Billionaire’s Lost Lover

1. Tanya

1

TANYA

I have to get out of here.

In a blind panic, I quickly snatch my keys off the bed, but I hit them too hard, and they fly off the mattress, hitting the floor with a sound that feels like electric jolts are shooting through my body and into my frayed nerves. Quickly grabbing the keys from the floor, I stumble my way through the penthouse. My shoulder is knocking into the walls as I go. By the time I’m in the elevator, my breathing is labored, and it feels like I can’t get any air.

The elevator dings as it reaches the garage, and I run to the car that I rented yesterday to escape, I just need to get out of this apartment and clear my head. Even just for a day. My hands are shaking so badly that it takes me three tries to push the right button to unlock the doors. The car finally beeps, and I yank the door open, sliding into the seat and quickly buckling before starting the car and backing out the spot faster than I probably should have. The tires squeal against the pavement as I turn the car around the corner to head to the exit of the garage.

I have to work at not speeding through the city as I head for the highway. Surrounded by all the buildings and people I still feel trapped. I make it to the highway and find the first exit that I know will take me to a back road.

Once I get to the road and see it’s clear, I’m able to push the pedal a little more and watch as the speedometer creeps up higher and higher.

The further I am from the city, the easier it is to breathe. I can finally take a deep breath and feel my shoulders relax away from my ears.

The road ahead of me is just an empty straight shot, no one in sight and no buildings to make me feel like I’m being trapped. Just the open road and green as far as I can see. I roll down the windows and let the air rush into the car, and as the wind whips my hair around, I start to feel the freedom that I was looking for.

Here on this road, I don’t have to worry about anything. I don’t have to make any decisions. I just focus on the pavement in front of me and let it lead me to wherever it goes.

After about thirty minutes of driving, I finally feel like myself fully. After all the panic and desperation I felt this morning, I know that I’m not going to last much longer and my adrenaline is going to wear off. I need to start thinking of what to do.

Do I go back?

Do I find a place to stay for the night?

What am I going to tell him?

The road starts to curve and wind.

I know he’s going to be happy about this, but I don’t know if I am.

When I first read the test and it was positive, I was in shock. I had wanted to run. Run from the apartment and run from him. I didn’t know if I could do something like that to him, but I did know that I was terrified of what was going to happen. The life he has doesn’t have much room for any kind of changes, and this is a big change.

Everything happens in a split second. I see the flash of brown, the deer appears in front of me, then I’m headed toward the ditch. My foot is stuck to the pedal as I fly off the shoulder of the road.

Suddenly, my body feels like it’s floating, my hands are forced above my head, and glass is flying all over the car. I can’t tell what I’m looking at out the windshield, it’s just a swirl of green and gray. Once the car stops moving and my hands are touching the roof of the car, I realize the car flipped and that I’m looking at the outside world still spinning around after the car flew through the air in a spiral.

I can’t move and my whole body aches. I groan and look around to see if there is anyone nearby to help. Placing my hand on the roof, I try and push myself up to see if I can try and get out of the seatbelt, but it’s digging into my stomach, and I’m trapped. I reach toward the lap belt and try to move it away from my stomach, but it’s stuck too tightly. I let go of the belt since I can’t hold my arm up any longer at this angle. I let it drop back to the roof, and I’m suddenly very lightheaded and can’t keep my eyes open.

“Ma’am? Can you hear me? It’s alright. If you can hear me, I’ve called for help; just stay still and they will be here soon. No, don’t move; they told me to tell you to stay as still as possible.”

I can hear someone talking, but I don’t know who it is or what they are talking about. I try to move my head so I can see who is talking, but I’m too tired and fall back to sleep.

“Hold her head and neck steady, I’m going to cut the belt, then we can pull her out.”

There are more voices all around me, and I just want them to go away. I just want to sleep. I don’t know why they are here, but they need to go.

Tell them to go away.

“Ch-Ch—” I try to talk, but I can’t get out any more before I start to cough. Something warm and wet lands on my lips as I cough something up. It tastes like blood. I try to move my hand to wipe it away, but someone stops me.

“No, it’s okay. Don’t move. We need you to keep very still, okay?”

