom’s.

“Hey mom, where are you?” She called
out as she walked through the front door of her mother’s small
home. Thank God her father’s life insurance policy had been just
enough to pay off the mortgage; that was one thing that Alicia
didn’t have to worry about. Paying the household and medical bills
was enough to have her worrying to death as it was.

“Mom?” She called out again, concern
lacing her voice when there was no response. She dropped her bag on
the hallway floor, walking quickly into the kitchen after sticking
her head around the living room door first to make sure that her
mother wasn’t asleep on the couch.

Her mother wasn’t in the kitchen
either, and Alicia's heart started to pound as fear and dread
filled her. Her worst nightmare, and one that she had frequently,
was finding her mother passed away or lying unconscious somewhere
with no-one to help her. It was a nightmare Alicia would wake from
with tears on her cheeks and feeling sick to her stomach; a feeling
that wouldn’t ease up until she called her mom and heard her
voice.

Now, as she frantically searched the
house for her mother, the fear came back in full force. She checked
every room, finding no sign of her mother anywhere. Her purse was
hanging over the back of a kitchen chair, and when Alicia checked
it her mom’s house keys were inside, intensifying the certainty she
had that her mother had been taken to hospital without her
knowledge.

With shaking hands, Alicia picked up
the phone from the kitchen counter, intent on calling the local
hospital where her mother frequently attended her treatment. She
was in the middle of dialing the number when the back door opened
and in walked her beautiful but frail mother.

“Where the hell have you been?” She
knew she shouldn’t talk to her mother with such sternness, and even
as the words left her mouth her arms were flying around her mom’s
shoulders, pulling her towards her in a hug that she didn’t ever
want to end. “Do you have any idea how scared I was? Where have you
been?” Okay, so she was repeating herself, but right now she really
didn’t care. She just wanted to hold her mom and know that she was
okay.

“Alicia! What a lovely surprise! I
wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” Her mother pulled out of the
embrace, holding onto her daughter’s arms while she took a step
back and looked up into her worried face. “I was just out in the
garden picking some fresh flowers to put in your room. There was
nothing to worry about, you silly thing.”

The garden! Why hadn’t she
thought to check the garden?
She knew how
much mother loved to be outdoors, surrounded by the beautiful
blooms that she painstakingly planted year after year; the blooms
that she probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy for much longer.
At the thought, Alicia’s eyes filled with tears of
despair that she could do nothing to hold back.

She pulled her mom back into her arms
for another hug, heaving sobs racking her body that she just
couldn’t control any more. “Oh Mom, I was so worried. I couldn’t
find you anywhere, and I thought...” Her voice trailed off into a
hiccup, and she released her mother. The two of them made their way
to the kitchen table and sat down.

“Sweetheart, you have to understand
that I’m not going to be around forever.” Her mother’s voice was
gentle, but the words still cut Alicia through to the heart. She
was shaking her head even as her mother continued to talk. “We both
know that there’s only so much that the doctors can do now, baby
girl, and I don’t want your last memories of me to be ones that are
filled with fear and worry. When it’s my time to go, there’s
nothing that any of us will be able to do about it.”

It should have been Alicia comforting
her mother, but instead her hand was taken in her parent’s frail
one and patted gently. “Is there anything else worrying you, my
love? It’s not like you to get so worked up so easily.”

Alicia had never been able to lie to
her mom, but right now wasn’t the time to tell her how much of an
idiot she’d been the night before. “There’s nothing for you to
worry about mom, so how about I make us both a nice cup of tea and
then you can show me the flowers you’ve picked.”

Her mother threw a mock scowl in her
direction, but the smile on her face was showing her daughter that
she would let the matter go, for now. “That sounds like a great
idea to me, baby girl.”

The rest of the day passed by in
relative peace, with mother and daughter enjoying just spending
time with each other. They shared a light lunch, which Alicia
prepared, then sat for a couple of hours in the back garden
enjoying the afternoon sunshine and the warmth that still tinged
the air. After dinner that evening, Alicia treated her mother to a
foot massage which left them both giggling like a couple of teenage
girls.

Her mom went to bed relatively early,
and Alicia settled down on the couch to watch some television. A
soppy chick flick was playing, and for the most part she enjoyed
the movie until the male lead dumped his female counterpart.
Alicia’s mind went straight to Chase and the way he had treated her
that morning, and the more she thought about it the more her anger
built. She knew that she had been in the wrong as well—after all he
was a married man and she’d known that before she’d slept with
him—but that didn’t excuse the way he’d casually dismissed her as
though nothing at all had happened between them.

