by D.C. Chagnon
The Reclusive Billionaire, Book One: The Meeting
By D.C.Chagnon
Copyright 2015 D.C. Chagnon
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Other Books by This Author
Chapter One
Nicki regretted coming to this party. She knew her best friend, Paz, had meant well. Paz dealt with any break-up with a solid week of partying. But now that Nicki was here, in some record executive’s house in the rich part of town, she wished she had stayed home instead. The thought of watching bad television and stuffing her face with ice cream seemed like a better balm for her break-up wounds than whatever this party had to offer.
But Paz had been so excited when she had agreed to go to this party. Still, Nicki’s party days had long since wrapped up once she’d graduated from college three years ago. Paz was always asking her to come out with her, swearing she would have a good time. The truth was, Nicki just wasn’t much of a partier anymore, and usually she would decline her friend’s invites.
But in a lapse of judgment brought on by the fact that her five year long relationship had officially crumbled last week, Nicki had agreed. Now she was being bumped into every two seconds as she tried to make her way to the kitchen, where she could get a drink. Paz had been thrilled about getting invited to this party since it was apparently some big-name record executive throwing it. Her friend was firmly entrenched in the music world, even working as an assistant at a record company, so this party was a big deal for her.
For Nicki, not so much. Nicki, who worked as a dental assistant at a place in town, knew nothing of anyone here, even when Paz would point them out and whisper in her ear who they were.
When Nicki finally got into the large kitchen, Paz was already there. She was talking to a tall, lanky man with glasses. Her hair, which she had dyed purple, was thrown up in a bun, and she was wearing a sundress that had cost her a dollar at a thrift store. Nicki knew no one would be able to tell, though. Her friend had accessories draped over her – necklaces, bracelets, and rings – that made the sundress look almost like a designer outfit.
Paz saw Nicki enter the kitchen and waved her over. Nicki managed to get to her friend intact. The man took this as a chance to ditch the conversation and was gone by the time Paz turned around.
“Scared him off already?” Nicki said, half joking.
“Maybe I was too forward,” Paz replied thoughtfully, “I was grilling him about where I could find the guy throwing this party, but no luck.” She gave a small shrug, “Oh well.”
“I can’t believe how huge this place is and how it can still feel so crowded.”
“There are so many connections for me to make here, Nicki. I also cannot believe some of the people here,” Paz gushed excitedly, handing Nicki a drink. “People not even involved in the music industry are here. I even saw David Ackerson here.”
Nicki took a sip of her drink, “Who?”
“He’s the richest guy in town. Like, I mean, a billionaire. Runs some sort of international company in construction. I saw him really quickly when I was by the pool. Surrounded by people, of course. He rarely makes public appearances.”
“Why?” Nicki asked, wondering if the guy was regretting his choice to come here like she was.
“No one knows. Very mysterious,” Paz cut herself off and waved at someone who was in the dining room, “Come with me? I have to talk to her. She’s an up-and-coming DJ.”
Nicki let Paz drag her into the dining room, where she quickly ended up lost in trying to follow the conversation that Paz had forced herself into. She admired the way her friend was socially fearless. She didn’t care who it was. She would strike up a conversation with them and be confident the whole time. They had an unlikely friendship, but Nicki couldn’t imagine being friends with anyone else.
The conversation was over Nicki’s head. She decided she would try to look around the rest of the house. At least seeing the opulence might take her mind off her own break-up. Nicki was craving a distraction. If she had to think about Noel one more time, she would start screaming. She kept replaying their break-up over and over again in her head.
Nicki weaved her way out of the dining room. Instead of fighting the crowds this time, she merely let them take her along, like she was a fish going with the school. She found herself pulled along into one of the large lounge rooms. Here, the floor vibrated with the rock music being blasted over speakers. An extremely drunk woman was dancing on a table in the corner. There were more people dancing in the center of the room. The couches had all been pushed against the walls.
Nicki let herself be pushed forward to another room. This one looked like it was an actual living room. The flat-screen TV on the wall was massive and was playing a music channel. It clashed with the rock music from the other room and started giving Nicki a headache. She took this as time to go outside for some fresh air and went out a side door.
Nicki found herself on pool grounds. It was just as loud here. People were drunk and swimming in the pool while others were playing beer pong. The sight of the beer pong table brought back brightly-colored memories of Nicki’s time in college. She could almost see Noel bent over the beer pong table, lining up his shot with that lop-sided grin on his face. It made her chest suddenly ache so Nicki turned around to go back into the house.
Nicki collided with something hard. In a spilt second, she realized she had collided with a guy. Her drink had spilled across her shirt and she’d almost lost her own footing in her high heels. She’d saved herself at the last second and managed to stay upright. The man, who Nicki thought must work out because his chest was like steel, loomed over her. He looked irritated, although half his facial features were cast in shadow.
