Chapter 2 – Phoenix
CHAPTER TWO
Surprises and decisions
Phoenix
“Isn’t it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?” Helix asks as we walk into the lobby of The White Willow, the hotel where the wedding will be held.
I wave my hand at him. “That’s just a silly superstition.”
“I can’t imagine Daddy Bettencourt would approve of this,” Remington adds.
“What Daddy don’t know won’t hurt him,” I say with a smirk I don’t really feel. To be honest, I’m a little confused as to why Beatrice asked me to come to her room a few hours before the ceremony. Maybe she wants to really thank me for the jewelry. On her knees.
Shit, that would be amazing. With all the wedding hoopla, we haven’t had much time for intimacy the past month. Now I’m anxious as hell to get upstairs.
“I’m going to head up to the honeymoon suite to see Beatrice. Which room are we in?”
Remi checks the little paper sleeve and hands me one of the keycards. “Penthouse, floor ten. Your tux should have been delivered already, but I’ll make sure everything is in order.”
“Thanks, man,” I say, pocketing the key before jogging to the elevator and taking it to the ninth floor. The doors open onto a plushly carpeted hallway, and I find the correct door and knock.
My fiancée answers wearing a silky white bathrobe. Her hair has been styled into an elegant updo, and her makeup is impeccable.
“Wow,” I breathe, in awe that this beautiful woman is going to be mine in a few short hours. “I know you don’t like it when I comment on your physical appearance, but since it’s our wedding day, I hope you’ll make an exception. Because my bride looks stunning.”
She smiles and turns her face so I can kiss her cheek, though I’d rather plant a kiss right on those pretty mauve lips. “Come on in. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Don’t tell me we have another party to attend before the wedding starts,” I tease, following her to the taupe couch and taking a seat beside her. Beatrice tucks a leg beneath her butt and faces me.
“No, we’re done with parties until the reception,” she says. “And then the send-off breakfast in the morning.”
I’d fought against that particular event, wanting to spend the morning in bed with my new wife, but I was overruled.
“Okay, sweetheart. What did you need to talk to me about?”
Beatrice wets her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Father has presented me with an amazing opportunity.”
I take her hand and beam at her. “Whatever it is, it’s well deserved. You did a fantastic job with the expansion.”
She nods, averting her eyes for a second before saying, “It will be working with the Ishikawa Group. Father is wanting to expand into e-commerce, and…” She keeps talking, but it all sounds hollow because the words Ishikawa Group are flashing like a beacon inside my head.
“Wait, isn’t Ishikawa in Japan?” I finally interrupt.
Beatrice tilts her chin up. “Yes. I would need to live there for this job, but it doesn’t start until next year.”
“So,” I shake my head, trying to make sense of this, “we would have to move to Japan next year?”
“Yes, Ishikawa is one of the leaders in e-commerce, and like I said, that’s the direction Father wants to take the company in over the next five to seven years.”
“Five to seven years?” I repeat. “We would have to live overseas for that long? What about my job at Hale Cosmetics?”
She shrugs. “Your father owns the company. I’m sure he’d have a place for you when we come back.” I’m surprised and a little annoyed by her dismissive attitude.
“But I’m slated to take over as the marketing director pretty soon. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Beatrice’s smooth forehead crinkles. “This is important to me, Phoenix. I don’t think you realize what a huge deal this is for my family.”
“My family is important too,” I retort.
Her lip curls up in a sneer. “Yeah, I’m aware.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, feeling defensive, and she swishes her hand through the air.
“Nothing. Look, I could set you up so you can do your job remotely. It will be just like you’re actually there.”
Except I won’t be. Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths and remind myself this is what happens when you get married. You focus on your partner and make sure they have everything they need, even if you have to sacrifice your own goals and family. Or at least put them on hold for a while.
“Okay,” I sigh, opening my eyes again. “It’s July now, so we have a while to figure all this out, right?”
Beatrice bobs her head up and down. “I don’t have to be in Japan until March, but…” I wait for her to continue, and she exhales a long breath before blurting. “But I’m also pregnant.”
I blink my eyelashes like the rapid wings of a hummingbird. She’s pregnant. I’m going to be a father. A smile curls my lips upward, and I pull her into a tight hug.
“Sweetheart, I’m so excited.” My entire life shifts in a split second, and I pull back and take her hand, kissing the back of it over and over. “I can stay at home with the baby for a few years since we don’t exactly have to worry about finances.”
I’m surprised to see her scowl at that idea, though this is the perfect solution. I’ll be away from my home and job anyway, so I can care for our new bundle of joy and won’t have to hire a nanny.
She pulls her hand away and stands, turning her back to me and taking a few steps away before swiveling back to face me. “That’s not what I want, Phoenix. First of all, Father doesn’t believe in abortion due to his religion.”
My emotions sway back and forth between annoyance that, once again, her father seems to be calling the shots and panic over the thought of losing the baby.
Because I already feel protective of that tiny life growing inside her.
As soon as she said “pregnant,” my heart started thrumming a new beat. Dad-dy. Dad-dy. Dad-dy.
“The baby should be here in January,” she continues, “so I plan to give it up for adoption, and then we can move to Japan in late February. We can do a private adoption and have everything set up before we have to leave.”
