Chapter One

Four years later

"Darien" a soft female voice called out, he is running towards her. Trying to find her, "Who are you?" he screams out. She only laughs, sweet, soft musical laughter. "Come find me Darien…" He hears her next to him, he turns to grab her, but when he turns he faces someone he knows all too well. "Valessa?" He asks confused. Her Green eyes flash at him. She grins maliciously. "Were you expecting someone else? No one would ever want you Darien…" She pulls out a small object, with a flick of her slender thumb, a gleaming something flashes at him. She shoves it forward into his stomach. "Valessa…" "Wake up Darien, Wake up" a shrill ringing goes off somewhere behind him. Where is that noise coming from? He thinks wildly. "Wake up Darien, its time to wake…"

"…up!" Darien Volpe woke with start, his head throbbing from where he smashed it on his headboard. "Damn it…"

"Wake up Darien! Wake up…" he looked over at his phone. Answering machine, he thought with some relief. "Ah, fine, call me" the soft click told him that the message was over. Who was that? He wondered, still disoriented. He looked over at his caller I.D, 'Francesca Frederica' He groaned, Francesca was the heir of the fashion Powerhouse Frank-Fred. He reached over and deleted her message. He stared at the phone for a minute. Then pulled himself out of bed, and headed for the shower, that was what he needed, a nice long warm shower.

A soaking, dripping, wet, be toweled, Darien walked out of the shower and into his bedroom to answer his ringing phone.

"This had better be important," he snapped.

"It is Mr. Volpe…"

"Is that you Gus?

"Yes sir it is…"

"You're early!"

"No sir I am not, it's 9:30…"

"Damn it… where are you?"

"In front of your building…"

"Alright I'll be down in 20 minutes, call my secretary and tell her I'll be late alright?"

"Yes sir" Darien's chauffer hung up. Darien slammed his phone into the cradle. He swore loudly. This was turning out to be one hell of a day. He laughed and then pulled open his closet, and stared at his almost identical suits. He fought a crazy urge to laugh again, and reached for the black one in the corner.

30 minutes later, a fully clothed Darien, walked out of his building towards his Chauffeured limo. A tall burly man walked out of the car, and opened Darien's door.

"Good morning sir…"

"Says who?"

"Uh…I'm sorry Mr. Volpe…."

"Darien!"

"Sorry Mr.… uh Darien…" Darien laughed helplessly. Gus Costae, this burly giant, was nothing short of a push over.

"You don't have to be sorry for your opinion, Gus, I like people with opinions, although if you've got coffee I'll love you!"

"Uh, not that I'm not flattered sir, but I'm married…"Gus joked. Darien roaring laughter interrupted him.

"How does a Raise sound?"

"There's coffee in the limo sir…"

"Darien!"

"Sorry si…Darien"

"Si-Darien? Interesting name…" Darien laughed, as he slid into the Limo. Gus closed the door, and headed for the drivers side. "Did you call Ami?"

"Yes sir, I told her that you'd be there in about 20 minutes."

"Damn it I'm late" he growled.

"No sir, I told her you'd be there in 20 minutes your time." Darien laughed again, his mood already improving. But then it always improved when he was anywhere near his beloved company. Linx-Corp was Darien's baby; he had founded it 10 years ago, when he was only 22. Since then Linx-Corp had made a fortune, and Darien Rich. Linx-Corp's strategy had been very simple from the start, to buy out companies that had huge profit possibilities, but for some reason were not doing well. Darien would buy out the company, then send his 'Team' to assess why it was not doing well, then after making the necessary changes, Darien placed one of his own men in charge. The Limo pulled up in front of a fancy office building. Linx-Corp headquarters. Gus stopped the car, and young man from the front of the building rushed out to open Darien's door.

"Here you go sir, what time would you like me to pick you up?"

"I'll call you"

"Yes sir…"

"Darien!"

"Sorry sir…"

"Darien!"

"Sorry Si…"

"Darien!!"

"I'm sorry sir…"

"Darien!"

"Sorry…uh Darien, it's force of habit you see…"

"Yes well force that habit out of your head, or I'll do it for you!"

