The Billionaire's Craving (A BWWM Romance)

by Mia Caldwell

  “Who was the one that was there every day, walking her back and forth to class making sure she was safe?” Trevor continued. “Me. Who was there to comfort her after she and her father got into arguments? It was me, and there were plenty of arguments, and most of them about him. Who was the one who made sure that she got to go out and do fun things on weekends like a girl her age was supposed to do? It was me. Not him. Me. He wanted her stuck at home, waiting for him year after year, alone and lonely. I set her free.”

  Sabela realized that she hadn’t been the only one who’d been playing make-believe. Trevor had created something in his mind and tried to play it out to make it real.

  “When she told me that she was going to run away with him, and she was supposed to meet him at Pinkie’s Diner, I knew I had to act fast,” Trevor said. “I had to make her see that I was the one who was right for her. But I needed time to convince her.”

  All of it was falling into place. Sure enough, Trevor had imagined there was more to his relationship with Blanca than was actually there.

  Trevor continued. “I had to stop her from leaving. I offered to drive her to the diner that day, but really, I planned to take her out of town. I wanted to confess my feelings in the right place because I knew she had to love me, otherwise, why would she spend so much time with me? I had to get Morgan off our trail, though, so I wrote that letter and mailed it. I did a great job, by the way. I’d always been good at forging people’s handwriting. You’re not the only artist in the family, Sister.”

  She ignored his bragging. “Didn’t you stop to think that Blanca might object to you just driving off with her?” Sabela asked, astonished at the depth of her brother’s delusion.

  “She wouldn’t, because secretly, she’d always wanted me. I just needed to show him that.”

  “And so you drove by the diner window,” Sabela whispered.

  And Colin had been sitting inside the diner, watching it play out.

  “Yeah,” Trevor said, “and I told Blanca a joke so she’d laugh, and so he would see her laughing … with me.”

  Sabela risked a glance over at Colin. He stood ramrod straight, his expression severe. She watched his jaw muscles clench and release.

  “I wasn’t paying attention because I was distracted,” Trevor said, his voice becoming like a whine. “I was thinking how much Morgan didn’t deserve Blanca. I didn’t even see the light turn red.”

  Colin said Trevor gunned the car through the intersection, and Sabela noticed how Trevor omitted that part of the story. He had been acting immaturely, and a girl had paid for his foolishness with her life.

  Trevor rushed onward. “It was Morgan’s fault for thinking he could do better for Blanca than me. He would have destroyed her. He had left her, and just because he started making money and sending it to her, he thought he owned her. In the end, he didn’t even know who she was anymore. He shouldn’t have tried to take her away from me.”

  Sabela saw the barely banked fire raging behind Colin’s eyes. She feared he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back. She feared he might attack her brother.

  She darted over to Colin and put her hands on his hard chest. He didn’t look at her, only kept staring ferociously at Trevor.

  “Are you going to beat up a disabled man?” she asked, tone flat.

  “He’d deserve it,” Colin said between gritted teeth. “But no, he’s just a pathetic husk of a man.”

  “Fuck you,” Trevor spat. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  “You should be. I may not be willing to kick your ass like you deserve,” Colin said, “but there are other ways to ruin a man.”

  “Right. Like fuck with my sister, you ass —”

  “You’re out of your minds,” Sabela interrupted. “Both of you!”

  Neither of them deserved her time right now, but if she didn’t invest some effort into breaking up the four-year-long feud, nothing would be resolved. She plunged onward. “It was the case then, and it’s the case now. You fought over a woman without giving her the credit that she could make her own decisions.”

  That shut them up. With Trevor and Colin both staring at her, Sabela squared her shoulders and continued.

  “Maybe Trevor’s right. Maybe she was blinded by your money, Colin, and wouldn’t have wanted to be with you after you two were finally in the same place together. Maybe she would’ve broken your heart. Who knows? I don’t think you really knew her any more than Trevor did. Nonetheless, this crazy scheme to pay off all of our debts and seduce me for revenge is just as bad as Trevor’s scheme to make you think Blanca broke up with you.”

  Silence. The two men watched her, both with expressions that said they didn’t want to hear what she was saying. But they were listening, and that’s all that Sabela cared about at the moment.

  “You did all of that because you were trying to get back at Trevor,” Sabela said. “Now he’s here to try to get back at you. And in the middle of all of this is me. I have a brain, and I can think for myself. I’m not some mindless weapon you can use against each other, and I damned well resent you trying to make me into one.”

  She looked at both of them before softening her tone. “Colin, we agreed that holding onto the past is a lesson in misery. That’s why your plan for me changed, remember?”

  Colin’s face was stoic and cold. “Who said my plans changed?”

  Sabela blinked in surprise. “You did. You promised me you’re not out for revenge anymore. That’s why I agreed to stay.”

  “Believe what you want about my intentions,” Colin said. “As you say, you can think for yourself.”

  Sabela was stunned. Colin’s just angry, she told herself. Learning the letter he’d endlessly tortured himself with was a fake … it would have to be devastating, and could explain his coldness.

  Probably, Colin was simply acting out by saying things he didn’t mean.

