On your knees, Mr. Billionaire

007

Camille Laurent

~•~

When I pulled over at my apartment complex later that day, I was surprised to see Marcus standing outside of it. He was tapping his feet impatiently and checking his watch. He looked formal, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a black suit jacket. Did he come straight from work?

Was he waiting for me? Or was it a coincidence that he was visiting someone in the same complex where I stayed?

I undid my seatbelt, grabbed my bag, and got out of the car. His eyes snapped to me immediately, his mouth falling open.

Before I could even take two steps, he was in front of me. “Camille! It’s really you!” He grabbed my arm. “When I heard that you were back in town, I thought they were delusional.”

I blinked in surprise. I’d only been back in New York for two days and my brother had found my apartment already. “It’s concerning that you have eyes on me, Marcus.” I tried to sound casual but in reality, I didn’t know how to act around him. Not anymore.

“I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t packed up and disappeared out of the blue.” He hissed. “If Grandpa hadn’t called to say you were staying with them, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

I pursed my lips. So my grandfather had informed him after all and he still didn’t care to visit.

“I was busy with work.” He said as if he could see the disappointment in my eyes. “Father has been slowly putting me in charge of everything so I didn’t get the time to seek you out.”

For six years? My father had been handing things over to him for six years. “You sure have a lot of time now, don’t you?” I asked dryly. “How long have you been waiting here?”

“Long enough to get parched. Invite me in.”

“Didn’t the snitch tell you my apartment number as well?”

Marcus smiled sheepishly and started pulling me toward the entrance of the building. Knowing there was no way I was going to shake him off, I walked along with him and we entered the elevator.

“You’ve changed.” He said when the car started moving upward. “You look and feel different.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It is.” He laughed. “You seem a lot more confident.”

That was to be expected since I wasn’t around the family that didn’t miss any opportunity to put me down or the husband who made sure to remind me that he didn’t want to marry me in the first place. I’d had enough time to think and build myself. I didn’t care about my parents’ validation anymore. I didn’t care about them. Period. “You didn’t tell your parents about my arrival, did you?”

Marcus pursed his lips in disapproval. “Our parents,” he corrected me before he answered. “And no. I wanted to confirm first.”

“First?” It was my turn to look at him in disapproval. “If they find out that I’m in town, I will cut you off, I swear.”

“You’ve done it once and I’m still standing.” When I narrowed my eyes at him, he raised his hands in surrender. “Kidding.”

The elevator came to a stop then and we walked out.

I knew that my parents could find me if they wanted to. The only reason they didn’t was that they didn’t care about me. They were embarrassed because I and their precious son in law got divorced and were rather satisfied with not seeing my face for the past six years.

But I also knew that they’d want me to visit home the moment they realized I was back and I wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. I didn’t want them to investigate and find out about Caden.

Caden!

I froze when we reached my front door, looking back at my brother. Had my grandparents mentioned anything about my pregnancy or child? Did Marcus already know? Was he trying to spare me by pretending he didn’t know?

“What are you doing?” Marcus frowned. “Open the door. I’m thirsty.”

“Uh,” I scrambled for a good excuse. “I think I forgot my key.”

“Where?” He stared at me like I was stupid.

“At the hospital.” I lied. “I need to go back and get it.”

“Or just call the building manager to open the door?” He offered.

“I, uh…”

Before I could think of another excuse, he reached out and turned the knob, the door easily opening. I closed my eyes briefly. Jen could have at least locked the door from the inside.

“It’s open.” He said as he pushed it further open. “You should learn to lock your doors before you leave. You’re a woman living alone. It’s not safe for…” he trailed off when he heard the sound of a door banging shut. He held a hand out, standing in front of me in a protective stance.

Which was useless because in the next second, a five-year-old boy came running through the hall. “Mommy!” He yelled, running past Marcus and wrapping his arms around my legs.

A few seconds later, Jen came to join us in the living room. “I told him not to run but as soon as he heard the front door, he took off.” She chuckled. “We were decorating his room.”

“I’ve been trying to get him to stop running for ages,” I said to Jen while I rubbed Caden’s hair. “He’s too stubborn to listen.”

“I’m not stubborn.” Caden looked up at me, his arms still around me.

“Aren’t you?”

“I’m not.” He shook his head and turned to look at Marcus who was gaping at me and Caden. “Who’s this?”

“This is your uncle Marcus.”

“My uncle?”

“He’s my brother. Say hi to him.”

He turned around to face him properly. “Hi, Uncle Marcus.” He said brightly.

Marcus blinked, his gaze moving from me to Caden, then back to me. “Camille, you have a son!?”