Page 21 of The Billionaire's Wife (An Heir At Any Price 2)

“I ran by for a coffee with my friend before my doctor’s appointment,” she said. “Remember, I asked you to pick Mark up from school because I was going to be running late. I got home not long after and you told me about your son having an accident? I didn’t even put two and two together until I saw Holly tonight.”

Then, as if goading me further into my homicidal thoughts he said, “Well, all turned out well, Cecile. My little man is tough. You’re right about the coffee. There’s so much to think about when you have a little one to look after.”

I hated the thought, but I have it in my head that maybe Aiden was just trying to cover so that I didn’t catch the part about him picking Mark up and being at her house. I’d spent the time in the ER with our son and with Rose and the rest of the day alone. Now, I find out that Aiden wasn’t working at all. He was running errands for Cecile while she was in the city burning our son.

I stood rooted to my spot. I was stunned. Aiden was in this a lot deeper than I had guessed. How long had this been going on? With Eric still on my hip, I picked up a serving dish to take it into the kitchen before I said or did something that someone might regret. I doubted it would be me that regretted it.

As I turned to leave the room, I heard Aiden say, “Here, let me take Eric while you do that.” I looked at my son; the little traitor had his arms out. I kissed him and gave him to his dad.

“Would you like some help?” Cecile asked. I was at the point where I’d rather pull out my own fingernails with a pair of pliers than talk to her but I managed to spit out a response.

“No, thank you.” I couldn’t be alone with her. I really didn’t trust myself not to choke her. By the time I had the kitchen cleaned up, the “family” was sitting around the living room again and it was after eight o’clock. It was past time to start getting Eric ready for bed and I wanted this woman out of my home.

Before I had a chance to suggest that she leave, she said, “You know what we should do? We should open a bottle of wine. Aiden, do you have any of that ’74 left that we got on our trip to Sonoma?” Cecile let out a little chuckle, like there was some “private” story behind the wine.

“Wine? No. No one is having any wine here. I don’t think so,” I said. “I’m sorry, but that’s it, this night is over. It’s time for my son to go to bed and my husband and I to talk. Perhaps you should be the good mother you like to pretend to be and take your own son home. Isn’t it a school night?”

Cecile was giving me a shocked look. That was okay. What wasn’t okay was that my husband was looking at me the same way, only his look was tinged with disappointment as well. I tried to tell myself his only concern was for Mark, but I was beginning to wonder. Cecile on the other hand was a tad smarter than I had given her credit for, however. She suddenly changed her tune, either to prove she was a good mother, or because she knew I was about to rip her hair out.

“Holly’s right. Mark and I were having so much fun that I almost forgot it was a school night. Oh dear is it really almost eight o’clock? Mark, tell Holly thank you for her hospitality and give Aiden a kiss and hug.”

Mark did as his mother asked and then in a move that stole my heart, he kissed Eric on the head too and said, “I like you, little brother.”

Aiden smiled and Cecile gushed. I told Mark good-bye and just before they left, Cecile turned to me and said, “This was lovely, Holly. Thank you.” I didn’t even try and force out a nicety. I had truly exhausted every fraction of patience I had in my body. She knew it, and she was happy about it. She smiled broadly then and said, “Maybe next time you can be my guests.”

By the time Aiden showed them out, I had taken Eric in for his bath. While I was dressing him for bed, Aiden came into the room. He tried to give me a kiss on the check, but I pulled away. He wasn’t going to charm me out of being angry. I had every right in the world to feel the way I did after all of the things I found out today about Aiden’s lies. I didn’t have anything nice to say to him, and I didn’t want to berate him in front of our son, even though I knew he was too little to understand. I felt strongly that Eric could sense my moods. I didn’t say anything, I just watched as he cooed at and kissed Eric and told him good night.

“Daddy loves you little man,” he said. He looked at me, almost like he was going to smile, but I warned him off with a look of my own.

I finished putting the baby down and found him relaxing in the den when I came back out.

---