The Billionaire's Call Girl: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (16 page)

"She's right! This whole story is out in the press now; it's a huge scandal. Felicia, nearly every home in the country tonight is buzzing with the gossip about you. You can't live like that. You can't keep feeding that kind of fodder to the newspapers! What do you think is going to happen if you go back to him? The newspapers and television stations are going to follow you around all over the place, all the time.

They're going to photograph you all the time, doing everything, because you are hot news and all they're interested in is selling a story. They won't give you a moment's peace, baby. They are going to do everything they can to get near you so they can publish the next big hot story about how you are a home-wrecking tramp who totally annihilated one of the most beloved families in the country." He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked at her carefully.

"Do you really want to be the cause of more grief and trials for his family? Do you really want to be the one who makes his life even more miserable than it is right now?"

Cal shook his head. "I'll tell you something baby, he's in some really bad shape right now, facing all kinds of problems and issues, but you're only going to make it worse if you try to stay with him."

He began to walk around the living room. "You say that he's so worried about protecting his family, well, baby girl, you would be undermining everything he does to try to fix this if you went back to him. Those media hounds, they know who you are now, and they are not going to leave you alone until they have worked every single story out of you and there's nothing left of you but a shell."

Cal came closer to his daughter and lowered his voice a bit. "Do you think we want to see you get hurt? Do you think we want you to face all the media problems that you are going to have if you don't let this go now? Baby, I have been around the block a time or two, and I will tell you this: those media types are predators and they are just waiting for every single little slip up that you make.

You can't give them that. You can't give in to their horrible intimidation. Stay here with us; move back in with us and start making your life right again. Seriously, what are you going to do? You want to make it worse? That's exactly what you will be doing if you stay there with him.

At least if you move in with your parents, you will show the press that you've left him and they will leave you alone and that leaves him alone. That makes the two of you a dead story, and no media outlet wants that. You'll be free to live your life, and he and his family can move forward from this mess." Her father looked at her pointedly.

"If you really loved him, you would want what's best for him. No matter what you think, you are not what's best for him." His eyes lingered on her steadily, waiting for her to respond.

Felicia felt like her stomach had turned into a huge rock, cold and heavy, pulling her downward. Her face was red and soaked with from tears and she felt as if she could not take any more of the grief and pain she was struggling through. She sank back down onto the edge of the love seat and lowered her face into her lap, crying on her knees.

She was only there for a moment before her mother came to her and knelt beside her, crying with her for a moment and then telling her softly, "Baby, we are with you. We will always be with you no matter what you do, no matter what kind of mistakes you make; we are always going to be there for you, trying to guide you and help you through them as best we can.

What I can tell you right now is that this is a big mistake, little girl. You'll see that as time passes and you are further distanced from it. You listen to us now, and you just stay here. I don't even want you to go back to that hotel to get your things. Send for them. Maybe Mary would go and get them for you. Don't ever go back, and just put this whole ugly, nasty business behind you."

Maryanne stroked her daughter's hair and Cal came up and put his hand on her back. "What your mother said is right, young lady. We all make mistakes; we aren't judging you, but we want to help you fix this one. You have to fix this one. You can't stay with him."

He knelt down beside her and lifted her chin to look at him. "Felicia, let me ask you this," She looked up at him through her soaked eyelashes and he sighed and said earnestly, "Did he ever say he would leave her for you?"

Felicia's mind snapped back to that very afternoon when they had made love in her bed; so passionate, so strong, and he had finally told her he had loved her. She had waited so long to hear it and he had finally said it. And then she thought of what he had said right afterward. He had told her he couldn't leave his wife for her, ever.

He told her he had hoped that being his mistress would always be enough. She was never going to be his wife. She would always be a secret, always be hidden, and always be on the side. She would never see the day when she would walk down the aisle to him in a white dress, holding her pretty bouquet, and end up wearing his ring and being his wife forever.

She thought about how, at the beginning, she had been with him for the money, and marriage wasn't anything that she wanted or was looking for. As she grew to love him, he was all she wanted, and she didn't care about the money any longer.

She told him that she would be his mistress for the rest of her life because she was in his arms then and she felt all the love they shared. But now, sitting with her parents, she felt as if she were looking at it with different eyes and she realized that they were speaking the truth.

