After Divorce, Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant-Chapter 149 1.92 Billion Dollars!

"It’s just one dinner, how bad can it be."

Stepping into the rather grand dinning Hall with it’s tables full of foods, Leonica had to mentally face palm herself for being too naive and underestimating the level of her own curiosity.

If there was ever a phrase that was able to describe how bad the dinner was going, it would be the saying ’the calm before the storm’.

Leonica had to admit, she had seen her fair share of dinners- thanks to her parents and grandparents, but this one was a whole new level.

The silence, the tension and the occasional awkwardness that followed after each time, one of them picked up their cutleries and made a small clanking noise was almost unbearable.

She could have sworn that at some point, the tension between Owen and his father could be cut with a knife.

And then there was her, the unwanted guest.

She felt as if she didn’t belong there and that feeling only increased when Owen’s father, Taehyun, turned to his long time friend and business partners, who he had invited, along with their daughter of course.

"Aria," He started, the smile on his lips directed to the woman and her daughter was one she had come to see in his son. "I hope the meal is to your liking. And you too Victor."

“Yes, Tae,” The woman, Aria, responded.

“Everything is perfect,” Her daughter, a young woman with light brown hair and hazel eyes, added.

“That’s good to know.” He responded and then his attention was back to his son. “Owen, I haven’t introduced you to Claudia, have I?”

“Father,” Owen gave a silent warning, but Taehyun ignored him, turning back to face Claudia as he intended to carry on with the one sided introduction.

Leonica who had quietly watched the interaction and surveyed the entire situation, finally got head of what was happening.

‘Ah, so that’s it,’ She thought as she stuck another fork of the awfully cooked steak in her mouth.

It was obvious that Taehyun was trying to set Owen up with this Claudia of a lady. Even when he was aware of their relationship.

Not that Leonica cared about people’s opinion, but knowing that Taehyun didn’t approve of their relationship and was even trying to set Owen up with someone else, in her presence, kind of saddened her.

Owen who was seated beside her, quickly took notice of the way her expression dampened a bit. And he knew it was because she had caught onto what his father was doing.

Reaching under the table, he found her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, flashing her a smile when she turned to look at him.

“Don’t worry,” He mouthed. “It would soon be over.”

“Claudia, this is my son, Owen.”

The girl waved at Taehyun’s words. “It’s nice to meet you Owen.”

Much to her surprise, Owen stared at her blankly, not bothering to return her greeting before turning to face his father. “Would you stop this already. I won’t seat here and watch you try to set me up on a date, right in front of my fiancée.”

His words caused an uproar. In seconds, the entire dinning room was filled with sounds of coughing from Aria and Victor who had chocked on their drinks and Leonica too.

‘Fiancée?’ She thought, glancing questioningly at Owen.

“Fiancée?! Is this a joke, Owen? Because if it is, it’s not funny!” His father warned.

“It’s not a joke, father. Leonica’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” He turned to Leonica and flashed her a calm smile. “And it’s true.”

She couldn’t help but blush while Taehyun glares at them both.

“And you,” He turned back to his father. “You should start minding your business father.”

Taehyun was enraged by his son’s words. “How dare you!”

“It’s either that or you can continue wasting your time trying to pair me up with women which truthfully Isn’t going to work.”

Taehyun gritted his teeth. “This isn’t the bargain.”

“Actually it is. I just never promised that I’d seat through the entire process.” With that, he stood up and extended his hand to Leonica. “Shall we luce mia?”

Leonica could do nothing but stare at his extended hand and then back at him. It took her a second, and a moment of recollecting her thoughts to take his hand and allow him to pull her to her feet.

“Sure, let’s go.”

Without sparing his father or the others a glance, he led her out, his hand still holding onto hers.

~•~

Once they were outside and the cold night air blew past them, Leonica couldn’t help but ask. “Why did you lie to your father?”

“Huh?”

“That thing you said back there, about me being your fiancée.”

Owen stopped walking and turned to face her. He had a smile on his lips and in his eyes, the smile was reflected. “It wasn’t a lie, I do want you to be the one I spend the rest of my life with, and if you’re asking about the fiancée part,” He paused and reached into his pocket, pulling out a red velvet box. “I was going to keep it until we got home, but since you brought it up, might as well give it to you now.”

He flipped the lid of the box open and Leonica found her breath caught in her throat at the sight.

It was a ring, a ring with a diamond that was embedded in the shape of a rose and two smaller ones, one on each side.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Leonica Romero.”

The sincerity in his words and the way her name rolled off his tongue, had her heart thumping in her chest.

But...with one look at him, she knew he wasn’t the problem. He was ready... But she wasn’t.

She had so many problems in her life and the last thing she wanted to do was pull him head on into all that, not when she also wasn’t ready to let go of her past wounds.

“Owen, I appreciate this and I love it, really, but I just...I need more time.” She whispered.

The smile that graced his lips told her that he already expected such a reaction from her.

He cupped her cheeks with his free hand and kissed her forehead. “I know luce mia and I’m not pressuring you for any answer now. I’m going to wait as long as it takes.”

“You will?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Owen.” She whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against his chest.

Owen returned the hug and smiled softly. “Come on, let’s get you home. You must be craving actual food after that horrid thing my father forced you to entertain.”

Leonica couldn’t help but laugh.

~•~

The next morning, ironically being Monday, Romero’s Empire’s new Vice President was furious with what he was seeing as soon as he had arrived at the company.

“What the hell is all this?!” He roared, presenting all the termination contracts to Melvin who sat comfortably in the president seat. “Why is it that so many companies are terminating their contract with us under such short notice?!”

When the paper was presented in front of Melvin, who already had more than enough on his table since today was his first day, he groaned.

“Uncle, you should be able to handle this.” With that, he pushed the papers back and focused on his other works.

Rodrigo was about to chastise his nephew when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Melvin commanded and watched as the door opened and in walked the assistant his father had given to him. Kennedy.

“Good morning Mr. Romero,” He greeted Melvin before turning to greet Rodrigo. “Good morning Vice President.”

“What’s so good about this morning!” Rodrigo snapped, not liking that the company was suddenly facing a decline in their hands.

The calmer and more reasonable one in the two of them, Melvin, spoke up. “What brings you here, Kennedy?”

Stepping forward, the assistant presented another batch of files. “This came in just this morning. It’s a contract of termination from both the Bryce and Richardson company.”

Rodrigo’s eyes widened upon hearing that they were losing their two biggest backers. “What?!”

“And... And that’s not all.”

“Not all?” Kennedy pulled out the last file and placed it on the table, opening it so that Melvin could see.

“Gabriel Bryce has decided to sue Romero Empire for a breach of contract and is demanding a compensation of ten times what he has been rubbed.”

“Ten... Ten times!” Melvin was shocked and glanced at Rodrigo who seemed to know what was going on.

Ah, damn.

“And is the compensation when multiplied by ten?”

Kennedy brought out his phone and did the calculations and showed it to Melvin seconds later.

Seeing the figures, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “1.92 Billion dollars!”