The Billionaire From Atlanta

by Susan Westwood

  Hector reached into his desk and pulled out a colorful glossy folder, and then handed it to her. It read ‘Atlanta University’ across the top of it. She gasped and opened it, staring at what was inside.

  “Because you have school right here in the city, just a few blocks away, at Atlanta University, starting next week,” he finally broke, and beamed at her blissfully.

  She shook her head. “That can’t be! This can’t… um… I didn’t change anything!”

  “I know that.” He was still grinning at her like it was Christmas.

  “Did you have anything to do with this?” she asked him, flipping through the pages in it.

  “No, I didn’t, other than to give it to you.”

  “Oh my gosh…” She trailed off, reading through the pages. “All my classes this semester have been dropped with no negative consequences, so I can take them again with a fresh start! And...” She gasped and stared. “All the tuition for them has been refunded. There’s a check right here for all of them!”

  She looked further through it. “So now I have all the same classes at the university, starting this coming week?” she asked, looking at it and reading it, and not believing it was real.

  “Yes!” Hector was still giddy.

  “They’re all paid for!” she whispered, looking at the sheets of paper in her folder. “All of them… my whole tuition for the entire year is paid! How can that be?”

  She looked up at him seriously, with tears stinging at her eyes and a wild, wild heartbeat. “Who did this?” she asked, not daring to guess.

  “Not me,” Hector admitted honestly.

  She knew. She didn’t even really have to ask Hector, because she already knew. As her voice caught in her throat, strangled by emotion, she swallowed back her tears and spoke just above a whisper to Hector. “Could you please excuse me for a few minutes? I need to run upstairs.”

  He nodded and waved his hand dismissively. “No problem, go on.”

  Like a flash, she nearly ran from Hector’s office and went straight to the elevator, and from there up to the top floor where she raced to David’s office. She didn’t bother to stop and talk to his secretary, but went directly in and didn’t stop until she reached his desk.

  He looked up at her in surprise, and she set the folder down on his desk. “Did you do this?” she asked quietly.

  David nodded. “Yes, I did.”

  He shook his head gently. “I’m just a friend, helping another friend.” He stood up and walked slowly around the desk to her as she watched him like a hawk.

  “Because believe it or not, I care deeply about you, and everything that I have ever done for you has been to help you.” He stopped near her and slid his hands down into his pockets, gazing at her.

  She saw the genuine love in his eyes, and she heard the heartfelt emotion in his voice, and she knew that he meant what he said. She went to him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close to her.

  With a sigh of relief, he held her in return, burying his face in her neck. She could feel hot tears on her cheek and it amazed her. Closing her eyes, she spoke in a soft voice in his ear. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  He leaned upward again and looked into her eyes. “I’d do anything for you, especially to help you.”

  Emotion roiled through her and overtook her, and before she could even stop to think about it or argue with herself, she leaned up and kissed him tenderly on the lips, and he kissed her in return, hesitantly for a moment, but then blazing hot fires surrounded them, and the tension, anger, emotion, frustration, and love that they both felt ignited inside them both, connecting them, and their kisses turned passionate, stealing away their breath and burning away inside them with a magnetism that they could not resist.

  In no time at all, they had each other’s clothes off, and they were locked in each other’s arms on the sofa in his office, lost in each other, lost in bliss, lost in love, and the world went on by all around them.

  When they were satisfied and blissful, he held her close to him and gazed into her eyes. “I want to ask you again about the condo. I want so much to get you a condo here in the city. You’ll be close to work, you’ll be close to school, and admittedly you’ll be closer to me and I admit that’s a totally selfish move on my part, but I’m not ashamed to say it, and I just feel like you’d be safer.”

  Thoughts of Wendell suddenly crossed her mind and the seeds of fear began to sprout in her heart. She knew that she had better take Wendell seriously. “Okay. I’ll take you up on it. Thank you.”

  He laughed with joy and sat up, reaching for his clothes; a huge grin on his face. “That’s fantastic! I’ll take care of it immediately today, so you can move in anytime you like. The sooner the better!”

  She got up and pulled her clothes back on, stopping to share kisses with him as she did so, in between buttons and pantyhose. “Thank you again.”

  He shrugged. “Hey, I’ve got to look out for my girl.”

  With a soft laugh, she kissed him once more and went out the door to go back downstairs. She didn’t want to use him, and she didn’t want to be obligated to him, but Wendell was a dangerous man, and no one knew it better than her, and she knew in her heart that the best thing that she could do would be to get as far away from him as possible, as soon as she could.

  Chapter10

  That night when she got home from work, she packed what few things she actually wanted to take with her, and she put them into her car. Keisha and Tonia happened to be home when she did it, as they lived in the same apartment complex as Celeste, and they began to give her hell about it.