"Sorry…."

"Darien!"

"I didn't say sir…"

"Sorry force of habit…" The two men laughed.

"Good day…"

"Say sir and die…"

"Mr. Volpe…" Darien laughed heartily.

"Good bye Gus"

He walked out of the car, and towards his building, following the young doormen. The man held the door open for Darien.

"Good morning Sir"

"Good morning indeed…" Darien sighed, remembering the meeting that Ami had probably delayed. Darien walked into his building, and walked into the elevator. He pressed the button for the 15th floor. The elevator stopped on the 3 floor and 2 men walked in.

"So I say, if this Mr. Volpe is so damned good looking why would he spent a second on you bitch?" One of the men said. His pug face broke into a snide smile.

"Yah? What did she say?" The other man asked, his rat like face screwed up in a concern.

"She said that Mr. Volpe was twice the man I was, and that if he'd ever seen her he'd throw himself at her!" He barked. Darien bit his lip down hard to stop himself from laughing.

"Only because he's really ugly!" the second man said.

"You think so Ron?"

"Yes I do, I've seen him Kirk, he got them shifty in sunk eyes, and that batty kinda touched- in-the head look about him!"

" I most certainly do not!" Darien cried out, in fake outrage.

"And I suppose you think your Volpe?" The pug faced man, known as Kirk asked.

"Nope, I know I am… that's what it says on my birth certificate"

"Look buster I don't wants your problem, but I've seen Volpe, and you are not him!" The other man said. Just then the Elevator door opened, and a tiny brunette walked in.

"Good morning Mr. Volpe"

"Good morning Jamie" Darien smiled.

"W…what d…did you call him Jamie?"

"Mr. Volpe, Ron, why do you ask?

"N…no r…reason…" the Elevator door opened, and Jamie walked out.

"Are you guys ok? You look kind of pale… like you just insulted your boss…" Darien let his sentence trail off. He smiled at them.

"S...sorry Mr. Volpe…" Kirk muttered.

"Please don't fire us…" Ron began.

"No worries there guys" he smiled tersely at them, "I got to go," The elevator stopped on the 15th floor and door opened. "By the way, what are your names?"

"R…Ron Frenkie"

"K…Kirk Gordon…"

"Nice to meet you gentle men…" he grinned broadly, then walked out of the elevator. He walked down the broad hallway lined with offices. Until he turned the corner to his Office, in front of his office sitting in a desk was a petite blue-black haired woman.

"Good morning Ami."

"Good morning Mr. Volpe…"

"Darien! Do I have any messages?"

"Yes sir, you've got 8, one from your sister, who wants to know what your doing this after noon, one from Ms. Frederica who also wants to know what your doing this afternoon, one from a Mr. Lyle Dorf…"

"Dorf? I don't know any Dorf."

"He claims to be your Ex-wife's Lawyer."

"What does he want?" Darien asked suddenly very annoyed.

"He said he has to talk to you about a matter of great importance…"

"I'll bet…you said 8 that was only 3…"

"Yes, the others where from various papers, the Chicago tribune, and the New York times called at least 6 times each, but only left 2 messages a piece, and the national enquirer called as well."

"Why?"

"You haven't read the news papers have you?"

"No I haven't, what's happened?"

"Well, the company's net worth just crossed the 30 billion dollar mark, and you personally have crossed the 1 billion dollar mark…"

"You're joking!"

"No I'm not, here read for your self," she said as she handed him a New York Times. He grabbed the paper for her hands, and rummaged through the paper, on page 1 of the financial section, Ami's words were confirmed.

"Excellent!" he smiled, and handed Ami the paper. "What do the papers want from me?"

"Interviews…"

"I'm doing one next month for ABC, an exclusive one, tell the news papers that I can't possibly do an interview."

"Yes sir"

"What do I have scheduled for today?"

"You had a meeting with the team 30 minutes ago, but I rescheduled it, for 15 minutes from now, you have another meeting with the company lawyer about a resent investment, and you have a few contracts and things to sign…"

"Is that all?"

