Page 25 of Secret Baby for Dr. Billionaire

It was the best thing I had heard from him since we met for the second time. I’d longed for the day Ben finally stepped up. But still, the doubt was there, and so was the fear. Because let’s face it, I didn’t know a single thing about Ben, and the only thing I had in common with this man was his child and maybe a heart full of anger. Other than that, he was a complete stranger.

“And you think coming into my home without my permission is the way to do it?”

“I should’ve told you before. I’m sorry.”

He was really apologizing, wasn’t he? The look on his face seemed genuine. Though, I needed time to digest all this and find the courage to trust this man with Sofi. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, not let Ben help because, at the end of the day, Sofi really was his, and I owed it to Sofi to introduce her father to her. I was willing to put my issues aside only due to this.

“You tell me ahead of time what your plans are with her, but I’ll supervise, meaning you can’t take her without me. If you want to buy her things, buy her food, save up for her fucking college, fine. But I call the shots here, Ben. Not you.”

“Understood.” Ben looked like he had just won a million bucks. I hated it. It took everything in me not to keep my daughter away from him to punish him. But punishing him meant punishing Sofi, and I didn’t want that. For now, I’d take Ben's decision to do the bare minimum as a win. Time would tell if he really was in it for the long game. “Anything I need to know about her?”

“She’ll put anything and everything in her mouth, so if you’re watching her,reallywatch her. And don’t feed her strawberries, she’s allergic to them.”

“You won’t have a problem with that,” he pointed. “I haven’t had strawberries since I was two, after I almost died of anaphylactic shock.”

Of course, because what other way to punish me than to let my daughter have inherited her allergy from the man I despised the most?

Chapter ten

Ben

“PaulinaHerrera.Timeofdeath: 18:12.”

I recalled my words from earlier, a high-pitched tone emitting from the machines by the patient’s head. She was the youngest patient I had cared for, who had died in the middle of surgery.

She was twelve years old, but she was so tiny and so malnourished that she looked years younger. Like Billy Anne. And maybe that was the reason why it was bothering me so much.

As a general surgeon, I rarely saw kids as my patients—that was Pedia’s work. But Paulina had been my patient before. I had removed a tumor from her lungs two years ago, and I didn’t think that she’d be back in the hospital so soon with a completely different diagnosis.

She had had a tear in her artery and Doctor Lola Wilson, our chief of Cardiothoracic surgery, did the Bentall procedure to remove the damaged section of her aorta and replace it with a synthetic graft.

She had called me mid-surgery to check the patient’s lungs and to advise about possible post-op complications that could develop because she started bleeding on the table. Thankfully, Doctor Wilson had the bleeding under control, had fixed the tear, and closed her up. Although she was still unconscious, her labs were fine.

That was until four hours later, when her skin started to turn blue, and her heart rate became so slow she was bradycardic. The next thing we knew, she was flatlining, and when we tried the defibrillator, she wasn’t responding. I had to call it.

“Hello?” Maggie called at the other end of the line. I was at home already, and Maggie had called earlier to let me know that she’d picked Billy Anne up from school because the boys missed her. It was a Friday, so I let her. “Ben, are you listening to me?”

Honestly, I wasn’t. Paulina had been bugging me, and that thought led to Billy Anne. I couldn’t imagine her dying like that. I didn’t know if I could survive the aftermath—a world without my daughter.

I thought of what could have happened if I’d given Tonette another chance, but I shook that off before it could do some more damage to my mental state. Tonette was out of our lives for good, and I wasn’t going to let her compromise my peace of mind.

“I’m sorry.” I sighed, discarding the pen I was holding to lean back in my desk chair and massage the bridge of my nose. “What did you say?”

“I said, Billy Anne is staying for the night.” Of course, she was. It was Friday anyway, and it was better for Billy Anne to spend time with as many people as possible. The more that she exposed herself to her family, the better. At least, that was what her therapist had said.

And it was better that I’d spend the night alone, especially when it was clear that this deceased patient of mine was going to haunt me.

“I know I said I’d take her back before dinner, but we were playing volleyball by the beach, and she said she wanted to stay.”

“You’re keeping my child from me, Margaret.”

“It’s not my fault she loves me more than you.” It was supposed to be a stupid joke, but I couldn’t ignore the strange feeling in my gut. My silence must’ve alarmed Maggie because she added, “It’s a joke, Benedict.”

“As long as she’s safe, Maggie.”

“Hey,” Maggie started, her voice low and serious. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just a patient of mine died today. She was twelve.”

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