“Can you watch where you are going?” He snapped at her in a rough voice, “Or stop drinking, at the very least.”
Nicki shoved down her irritation at his rude tone and tried to sound friendly, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Clearly.”
“Let me go get some napkins or something for your shirt.”
“The shirt is dry-clean only,” the man sneered, “Napkins won’t cut it.”
“Oh, well,” she found herself shrinking under his imposing glare, “Let me dry-clean it for you then.”
The man seemed to pause for a moment and consider this, but then shook his head, “No need. I’ll take care of it. This gives me an excuse to leave this forsaken party anyway.”
Nicki suddenly felt relieved that someone else was not enjoying this party, and shook her head vigorously in agreement, “It is so loud here, isn’t it? And everyone is so absolutely drunk. I can’t believe how large this house is, though. Have you ever seen anything like it?”
The man looked at her with the sort of look that might be reserved for when one had a fly irritating them, “Please. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
The irritation that Nicki had shoved down earlier suddenly came back. Only this time, it was like a wave, knocking away any of her last remaining good nature. She didn’t want to be at this party and couldn’t stop thinking of Noel. And now some jerk was talking
to her like she was an idiot, even though she hadn’t meant to spill her drink on him?
The man went on, “Spilling a drink on me? That is the oldest trick in the book. If you are trying to get my attention, come up with something different at the very least.”
Nicki snapped, “Are you serious? I don’t even know who you are. Nor do I care about getting your attention at this lame party. No wonder you are in the shadows here, completely alone. You’re an asshole.”
The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but that didn’t stop her. She was on a roll now. Every negative emotion she had felt was now rolled up and being thrown at the jerk in front of her.
“So I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning on your shirt, but I’m actually hoping you don’t change your mind because I honestly don’t want to talk to you ever again. Have a nice night, slinking around in the shadows like some loser.”
The man opened his mouth to respond, still looking slightly stunned, but Nicki didn’t care what he had to say. She’d turned around to leave when Paz was suddenly there, grabbing her arm, letting out an incredibly fake laugh.
“Nicki!” She trilled, “You’re such a card!”
“What?” Nicki replied, irritated as Paz dug her nails into her arm hard enough to leave marks.
“She’s just joking, sir.” Paz said, this time directing her voice at the man.
“No, I’m not,” Nicki snapped, growing even more irritated, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Come on, Nicki. Time to go home, okay?” Paz looked at the man, “Have a nice night, sir!”
With that, Paz yanked Nicki away from the man. Right before they went back into the house, the man called out.
“Wait!”
And the two of them stopped.
“What’s your name?”
“Paz!”
“No,” the man said shortly, “Yours.” And he pointed to Nicki.
“Me? Why the hell do you care?” She retorted.
“It’s Nicki. Her name is Nicki Munne, sir.”
The man merely nodded and then turned from them, heading back inside the house. Paz yanked Nicki along the poolside, heading towards another entrance-way into the home. Nicki finally pulled her arm free and stood there, crossing her arms and shooting daggers at Paz.
“Okay, seriously, what the hell was that?”
Paz’s eyes widened and she lowered her voice as she leaned forward, “Nicki, what has gotten into you? Telling him off like that?”
“Because he was a jerk. Why wouldn’t I tell him off?”
In the same voice, Paz said, “Because, Nicki. That wasn’t just some guy. That was David Ackerson. The billionaire I told you about earlier.”
Chapter Two
“Oh.” Nicki said, unsure of what sort of reaction Paz wanted from her.
Apparently, it wasn’t enough because her friend instantly went on, “Nicki, I don’t think anyone has ever told that man off in his life. I can’t even imagine what he must have thought of you when you said whatever you said to him. I only came in at the end.”
She shrugged, “Who cares? Honestly. So he’s a billionaire. But he is also a jerk. He’ll get over it. I’m sure some girl at a party telling him off is the least of his problems. You said he rarely left the house, right? Must be because he is an asshole.”
Paz looked around, as if she was afraid someone would overhear, and started walking with Nicki through the house, “Let’s get out of here. I don’t need to run into him again.”
Nicki trailed after Paz, unable to see what the big deal was. It wasn’t as if they ran in the same circles as him. Nicki wouldn’t ever see him again after this night. She thought back to him, trying to remember if he’d had any expression on his face other than disdain or surprise. But he had been mostly cast in shadow, and she hadn’t even gotten a good luck at his face.
Soon they were in Paz’s car, heading back to the apartment they shared together. Nicki had moved in four days ago, after her break-up with Noel. He had refused to move out of their apartment and Nicki hadn’t been able to bring herself to fight with him about it. So she’d moved in with Paz for the time being. Paz had been excited, stating that she would get her back on her emotional feet.
Nicki recounted to her friend everything that had happened. By the time she got to the part where Paz had butted in, she was shaking her head.
