They Called Me Barren, I Married a Billionaire novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Winston Alone

Winston was standing at the pickup curb in a gray overcoat, between a minivan and a crossing guard.

I walked out with the first graders and saw him.

I stopped on the top step.

Thirty children flowed around my legs, and parents lifted their heads from their phones.

He had not been to my school in six years.

He had told me once it made him feel out of place.

"Leona," he said. "Please. Five minutes."

"I'm on duty."

"I'll wait."

"Mrs. Hartwell," said a small boy at my elbow. "Is that your husband?"

"No, sweetheart," I said. "Go find your mom."

I walked down the steps and stopped an arm's length from Winston.

Behind him, a father had put his phone up and was filming.

I let him.

"Say it here," I said.

"Can we go somewhere..."

"No."

He glanced at the line of parents, and his face colored.

Then he straightened, and for the first time since I had known him, he did not look to see who was watching.

"My mother has never had a bad idea she didn't make me carry out," he said. "I know that's not an excuse."

"It isn't."

"I found out about the trust when I was twenty-two. She told me over dinner, between courses." He swallowed. "Marry well, produce an heir, keep the Foundation. That was the entire plan for my life."

"You were married to me."

"And she looked at you for six years as a problem she couldn't solve."

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