My Bully Got Me Pregnant In College, Now's He's A Billionaire...And My New Boss

Today is the day when all the tears, sleepless nights, working nights and weekends, case after case nonstop, finally pays off. Anabel barged into my office with the widest smile on her face,"Honey bun, are you ready!" I stood up from my desk fixing my skirt. "Let's go!" As we walked to the conference room, the sound of my rapid heart beats made my hands shaky. Why am I so nervous? For eight years, I've given this firm my life... I deserve this... I deserve to be partner! Before opening the door, Anabel held my hands and looked me in the eye," Breathe Mama, breathe. Today is your day, it is your time to shine. You carried this firm on your back for years, it's time they rewarded you for that." I took several deep breaths, "Exactly!" Looking like a proud parent, Anabel fixed my hair, "Today my best friend becomes partner." I wiped the tears of joy from her eyes, "Great, now I'm going to start crying and ruin my makeup." "Go in there, let them know you're ready to take this firm to another level." I nervously nodded, trying to flush all the doubts out of my mind. Today I'll be the first female partner in the history of Greco & Russo LLP. The door opened, as everyone scrambled around each other, in panic. Anabel stopped an associate from pacing around, "What's going on?" "He lost the firm over a stupid poker night!" I walked straight into Greco's office in a fit of rage. "You swore to me that you had your gambling addiction in check!" Crawled up in the corner of his office, with tears flooding his face, "I know Willow, I messed up." "What have you done, Greco?!" "The Romano's...they...they knew my weakness, they planned everything...they manipulated me, Willow, I swear I.." I got on the floor, so Greco could see the rage in my eyes, "Enough with the excuses!" I stood up, and walked back to my office feeling defeated. Just like that, everything I worked so hard for is gone. I started as an intern at this firm eight years ago. Eight years of sacrificing my life. Years of missing my son's recitals, baseball games, PTA meetings. Eight years of not having a life. Eight years of carrying the heavy guilt of not making enough time for my son. I'd wake up and tell myself that one day it'll all be worth it. That he'd understand...that I was doing it for him...for us. From the first day as an intern, I quickly recognized that Greco had a gambling addiction because I grew up with a mother who would gamble everything away...including me. Wait until Russo finds out. Anabel came into my office flustered," I can't believe this! What if they lay us off, what if they decide to close the firm, what if they want to bring in their own people?! I cannot afford to start over at another firm, no way!" I held Anabel tight, as I tried to pretend that everything would be okay. "There's no need to worry, my love, everything will be okay. You'll see. I will fix this." Anabel looked at me with a shadow of a smile and a huge sigh of relief, "Okay, I feel a little better now, so what's the plan?" "Get Marcel and the others together, find out everything you can about the Romano family. I want to know each and every person, dead and alive in that family... I want to know them like the back of my hand by the time I finish reading the report." "Got it, we'll start right away." The thought of staying in my office or being in this building made me sick to my stomach. I would rather pick up Gino early from school, get him ice cream and take him to the movies. There's no way I'll be able to drive, not with everything running through my mind at the same time. On the Uber ride to Gino's school, I knew that I'd have to shut everything down before he sees me. He'll know something is wrong, and that would ruin his whole mood. As I stood outside his classroom door, I took deep breaths, and wore my biggest smile, hoping Gino wouldn't see through it." He ran out the door, holding on to his backpack. He gave me the biggest hug. "Mommy! I'm so happy you're here...but why are you here? You never pick me up, where is Ms. Julia?" Those words went through me like sharp knives, as I fell to my knees. "Oh baby, I am so sorry. I'm sorry that mommy is always busy. I promise that moving forward I will do better. I'll be the one to pick you up every day and take you to practice." His faced glowed, as he held out his pinky, "Pinky swear." "Pinky swear my little prince. Let's go get ice cream and go to the movies!" "This is going to be the best day ever!" Feeling his fingers holding mine tight, made my heart warm up. I can't believe I chose work over moments like these. Watching his face light up each time he looked over to the side to see me there, made me feel more happy than becoming partner ever could. After lots of ice cream and two movies, our beautiful day came to an end. I tucked Gino into bed, and made my way to my bedroom when there was a knock on the door. "Jesus Willow! So you're alive and ignoring my calls and messages!" I ran to my bag and took out my phone, "Anabel, I'm so sorry, I wanted to spend the whole day with Gino and focus on him, so I put my phone on airplane mode." Anabel went straight to the kitchen and poured wine into two glasses, then handed me one. "What's this for?" "Take it and drink it, you're going to need it." "You're scaring me." She forced my hand around the glass," Drink it, Willow." I drank a mouthful and took a deep breath, knowing that what Anabel was about to say would hit me like a train. "Let's hear it, what's wrong?" "The new CEO, well shall I say, the new King of the Romano empire is Luca Romano. He took over his father's position." My mind went completely blank, "Luca?" "Yes, Luca Romano...the father of your son."