I Left Pregnant, Now My Baby Daddy's A Billionaire

Eliana Martin landed in Eldbridge and went straight to a prominent business event in search of Wesley Harrison.

Conversation hummed through the crowded hall while glasses chimed softly around the room. The event was well underway when Eliana noticed her colleague, Chloe Sutton, waiting in a quiet corner.

"Has he arrived?" Eliana asked.

"Not yet, but I asked around. Everyone seems certain he'll be here tonight." Chloe could barely contain her excitement. She leaned closer and lowered her voice as though sharing a secret. "Everyone we know swears Mr. Harrison is unbelievably handsome. I'm wondering what he actually looks like in person."

"His appearance doesn't interest me." Eliana's face remained calm, and her lack of interest was clear.

She didn't care whether Wesley was handsome or not. Getting an interview with him was all that mattered to her, but it turned out to be difficult.

Ever since he returned to the country, she had tried to arrange an interview with him. His office had given them a tentative agreement, but every attempt to confirm it ended with the same excuse. Wesley was too busy, so she was left waiting.

An entire week had already gone by.

Every call to his secretary brought the same impersonal answer. "Mr. Harrison isn't available."

Wesley had made a dramatic entrance in Rancilia seven years earlier by completing a huge acquisition. The Harrisons belonged to one of Eldbridge's oldest wealthy families, and their support gave him a firm place in society. Persistent rumors that he was an illegitimate child barely affected his reputation. His rank, connections, and sharp business instincts allowed him to act however he wanted.

Ignoring her cost him nothing. For her, however, this was the first important profile she had received since joining the magazine, and she couldn't afford to lose the interview.

She decided she would approach Wesley herself.

News that he planned to attend this event had sent her straight there from the airport so she could catch him in person.

Chloe was ready to ask for more details when the entire hall suddenly grew quiet.

A trace of cool, woody cologne moved through the room.

People stepped aside as a tall man entered. Heads turned across the hall, and everyone's attention shifted toward him.

"Eliana, that's Wesley," Chloe whispered as she nudged her arm.

Eliana's gaze lifted toward him. The moment she saw his face, she went still, and her heart tightened painfully in her chest.

Wesley crossed the bright hall in a custom black suit with a calm, distant expression. Light fell across the sharp lines of his face and made him seem almost unreal.

Now she understood why everyone praised his looks.

That face had already been part of her life seven years ago.

She remembered a cramped attic, a worn sofa, and a bed covered in rumpled sheets. During their most private moments, she had looked down at that same face while excitement rushed through her.

"Alec, how can anyone be this handsome?"

How could Alec possibly be Wesley Harrison?

She had known him as Alec Robertson, not Wesley.

A loud rush filled Eliana's mind and seemed to steal the air from her lungs. No words would come out.

Memories broke through her confusion in quick flashes. The face from the attic and the one before her slowly blended until she could no longer separate them.

"Oh my God, I think I've fallen in love," Chloe continued to gush without noticing Eliana's reaction.

"I need to use the restroom." Eliana finally managed to speak. "Watch him for me until I get back."

Eliana turned to leave, but Wesley came to a stop.

He slowly looked over the packed hall until his attention finally reached her side of the room.

His eyes were cool and deep, like water at the bottom of a dark well.

His secretary noticed the pause and spoke quietly beside him. "Mr. Harrison, is something wrong?"

"It's nothing." His answer carried no emotion.

Wesley turned his attention elsewhere as though nothing had happened.

Eliana washed her face with cold water before touching up her makeup.

Seven years had passed since she left Alec behind.

Throughout those years, he had never appeared in her dreams. She certainly hadn't expected to meet him again in this place.

Yet whenever Eliana shut her eyes now, his image filled her mind. His eyes had been bloodshot, and his fingers had clamped around her wrist. The obsession and pain on his face from all those years ago remained clear in her memory.

"Please don't leave me. I'm begging you." He had gripped her so hard that she feared he might break her wrist.

Even so, she had chosen to walk away. She hadn't looked back once.

Back then, the Martin family had thrown her out after learning that she wasn't their real daughter. She had to live with her biological parents. Later, her real father went to jail for assaulting his debt collectors while her real mother had become seriously ill. In an instant, her life had fallen from paradise into misery. She had faced unwanted attention and harassment every day, which turned her life into a constant struggle.

