Billionaire Wedding: Brooklyn's Baby (Interracial Billionaire Wedding Romance) ( Contemporary Taboo Alpha Male Wedding Romance) (12 page)

              He laughed, “Thanks for helping me to keep my head on straight.” He sipped on the coffee eagerly. “This is awful,” he said and stuck out his tongue. “It tastes like watered down instant coffee.”

              Mercedes laughed, “That was the best I could do so last minute.”

              “Thank you,” he said again just as they were pulling onto Lexington Avenue. Mercedes could see the Chrysler Building as they turned the corner. “When we get there you can wait in my office. The meeting will be held in the board room.”

              Mercedes nodded, agreeing to this decision. She certainly did not mind waiting in his oversized office with the great view, large library, and fully-stocked kitchen. She was certain she could find something to do to kill time while he had his oh-so important meeting. The two of them walked up to the building together after getting his car parked. She had to double-time to keep up with Kerry’s quick, panicky strides. They boarded the elevator and headed up to the twenty sixth floor where his business was run. “Quit acting so nervous,” she told him and straightened his tie.

              “Sorry, I just was not expecting that phone call today. I look like a mess,” he explained his unusually flustered behavior. “This is sort of a big deal, you know? It’s a big change in the company, so I need to be focused today.”

              “You will be fine,” Mercedes said, although she had no idea what a merger meeting was like, and she knew she was speaking out of ignorance. She spoke to him when it seemed appropriate, but for the most part she tried not to distract his thoughts. It was a very important day for him, and she did not want to get in the way of his mental prepping.

              Kerry, before the elevator arrived on the twenty-sixth floor, leaned over to her in the elevator and kissed her lips, “You’re a bit of a distraction, you know that? I don’t know if I will be able to focus at all after last night.”

              She grinned and leaned her back against the elevator wall, “Easy, big-boy.” She told him, “You’re acting like a teenaged boy who just lost his virginity.”

              He laughed loudly at her taunt, “Am I?”

              “You’re just so…excited,” she said.

              “And excited is bad?” he questioned.

              Mercedes kissed him. “No, not at all. I like seeing you…distracted. Distracted by me.”

              “Don’t get cocky,” he said and then pulled her into a tight hug. “You’ve got my head spinning this morning.” He was clearly pleased that they were alone on the elevator. “I’ve never been so…” his voice trailed off as he tried to think of an appropriate word to describe what he was feeling.

              “Aroused?” Mercedes asked.

              “In love,” he said, and her face turned red; he kissed her nose. “And aroused, yes, that too.” He released her from his grip, knowing that they were coming close to their stop.

              At last the elevator doors opened and the two of them exited into the large lobby where the two secretarial desks were set up. Across the way, Mercedes could see Miss Lawrence seated at her desk, chatting away with a woman who was seated at the desk across from hers.
That must be Miss Harris
, Mercedes thoughts, although there was a man in a business suit blocking her view of the mystery woman. “Mr. Harris,” Kerry called out and the man in the suit turned around to greet them. Kerry paused momentarily, “Oh, Miss Harris… I did not know you were…coming in today…” Kerry seemed increasingly nervous as he shook hands with Mr. Harris. Something was off about Kerry, but she was not sure what.

              Mercedes stood aside awkwardly as the two men exchanged greetings. She attempted to lean around Mr. Harris to get a glimpse of the man’s wife who was seated at the secretary’s desk, but the woman was looking down and her hair was in her face. She was acting strange. While Kerry and Mr. Harris spoke to one another, both expressing their eagerness for the arrival of Kerry’s CFO, Mercedes at last got a good look of Mrs. Harris’ face. “Mom?” Mercedes spoke the word clearly, not expecting her voice to catch against the walls and echo loudly throughout the lobby.

              The woman’s face turned red. Mr. Harris, without missing a beat, smiled at Mercedes. “So this is Mercedes Mercado, then?” the man asked, mispronouncing her last name. “Lilly, you didn’t tell me your daughter looked just like you.” The man was so nonchalant about this discovery that it made Mercedes want to reach out and strangle him. He was looking at her with a clearly fake smile. There was almost a hint of hatred in his eyes, but he was not the one she was most furious with.

             
Lilly,
Mercedes frowned,
where did that name even come from?
She thought for a moment, attempting to recall her mother’s full name: Maria Jane Lilliana
García
Martínez De Mercado, but she had always gone by Jane not Lilliana. Mercedes had not even recognized the name
Harris
as her mother’s new married name. She had never met the man who had swiped her mother away, so she had never bothered to remember much about him. The woman who had bought her suit and had sent her the dress and kind letters had been her mother working as a temp agent at Kerry’s company in an attempt to win him over for her husband. Mercedes felt sick to her stomach. She wondered if she, too, was a part of some money-grabbing game of her mother’s, and it infuriated her. Had her mother intently set her and Kerry up? Mercedes stomach churned,
of course she had.
She gritted her teeth
, that’s why she sent me those clothes. She wanted me to impress him for her.

