The Billionaire's Curvy Conquest - Complete (16 page)

I hesitated, but only for a few seconds. “Yes. Please.”

The smile on his face faded away. “Then I’ll personally make sure that Ms. VanNess gets it.”

“Thank you, Henry.”

“My pleasure, Miss James.”

I stood in the doorway and watched as Henry started to leave. “We weren’t a real couple. You know that, right?”

He turned toward me and shrugged. “On the surface of things, I suppose. But if you ask me, nobody can fake the kind of passion that you two share.”

“Maybe passion alone isn’t enough for me anymore,” I said.

He looked at me with sadness in his eyes. “If you say so, Miss James.”

This time when he left, I didn’t try to stop him.

~~~

I
’ll admit that, when Henry left, I felt a touch of regret at my hasty decision. Maybe being Mr. Reed’s mistress wouldn’t be so bad. I’m sure the condo he bought me was gorgeous.

No.
NO!

I shook my head and brushed off my hesitation. My decision was final and the best way to solidify that was to call my parents and tell them the news before they read about my breakup in one of the tabloids.

My mom answered on the first ring. “Cassie? You rarely call during work hours. Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. Sort of. I guess. No, not really.” I couldn’t help it. The concern in my mom’s voice got to me and I choked up.

“Honey, take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.”

“I resigned from my job today,” I said, my voice quivering.

“Whatever for?”

“I couldn’t keep working for Mr. Reed because we broke up,” I blurted out.

“Oh, Cassie, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“I wanted the glue and he gave me a condo!” I cried. Tears rolled down my cheeks in twin, salty rivers.

“He what?” My mom sounded perplexed and I couldn’t blame her. I realized that, after saying the words out loud, they didn’t make much sense.

I tried to explain. “We were having a perfectly wonderful evening when he said he bought me a gift. I assumed it was, uh, jewelry or something like that. But no, it was a condominium in the same building as his.”

“That’s extremely generous,” my mom said. “And thoughtful, too!”

“Not really,” I argued. “He only bought it for me because he didn’t want people to know that I’m a nobody from nowhere who lives two blocks from the slums. He said dating someone who lived in a shabby apartment like mine was bad for his image.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it as an insult, dear. You have to admit that your apartment is a little on the shabby chic side, and it’s not located in the best part of town. Your dad and I worry about you living there all the time.”

“Being concerned for my safety is one thing. Being concerned about his richie-rich image is another. When I called him out on his insult and said I didn’t want his dumb condo, he told me I was being ungrateful. Can you believe that?”

My mom clucked her tongue into the phone. “If you phrased it just like that, it does sound a bit ungrateful, Cassie. Did you try talking to him about your feelings, like I suggested the last time we talked?”

“Talking to him about my feelings is futile, mom. All he cares about is using his money to manipulate people into doing what he wants. When I refused his gift and left his apartment, he didn’t even come after me.”

“Is that what this is about? Your pride is wounded because your boyfriend didn’t  chase you after you stormed off?”

I could tell that my mom thought I was acting childish, but she didn’t know the whole story around our relationship... and I wasn’t about to enlighten her.

“No, mom, it’s not about my wounded pride. It’s about wanting something that David Reed can’t give me. His love.”

“People show their love in different ways, Cassie. Some show it with words, through their actions.”

“That’s just it. Mr. Reed seems incapable of showing it in
any
way,” I argued.

“We talked about this after your surgery, Cassie,” my mom said, her tone softened. “I thought you were going to give him some time.”

“All the time in the world won’t change the man underneath the billion-dollar business suit,” I said through fresh tears. “Better to cut my losses now and get on with my life.”

“It sounds like your mind is made up. Do you need money to tide you over while you look for another job?”

I sniffed loudly. “No, I’ve got plenty of money in savings. Thanks, though.”

“Why don’t you come and stay with your dad and I for a while. I hate the idea of you going through this breakup alone.”