He may have said he loved her, but it took him a long time to say it to her, and he had even mentioned that it was because of Mariah that he said it. If it weren’t for his wife telling him to say it, she still wouldn't have heard those precious words fall from his lips.

She'd still be waiting, just like she would always be waiting to be the most important thing in his life. He told her that he loved her more than anything else, but he also told her he was never going to leave his wife for her.

The duplicity struck her now that her passion had cooled, and looking at her parents   standing there beside her, watching her and comforting her, caring for her with all of their hearts as they always had, suddenly Jake's love seemed to fall short in their shadow.

He had not given up anything for her. He had not renounced his wife or his lifestyle or anything that might make her permanently his. He had put her on a side shelf where he could have her anytime he wanted, for as long or short a period as he wanted, and leave her anytime he wanted. She was always going to be on a side shelf, and he had made that very plain to her just that day, right after they had made such passionate love,.

In business, she didn't mind being on the shelf, she was paid to be on the shelf and it was what their arrangement centered around, but now it had gone much further than that and they had declared their love. She meant it when she said she loved him. She left her whole world for him and his world.

She lied to her parents and siblings, her friends and everyone she knew just to be with and stay with him, and he had kept her his secret. His dirty little secret, and now the whole world knew it. The first thing he did when he found out what had happened was to run to his wife.  

He had hidden from the cameras and the press; they had taken the secret way out in dark limousines and gone separate ways, parting in a shadow, and he was at that very minute with his wife.

She was sure he hadn't been hiding when he arrived at the hospital. She was sure that when he arrived at the hospital, he hadn't used a secret entrance; he'd gone right in the front door and up to his wife.

Felicia looked into her parents’ eyes and saw worry and love. She saw devotion and dedication. Her father lowered his hand from her and shook his head.

"He was never going to leave her for you, baby. As a man in love," he said, smiling at her mother and reaching for her hand, "I will tell you this right now; there is nothing in the world that could keep me from your mom. Nothing. You know that's true, and you are worth every bit as much love as we've had and share with each other. You are worth that, my girl, and you are never going to get it from him."

Felicia closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She knew he was right. In the beginning, the money had been enough, but they had fallen in love, and the money wasn't worth anything to her anymore; it wasn't enough. She wanted love. She wanted him, as her husband, forever, and it was never going to happen.

It wasn't even that she was desperate to get married, because she wasn't; she hadn't even been thinking about marriage until he had mentioned it that day, saying he wished he could marry her and that he would if he was able to. It was the fact that she loved him with all of her heart and knew that someday she would want to marry him, even if it was years down the road.

Now she knew that day would not come for her; he had guaranteed her that in no uncertain terms. She would never be more important than his wife or business, and that meant that she was not the most important thing in the world to him.

She dropped her face into her hands and wept, and, as she did so, she let him go just a little bit more with each falling tear. She knew she would always love him; love like that doesn't go away, but she was never going to be worthy of leaving Mariah for, at least to him. She felt her own self-worth and value coming back into her heart a little bit at a time.

"I'll stay." She sighed wistfully, wiping her face.

Her mother pulled her to her feet and hugged her tightly, and then her father wrapped his big strong arms around them both and she felt their love begin to heal her aching heart. She would stay. She would finish school, and then she would graduate, move out again, and get her own place.

The tables had turned.

Chapter9

Jake had rushed back to the hospital and he and his driver had waded through a solid wall of reporters waiting out front for him there. They yelled questions at him about his son who wasn't really his son, they hollered out about his mistress, about his wife, and they called out questions about his business and asked him what he was going to do to save it.

He had never had his hands more full of everything than he did just then, but just then he had one thought on his mind. Damage control. Everything else would have to come in line after it.

His phone was blowing up so much that he had to switch it to reject all incoming calls so that he could call out to the few people he desperately needed to talk with. He needed to try to get the mess cleaned up without making it worse, without constantly being interrupted.

Jake burst through the door of Christopher's room and saw Mariah sitting there in a chair with her head in her hands and David's sister standing next to her. They had been as close as natural sisters ever since she and David had been together over ten years ago.

"Maureen!" Jake called out in surprise. She turned and looked at him sadly and he knew that she had told Mariah what had happened.

He walked over to Mariah as she sat there in her chair, weeping miserably, and he knelt down to her, taking her in his strong arms to comfort her.

