Billionaire In Hiding: The Complete Series (Alpha Billionaire Romance Western Love Story) (69 page)

“Have a good one, Aria!”
Nick waved.

I was made up entirely of nerves by the
time I left.

---

When I reached the bank, it was unusually
quiet. Everyone was staring in the direction of Zayden’s office, making
insincere attempts to conceal what they were doing. Mrs. Brian was gasping
visibly. I put my things away in my desk, then looked up to see what the fuss
was about. My heart stopped.

A beautiful blonde woman who looked like a
supermodel was giggling happily at Zayden, who seemed to be slightly
frustrated. It had to be a business partner. Or so I kept trying to convince
myself. The woman looked older – closer to Zayden’s age, and it was a perfectly
reasonable possibility that she was there for something work related. It
couldn’t be anything else, could it? Ignoring the uncomfortable knot that had
been forming in my chest ever since I saw the woman, I tried hard to focus on
work. A good amount of data entry had piled up in the time I had been away from
the office, a fact that Mrs. Brian wasted no time in reminding me.

“I’m on it,” I said, annoyed. Most of the
time I could stand Mrs. Brian and her judgment and nosiness, but right now, in
the midst of worrying about the woman in Zayden’s office and everything else
that was going on, I had no patience for her whatsoever.

“That man has no shame,” she was
muttering.

Why? Perhaps she knew who that woman was;
otherwise she wouldn’t be making these comments. I was tempted to ask her if it
was just a business meeting, but was not interested in the slew of questionable
looks and comments that were sure to follow. So instead I tried hard to
concentrate on typing as fast as I possibly could, occasionally allowing myself
a quick glance, which I couldn’
t
help.

The woman finally got up to leave and to
my utter shock and horror, kissed him romantically on the cheek. I couldn’
t quite make out Zayden
’s expression at
first, but then he noticed I had been looking and his face got pale. That was
it, I couldn’t take this anymore; I would so much rather deal with Mrs. Brian
than let whatever was happening consume me.

“Who is that woman?” I asked, keeping my
eyes firmly on my computer and trying to sound as casual as possible.

Mrs. Brian laughed and when I looked up at
her face she looked completely thrilled to be the person to have this piece of
information. She never passed on any excuse to gossip.

“Want to venture a guess?” she asked
smugly.

“
I don
’t know. A business partner?” I said, trying not to
sound too hopeful.

That made her laugh so hysterically, I
felt the Earth begin to shatter underneath me. “Oh dear, dear. You are so
innocent. Even if that man were ever to do business with someone who looks like
her, do you think it could possibly be just business?” she asked.

I shrugged, trying hard to stop the tears
that were forming in my eyes. Why the hell was this making me emotional? I was
going to stop the contract. Shit. I was actually falling for him. “Who then?
Some woman he’s sleeping with?”

“Not just some woman. The woman.”

“What do you mean?” I was barely able to
keep my voice level at this point. The woman. She couldn’t be–

“His wife, of course!”

“What?” I said, unable to keep the tone of
horror from my voice. Fuck it. I didn’t even care if Mrs. Brian knew what was
going on at this point. I just… I needed to find an empty room… and breathe…
before I crumbled completely.

“Well, okay that’s not quite right. You
could say ex-wife, I guess. But really, that’s just a technicality. They have
been separated for a year now.”

That made me feel infinitesimally better.
Ex-wife was much better than wife. But then what was she doing in his office
kissing him? And the way Mrs. Brian had called her “the woman.” It didn’t add
up at all.

“What is she doing here then?” I looked
her straight in the eye, my disappointment turning into anger.

Her face lit up as though Christmas had
come early. She had figured it out. Well, it was none of her business. “My, my,
Aria. I warned you not to get into this, didn’t I? You young girls just don’
t listen.
You s
ee a good looking
, rich man and he just
has to show an ounce of interest for you to run into his arms. You’re all the
same. What were you expecting? He’s going to sweep you off your feet and marry
you, then cover you in riches?”

“Keep the judgment to yourself, Mrs.
Brian. It is none of your business what I do in my free time,” I snapped.

“Get angry with me all you like, dear. It
doesn’t make a difference. All the girls before you, it’s the same exact story.
They go after him against my best advice, and then fall for him. They all think
it will be different with them, no matter his reputation, because they are all
special little snowflakes. In the end, Gina always returns; she is always his
first choice and always will be. Sure, they have been having some trouble over
the years, but what couple doesn’t? And marriage is a very strong bond, as
Zayden proves over and over again. They filed for divorce, but as far I as I
know, the proceedings were never really finalized. My theory is that they don’t
want it to be. Just look at them. They are a lovely couple. I would say they
are made for each other,” she said beaming, surely enjoying tormenting me.

Unable to stop the tears any longer, I
rushed out of the booth into the ladies room. I had never felt so completely
betrayed. Somehow this felt worse than when I had walked into Rick cheating on
me; that had crushed me, no doubt, but this made me feel like my whole body had
left me, and all that was left was a pool of misery and hurt. After all, Rick
hadn’t signed a piece of paper assuring me that he wouldn’t be sleeping with
anybody else. No matter what Zayden was – controlling,
arrogant
,
promiscuous
– I had never gotten the
idea that he was dishonest. Somehow I had managed to let myself trust him, and
now I was really paying for it. My face was completely covered in tears, as I
tried desperately to dab it with toilet paper. I had to go out there and do my
job, but how could I when he was sitting right in front of me?