I think I nod. I stop moving, then I feel like I’m falling for a split second before hands are all over me and I’m floating. The sun hits my closed eyes, and I squint against it.

The voices that are surrounding me are starting to fade, and I’m grateful that whoever is here has finally decided to leave and let me sleep.

I’m staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror when I should be getting ready for my shift at that local café. I take in my dark brown, almost black, curly hair that comes to just below my chest, my emerald green eyes, and my small round nose in the middle of my round face. I twist and turn my body to look at all of my curves in the Cozy Corner Café T-shirt and blue jeans I’m wearing. The shirt is a little on the small side, but I’ve gotten used to wearing clothes that don’t fit. That’s what happens when you live in a small town without much around and mainly buy from thrift stores.

It’s my reflection that I’m staring at, my own eyes that I’m meeting when I look at the woman in front of me, but I have no idea who she is.

Not like I’m a floundering millennial, but more like I have zero recollection of my life prior to the last nine years.

The only thing I can remember about my past is the day I woke up in the hospital of Willow Creek, a very small town an hour outside of New York City, after a very serious car accident. I have no idea why I was in Willow Creek; no one here seems to have known me before the accident. The only things that I know for certain about me are that I was three months pregnant when I had the accident and that my name is Tanya.

The car I had been driving didn’t have anything inside of it when the paramedics rescued me, and mine had been the only car involved in the accident, or the only one that was still at the scene. The only other tangible thing that I had on me was a mysterious locket that I had around my neck. Inside of the locket was a small inscription that read:

To my sweet Tanya,

I’m ready to face the world with you. I love you.

C.

Something about the necklace made me feel drawn to it, like whoever gave it to me was important. I wore it around my neck every day.

“Mommy! We’re going to be late!”

I smile when I hear Sophia’s voice yell for me down the hall.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. We aren’t going to be late.” I roll my eyes at her dramatics.

If there is one thing to say about my girl, it’s that she is a stickler for a set schedule. I walk into our kitchen to see Sophia standing at our side door with her backpack on and her little fists balled on her hips. I raise my eyebrow at her stance and try not to let her see how much I’m trying not to laugh.

“And what exactly is your problem, Little Lady?”

I move about the small kitchen of the modest cottage that we live in and make my coffee while I wait for her to decide to tell me.

When I was released from the hospital after the accident, I still had no idea who I was, and no one had come around to claim me. I needed a place to live, and the kind residents of Willow Creek helped me get back on my feet; they found me a place to rent and a job. I have lived in this cabin and worked as a barista at Cozy Corner Café since the day I left the hospital.

Today is the ninth anniversary of the day that Mr. Robert found me in that car. Every year on this day, I can’t help but think back on everything that has happened. I’ve created this new life, and I honestly have no idea what I would do if my old one came knocking. I’ve made sure to make this our home; I even decided to use the last name Roberts in a way to anchor us to these people and this place.

“Mommy, I don’t want to be late for the first day of school.”

I just finish making my coffee when Sophia finally speaks up.

“And what makes you think we are going to be late?”

I close the lid of my coffee mug and turn to face her.

“Because I’m done getting ready, and we still haven’t gone. You are always telling me that we are going to be late while I’m still getting ready.”

I sputter out a laugh as I take a sip of my coffee and have to catch some that dribbles down my chin.

She’s not wrong.

I have to clear my throat before speaking. “Well, I woke you up a little early today so that I could take you. We are leaving just on time, so don’t worry, okay?”

I can see her visibly relax.

“Oh, okay.”

A snort escapes me before I can stop it.

“Don’t you think this is a good time to think about how you need to listen to me in the mornings, though?”

She rolls her eyes, and I can’t really reprimand her about it when I’m the one she learned it from.

“I know, Mommy.”

The sass is strong in this one.

I smile down at her as she shuffles from foot to foot, obviously nervous about her first day of second grade. I still can’t believe that she’s eight already and in second grade. All my memories have her in them. I don’t know what I would do without her. She means everything to me. She has my dark curly hair, but her eyes are a stranger’s eyes, they are a beautiful sea blue with a golden circle surrounding the pupil.

