My Roommate Claimed She Had the Infertile Billionaire’s Baby,Then Sold Me to a VIP Room

1: 1

After boot camp ended, my college roommate Maya Fox announced she was a lucky charm of a woman: one night with a man she'd met from an online romance, and she'd gotten pregnant by the heirless magnate of the elite circle.

Watching her flaunt her pregnancy test and the photo of a face I knew far too well, I lowered my head and texted my brother.

"Congratulations, you're going to be a dad. Do Mom and Dad know yet, though?"

His reply came like an earthquake.

"For God's sake, no one knows better than you whether I can father a kid. Thirty years untouched, where would a baby come from!"

"Drop it, please. If Erin hears this she'll fly home overnight and kill me."

That reaction wasn't an act.

So I understood. But the moment I turned around, I ran straight into Maya, blocking the bathroom doorway.

Before I could get the truth out, she snatched my phone.

She saw the lock screen, a photo of me and my brother, and her face twisted into pure venom.

"I knew something was off about you. So this is where you've been, stealing my man."

"Grab her. Cut up that face, strip her, and throw her out of the hotel."

I took half a step back.

"Are you insane? This is Henson property. You actually dare lay a hand on me?"

She cradled her belly, smug all over.

"A mother rises with her child. I'm the future Mrs. Henson. Dealing with some tacky little mistress is nothing."

"Even if they found out, what could they do to me?"

I curled my lips into a cold smile.

Over a hundred people in the Henson family, and I'm the only daughter they ever had.

Lay one finger on me, and never mind whether the baby is really my brother's.

Even if the person himself walked in, he wouldn't get out without losing a layer of skin.

01

Seeing that I stayed quiet, they assumed I was scared.

The two little hangers-on beside Maya took turns chiming in, delighted with themselves.

"When we were drinking, I saw her sneaking off to the bathroom, all shifty. If that's not a guilty conscience, what is?"

"Thank God Maya's so sharp, or this little fox really would've gotten away with it."

I looked at their fawning, groveling faces without a flicker of expression.

I couldn't tell if they were truly this stupid or just faking it.

To actually believe that Maya, an ordinary college student, could hook the heir of the Henson Group through an online romance, a man with power beyond reach.

Never mind that an elite family has more rules than hairs on a head, going purely by the looks Maya was so proud of, she wouldn't even make the ranking in a room full of heiresses.

And this so-called fertile-body luck of hers still needed a man's seed to work.

My eyes fell coldly to her belly, and my gaze darkened.

The thing was, dreading the fuss, I'd deliberately hidden the fact that I was the Hensons' second daughter when the semester began.

The heirless magnate they kept talking about, Nigel Henson, is my own brother.

Born infertile.

And on top of that, he has a childhood sweetheart, his first love, whom he cherishes in the palm of his hand.

Whenever he goes out, he wears specially made chastity trousers, all to keep faith for the sister-in-law who hasn't yet married in.

Counting back the days, the night Maya didn't come back to the dorm.

That was exactly when he'd flown to Paris. He wasn't even in the country.

I was honestly curious how she'd decided the baby was a Henson.

The thought passed, and I couldn't be bothered to argue.

"Give me back my phone. Think whatever you want, it's got nothing to do with me."

"But dare touch a finger of mine, and the Hensons will collect your bodies."

Maya threw me a sideways glance, unmoved, still blocking the door.

I frowned at that and had just opened my mouth to call the server outside.

She hurled her bag at me with all her strength.

I was still dodging, hadn't even gotten my bearings.

When someone seized me and swung two hard slaps across my face, left and right.

"Let's see exactly how they collect a body. Let's see how the Hensons make me pay for going rough on their little mistress."

"What are you all standing around for? Strip her and shove her head in the toilet, give that mouth a good wash!"

The blows had me seeing stars. I curled into myself, shielding my body.

Beside me, Maya still had to get her threats in.

In the middle of the struggle, my phone lit up.

