Page 56 of Billionaire's Secret Baby

“Don’t you realize what this means?” I said. “He must have got the birth certificate then! That’s how he did it!”

“There’s no evidence that Luca went anywhere your birth certificate might be. No hospitals, not city hall. I’ve already had my team check surveillance footage from the day.”

“So why did you call me?” I said, desperately.

“I just want you to know what I’m thinking,” said O’Rourke.

Of course, he hadn’t told me what he was thinking. But he didn’t have to. I realized that the detective, irksome though he was, was starting to believe me. The evidence didn’t add up.

“Well, I appreciate that, Detective,” I said.

“Be seeing you.”

Things were looking up now. I had a plan to save my businesses from Luca. And I also had a detective on my side, a fearsome man who believed me, who was going to uncover the truth about what had been done.

But my heart was heavy, and that night I slept in snatches, dreaming of Lola, and the little girl with blue eyes.

Chapter 17

Lola

“Dearlybeloved,”saidthepriest. “We are gathered here today…”

For a crock of lies, I thought to myself.

The last three weeks had been a grueling escapade of planning. Hundreds and hundreds of decisions, which had to be made, decisions that people spent years making.

The first and most important decision of all. Who should we tell? Zeke was the only person who knew. He looked at me the next day, with a guilty expression.

“Hey,” he said, while I glared at him, a wide smile bursting onto my lips. “It’s a good excuse for a party?”

“Where are we going to have it?” I said.

“Why, here of course.”

“What? AtThe Blue Orchid? What good’s a wedding party if you can’t drink?”

“Private event,” said Zeke, with a wink. “And I hear they’ve got an excellent cellar here.”

When I saw the wine menu, I was flabbergasted. I ran up to the office to talk to Alex.

“You’ve ordered fifty bottles of champagne!”

“Well, it is my wedding,” said Alex. “Besides, we’ll need them for the fountain!”

“The fountain?” I said.

“Yeah. We’re gonna have one of those towers of champagne glasses, of course.”

“Alex, that’s crazy. This isn’t even—” I lowered my voice, my eyes darting to the door. “This isn’t even areal wedding.”

“It’s got tolookreal, though,” he told me. And he was right, I guess. We had to put on a show of a real-life couple, who really did think this was the greatest day of their lives. And in some ways, I supposed it was: it would be a party to end all parties. Even if the wedding at the center of the occasion wasn’t real.

“I just feel guilty, is all,” I said.

“Look at it this way,” Alex replied. “You get to plan the most extravagant party you can. On my dollar. Have fun! Will you give this drinks list to Andy?”

I rolled my eyes—Alex might now have me as his fake-fiancée, but he still wasn’t afraid of bossing me around. But I obliged him by running down to Andy, where I slapped the list of expensive wines and fancy cocktails down on the bar. “Boss’s orders,” I said cheekily.