The Wager: A Billionaire Romance (17 page)

It was no good thinking about it further. I had to start my new life now--the one without Roman. The sooner I settled back into a routine, the easier it would be. Pushing everything to the back of my mind, I focused on the work that was before me. It was nice to forget my troubles for a while doing something productive. I looked up from my work as I heard a soft knock on my office door. Doris peeked her head in.

"Sorry to bother you, but Miguel and I are heading home for the day. Just wanted to know if you were staying much later," she said.

"Oh wow, I didn't know it was so late. I'll lock up," I said. "I've still got to catch up with inventory orders."

"All right, have a good night," she said, looking at me cautiously.

"Thanks Doris," I said, turning back to the papers before me.

The soft click of the door let me know she had left and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe it was too soon to be out among people again. Putting up a calm and collected façade was harder than I imagined. I knew Doris could see through my carefully constructed disguise to the gaping wound inside.

I closed my eyes and shoved the papers away. What I needed right now was a nice stiff drink, or ten. The phone rang in my office and my hand paused over the receiver. What if it was Roman? He was the last person I wanted to talk to. Then again, it could have something to do with work. I decided at the last minute to pick it up.

"Finally!" I heard Mel say on the other end.

My body tensed as I heard her voice. I wondered if she knew what had happened between Roman and I, then thought better of it. How could she have found out so soon?

"Hello? Earth to Lily. Are you there?"

"Oh sorry," I said snapping to attention.

"What's going on? Are you busy or something? Is Roman there?"

"What?! No!" I said a little too quickly.

"Oookay," she said dragging out the word. "Something's going on. You haven't answered your phone all day and you sound really weird right now."

"My phone's broken," I said. It was true, though she didn't have to know how it got broken. "So what's up?"

"What's up is that I'm back in New York. I've left you like five voice messages. I need to know the scoop on how everything went at the Halcyon," she said.

This was the one conversation I dreaded having. Unlike Doris and Miguel, Mel wouldn't let up until she got the full story out of me and at that moment, I didn't think I was ready to talk about it yet. It still felt too raw and too painful. A part of me was embarrassed too. I should have known better than to think Roman Conrad would actually fall for some nobody like me, when all evidence pointed to the contrary. He'd only ever dated models and actresses before, so why did I think I was some special snowflake that had somehow captured his attention.

I wondered if maybe it was better if I told Mel about what had happened. It wouldn't hurt to get it all out there. After all, I wasn't the one who was the asshole in this situation.

"Lily, seriously! I'm starting to get worried here. What's up with these long awkward silences? Did something happen?"

"No...uh I mean yes... oh, I don't know. It's hard to talk about it over the phone," I said.

"It sounds serious," she said.

"It's bad," I said.

"I'll be right over."

"No I'm heading home now. Meet me at my apartment," I said.

"In 30 minutes."

I hung up the phone and braced myself for the difficult conversation to come. She was one of the rare people who'd seen me at my best and worst. She was the one who brought me out of my self-imposed shell in college after the nightmare that was my high school experience. I thought I'd made so much progress since that time, but here I was again, playing the part of the naive fool. The last thing I wanted was to see the pity in Mel's eyes when I told her what had happened.

I packed up my things and locked up the store before heading back to my apartment. Mel was waiting for me on the front steps as I came up to the building. She was holding a shopping bag filled with wine, ice cream and chocolate--a dangerous combination, but oh so necessary.

"You look like shit," she said as soon as she saw me.

"Thanks," I said dryly.

She followed me up the stairs into my apartment and placed the bag on the counter.

"Sit on the couch and I'll get the stuff put away. What do you want first? Wine or ice cream?" she asked.

"Give me the alcohol," I said.

I went and sat wearily on my couch and leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Had it only been two days ago that my world shattered and I had my heart broken?

"So what happened?" Mel asked, handing me a glass of wine.

"Where do I even start?" I murmured, taking a sip.

"Start at the ball. Something must have happened there," she said.

"Yeah something did happen. I found out Roman was using me to win a bet."

"What do you mean?" Mel asked.

"Exactly what I said. I had gone to the restroom and when I came back, I saw Roman talking to this guy I've never met before. Warren something was his name. Anyways, I was making my way over to them when I heard part of their conversation about a bet. I stood hidden behind some pillar and listened some more. It turns out that Roman and this guy had made a wager to see if Roman could make me fall in love with him. And it was all for some stupid car."

"What?! You can't be serious!" she said, looking flabbergasted.

"I'm dead serious," I said. "Roman didn't even deny it when I confronted him about it later on."

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He said something about it not being how it seemed, which is total bullshit. Decent people don't just go making bets like that. That's some sick shit and I'm so stupid for falling for his lies I could kick myself. I knew it would somehow end like that. That's why I was so cautious around him, but then he seemed so sincere that I just went with it."

"Oh Lily, I'm so sorry. I could kill him. In fact, I should call Chad and--"

"Don't you dare tell Chad a word of this," I said. I was already embarrassed enough having to confess my stupidity to Mel. There was no way I wanted Chad to know about it either. I barely knew the guy. Plus, he was apparently friends with Roman.

"All right I won't," Mel said, soothingly. "He's a real piece of work though. I can't believe there are people like Roman Conrad out there. I mean what he pulled was straight from the movies. No one does that in real life, at least, no decent human being."

