My Baby Daddy

Chapter 1

Three Months Pregnant.

Elara Winterfell.

"How dare you?" His voice thundered across the large living room. "How dare you accuse me of being responsible for that thing that is inside you?" He spat out in fury.

Tears welled at the corners of my eyes as I clutched the scan results tighter in my hands. My hands were shaking in shock from his thunderous voice.

"But, Connor..." I was at a loss for words at what to say, a searing pain in my heart. I couldn't understand his behavior.

"But what, Lara? You pranced around like a virgin the whole time we were dating, and suddenly, you're pregnant with my child?" His voice bore that of disbelief. "If you are so desperate to marry into my family, there are many ways you could do that and not pin some pregnancy on me!"

"You're the only one who has ever touched me!" I cried out in pain in my current situation. My lips quivered and my voice shook. "You're the one who took my virginity. You're the one..."

"Don't you dare!" His eyes shone in anger as he roared at my small frame. "Don't you just dare to do that, Lara. Make that accusation one more time, and you will find yourself cooling your head in a jail cell!"

To say I was stunned by his reaction was an understatement, my heart threatened to tear out in pain from my rib cage. Wasn't he the one who spoke about having children with me? Didn't we talk about it every day? Why was he acting this way? Was he just as excited as I was?

"Connor, I know it's scary as a first-time dad. I understand that." My voice shook as the tears spilled out from my eyes, and I stood up to sink my knees in the ground, in a pleading manner. "But, I can give you more time to think about it and come to your senses! We talked about having children before, why are you acting this way? I wouldn't be able to raise a child alone, I need you with me. I need you for our child. I ..."

"You're pushing this too far, Lara!" He walked abruptly to where I knelt, startling me, and looked at me dead in the eye. "Yes, we talked about marriage. We talked about children. We talked about having children, Lara, but I sure as hell didn't talk about raising someone else's child with you!" His eyes bore hatred for me.

I searched his eyes to find the traces of the man who had always doted on me and taken good care of me, but that man was gone. The man in front of me had only eyes of disdain and disgust, which greatly bothered me. Where had all the love gone? All these because I was pregnant? My mind did not even register what he was going on about.

"What's going on here?" A soft voice filled the room and our heads snapped to the curvy figure that just entered the room.

"Isabel." I breathed out, both surprised and relieved at the presence of my best friend in my boyfriend's house. That latter didn't quite bother me as I began to explain things to her. "Isabel, Connor doesn't want to believe me." I quickly stood up and rushed to Isabel's side.

"What's the issue, Lara?" Isabel stared at me with softness in her eyes, her voice soft and calming. "What's wrong?"

"I'm pregnant." I managed to say, pulling my black hair behind my ears. Her eyes widened slightly and something I could not quite place shone in them, but I shoved it off and continued. "I'm pregnant for Connor, and he doesn't want to accept it."

"Is that true?" Isabel was surprised as she turned to stare at Connor who raked his hands through his blonde hair in frustration. "Why not? Why are you disregarding her? Why are you disregarding her feelings? She is your girlfriend! Why would you reject your child!"

"I'm a man of honor, Isabel. Don't think so lowly of me!" Connor furrowed his brows in a deep frown and spoke with gritted teeth. "I will never reject my child. Never! But I am certain that the thing in her stomach does not belong to me."

"How dare you?" Isabel suddenly blew up in anger, her gold bracelets and bangles jingling in sync with her anger. She was the hotheaded friend between us. "How dare you, Connor?" Isabel started by dropping the things she came with on the table.

Starting with her bag, shoes, bangles, wristwatch, and even earrings. She was prepared for a fight with Connor, and my eyes flew wide in surprise. No, she couldn't do this!

"Isabel!" I panicked when I saw her sudden reaction. I didn't want her picking a fight with Connor, she just had to talk to him and he would come around. "Isabel, you need to calm down. I just need to talk to him. He would understand. I just sprang it on him. It's normal to be skeptical at first." I tried to calm my friend, but Isabel was not having any of it.