"Yes sir"

"Darien"

"Sorry Darien" She smiled at him, Ami had been working for Darien for over 2 years now, she was working to pay her way through university, she was training to become a business woman. In Darien's opinion she didn't need university, she already knew everything there was to know, and the day she got her degree, Darien would hire her on the spot. This was Ami's last year as his Secretary; she was finished University this year. Ami was a year younger than Darien's own sister, and he saw Ami as one.

"Did you do something new to your hair Ami?" The blue haired woman nodded.

"This wouldn't be to attract the eye of a certain member of the 'team' would it?" he teased. Ami snorted with laughter.

"Please, none of them know I'm a woman!"

"How could they not? Besides I'm pretty sure Zoey notices you're a woman." He half teased.

"Yah sure, is this in between affairs, or during affairs?" she laughed.

"Now, come on, Zoey maybe the biggest player in the world, and you could do so very much better than him, but he does notice you…"

"He would nail anything that moves!"

"No he would not, he's never tried to nail me, and I move!" Darien said in fake outrage.

"Ok, let me rephrase that, he would nail anything female that moves!" Darien burst out laughing, he could never understand how 2 people who liked each other as much as Ami and Zoey did, could hate each other almost as bad.

"Ami, could you get Rei and my lawyer on the phone."

"Yes sir" he smiled, and took the small pink message sheets off of her desk. "Keep dressing like that, and he might try to nail you honey" he said over his shoulder as he walked to his door, he got a glimpse of Ami's bright pink blush before he closed the door. He looked around his office, the spacious office had burgundy carpets, wood panel walls, a huge wooden desk on one end, behind which was a big leather chair, in front of the desk was another leather chair, back against the wall was a big leather couch, in front of the couch was a glass coffee table, to right and left of the couch were big puffy leather loungers. Just behind the left lounger was a small fridge, which served as a mini bar; however calling it so was almost laughable, because there was nothing harder than soft drinks in there. Darien despised alcohol and he rarely drank.

He walked over to his desk, and sat down in his comfy leather chair. His intercom beeped, he reached over and pressed a button on his phone.

"Yes Ami?"

"You have Green on line one, and your sister wasn't in, I left a message"

"Thank you Ami"

"No problem sir" He pressed the intercom button again. Then picked up the phone, and pressed the first flashing red button.

"Green, this is Darien, I need you to do something for me"

"Good morning Darien, what would you like me to do?" a pleasant male voice that belonged to Richard Green, Darien's lawyer, asked.

"I need you to get in contact with Lyle Dorf, he claims to be my ex-wife's lawyer, find out what the hell he wants."

"I'm sorry Darien, but did you say Lyle Dorf?"

"Yes I did, why?"

"Uh, Lyle Dorf is a D.A…"

"What!?!" Darien half yelled.

"A district…"

"Oh for gods sakes I know what a D.A is, but why would a D.A be representing my Ex-wife?"

"Well maybe she's gotten herself in some kind of trouble, or maybe she's just got no money…"

"What ever the case, find out what Dorf wants alright?"

"Yes sir"

"Call me as soon as you find out, if I'm in a meeting have Ami pull me out, is that clear?"

"Yes sir"

"Alright then, bye" with that Darien hung up. His head suddenly throbbing, what was Valessa doing with a D.A? The Prieceys were rich, surely they wouldn't let one of their own be represented by a D.A… maybe this was a ploy for attention? Darien stared at his mini-bar for a moment, and then grinned despite himself.

"Oh yah, I'm going to get drunk on Ice tea!" he laughed. He got up and walked over to it, he opened the black fridge, and pulled out an ice tea, his favorite drink.

He took a long soothing drink from the bottle, and stared around his office again, the huge window to the right of his office, looked very appealing suddenly, he turned to it and pulled aside the drapes. The flooding golden light gave the room a soft earthy quality. He took another swig of his drink, allowing his mind to wander.

A sudden beeping caught his attention. He walked over to his desk and pressed the intercom button.

"Yes?"