  “Oh, look at this! Miss Thang thinks she’s moving up in the world, don’t she! You goin’ uptown with that hot white man of yours? You think he’s going to take care of you and put you up somewhere? He paying for your body now? Is that what this is? You know what that makes you… don’t you?” Keisha was vicious to her.

  Tonia agreed, adding in cruel things here and there, but she didn’t cut as deeply as Keisha did. Celeste did her utmost best to ignore them both and get herself packed up and out of her crappy old apartment.

  David had been true to his word and he had gotten her a condo that day. To her amazement, he had paid for it in full, in cash, and he had put it in her name. There was nothing about him involved with it, other than having provided the money for it, but nowhere else on it did he even exist. The place was hers and hers alone, and she was going to be where no one could bother her; especially Wendell.

  When the last of her things were packed in her car, and everything that she didn’t want was left behind in her apartment, she returned her keys to the landlord and drove her car over the tracks for what she knew would be the last time, and she headed to her new home.

  When she got there, David had a group of men ready to unload her car and take it in. She met him in the parking lot, and he held her tightly to him. “Thank you so much for accepting this from me. It’s the best way I can think of to take care of you. You have so much potential in you, and all you need is the tools to make it happen.”

  “Thank you!” She grinned at him, feeling better about her new condo all the time. “This is something I can never repay.”

  “Yes, you can. I want to be there when you walk at your graduation. That will be my payment; seeing you graduate. Do that for me, please.” He sighed happily, and she saw the relief in him, and she felt it, too.

  “Oh, I forgot.” He winked at her. “Your keys.” He held up a funny-looking key on a keychain.

  She shook her head. “No, you already gave me the keys to the condo.” She smiled at him, wondering how he could have forgotten.

  “These aren’t the keys to the condo,” he said with a teasing smile.

  She frowned slightly in confusion and tilted her head. “What are they for?”

  He pressed a button on one of them, and the car beside them beeped. It was a brand-new Mercedes-Benz. Her mouth fell open and he took her hand in his and set the keys in t
hem. “They are for your new car. I’m having this one towed away. It’s a safety hazard, and you can’t argue with me about that because you know I’m right.”

  She shook her head to tell him no, but he waved his hand dismissively and began to walk toward her condo door. She screamed in excitement and rushed after him, nearly knocking him down as she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

  “You are amazing!! Thank you so much!” She laughed and then cried and then laughed again, and he kissed her over and over all the way through it.

  When the moving men had done all of two trips carrying her belongings into her condo, they left and it was just her and David. They walked into it together, and Celeste marveled at it. It was a big place with three bedrooms on two floors, along with a basement, a huge kitchen, four bathrooms, a laundry room, a breakfast nook, an office, a library, and a big backyard with a garden.

  Besides all of the rooms, it came fully furnished and professionally designed. She felt like she had just moved into a dream. David couldn’t have been more pleased for her.

  “I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you for all of this!” She laughed delightedly with him.

  He smiled naughtily and gave her a wink. “Well, why don’t we start in the hot tub on the back deck, and then we’ll break in every single room in the house at least once. How does that sound?”

  She laughed and took his hand, leading him out to the deck on the back patio, where the Jacuzzi was, and they got to work fulfilling his request.

  ***

  It was finally her last night at the grocery store when she looked up at her line of customers and she saw Wendell there. Her heart stopped in her chest for what felt like a full minute, and she stared at him.

  He only smiled and flirted with her, buying another donut. “How’s my girl doin’?” he asked, leering at her. She wondered if he had been drinking or if he was just getting worse about her.

  “I’m not your girl, Wendell, now leave before I have the security guard take you out,” she ordered him severely.

  He chuckled softly, but there was no smile on his mouth nor in his dark eyes. “I’m goin’. I’ll see you soon baby.”

  She was nervous and agitated the rest of her shift, wondering what it was that he was talking about, and if he was just shooting his mouth off or if there was any reason for her to truly be concerned.

  Celeste found out when she walked outside and tried to get into her new car. He was waiting right beside it, leaning on the driver’s side door so that she couldn’t leave. Anger burned inside of her and she lifted her chin and yelled at him.

  “Get off of my car, Wendell!”

  He whistled low and shook his head. “This your car? This one? My, my. I thought you had that old crappy thing… that hunk of junk you drove around for so long. That clunker that you drove around before you started screwing that rich white guy.” He gave her a menacing look.