“A-adoption?” I stutter, not understanding the words she’s speaking. “But why would we give up our baby? I just told you I could be a stay-at-home dad.”
“Because,” she explodes, “my father already thinks I’m weaker because I’m a woman.
Having the distraction of a baby only reinforces that.
Father indicated that after my time is up in Japan, I would be taking over The Bettencourt Corporation.
I can’t do that if I’m always preoccupied with a kid.
” My fiancée shakes her head so hard a few curls come loose from her updo.
“Children are so needy, and I just won’t have time for ballgames and first days of school and all that shit. ”
Fucking hell, I’ve always known Beatrice was ambitious, but she sounds so cold. I’m not even sure who she is right now.
I stride toward her, trying to keep the panic from seeping into my voice as I take her shoulders. Because as soon as she said the word pregnant, my entire world changed. I have to make her understand.
“I will handle all that while you focus on your career, Beatrice. I’ll take care of everything so you can—”
She cuts me off, yanking out of my hold and glaring.
“You’re not getting what I’m saying. I don’t want to be a mother. Ever,” she yells, her jaw tightening as my knees struggle to hold me upright. It feels like the earth is trembling beneath my feet. “Get this through your thick skull, Phoenix. I. Do. Not. Want. This. Baby.”
Her words are delivered with so much venom, I stumble back a few steps.
“But…” I’m not even sure what to say, so I sink onto the couch and thread my fingers through my hair, staring at the leg of the coffee table. “But we made this baby together, Beatrice. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
When I finally look up at her, she has her arms crossed over her middle and her shoulders are slumped forward. “My father thinks I should give the baby up for adoption. Otherwise he’s sending Justin to Japan in my place.”
“Then let him send your douchey cousin,” I snap. “Fuck your father. He’s not allowed to tell you what to do with your body.”
“Neither are you,” she replies quietly, cutting me in half as effectively as if she had swung a giant sword at me.
But I stand and go to her anyway, brushing the backs of my fingers down her perfect cheek. “Baby, is he forcing you into this?”
She looks away and doesn’t speak for a long moment. “Not really. He’s simply giving me a choice, and I choose my career.”
“So he’s coercing you, at a minimum. Holding your job over your head. You can’t let him do this, honey.”
Beatrice pushes her hands into her hair and tugs, messing up the curled strands as she grunts her frustration. “Ugggh! I don’t need more pressure from you, Phoenix. I’ve made my decision.”
“Without discussing it with me at all. The move. The adoption. All of it is your decision, and I’m just… what? An accessory you can drag along?”
“You knew how I was when we got together. I’m ambitious, and my career will always come first,” she says, resting her hand over my heart like that will help hold the thudding organ in place.
“So that puts me in third. Or do I even rank that high? Because your father is firmly in second place since you told him about the pregnancy before, you know…” I gesture toward her flat stomach, the pain of this situation becoming more real by the second. “The actual father of the baby?”
“I needed advice,” she says, lifting her chin defiantly, which turns a bit of my hurt into raw anger. “So I went to Father.”
“And that’s the problem, Beatrice. You went to him instead of me, your partner, the man who’s going to be your husband in a few hours.
” My voice is rising, but I can’t help it.
Flashes of my future play inside my mind, and I’m not sure I like what I see.
“Will it always be like this? Where you and old Barty make all the decisions and then inform me as an afterthought?”
“It’s not like that. I’m telling you now.”
“After you’ve already made decisions about my life… my job… my child. Because that is my child, Beatrice,” I say, pointing to her belly. “He or she is half mine.”
“Fine, then you can raise the fucking kid, Phoenix,” she shouts.
God, she is pissing me off right now, and I toss my hands in the air and stalk away a few steps, inhaling and exhaling a few times before whirling back to face my fiancée.
“That’s exactly what the fuck I said a few minutes ago. I said I will raise this baby.”
Beatrice fists her hands on her hips, jutting her chin out.
“And I told you I don’t want to be a part of that.
No matter our arrangement, I will be judged for not being involved.
” She puts on a mocking tone. “Poor little Junior’s mommy never comes to his award programs. Why can’t she ever show up to anything?
What a piece of shit Phoenix’s wife must be.
” She glares at me like I personally said those things.
I’m confused, feeling like she’s talking in circles. “So why did you say I could raise the kid and then say the opposite two seconds later?”
She glares at me. “If I’m in the picture, I will be the bad guy, and you’ll eventually come to resent me, so I guess I’m saying you have a choice to make, Phoenix. Me or the baby.”
I storm into the penthouse room with my heart in my throat.
“Hey, man,” Helix says, handing me a glass of champagne as I pass. “What did Bea want?”
Remi walks in from the bedroom while I’m shotgunning the bubbly liquid. “Your tux is all ready. I just…”
His eyes widen when I rip the suit from him and sling it across the room. Then I throw the empty champagne flute against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces, which matches the state of my heart.
“Bro,” Helix says, guiding me to the couch, which is the same style as the one in Beatrice’s suite. The same couch I sat on while she blew up my entire life. My twin’s voice goes soft as our older brother sits on the other side of me. “What’s going on?”
“The wedding is off,” I inform them flatly, looking from Helix’s blue eyes to Remi’s brown ones. Then the tiniest of smiles crests my lips. “And I’m going to be a daddy.”