Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (46 page)

The answer was obvious: I had to end it
with Gina and let Aria do whatever she wanted. She wasn’t like other girls, she
would never be okay with doing things my way. That was one of the things I
admired about her. In asking her to compromise her ideals, I was forcing her to
be someone she was not and there was no point in even trying to pursue that
person. If I wanted her back in my life, just the way she was, I had to do it.

I thought back to my conversation with my
mother last night.
 
From her feeble
attempts at motherhood, I had at least gathered that she thinks she wants me to
be happy. Surely this meant she wouldn’t threaten me with more suicide attempts
if I could explain to her what I really wanted? Maybe I would take her out to
dinner and forgive her for everything I was holding against her, if she were
able to handle this without pulling any new shenanigans.

With new resolve, I dialed Gina on my
cellphone and walked out into the hall so that I could make sure Aria heard the
conversation.

“Hi,” I said when she answered. “About
that deal you wanted to make with me? I don’t think so. I don’t love you,
Gina,” I said more loudly. “And you don’
t love me. Let
’s not waste any more time on facades and
pretenses. I don’t hold anything against you, and if you ever need anything, I
will be glad to help out, financially or otherwise.”

“Zayden! You can’t do this! Not like this,
over the phone! Come home and we can talk about it properly. You don’t need
to–”

“I am done talking about it. I am just
done. Can’t you respect me enough to understand that? It’s over, Gina. Take as
long as you need to move out, and I would appreciate it if you let me tell my
mother myself. Goodbye,” I said and hung up before she could make any more
protests. She called back immediately so I shut my phone off. Then I looked up
at Aria. She was pretending to be typing something intensely on her computer,
but there was no way she hadn’t heard that conversation.

Next order of business: I made a second
phone call from my office.

One hour later, Rick,
Aria
’
s ex-boyfriend
, was inside my office.
She was now actively looking towards me with genuine curiosity.

“Hello, Dick,” I said when he walked in.

“It’s Rick actually,” he said looking
slightly confused. “Is there a reason why you asked me to come here today, Mr.
Sinclair? Can I help you in any way?”

“Yes,” I said looking at Aria. “Go talk to
Aria over there.”

“Huh?” He looked like someone had dropped
him right in the middle of a bizarre dream. “
I don
’
t understand.
”

“You’re not very smart, are you?” I
scoffed. “What is there not to understand? Go talk to Aria.”

“Was there something particular you wanted
me to say to her? You understand my confusion?” He screwed his nose.

“Nope. I am giving you permission to talk
to her because that’s what she wants, I think. But if you hurt her again, you
won’t be seeing the light of the day for a very long time. Are we clear?”

He nodded, looking utterly confounded.
“You can go now,” I said and got back to my paperwork.

Chapter 5

Aria

I had to be dreaming! There was no way
that my ex-boyfriend was walking out of Zayden’s office.

Even though I had been trying hard to pretend
I didn’t care what Zayden was saying on the phone, I had been very alert when
he ended it with his wife. In spite of myself, I couldn’t help but feel a
little excited upon hearing that conversation, which was obviously happening
loud and clear out in the hallway for my benefit. There was no way I was going
to let him know that it made me feel better though. Perhaps it didn’t even have
anything to do with me and I was over-analyzing all of it. But as Rick walked
towards my desk, I was starting to get a good idea of what was going on.

“Hi,” Rick said and smiled at me. “So, I
was apparently called here and given permission to talk to you.”

Zayden was unmistakably focusing all his
attention towards us, and knowing full well he could hear whatever I was saying,
I said, “
Well
,
it’s not up to anyone to give you permission to talk to whoever you want, is
it?”

“Hey, it’s Zayden Sinclair, I’ll eat a hat
if he tells me to. Can’t go too wrong with being in a billionaire’s good
graces. I don’t know what is going on between the two of you but–”

“Nothing is going on between the two of
us,” I said quickly. “And nothing is, or ever will, go on between you and me
either, Rick. So just go home, and for your own good, stop taking instructions
from strangers just because they happen to be influential people.”

Like I had any room to talk.

He looked hurt and my anger was definitely
misplaced at him, but I didn’t care. Giving him permission to talk to me! What
was Zayden trying to pull? There did not need to be such a huge show, and he
didn’t have to make Rick come all the way here just to prove a point. A small
part of me couldn’t help but be happy, though. Clearly, he must have been
regretting the situation and he was trying to change it.

“Okay, then, I’ll get going,” Rick said
with a pained expression.

“I am sorry, Rick. I didn’t mean to offend
you, but seriously, there is nothing between us. I am telling you so you don’t
get your hopes up, I would hate to lead you on. Nobody deserves that.”

He probably did deserve it from what he
did to me.
 

“Well, I am going to back off then.” As he
walked away, I heard him mumble “what a damn waste of my time.”

When he was gone, my phone rang and I
immediately knew who it was.

“Come into my office,” Zayden said and
hung up without even letting me answer.

I went without having any idea of what to
expect, trying to calm the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. What’s the
worst that could happen? He had, after all, just made the effort to show me
that he was capable of making some changes. But did he really have to call Rick
here and make a whole scene of it? No matter how excited I was, I couldn’t help
my temper.

“Why did you call him here?” I snapped as
soon as I walked into his office.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Wasn’t it obvious? I gave him the permission to talk to you!”