              “Hello, Mercedes.” Her mother did not come out from behind the desk, although she stood up nervously from her seat. She was dressed in a white business suit with a matching pencil skirt. Her hair was cut shorter than Mercedes could ever remember it being. The woman wore a diamond necklace and pearl earrings that dangled down low. She looked like money - very appropriate for the wife of a CEO.

              Mercedes looked away from her mother whom she had not seen since she was a little girl. Mercedes’ eyes darted towards Kerry. “Did you know?”

              Before he could respond, Mercedes’ mother had finally worked up the courage to come out from behind the desk. The woman surprised Mercedes when she reached her hand out and touched her arm in an attempt to seem eager to see her. “Get off me!” Mercedes yanked her arm away. Her blood boiled; she could not even see straight. Mercedes hurried towards the elevators, pressing the buttons frantically as though that would somehow make the elevator arrive faster.

              “Mercedes! Wait!” Kerry called after her as she boarded.

              She could see Mr. Harris reach out and grab him by the arm. “Mr. O’Brian, we have a meeting to get to. This nonsense can wait.” But Kerry ignored the man and pulled away.

              She pressed the button to make the doors close before he reached her. She was not quite sure what she was feeling, but tears started to fall. Surely this was not just some sort of coincidence? She started to call Yury to take her home; she had no intentions of going to work that day now, but there was of course no service in the elevator. She would have to wait until she got outside. The elevator felt like it was taking forever; it even stopped on another floor to let a man on, but when the man saw her with her tear soaked face he awkwardly remained standing outside of the elevator, “Um…I’m going up,” the man lied.

              “Whatever, asshole,” she said as the doors closed.

              Once the doors opened she hurried outside, deciding to call Yury to come get her once she made it out onto the sidewalk. Seconds later she heard Kerry’s voice calling out for her, “Mercedes? Mercedes?” she kept quiet, hoping he would not follow her outside, but he spotted her and hurried out the door after her.

              She started marching down the sidewalk, but he followed. “Leave me alone, Kerry,” she warned, but he had caught up to her.

He grabbed her by her arm and forced her to turn around. “Please, Mercedes, calm down.”

“Did you know?” she snapped, yanking her arms away and keeping at least three feet of distance between them.

“Not at first-”

That was all the information she needed. She stepped forward and struck him in his face. He held up his hands to prevent a second swing. The doorman started hurrying over, “Mr. O’Brian-” the man called out.

              Kerry waved the man off. “It’s fine! Go on!” The man anxiously turned and went back to his post.

              “Fuck you!” her voice railed, alerting all the passersby that she was infuriated. The finely dressed suits in front of the Chrysler Building were clearly not used to a woman using the sort of language she was displaying. Many sped up their paces to get inside or in their cars to get away from her screams. Several more swears and shouts emerged from her throat before Kerry could manage to say anything.

              “When I first saw you, I asked Miss Lawrence and your mother to look into finding out who you were. Miss Harris was the one who found out, but I did not think anything of it. I just thought it was good detective work because all she had to go off of was some security clips from the worksite. She had all this information about you and I didn’t ask her where she got it. She acted like she didn’t know you. I didn’t know she was your mother until after that night at dinner when you told me she was sending you clothes. I thought it was strange that she would do that, so I asked her.” Kerry was holding his hands up defensively as he spoke, “She told me the truth then - that she was your mother and that the two of you had not spoken since you were a little girl. She told me not to say anything-”

              “So you listened to her?” Mercedes snapped, cutting him off. “You never thought that you should tell me?”

              “Of course I did. I just had not had the chance,” he pleaded.

              Her voice escalated, “You had plenty of chances! I can’t believe you. That man you’re about to strike a deal with is the same bastard she cheated on my father with. Is that the kind of man you want to work with?”

              “Mercedes-”

              “Money talks though, doesn’t it? That woman…that woman destroyed my family. That lying, manipulative cheat is-” Mercedes misstepped, her head spinning. She desperately tried to stay upright, but she was losing her balance. She felt her breakfast coming back up and vomited in the street.

              “Are you all right?” she heard Kerry cry out just before she tumbled over and bashed her head into the sidewalk.

***

              Kerry nervously bounced his right leg. He was seated in a large waiting room at a nearby hospital waiting on news about Mercedes. His phone rang and he answered it quickly; it was Tito. He had called the man four times. “Tito, it’s Mercedes-” Kerry knew that Tito picked up on the urgency in his voice. He explained to the man what had happened and that he had yet to hear back from the doctors who were seeing her.

Kerry could hear another man’s voice in the background and a few second passed by before another man’s voice could be heard on the phone. “Who the hell is this?” the voice screamed into the phone.

“Where’s Tito?” Kerry asked.