Seeing the contact name on the screen, "Brother," Maya's eyes flooded with jealous spite.

"Baby, what's taking you so long to pick up?"

"Mom and Dad set up a hot spring bath to make it up to you after boot camp wore you out. The usual place, don't forget to come."

Hearing my brother's familiar voice, feeling the burning sting on my cheeks.

The saline welled up past my control and spilled from my eyes, a sob breaking loose.

But my mouth was clamped shut too tightly.

I could only watch as Maya lowered her voice, pretending to be me, and answered him with a soft "Mm."

2: 2

02

The screen went dark, and my heart skipped half a beat.

It was over. My brother hadn't caught that the voice wasn't mine.

Maya saw the disappointment on my face, and her fingers dug harder into my chin.

Only when her nails cut into the flesh, when she watched me flinch from the pain, did she let out a cold laugh.

"I begged Nigel for so long to take me home to meet his parents, and he never did, and then a slut like you cut in ahead of me."

"Betty, tell me. What do I have to do to get this out of my system?"

I curled my lip and gave her a cold smile.

Meet his parents. In her dreams.

Before I could speak, she studied my swollen face with real interest and pressed a hand over her mouth, laughing.

"Whatever. What difference does it make who you sleep with."

"You're so good at seducing people, aren't you? Then I'll give you the chance to seduce all you want."

I looked at those dark, vicious eyes.

I froze for a second, and by the time it registered, I'd been dragged out and slammed into the business lounge next door, thrown to the floor.

Maya hung up the phone and stood over me with a slow, knowing smile.

A few minutes later, seven or eight small-time thugs in loud, garish outfits shoved their way in.

Maya raised an eyebrow and took the lipstick a hanger-on handed her.

On my forehead she wrote four bright red characters, plain as day.

"Lounge. Party. Girl."

"That suits you. Cheap. Free for the taking. Anything goes."

I looked at the pack circling behind me like wolves, and I understood what she meant to do.

My face went cold.

"Stop now and it's not too late. Otherwise you'll end up worse than dead."

02

Maya acted as if she hadn't heard, shot me a glance, and gave the order.

"What are you standing around for? Free of charge and you're not even eager? You only get going when there's money in it?"

The thugs closed in, grinning.

A sense of danger surged in me, and I grabbed the ashtray fast, holding it up in front of my chest to defend myself.

"Maya, this is a crime. Stop now or don't blame me for"

"Aah!"

The scream drowned out the rest of my words.

Paul Jefferson, the one in front, clutched his head in pain, his exposed left eye fixed on me with a vicious glare.

"Son of a bitch, she really went for the kill!"

I said nothing, drew a breath, and stared him down.

Watching for the next strike.

But two fists couldn't take on eight, and the whole crowd swarmed me at once, driving an elbow into me and knocking me to the floor.

Looking at me sprawled there, my clothes torn, a wreck on the ground.

Maya opened the camera for the dark-web livestream and aimed it at my face.

She smiled, innocent as anything.

"What a pure little goddess. It's been a few minutes and the men are already here."

"You must know these customers pretty well, don't you? You climb out of a different man's car every day."

I struggled and got nowhere, so I lifted my head and glared at her with everything I had.

"You could have lived. But from this moment, you're going to die badly."

Because once before, another girl who couldn't see straight had gotten the wrong idea about me and my brother. She'd waited after class with people to block me and keep me from going home.

The next day the Hensons drove her out of New York, and she vanished without a trace.

For Maya to treat me like this was, without question, walking herself to her own grave.

But she only stroked her still-flat belly, smug at what I'd said.

"Whose power in the elite circle is bigger than the Hensons'?"

"I'm carrying Nigel's baby. Even if I crippled you right in front of him and drowned you in a river, all he'd worry about is whether I got scared."

She crouched down, stroked my head the way you'd pet an animal, and smiled.

"Someone in the comments is spending coins to make you bark like a dog."

"Give us a few woofs, let's hear it. If it makes me happy, once you've been bred I'll leave you a scrap of clothing to cover yourself."

