Alpha Billionaire Series

MARK

Before I left the hospital, I knew what I had to do. I loved Brooke, she loved me, and we had two beautiful daughters. We couldn't sneak around anymore.

“I might not be back until late," I said”

“You'll come see us?” The fear in her eyes broke me in half.

I rested my hand on her cheek. “Of course, I will. If you're asleep I won't bother you. You are going to need all the rest you can get”

“I love you,” she whispered, but I heard her loud and clear.

I leaned over and kissed her. I had missed her. I would have loved seeing her pregnant and knowing those were my babies “growing inside her. I wasn't going to fool myself; I had seen her pregnant. Because I convinced myself that some other man had done that to her, I had missed out on her incredible beauty. She was tired, but still so beautiful.

I placed gentle kisses on the tops of my babies’ heads. Strawberry and Summer were perfect.

I didn't bother checking out of the hotel before I headed to the airport. I would be back.

What I had to do needed to be done in person. Man to man, face to face.

I didn't tell Brooke what I was going to do. I knew she would fight me over it, but it had to be done. And it was better coming from me. Not that I wanted Peyton's wrath, but it was better that he and Karen directed their disappointment and mistrust a me than at Brooke. She needed the loving support of her family, especially now that she had twins.

I texted my colleague an apology. Something had come up and I had to return to Atlanta immediately.

“You are the talk of the conference. Did you really deliver twins in the ballroom?”

“Yes, I did. Dr. Whitmore assisted with the second delivery. If you want to talk to the real hero, find a young man named Jason. He was level-headed enough to look for help while everyone else was staring in wide-eyed horror at the pregnant woman.”

I settled into my plane seat and closed my eyes. I could only hope to get some rest on the flight back.

I'took a car from the airport back to my house. I didn't even go inside before I climbed into my car and headed over to the DeBoise home.

Karen answered the door. “Mark, I'm surprised to see you here. Is everything okay?”

“I need to speak to you and Peyton. Is he home?"

“Yeah, he's upstairs. Why don't you go find him?”

I stepped into the living room and shook my head. “You better go get him."

Karen covered her mouth. She knew something serious was about to happen.

“Mark? Is everything all right?” Peyton asked. Karen stood behind him with eyes wide.

“You might want to sit down for this. You too, Karen”

They sat side by side on the couch.

“Ym not exactly sure how to tell you this," I started. This was hard. I kept having to take deep breaths. I had to confess so many different things, I didn't know which one to mention first. What was the order of importance here?

“I ran into Brooke in Chicago yesterday,” I let out a sardonic chuckle. “Run into’ was hardly the correct term.

“Is she alright?” Karen sat up, moving to the edge of the couch.

“She is fine. She is recovering very well according to her doctors.”

Both Peyton and Karen went pale. Karen gripped Peyton's arm and he covered her hand with his own. “She had twins yesterday.” I blurted out.

Karen sat back, her hand flying to her chest. “What?”

Peyton flinched and shook his head.

“I encountered her while I was checking into the hotel. She was in labor. I delivered the babies. Girls. Everyone is healthy.” Peyton let out a breath of relief.

Karen had tears in her eyes. “No wonder she didn't want to come home for Thanksgiving. Why did she keep this from me? I' 50 glad you were there to help her”

“I'm going to need you to remember that thought for a moment longer.”

“She didn't tell us she was expecting. Was the father there?” I could hear the anger gathering in Peyton's voice.

Itook a step back. “The father was there. Only, I didn’t realize it at the time.”

Karen was still shaken, but she didn't realize what I had said. Neither of them had.

“Peyton, Karen” I paused long enough to swallow. “Brooke and I were seeing each other last spring. The babies are mine." “I know I didn’t hear that properly,” Peyton growled. “You did not just say you touched my little girl”

“Your little girl is a grown woman. We didn't tell you because she was concerned you would take it the wrong way. Look, I'm going to marry her.”

Peyton surged to his feet.

“This is exactly why we didn't tell you, Peyton. You scare your daughter”

“She has nothing to worry about from me. It's you who should be concerned”

I didn't see the hit coming. I should have been prepared. One second, I was looking at the rage across Peyton's face, the next I was seeing stars.

