After Divorce Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant (Leonica and Gabriel)

with a sigh, Lloyd stood up from the bed, deciding that first he would take a bath, and then try figuring out the rest of his day. But a note on his lamp side caught his attention. He reached for it, reading the neatly scribbled words. 'Thanks for letting me crash the night. I'll see you around.'

The letter read. Lloyd had read it once again for good measures, before he crumpled and threw it to the side, shaking his head as he chuckled. "You're a mystery, Johansson"

And for the first time in his life, Lloyd he liked that. A woman who wasn't so easy to read. A new challenge, he would have called it, but some reason, he knew Anastasia was going to be far more than that.

Locating his phone, he called a private investigator friend of his. As the phone rang, Lloyd tapped his foot impatiently. Only did he stop after the line had been answered. "Lloyd, what's up?"

"Andrew, hey, I uh, need a favor from you."

"Go on.

"I need you to run a background check on Anastasia Johansson for me, but I don't need her details. I just ne

ex fiancé. Get me his current location and movement and any other detail that might be helpful."

There was a brief pause on the other line and then, his friend, Andrew, spoke.

"Lloyd, is everything alright?

"Yeah, yeah. Nothing to worry about. Just, help me out, would ya?

need you to find someone, her

on as I can, and you'd

"Okay, sure." Andrew answered and Lloyd sighed in relief, thanking his friend. "So, I'll get you his details as soon as I can, have to tell me why you want this, okay?"

"Of course. Thanks again, man." With that, he ended the call and threw his phone onto the bed

He didn't know why, but something told him that Anastasia's safety wasn't entirely in the clear, especially after she had told him the story of her ex and what happened. It wasn't just her safety, but her peace of mind too,

And for some reason, Lloyd felt like that was the least he could do for her, as her friend, of course

But the more he thought of that, the more the words tasted bitter on his tongue

'Friend."

Yeah right, and the Pope was Jewish.

"You did what?" Leonica screeched into the phone from the other end. Anastasia had to pull the phone away from her ear, coupled with the sound of the locksmith doing his work on her door from behind, she felt like both sounds might make her go deaf. "Chill out Leonica." She began, catching her reflection across a mirror and grimacing at the numerous amounts of hickeys she saw on her neck. "You fucked Gabriel, didn't you?"

"That's different!" The other female exclaimed and Anastasia had a feeling that if she had been there, Leonica would have been waving her arms in the air, all dramatic and what not. "And he's Gabriel's friend. What happened to friends of the same feather flock together? Anastasia shrugged. "Maybe he's different."

"Different how? He's a playboy, worse than Gabriel. Couldn't you have gone for Christian?" Leonica paused and then corrected herself.

"No, scratch that, Christian isn't bad, but he's got a girlfriend." She sighed and began mumbling a few other words about how Anastasia could have gone for any one, and how personally, she wouldn't advice she go for someone within Gabriel's friend group. Anastasia chewed on a protein bar as she listened, waiting until the moment she finished. "Do you even know what you're going to do now?" she asked at last

Anastasia hummed at the question. It wasn't a tough one, shouldn't have been, but for some reason, she found herself humming. thinking of an answer, luckily, Ashley's voice from the other end saved her from answering that question. ""Mommy, I'm gonna be late for school."

"You heard the kid," Anastasia teased, chuckling as Leonica scolded her for avoiding her question, "Let's talk more when you've dropped the laid off." She assured. "Oh, and make sure to give a big kiss to Ashley for me.'

Leonica sighed from the other end, knowing that as things stood, she wasn't going to get anywhere with Anastasia. Answer or no answer, she also knew that she needed to take Ashley to school. "Fine, but once I get back, you and I, were going to seat down, face to face, and discuss this." Her stern tone had Anastasia nodding, but deep down, she knew that Leonica was most definitely going to get side tracked by

something Ashley's medical matter, school matter, or even recent development in her love life and if none of that worked, then she could just easily call Cassandra and put in a few words.

That's how much she wanted to avoid giving a solid answer, because she knew that answer wasn't going to be for just Leonica alone, but also for herself.

"Sure, let's do that." She agreed, fingers crossed behind her back, and bade her best friend goodbye, after which she ended the call. Immediately she ended the call, Larry walked up to her, giving her a gentle tap o the shoulder. "Anastasia? Looking over her shoulder, she offered the locksmith a genuine smile "Yes Larry? Are you done with the door?

He nodded and handed her a bunch of new locks. "The best I could do in such short notice." As she collected it, he gave her a certain look that Anastasia was all too familiar with, before adding. "And please, try not to lose this one."

"Ha-ha, funny Larry. The door's that way." She pointed towards the entrance, playful smile on her lips to let the locksmith know she was teasing him, even though his words had actually hit close to home.

"Alright. I'll see you around, Anastasia." He said as he turned around and walked towards the door.

Anastasia followed closely behind. "Drive safely, Larry "She said as she watched him drive off and then locked the door.

She didn't waste any time in heading to the living room, dropping the bag of new locks and the protein bar, before she slumped onto the couch, pulling her feet up. She let out a sigh, staring up at the ceiling, her thoughts running wild as she recalled the conversation with Leonica.

