My One-Night Stand Vanished Seven Years Ago — Now The Billionaire Wants To Be A Father
Part 1
Seven years is a long time to carry a secret.
I scrubbed the linoleum floors of the corporate towers until my knuckles cracked and bled.
Lily sat in the corner of the janitor’s closet with her crayons, drawing families with two parents.
Every time she asked about her dad, a heavy stone settled in my chest.
I always told her he was a good man who simply got lost.
The truth was much simpler.
I met a man at a college masquerade party, gave him my heart for one night, and woke up to an empty bed.
He left a note with a number that I accidentally washed in my jeans pocket.
That was the end of my youth and the beginning of my life as a single mother.
I dropped out of school, put on a uniform, and made Lily my entire world.
I never expected the past to collide with my present during a silly matchmaking event.
A local tech company was hosting a promotional stream for their new dating app, Surprise Match.
Lily dragged me into the crowd, her little hands pulling me toward the stage.
She shouted into the microphone that her mommy needed a husband.
My face burned with humiliation as the crowd laughed.
The host of the event, a man in a sharp suit, locked eyes with me.
His name was Greg Dawson, the billionaire CEO of the company.
My breath caught in my throat.
He looked exactly like the man from the masquerade party.
Older, sharper, but undeniable.
I grabbed Lily’s hand and rushed out the door before he could recognize me.
I thought I had escaped, but Greg was not a man who let things go.
The next day, he showed up at the office building where I pushed my mop bucket.
He didn’t mention the party from seven years ago.
Instead, he held out a phone with his dating app loaded on the screen.
He insisted I try it, just to humor him.
Every time I swiped, the algorithm matched me with him.
I rolled my eyes, assuming it was a gimmick to get a date.
I agreed to one dinner, mostly to get him to leave my cleaning cart alone.
He took us to a diner, ordered Lily’s favorite dinosaur-shaped nuggets, and listened to her chatter for hours.
He didn’t treat me like a janitor with a bastard child.
He looked at me like I was the only woman in the room.
The walls I built around my heart began to crack.
We started spending weekends together, going on camping trips and playing in his pool.
Lily adored him.
She drew pictures of him holding our hands.
I was terrified of the hope blooming in my chest.
I knew his social circle would never accept a woman who scrubbed toilets for a living.
My fears materialized at a birthday party for one of Lily’s classmates.
The host was Heather, a woman I knew from my college days.
Heather despised me back then, and her hatred had only aged like sour wine.
She cornered me by the dessert table with a vicious smirk.
She announced to the entire room that I was a college dropout who didn’t even know the name of her baby’s daddy.
The room went silent, the wealthy parents staring at me with naked disgust.
I grabbed Lily, tears blurring my vision, ready to run.
A strong hand caught my shoulder.
Greg stepped in front of me, his jaw tight with quiet fury.
He stared Heather down and stated clearly that he was Lily’s father.
The collective gasp in the room echoed off the vaulted ceiling.
He turned to me, his eyes softening as he pulled a velvet box from his pocket.
He admitted he never stopped looking for me after that night.
He went down on one knee right there in the middle of the hostile crowd.
I nodded, pulling him into a desperate embrace.
We left the party hand in hand, leaving Heather stammering in shock.
I thought our nightmare was finally over.
I didn’t notice Heather following us out to the parking lot.
She was erratic, screaming about how I ruined her reputation.
I saw the glint of steel in her hand just a second too late.
Greg shoved me out of the way as she lunged.
He crumpled to the pavement, his blood soaking my hands, and I realized I was about to lose the love of my life for the second time.