"No, leave me, Lara! Why do you keep making excuses for his actions? He slept with you, took your virginity, now he is denying ever touching you? How dare him? Why is he talking like you cheated on him with another man? Leave me alone, let me teach him a lesson that he will never forget!" She tried advancing towards Connor who stood stock still, vibrating in anger, but I tried my best to hold her back by firmly grasping her waist.

This would only make things worse, and she was not getting it!

"Isabel, please, stop all this nonsense! Connor loves me! He is just in shock about the turn of events." I snapped angrily. I was very certain that Connor's reaction was because he was going to be a father for the first time in his life.

Many men got cold feet, and I was sure Connor was also experiencing the same thing. Connor would not leave me alone because he loves me so much.

"I. Did. Not. Sleep. With. Her." He said the words bitingly slowly and his jaw hardened, eyes darkening in anger. "Ask her who she sold herself out to get that thing inside her because it surely wasn't me." He paused. "You know what? Lara, I need you to get out of my house forever, and never dream of coming back inside here."

I was suddenly stunned as I paused at where I stood, not believing my ears. Had it gotten to this? I thought we were just talking to hear each other out. Wait, did he really believe that I cheated on him? Why would he even think that way? Why would it even cross his mind?

"Connor, you can't! What about our child?" My chest suddenly felt heavy and the pain that was already there washed over my entire self. "Why are you doing this, babe? No, babe. The child is yours. I didn't sell myself to anyone. You're the only one who has ever had access to my body. Only you..." I let the tears fall from my eyes in torrents as I ran to hold him, to plead with him to take me back.

But Connor gave me a dirty look, and without thinking, he kicked me away from him with a lot of force. I found my body flying towards the glass table. I fell on my back, with my head making a lot of contact with the table, and everything went black in my head.

Chapter 2.

She Cheated On Me.

Elara Winterfell.

A cold compress over the back of my head and my vision began to regain its focus. My body was so heavy that I could barely move my legs.

"You're awake." A sharp voice said beside me which jolted me wide awake.

"Kenna!" I voiced out in surprise at the tone of the maid that my boyfriend had assigned to me. "What happened?" I was still a little disoriented about my surroundings.

"It's a good thing that you are finally awake!" The sharp voice came again until my eyes focused on the maid who was packing her bags up to leave. "My job here is done with you! I'm going back to my boss' house."

"I don't understand." I was confused. "What's happening, Kenna? Why are you leaving suddenly?" The numbness in my legs had subsided now, and I could move my hands and legs.

I struggled to sit up, and a splitting headache filled me with so much pain as soon as I did that, almost causing another blackout.

"I have always respected you, Lara. As my future lady boss, I have always held you in a high regard. But you don't see all that my boss has done for you, you disregard it like it's all nonsense and go ahead to whore yourself around with any man you can find, now you're pinning a pregnancy on him. Have you no shame, Lara?"

I shook my head in denial, memories of the past few hours filling my head. Why was everyone saying this? I did not cheat on Connor, I would never do that. I loved him so much that no other man could hold a candle to him. How could I possibly cheat on Connor?

"I think you have it all wrong!" I tried to explain slowly, unsure of the next words that would come out of my mouth. "I have never cheated on him before, I swear. Kenna, you know me. You know the things I'm capable of. You know I would never do that to Connor, right? You know I love him so much..."

"You never truly know anyone," Kenna said with a pity filled voice. "I thought I knew you, Lara. But I didn't. None of us did. Not even your best friend did!"

"Isabel?" My brows furrowed in a frown of confusion. "What about Isabel? Why is she in the matter now? She believed me! She stood up for me! Even if the whole world doesn't believe me, Isabel does!"

A sad smile came over Kenna's face. "Does she really? Why was she so quick to say yes to Connor's marriage proposal yesterday? Why did she suddenly agree to be his bride and walk down the aisle with him today?"

