The Billionaire's Unknown Heir

Excitement bubbled in Tasha Harrison's stomach as she looked at the pregnancy test stick again for what seemed to be the umpteenth time since she ran the test a day ago. She smiled at the word on it; pregnant and clutched the stick to her chest.

"Blake is going to be out of his mind with joy when I show him this," she said to herself and used the tip of her fingers to blurt out the tears of joy from her eyes.

She had been experiencing bloating for some days and even when she complained to Blake; he had put it down to something she ate. Blake made chicken soup for her and it seemed to calm her. He stayed with her throughout the day before, being Saturday. And none of them ever thought of pregnancy.

It wasn't after he left and she was talking to her friend, Phoebe, on the phone that she asked when last she had her menses.

Tasha kept quiet for a long time before she shouted, "oh my God, do you think I am pregnant?"

"Do you feel any dizziness?" Phoebe had asked further.

"Yes," was Tasha's answer. "Once in a while."

"You know what?" Phoebe said excitedly. "I'm coming over right now to your place with pregnancy test kits."

Phoebe arrived half an hour later with four different brands of pregnancy kits. All four of them confirmed Tasha was pregnant.

Tasha had fought the urge to call Blake and tell him over the phone throughout the night. She wanted to go to his house this morning and look into his eyes when breaking the news to him.

She rubbed her belly slightly through her dress before she slotted the sticks into her purse and let herself out of her apartment.

Her heart fluttered in her chest with her love for Blake as she stopped her SUV in front of his apartment building about forty minutes later. She got out of the car and took the elevator to his apartment floor.

Tasha stopped still when she opened his front door and found his living room in disarray. Storage boxes littered the floor, it was apparent Blake was moving out.

"What is going on here?" She asked, walking further into the room. Sam, Blake's best friend, stood up to his height from the picture frames he was stacking in a box.

Just then, Blake rolled out two suitcases into the living room. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Tasha.

"Tasha," he blew the air out through his mouth and looked from her to Sam.

"I'll leave both of you," Sam patted Blake on the back and walked out.

"Are you moving?" Tasha raised furrowed brows at Blake. "What is happening here?"

"Please, Candy," he walked over to where she was standing and took her hand. "Come and sit down." He swallowed hard, regret and guilt boldly written on his face.

"I'm not sitting down," she said forcefully. "Why are you moving out of your apartment without telling me?

We were together yesterday. You never thought to mention it to me. What is going on?"

He didn't talk at first. He glanced at her and looked away.

"I'm going away, if you don't want to talk." She took a step, but she remembered the pregnancy and decided to wait this out.

"Candy." He called her softly and walked up to her. He took her hands. "I want.... I need to tell you something."

"Now you are scaring me." She looked up into his eyes. "Talk to me." "I'm going home," he finally said. "I'm returning to New York." He took a deep breath, as if he was finally relieved to say it out to her.

"Candy, I'm so sorry," he dragged in a deep breath. "I didn't know how to tell you. I thought you won't find out until I'm gone."

"Let me get this straight," she broke her hands off from him. "You were planning on leaving without telling me?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I...I couldn't muster enough courage to tell you. I was a coward."

"Blake!" she chirped.

"Look." He walked to the media unit and pointed to a white envelope. "This is the letter I have asked Sam to give you later today. My flight is in less than two hours."

"Okay, okay," she raised her hands. "What is your plan? Are you going back to join the family business in New York, or have you found another job?"

Blake ran his hand through his hair and quickly darted his gaze away from her. Beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead.

"Blake, talk to me," Tasha cried.

"No, I am going to get married in two weeks to one of my father's friend's daughters and that will merge the two families' businesses."

"What! Blake? You've been having an affair behind my back." Tasha had to hold on to the back of the sofa for support. "You sneaky son of a bitch!"

"No," he put his hand on the back of another sofa. "Candy, beli...!"

"Oh stop it," she cut him short. She put her hand on her belly. "Stop calling me that. How could you do this to us?"

"Okay, I won't call you that again," he begged. "Believe me, I don't like any of these, but it is my duty as the heir to save my family. You know how hard it has been for my father."