“It’s okay, mom. I’m not really in the mood for company right now. Maybe in a week or so I’ll come for a visit.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before my mom spoke again. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you two, Cassie. Sometimes the wiser choice is based on logic, rather than following your heart.”

T
he next few days went by in a blur. I spent my waking hours glued to the TV so I wouldn’t have to think about how devastated I was. At night, I would lay in bed alone, aching for Mr. Reed until sleep finally gave me an escape.

I hadn’t left my apartment since Friday night and was pretty much living on delivery food. When the doorbell rang at 6PM on Thursday evening, I expected to open the door to pizza.

Instead, I found Alice.

The moment I saw the shocked look on her face, I realized how awful I must have looked with my greasy hair pulled back in a ponytail and dark circles under my eyes.

She recovered her composure quickly, but the damage was done. I felt as shabby as my apartment!

“Hello, Cassie. May I come in?” she asked.

I glanced behind my back at the state of my living room, knowing there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. “Sure. Excuse the mess. I wasn’t expecting company. Have a seat.”

Alice smiled warmly. “No worries.” She looked twice at my old, crappy couch – the only place in the apartment to really sit – before perching primly on the edge.

“What brings you to my neighborhood?” I asked.

“I wanted to invite you to lunch tomorrow. I have a table reserved at The Garden Room and would prefer not to dine alone.”

“That’s why you stopped by? You could have called, Alice.”

She looked contrite. “Well, I also wanted to see how you were doing. From the look of things, my instinct was correct.”

“Oh yeah? What was your ‘instinct’ telling you?” I asked.

“That you’re just as miserable as he is.”

That’s not the response I was expecting.

Mr. Reed was miserable?

I found that hard to believe. “I doubt that.”

“It’s true,” Alice said. “He’s hiding away in his office for 18 hours a day and only comes out to bark orders.”

“How is that any different than his regular routine?” I asked.

“That’s not fair, and you know it, Cassie. Being with you changed him. It softened his hard edges and lightened him up a bit. Now he’s more gruff and rigid than ever.”

“I assume he told you we broke up.”

“After Greta informed me of your resignation, he told me that you ended the relationship. He also told me about the gift he gave you and your reaction to it. Although I’m not sure he understood where your animosity was coming from.”

“He insulted my home and belongings, and made it very clear that I was nothing more than his paid servant. I won’t apologize for being offended by how he treated me!”

“I’m not asking you to apologize,” Alice said defensively. “But you should know that his gesture was sincere, even if it didn’t come across in the most delicate way. All he wanted was to provide you with a nice home where you would be safe.”

I laughed with derision. “All he wanted was to cover his ass by making me look more respectable.”

“There are things you don’t know about him, Cassie.” Alice’s eyes were shiny, almost as if she were about to cry. “Things that might make you look at the situation in another light.”

“Oh, yeah? What
things
?”

Alice looked down at her hands, which were clenched tightly in her lap. “His parents were killed not far from here.”

I gasped. “Are you serious?!”

“Very serious,” Alice said. “Imagine how hard it is for him knowing that you live in the very neighborhood where his parents were gunned down in cold blood.”

“That was a long time ago, Alice. Neighborhoods change.”

She looked at me with a sad expression. “Traumatic childhood memories have a way of influencing a person’s actions as an adult. I know that doesn’t excuse David’s insulting behavior, but maybe it does soften the blow just a bit.”

David?

I had never heard Alice refer to Mr. Reed by his first name before.

“How do you know all of this?” I asked. “What are you not telling me?”

She hesitated. Almost as if she was trying to decide whether or not to say anything more.

“Alice, please,” I begged.

“I know everything about that fateful night, because I was there,” she finally said. “David’s father had gotten into a fight with a drug dealer and had threatened to call the cops. So, just like that, the dealer pulled out a gun and shot him and his wife, Laura. We weren’t into hard drugs or anything like that. We only wanted to buy a little marijuana.”

“That’s terrible,” I said, blinking back my tears.

“The drug dealer would have shot me, too, except I took off running when his gun jammed.” Alice lowered her voice. “Laura was my older sister.”