  He wasn’t the kind of person to betray a promise, was he? But then, what did she really know about him?

  Her mind raced as she thought back over the last few days. He had been very careful to let her know there was an end date to their time at the chalet, and he’d never promised her anything afterwards. All of this time she thought that he was just toying with her to get a reaction out of her, or that he was too oblivious to pick up on her hints.

  Colin wasn’t stupid, and he could never be oblivious.

  Her heart sunk. It was damning evidence.

  After investing her faith in him and offering her forgiveness, Sabela realized that she could have been played for a fool after all.

  Colin Morgan didn’t want her, and he couldn’t spell it out any clearer than that. He was a liar, and he’d used her for his own nefarious purposes.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  COLIN STRUGGLED TO WRAP HIS mind around the fact that Blanca hadn’t written that letter. She’d never planned to leave him.

  The heartache, the agony and loss of faith. All of it had been created by a forgery.

  He’d spent all these years thinking that she’d betrayed him when she never had.

  And all of it because of a stupid ruse designed by a desperate man who had been trying to steal Blanca away.

  Everything was lost because of Trevor, even more than Colin had previously believed. His blood boiled.

  “You bastard,” he growled at Trevor.

  “You’re calling me a bastard? I’m not the one who tries to keep women captive,” Trevor spat.

  Colin saw red. “No, you just kidnap them.”

  “And you didn’t kidnap Sabela? I mean, seriously, trying to take her away? She’s too good for you. She’s too smart for you.”

  The last thing Colin needed was more accusations from this little prick. “I want you out of my house right now. Leave on your own, or Bruno and I will toss you out on your ass.”

  “Glad to,” Trevor said. He struggled to stand, legs buckling before he made it upright. He leaned heavily on his cane. “Come on, Sabela. It’s time for us to get out of
here.”

  Sabela looked stricken. She hadn’t said a word since he had refused to justify their relationship. At last she broke her silence.

  “I’m not going with you, Trevor,” she said.

  “What do you mean? You figured out what Morgan was doing, and he’s not denying that he was using you to get to me right up to the minute you both walked into this room. Weren’t you listening?”

  Sabela straightened her shoulders, pride in her motions. “I need some time to speak with Colin privately.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. He’s got you turned around, like he did with Blanca.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” she said with a hopeless air that pulled at Colin’s conscience. “But what I know for sure is that despite you constantly telling me you aren’t getting any better, you were able to get on a plane and make it to Switzerland all by yourself. You aren’t even using your wheelchair. You and I are going to have to have a long talk when I get home about what that means.”

  If he hadn’t been so furious, Colin would have been proud of her. He saw Trevor’s face twist up in outrage.

  “Get out,” Colin said again.

  Trevor shot him a look of hatred. “This isn’t over.”

  “Trevor, please. If you love me like you say you do, go home,” Sabela said.

  Trevor shook his head, but began to shuffle toward the front door. “You’re making a mistake, Sister.”

  “Maybe, but my mistakes are mine, and I take responsibility for myself,” she said.

  Her intimation was clear, that her brother refused to account for his actions. Colin wondered if Trevor was astute enough to pick up on Sabela’s hint.

  Before Trevor left, he shot Colin one last look of pure hate that astonished Colin. Colin had lost years of his life because of Trevor, and the man had the nerve to hate Colin.

  His mind whirled with new revelations, and he wasn’t sure how to process them yet.

  As soon as Trevor was out of the room and the doors were closed, Sabela approached Colin.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about the letter earlier, and I can understand why you might be angry at me about that. I suspected that my brother wrote the letter as soon as I saw it. I just didn’t want to tell you that without being one hundred percent certain,” she said.

  “I finally know the truth. That’s all that matters,” Colin said as he made his way over to the bar. He had a feeling that he was going to be drinking a lot that evening.

  Sabela followed him. He could tell that she wanted to touch him. He didn’t want that. Couldn’t have it, not right now.

  “What can I do to help?” she asked.

  “You can leave me alone,” he said, refusing to look at her.

  “I get that you’re mad. I need to know, though, if you really did lie to me when you promised you weren’t going to take revenge on me for what Trevor did. Have you been using me all along? Was it all a lie?”

  “I don’t know what anything means right now. I asked you to leave me alone.”

  She wouldn’t let it go. “I have to know. We need to talk about this, Colin.”

  He turned on his heel, and she retreated a step in surprise. “There’s nothing for us to talk about. This isn’t about you. It’s about Blanca! Your brother’s forgery made me believe that the woman I intended to marry didn’t love me, that she cheated on me. If Trevor hadn’t gotten involved, Blanca and I would be married right now. We might even have children.”

  It spun in his head like a tornado, wreaking havoc on his emotions. “Your brother took all of that away from me, and even if it was an accident, he killed her and any family I might have had with her. I can’t take it all in. All these years … just leave me alone.”

  He saw the pain in her eyes, but he couldn’t help that. He was being honest, and that’s what she always said she wanted. If it hurt her, then so be it.

  He stalked to the fireplace, took a swig of vodka straight from the decanter. How could he explain to Sabela what he felt? He couldn’t. Actually, he didn’t want to.