"So our love means nothing to you, Blake?" She started pacing the room. "I gave you two years," she raised two fingers up. "Two fucking years of my life and this is how you repay me?"

"I have no other choice here, believe me. I don't even like the girl. I'm being forced to marry her. It's you I love. You will forever be a part of my life."

"No, you don't love me!" She shouted back at him. "You love yourself, you selfish bastard. You don't even have the decency to break up with me in person." She looked up at the ceiling to stop the tears that were gathering in her eyes from falling. She didn't want to shed any tears in front of him.

"Tasha," he came and lay a hand on her shoulder. "You know I love you. But there's no other way around this. My family's business is in trouble and this marriage is the only way to save it. I am sacrificing everything for my family as the heir. Please forgive me."

"Get your hands off me," she slapped his hand away. "You are so wicked.

I don't ever want to see or talk to you again." She retorted angrily and walked out of the house.

"Tasha," he ran after her. "Please wait. I'm sorry."

She didn't stop; she ran to her car, started the engine and drove away.

******

Tasha drove aimlessly around for over an hour. She felt like she was going in circles, much like her mind. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realize where she was heading until she found herself parked in front of her best friend Phoebe's house.

Tasha opened the car door and went to the front door to ring the doorbell.

"W-what happened?" Phoebe asked after just one look at her friend.

"Blake...Blake!" Tasha muttered

Her friend led her inside. Without saying a word, Phoebe pulled her friend into a tight embrace, knowing that sometimes words were not enough to heal a broken heart. Tasha broke down in her arms and Phoebe held her, silently offering her support and love.

"Blake is leaving," Tasha started telling her friend after she finally calmed down. "He's getting married to a family friend."

"What?" Phoebe exclaimed. "I don't get it. What happened?"

She told her. Phoebe listened attentively, her heart breaking for her friend. She was aware of how deeply Tasha had loved Blake, and she couldn't understand how he could just throw it all away.

"It's okay." she knew her friend needed her support now more than ever. "You have to take it easy because of the baby. It should be your major priority now."

"Maybe I should have begged him not to leave me," Tasha whimpered, her voice cracking with pain. "I didn't even tell him about the baby after all. Do you think if I call him and tell him, he may change his mind and come back to me?"

Phoebe held her hand and looked into her tear-stained eyes, "Tasha, you did nothing wrong. You loved him with all your heart and that's all that matters. If he throws all that away, then he doesn't deserve you."

Tasha dissolved into more tears. She didn't even know how to face her life without Blake. She felt like a part of her had been ripped away and she didn't know how to move on.

The night was a blur of tossing and turning for Tasha. She woke up in the middle of the night, feeling suffocated by the memories of her and Blake. She got up and went to the bathroom, hoping the cool water of the shower would calm her down. Tasha stood under the water and cried until she couldn't anymore.

Anger and pain surged through Tasha Harrison's body as she looked at herself in the mirror. She just emptied her bowels in the toilet. Her stomach started rumbling while she was talking with her friend in the living room.

Slowly, Tasha looked away from the mirror and cleaned herself up. It's been over two weeks since Blake left. And she'd been having a serious bout of morning sickness for days now. Phoebe had taken Tasha in, in order to keep her eyes on her.

"Are you alright in there?" Phoebe, asked from the bathroom doorway.

"Yes," Tasha sighed gently. "I'm okay." She opened the tap and rinsed her face with more water.

"What are you going to do now?" Phoebe asked with concern on her face.

"I am keeping the pregnancy," she rested her hands on the edges of the bathroom sink, and let out a puff of air. "I will think through the rest, I will not kill my child."

"Are you going to contact him?" Phoebe walked in and laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "To let him know about this?"

"Never!" she snapped, her voice raising with her anger. "I'm going to take care of my baby by myself!"

Phoebe nodded, "it's fine," she rubbed Tasha's arm. "If that's what you want."

"I never want to set my eyes on him again," Tasha sniffed. "Or talk to him ever again in my life. Good riddance to him."

"I thought everything was okay between us." She seethed, leaning her back against the bathroom wall. "He cooked for me the day before I found him packing in his apartment. He massaged my back when I was complaining of backache." She told her friend for the umpteenth time.

