Page 4 of Marrying a Billionaire

It landed smack dab in the middle of the board. Bulls eye.

Why did it have to be marriage? His grandfather was cruel. Reed’s heart squeezed as he thought about Hannah. He was going to marry her. He’d found the girl that he wanted to love forever. But, just like every failed relationship in his life, it came crashing down. Nothing like finding out that the your fiancée was pregnant with you half-brother’s baby. Now they were planning a wedding and a baby shower, and Reed had nothing. Not even a blip on the romance radar.

Reed picked up another dart as a wave of sadness washed over him. As much as he wanted to be over Hannah, he wasn’t. It was hard with her still in his life. Her memory still made his stomach turn inside out. He wanted to say it was because he hated her, but that was a lie. It felt like she would never leave him even though six months had passed since she was his. Why couldn’t his heart understand that?

Wrestling down his feelings of self-pity, he dropped down onto his office chair and drummed the desk with his fingers. He needed to get his head on straight and do some work. He’d convince his grandfather that this was a ridiculous stipulation, he just needed to figure out how.

Just as he shook his mouse to wake up his computer, there was a knock on the door. Grateful for the distraction, Reed called out, “Come in.”

The door opened, and he saw his mom peeking through the crack.

“What do you want, Mom?” He didn’t have time for this. There was no way he wanted to go through another round of “you should get married, it’s your responsibility.”

His mom stepped into the room with an uneasy expression. This was never good.

“I’m here to introduce you to your wife.” His mom stepped to the side to reveal a small red-head behind her.

Reed’s ears rang as he blinked a few times. Had he heard her right? “Excuse me, Mom? Wife?”

When his gaze made its way over to his supposed wife, he saw that her eyes were as wide as saucers. She leaned over to his mom and whispered. “Um, what did you say? How are he and I married?”

His mom glanced down at her. “Didn’t the agency talk to you?”

The woman’s face paled. “I think you have me mistaken for someone else.” She clutched her purse with one hand and braced her stomach as if she was about to be sick.

“You’re not from Elite Soulmate Agency?”

Reed pushed back his chair and walked around his desk. This woman looked as if she was about to faint. He reached out his hand. “Come with me. Let’s sit you down before you fall over and injure yourself.”

The woman glanced down at his hand and then up to his face. For a moment, it looked as if she was about to protest but then pinched her lips shut and nodded.

Once he had her situated in the arm chair across from his desk, he turned to his mom. She had wide eyes as her gaze kept slipping to the woman she’d brought in.

“What is going on?” he asked, stepping up to his mom.

She glanced over at him. “I don’t know how that happened. I swear she said that she was with the agency. Did you say that Georgina sent you?”

The woman’s eyes widened. “No. You didn’t ask me that.”

His mom made her way over to the chair next to hers and sat. “I swear you said that.” Her brow furrowed. “Why would you let me go on and on if you weren’t sent by the agency? Why would you sign the contract?”

The woman opened her purse and pulled out a bracelet. She put it on her wrist, pressing on a small button in the middle of the fabric. It was an anti-nausea bracelet. Reed had seen his grandmother use the same one.

“I thought you were talking about the personal assistant position I was here to interview for.” Her gaze flicked over to Reed, and he thought he detected a pink hue to her cheeks. Must be the nausea.

His mom pressed her hand against her forehead. “This is not good.”

Feeling the need to step into this situation that was sinking faster than a ship, Reed walked over and leaned against his desk so he could face both women. He extended his legs out in front of him. “I’m sure this was just an easy mix-up. So she signed the contract, no big deal.”

His mom’s bright red lips were pinched together as she tried to muster a confident expression. “Yeah,” she whispered but then a moment later, sprang from her chair. “I’ve got to call the agency and then talk to Orson.”

The sound of his office door closing filled the palpable silence. When Reed turned his attention back to the strange woman in his office, he found that she was blotting her eyes with a tissue. Was she crying?

He felt bad for her. She was here, hoping for a job, and yet she was dragged into his mom’s ridiculous schemes.

“Hey,” he said as he grabbed the recently vacated armchair and pulled it closer to her. He reached out and let his hand hover over her arm. Would it seem supportive or just creepy? He went with creepy so leaned his elbows on his knees and grasped his hands in front of him. “It’ll all be over in a minute.”

The woman glanced over at him, her eyes were puffy. “So there’s no job?”

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