“We’re headed to the hospital - you got him all worked up. Who the hell is this?” the man’s voice screamed again.

“Kerry O’Brian,” Kerry said, wondering who in the world was going to be arriving at the hospital with Tito. “Who is this?”

“Ernie. What did you do to Mercedes?” the man shouted.

“Nothing, you idiot!” Kerry felt suddenly very defensive. He knew who Ernie was. Mercedes had said the man’s name before, and he was not at all pleased that he would be meeting the jail bird. “Just get Tito here, would you?” he hung up on Ernie. His phone buzzed and he looked to see a text message from Mr. Harris that read
we are on our way
. Kerry cringed and called the number.

Mrs. Harris answered nervously, “Is she all right?”

“The doctors haven’t come out yet. I’m still waiting.”

“Oh God!”

Kerry took a breath. “Miss Harris, I know you and I have just met, but if you don’t mind me saying, I think it would be best if your husband weren’t here when Mercedes wakes up.”

The other line was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “You don’t think I should come either?”

              “I didn’t say that.”

              “I know you didn’t.” She was quiet for a moment before continuing. “I’m still coming. I’ll tell my husband to drop me off. Please call me if you hear anything.” She hung up on him.

              Kerry put his phone away, his leg still tapping nervously. He felt like he was going to be sick. He leaned forward and bowed his head. His hands were shaking; he could not control it. Kerry covered his face, refusing to let himself cry in front of all the strangers in the waiting room. For all he knew, Mercedes was fine, he just was not sure. She had been so angry with him and he could not stand it. Her angry voice replayed in his mind again and again. He had been in the wrong, and he knew that. He had used Miss Harris to his advantage since she had been the one to tell him all about Mercedes’ father’s love for that car. He had hoped to win Mercedes’ affections by finding it for her. Kerry now realized how selfish that had been.
I should have told her the truth,
he thought,
the moment I found out, I should have just told her.

              It was a maddening coincidence that Miss Harris had been working for him after he decided to pursue Mercedes. The woman led him right to her daughter without letting him know the truth. She had probably been worried that he would think less of the Harris’s if he had found out the truth. She had been right. These people had hurt Mercedes and now he had too. He was not sure if he would be able to forgive himself, especially if something happened to her now.

              The swinging doors that led to the back opened and a man in a lab coat exited. He scanned the room and when he spotted Kerry he waved him over. “Mr. O’Brian?” he asked.

              “Yes,” Kerry scurried over to him. “Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?”

              “She has a mild concussion from the fall,” the doctor began, “and she’s got a dangerously high fever. Mr. O’Brian, are you aware that she is pregnant?”

              Kerry froze. His limbs buckled for a moment, and he felt himself about to topple over. He reached and put his hand on the counter where the nurses were seated to keep himself upright. “Pregnant?” he questioned.

              “She’s not very far along, we don’t think. She probably does not even know if she was running around like you said she has been doing,” the doctor said. He and Kerry had spoken when they had first taken Mercedes back to the ER, but Kerry could not remember the man’s name. He had told the man whatever he could, but admitted that they had only known one another for a few weeks and had been dating. He had been hoping he would be allowed to see her once she was released from the ICU.

              “The baby, is it okay?” Kerry asked.

              “We’re doing what we can. It’s hard to say right now. She’s very sick. There’s a chance she could lose it.” The doctor was trying to look Kerry in the eye. “We’re doing whatever we can, Mr. O’Brian.”

              “Is she awake?” Kerry asked.

              “Not yet,” he said. “She probably will be soon. Do you want to see her?”

              Kerry nodded eagerly. He followed the man through the double doors. They headed down a long hallway before Kerry was shown a room. He entered inside and his stomach churned to see Mercedes lying asleep in the hospital bed. She was hooked up to a number of machines that had her heartrate and blood pressure displayed along with any other vitals the doctors felt were important: Kerry did not know what half of it was for. A bandage was wrapped around her head. He imagined that there were at least a few stitches underneath. Her arm was hooked up to IV, several different bag of medicines were being flooded into her body.

              “She looks awful,” Kerry mumbled. He felt the doctor pat him on his back reassuringly.

              “She’ll probably be awake soon. She’ll be glad that you’re here,” the doctor replied.

             
Maybe,
Kerry thought and then looked at the doctor. “Her uncle and her mother are coming.”

              “I’ll have the nurses send them back,” he assured him before they parted ways.

              Kerry went and sat down beside Mercedes. It felt like his heart was in his throat. He touched her hand and stared at her. “Mercedes,” he said her name softly, hoping she would awaken, but she did not. He kissed her fingers and then reached out and touched her stomach. There obviously was no bump or any physical appearance of a pregnancy, not yet, but Kerry still felt a longing for the unborn already. He kissed her cheek and felt the tears as they started running down his face. “I’m so sorry, Mercedes. I’m so sorry.”

***