I gave a cold laugh.

"In your dreams."

Maya wasn't even angry. She stood up.

At her signal, the thug beside her wrenched my hand out and pinned it to the floor.

The next second, a stiletto heel ground down hard over my fingers.

She listened to me scream until my throat tore, and the smile on her lips kept spreading.

Until a waiter heard the noise and pushed the door open.

He stared at me hurt on the floor and froze, his face shifting from fear to anger.

He reached for his phone at once.

"What are you doing? I'm calling the"

Maya beat him to it, pulling out the photo of me and my brother and holding it up in front of him, her eyes flooding red on cue, the picture of a woman wronged.

"I just got pregnant, and this little slut came right to my door to seduce my husband."

"It took forever to track her down. We're just teaching her a small lesson. Don't worry, we'll be gone in a bit."

At that, he looked at me, my mouth held shut, my eyes full of pleading.

His face turned to disgust, and he took the two thousand from Maya's hand.

On his way out, he made a point of hitting the soundproofing switch on the lounge door.

3: 3

03

She caught the disappointment on my face.

Maya crouched down, pleased with herself, and shoved the couple photo on her phone up to my face with a cold laugh.

"See that? A husband-stealing whore deserves to die a thousand deaths."

Really?

I stared at the phone, right there in front of me.

I pressed my lips together, threw everything I had into breaking loose, snatched the phone, and smashed it to pieces.

I tried to run, but she yanked me back by the hair and pinned me to the floor.

When Maya saw the scratches I'd clawed into the back of her hand, her face twisted into something ugly.

"Nigel says my hands are the prettiest. How dare you mark me."

I looked at the electronic wreckage on the floor and let out a cold laugh.

Just wait a little longer. These hands of yours won't be yours for much longer.

Ever since that thing happened, my family had put a protective mode on my phone.

Smash it, and it triggered a location alert.

The smile on my face stung Maya's eyes.

She glared at my mangled, bloody hand, her mouth curving without any warmth in it.

"Looks like that wasn't enough to teach you a lesson."

Then she raised the bloodied ashtray and brought it down hard on my finger bones.

Once, then again.

Until a certain ringtone went off.

Maya wiped a spray of blood off her face, took the call, and her voice went instantly coy.

"If you've got the nerve, then don't call. Just let me and the baby die and be done with it."

Listening to the two of them talk.

Right away I could tell it wasn't my brother's voice, but there was something oddly familiar about it.

I forced out a muffled sound, trying to draw his attention.

Sure enough, the man paused.

"Maya, is there someone next to you?"

Maya looked at me, one leg crossed over the other.

She admitted, plainly, that she was dealing with a little slut.

Before she hung up, it was obvious the man's tone turned frantic once he heard my name.

But she just propped her chin in her hand and looked at me, gloating.

"See, Nigel's worried about upsetting the baby. He told me to stay put and not move, to just wait for him to come and deal with you."

"Betty, you're finished."

A few minutes later, someone pushed the door open from outside.

Maya called out my brother's name and rushed over, beaming.

The moment their eyes met, his face went white.

Mine went cold too.

I never imagined the man impersonating my brother would be the son of Sophie, our live-in housekeeper.

Lewis James.

The so-called luxury car collection, the mansion worth billions, were all things that already belonged to my family.

Add to that the fact that his features looked a little like my brother's, and photos that had been touched up and filtered, no wonder Maya had mistaken him.

Seeing how badly I'd been beaten, barely recognizable, Lewis panicked at once.

His hands moved instinctively to untie the ropes.

But Maya stopped him.

"Nigel, are you protecting her?"

"Don't forget, the Hensons have no heir. It's the baby in my belly that inherits the whole estate."

Lewis's hand froze on the rope.

He met my icy stare, and his eyes slowly went dark and unreadable.

Twenty-odd years in the Henson household, and he knew exactly what happened to anyone who crossed me.

