Chapter 23: Mother's Sperm Donor

Alijah was seated at her desk, going through business proposals. It was officially her least favorite job duty. It was close to the end of the day, and she was more than ready for the next hour and a half to pass. She had just moved another proposal to her trash when she heard the elevator ding. She stopped typing, eyebrows furrowed. She knew that Kieran didn’t have any more meetings for the day, and no one from the other departments had called her to inform her that they would be coming up.

Turning her attention to the elevator doors as they opened, Alijah smiled, preparing to greet the person that stepped off. It took a moment, but then an older gentleman came into view. He was dressed in a tailored suit. Alijah was sure that it cost more than most people’s salaries.

“Good afternoon, Sir. How can I help you?”

“I’m Bronson Atworth. I’m here to see Kieran.”

Alijah looked at her schedule even though she knew that this man was not one of Kieran’s appointments today.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Atworth. I don’t have an appointment scheduled for you today. If you would like, I could see if Mr. Cayman has a moment to speak with you, or we can set up an appointment for the first thing he has available.”

“I’d like to speak with him today,” Bronson stated.

Alijah smiled at him. “Of course. Let me go in and see if he has a moment. Please, have a seat.” She gestured to the chairs in the waiting area.

She waited for him to take a seat, ensuring all of the items she had with personal information were secure before heading for Kieran’s office. She knocked twice before entering. Alijah closed the door softly behind her as she saw him standing at the window on the phone.

As she made her way to him, he turned to look at her. He smiled before turning his full attention back to his phone call, and Alijah took a seat in his chair and looked at the email he had up. It was an invitation to a vineyard. She saw that the invitation was dated for Halloween in a few weeks, and Alijah raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was what wealthy people did on Halloween. Get together at a vineyard and drink the night away.

“Do you want to go?” Alijah spun the chair around to face Kieran as he placed his phone on his desk.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” she responded to his question. “There’s a gentleman here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment, but I thought I would ask if you could squeeze him in today.”

“What’s his name?” Kieran questioned.

“Bronson Atworth.”

Alijah didn’t miss the stiffening of Kieran’s muscles, and it was only a second later, she saw that irritated tick in his jaw begin. His hazel eyes that hadn’t looked at her with coldness since they became a couple were now freezing her where she sat.

“Kieran,” Alijah stated softly as she stood up. With her sitting down and the sudden shift in his attitude, his height was intimidating. “What is it?” She questioned, placing her hands gently on his chest. “Who is he?”

“My mother’s sperm donor,” he bit out.

Alijah’s eyes widen. “He’s your grandfather?” She questioned as if she needed clarification.

“Don’t call him that, Alijah. That man deserves no title,” he snapped.

Alijah clenched her teeth, removing her hands from his chest. “Don’t get pissed off at me because he showed up. I’m just the messenger, Kieran,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest. Alijah watched as he took a deep breath before his eyes softened.

“I know,” he spoke, reaching for her hand. He brought it to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on it. “Tell him I don’t want to see him and never come back.”

Alijah rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to tell him that, Kieran. It’s insulting.”

“Then tell him I’m not here.”

She gave him a look of disbelief before shaking her head. “I’ve been in here five minutes. He’s going to know I’m lying.”

“I don’t care if he knows you’re lying or not.”

“Kieran,” Alijah stated firmly. “You’ve been ignoring this man your entire life. You had to know that eventually, you would have to face him. Today just happens to be that day.”

“Alijah, I don’t-”

“It’s okay, Kieran,” she stated, cutting him off. “I’ll be right here with you.”

Alijah watched for a moment, wondering if he would give in and meet with his grandfather. She didn’t think the man was so bad from first impressions, but what she had heard from Kieran made it seem like these were two separate men. However, it could have been that he had just changed over the years. After all, to her knowledge, Kieran would be the only relative Bronson had.

“Fine.” Kieran finally stated, to Alijah’s surprise. “I’ll give him five minutes.”

Alijah nodded before walking past him and back out of his office. She informed Bronson that Kieran would see him and led him into the office.

The tension was so thick that Alijah would swear that she could see it. Kieran stood behind his desk, those hazel eyes glacier cold again as Bronson walked in, stopping beside one of the chairs and placing his hands in his pocket.

“Mr. Atworth, please have a seat. Can I get you anything? Water? Tea?”

“He won’t be here that long, Ms. Douglas.” Kieran cut in before the older man could answer. Alijah shot him a look.