Every time I meet a new person, I can’t help but study their eyes to see if I can find someone with her eyes. I haven’t found a single person with matching eyes, and it always makes me wonder if she gets them from her father.

“Alright, let’s go, sweet pea.”

I hold my hand out for her to take, and we head out to walk to her elementary school. Luckily for me, Willow Creek is a small enough town that we can walk everywhere we need to go. Our cabin is just on the edge of town, but there is a shortcut through a small patch of woods that has a trail leading straight to the town square. We’ve walked this road almost every day for the last nine years, back and forth from home to town and back.

The road is lined with red maple trees on each side, and since it’s September, the leaves are just starting to change their colors. It’s one of the things that I love about Willow Creek. The beautiful trees that change colors in the fall and how the town was built around nature and didn’t destroy it. I feel so much peace being here, and again, I have to wonder why I was headed here all those years ago.

Did its landscape appeal to me then as well?

It’s been hard not knowing who I am.

I had been terrified when I left the hospital. I felt like they were just sending me off into the world without a hand to hold. They expected me to take care of myself and the unborn child in me without having any understanding of what was happening.

I look down at Sophia skipping next to me now and wish that I could tell that scared, lost girl that everything would work out in the end. That we would make it through with our baby and be happy. That there was nothing to be scared of.

After dropping Sophia off for her first day of second grade, I make my way to the café for my shift. The bell over the door rings out as I open it, and everyone behind the counter calls out a hello.

I smile and wave at everyone as I make my way behind the counter and into the back area to put my things up and grab my apron.

“Happy ninth birthday!”

Laughing, I turn to face the owner of the café and one of my closet friends, Ms. Poppy. Over the years, it has become a running joke that my birthday is the day I arrived here and had my accident. Ms. Poppy said that if the people who had birthdays on leap day were able to claim being younger, then so should I. I tried to tell her years ago that it didn’t matter to me, but she’s been insistent that everyone should celebrate their own birth with the people they love. None of us really know my age, but we guess I’m somewhere in my late twenties or early to mid-thirties.

“Thanks, Ms. Poppy. Were we busy this morning?”

I would rather not acknowledge today if I could help it, I didn’t like all the attention on me, and it reminded me of everything I still didn’t know about myself.

Ms. Poppy tells me about the morning as I get started on some of the drink orders that are waiting; it seems that with it being the first day of school, we had more customers than usual, and it stays that way all day. I love days like this one. Where we have a constant flow of people coming and going. It keeps me busy and out of my own head.

On the walk home after I pick up Sophia, she tells me all about her first day. I lucked out with my kid; she loves school and hates when she has to miss even half a day.

“My new teacher, Miss Hale, says that we get to have both reading time and recess time during the week.”

“Really?”

I barely have to say anything as she prattles on, and I love nothing more than to listen to her talk. By the time we make it home, it’s time for me to get dinner started. I get her set up at the kitchen counter where I can help her with her homework if she needs it and start getting dinner ready for the two of us.

Some people may see how my life is and think that there has to be more to it. They may think that I should be doing everything in my power to find out about my past, but I don’t see it that way. I have no idea what I would find if I went looking for who I was before Willow Creek. I have no way of knowing if my life was a good one, if I was a good person, or why I was coming to Willow Creek.

Just as I’m putting dinner into the oven, my phone rings from where I left it in my bag by the door.

“Will you grab that for me, Soph?”

Sophia jumps down from her chair and runs to grab my phone for me as I get the timer started. When she brings me my phone, I see it’s Kayla, one of the nurses that took care of me. She has become one of my best friends over the years.

“Hey, you. I thought you were working the night shift tonight?”

I set the phone on speaker and start to clean up the dishes I used to make the casserole.

“I am. I’m here now, but I wanted to ask you something. Well, kinda, you can’t say no.”

I scoff in response.

“So, why are you asking me if I can’t say no?”

“Just listen to everything before you say no.”

It’s never good when Kayla wants me to do something for her and she’s already preparing for me to say no.

“Just get on with it, Kayla.”

“Alright, alright. So, the hospital is hosting this charity gala this weekend, and all the staff are able to attend for free and are being strongly encouraged to go.”

I stop what I’m doing and hold the phone in my hand, already knowing where she is going with this.