  He needed to get away from her before he hurt her anymore. Before she hurt him anymore. He needed air.

  “Don’t bother waiting up,” he said as he strode out of the room, taking the vodka with him.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  THE TRIP BACK TO HER bedroom felt surreal.

  Sabela had tried. Despite her hurt, she’d pushed her emotions aside and tried to reach out to him, to help him through the hurt.

  Despite her best efforts, Colin lashed out.

  She didn’t know what, exactly, to believe about his intentions of late. What she did know right now, though, was that she wasn’t welcome in his home anymore.

  Revealing that Blanca’s letter was a forgery had turned Colin against her. Sabela wasn’t sure if she should mourn, or if she should celebrate.

  If Colin wasn’t serious about her, then she had nothing to stay here for. The fairy tale was dead. The part she played as his girlfriend was over. He’d bedded her, and now they were through.

  She should have known better than to trust him. None of it had ever meant anything to him.

  She was going home.

  Sabela looked around her room uncertainly. It had been a while since she’d been in it for any stretch of time, spending her nights in Colin’s room.

  The beautiful room was little more than a gilded cage. But this time the cage door was open.

  Taking several deep breaths to calm herself down, Sabela went into the closet and found the clothes that she had worn the day she arrived at the chalet. She changed into them. These clothes and her purse were the only things that were truly hers in the room. In the chalet.

  She wasn’t going to take anything Colin had bought her, except the sketchbook. She couldn’t bear to leave her sketches behind.

  She dug some money out of her purse and dropped it on the desk with a note, explaining it was for the sketchbook, and to bill her if what she left didn’t cover it. She wanted to start the note with, Dear User Asshole, but she restrained herself.

  Sabela sorted through her purse and found her phone and passport. She’d wear a coat to the airport then send it back to the chalet with Bruno.

  In less than five minutes, she had everything that she’d come to the chalet with. Reclaiming her dignity wouldn’t be as easy, but leaving was a good first step.

  She went to the front hallway and searched for Bruno. She found him in the kitchen talking with Marie. They both stood up as she entered, and she motioned for them to sit down.

  “Bruno, would you be able to take me to the airport?” she asked.

  “What’s happened?” Marie asked, face scrunched in concern.

  Sabela shook her head, not wanting to share what had happened. She wouldn’t ruin Colin’s name in front of his staff. “It’s just time for me to go home. There are some things that I need to take care of, and Colin needs some space.”

  “Is that what he said?” Marie asked.

  “Yes,” Sabela said.

  “He doesn’t know what he needs,” Marie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “This is for the best.” As Sabela spoke, tears welled in her eyes. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

  Marie stood up with a frustrated huff. She pointed at Bruno. “Don’t let her go anywhere until I get back.”

  Before she left, Sabela caught her arm. For now she could hold the tears off, but if Marie dragged Colin into this, she wasn’t sure that she could carry on.

  “Please, Marie. Don’t make this worse.”

  “He would want to know if you’re leaving. You came here because he asked you to come here, and he will want to know if you’re going to leave. I won’t be long.” She left the kitchen in a rush.

  There was a small part of Sabela that hoped once Colin knew that she was trying to leave that it would happen like before. He would stop her. He would want to talk to her.

  He would become the decent man she knew he was underneath
the anger.

  Bruno cleared his throat and ducked his head, and she quickly wiped away the tears that pooled in the corners of her eyes.

  Whether she liked it or not, it was time for her to move on.

  It wasn’t long before Marie reappeared in the doorway. Sabela sat up hopefully, but then she saw the look on Marie’s face.

  “Bruno, go ahead and get the car ready,” Marie murmured. “Make sure it’s warm.”

  Bruno left without saying a word, sparing Sabela’s dignity by not looking at her or showing any reaction. Sabela herself tried to keep her expression neutral. The swirling emotions inside of her threatened to overwhelm her.

  But she couldn’t cry in front of Marie. She wouldn’t.

  Sabela had her pride, and she wouldn’t give Colin the satisfaction of hearing from Marie or Bruno that she was distraught and in tears when she left. No, never that. It was what he wanted, to break her, so he’d get his God-forsaken revenge.

  To hell with that. Letting loose with her feelings could wait until she was far away from Colin, until she got home.

  “Mr. Colin sends his regards and wishes you a safe trip home,” Marie said, looking embarrassed to deliver such a message.

  “Thank you for everything that you did for me during my stay. You’ve been so kind.”

  “It was my pleasure.” Marie put her hand on Sabela’s arm. “He’ll realize how stupid he is to let you leave.”

  Sabela stood up and shook her head. That would never happen. Colin never wanted her in the first place, but Marie didn’t need to hear those details. “It’s not what it seemed to be between us. This was a casual encounter only.”

  Marie didn’t look like she was buying it. “No matter what happened between you two, he’s a good man. Don’t give up on him.”

  They hugged, a final goodbye.

  Sabela started to walk out of the kitchen, and then she turned. “He was never mine to begin with, Marie, so there’s nothing to give up on.”

  The time for make-believe was over. The fairytale/nightmare was over.

  It was time to return to the real world.