“You’re Mr. Reed’s
aunt
?” My head was spinning at Alice’s admission.

That explained why she knew so much about Mr. Reed.

They were related!

“Yes, although very few people realize it.”

“Why didn’t you raise him when his parents were killed instead of putting him in foster care?” I asked.

“It wasn’t that simple, Cassie. I was a twenty-something high school dropout with nothing to my name. I wasn’t in any shape to raise a child, emotionally or financially.”

Alice and I sat in silence for a few minutes while I processed what she had told me and she presumably relived the horrible memories from the past.

“He never held it against me,” she eventually said.

“Never held what against you?”

“That I wasn’t able to take care of him after the shooting. When he started his company, he hired a private detective to find me. I had gotten my GED by then, but was still living in squalor. He offered me a job, sent me to night classes and gave me a future.”

I couldn’t deny that the things Mr. Reed did to help Henry and Alice were admirable. But his inability to share these intimate details of his life with me only confirmed what I already knew. David Reed was emotionally closed off.

At least, from me.

And that was a deal breaker. We could never be best friends because he was unwilling, or unable, to let me into his life. And without the glue, we had no future.

“Thank you for telling me all of this, Alice. It does help me understand why he bought me the condo and why he doesn’t like where I live.”

The doorbell rang and Alice jumped.

“I’m sure that’s the pizza I ordered,” I said.

I stood up and she did the same. “I should get going, Cassie. Will you meet me for lunch tomorrow as a final farewell around twelve o’clock? ”

I nodded reluctantly. “Sure. The Garden Room at noon tomorrow. I’ll be there.”

T
he weather was perfect for having lunch at the quaint outdoor café. I have to admit that styling my hair and putting on a pretty dress did make me feel a little bit better about myself.

When I arrived at The Garden Room, Alice was already there and waved me over to her table.

“I was afraid you might not come,” she said after I sat down.

“I was a little afraid of that myself,” I joked.

“Well, I’m glad you made it.”  Alice smiled warmly and patted the back of my hand. “I need to go to the ladies room. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back shortly.”

“Take your time,” I said, picking up the menu to look over today’s lunch specials. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw someone approach the table and slide into Alice’s seat.

“Hello, Cassie.”

My heart thumped wildly when I recognized the deep and sexy baritone voice, and I dropped the menu. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Having lunch with a former employee,” Mr. Reed casually said.

I was surprised and angry.

And did I mention
surprised
?

“I can’t believe Alice would trick me like this!”

“Don’t blame her,” he responded. “I put her up to it.”

More manipulation on his part. “If you wanted to see me, Mr. Reed, you could have called or something.”

“Would you have answered my call?” he asked quietly.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I stood to leave.

Mr. Reed stood as well and wrapped his fingers tightly around my wrist. “Please, don’t go. We need to talk.”

“What is there to talk about?” I asked, although I did sit back down. The other diners were looking at us and I didn’t want to cause a scene in Alice’s favorite restaurant.

“The future of our arrangement,” Mr. Reed said.

“There is no future. I thought I made it clear that our...arrangement, as you call it...was over.”

“It doesn’t have to be, Miss James. Alice told me that she came to see you. I was hoping we could put our spat behind us.”

Our spat?

I sighed in frustration. “Our breakup wasn’t just about the condo. That was just the last straw. I can’t be your fake girlfriend anymore, Mr. Reed, especially if that means sharing you with other women.”

He looked baffled. “There are no other women, Miss James. I told you that.”

“What about that tall, uptight brunette in the short skirt? The one leaving your office when I showed up unexpected that day. I know I was supposed to be recovering from surgery at your estate, but I wanted to see you. Instead, I saw
her
.”

“That was Lana Tait.  She’s my real estate attorney, not my lover.”

That didn’t make sense to me. “But you were angry with me for being there and I saw you putting something away in your special drawer. You know, the one where you keep your, uh, well, you know what you keep in there.”