The Billionaire’s Hidden Heiress
Chapter 113

Johnathon POV

I winced from the sound of puking as I gingerly stepped into the bedroom. Karen's expression was neutral as she tried to comfort her daughter. "Take deep breaths, the nausea will pass" she instructed. "Karen" my voice was sharper than I intended it to be "I must ask you to leave while I have a word with my wife" My tone was dripping with sarcasm and double meanings.

Karen looked as though she wanted to protest and then thought better of it, merely nodding bleakly and quickly moving out of the way as I stood in the doorway of the bathroom, Charlotte's pallor and complexion were pale instead of its usual honey-golden glow. Her pregnancy was not giving her the glow that was often talked about in books I thought slightly maliciously.

"That was quite a show you put on there," I said leaning against the doorway as she glanced at me, her expression a picture of misery "If I hadn't found the pregnancy test earlier were you ever going to tell me, or was I meant to be surprised like everybody else at the dinner table?" My voice was mocking.

Charlotte tiredly wiped her mouth. She shot me a sneering glance. "I don't know what you mean Johnathon, naturally I would have told you seeing as you are the father" she objected, flushing the toilet and turning the taps at the vanity on so she could splash cold water onto her face.

"You should have told me when you first suspected you were pregnant" my voice was monotonous. Devoid of anger. Devoid of emotion. There wasn't even the merest hint of excitement at the prospect of being a father.

She grabbed a lipstick and began to carefully apply it to her lips, glancing at me in the mirror "Why are you acting so angry?" she said raising a brow "This was what we wanted. This is what you wanted" she said, peering over her shoulder "now that we have the company within our grasp you want to renege on the deal we made with each other?" she sounded incredulous.

"The deal we made was to love each other, honor and obey our vows" my voice was cutting "Ever since we've been married it's like you've been this completely different person. What's going to happen when you give birth Charlotte, what are your plans then?" I demanded icily.

She looked puzzled "Johnathon we spoke about this. The child will be raised by a nanny. Unless you plan to be a stay at home father?" she asked raising a brow at me "and the company will be run by myself."

"You mean sold" I snapped "That was the agreement we made remember? You got your hands on the company, make a pretense of trying to keep it running and in the meantime replace a willing buyer to take it off our hands for a lot of money." She waved a dismissive hand at me "Whatever" she mumbled, putting the lipstick down "All that matters is this child and making sure that nothing happens to it."

"Our child" I corrected her.

"What?" she asked numbly.

"Our child" I emphasized and she widened her eyes and nodded agreeably.

"Of course, our child," she said quickly.

I rubbed my forehead "I need to start drumming up some more clients in order to get my law firm running at maximum profit again" I said sourly "Now that I've paid back the investment there's little money lift in my accounts. I'm practically bankrupt, even with you helping me" I added snarkily.

"Well you didn't expect me to pay the whole debt did you?" Charlotte asked innocently blinking her eyes at me "This was your problem, Johnathon. I helped but you are the one who dug yourself into a hole. It's only fair you take the majority of the risk." I just looked at her gloomily. "It would help if you would stop causing a scene in public and on the screen," I said touchily "Your behavior in the public eye reflects on me and my law firm. Any scandal associated with you is bound to reflect poorly on me." "Now you're blaming me for your stupid clients leaving" Charlotte interjected, putting down the mascara she had picked up "How many times do I have to apologize for that? If you were half a decent lawyer then they wouldn't have jumped ship" she sneered "so don't go blaming me for your mistakes."

I took deep breaths. Pinched the bridge of my nose and counted to ten. Being in the same room or vicinity as Charlotte was enough to take up all of my sanity. I gritted my teeth "In the meantime, maybe wait until you've passed the first trimester before making any big announcements" I said slowly as she pouted at me "I don't want you putting the horse before the cart so to speak." "You act as though I don't have a brain" Charlotte griped.

I refused to answer. Part of me did feel that way. She grabbed her dress and hiked the bodice up which was beginning to fall slightly down.