It was like a switch had gone off in my head, and nothing else made sense to me. I could feel a sense of fear begin to engulf my entire being. I wouldn't believe that. Isabel would never do that to me. We've been through so much as best friends for her to betray me like that.

"Isabel wouldn't do that!" I said firmly and Kenna's lips only curved into a mocking smile.

"Alright, if you say so. The marriage is happening live on TV, and you can check it out yourself. Meanwhile, I will see myself out of the house. I hope you have a smooth pregnancy journey, and that's if you decide to keep the child." And with that, Kenna rolled her box out of the house.

I was still in disbelief, it wasn't true. Isabel was like a sister to me. She wouldn't... But, I found my hands shakily moving on their own towards my side where the remote lay and turned on the TV. Finding the entertainment channel, I stared at the headlines for a few seconds, and my heart suddenly dropped to my stomach.

"N...no...no... It can't be possible!" The tears started pouring freshly from my eyes. "Why would Isabel do this to me? Why would she? She's supposed to be with me! She's supposed to side with me!" I let out an anguished wail as I cried into my pillow.

Connor's voice came in, and my eyes snapped towards the television. His face filled the screen as a reporter came up to ask him some questions. It seemed like the wedding was over and everyone was focused on the entertainment.

"Mr. Connor, your marriage with Isabel Reeds has taken the world by surprise." The female reporter said as she smiled at him. "Everyone was believing that once your marriage is announced, we will be expecting to see Elara Winterfell. Why? What happened? Why the change of heart?"

I held my breath to listen to what he had to say. To hear the explanation, he had for the world. To listen to the reason for this immense betrayal! My heart began to race as soon as his mouth opened.

"It's quite simple." Connor said as a matter of fact, unconsciously touching his clean and shaved jaw. "Elara made us believe she was something pure and good, until we found out in the dirtiest manner possible that she isn't who she says she is."

"Oh?" The frown on the reporter's head deepened as she kept on asking. "How so?"

"Well, she first cheated on me."

There were gasps of surprise on the faces of everyone there, even Isabel's well painted face was downcast as if she were sad about the revelation. She came up beside Connor immediately and tried to hold his hand, whispering something into his ears with a slight frown on her face.

Connor gave her a soft smile, the same smile he used to give me when he was trying to reassure me about something. "It's alright, my love. Everyone needs to know the truth about her. I know she was your best friend, and you want to cover up for her, but the whole world has to know who she is so no one else will fall victim to her plans."

The reporter seemed to agree with Connor. "Yes, Isabel. Allow him to speak. Everyone is entitled to know what happened. I mean, we were all rooting for the relationship between both of them to work out, only for this to be thrown on our faces. We need to know the truth."

Isabel gave a look of defeat and turned away from the camera.

"I will talk to her." Connor said, referring to Isabel. "She is still sensitive to these things." His face suddenly turned grim. "Elara first cheated on me, then pinned the pregnancy on me."

"How despicable!" The reporter suddenly spat out in deep resentment. "After you've treated her very well over the years?"

Connor just shook his head with a small smile. "That's just what she is."

I could not believe my ears! I just couldn't! This was not happening to me. I had to talk to Connor. I had to explain things to him. I had to explain to him that I didn't cheat. He took my virginity during his best friend's birthday. Maybe he just didn't remember the details because we were all drunk, but I had to explain. I had to also clear my name.

Throwing on a weird combination of clothes, I ran and hopped into my car, racing to Connor's house. I wasn't concerned with the headache that threatened to knock me out. My mind was fixated on Connor.

"I need to speak to him. You have to open the gate, Clyde." I yelled with tears in my eyes at Connor's gate man.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we have orders not to let you into this house." He said in a plain voice and advanced towards the car. "Also, please, you need to step out of the car. Our boss will like to have his car back."

"What?" I exclaimed in shock.

Why was everything happening so fast to me? Why wasn't I able to wrap my mind about what was going on? But, I wasn't able to coordinate my thoughts even as the door opened. I was pulled out of the car with a lot of force which made me hit my stomach on the edge of a slab.