...

Fate could be cruel in the strangest ways. Eliana also understood Alec better than anyone else did. His love became an obsession, while his hatred drove him to seek revenge.

Soon after their relationship ended, she had begun seeing someone else.

Only a month later, Alec had left school.

After that, she hadn't heard anything about him.

So he had moved to Rancilia.

A tremor ran through Eliana's hands.

She understood that approaching Wesley was a terrible idea. However, she had already put her career at risk by making a promise to her editor in chief, Cormac Reid. If she wanted the new column, she needed an exclusive story about AI applications.

No one in that industry was more important than Wesley.

At times, circumstances left people with no other option.

That realization brought a bitter smile to her face.

After taking a deep breath, she returned to the banquet hall with every trace of emotion hidden behind a calm expression.

The city's most powerful figures had gathered around Wesley. Meanwhile, Chloe stood in a corner with a plate of cake and watched him from afar.

Once she reached her, Eliana held out a polished brooch with a futuristic design.

"Wear this and approach Wesley. Tell him our magazine wants to feature his latest AI applications and would like to interview him. Don't say anything else," Eliana said.

"Do you really think this will work?" Chloe swallowed hard. "A rich woman approached him a moment ago. He had someone throw her out."

"Don't worry. I know you can handle it." After a brief pause, Eliana continued, "Wesley spent several years in Rancilia funding AI simulation experiments. That brooch came from one of the most advanced AI projects in the world, and only thirty of them exist. Don't back down when you speak to him. He'll hear you out."

Then, Eliana looked down.

The media could shift with public opinion, build useful connections, and open new doors.

When Wesley was eighteen, he had been a stubborn and troubled teenager. He had since become a powerful and driven man who controlled everything around him. Now that he had returned, someone like him would know how useful the eager media could be.

Thinking Eliana made a good point, Chloe accepted the brooch and disappeared into the crowd at the center of the hall.

Several minutes later, she came back.

"Eliana, Mr. Harrison took the brooch from me. He said he'll hear us out in the parking garage, but we'll only have three minutes to present our idea. However, there's one condition. He wants to meet the brooch's owner," she said.

For a moment, Eliana couldn't move. Then, she quickly looked across the hall at the man standing in the middle of the crowd.

Wesley stood beneath the soft light pouring from the chandeliers. He calmly ended the last few conversations around him.

By then, only several close friends were still beside him. Colin Saunders was one of them, and he was from Prusey. He slowly moved the amber drink around his glass before looking at Wesley with a raised eyebrow. "When did you start paying attention to the media?"

Many people had resisted Wesley when he first returned to the Harrison family.

Wesley rarely spoke, and he still carried the weight of his mother's shameful history and the ten years he had spent in poverty. Rumors followed him everywhere. People claimed that anger remained hidden beneath his calm appearance. Others believed that no one could control him and that he would betray anyone to get what he wanted. During that early period, he hadn't made any friends. Colin was the only person he had ever formed a connection with.

Not long after Wesley rejoined the Harrison family, he moved to Rancilia, and Colin went with him.

During his time there, Wesley helped the Harrison family's overseas business grow at an incredible rate. Colin also made a fortune while working beside him. In contrast, the relatives who had once challenged Wesley's position eventually went bankrupt or landed in prison.

Supporting him had brought some people great wealth. Anyone who stood against him had faced a miserable fate.

Thus, Colin understood the situation more clearly. Wesley had enough resources to control the media without granting an interview to an unknown magazine.

There was even less reason for him to accept a request from an intern who could barely form a clear sentence.

Wesley looked down at the brooch and rolled it between his fingers. "I'm doing this for a personal reason."

During Wesley's first few years in Rancilia, whenever the pressure became too much, Wesley searched for anything that could give him a rush of excitement. He tried bungee jumping, skydiving, and every dangerous sport that allowed him to challenge death. Each time, he risked his life without showing the slightest concern for his own safety.

Things were different now because Wesley had returned as the head of the Harrison family. Colin couldn't understand what kind of reason would make him meet an intern from an unknown magazine.

"So, let me understand this," Colin said slowly. "You forced yourself to return and even made an appearance at this business event. Was that another one of your personal reasons?"