“I can’t believe you, Nicki. You usually keep your cool. Remember in our Biology class in college, when that girl accidently knocked some weird chemical on you that made your arm slightly blue for a whole week? And you didn’t even get angry then.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Nicki mumbled, remembering how irritated she had been, “But maybe I’m just too quiet. I always hold everything in. I’m sick of doing that.”
Paz glanced at her but didn’t say anything. She knew when to be quiet. Nicki fell into a deep silence herself, mulling over her own words. She always tried to be the one who never made waves. It was how she had been her whole time with Noel. No matter what she had gone through with him, she had made an effort to be incredibly understanding and kind, even when she’d wanted to yell at him. In the end it didn’t matter, she thought bitterly, and rested her head against the window for the rest of the drive home.
*
Nicki was typing away at the computer Monday morning. The new girl they had hired had somehow completely bungled the data entry job they had given her, and now Nicki was trying to fix it.
She had tried to throw herself into the data entry, but it was robotic and easy to do. Nicki had been working at this office for two years now, and seemed to be the one who grasped the computer program the best. Because of this, she was being used less and less in actually assisting the dentists in the back, and getting stuck on the computer instead.
What she needed today, of all days, was to be in the back, helping out the dentists. It always took over her mind completely while she helped out. Nicki had to focus completely at the task at hand, and it blocked out all thoughts of everything else. In this case, she wanted to block out Noel.
Instead, she was doing data entry, which left her brain wide open to dwell on their break-up. She was exhausted this morning. Even though she had fallen asleep quickly, she had found herself waking up all night from dreams of Noel. Half the time, the dreams had been more like memories being dragged up for her to relive.
Nicki didn’t want to relive anything to do with Noel. She didn’t want to think of him anymore. Frankly, it was exhausting. She found herself constantly going back through their relationship and seeing all the warning signs she had ignored through the years.
Nicki had been taken aback when Noel had noticed her in college. She had been starting her junior year of college, and had been attending a party. Back then, Nicki had lived for the parties thrown around campus. This one had been a big blowout to kick off the year starting.
Noel had been surrounded by friends, playing beer pong in the corner of the room. He was hunched over, planning his shot. He turned to tell someone a joke and, when he broke out into that lopsided grin that Nicki would grow to love, she could feel something stirring in her chest.
When he came over to her and offered her a beer, it was the start of their relationship. Nicki had fallen quickly for Noel, who had been studying Biology at the time, although he’d ended up changing his major so often that she could hardly keep up with what he was studying at any given time.
The two of them had spent every minute together during the first year they had been together. Yet, after their first anniversary, the cracks began to show. Noel grew distant and began to come up with reasons he couldn’t see her. That was when Paz had started to tell her that she should break up with him. But Nicki couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Instead, she found herself glued to her cellphone. Anytime she didn’t have it, she began to feel anxious. What if Noel contacted her and she missed the call? Then she would miss a chance to see him. It became almost a sickness, what with how terrified
Nicki was over not seeing him.
Once they graduated, things only grew worse. Nicki found herself wrapped around Noel’s finger. The logical part of her knew it was unhealthy. She fell for any stray compliment he tossed her way, as if he knew it made her stick around. Anytime she would dare to fight against him, Noel would unleash such a torrent of terrible words that Nicki would end up cowered in the corner, suddenly feeling as if it was all her fault to begin with.
Nicki craved Noel’s love, and he seemed to get off on withholding it from her. Their relationship was so warped and unhealthy that she didn’t know how she would be able to function without Noel. He was her everything.
But even Nicki couldn’t tolerate it once she came home early from a meeting and caught Noel in bed with another woman. She had broken up with him on the spot, but was only met with a cruel, casual indifference from him.
“Then go,” he had said with a shrug, “Just don’t bother me again.”
That had been the last time Nicki had spoken to him. Even now, the bitter memory of how their relationship had ended was on a loop in her head. After everything they had been through, the fact that Noel didn’t even care and had tossed her aside like trash had hurt worst of all. Even worse than the cheating.
“Nicki?”
She came crashing back to the present and looked around. The new girl was hovering in the doorway, holding a big vase full of flowers. She looked as if that hadn’t been the first time she had called Nicki’s name.
“Sorry. What is it?”
“These came for you.” She held out the vase of flowers.
Behind her, the other two girls who worked in the office tittered. Nicki blinked in surprise.
“Me?”
The new girl – Nicole, Nicki suddenly remembered her name – nodded and put them on her desk. There was a mix of different flowers, all artfully placed and decorated. Her chest tightened. She had been wanting to hear from Noel ever since they had broken up. In fact, she had been wishing that he would reach out to her because she couldn’t believe their relationship could end on him telling her not to bother him.
Everyone was hovering behind her, waiting to see who had sent the flowers. Elizabeth, an older woman who’d begun working there six months ago, spoke up.