"Sir, everyone's in the conference room like you asked, they're waiting for you"

"Thank you Ami" he let go of the button and grinned. The team was waiting for him. The team was a group of 4 highly trained men, each one had his own area of expertise, and each man worked in their respective fields, but they also functioned as a unit. This group of men was Darien advantage.  They were whom he sent in after he had bought out a company, their job was to figure out what was wrong with the company, and based on that make suggestions to Darien. Besides this, they were Darien most trusted advisors. Very rarely did Darien ever go against their suggestions. It had been 3 long boring weeks since he had last seen them. He walked over to the sliding door with the company emblem, to the left of his desk. He slid it open and walked into the conference room.

A large oval shaped Table was in the center of the room, around which were a dozen or so large leather chairs like the ones in Darien's office. A huge window that took up an entire wall was behind the table. The walls were all wood panel, and they all had computers built into them. Next to the sliding door was a mini-bar that was built into the corner. On top of the cabinet like storage were glasses of all shapes and sizes. The cabinet doors were made from oak, and the handles where silver, inside the cabinet was a small fridge. The Whole cabinet was about 4 feet tall and about 3 and half feet wide. And just to the far left of the table was the other door, the only other exit out of the room; it too was a sliding door.

Sitting in the chairs around the table, were the 4 men that Darien knew so well. Darien sat down at the head of the table, as he always did. To his right was a tall blonde man, Jaden Connor; this man was responsible for personal. To his left was a platinum blonde man, Malcolm Miller; the team's Financial genius. Down the table, next to Malcolm was brunette man, Nathan Summer; the product specialist. And finally sitting next to Jaden was another blonde man, Jaden's brother Zoey Connor. He was the youngest member of the team, and he was responsible for ideas and technology. He was also the man that found the companies for which they took over.

"Morning guys" he said with a grin.

"Morning Dar" Malcolm replied.

"Morning boss" Nathan responded.

"Morning Mr. Volpe" Zoey said pleasantly.

"Zoey, just cause you work for me doesn't mean I can't hurt you!"

"If you hit me I'll have to sue you for assault"

"Yah and who pays your legal bills?" Darien asked in sarcastic curiosity.

"Me of course" Zoey replied.

"Ok, fair enough, but who signs your pay checks?"

"I don't know… Ami?" Zoey asked innocently. Darien and the other men except Jaden laughed.

"Jay you ok?" Darien asked his brother-in-law curiously.

"Ok? Sure, I just need a break, so I can go pray for death!"

"Kasumi keeping you up?" Malcolm asked.

"Isn't she like 2?" Nathan questioned.

"3, and yes, she has chicken pox you see, and Rei's never had it, so she's in a hotel, while I get to take care of a screaming, itchy, cranky 3 year old." He smiled weakly.

"Oh that's right Rei's never had it, I almost forgot about that," Darien said.

"Dude haven't you had Chicken pox?" Zoey piped in.

"Yah, when I was 3 or 4, a good 6 or 7 years before Rei was born."

"Man you make me sound like such a cradle robber," Jaden laughed.

"Well you are! Rei's what 10 years younger than you?" Nathan asked.

"No she's only 8 years younger than me!" Jaden stated in sham rage.

"Yah that makes her what? 23?" Malcolm asked.

"Yah," Jaden replied.

"You should be ashamed of your self Jay, I mean god she's closer to Zoey's age than yours, 31 to 26!" Malcolm said in a joking tone.

"Well I don't care what you say I'm keeping her!" Jaden pounded his fist down in fake fury.

"Your only 26?" Nathan said, looking over at Zoey.

"Yup, actually as of next week I'll be 27!" he grinned.

"I think you should kick him out Darien, we can't have kids in these meetings you know!" Nathan said in phony disgust.

"Your not all that much older Nathan, your only 29" Malcolm stated.

"Yah well your not all that much older either, Malcolm"

"I out age you all, I'm 32!" Malcolm stated in false pride.

"Nope, that crown belongs to Darien, he's 33!" Jaden interrupted.

"Actually, I'm 32, but I turn 33 in 2 months" Darien corrected.

"How about you Malcolm?" Nathan asked.

