Filthy Rich 1 by Scarlett Skyes Page B

turned eighteen, we
actually went out to a restaurant to celebrate it for the first
time in… ever. My Mom said it was for her and I to have some ‘us’
time because it was my special day and things might be very
different in our future. The way she was talking certainly raised
my suspicions, it was really odd, but when I questioned her about
it, she just said that today was all about me, about her and I
against the world, and to just have a good time. So I did.
    The very next day, however, she
said we had to have a ‘serious talk’ and she sat next to me on the
sofa, pulling something out of her pocket. She opened the small
velvety case and showed me a ring with a huge diamond so bright
that I almost had to shield my eyes.
    “Really?”
    “Yes.”
    “ Really? ”
    “Sort of…”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, there are… uh… some
conditions.”
    “Like a pre-nup?”
    “Yeah… but there’s a little more
to it.”
    “Just spit it out, I’m dying
here, we need to celebrate. Wait, you said yes, right?”
    “No.”
    “ What!? ”
    “I needed to speak with you
first.”
    I was almost floored. “No you
didn’t!”
    “Yes, I did, it’s about the
conditions. They… uh… involve you.”
    My heart sank and I began
thinking the worst. I had some issues about my lack of a Father.
Despite my Mom’s assurances, I always had to wonder if he left
because of me. What were these conditions? Was it that he didn’t
want me in their life? That would be the worst for me, another
rejection like that.
    “Does he want me to… stay here
when you go to live with him?” I asked. “Because, if he does… you
should still say yes, Mom, I want you to be happy.”
    “No, it’s not that. It’s…”
    “Come on.”
    “He wants you.”
    “He wants me to what?”
    “He wants you . He wants
an heir… uh… and he wants you to provide it for him.”
    “He wants me to be his
heir?”
    “No, he wants you to provide it for him, the natural way.”
    “What? But…”
    “I know… it’s insane, but he’s a
good man, really. And he can save us from all this,” my Mom did a
general gesture around our shabby apartment.
    “But Mom,” I lowered my eyes and
whispered, “I haven’t even had sex yet.”
    She paused for a moment and put
her hand out to place it on my knee.
    “I know, baby… it’s too much to
ask, isn’t it? I’m sorry for bringing it up, I should have just
told him you wouldn’t do it… it was just so much harder to think
when he was right there.”
    My Mom pulled her phone out of
her pocket and began pressing buttons, presumably to find Cal’s
contact details. I was surprised at the turmoil of emotions inside
of me. Indignation that he thought he could just use me to breed,
like I was his property or something. Embarrassment at having to
mention my sexual experience, or lack thereof, to my Mom. Shock at
the whole situation.
    Those were all the emotions I
was expecting. What I wasn’t expecting was the flicker of
hope at having the power to change our lives. The urge to stop my
Mom from dialling that number was also there. Most unexpected was
the faint tingle of flattery and shameful lust. Cal Willis was
possibly the most eligible bachelor in the country… and he wanted me for sex and an heir.
    I thought back to the times I
had met him, each encounter had left me feeling even more flustered
than the first, and now it all started to make sense. The lingering
stares, the borderline-inappropriate touching, like when he had
squeezed past me in the hallway, his crotch brushing against my
ass. I had sworn at the time that I felt a bulge in his
pants, but brushed it off as my imagination. Now I wasn’t so sure,
but the thought of him taking me had certainly sprinted
through my mind when it happened. I reached out and placed my hand
on top of my Mom’s.
    “Wait… let’s think about this a
bit more.”
    *****
    I stared out the window of the
limousine as it slowed to a halt outside the grandest house