“Tea, if you will. Three sugars and milk if you have it.” Bronson answered with a soft smile. Not at all detoured by Kieran’s harshness.

“Of course,” Alijah stated, giving him a smile of her own before excusing herself.

Making her way into the kitchen, she grabbed one of the tea k-cups and went about making Bronson’s tea. Once finished, she placed a dark roast in for Kieran. While his coffee brewed, she added the required sugar and milk to the tea. When she was done, she grabbed the small bottle of scotch from the cabinet and put some into Kieran’s coffee.

Alijah took both cups by the handle and made her way back down the hall and into Kieran’s office. The silence almost knocked her off of her feet when she walked in. It was thick with distaste, and the tension had grown even heavier. She felt as if it was crashing down on her.

She took a silent breath before making her way to both men and handing them their respective drinks. She threw Kieran a look before retreating to the couch against the wall. On the table in front of it were a few preliminary phone concepts. Her lunch with Layla almost a month ago had been a success. She had gotten Kieran a meeting with the woman, and they were now working on the first phone they would release as partners.

Alijah decided to pick up the different concepts to make herself look busy, hoping that when the conversation between the two men did eventually start, it wouldn’t be too apparent that she was doing a tiny bit of eavesdropping.

Kieran sat at his desk, staring at the old man in front of him. His blood was boiling. He couldn’t believe that he would have to audacity to show up at his place of business. Kieran was sitting in his chair seething because he had shown up to his company like it were perfectly fine to do so, as if things had changed. For Kieran’s entire life, he had ignored the man. He wanted nothing to do with him, and he especially didn’t want him in his life.

The man before him had all but kicked his mother out. He had disowned her for marrying Kieran’s father. A poor young man from what he deemed, the wrong side of the tracks who came from nothing. His mother’s sperm donor had the quintessential old money attitude.

While Kieran had been raised with nannies most of his life, it didn’t mean that his parents hadn’t been around to give him the love and affection a child needed. They both worked hard to ensure that he had a good life. They were rich by no means, but his parents did well, and they worked for everything they had. He admired them for that.

He would have thought the man before him would have too; he would have seen the life his parents had made for their family, but he hadn’t. All he had seen was that his daughter was working, which was unacceptable to him.

Kieran wasn’t sure why the old man had been so set on his daughter not lifting a finger and being with someone of his social standing. For Kieran, even as a teenager, that had always sounded like a trophy to him. Something to be taken out and shown to others but then put away when you weren’t using it. That was not the definition he felt should be placed on a person.

He was all for a woman that wanted to work and could take care of herself. He enjoyed a woman with intellect and recently discovered that he enjoyed a feisty woman; however, that didn’t mean he would mind taking care of the right woman.

Bronson clearing his throat, pulled Kieran from his thoughts. He looked at the older man to see that he was staring directly at him.

“How have you been, Kieran?”

“Perfect,” Kieran replied in short. At this point, he just wanted him to spit out whatever it was he wanted to say.

For his part, the other man didn’t seem affected. “I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with me tonight at Aficionado.”

Kieran knew what the man was doing. He had chosen one of Paetyn’s restaurants. Probably in the hopes that Kieran would be more inclined to agree. He was, however, very wrong.

“He would love to.”

At those words, Kieran snapped his head over to Alijah and pierced her with a glare. As usual, she was unfazed. He went to correct her and tell Bronson that he would in no way be going to dinner with him when the older man stood up.

“Excellent. I will see you at eight.” With that, he left the room. Placing his cup on the table as he walked by.

Kieran watched as Alijah got up and went to close his door. He leaned back in his seat when she turned around to face him, jaw clenched.

“Before you get any more upset, I think this is a good idea,” she told him, making her way over to his desk and perching on the edge. “He seems to be trying to make amends. He’s extending the olive branch. You can’t be stubborn all your life.”

Kieran cocked his head as he looked at her. “Remember you said that the next time your stubbornness rears its head.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m serious, Kieran. What’s the worst that could happen from going to dinner with him?”

Kieran was silent for a moment as he thought. He didn’t want to go. There were a million other things he would much rather do, but this seemed to be one of those things that Alijah wasn’t going to let up on.

“Well,” he started. “I guess we’ll be finding that out together because you’re coming with me.” He finished with a smirk.

