A Billionaire for Christmas

“Good. Good-bye, Peyton.”

“Good-bye, Raji-lee.”

Peyton considered knocking on her door and having it out with her in person, but Raji had made her decision. He was a progressive, modern man who respected women’s decisions about their lives, not a caveman who would beat down her door and demand that she marry him, trapping her with him forever, merely because a condom broke and—

—and she was carrying his child, a squirmy little bundle of humanity and the only heir to the Cabot fortune.

But she was right. If things didn’t work out between them, having a child always hurt the woman more career-wise, and he had always known that Raji was balanced on a knife’s edge of what she could handle. Her willingness to submit to anything he had wanted so that he would distract her from the stress had proven that to him repeatedly.

No, Peyton Cabot wouldn’t force a woman to abandon her dreams of being a—he sighed—cardiothoracic surgeon.

He walked out of Raji’s building and called for a ride back to the airport with the ring box weighing heavily in his pocket.Chapter Thirty-SixScrubbing InRaji and Beth were scrubbing in for surgery, running the soft bristles of their scrub brushes under their short nails and over their hands and arms. Water poured from the faucets above the long trench sink. The soap smelled more like chemical disinfectant than proper soap. No sandalwood or lilac at all.

On the other side of Beth, Joshua the anesthesiologist was also scrubbing in and going at his palms with the brush like he was trying to make sure that the cops wouldn’t find incriminating blood evidence. Man, he was scrubbing as if he were a real surgeon or something.

Beth glanced at Raji, her blue eyes narrowed.

Raji had been ducking Beth’s calls, and she knew that suspicious look meant Beth was going to interrogate her just as soon as Joshua left the room.

The susurration of scrubbing and rushing water filled the room because no one was saying a word.

Joshua dried and walked away, his hands held in front of him and above his waist, backing through the swinging door.

Beth said to Raji, “You haven’t done it yet, have you?”

“No.” Raji scrubbed her cuticles around her nails with the soft brush. The soap foamed between her fingers.

“So what’s your plan?”

Raji shrugged. “Same as it ever was.”

“Look, I don’t want to pressure you—”

“But you totally are.”

“—I just want what’s best for you.”

“I don’t know what’s best for me yet.”

“But I do know that if you don’t make a decision soon, you’re going to run out of options.”

“There’s kind of been a development.”

“A development? Like you don’t have to make the decision at all?” Beth asked.

“Like Peyton kind of isn’t in the picture anymore.”

“What?” Beth grabbed her hands, which meant they both had to start the scrubbing process all over, dammit.

Raji told her, “We aren’t together. I’m not seeing him anymore.”

“That son of a bitch dumped you because you’re pregnant? I will kill him.”

Yes, Beth was that loca friend whom Raji could call if she ever needed somebody whacked. “That’s not exactly how it went down.”

“Did you kill him? Pregnancy hormones can do terrible things. No jury of women will convict you.”

“No, Beth. I didn’t kill Peyton Cabot.”

“That’s good. Keep denying it. They probably have cameras in here for insurance reasons.” Beth looked up at the ceiling. “Did you hear that? She said she didn’t kill him. Someone else must have done it. I was right here, too. You saw me. There’s video. That’s my alibi.”

“Beth! Peyton Cabot isn’t dead. He’s still very much alive, and he’s back with Killer Valentine. They’re taking the rest of the year off because Xan Valentine and his wife are going to have a baby. Evidently, they had a miscarriage some time earlier, and she took it pretty hard, so she’s freaked out about this one. Their schedule doesn’t matter to me, though. Peyton and I broke up.”

Beth set her fists on her hips. “I will kill his ass. I will kill his ass and then burn his ass to ashes.”

“It got kind of complicated.”

“Complicated, how?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. We’re just not together anymore.”

“If you’re going to go through with it, shouldn’t you inform him that he has a kid somewhere in the world? Just so he doesn’t get blindsided someday.”

“He said it was all up to me,” Raji said, “that he would do whatever I wanted him to, and that I could do whatever I wanted. I’m taking his option. I want to give this baby to my cousin, who desperately needs a child to complete her family and get her in-laws off her back, and I want to do it without dealing with a bunch of crazy emotional stuff. If I can be a cold-blooded lizard person, then I can do it. If things get all sloppy and emotional, this will break me.”