I clamped my hand over my eye.

“Peyton, stop. He's, our friend.”

“You will never marry my daughter!”

“I don't need your blessing to marry her. I thought you would want to know.”

“Mark” Karen said. “I think you need to leave."

I didn't need to be told twice. I strode from their house, slamming the door on the way out.

I threw myself into my car and pulled down the mirror in my car's visor. It didn't look too bad. I wasn't bleeding, but I was definitely going to have a bruise, possibly a full-blown black eye. I touched the skin around my eye and winced. I couldn't sa I didn't deserve that, and now that I had two daughters, I fully understood exactly why Peyton had done it. I probably would have done at least as much.

I texted my brother. “Where are you?”

“Home, why. Aren't you supposed to be in Chicago talking about delivering babies?”

“Things changed. Need to talk. Heading over”

“Come on in when you get here.”

I tossed the phone on the passenger seat and closed the visor. David didn't live too far away. It only took a few minutes before I pulled into his drive.

“You home?” I yelled as I walked through the front door.

“Mark, what are you doing here? Oh my God: What happened to your eye?” Shelly looked at me in horror.

“David said—" I started.

“He's in his man-cave in the garage. Let me give you something to put on that. Whose fist did you walk into?”

“Who said it wasn't a door?” I shot back.

The look she gave me when she handed me a bag of frozen peas made me realize she wasn't joking.

“I don't accept that as an excuse from anybody. Did you at least deserve it?” She crossed her arms and glared at me. “You aren't bringing that trouble in here to my family, are you?”

I'shook my head. “No, Shelly, this was completely earned. And I'm not bringing any trouble to your family.”

I held the bag of peas to my eye as I crossed the kitchen and went out the side door into the garage. It wasn't much of a man-cave. David did have a workbench set up where he could tinker and fix things.

“I see Shelly got to you,” he said as I walked in.

I lifted up the bag of vegetables. “This works surprisingly well”

“So, who clocked you, and what does that have to do with me? I'm too old to riot, besides, I think Shelly would kick my a*s first”

I laughed, even though I knew he was serious.

“A lot has happened in the past twenty-four hours,” I started.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I found out I'm a father.”

“Holy shit! Really? I'm an uncle? Is this a good thing or not? Who is the baby mama?”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

I let out a heavy breath.

“That sounds complicated,” David drawled.

“Complicated would be easy." I blew another breath out. This was suddenly harder than telling Peyton I had knocked up his daughter.

I pointed at my eye. “Peyton DeBoise has a mean right hook.”

“What the fuck is Peyton beating you down for? Did you make a pass at his wife?"

“Worse, his daughter”

“Oh shit, what did you do?"

“Remember that secret woman I was seeing?”

“Yeah, your imaginary girlfriend”

“Not imaginary. Brooke DeBoise, Peyton's daughter. However, we were keeping what was going on between us on the down- low because we knew that Peyton wasn't going to take it well”

“I don't think Id take it very well if one of my friends was dating one of my girls. I mean, she’s only twenty-two, twenty-three tops. No wonder he decked you”

“Yeah, she's twenty-four, and um, I get it. I've got two baby girls now. I totally understand.”

“Two? I thought you said—"

“Twins,” I cut him off. “She had twins yesterday.”

David opened his mouth and chuckled. “So, Peyton tracked you down and decked you?”

I shook my head. “I walked into his living room and broke the news."

“That took some balls. I thought the two of you broke it off. That's why you've been such a dickhead lately. Now everything i all better, despite daddy hating you?”

“Well, yeah. We had broken up, and she ran away. I didn't even know she was pregnant. I have been a complete dick head. Look, I wanted to let you know, Peyton and I are on the outs. But, on the upside you're an uncle, and I'm getting married.” “Married?”

“Yeah. I love her. We have kids, of course, I'm going to marry her”

“You haven't asked her yet, have you?"

“That's a matter of details right now.”

“Important details, Mark. You better have a ring in your pocket the next time you see her. Don’t f**k this up, or you'll never see those babies again.”