Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire — Episode 17
Amelia replayed the voicemail while Leo listened beside her. Her sister’s fear sounded real, but Sam’s final demand transformed the plea into a trap. Amelia reached for her coat anyway. Whatever resentment existed between the sisters, she could not leave another young woman to be traded for their father’s mistakes.
Leo blocked the door without touching her. “You’re not going alone.” His calm voice carried the same force it had at the bar. “Sam knows you are here and knows the building is guarded. If those men truly have your sister, walking into their hands gives them two hostages instead of one.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Amelia demanded. “Wait while they hurt her?” Years of cleaning up Sam’s disasters had taught her that delay always made the consequences worse. Even now, with trained security available, instinct told her that every family crisis belonged on her shoulders.
Leo asked Derek to trace the call and contacted the detective handling Bethany’s case. Within minutes, they learned the voicemail had been sent from Sam’s house, but the younger Gates daughter was not trapped there. A patrol officer found her unharmed at a friend’s apartment. Sam had recorded her frightened message after lying that Amelia was in danger, then added his threat once she left.
Relief turned Amelia weak. Her father had used one daughter to bait the other, proving there was no boundary he would respect. Leo remained close while she called her sister and confirmed the truth herself. The girl apologized, but she also asked whether Amelia could give Sam enough money to make the dangerous men disappear.
“No,” Amelia said, though the word hurt. “Paying him only buys time until the next bet. You need to stay away from him too.” Her sister accused her of becoming heartless now that she had a billionaire protecting her and ended the call. The familiar guilt returned, sharpened by the knowledge that refusing Sam was still the only way to stop feeding his destruction.
Leo did not tell her what she should have said. He sat with her until the guilt loosened, then handed the evidence to the police. Sam had violated the warning issued hours earlier and attempted extortion. This time, security would not merely escort him away; the law would make the distance enforceable.
Morning brought news that Sam had fled before officers reached the house. His lenders had also vanished, leaving broken furniture and the illegal contract behind. The threat remained unresolved, but Leo strengthened Amelia’s security and promised that no one would take her anywhere against her will.
Matilda arrived at noon with a very different emergency. Amelia owned no comfortable clothes suited to a changing body, and half the guest suite still looked like an expensive hotel rather than a home. “You moved in with one bag,” she said. “That may satisfy my son’s idea of practicality, but it offends mine.”
Amelia protested that she had agreed to shelter, not a new wardrobe. Matilda countered by asking whether refusing every kindness was truly independence or simply another habit learned from people who attached conditions to generosity. The question disarmed Amelia. She finally agreed to choose a few necessities, provided Matilda allowed her to say when they had enough.
At the boutique, “a few necessities” quickly became dresses, soft sweaters, flat shoes, and bags in every color. Matilda rejected anything uncomfortable and instructed the staff to prioritize Amelia’s health rather than fashion. When she tried to purchase every dress in Amelia’s size, Amelia laughed and physically removed half the hangers from the counter.
The afternoon was absurd, overwhelming, and unexpectedly tender. Matilda never asked about paternity again. She spoke instead about morning sickness, Leo’s stubborn childhood, and the nursery she was absolutely not planning yet while simultaneously comparing five shades of pale green.
Amelia chose a simple blue dress for dinner. Its clean lines made her feel elegant without turning her into someone unrecognizable. When Matilda sent her into the private restaurant room first, Amelia discovered that Leo had been summoned from a meeting without being told why.
He rose when she entered and forgot whatever complaint he had prepared. His gaze moved over her with open admiration before returning to her face. “You look stunning,” he said. Amelia smiled despite herself. “I never expected Leo Preston to be left speechless by a dress.”
“It isn’t the dress.” The answer came too quickly to be calculated. Heat climbed Amelia’s cheeks as Matilda announced that her work was finished and abandoned them to dinner. Neither mentioned the rejected ring, but its absence made the evening feel more honest.
Leo gave Amelia a new card before dessert. It was linked to an account created for pregnancy expenses and required both of them to receive monthly statements. “This is not ten million dollars and an order to disappear,” he said. “It’s a practical way for you to get what you need without asking permission.”
Amelia hesitated, then accepted it because he had listened. The card came with transparency, limits, and no implication that her affection was for sale. “I’ll keep receipts,” she warned. Leo almost smiled. “I expected nothing less from the woman who promised to repay three thousand dollars to a billionaire.”
The next morning, Leo drove her to campus despite the doctor’s recommendation that she rest. Amelia refused to abandon her classes, and he respected the decision after arranging with her professors to reduce unnecessary strain. Before she left the car, he asked her to call if anything felt wrong—not his assistant, not security, but him.
Their goodbye lingered. Amelia thanked him for the ride, and Leo caught her hand before she could turn away. For one suspended moment, both remembered the penthouse bedroom and the line they had drawn between desire and trust. He pressed a restrained kiss to her forehead instead, leaving her more shaken than passion might have done.
Across the courtyard, Regina Vale lowered her phone after photographing Amelia stepping from Leo’s car. She zoomed in on the designer dress, then sent the picture to a campus group chat with a vicious caption about Amelia’s new sugar daddy. By the time Amelia reached her first class, dozens of students had already seen it—and Bethany’s old accusation had begun spreading as fact.