"I guess when you have everything in life, it can get boring and he needed some new way to entertain himself for a while."

"He should have taken up golf then, the asshole."

Mel sat and fumed on my couch. She ranted and raved about what a scumbag Roman was. I sat back and let her words wash over me. It was actually nice to hear someone else voice my feelings out loud.

"To think, I thought he was a good guy. Hell, Chad kept talking him up, saying how great he is and everything. I thought for sure...well it's no matter," she said giving her head a tiny shake. "He's dead to me now."

"Me too," I said.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked.

"What else can I do? I'm just going to get on with my life and pretend that Roman Conrad never existed."

She looked at me sadly and reached out and patted my hand. "It'll get easier over time. Trust me, I know."

"I can believe that," I said, the first semblance of a smile crossing my lips at her words.

Mel left shortly afterwards, her jet lag finally overtaking her. I shut off the lights in my apartment and picked up the bottle of wine she left on my counter and headed back to the couch. It was the second night I'd be sleeping alone. It made me sick to realize that I missed Roman even after what he'd done to me. I poured myself another glass and took a sip. It was going to be another long night.

***

"Is he out there again?" I asked Doris, who was peeking out the shop door.

"I think so. There's some fancy black car that's been parked on the curb a little up the street for a few hours now," she said.

I walked over to the window and snuck a look at the black Mercedes. The windows were tinted and the shadow from the buildings hid the driver, but I knew it was Roman all the same. For the past week, he'd been doing a pretty good impression of a stalker. He'd keep watch outside of my shop or at my apartment for hours waiting for me, but I had worked out a way to avoid him at all times.

Doris and Miguel kept an eye out for me while I was at work. The few times he actually tried to enter the store, I'd been in the back office. Miguel had even threatened to call the police if he ever stepped foot in the shop again. My apartment was a little more difficult. I'd actually taken to sleeping over at Mel's place just to avoid him. Since she was spending all her time with Chad, she lent me her apartment for the time being.

It was cowardly and a part of me rebelled at the idea that I had to turn my life upside down just to avoid him, but a bigger part of me wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe I was scared that he'd be able to convince me to give him another chance. I had to admit that I was still in love with him even though I hated what he had done to me. So I knew I was still weak and vulnerable whenever he was concerned.

"I guess I'll have to sneak out the back again," I said.

I was supposed to meet Mel for lunch. Ever since I told her about our breakup, she'd made a point to see me as often as she could. I don't know what she thought was going to happen, but she seemed extra concerned about me, always looking at me worriedly when she thought I wasn't looking.

"I'll keep an eye on the car to make sure he doesn't follow you," Doris said.

She hadn't asked me again about what happened with Roman and for that I was grateful. She seemed to sense that I wasn't ready or willing to talk about it, but whatever it was, was bad. Instead, she'd focused her energy on helping me avoid him.

"Thanks Doris," I said. "You make it sound like some exciting undercover espionage mission."

I grabbed my purse and coat and headed out the back entrance and walked the short distance to the diner. Mel was already seated as I walked in.

"You're late," she said as soon as I sat down.

"Sorry, I had to take a detour," I said.

"He's still stalking you?" she asked.

"He was waiting out front in his car again," I said.

"Do you think maybe--?"

"Don't even go there again Mel," I said cutting her off. "I don't know what he's playing at, but I'm sure he's up to no good."

"I'm just saying, if he were really that heartless, why would he bother trying to see you again? And that's all I'm going to say about it," she said holding up her hands.

"I don't know and I don't care. As far as I'm concerned he doesn't exist," I said with finality.

The waitress arrived with our drinks, giving me a chance to cool my temper. I hated that I still reacted so strongly every time Roman's name was brought up. I just wanted to move on and be at that stage where I could be indifferent and really mean it. But it had been a week and I was still barely holding myself together.

Mel reached over the table and patted my arm, looking at me sympathetically as if reading my thoughts. I let out a sigh and gave her a shaky smile. "Enough about me," I said. "I feel like the most selfish person in the world, always talking about my problems. How are you doing? Everything still good with you and Chad?"

"Wonderful," Mel gushed. Then she caught herself and hesitated.

"You don't have to hold back on my account," I said rolling my eyes at her. "I'm not a complete ass that I can't be happy for my best friend. So tell me, when's the big day?"

"Oh please, Lily. We've only been together for about a month, and you're already talking wedding bells? Weren't you the one who warned me to take it slow?" she said.

"But a month for you is like five years for other people," I teased.

Mel stuck her tongue out at me and giggled. "I'm not gonna lie. I have thought about it," she said coyly.

"Marriage?" I asked.

"Yeah, sometimes you just know when he's the one," she said with a dreamy look in her eye. "You know?"

I did know, or at least I thought I did. There were times when Roman and I were together those glorious two weeks before I found out what he really was, that I truly thought he was "the one" for me. We seemed so perfect together; it was like I'd known him all my life even though we'd only been together for such a short time. Then I realized I never really knew Roman at all. It was all an act. His practiced charms and seduction was all a part of his plan to win a car.

"Are you ok?" Mel asked. The question startled me out of my reverie and I looked up to see Mel looking at me worriedly.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Just woolgathering," I said.

Mel looked like she wanted to say more, but my phone began to ring. I dug it out from my coat pocket and frowned as I looked at the caller ID.