Kieran walked into the restaurant with Alijah’s hand in his. The hostess greeted them, leading them to their table after Kieran had given her the name on the reservation. He wasn’t surprised that they were led to one of the private rooms.

They found Bronson sitting at the table, tapping away on his phone upon entering. Kieran led the way over to the table, and Bronson stood as they approached. Kieran pulled out a chair for Alijah, and she took a seat, followed by both men.

“I hope this isn’t an inconvenience, Mr. Atworth,” Alijah spoke, turning her attention to the man.

Kieran watched as Bronson smiled at Alijah before answering her. “Not at all. I expected that you would join us, to be honest with you.”

At that moment, a waitress walked in to take their drink orders. Bronson deferred the choice to Kieran, who stated he didn’t care. He didn’t miss the look that Alijah threw his way. She then turned to the waitress and asked her to bring them the house special white wine.

When the waitress left, the room lapsed into silence. Kieran caught Alijah glancing back and forth between him and the old man, but he was not about to make a move to start a conversation. She gave him a look that clearly said she wanted him to strike one up. However, after realizing he was not about to do that, she sighed heavily and picked up her menu.

Kieran picked his up as well and scanned the options. Though he was pretty sure what he was going to order, he merely wanted to seem busy to delay speaking to or listening to Bronson for as long as possible.

The waitress came back several moments later with the wine Alijah had ordered. Once she had poured some for everyone, she took their orders.

“Can you show me to the ladies’ room?” Alijah questioned the waitress before she left.

Kieran knew precisely what she was trying to do and threw her a look as she stood and began to leave. He watched her go in her knee-length midnight blue dress. She was wearing the jewelry she had gotten for her birthday and a pair of silver shoes. Her hair was pulled up off her face. She was gorgeous, and upon seeing her step out of the bedroom, they almost hadn’t made it.

They were matching slightly. It hadn’t been on purpose, but it had happened. Kieran was dressed in a black Hugo Boss suit with a midnight blue shirt, black bow tie, and handkerchief.

“That young woman is more than just your assistant. Am I right?” Bronson questioned, drawing Kieran’s attention.

“Yes,” Kieran replied shortly.

“How long have the two of you been dating?”

“A while.”

Kieran watched as Bronson sighed before sitting back in his seat. The old man looked at him for a long moment as if he was contemplating something.

“Kieran, I know that I handled things poorly with your mother in the past, but-”

“Poorly?” Kieran questioned, cutting him off. “You disowned her for falling in love.”

“I didn’t believe that man was worthy of her. That’s the way all fathers think.”

“No, that’s the way you think. You didn’t like my father because he didn’t come from money.”

“That’s not-”

“Don’t say it isn’t true.” Kieran cut him off again.

“Kieran, you don’t know the entire story. There are some things, some factors that went into my decision.”

Kieran was heated. “Factors? It wasn’t a business acquisition! It was the love two people had for one another and your inability to accept it; because my father didn’t meet your old money standards!” He spat out through clenched teeth.

“Your father was a delinquent, troublemaker who-”

“My father was a hard-working man who took care of his family.”

“Kieran, before you were born, that wasn’t the case.”

“Yet, you still held your dislike for him when that did become the case.”

“He didn’t deserve my-”

“Stop talking!” Kieran snapped as the door to the room opened. “I knew I shouldn’t have come,” he stated, standing.

“Is everything alright?” Alijah questioned as she made her way towards the table.

“We’re leaving,” Kieran informed her, standing and heading towards the door.

“Kieran-” Alijah started as he passed her but was cut off.

“Now, Alijah.”

Kieran waited at the door and watched as Alijah gave the old man an apologetic look before heading toward him. He took her hand and led the way out of the restaurant. They were silent as they waited for the valet to bring the car around. He opened the door for her, waiting for her to get in before slipping in on the driver’s side.

They rode in silence for a moment until Alijah broke it.

“I’m sorry, Kieran. I thought that the two of you could at least take steps to mend your relationship.” Alijah stated.

Kieran turned to her as he stopped at a red light. He reached out and caressed her cheek. “It’s fine, beautiful. I know your intention was good, but that man and I will never have any type of relationship.”

With that said, Kieran turned his attention back to the road and proceeded to drive them back to the condo. He couldn’t believe the things the old man had said as if they were alright to say. However, he shouldn’t have been surprised.

Kieran glanced over at Alijah and licked his bottom lip. He would need a little stress relief, and he always enjoyed relieving stress with Alijah.