She turned and regarded me silently. "This is a good thing, Johnathon," she said c*****g her head "Who knows maybe this is what we need to put our marriage back on track. You can't say that it's been great between us the last week or so," she said accusingly. "All marriages have their ups and downs Charlotte, it's perfectly normal."

"We haven't been married that long," she said exasperated "and you constantly nag at me like a damn fishwife. You were a lot more fun when you were f*****g me behind Flair's back" she scowled "Now all you do is bore me to tears."

She flounced into the room, pushing past me. For a moment I was in shock, unable to answer. "Maybe this marriage was a mistake," I said, replaceing my voice and turning "Maybe we jumped into it too fast."

Charlotte snorted "You think," she said a tad bitterly "both of us were so thrilled at hiding the affair behind Flair's back that we didn't stop to think about what it would be like to be actually married to each other. I guess we didn't want to face the reality of our actions."

Her voice was bitter and filled with resentment. It sent chills down my spine.

"Are you saying that you think we should just call it?" my voice was hoarse, my chest painfully tight.

It was bad enough to have divorced once, but to divorce a second time in as many months would be downright humiliating.

Charlotte shot me a scathing glance. "No," she said bluntly "I've sacrificed too much to get my hands on that damn company to call it quits now."

I couldn't help but notice that she had said nothing about her feelings regarding me.

"But do you even care about me at all?" I asked quietly "or have they disappeared as well?"

She bit her lip and looked hesitant as I waited for the answer, prepared for the inevitable pain and the guaranteed feeling of my heart breaking into pieces.

"I still love you," she said slowly "I just think that maybe we need some time to be alone. We can't keep being on top of each other, it's not healthy."

"It's not healthy to be separated in the same house" I burst out but she glanced away dismissively.

"Separate rooms are hardly anything to complain about Johnathon," she said arching a brow "All the wealthy people do it. Do you think couples sleep in the same bed together every night?" she asked scornfully.

Yes, I wanted to shout, because that's exactly what Flair and I had done while we were married. Any couple that loved each other would spend the night in the same bed. Not lie in separate rooms that divided them. "Is that what you really want?" my voice was even.

I wasn't going to beg her to think it over. Heck, I wasn't even sure what I was objecting to at this stage. I guess I already felt so alone in this marriage that sleeping in a separate bedroom felt even lonelier than ever. "Just for a few days," Charlotte said shrugging "Give us time to miss each other properly" she concluded.

Whatever. I quietly retrieved my clothing for the night and my pillows. I didn't even have the strength to be angry at the moment. It was like all the energy had been zapped out of me. "I'll get out of your way then," I said heading towards the doorway "And leave you to your beauty sleep" my voice dripped with venom.

She didn't say a word. I shut the door as she began to brush her hair. The guest room down the hallway was empty and I made up the bed, getting dressed into pajamas to spend the night in. I rubbed my tired eyes, even though it wasn't overly late. My cell phone dinged and I grabbed it absent-mindedly. It was the notification for an email. I didn't recognize the sender and I opened it while sitting on the bed, debating whether to turn the television on. A picture appeared on my screen. I narrowed my eyes. The picture was grainy and difficult to make out. It could have been doctored. It could have been manipulated but one of the people in the photo was clearly visible, or at least I knew who one of them was.

It was a photograph of Charlotte, leaning in, almost intimately to speak to a man, a wide smile on her face. I frowned. There was nothing particularly risque about it but I had never seen that man before and I'd never seen her wearing the dress she was wearing in the picture.

You should replace out what your wife is up to when you're at work

I looked at the text message that accompanied the photo. My lip curved back slightly and I closed the email with a stabbing finger. If this was somebody's sick twisted game to break us up, then they were certainly succeeding in making me suspicious. I resolved to keep a closer eye on Charlotte and her whereabouts for the next few days, even if I had to hire somebody to do it for me. If Charlotte was sleeping with somebody else then I had grounds for divorce, but it also begged the question, was this child mine or somebody else's?