Free Fated (BBW BWWM Billionaire Romance): A Second Chance Novella (Tied to Him: My BFF Book 1) by Rowena

a cry as she quickly wipes her face.
    “You can’t just fucking disappear,” she says. “You could have texted or something—let me know when you planned to talk. You have to let me know what’s up; you have to check in!”
    “I know, and I’m sorry I took so long, but I’ve been making arrangements for you guys at home the past few days. I don’t ever want to be away from you again, Nina, and all I’ve been doing is working on making sure that doesn’t happen. As mad as I was at you, I wasn’t letting you go again.”
    Her face slackens.
    “Wait, you want to move us into your mansion?”
    “Of course! What other option is there? My child is not staying in that neighborhood, and I want you both with me.”
    Nina fixes her face and mouth as if to protest, but nothing comes out of her lips.
    Yeah, I’d have trouble coming up with pros of living where they are now too. A shit-ton of cons, though—no doubt.
    “Fine,” she finally says. “But I want Bianca to stay at her school. It’s a good one!”
    “I have my assistant on it, and if she finds that it is indeed a good one, Bianca gets to stay.”
    “You can’t have things totally your way, Brent—not all the time. We’re gonna have to compromise.”
    “Absolutely! And when the time for dissent comes, we’ll deal with it and present pros and cons, and whoever makes the best argument wins.”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    “You mean, just to make you feel better, I should let you win here and there?”
    She nods, smiling a bit.
    I shake my head firmly. “Not when it comes to the security of a Colton heir. You are way out of your league when it comes to how this part of the world works, Nina, and if you want to insist Bianca only eats gluten-free or something, fine, but I will not have my daughter in a vulnerable position just so you can feel good about getting your way, understood?”
    Her eyes widen a little, reflecting several emotions. If I’m not seeing things, I swear I see respect, and even desire in them. Well, my voice did have some added base to it.
    “Yes, sir!” she says, and I can tell she meant it to come out sounding mocking, but she fails miserably. She likes what she just saw; she’s good with me putting my foot down.
    She has no idea what she’s in for.
    “Much better,” I say. “Alternatively, you can use ‘Mr. Colton…’”
    She lightly punches me in the arm.
    “There’s another matter we have to take care of,” I say soberly, and she regards me warily.
    “I’m going to arrange to be added to her birth certificate soon, and Bianca will begin to be formally integrated into the family, but I don’t like the idea of having an illegitimate child.”
    “Well, there’s nothing you can do about that, can you? Too late! She was born that way.”
    “You’re wrong, Nina—there is something I can do about that.”
    I squeeze her hands then reach into my glove box and pull out a small box.
    Even while I stewed over the situation, I had no doubt what I wanted most of all.
    Two days after our silent falling-out I picked a ring out, and now, two days after that, I finally get to show it to her.
    Over the past few days, I’d been thinking about how to bring it up—how to get us back together and talk things through, and how to set up a proposal, but now, partly because of my dad’s intrusion, the two of us tucked inside my Ferrari somehow seems like the best time.
    “My sweet, brave Nina—my oldest friend and intermittent lover…” I earn another punch in the arm for that, and I’m impressed by her aim since her eyes are glued to the ring box.
    I flip it open and her trapped tears catch the light of the diamond.
    “Will you marry me?”
    She finally looks up and stares at me for at least ten seconds—the longest ten seconds of my life.
    “You’re kidding me,” she says.
    “How could I possibly be? I have been denying how I felt about you for years, and now my love for you has not only come to the surface but