Maureen looked down at him as he held Mariah and she said quietly, "I had to come and tell her what happened. David certainly couldn't come. There are a billion reporters everywhere and nobody knows who he is yet. I'd like to try to protect my brother and keep it that way."

She frowned and shook her head. "They don't know who I am either, so no one even looked once at me when I walked in here. I'm glad I could get in quietly to give her the news. I'm so sorry it happened at all." Maureen placed her hand on Mariah's shoulder to comfort her some more.

They mourned together for a short time, and then Jake looked at his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"It's going to be alright, somehow. We will make it through this, just like we have made it through every single other thing we've ever had to face. We’ll do it together, and we’ll press on. We’ll make it through. I've had my attorneys on the phone for the last fifteen minutes and they've already got a team of sharks working hard at making this go away." He told his lawyers that they had to get it fixed yesterday, and they were working wildly at making that happen.

Mariah hugged him back and held him as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know, we'll be alright. We will. It's just so awful. I'm so sorry, Jake, I never saw anyone with a camera. I had no idea that the conversation was being recorded. I'm usually so careful, and now look what a mess I've made. God I'm so sorry Jake." She wept some more and finally her tears quieted and the doctor and his nurse both came in, red-faced. He harrumphed quietly, and they stood up and walked over to him.

"What's going on, Doctor?" Jake asked worriedly.

The doctor's face was almost burgundy. "I just wanted to tell you that all of us here are very sorry that your privacy was compromised and that the information about Christopher's parentage was leaked to the press.

You attorneys have uncovered the identity of the nurse who shared that information, and her employment here has been terminated. We do not stand for breaches of security or privacy, and it's horrible that your family's experience has made the national news. It truly gives our hospital a black eye to have to admit that one of our own was so reckless and thoughtless with our patient's privacy."

Jake shook his head. He had some of the best lawyers around, and he was glad to hear that they had already made a difference with this disaster.

"How did they find out who it was? Do you know?" Jake asked curiously.

The doctor coughed into his hand and looked down at the floor in humiliation.

"Everyone knows who it is. She posted photographs of the test results online and took ownership of the leak, putting it on all her social media pages. Apparently, she thought it would make her famous and wealthy to do so. She said she was just doing her duty to a public who had the right to know the truth.

I have a friend on the medical board, and he told me that they are going to revoke her licensing. She is finished in the medical industry. I just wish I could have stopped it before it got out."

Jake agreed, pushing his hands down into his pocket with a sigh. "I do too," he said quietly.

The doctor looked up from the floor then and lifted his chin slightly. "We did put an armed guard at the door just outside this room as well as at the end of both hallways leading here. It's a secured area, so no one can get in without being buzzed in, but after all the craziness of this day, we knew we had a responsibility to do all we could to protect you from further trouble."

Then he turned and walked toward Christopher, lying there in the bed. "Now then, this young man is looking better and his fever is down. I expect we could operate on him in the next hour."

Jake looked from the doctor to Mariah who was standing beside Maureen, holding her hand.

"Maureen, Mariah, would either of you like to invite David to be here? I feel as though he should have the opportunity to be here if he wants to be. He has a right to be."

Jake looked at them both as they conferred quietly, and then Mariah picked up her phone and walked to the door of the room.

"I'll just go call him," she said, and left them.

David did want to be there, and he came in simple dress and a ball cap, under the guise of heading in to the emergency room and then getting lost down a corridor that eventually led to the floor where Christopher was.

He was able to enter the room without anyone noticing or any detection of his presence. Once he arrived, and they were all there together, the doctor operated on Christopher and a short while later, he brought the boy, who was still sleeping, back into his room. He told all of the parents that the surgery had gone well and that they wanted to observe him overnight to be sure the infection and fever didn't return. The doctor felt that his recovery would be such that he could likely be taken home the following day.

With one less major worry on his plate, Jake's thoughts turned back to Felicia as they always did, and he walked out into a quiet corner of the hallway to call her. Somehow, when he dialed her number, he heard a message that the number had been disconnected. He looked at his phone in confusion and dialed her again. He was surprised that there had been any mistake; she was on speed dial.

He got the message again. Her phone was disconnected. He began to tense up as a wave of panic hit him. He knew that with everything that was going on, anything could have happened and he rushed to check his voicemail to see if he had heard from her. There was no reason at all that her phone shouldn't be working.