"I turn 33 in 6 months, so I guess Darien won…" He smiled innocently.

"Say it and die Zoey!" Darien stated looking straight at Malcolm.

"Oh no his eye sight is going!" Zoey said in phony fear.

"Say what?" Darien Hollered. Everyone started laughing.

"So Jay, who takes care of Kasumi, when you're at work?" Darien asked curiously.

"Nanny slash babysitter person, her name is Jenna, don't tell Rei, she doesn't like Jenna."

"Now that was smart of you, telling her brother…" Zoey smirked.

"My brain stopped working at the moment of conception…"

"Your or the baby's?" Darien asked innocently.

"Ha-ha, you are so damned funny" Jaden said dryly. "I swear to god, if Rei gets pregnant again I'll kill myself!"

"Sure you will," Darien said patronizingly "So why doesn't Rei like your babysitter?"

"She says Jenna's a slut," Jaden stated

"She thinks a 12 year old is a slut?" Nathan asked.

"She's not 12, twelve year olds go to school in the day, oh brilliant one!" Jaden snapped.

"How old is she?" Zoey asked.

"Um…26…"

"And she's a baby sitter?" Zoey asked incredulously.

"No, she's like a nanny type person, she works at Ka-Rei's daycare center" he smiled " I lured her away"

"You lured her away? What's the matter wouldn't the little kids come with you?"  Zoey joked.

"So says the guy who dating an 18 year old!" Jaden said.

"First of all she's 19! And that was how old Rei was when you married her!"  Zoey retorted.

"He's got you there" Darien smiled.

"Maybe the fact that you can lore her makes Rei, think she's a slut…" Malcolm offered.

"I lured her with money you dirty sick old man!" Jaden defended.

"Oh yes that makes her less of a slut…" Darien cut in.

"Money to baby sit Kasumi, since we can't send her to a day care, she'd infect the whole group." He said simply.

"And I'll bet she hits on you," Zoey stated.

"I wouldn't know I don't pay attention," Jaden snapped.

"Cause you only have eyes for Rei right?" Zoey said sarcastically.

"He better have, unless you enjoy pain," Darien said in a sham deadpan serious voice.

"You'd have to wait in line, Rei would kill me first" Jaden grinned " the day before we got married she said 'Jaden I love you and everything, but if you cheat on me, I'll cut you up and feed you to the dogs!' I didn't know what to say to that" he smiled.

"Sure you did, you asked her why you would go out for burgers when you had steak at home, I remember cause I heard you" Zoey grinned. Suddenly a cell phone went off. Everyone at the table reached for their own.

"It's mine" Jaden stated as he flipped it open. "Hello Jaden Connor, how can I help you?"

"Rei?" His eyes widened for a minute, his face broke into a grimace, and it was plain to everyone at the table that Jaden Connor was very much in love with his wife.

"And what did he say?" his voice echoed worry.

"No way!" He suddenly smiled, "Honey that's great, yes Darien's here"

"Yes I'll tell him" his smile broadened.

"Hitomi? Whatever you want baby, I'm kind of in the middle of a meeting, can I call you later?" He grinned, "Bye baby, love you" He closed his phone, and looked up to see everyone staring at him.

"So I guess I'll be looking for the nearest bridge" He smiled "Rei's pregnant, it's a girl, she likes the name Hitomi," he smiled broader.

"Congrats, I didn't realize you could get someone who can't come near you pregnant" Zoey joked.

"She's 2 months pregnant, genius, but this sucks, I can't go see her, I could give her chicken pox…" he grimaced.

"I'll go see her," Darien offered. " I haven't seen her for so long, I miss her" he grinned.

"Yah about that, she said to get off your ass and call her, she wanted to go out with you, and she said she wasn't going to tell me until after Kasumi got better, but she needed to tell someone, and she tried calling you" he smiled

"What hotel is she in?" He asked.

"Chateau Meridian" Jaden said simply.

"I'll give her a call"

"She'll be at Ka-Rei's until 6:30ish." Jaden and Darien both grinned at that.

"Are we going to get to work or what?" Nathan asked suddenly.