The question wasn't tough, not really, but Anastasia didn't feel like answering it because she knew the moment she answered that question, she'd have to get all serious with Lloyd and serious wasn't something she wanted. As a matter of fact, she didn't want anything with him, or at least that's what she's been telling herself and best believe it when she says that is one of the toughest lie she has ever had to repeat over and over in her head.

Lloyd Riley was a handsome man with bright qualities that had been dimmed by his reputation as Oslo's mumber one playboy Billionaire, but that aside, he was an alright man. Well, that and the fact that he was friends with Gabriel. But even that could be over looked and Leonica would definitely understand if there was something between them,

If; that was the key word. But right now, they couldn't even be considered fuck buddies.

Thankfully, Anastasia was distracted from the sour thought by the sound of someone knocking at her door. She stood up and lazily dragged her leg towards her door, already knowing who it was.

"Did you forget something, Larry?" she asked as she swung the door open, smile playing at the corner of her lips.

That smile however, faded when the person she saw standing there wasn't Larry, but Derek. Blood drained from her face and as quickly as she had opened the door, she tried slamming it, but Derek caught it and shoved it open

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she backed away, only for Derek to advance, a wicked grin on his face.

"I've told you Ana, if you won't answer me, then I'd have no choice than to come to you. And guess what? Herel am."

She kept on backing away until the back of her legs hit the edge of the couch, causing her to stumble and fall backwards, and with the fear and panic, she didn't have time to think before her reflexes kicked in, and the next thing she knew, her hands were flying, trying to hit him, fight him. But the moment her palm landed against his face, everything stopped. Time had seemed to freeze and the world around her had gone

caught in a vacuum. All s sound, movement, and sense of touch had left her. All except for one, sight.

dead silent. It was like being caught in

She stared at the man standing above her, a crazed look in his eyes.

He wiped the blood from his inner cheek and sighed. "You've always been a feisty one and God, how i hated that."

Without another word, he charged at her, managing to pin her hand down. "I just want to talk, Anastasia."

"And have you ever thought that i don't want to talk to you? See you, even?" She spat and watched as his eyes darkened, but then her attention was drawn by the shadowy figure passing her glass window,

"Larry! She thought, hoping that her guess was right.

Derek noticed where her attention had been and as if reading her mind, be quickly covered her mouth before she could scream for help. "Don't cut our discussion short, Ana." He said and just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Anastasia?" Her eyes widened at the sound of Lloyd's voice. Instead of struggling pointlessly, she calmed down despite the fear and with reasoning, kicked off the vase on her coffee table. The shattering sound and the sudden crash of it had Derek cursing and releasing

her.

"Fucking whore." He muttered and Anastasia took the opportunity to kick him and rushed to the door, calling out.

"Lloyd!" In a heartbeat, she pulled the door open and came face to face with Lloyd.

He looked surprised to see her looking so frightened, but the moment his eyes landed on the figure behind her, he understood the entire situation. Quickly, he pushed her behind him, acting as a shield between him and Anastasia.

"I knew you were coming here," He said and watched as Derek's face contorted in confusion and anger.

"This is none of your business!" He spat and stepped forward, but the rest of Lloyd's words had him stopping in his tracks.

"And that's why I came prepared.

Immediately after his words, police officers appeared from behind him, advancing towards Derek with handcuffs.

"Mr. Derek Smith, you're under arrest on multiple crime charges towards Ms. Anastasia Johansson. You have the right to remain silent for anything you say or do would be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, the state would provide one for you."

11

"You can't do this! You can't take me in, i didn't do anything." He argued, fighting the officers but it was useless.

Lloyd didn't spare him a glance and turned towards Anastasia. "You okay?" He asked, searching her face.

She had tears in her eyes and he could tell she was far from okay, but instead, she shook her head, nodding as she whispered. "Y-Yeah, thanks to you."

"You're welcome." He said and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

The moment the door was closed, he turned and pulled her into his arms. She was trembling and her fingers curled around his shirt as she let out a sob. ""How did you know he was going to be here?" she asked.

"A friend of mine got his location pinged." Lloyd answered as they separated.

Anastasia wanted to question why he had a friend of his watching her ex's movement, but seeing as it had worked in her favor, she settled for letting it slide. "Thank you," she said once again, offering him a real smile.

Lloyd mirrored her smile, but it soon changed into one of tease. "If you really want to thank me, how about that date I've been asking for?"

"Like, for real?" Anastasia questioned, expecting him to burst out saying it was a joke, but he didn't and that was enough to tell her that as playful as he had sounded, he was serious.

She sighed, taking a moment to decide. She didn't want to make a decision that she'd come to regret, much like her decision to date Derek. But one look into Lloyd's eyes and she was reminded of the night they had spent together and how safe she felt within his arm and she couldn't deny how amazing the sex had been.

So if there was any decision she was going to regret with her full chest, then this was going to be one of them

H

So, with a nod, she answered, why not?"

But as she watched Lloyd smile, elated by the idea of their date, she wished deep down, that this wasn't going to be one of those SICAL CHAPTER #T

decisions that she'd regret, because for some reason, she knew this would hurt her more than the previous ones.

109

BOOK TWO: Those Damn Three Words.

*Splash!*