The pain quickly radiated throughout my entire body, and I struggled to find something around her to grip. My skin was covered in scratches at the impact of being thrown to the ground. The pain in my lower belly intensified, and I felt something trickling down my legs.

Was that... blood?

Chapter 3

Why Did You Save Me?

Elara Winterfell.

"Be careful, ma'am," I heard a warm voice filter through my hazy senses, and my blurry vision cleared for a few seconds to see an old man in white coat peering over me.

"Who are you?" I tried to ask. My body was so numb that I could barely feel my limbs.

"I'm Dr. Colton, and you're in the hospital..." He said slowly in his calm tone which strangely comforted me.

"H–hospital?" I stuttered confused. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"Whatever it is you went through, you're one lucky woman that you haven't lost the children..." He continued while checking my pulse. "Your vitals are strong, and you will be discharged anytime soon."

Then, the memories started rushing back into my head and I unconsciously gripped the sheets of the hospital bed tightly, a stinging pain in my chest. Connor had really removed me from his life? Was it that easy to let me go? I remembered passing out after I fell, who could have brought me to the hospital?

"Doctor...?" My voice was scratchy as I called out to the doctor, she had forgotten his name.

"Colton. Dr. Colton," His eyes were as warm as his voice and I wondered why he was soft and easygoing with me.

"Dr. Colton, I'm sorry. But, I have a question," I paused for a few seconds while trying to wet my dry mouth. "Who brought me to the hospital? And which hospital is this?"

"Oh, about that!" He chuckled ever so slightly. "Your husband brought you in this afternoon in a rush. He said you had a nasty fall, and we had to check your wounds immediately."

"My husband?" I was dumbfounded at his reply. When did I get married to have a husband? Or was Connor pranking me all these while?

"Yes..." The doctor nodded, his eyes shining this time. "I always thought the boss was single with his harsh and fierce demeanor. We didn't know he had someone as beautiful as you by his side. And he dotes on you so much, it's sweet."

"Huh?" I was further stunned as I struggled to sit up. "I'm not following your explanations, doctor."

"Oh, silly me!" His eyes shone as he smacked his forehead. "You had a terrible concussion, so it's easy for things to skip your mind. You're in the Nightshade hospital..."

"The Nightshade?" My heart skipped a beat almost immediately. My boss' hospital?

"Yes..." The doctor nodded vigorously. "Your husband, Rowan Nightshade, brought you in not quite long ago. He just stepped out to make a few calls, and he will be back soon. I know you're worried too. But, ma'am, you need to take care of yourself. You're three months gone already, and your babies are strong and kicking..."

"Babies?"

"You didn't know?" Dr. Colton leaned in closer to her. "You are carrying twins. Don't worry, I wouldn't tell Rowan. You can keep it a secret from him until you're ready to surprise him."

"Is everything done here?" A cold voice came in from behind them, and the doctor's back stiffened.

The atmosphere in the room had changed almost instantly as Rowan Nightshade made his way into the VIP hospital room, his gait tall and poised with an expressionless face.

"Y-y-yes... Everything is done. S-sh-she is fine..." The doctor stuttered and bent low towards Rowan whose eyes had settled on my small and frightened figure.

"Get out." His voice was deep and hard, and he did not even look at the doctor as his eyes still held me in place.

The doctor knew he was the one referred to as he scurried out of the office in a jiffy, and the room was filled with a tense silence as Rowan's brown made cautious steps towards me, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Are you ready to leave?" He asked without any emotion in his voice. "If you're well, you should talk so you can get discharged immediately. Every single minute in this hospital should be adding money to my pocket. This place is not a charity case."

I gulped in fear under the deep gaze of my boss. He stood tall and menacing as he paused a few feet away from my bed, his strong and manly perfume filling my nose.

"I understand, sir..." I managed to breathe out. My heart was hammering, and my hands were shaking as I bowed my head and started taking off the needles that were attached to my skin.

