Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire – Episode 5

📖 The Story Continues

Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire – Episode 5

Bethany looked up from her phone when Amelia entered their dorm room and dropped her bag beside the bed. “Whoa. Did you walk through a hurricane?” she asked, taking in Amelia’s tangled hair and tear-bright eyes. “You look like shit.” Under other circumstances, the blunt greeting might have made Amelia laugh.

Amelia sat on the edge of her mattress, trying to find a dignified way to explain that her own father had robbed her. There wasn’t one. “Bethany, I hate to ask, but could I borrow three thousand dollars for rent?” She forced herself to meet her roommate’s eyes. “I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“That’s a lot, Amelia.” Bethany set down her phone, her surprise convincing enough to seem like concern. “What’s going on?” Amelia explained the missing paycheck, the withdrawals, and her father’s refusal to return anything. Saying it aloud made the betrayal feel even more humiliating.

Bethany listened without interrupting, but sympathy was not what moved behind her eyes. Amelia was desperate, inexperienced, and still naïve enough to trust the woman sharing her room. To Bethany, that desperation looked less like a tragedy than an opportunity she could turn into cash.

“I don’t have three thousand to lend you,” she said at last, allowing Amelia’s shoulders to fall before offering hope. “But I might have a way for you to earn it.” Bethany leaned closer, lowering her voice as though sharing a secret. “I’m doing some work tonight. Do you want to join me?”

Amelia hesitated. Bethany often came home late wearing expensive clothes she could not have bought with an ordinary campus job, but Amelia had never pressed for details. “What kind of work?” she asked. The unease in her stomach sharpened when Bethany answered with a careless smile instead of an explanation.

“It’s at a bar. You look cute, keep some customers company, and make great tips.” Bethany waved away the concern gathering in Amelia’s face. She made it sound like serving drinks at a private event, nothing worse than uncomfortable shoes and flirtatious strangers. “You said you needed the money.”

The reminder struck exactly where Bethany intended. Amelia pictured the overdue notice, her dwindling food balance, and the possibility of carrying her bags out of the dorm with nowhere to go. She agreed to one shift, but only after Bethany promised that she would not be expected to do anything beyond bar work.

Across the city that evening, Leo sat in an exclusive lounge with Derek, one of the few friends unimpressed enough by his fortune to challenge him. Derek had endured another phone call from Leo’s mother and now seemed determined to continue her campaign. “Your mom has been on my case about your love life,” he said.

Leo lifted his drink. “Is that so?” His cool tone did nothing to discourage Derek, who had known him too long to be intimidated by it. Between them lay documents for a potential partnership, but Derek appeared far more interested in the billionaire’s empty social calendar than the deal.

“She’s starting to think you might be uninterested in women,” Derek said, grinning when Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Honestly, I understand her urgency. You’re the Preston family’s only heir.” Everyone close to Leo treated marriage as a corporate succession plan, and he had grown tired of correcting them.

Derek leaned back and studied his friend. “I’m serious. You’re the most eligible bachelor in the city—rich, handsome, the whole package. So why is there never a date on your arm?” Leo had asked himself a version of that question since Amelia Gates forced her way into his afternoon.

“Careful, Derek,” he warned. “I wouldn’t want to reconsider our partnership.” The threat was softened by the hint of amusement in his voice. Derek raised both hands in surrender, though his grin made it clear he did not believe Leo would end a profitable deal over friendly interference.

“All right, all right. I’m just looking out for you.” Derek took another drink and nodded toward the crowded room. “You can’t sit there waiting for Miss Perfect to walk through the door.” Leo almost dismissed him, then movement near the entrance caught his attention.

Amelia had arrived beside Bethany in a skirt far shorter than anything Leo had seen her wear. She tugged uneasily at the hem and glanced around the bar with open discomfort, unaware that nearly every man nearby had noticed her. Leo recognized her instantly, and his focus sharpened until Derek followed the direction of his stare.

She did not belong there. That was Leo’s first clear thought. The persistent young journalist who had challenged him in his own office now looked vulnerable beneath the neon lights, as though someone else had dressed her for a role she did not understand. His second thought was far less rational: he disliked the way other men were watching her.

Amelia saw Leo across the room and stopped. Surprise gave way to embarrassment as she remembered the confidence with which she had interviewed him. She did not want him to know that she was desperate enough to take a mysterious shift for cash, much less imagine that her clothes represented a choice she had made freely.

Bethany caught her arm and urged her forward before she could retreat. “Don’t freeze now,” she whispered. “The better you look, the better the tips.” Amelia tried to reassure herself that the night would be awkward but harmless. She needed only enough money to keep her room.

Derek glanced from Amelia to Leo and slowly smiled. The change in his friend’s expression was more revealing than any confession. Leo had forgotten the partnership documents, his drink, and the lecture he had been resisting only moments before. Every instinct he possessed had fixed on the uneasy woman by the entrance.

“Maybe you’re right,” Leo murmured, rising as Amelia disappeared deeper into the lounge beside Bethany. Derek asked what had changed, but Leo kept his gaze on the crowd that had swallowed her. “Maybe Miss Perfect just walked through the door.”