"Nathan wants to get to work?" Malcolm asked, "Must be the end of the world"

Darien grinned

"Alright then, lets begin, what do you have for me Zoey?"

 30 minutes later, and in the middle of Malcolm's report; there was a knock on the door.

"Come on in" Darien called out. Darien's Petite Secretary walked. Her fitted suit, showing every perfect curve. Zoey looked up and stared at the woman. Her perfection annoyed him for some reason. He looked her up and down admiring every line of her suit; he looked up at her face, and saw that she was looking at him. Her blue eyes, flashed in rage, her jaw clenched. He dragged his eyes away from her, and back up to Darien.

"Yes Ami?" Darien asked, fighting to keep the amusement out of his voice.

"You have a call from your lawyer, he insisted that I interrupt you, he said you told him to do so"

"That I did, tell him to hold on"

"Yes sir" and with that she slid the door open and walked out.

"Is there anything else?" when they all shook their heads no, Darien continued "Alright then, Malcolm, hand that report in to Ami, and set up a private meeting, I really need to take this call, so I'll see you guys next week then?"  He nodded to them, then got up and walked out through the door behind him.

He walked over to his desk, and looked down at the phone. His line one was flashing. Picking up the phone, he pressed the button.

"What's going on Green?" he asked tersely.

"Your wife's dead," Green began.

"That's nice, why should I care?" He asked coldly.

"She had a child…"

"Yet again, so?"

"Darien, her will states that you're the child's guardian, what's more, the will claims you're the father…"

"That's not possible" Darien said simply.

"Why not?"

"Because she was sleeping with my father"

"And you, you were married…"

"Yes but she said that he was the father!"

"Darien, the kid has your last name…"

"So does my father"

"Yes, but she has your blood type…"

"So?"

"So, your ex-wife was type O, what type was your father?

"Type B"

"The child has Type AB"

"T…that's not possible…"

"Why not…"

"Because no one in her family has type AB, I'm one of the only people she knew who had type AB the only other person I know who has type AB is my sister…"

"Darien, that mean…"

"No it doesn't, she was a slut anyone with type AB could be the kid's father"

"Lyle agrees, he wants you to take a paternity test they already have the child's and your ex-wife's DNA on record, they just need yours."

"I took a blood test last week, they have my consent to use it"

"Ok"

"How did Dorf get involved?" Darien asked.

"Oh, her Car over turned and she was burnt to a crisp, so the police were trying to figure out who she was, when they did, they contacted her family, they said they didn't want anything to do with her. And since she didn't have an attorney, she was appointed one, namely Dorf."

"I see, what about the kid?"

"Before Priecey died, she stopped at a drop in center and left the child there, she was in child services for a day before they figured out who your ex-wife was, and then a week before they figured out who she was"

"Damn, poor kid" Darien said despite himself.

"Yah, well as soon as we can establish that you're not the father, the better it is for the kid," Green assured him, apparently seeing Darien falter.

"If you say so, either way I have to go."

"I'll call you as soon as we find out"

"Right" Darien hung up the phone, and stared out into space. He suddenly wished he hadn't filled his mini-bar with soft drinks. There was always the conference room he reminded himself. He grimaced at the thought. Getting drunk never solved anything, and he knew it, from personal experience. He reached down and pressed the intercom button.

"Ami, cancel all my meetings"

"Uh…yes sir, what should I say?"

"Tell them that if they like their Jobs they can mind their own goddamn business" he said brutally.

"Y…yes sir… are you ok?" Ami's concerned voice touched him.

"I'm fine, can you please get Rei on the phone? She's staying at Chateau meridian"

"Yes sir"

"Thank you Ami" with that he pressed the intercom button again. And stared off into space, this was going to be a long day.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE BUSY?"  Rei howled at him.

"I'm busy Hun, can I see you tomorrow?" he stated more than he asked, his no-nonsense business tone, more annoyed her than intimidated her.

"Darien I'm pregnant, I'm lonely and I want to hurt you! This can't be a good combination for the baby!" she stated.