“Who do you think you are, god? You can
just swing people around like puppets and tell them what they can or can’t do?
If you were trying to make the point that you are not going to be controlling
anymore, the best way to do it would not have been by controlling another human
being and giving them ‘permission,’ as though you owned the rights to their
life.”

Upon hearing that his eyes got red with
what seemed to be anger. “What the fuck do you even want from me, Aria? I just
ended a very long and complicated relationship with my ex-wife, something for
which I will have to face more consequences than you can imagine. And I let
that guy talk to you. Why isn’t any of this shit enough?”

“Oh, the sad consequences of not having a
beautiful blonde woman as a trophy wife. I feel your pain,” I said and
immediately regretted it. I was being bitchy for no reason, while he was making
the effort. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”

“You have no idea what I will have to
endure for ending that relationship.”

“Tell me then. Give me an idea,” I spoke
more softly. “What was the whole deal behind you and your wife?”

“My mother thinks that Gina is an angel
who descended from heaven. She almost tried to kill herself because of our
divorce, and I have been forced to try couple’s counseling ever since. She then
invited her to come live in my home, making more threats about taking her own
life. I didn’t have a choice in any of this, but I don’t expect you to
understand. You have already made up your mind that I am a lying scumbag–”

“
I don
’t think you’re a scumbag!” I exclaimed, cutting him
off. “I did think you were lying to me. I had no idea… about your mom… you
never talked about her.”

“Well, she isn’t exactly my favorite topic
of conversation.”

“
I am sorry, Zayden,
” I said his name properly for the first
time in a while and the effect on him was visible. His tense face lightened up
considerably, and his muscles relaxed. “If I had known about your mother, I
wouldn’t have been so harsh… you have to understand what it looked like to me…
like you had been lying all along.”

“You didn’t think to give me the benefit
of the doubt even for a second, did you? Even though I had never lied to you.
Hell, I had convinced myself somehow that you thought I was a half-way decent
human being, which was a refreshing change.” He started to look angry again, as
though the full implications of my reaction were finally starting to sink in.

“I do think that you are a decent human
being,” I said in a desperate attempt to smooth out the situation. “But you
have to look at it from my perspective too. Mrs. Brian told me that no matter
who you were screwing around with, your wife always came back in the end. Like
there was some sort of a repeating pattern and she said you two were meant to
be and any girl who thought you would put her before your wife was deluded!”

“So you would rather listen to a crazy old
bitch than trust me or hear me out?” He was clutching the hem of his shirt
tightly; it made me afraid. His temper was clearly rising.

“It’s not like that. I am sorry about what
your mother has been putting you through,” I said genuinely.

“So you believe me, then?” He met my eyes
in surprise.

“Of course!” I said at once. “Why wouldn’t
I?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t believe me when I
said there was nothing between Gina and I, so why would you believe this?”

“Because I know you better than to think
you would make up some story about your mother trying to kill herself just to
get in my pants.”

“That’s reassuring,” he said sarcastically.
“You can get back to work.”

“But–”

“Go!” he shouted, pointing at the door.

With that I was dismissed as he jumped
back into handling whatever paperwork was in front of him. I walked back to my
desk feeling confused with a million questions in my mind. So where did we
stand? He had ended it with his wife for me, despite it risking his
relationship with his mother. But he hadn’t mentioned anything about our
contract or where we stood in regards to that…

I wanted to ask him, but he seemed to be
in a foul mood and I didn’t want to upset him even further. Nervous about my
mother’s hospital bills, I decided I would wait a couple of days and then bring
up the issue with him. I just hoped that I hadn’t caused problems between
Zayden and his mother. What if she got so upset that she tried to kill herself
again? The thought of that sent a shudder down my spine. I would never be able
to forgive myself for causing that. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea for him to
have ended things with his wife. Since I couldn’t get myself to go back in
there and tell him that, I wrote him an email.

Zayden,

I don
’t
know where we stand in terms of our contract right now, and I don’t need to
know for now. I did, however, want to apologize for not giving you a chance to
explain it about your mom before. It must be hard for you to deal with this
situation. The last thing I would want in the world is to cause your mother to
be upset and do something that hurts you, just because I couldn’t handle the
fact that you were married. Please don’t rush to end things with your wife – I
believe that you are not sexually involved with her because I trust you – but
perhaps you should take more time to sort things out with your mom before
ending it so suddenly. I promise I won’t let it affect our contract, regardless
of what happens to it.

Aria

P.S. I really do think you are a decent
person, a little more controlling than you need to be, but better than most men
I know.

I waited until it was time for me to leave
before hitting send so that I wouldn’t have to watch him read it.
 

---

The Friday after Zayden ended it with his
wife, I was hanging out with Nick and Stacey in our living room, when I got a
phone call from my mom.

“Hi mom,” I answered, surprised. “Isn’t it
a little late for you to be calling? You are always in bed by ten. Is
everything okay?”

Mom giggled nervously, suggesting that she
must be a little tipsy. “Everything is okay, dear. Or I think so. I don’t know.
The last two months, my hospital bills had been paid by this day but it hasn’t
gone through yet this time, and I wanted to check to see if everything is okay
on your end.”

Shit. I felt my face grow hot with
frustration. The month was not over yet, technically. But perhaps this meant –
it could mean – had Zayden decided our contract was over after all and he
wouldn’t be making any more payments?