“Kayla.”

“Wait! Let me finish. Anyway, we are all strongly being encouraged to go, and since I’m woefully single right now, I need you to come with me. You can even bring Sophia. They told us that it is a gala for children’s education, and it would be great to have children there.”

I don’t like the idea of going somewhere with a lot of people around that I don’t know. I’m not comfortable in crowds, and Kayla knows this.

“Come on, Tanya. We can make it a girls’ day, and the three of us will have so much fun. When are we ever going to be able to say that we went to a fancy charity gala? Sophia would love it.”

I look over to see Sophia looking very hopeful. She’s heard everything Kayla has said, and I don’t know if I have it in me to tell them both no and crush the excitement I see in Soph’s eyes. She sits on her knees on the chair and puts her hands on the table, leaning toward me.

“I don’t know. Isn’t it expected for people to bid on things and donate? I don’t really have the money for that.”

I’m scrambling for reasons not to go and both Kayla and Sophia know it.

“Nope. None of the staff or the people they bring are expected to bid on anything. The bigwigs will be there and will have enough money to spend, anything more is just going to be extra.”

I know no matter what I say she is going to have a comeback, and eventually, I’m going to agree to go. I let out a long sigh and Sophia starts bouncing in her chair.

“Neither Sophia nor I have anything to wear to a charity gala.”

“Mommy!”

I laugh at Sophia’s exasperated tone, and Kayla’s next words match her frustration.

“That’s fine. You and I are the same size, and then we can go out and buy little miss Sophia a cute new dress for her to wear. Come on, it will be so fun! We can go shopping and get our hair and nails done in the morning, and then go back to your place to get ready before going to the hospital for the event.”

I really need to learn not to talk to Kayla on speaker.

“Fine. We’ll go.”

Sophia squeals and jumps down from the chair and starts running around the cabin.

“Sophia, slow down!”

Kayla laughs as I try and get my overexcited eight-year-old to calm down.

“Well, at least I know you won’t back out on me since she already knows about it.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. Now she’s not going to stop asking me about it, and then she’s going to wake me up at an ungodly hour the morning of.”

Kayla’s snicker comes through the phone, and I roll my eyes.

“Just be ready by eight Saturday morning, and I will come pick you guys up; we’ll make it a day.”

We say a quick goodbye, and when I end the call, Sophia is still running around the house and has now made up a song to go along with her excitement.

“Girls’ day! Girls’ day! We’re going to a party! Girls’ day! Girls’ day!”

I laugh and shake my head at her enthusiasm. There are so many things that she does on a daily basis that make me wonder if she got it from whoever her father is. That familiar guilt turns my stomach as I think about the fact that she only has me. I dread the day she asks me about her daddy. How do you explain to an eight-year-old that you don’t know who her daddy is because you don’t even know who you are?

“Alright, crazy girl. Come back here, you need to finish your homework before dinner is ready.”

She jump-hops across the living room and into the dining room to sit back in her chair.

“Mommy, how many days is it until Saturday?”

Here we go.

“Five days.”

The look of horror that crosses her face makes me smile.

“It is going to go by quicker than you think, baby girl. You are going to be too busy having fun at school to notice the time passing. Now, is there anything that I need to do for you for school?”

We go over all of the first day paperwork that we both have to fill out and get her binder set up. It’s odd to me that I am able to do everyday tasks and obviously have the knowledge needed to function, but I have no memory of learning any of it. I can’t remember my time in school or if I liked it like Sophia does or not.

Once the timer for dinner goes off, Sophia puts her school things away and I take the casserole out of the oven. I’m distracted through dinner as Sophia talks about what kind of dress she wants to wear to the charity gala. I had to explain to her what it was and that we needed to dress up for it. It might have been a mistake to do so because it just amped up her excitement. I’m happy that she is excited for it, but I’m not looking forward to going to this event.

Sophia crawls into her bed, and as I sit on the edge to tuck her in, she looks up at me with her unique eyes and says, “I can’t wait for Saturday.”

I laugh and kiss her head, picking up a book to read to her. She’s asleep before I can finish it, and as I climb into bed with my body aching from being up all day, I can’t shake the feeling that something big is about to happen.