"I'll come see you soon I promise!" he said earnestly.

"Why not now… what's wrong Darien?" she asked gently.

"Something came up…"

"Or you're hiding something from me!"

"I'm not hiding anything…"

"Yes you are, Darien what's going on…." Suddenly he the phone fell with a loud thud, and he heard a soft pained groan.

"REI!" he yelled as fear gripped his chest.

"Yah I'm still here" Her voice sounded odd, as if she was crying.

"Rei, what's going on?"

"Like I'm going to tell you"

"Rei…"

"If you tell I will" she said playfully even though her voice sounded pained.

"Fine" And with that Darien started telling her the story.

"Shit…"

"My sentiments exactly, now your turn"

"Uh…I've been spotting, that's how I didn't realize I was pregnant, I just thought that maybe my periods were light, then it started happening irregularly, so I went to see the doc, he said I was pregnant, but I might miscarry…" He heard her sniff before she continued, "Don't tell Jay, he has enough to deal with"

"Honey your going to have to tell him you know…"

"I know, just not yet"

"Alright well, I'm coming over, and we can order nasty ice cream with pickles or something" he said, trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

"It's ok if you want to stay in your office and wait…"

"Are you at work?"

"No…"

"Liar, Ami said that the hotel people re-directed her to Ka-Rei"

"Fine, but just cause…."

"Please Rei, take care of your self, take it easy, you'd never be able to forgive yourself if you lost that baby, you know that,"

"I know, that's why this is my last day here, I'm staying home for the rest of my pregnancy"

"How are you going to explain that to Jay?"

"I'll tell him I'm getting to obsessive!"

"Your about 2 years to late" he laughed. "I'll pick you up in a hour got it?"

"Yes sir, but I got to go, so I'll call you in a bit?"

"Yup, bye Sissy"

"I hate when you call me that"

"I've called you that since you were born you don't get a choice."

"Damn it all. Bye" she hung up and Darien placed the phone back in its cradle. He looked around his office; he had a good 45 minutes to kill. He looked down at his desk and saw the picture of Rei at her wedding. He remembered it very well; he had given her away, seeing as how their father hadn't been invited. Rei had wanted him to be involved with everything. She had dragged him into every bridal shop in Texas before he gave up on finding one she liked, he'd handed her paper and a pencil and told her to design her own gown. And she had, the gown had been an ivory concoction, which was sleeveless, and bathe in lace. A soft lilac pattern had been sown on to the bodice of the gown. It had been one of the only times in Darien's life where he had nearly cried.

Rei's gown was only the beginning of Rei's talent. She later decided to Switch universities, and become a designer. Darien and Jaden later bought her, her very own studio. And her brilliant designs led to a deal with a failing clothing store, she became their exclusive designer, and with a little help from Darien, Rei's clothing line went off with a bang. The store later renamed to Ka-Rei, which was Rei's label. For her 21st birthday, Darien bought out Ka-Rei, and gave it to her. Of course Rei hadn't know it was a present. Darien had told her, that Ka-Rei had huge possibilities, just horrible management, which was true, but the only reason he had gone after it with such zealous disregard for price, and ethics was for Rei. And he placed her as president, because she was a very talented Designer and business minded woman. Which was true as well, but was not the reason.

As well as being the president of the company, Rei designed and manufactured the clothing. Her ingenious plans and technique for boosting sales had resulted in Ka-Rei being one of Darien's most successful buyouts. However Darien's company did not get any of the profits, Rei had bought him out. Obviously nowhere near as hostile as the original take over. Ka-Rei and all its other sister stores, were Rei's.

