Alpha Billionaire Series
Baby Surprise Chapter 5

CHRISTOPHER

Alicia. Alicia. Her name was like a waterfall. Cool and exciting, an unexpected beauty in the wild. She certainly had been all of that, exciting, unexpected. My plan had been to drink, not get sober, and certainly not fall into bed with a beautiful woman. That was all bonus material. But Alicia was so much more than anything I could have expected.

The plane dipped and shimmied. The sudden jerking motion pulled me from my memories of the woman I left behind, asleep, warm, and comfortable.

"Jesus, Jake, you trying to kill us?"

"Calm down, CJ. It's just a little headwind. We had it worse yesterday."

"Yesterday I was too drunk to notice."

"Fuck. Did I let you on my plane drunk? Well, thanks for not puking then."

I groaned and closed my eyes against the movement of the plane. "I can't promise I'm not gonna hurl now."

Jake's flying was as smooth as it could be. The problem was we were in a small plane, and the wind was strong. Fortunately, flight time from Nashville back to Atlanta didn't take that long. I arranged for a car to pick me up as soon as we landed. I still had a few hours before I hit Mother's twenty-four-hour threat limit. She wasn't going to win playing games with me. She wanted a CEO, she was going to get one, but she needed to get out of my way. "Change of plans, take me to that barber shop on Dunwoody."

I needed a new attitude, a new image. I stank. I had no idea how many days I had been wearing the same obnoxious shirt. I had tailored suits and bespoke shirts in my closet. Taking a shower and changing my clothes was easy enough, but I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and see a difference.

With the prepayment of a hefty tip, the manager found an opening to fit me in. I sat in the chair and stared at myself in the mirror as the barber draped the cape over my shoulders and closed it around my neck.

"What are we doing today?"

"What does my look say to you?" I wanted to know if he saw the same person who had given up in the mirror that I was looking at.

"It's long and hasn't been cut for a while. I'd say free-spirited."

"Make it say CEO," I demanded.

"You're the boss."

When he was finished, I looked almost different. I ran a hand over the stubble on my chin. "Should I keep it or shave it off?"

"You've got a decent start. We can shape it up so as your beard grows in it's not scraggly looking."

I told him to hook me up.

"The secret," the barber said as he shaved my neck and shaped the edges of my beard, "is to keep the neck clean. That lets everyone know the hair on your face is there on purpose. Even if you decide not to let your beard come all the way in, but you stick with the two-day look, it's intentional."

I looked at my reflection. A more serious me looked back. My eyes were tired and I had dark circles. I didn't think anything would take care of that haggard look.

"You don't have anything for these dark circles, do you?" I dragged my hands down my face, stretching the skin under my eyes.

"Yeah, first off, don't do that. Drink more water. And you are going to laugh, this is a beauty queen secret, use haemorrhoid cream."

He was right, I did laugh. "How is a*s cream going to fix my eyes?"

"You put it under your eyes. Just little dabs. It takes away the swelling. I told you it's a beauty queen secret. Those women have to do witchcraft to be as beautiful as they are. Did you know they use spray glue to keep their bathing suits in place?" "Now you want me to use spray glue?" I chuckled.

"It works. I've told plenty of grooms who had too much the night before their weddings the same trick. I don't know what you're going for, but you clearly want to make an impression. It's worth a try."

I picked up some cream on my way home, along with a new deodorant, a razor, and other personal grooming products that I had been forsaking. At home in my bathroom, I tried my new beauty regime and dabbed some haemorrhoid cream under my eye. My aim was bad, and I got some in the corner of my eyes. "Shit."

It stung like a motherfucker. I couldn't wash my hands enough to get the residual cream off my fingers. I ended up shoving my face under the sink and running water directly into my eye.

"Shit, shit, shit." I felt my contact float out of my eye and onto my cheek.

I stood up and tried to stop the lens as it continued to be washed down my face. I caught it with my finger and promptly tore it.

With a groan, I looked in the cabinet for a fresh pair of contacts. I was out. I tossed the other contact out and put my glasses on. By the time I was finished, I was impressed with myself. My mother and her spies wouldn't recognize me.

I strode into my office an hour before the deadline. I could tell by the looks and whispers that my presence was far from expected. I found my mother in my office with my assistant leaning over her shoulder.

I laughed at their shocked expressions. "So, are you going to let me do my job now that you've made a very public announcement regarding my position here?"

Mother looked at Valerie. "I think you should go."

"Yes go and tell the rest of the staff they can stop gossiping about me now," I called over my shoulder as she scuttled out of the office.

Mother stood, propping her hands up on her fingertips. "I didn't expect you-"

"So early?" I cut her off. "You gave me a deadline and no choice. The question stands, are you going to allow me to do my job, or am I to simply be your front man and look the part?"

She gave me a very judgmental assessment look. "You do look the part. When did you have time to go shopping?"

I cocked my head to the side and glared at her. I already had the wardrobe. When I wasn't doing my best to channel a drunken lout, I had actually considered myself a businessman at one point. I had degrees in finance and management. I worked with my father to understand the industry so that I could work beside him, spin off offices, and grow the business.

When dad died, I was ready to step up and run things, only my mother in her grief thought I was all of fourteen and clueless to business. I'm not sure what happened in the past few days that changed her mind, but the stare down in my office at that moment felt more like a duel at dawn.

I should have been reaching for pistols on a hip belt with the tension in the air. Instead, I crossed my arms and let out a heavy breath.

"If you are going to make proclamations regarding my ability to run this business, and threaten my access to what is legally mine, then I am going to officially request you to take a step back and stay in your lane. You are the head of the board, a body that helps to make governing decisions-."

"And that's exactly what I've been doing. Governing," she snapped.

"What you've been doing has been undermining my position here to the point that everyone knows I'm a bad joke. I'm barely even a figurehead."

She gestured at my appearance. "You've made all of these changes, put on a designer suit to what? Call my bluff?"

"No Mother. I'm not here to call your bluff, I'm here to respectfully kick you out of my office and tell you that your day-to-day involvement is no longer required. However, if you insist on taking on the role of CEO, then I will step aside, allow you to take on the job you are determined to do. And I will sue for the balance of my inheritance, that is in trust during your lifetime."

Her mouth fell open. Part of me wanted to smirk. I could play her dirty game with as much vehemence as she did. Where did she think I learned it all from?

I had acquired business and industry knowledge from Dad. I had learnt leveraging and manipulation from her. She pursed her lips together and gathered her things, slamming them into a designer tote bag that matched her purse.

"If that's how you are going to treat me. I don't know how I feel about this. Rest assured Christopher, you will be hearing from me."

I put my arm up to stop her as she attempted to storm past me. "This was your call. You're the one who gave me an ultimatum. Did you forget that I'm your son? That I challenged every adult along the way. The bane of my high school teachers. The thorn in my

professors' sides. You used to be so proud of my ruthless tenacity. You should be happy you unlocked whatever cage I had curled up into, and that I am working on your side, and not against you." I spoke through my teeth with hisses and sharp consonants. I dropped my arm and let Mother continue out of my office.

"Valerie!" I bellowed.

"Hi, yes?" She sounded nervous as she stuck her head into my office.

"We have work to do."