Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire — Episode 22
Amelia reached the hallway seconds after Tommy fell. The boy lay beside the console table, one knee reddened against the white marble. Jenny dropped beside him and immediately pointed at Amelia. “Why did you push my son?” she demanded, loud enough for every security officer to hear.
“I didn’t touch him.” Amelia stopped several feet away, stunned. Tommy had been standing near the elevator when she walked toward the terrace. There had been no collision, no hand on his shoulder, nothing that explained why he now stared at her with frightened accusation.
Jenny gathered him into her arms. “My child is not a liar,” she said. “He’s five years old.” Tommy whimpered that the lady did not want him to have a father and had shoved him when no one was looking.
Leo’s gaze moved from the boy to Amelia. Months earlier, suspicion would have filled the silence. This time, he crossed the space and stood beside Amelia without demanding that she defend herself. “She would never hurt a child,” he said.
The certainty in his voice steadied her, but Jenny recoiled as if he had struck her. She accused him of choosing a stranger over his possible son. Tommy began sobbing harder and complained that his leg hurt, turning the confrontation into a medical emergency no responsible adult could ignore.
Leo told Derek to preserve the penthouse security recordings and call a doctor. The nearest camera did not directly cover the section of hallway where Tommy fell, an absence Jenny seemed to know. When the boy claimed the pain was becoming unbearable, Leo agreed to take him to the hospital.
“I’ll come with you,” Amelia offered. Whatever game Jenny might be playing, Tommy was still frightened. Jenny refused, saying her son should not be forced to ride beside the woman who attacked him. The insult reopened the shame of the campus assault, but Amelia would not argue in front of a child.
Leo took her aside and promised to return as soon as a doctor examined Tommy. “I believe you,” he said. “Nothing Jenny says changes that.” Amelia nodded, though disappointment tightened her throat. She had wanted him to stay and hated herself for wanting it while a child might be hurt.
After they left, Derek reviewed every camera angle. One recording showed Tommy looking toward his mother moments before stepping deliberately out of view. Another captured Jenny making a small downward gesture with two fingers. It was not proof that she instructed him to fall, but it was enough to deepen their suspicions.
At the hospital, Tommy’s examination revealed a superficial scrape and no serious injury. Leo paid the medical fee and asked the doctor to document everything. Jenny treated his concern as evidence of instant fatherly attachment and urged him to remain overnight.
When Tommy dozed, Jenny bent close and whispered that he had done well. “Mommy can’t buy toys anymore,” she reminded him. “You have to convince Leo he’s your daddy so we can all live in the big house.” The boy asked whether lying made him bad. Jenny said it made him helpful.
Leo returned before she noticed him and caught only the last word. Jenny quickly claimed she was comforting a scared child. Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, pretending to sleep, but guilt made his breathing uneven.
Leo asked how Tommy knew to call him Daddy before they met. Jenny said she had spoken about him for years. When he asked why the boy claimed to miss a man he had never seen, her answer shifted: children imagined relationships when they longed for a father.
“The test happens tomorrow,” Leo said. “If Tommy is mine, I will do right by him. That does not mean you and I will reconcile.” Jenny warned that separating a child from his mother would be cruel. Leo responded that co-parenting did not require romantic love.
The distinction reminded him of his first agreement with Amelia. He finally understood why protection and provision had never been enough for her. A woman could receive every material comfort and still have no answer when she asked what place she held in a man’s heart.
He left the hospital after making certain Tommy was stable. By then, the penthouse was dark. Amelia had gone to the small library rather than bed, trying to work while the same paragraph remained unread on her screen.
Leo found her surrounded by books and carrying the stuffed bear he had purchased during his frantic trip back from the hospital. He offered it as an apology, and Amelia raised an eyebrow. “You think a stuffed animal makes everything okay?” she asked, though the absurdly large bear softened her anger.
“No. I think admitting I was wrong makes a beginning.” Leo apologized for leaving her alone after promising he would not. Amelia reminded him that if Tommy was truly his son, emergencies would happen again. “You can’t promise never to leave,” she said. “You can only tell me where I stand when you go.”
Leo sat across from her. “You stand with me. Jenny is my past. Tommy may be my responsibility, but neither of them replaces you or our baby.” His answer was sincere, yet one question remained beyond duty, and Amelia could no longer pretend it did not matter.
“Who am I to you, Leo?” she asked. “Not the mother of your child, not someone under your protection. Me.” The silence that followed was raw and dangerous, because this time no practical arrangement could answer for him.