But if he had broken the contract, didn’t
that mean I could… No, but there was no way for me to prove that he had been
sleeping with his ex-wife. Whatever way I looked at this, I was trapped. Unable
to be composed any longer, I ran into the bathroom stall and began sobbing
more, holding my face in the palms of my hands. How had I let myself get into
this? I had been so, so stupid.

I was such a strong woman until I met him.
Now I felt powerless.

Even more idiotic was that I had trusted
him with my body! It wasn’t in the contract, and against my own better
judgment, I had decided to sleep with him. Because I trusted him. Despite all
the reasons the world gave me not to, I trusted Zayden and believed that he
wasn’t going to hurt me. I had caused this to myself and no one else was to
blame. He must have had a good laugh. His grand master plan to sleep with me
had worked – I had willingly ran into his arms and asked for it.

I pictured him snuggling with his ex-wife
and laughing with her about how stupid girls were. They probably even made a
whole game out of it. Both of them insanely attractive, both could easily have
anybody they desired. That was probably how they even kept their marriage interesting;
the divorce must have been some kind of charade that helped them in the games
they played with vulnerable people.

I kept telling myself I could, and
gathering all the courage I could muster I walked back to my desk.

Mrs. Brian was waiting there for me with a
smirk. “Been crying, have we? Sleeping with the boss. Feeling rejected.”

God, she was a bitch.

“
I don
’t know what you are talking about,” I snapped. “So I
would appreciate it if you could just let me get back to work. Thanks!”

“Work!” She laughed. “Do you do any work?
Do you even have to? You’ve found other ways to please the boss-man after all.”

“Yes, I have,” I said, losing my temper
with her. “And if you don’t stop with the taunting, I will use my influence to
get you fired.”

That shut her up, but she looked ready to
hit me. I didn’t care. She deserved it.

With even more reserve than before, I
started typing out the documents in front of me, not looking at Zayden, not
looking at Mrs. Brian, not letting myself think even for a second, just working
as fast as I could. When the phone rang, it startled be back to reality and I
jumped.

It was Zayden, and he was looking right at
me.

Chapter 2

Zayden

It was obvious from the puffs underneath
her eyes that Aria had been crying. She had definitely seen Gina in my office
and jumped to the worst possible conclusion. It was Gina’s fault. I had told
her not to show up at the office, and that’s precisely why she had come here
snooping, hoping to get me to admit to seeing another woman. The way she had kissed
my cheek was not for my benefit, but rather for the audience that was peeping
through my glass door. She had guessed that the woman I was seeing was in this
office – rightly so – and intentionally done that to create complications. What
a fucking sly fox she was.

It had worked wonders. Aria looked like
she had just been run down by a train – I had never quite seen her this way.
She answered my call with what appeared to be extreme reluctance.

“Yes?” Her voice was wavering.

“I need you to come into my office,” I
said softly, worried about causing any further damage.

“Uh, I have a lot of work to catch up on.
I am sorry…
. Mr. Sinclair,
”
she said the last words with a lot of emphasis. She was trying to undo the last
few months, undo me.

“
I don
’t recall, Miss Roberts,” I said, returning her
formality with the hopes of throwing her off. “Giving you a choice in the
matter. And last time I checked, I was still your boss and I call the shots.”

She shut her eyes tightly. After what felt
like hours, she finally said, “I’ll be there in a few seconds, boss.”

She seemed to take her sweet time, as I
watched her finish up whatever she was typing, then remove and replace an
insane amount of objects from her desk drawers. If she was trying to hide the
fact that she was intentionally delaying our encounter, she made a poor attempt
of it. Frustrated and eager to tell her my side of the story, I called again.

“Now,” I said and hung up, staring at her
with the iciest gaze I could muster.

Finally, she began walking towards my
office, leaving me wondering what exactly I was going to tell her. I could
claim Gina was my coworker; she hadn’t exactly heard anything we had been
talking about, and it wasn’t a completely ludicrous notion that I would be
discussing business with an attractive female coworker at my office. At the
same time, if I was considering Gina’s offer, Aria was bound to find out who
she was sooner or later, and if I lied now, I would not only be accountable for
being married, but also for lying to her about it.

When she was outside my door, she knocked.
“May I come into your office, boss?” She put so much stress into that word, as
though she was taking all the bitterness she felt towards me and our situation
and expressing it through that single word.

“
Just get in here, Aria,
” I said, starting to lose my
patience.

“Do I need to, like, curtsy or something,
since you’re trying to make it clear that you’re the boss?”

“I am though,”
I said helplessly.
“I wasn’t trying to rub
it in like that but–”

“You did. And that’s exactly what you were
trying to do, which is okay. You’re right, you’re the boss and I do as you say
if I want to keep my job. So what do you need, Mr. Sinclair?”

His face was turning red. My attitude must
have been pissing him off.

“Zayden. We’ve been over this Aria. Let’s
not go through this whole ordeal again,” I said and shook my head.

“Oh, so it isn’t just who I talk to that
you control, but how as well? Duly noted, boss,” she snapped.

“Stop! Just fucking stop. We have a lot to
discuss, Aria, and for the sake of both of us, let’s not make it more difficult
than it has to be. Just take a seat will you,” I said, trying to sound a little
more gentle.

She didn’t say a word and sat down across
from me, her expression unreadable.

“You have been crying?” It wasn’t really a
question.

“Hah,” she snorted. “Wouldn’t you like
that? I suppose it helps your already inflated ego quite a lot, the thought of
a girl crying over you.”

“What?” I was perplexed. “Don’t be
ridiculous. You think I want you to cry? The last thing I want is for you to be
miserable. You should know that by now. I would think it was pretty obvious.”