Wesley gave no answer. Instead, he continued playing with the brooch. His long eyelashes left faint shadows beneath his eyes, while his face revealed nothing and carried a coldness that could make anyone uneasy.

Nothing about him showed warmth, and he kept everyone at a distance.

Eliana made up her mind to meet Wesley.

Before she left, however, she stopped and whispered a few instructions to Chloe.

After the business gathering ended, Eliana wore the temporary mask Chloe had purchased. She fixed the plain disguise before going to the parking garage to wait.

She refused to let several days of hard work amount to nothing.

Approaching Wesley could put her at risk, but he had a respectable public image. Everything should go smoothly as long as he didn't realize who she was.

Eliana drew in a long breath to calm herself.

Cold air filled the parking garage. She and Chloe had remained in a crouched position for so long that they could no longer feel their legs when Wesley and his secretary finally arrived on the underground level.

His group entered a black Cayenne. After making sure her mask remained in place, Eliana took hold of Chloe and led her to the vehicle before knocking on its window.

"Good evening, Mr. Harrison," Chloe said.

Nerves had already taken hold of Chloe. Worse still, Eliana had turned into a completely different person after putting on the mask. She became reserved and silent, almost as though someone had flipped a switch inside her.

To their relief, the window lowered. The weak light revealed Wesley's distant and uncaring face. He studied Eliana without emotion, and his commanding presence was impossible to ignore.

For one brief moment, everything around Eliana seemed to shift.

That face looked exactly like the boy she remembered from years ago.

Back then, Alec had been a teenager with endless energy. He would close the curtains before pulling her into his arms and kissing her. Once he started, he rarely gave her a chance to escape his affection. By the end, she could only make soft sounds as tears and sweat dampened the clean sheets.

The memory suddenly released Eliana. She looked away from Wesley and gently pushed Chloe forward.

Chloe gathered her courage and continued, "I'm an intern reporter from the Crestview Business Chronicle. We talked briefly during the banquet. Beside me is Ms. Martin, the owner of the brooch."

A moment of silence hung in the air. Wesley kept his sharp eyes on Eliana as though he could see straight through her disguise. Eventually, his attention moved to the small scar on her earlobe, and his face turned cold. After a slow pause, he spoke. "What exactly happened to your face, Ms. Martin?"

During the five years they had spent apart, he had learned to control himself better.

Never once had Eliana expected their next meeting to happen this way. Her throat tightened so much that she couldn't answer at first. "It's only an allergic reaction," she answered vaguely.

Her heart hammered with the same panic she always felt whenever someone caught her doing something she shouldn't.

They had crossed paths again after five long years, but she had covered her face because she lacked the courage to let him see her.

Wesley continued watching her without looking away. Something cold flashed within his eyes, but his expression gave her no clue about his thoughts.

"Is that so?" His eyes turned colder, and mockery entered his voice. "It looks more like you're trying to keep something from me, Ms. Martin."

Eliana went still.

What in the world was wrong with Wesley?

Yes, she had heard that crossing Wesley was dangerous, but she never imagined he would be this difficult. Although she had never dealt with Wesley before, she had once known Alec well.

Alec had always been good to her. Whatever she wanted, he had given it to her.

His quiet and distant nature could make him appear cold, but he had actually been kind and harmless beneath it.

The ruthless man sitting inside the car bore no resemblance to the person she remembered.

"Pardon me." Eliana took a breath before addressing the reason for her visit. "I'd like to arrange an interview with you. Since you're planning to enter the domestic AI market, the Crestview Business Chronicle would be very interested in speaking with you. Our publication is the perfect place to share expert views about market changes and industry trends."

Wesley leaned back after lighting a cigarette. His eyes slowly passed over Eliana before stopping on her lowered gaze. The way he watched her felt dark and intrusive, and it carried the weight of someone who was used to holding power.

Five years had changed him. Deep inside, Eliana understood that the man before her was no longer the Alec she used to know.

Her heart suddenly stumbled, and she turned her eyes away without thinking.

Several seconds went by.

"I'll agree to the interview." Wesley finally looked up. His voice remained completely detached within the shadowy car. "However, you'll need to accept one condition first."