Darien smiled, as he put down the picture. He looked over at the next one, this one was of him and Rei as children, and this one had been taken 3 days before their mother had died. Or rather been murdered. He placed the picture down and picked up another, this one was of a beautiful woman with a baby in her arms and little boy standing with his arms wrapped around her neck in a hug. Darien's mother, he stared at the picture another moment before putting it down. Then picked up the last one, it was a picture of 2 men and 2 women standing in front of a building. One woman had silky long black hair, and amethyst eyes, the other woman, had shoulder length deep red hair, and bright green eyes. Valessa. He stared at the picture for a moment, the building had been the one he was in now, and this picture had been taken before he and Valessa had married. Valessa had to have been only 20 in this picture, and he had been 25, and his sister was about 15. He wondered why he had kept this picture. Valessa had always treated him like he was second class back then, then she met him again, when his net worth was somewhere around 100 million, and she had 'fallen in love'. He had met Valessa through a friend, at a party. And the woman had been snooty to him the whole night, but he had been taken by her, the way she held her self, the way she talked, everything about her seemed so exotic.

She hadn't liked him one bit, she had liked Jaden much more, and that was the only reason she had been in this picture. He looked down at the picture again; Jaden was smiling a big broad smile over in Rei's Direction. He looked more closely at the picture, and laughed because Rei had been blushing something fierce. Then he remembered something. The day they had seen this building Darien had made them stop, and had pronounced that he would one day own this building. Everyone except Rei had laughed. That was why he kept this picture. He looked down at Valessa.

"I told you so," he whispered. Then placed the picture down on his desk.

He looked down at his watch, and swore, it had already been hour. He reached over and grabbed his phone, and called Gus.

"I should have known you meant D.V time." She grinned as he rushed into her office.

"D.V time?" He asked curiously.

"Darien Volpe time." She grinned, and got up from her seat. "How did you get Maggie to let you in?" she asked.

"She's a 32 year old woman how do you think?" he asked loudly, so that Maggie Gretchen, Rei's 52-year-old secretary could hear.

"Oh Darien you're such a tease" Maggie laughed. Her graying black hair was pulled up into a tight French twist, and her thin body was draped in a too-loose-to-look-right pantsuit. Darien winked at the woman.

"Only to you Maggie, when are you going to go out with me?" he joked.

"Oh dear me, I'm much too old for you" Maggie retorted.

"Sure, sure, trying to let me down easy aren't you?" He said in fake hurt voice. Rei and Maggie laughed helplessly.

"Rei, you take it easy now, Janie is very competent so don't you worry."

"Janie? Is she the interim president?" Darien asked.

"Nope, she's Maggie's secretary, Mag-pie is my interim president"

"Oh congrats Mag."

"Yes she is very qualified, more so that any other member on my staff, she's been around for a very long time, and her brilliant Ideas have saved my ass a number of times."

"I didn't say anything…"

"She can read you very well Darien, don't feel bad, everyone here asked about my qualifications, at least you had the class not to ask it flat out" the woman grinned at him.

"Good luck Mag, if you need any help don't hesitate to ask ok?" Rei said.

"Likewise" Darien added.

"Oh you 2 better get out of here, thanks for the offer, I'll remember" She smiled, and then pushed them both out of the office.

"No need to push Mag, I can walk, I haven't lost the use of my legs just because I'm pregnant you know."

"Well you did the last time you were" Rei blushed.

"Well it was a crucial time last time I was pregnant, I had to work over time…"

"Yes it was, but you worked over time because you didn't were afraid of Jay…"

"We better go bye Maggie, love you, take care" And with that she grabbed her brother's hand and half dragged him out of the office.

"Afraid of Jay?" Darien asked.

"Drop it Darien I don't want to talk about that," Her voice sounded odd, "please" she added desperately.

"Fine"

3 hours, 4 boxes of pizza, 2 servings of Chinese food, and a pale of ice cream later, Darien and his sister where very full and fast asleep on the couch. A sudden loud ringing awoke Darien. He opened his eyes and stretched lazily. And the ringing hadn't stopped. He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out his ringing cell phone. Flipping it open he answered it.

"Yes?" Darien asked groggily.

"Darien? This is Richard Green"

"Yah? What's up?"

"The test was completed an hour ago." Darien was suddenly very awake.

"Yah? What are the results?" He asked with baited breath.

"You're the father…" Darien dropped the phone and stared at it as if it was contaminated, the words ringing in his head.

You're the father……you're the father……you're the father……

(A/n: ok I wrote a nice long chappy, so you owe me reviews!)