The Rich Billionaire's Secret

a shame that he had to wear a shirt at all, Daisy thought, because Conrad's chest deserved to be put on display. Her eyes moved down to his strong thighs and the even strongest evidence of desire be

ooking at her like she really hadn't heard her correctly. Daisy sighed. "I'm pregnant, mom." "You're what?" "I'm scared, mom." Daisy said, feeling like she would cry for the first time since finding out. She needed her mother to hold her and tell that everything would be fine; but judging by the look on her face, that would not be happening anytime soon. "Does James know?" her mother finally asked after a long moment of silence. Daisy shook her head. "It's not his." "But you are not dating someone else, are you?" "I'm not. It was a one-time thing." Daisy replied in almost a whisper, feeling shame over her actions. "It's about to turn into a lifetime thing from the looks of it! Daisy Lang, how could you be so reckless?" Daisy had asked herself that same question repeatedly, but it brought no solutions. So, she remained quiet and let her mother get it out of her system. She paced the room for a few minutes before coming to stand in front of Daisy again and continuing. "You'll have to pretend that it's James'." Daisy looked at her mother in shock. "What?" "You heard me, it's the only way." She stood up and walked away from her mother, trying to get some distance between them. She felt nauseous at the suggestion, and this time it wasn't pregnancy hormones, but her conscience instead. "You can't raise a child on your own," her mother said firmly. "I know it is hard, mom, but I cannot and will not pretend that this baby is James'. It's not even that I hate his guts. Doing this would just be wrong," Daisy answered, trying to bite back a scowl. "I'm worried about you, Daisy," her mom finally pleaded. "Raising a child alone is a lot harder than you think it is. Not only a financial point of view, but emotional as well. I don't think you've thought all of this through." Daisy sighed, feeling hopeless. She understood what her mother was saying, but she couldn't agree with her suggestion. She would work two jobs, or even three, to support her child before she lied about something so big and consequential. There was just no way that she was going to trick James into helping to raise her child. "I have thought about nothing else from the moment I saw those two lines, mom. And I won't even lie and say I'm not scared, or I have everything figured out, because I don't. I'm scared out of my mind, but lying to James is out of the question." Daisy kept her voice deceptively calm, observing her mom's reaction with a critical eye. "James loves you-" "James cheated on me, mom!" Daisy cried out, cutting her mid-sentence. She looked at her mother in disbelief, wondering how she could have forgotten what happened. James didn't care about her, he only cared about himself. But she still would not trick him into taking responsibility for her child. "Daisy, listen to me. You need to put your feelings aside and think about your future. You'll be waking up alone in the middle of the night. You'll be responsible for the medical bills and childcare all on your own. Your child will need the security and stability that two parents can bring." It was so tempting when her mother put it like that. But this was her responsibility, and she would do whatever it took to make sure her child had everything that they needed, despite not having a father in their life. "I will make sure that this child has all they need, mom. And I will do it without bringing James into this whole equation." Daisy didn't want to fight with her mother over this. She needed all the support she could get. Just not the type of support that her mother was suggesting. After a minute of silence, it looked like neither of them was budging. Finally, her mom exploded. "You know what, fine. Go and do what you want." "I need you to understand, mom-" "And I need you to start to behave like an adult," Daisy's mom shouted, interrupting Daisy with fire in her eyes. "You can't afford to hold such high moral standards when you need to put that child first." "Would you have done that to dad? If someone else had gotten you pregnant?" Daisy asked, trying to appeal to her mother. "I wasn't the one stupid enough to have unprotected sex with a stranger. I know I taught you to have better sense than that!" "I'm sorry we can't all be perfect like you!" Daisy threw back, instantly regretting it when she saw the look on her mother's face. "You want to do this on your own? Then do it. But don't expect me to support you and your child. I raised mine. Now it's time for you to do the same on your own. I want you out of the house in an hour." "Mom-" "No," her mother said, raising her hand for her to