Alicia couldn’t help wondering if
sleeping around was a common occurrence for Chase, because he
obviously hadn’t thought twice about doing it last night. She knew
Vanessa was a drunken bitch to him; she’d witnessed it herself on
more than one occasion. But now Alicia was wondering if maybe
Vanessa behaved like she did because of the way her husband treated
her. After all, if he was a serial womanizer, why wouldn’t
she?

The more she thought about
it, the angrier she became. He’d hurt her and hadn’t given a damn
about doing it. She wasn’t usually one to bear grudges or to plan
revenge, but right now she was seriously contemplating exposing him
in some way so that people, especially women, would find out how
much of a lying, cheating, bastard he really was. She was sure that
the newspapers would have a field day with the information,
considering how prominent a figure he was in the local business
community. She could see the headlines now:
Millionaire Mogul Cheats with the Help.

Unfortunately, the repercussions of
doing what she so badly wanted to do would be detrimental to Alicia
as much as to Chase. Without her job there was no way she would be
able to pay for her mother’s medical treatment, and no amount of
vengeance was worth putting her mother’s health at more risk than
it already was.

It looked as though for now, at least,
she would have to bite her tongue and just avoid him as much as
possible. This would probably be easier said than done, but she
didn’t see any other way.

CHAPTER FIVE

…

Alicia eventually took herself off to
bed, falling into a fitful sleep and waking the following morning
feeling more tired than she had the night before. She showered and
dressed, applying a little more makeup than usual so her mother
wouldn’t see the bags under her eyes.

After breakfast she took her mom
shopping, making sure that her pantry and freezer were restocked
with everything that she might need until Alicia’s next visit. A
quick trip back to the house to unpack everything, and then it was
time to take her mom for her scheduled hospital visit.

A couple of hours later saw Alicia’s
bank balance more than just a little depleted, but at least there
had been no unexpected bad news with regards to her mother’s
health. The doctor had asked to see her in private afterwards,
letting her know her mother’s condition was stable, but likely to
start deteriorating soon unless the funds could be established for
more extensive treatment. Alicia had felt her heart sink at his
words. Coming up with even more money was going to be a near
impossible task, but she had to find a way somehow.

She pushed her worries to the back of
her mind, wanting to enjoy the rest of her visit with her mother,
and determined to make sure that her mom never knew just how hard
things were, financially and emotionally, right now.

Another restless night dawned into a
day that was as gloomy as she felt. She didn’t want to leave her
mom, and certainly didn’t want to go back to work at Chase and
Vanessa’s. But she had no choice, so after a tearful farewell and a
promise that she would visit again just as soon as she was able to,
she got in her car and drove away.

The house was quiet when she arrived
home, and she gave a sigh of relief at the fact that she didn’t see
anyone on the way up to her room. She was especially thankful that
Chase wasn’t around; he was the last person that she wanted to see,
considering just how bitterly angry she still was with
him.

The following morning she made her way
downstairs with a sense of trepidation, heading straight to the
kitchen to find out from the head housekeeper what her duties were
for the day. “You look awful.” Julie, the housekeeper, was a firm
believer in always being brutally honest, and Alicia wryly chuckled
at just how normal everything seemed to be when in all actuality
things were far from being normal. “I thought you were going to
spend a few days relaxing. Your mom not doing too good,
babes?”

“She’s as good as she can be, I
suppose. But she’s looking so frail and weak, Julie. She’s lost so
much weight that she’s like a walking skeleton.”

The housekeeper patted her on her
shoulder sympathetically. “I’m sorry, honey. I wish there was
something that I could do to help.”

“You do help, Julie. More than you
realize.” And it was the truth; if it wasn’t for Julie being a
shoulder to cry on, Alicia would have cracked under pressure long
before now. “Okay, what’s on the agenda for today, Boss Lady?” They
both smiled at the nickname Alicia had given her not long after
starting her job there.

“Actually, we should have a relatively
quiet day. His Lordship left last night for a business meeting in
Florida, which is a good thing because he’s been in an even fouler
mood than usual. And Her Highness isn’t due back from her little
detox camp crap for a few days yet. So, apart from a general clean
we can take it a little easier.”