THE BILLONAIRE'S SECRET BABY

Kylie Donovan was aware that if she focused on how ridiculous, embarrassing, and impossible the situation was, she would never take the necessary action. But there was no getting out of it. She had to complete this. For the first time, she was responsible for her family. Ever. She had already waited in her automobile for far too long in the busy Midtown Manhattan parking garage located deep beneath Sally Tower. Here, beneath the North American power center of one of the richest men in the world, she had been allowed a specific amount of time to appear on the elevator cameras before the security officers who had checked her in would look into her whereabouts. While the time was running out, she continued to hold the steering wheel and watch her whitening knuckles. Getting ready for the challenging work ahead. and failure. She had told her father, "There has to be another way," In fact, it had happened so frequently that it had more closely resembled begging. Kylie was trying her hardest to escape this. But as usual, Ken Pierpont Donovan remained unaffected. When she made one more attempt to convince him otherwise earlier today, he boomed at her, "For God's sakes, Kylie." When he was in the family home on the Connecticut island his Gilded Age forebears had long since claimed, he had been sitting back in his monstrously over-sized leather chair, his hands clasped over his strained golf shirt because nothing had stopped him from playing a few holes at Wee Burn. "For once, consider someone other than yourself. You must assist your brother. Girl, it ought to be the start and the end of it. Kylie had refrained from expressing her disagreement with that evaluation of the circumstances. not immediately. However, their father refused to acknowledge the fact that Kenny Junior was a problem. Kenny had always seemed like spun gold to him. Ken had referred to him as high-spirited when he had been expelled from every boarding school on the East Coast. Despite the library Ken had constructed to admit him, his expulsion from college was justified as typical Donovan obstinacy. His vain attempts to strike off on his own as an entrepreneur, which cost his father millions of dollars, were viewed as honorable endeavors to carry on the family tradition. Ken praised his sluggish carry-on in his role as vice president of the family company—all expense account and very little actual work—as playing the game. Despite his best efforts, Kenny Junior could essentially do no wrong. While everything was going on, Kylie had been neglected in her parents' courteous but chilly marriage. Her wealthy parents had no idea what to do with her because she was born when Kenny was fourteen and already enrolled in his fifth boarding school. She had been assigned to nannies, which had worked out perfectly for her. The magnificent property on Connecticut's Gold Coast, where she could curl up in a forgotten nook and lose herself in her books, was the only tangible benefit of the ancient Donovan fortune that occupied the lives of her father and brother. Her mother was the more approachable parent, but only provided Kylie conformed to her exact standards of what a debutante ought to be in the time-honored manner of the majority of her family, who were proud to be descended from the Mayflower. Since Mount Holyoke's founding, every woman in Kylie's family has attended the school to satisfy her, but as she grew older, she realized that the only way to get her father's attention was to try to participate in the one thing that mattered to him—his company. She now regretted her decision. The time was running out, and Kylie had no desire to give the Sally security team an explanation for why she was dragging her steps after they had already thoroughly checked her person and car and had forwarded her picture to the executive floor. Where she was anticipated, she had been told icily. She would arrive in ten minutes or less recognized as a security concern. Despite the fact that it wasn't chilly, Kylie shuddered as she dragged herself out of the car. Simply enough, she didn't enjoy New York City. It was excessively raucous, jumbled, and loud. She was confident she could feel the weight of the many lives flowing through the streets even from this location, several storeys below ground with the famed Sally Tower slicing into the sky above her, a masterpiece of steel and glass architecture her on top of Or perhaps that was her anxiety speaking. Because she was quite certain that she would never, ever have to interact with Zain Sally again. She straightened her pencil skirt but resisted the impulse to get back in the car and check her meticulously applied cosmetics one more time. It served no purpose. She would face him as this was going on, but in reality, she was probably deluding herself into thinking that he would even know her. While walking across the pavement toward the bank of elevators that were unavoidably designated and obviously marked, Kylie ignored the flutter low in her tummy that suggested it was more complicated than just flattery. After all, years had passed. Furthermore, despite its exquisiteness, this was an office building rather than one of her family's self-conscious parties attended by the wealthy and powerful, where Kylie was supposed to flaunt her appearance as her mother's pride and her father's indulgence. Such events were the only places she had ever encountered or interacted with the types of people her father and brother so greatly adored, such as Zain Sally himself, whom everyone simultaneously feared and revered. Because it was clear that Ken had no desire to allow Kylie to join him at the company. Kenny had always made fun of her goals. She would want to believe that he had wanted to keep her at a distance because she would have found out what he was planning sooner. But she was also aware of the truth in it. Kenny didn't give her a single thought. And, as he had explicitly stated today, was not threatened by anything she may or might not do. Kylie's mother only cared for her between her garden parties and charity events, and her father and brother always treated her like an outsider and an afterthought, so a logical person may wonder why she was doing this terrible chore for them. The issue was that. She has only ever been required to complete this one task for them. She couldn't help but feel that it was her only opportunity to succeed. to establish her eligibility as a Donovan. the fact that she wasn't just an afterthought. That she was more than just her mother's occasional dress-up doll, that she deserved to take her position in the group, and who knew? could finally be treated as one of them. And perhaps, for once, she wouldn't feel so lonely if it occurred. Perhaps if she demonstrated her value to them, she wouldn't feel as isolated from her family as she had in the past. It hurt that she was always so easily overlooked, despite how many times she told herself it was just because she was so much younger than her brother or because she symbolized a peculiar point in her parents' normally distant marriage. So easily overlooked, excluded, or simply not informed about the myriad problems that touched them all. She might be able to prove her membership this time. She therefore marched herself to the elevator marked Executive Level, entered the code she had been given, and stepped briskly inside when the doors slid soundlessly open in front of her, despite the fact that the mere thought of what she might have to do made her stomach feel like a heavy lead ball and that she thought Kenny would be better off accepting whatever punishment came his way for his behavior—for once. It wasn't important that her heart started to jump about inside her chest. Sitting there in the uncomfortable chair on the opposite side of her father's desk, she had said to her father, "I don't understand why you believe a guy as strong and cruel as Zain Sally will listen to me. My own father doesn't listen to me; why should he? was not what she had meant. He would undoubtedly pay more attention to you, I'm sure. Ken had chuckled sourly. Instead of the patronizing haze that typically covered his eyes in her presence, he had actually given her a direct glance. "Zain Sally has thrown the Donovan Company under the bus. I am just as culpable as Kenny, in his eyes. An evil part of Kylie nearly applauded at that, thinking that it would undoubtedly inspire her father to finally accept the truth about his son. She however knew better. Instead, she had answered, "All the more reason to want nothing to do with me, I would have thought." "Because I am a Donovan, too." "Kylie. Please. You are unrelated to the business. Ken Donovan had waved a hand dismissively, as if Kylie's dreams were really that absurd. You must make him seem like a good father to him. The visions of Zain Sally that she carried about inside her thoughts and attempted to conceal, even from herself, had been too bright and too scorching. in particular from herself. Considering how excessive he was. Far too risky