"I think you should sit down," Phoebe held her hand.

Tasha nodded with a wry smile. "He left me because of one stupid family business and his inheritance. Who does that?"She walked out of the bathroom into her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's okay." Phoebe sat beside her friend and patted her back. "You are going to be fine."

"I can take care of my baby," she looked up into the ceiling, trying so hard to stop the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "I don't need any damn man! He should go to hell with his family business and his grandfather's trust fund!"

"Trust me, everything is going to be alright," her friend encouraged her. "I'll always be here for you, darling." Tasha nodded again and dissolved into tears.

"Thank you so much darling," Tasha squeezed her friend's hand. "You have been my rock in all of this."

"It's okay," Phoebe gathered her into her arms. "You just have to take it easy, especially because of your baby."

"I'll just concentrate on my career," she said against her friend's arm. "And my baby."

"Yes, that is the spirit," Phoebe agreed with her.

She resigned from the university the a few weeks later. She couldn't just stand people looking at her with pity in the department. Everyone already heard about Blake's wedding on campus.

"We are sorry you have to go," Dr. Georgina Connor, the head of the department, said, raising her lower lip slightly in an embarrassed smile. "I understand your situation, though." She reached out and squeezed Tasha's hand over the desk. "I think you've made the right decision."

"Thank you, Prof." She pressed her lips together and stood up. They exchanged a handshake, and she left.

Tasha got into bed immediately she got back to her apartment and slept off. When she woke up hours later, she padded to the kitchen to eat some food. But she just didn't have the appetite. She threw her food in the trash can and checked for the time. It was twenty-five minutes after five.

She sighed softly, trying to block Blake's thoughts out of her mind. Tasha reached for her phone and opened the Uber app to call for a ride to Sandville, which was just forty minutes drive away. She knew she needed to get out of the house that night.

She already packed her bags and was waiting with the security men at the apartment building gate by the time her ride arrived.

It surprised her father when she arrived home. "What are you doing here, princess?" He asked with concern, "is the baby okay? It's a weeknight."

"Yes daddy, baby is okay," she hugged him. "I needed a break, so I'm taking some time off from work."

"That's fine." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm happy you came here. Come on in. Your mom just went next door to give Mrs. Johnson from the apple pie she just made."

"Okay dad," she said as she carried her suitcase down the hallway to the bedroom.

She opened the door and walked into her childhood bedroom. It was just the way she left it the last time she visited, which was three weeks back. She had changed almost everything there over the years to suit her taste since she became an adult. But her desk remained the same. It was a gift from her paternal grandfather. It was the only thing she had of him, so she was keeping it.

When they were having dinner, she finally announced to her parents she had quit her job. "Oh dear," her mom said from across the table.

"That bastard made you do it," her dad said in anger, his fist balled up on the dining table.

If there was anyone who was hit badly by Blake's betrayal next to Tasha, it was her dad. He loved him the moment they met.

"We are here for you, princess," her father said, dropping his fork back into his plate. "You just need to say the word, and we will do anything you want from us."

"Yes, darling," her mom corroborated her father. "We'll do everything to make this period as easy as it can be for you."

Tasha nodded, too choked up with emotions to talk. She was glad for a very supportive family. Her brother and sister too had been so supportive since she found out that she was pregnant.

"Tell me," her dad looked perceptively into her eyes. "What next? What are you going to do now?"

SEVEN YEARS LATER

Dr. Tasha Harrison, now an associate professor, looked at the clock in the corner of her computer screen; it was 2:47 pm on a Tuesday afternoon. She had been in front of her computer for over two hours, working on a paper she wanted to submit for publication in an academic journal.

She later got a job at the University of California, Berkeley a few weeks after she left Cleverwood seven years ago.

She leaned back in her chair with a yawn, satisfied with what she had done so far. She was sure her paper would be highly commended. Her hard work was getting paid off, she was now well known in the academics. And on her way to become a full professor very soon.

She checked the time again; it was already five minutes before her next class with her post-graduate students. Opening a drawer, she brought out a brown envelope containing the students' graded term papers.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," Tasha said to her students four minutes later. "I hope you are all doing fine?"