"Did I ask you to do that?" There was anger in his voice and I shivered at its intensity, my eyes snapping to meet his almost instantly. "The question I asked you was basic. Is this how you behave at work?"

"No, sir. I'm sorry, sir." I bowed my head again in shame. Rowan Nightshade scared me, with his brooding brown eyes. Hell, he scared everyone. This was a delicate period in my life, and I wouldn't want to lose my job for any reason at this point. I had to obey him as if my life depended on it– my life actually depended on it.

"I will have the doctors discharge you and give you the bill..." He said simply and turned to walk away.

"Bill?" I was stunned at that. "What bill?" My heart had begun racing. How would I pay off the bill in the Nightshade's hospital? Everyone who came here to get treated was either a top politician or the wealthiest people in the country. The bills here cost more than an arm and leg.

Rowan turned slightly towards me, his muscles tensing his expensive suit. "You didn't hear what I said clearly? Is that how you work with your clients? Perhaps, is it a part of what I said that you don't understand? We don't do charity here, Elara."

His deep voice calling my name sent shivers down my spine as it even reverberated in my bones. I gulped and tried to focus on the issue in front of me.

"But..." I struggled to say. "I didn't ask to be put here. You could have just dropped me off at a general hospital."

This time, Rowan Nightshade turned to fully face me. "Really? The owner of the Nightshade's hospital being seen in a general hospital? How will that look on my reputation?"

That shut me up, but I quickly spoke again.

"How much are we talking about?" I asked, this time in a small voice and Rowan's eyes snapped to me with humor dancing in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking.

How was I going to be able to pay him back? I did not even have any money at all, for all he knew, I never kept any savings and was directly depending on Connor for survival.

Rowan shrugged. "That's roughly a quarter of a million dollars."

"A what?" My voice rang out in the quiet ward, almost startling Rowan, but he was able to keep his cool.

"That's just for the hospital bills. There are other bills you would have to pay." He said quietly as he trained his eyes on me. "For my empathy, fuelling the car and driving you down here, that would be another hundred thousand dollars."

"That's absurd!" I could not help but counter in frustration. Was he trying to rip me off my whole life? Where would I slave away to get that amount of money? Even my salary was just five thousand dollars a month, how would I get three hundred and fifty dollars to pay him off?

"Is it?" His eyes never left mine as the corner of his mouth curled up into a cold and cruel smile. "Everything about the Nightshades is quality, I hope you didn't expect any less."

"How will I get such a huge amount of money to pay you off?"

"Your problem, not mine..."

Suddenly, my eyes widened in realization. Was he doing this for revenge?

"Are you doing this as revenge?"

Rowan's brows raised confused, and he leaned against the door of the ward, his annoyingly handsome face being as expressionless as ever. "I don't do things as petty as revenge. I'm a businessman, Elara. You should know that by now."

I shook my head, trying to calm my beating heart that had started racing. "You want revenge because you think I cheated on your best friend. But, I did not cheat on him at all! He is the father of my children!"

"Children?" Rowan's eyes flew slightly open in surprise. "You're having more than one?"

"That's beside the point! It's not like it actually matters, does it?" I was suddenly overwhelmed by countless emotions as I felt the tears prickle at the corner of her eyes.

"How long is the pregnancy?"

"Three months gone..." I replied in a small voice, silently cleaning the stray tear that fell from my eyes.

"In the next six months, after the children have been born, I will personally have a DNA test conducted. If the children belong to Connor, then, I'll forgive you of your debt. But, if not, you would have to refund everything plus a high monthly interest."

I was silent for a few seconds, but I nodded. This was much more relieving. "No problem. No problem!" I wasn't scared, in fact, I was more than certain my children belonged to Connor.

My children...

"Good." Rowan finally said and turned to go when a question jumped out of my mouth.

"Why did you stop to save me?"

It wasn't clear to me why I asked, but something about his compassion nagged me. Rowan Nightshade was cold-hearted to care about anyone else but himself...

There was a tense silence for a few seconds before Rowan finally replied in a raw voice. "I don't even know."