Jake listened to his voicemails, making swift decisions as to whether to listen to them, erase them, or save them for later. His voice mailbox was full, and it took him a while to get through them all, but just as he was nearing the end, he finally reached the one that he was hoping to find, but, as he listened to it, he realized that it was one he had hoped never to hear.

"Hello Jake," came her sad voice through the phone to him, "I have to share some hard news with you. I wanted to let you know that I've left the townhouse and the agency, and I won't be going back to either of them, or to you. I've talked to my parents about what has happened between us and they feel it's wrong for us to continue. I don't feel like it's wrong, but I do feel like we've hit a point from which we can't go forward." There was a pause, then she continued, "I love you, Jake, with everything in me. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, but, as you told me today, that is never going to happen. You'll always be married to Mariah, and I just can't stay there and be last in your line of priorities all the time. I can't stay with a man I love this much when he doesn't love me back as much as I love him.

I want to get married someday, Jake. I want to marry you someday, and you told me yourself that that day will never come. You said that you will always be married to Mariah, so I had to make this decision for myself. I want more from you, Jake; I want everything with you, and if that isn't going to happen, then I don't want anything with you at all.

I'm so sorry. I hope this doesn't hurt you, but I can't stay in a close relationship where I don't matter as much as you matter to me. I love you, Jake, always. Please don't try to call me or come see me. I've changed my phone number and you shouldn't come to try to find me." 

The digital operator asked for a command indicating what should be done with the message. Jake stood there in a shocked trance. He listened to the message again, sure that he must have heard it wrong. It was the same message. He saved it and leaned his back against the wall, pain and sorrow wrestling with guilt inside of him, tearing at his heart where he stood.

He closed his eyes. Of everything he had dealt with that day, of everything he had lost, this was the most precious and it was almost more than he could handle. He slid down the wall and sank to the floor, burying his face in his hands as his phone fell to the ground by his feet.

Jake stayed there, quiet and mourning for a while and told himself it wouldn't stay that way. He told himself that she would be back at the penthouse when he got there. He promised himself that he would be able to contact her and win her back, but in his heart of hearts, he knew that she had spoken the truth and that nothing he said was going to make a difference.

She had laid out the truth for him. Everything or nothing. That's what it was going to be. He only had one way through that, and it was impossible.

He was sitting there with his hands over his face when his cell phone buzzed at him for the billionth time and he looked down. It was his office.

"This is Jake." 

"Jake, it's Donahue," came a serious voice over his phone, "I don't know how much you've seen or what you've been watching since the news broke today, but the stock for the company just closed at the worst mark in the history of the company."

Jake sighed and ended the call, blocking all incoming calls again, and setting his phone down on the floor. He wondered if there would ever be an end to this riot of a day.

Christopher healed and went home, and Jake and Mariah went with him. Jake stayed right by his side for the first two days, getting the young boy up and running again, buying him ice cream and popsicles, and spending his time with him. David was at the house with them, watching over his son as well, and by the second day, Jake got the distinct feeling that he wasn't actually needed.

Christopher loved him and wanted him around, but he was happy with David and Mariah. Jake decided to go to the penthouse at the hotel and see if she had gone back. He wanted to make sure... just check... and he had his driver take him to the basement entrance where he and Felicia left each other.

He took the long elevator ride up from the basement to the top of the building and when the doors opened, he didn't go rushing through them. Instead, he stepped through them hesitantly and then looked around the place.

It was clean, as always. Nothing was out of place. It was also silent; as silent as he had ever heard it, and he knew without walking through it that she wasn't there. He walked out onto the balcony and strolled back through the penthouse, room by room, one more time. There was no sign of her, but there was the profound absence of her everywhere he went, in every place there, and it struck at him powerfully.

Nothing was more difficult than when he walked into her bedroom. The bed was made. The bed where he had told her he loved her. The bed where he had taken all the love she had to give him and then told her that even though he loved her, he would never leave his wife for her.

He sat on the edge of the cold bed and raked his fingers through his hair, trying to push the regret away from himself. After a long while of silence and thought there, he stood up and walked over to the closet, reaching out and opening the door.

Everything was still there; at least, everything that he had bought her. All of the clothes she had brought with her in her two bags were gone. The portion of her belongings that were hers without him were gone, just like she was.