"Good afternoon Dr. Harrison," a few of the students returned her greetings.

"I'm going to hand out your graded term papers to you." She brought out a stack of papers from the envelope and handed them to the student nearest to her. "You take yours and pass the rest to the other."

She looked on as the students passed the papers around.

"Now I want you all to read the comments I made on your papers," she said after all the students had their papers. "And we are going to discuss those comments one after the other. Is that okay?"

"Yes," most of them answered. "Desmond, will you like to start?" She asked the young man sitting at the far end of the room after she was sure everyone had read their comments.

"Yes, please," he answered and read out his comments.

The class lasted for two hours, then she left the school premises. She branched at the grocery store on her way.

"Hi, Tasha." She heard someone called as she walked down the aisle.

"Good evening Grant," she greeted before she turned around and looked into the face of the man who greeted her.

"It's been a while," he moved closer to her. "I hope you are good."

"Oh yes,I'm good," she started moving and picked up some packs of ramen noodles. "I have been very busy these days with work and Tyson's games. He recently joined the school football team."

"Really, that's great." He took some packs of vegetable stock and added them to his shopping cart. "I should come one of these days to watch him play."

Grant lived two streets away from them, and they also attended the same church. He's been showing interest in Tasha for over a year. Sometimes he comes over to help her around the house like mowing the grass, fixing some blocked pipes and what have you.

But lately he stopped coming as frequently as he used to because Tasha was not interested in being more than friends with him.

"I'm sure he would love that." She picked a bottle of rice vinegar and dropped it in her cart.

They both continued shopping and talking until Tasha left him to go to the cashier. He joined her a few minutes later, and they both checked out at the same time.

He helped her load her car trunk with her purchases.

"Thanks so much," she said to him. "You are always welcome, Tasha." He smiled brightly at her and closed the trunk up. "Tasha," he called out softly, "you know I like you and I want to be with you. Why are you so hesitant?"

"I already told you I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone," she brought her car key out of her bag.

They were both silent for a long time before he finally said, "Okay, will you at least go out for lunch, dinner, or even brunch with me?"

"Grant," she called her name gently. "Did you listen to what I said at all?"

"I know someone hurt you," he looked into her eyes directly with raised brows. "But people are not the same...not all men are bad."

"Did I tell you any man hurt me?" She pressed her lips together.

"You don't have to tell me, Tasha." His Adam apples blobbed. "It's so glaring in your eyes . I promise," he raised his hands up. "I will not hurt you. I like you very much, Tasha."

"Grant, I need to go," she dangled her car key in front of his eyes. "See you around."

******

"Jack took the strawberry from his mom and ran..."

Tasha realized Tyson had slept off. She smiled and closed the book. She studied the sleeping form of her son for the longest time and then remembered Grant's words, "I know someone hurt you."

A sob rose from her throat, and she covered up the sound with her hand. Each time she looked into Tyson's eyes, she saw the face of the man who had hurt her. She wished her son looked nothing like him. But Tyson was the complete carbon copy of his father, Blake.

She clutched Tyson's story book tightly to her chest as silent tears slipped down her cheeks. She had promised herself never to cry about Blake again. But she continued to fail over and over.

She cleaned off her tears with the back of her hand and stood up from the bed. Tasha leaned down to kiss her boy and then left his room.

She went to her study and powered up her computer. That was what she had been doing for the past seven years, burying herself in her work whenever her heart bled for the man who broke it. She would use work to suppress her pains until she became numb again.

Her phone rang an hour after she started what she was doing and she reached for her phone, seeing that it was her mother. She smiled and swiped a finger across the phone screen.

"Hello, mom."

"Hello princess," her mother greeted from the other end.

"I'm fine Mom," she stifled a yawn. "How are you too and Dad?"

"We are fine," Mrs. Harrison said. "I'm sure you are in front of your computer, Tasha."

"Yes mummy," she put her mother on speaker and returned the phone to the desk. She began to shut down her laptop. "I have to put the finishing touches to the paper that I'm presenting at the conference next week in Canada." She giggled, "But I'm trying to shut down my computer now and go to bed."

"When did you see Grant last?" Her mom asked out of the blues.