  “But, I guess you must be pretty good in his bed, because he done bought you a jewel of a car, yes he did. Mmm MMM!! Look at this sweet thing.” He didn’t take his eyes off of Celeste, but he did run his hand over the car as he looked at her, in a seductive and sensual way. “That’s alright, I know how good you are in bed, don’t I baby. Remember when we used to be in bed together? Remember when I touched you like this? Remember all those things you did for me in bed? Oh, I remember. I think about that all the time. I dream about it. I want you back, baby. I want you now. It’s time to pay the piper.” His tone grew cold and strong.

  She wanted to run, but her feet were planted to the ground. “What do you want, Wendell?”

  He leaned closer to her. “I want half a million dollars, or I’m going to arrest you.”

  Her heart nearly beat itself right out of her body. “I can’t. You can’t… I don’t have money like that! There’s no way that I can pay you that!”

  Wendell shook his head. “Well, maybe you can’t, but that rich boyfriend you been screwing sure can.”

  “I’m not doing that, Wendell! I’m not going to him for money to buy you off!” She wanted to scream it at him, but she couldn’t take the chance that anyone might hear her.

  Wendell stepped toward her, leaving her car. He grabbed her face with both of his hands and drew it close to his. “Half a million, baby, or I’m arresting you, and you know what for. You’re never going to see that boyfriend of yours again.”

  She thought he was going to kiss her again, and she did her best to pull away from him, but he only stared hard into her eyes, perhaps trying to drive his message home to her, and then he let her go.

  “Meet me at the bridge. Tomorrow. Midnight… isn’t that about right? Bring the money, or you’re going to prison.” Wendell stared at her for another long moment and then let her go and walked away.

  Celeste felt as if her entire world had just crumbled around her. Everything had been so perfect, or right on the verge of it. She was so close… and then Wendell destroyed it all in mere moments.

  She rushed to the car, desperate for a safe place and a fast getaway. She drove it to her new home, all the while looking everywhere for headlights, for Wendell’s headlights in her rearview mirror, but they weren’t there.

  On the way to her home, she called David and he answered right away.

  “Hey! There she is! I have a surprise for you! I thought I’d come and stay the night with you on your first night in the new house, and we could finish breaking in every single room. I also thought it would be fun to have a brief celebration of your last day at the grocery store, so I brought a dinner from the Atlanta Grill. I know you’ll love this.” He sounded so happy, and she wished that she could stay that way in that exact same moment for the rest of their lives, but it just wasn’t possible. The goodness about them was going to be gone, probably for good.

  “David…” she began, choking on tears. He heard it in her voice immediately.

  “Oh no, what’s wrong? Are you alright? Where are you? What happened?” He sounded as desperate as she was miserable.

  “I’m… I’m driving home. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I just wanted to make sure that you’re there. I have to talk with you.” She was weeping then, and it couldn’t be helped or stopped.

  “I’ll be here, just drive safe and get here as soon as you can.” His tone was suddenly as serious as hers was.

  She ended the call and finished the drive, and she found that he was waiting in the doorway for her the moment she got to it.

  “What is it?” he asked, taking her into his arms and holding her closely. He kissed her forehead and then took her face gently in his hands and looked into her eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  She went with him to the sofa and sat down with him, terrified beyond reason to have to ask him what she was going to ask him, but she had no choice.

  “I realize that what I’m about to tell you will probably destroy our relationship, but I have to do this. I don’t have a choice,” she began.

  His eyes went wide and he listened silently.

  “I need to ask you for a huge favor. I need to ask you for half a million dollars,” she said quietly.

  David blinked. “What?” he asked, looking certain that he couldn’t possibly have heard her right.

  She hated having to ask him a second time. “I need to ask you for half a million dollars, and I won’t be able to pay it back.”

  His face suddenly grew very serious. “What is it for?” he asked, his tone all business, his eyes shifting from sympathy to sharpness.

  “Please don’t make me tell you,” she pleaded quietly. She could not possibly have felt more shame or misery than at that moment, at least until the next moment.

  “Tell me. I insist.” He wasn’t going to let it go.

  Speaking it to him would be one of the hardest things she had ever done. “Something happened a while back, something bad. It’s kind of been a monkey on my back ever since, but now… now it’s a real danger to me, and there’s no way out of it for me
.”

  “What is it?” he pressed further.

  She drew in a long, deep breath. “I was at a bar one night, and there was a guy there who wouldn’t leave me alone. I wasn’t with anyone else. I had just stopped in for one drink on the way home that day. I left, and when I left it was late. Almost midnight.”

  He listened hard to her, taking in every word, every emotion, every single nuance about it.

  Celeste continued. “I was walking that night. I left the bar and walked over the bridge, over the Chattahoochee River, and I was partway across when I heard him. The man… he was following me. He came after me and I tried to run, but he caught me, and he started to attack me.”

  Her eyes flooded with tears and her voice grew tight. David reached for her hand and held it in both of his. “Go on,” he said encouragingly.