At that same moment, the phone in the pocket of Lewis's suit lit up.

The instant he saw the name on the screen, his expression changed.

Without a word he had someone bring a cloth and stuff it into my mouth, signaling everyone to shut up and stay silent.

The second he answered, my brother's frantic voice came through, clear as anything.

"Lewis, Betty's location just lit up at the Bluewater. Take people over and check it right now."

"I'll be there soon. If anyone dares to hurt Betty, kill them on the spot."

4: 4

04

At that, Lewis looked at me, and something murderous rose slowly in his eyes.

Then, calm as anything, he lied to my brother.

Said I'd been out at a dinner, took a fall, smashed my phone by accident, and was fine.

When Maya looked confused, he flipped the whole thing on its head.

He turned my brother into the housekeeper's son, and turned me into some pest who wouldn't leave no matter how many times she was told to.

Hearing that, Maya hated me down to the bone.

She had someone break my legs on the spot.

And just as she was about to go through with the original plan, strip me bare and throw me out of the hotel,

Lewis stopped her. He took the drug he'd prepared in advance from one of the thugs and forced it into my mouth.

I understood exactly how vicious he meant to be.

I clenched my teeth shut and refused to swallow, even if it killed me.

He sighed.

Then a hard slap cracked across my face, and he forced it down.

Not until Maya left and the door was shut tight

did Lewis bend down and whisper in my ear like a devil.

"Tomorrow, the news that you jumped off a building out of shame, unable to bear the humiliation, will be trending everywhere. It'll be the talk of the moment."

"Blame it on yourself. The young lady found out who I really am, so she has to die."

"But rest easy, young lady. Once I have the inheritance, I'll send Mr. and Mrs. Henson down to keep you company."

No. Mom and Dad were in danger.

My pupils shrank.

I struggled on instinct, but wave after wave of heat surged up inside me.

Watching my eyes glaze over in pain,

he pulled a stack of bills from his pocket and set them on the table, giving the thugs in the room a smile heavy with meaning.

"Whoever makes the young lady feel good gets ten grand a round. No cap."

In an instant, every one of them looked at me like wolves circling a lamb, closing in bit by bit.

I bit down hard on my tongue to hold on to the last shred of clarity.

I looked at the door they'd blocked off, and my eyes fell on the balcony outside the room.

Jump. Half-dead, maybe, but alive.

So while they'd let their guard down over my broken legs, I threw myself headfirst into the crowd and rushed out.

Only when my body hung out over the empty air did they get scared.

Maya and Lewis heard the commotion and shoved the door open.

Seeing the plan had slipped, his eyes darkened.

A moment later he looked at me, almost hopeful.

"Relax. A drunken slip and fall is easier to cover up than a suicide."

"Betty, no matter what, you're not getting away."

Listening to the sound of Lewis's men gathering downstairs,

my heart went to ash.

At the very edge of despair, a row of luxury cars came sweeping toward the building not far off.

Watching my own brother and his lead man step out in a clean, hard line,

the light came back into my eyes.

I was right. My brother couldn't stop worrying and had come to find me himself.

I wanted to scream for him.

But everything went dark, and Lewis threw something over my head and dragged me back.

"Not one word about today, from any of you!"

"If anyone asks, say Betty had a few drinks, broke her phone, got upset, and went home early."

"As for where she went, nobody knows."

Hearing that, Maya pouted, playing coy.

"Nigel, what's the matter with you? You're so worked up you've broken a sweat."

But Lewis clamped a hand around hers as she reached to wipe it, his face colder and more bloodthirsty than she'd ever seen.

"The one who most needs to keep her mouth shut in a minute is you. Say the wrong thing and I'll be done with you."

Then they bound my arms and legs, gagged me tight, and stuffed me into the bedside cabinet.

Through the crack, I watched my brother storm in with his men.

His brow was drawn tight, and after he looked around and didn't see me, his face went cold.

"Where's Betty? She's not here, and she didn't go home."

"Talk. Have you people hidden her away?"