The Wager: A Billionaire Romance

by Kyle, Calista

  "Let me get our coats and I'll meet you outside," he said.

  Before I could shoot him down, he'd already gone, leaving me standing there in impotent rage. The last thing I wanted was to be forced to be in Roman's presence again. I wanted to be as far away from his as possible, but I knew it'd be easier and quicker to get back home if he drove me.

  He appeared soon after with my wrap and we headed for his limo. During the car ride, he'd tried to put his arm around me, and grab my hand, but I'd rebuff him at every turn. Just the proximity and physical nearness was wreaking havoc on my equilibrium. My traitorous body still responded to him and longed for his touch, but the knowledge of what he had done and been a part of was too much to overcome. I didn't think I'd ever be able to look at him the same way again.

  "Are you feeling okay, Lily?" he asked, watching me intently.

  "I'll be fine once I get home," I said.

  We arrived at my apartment shortly after and I shot out of the car, not even waiting for him to open the door for me. I hurried up the steps and dug into my clutch for my keys. Roman was quick on my heels and grabbed my hands to stop me from sliding my keys in the lock.

  "Okay Lily, something's happened. Why are you acting like this?" he said. His eyes looked so sincere and his voice sounded worried, I almost believed for a second that he cared. Then I remembered his cold words and the anger I'd been trying to suppress finally came bubbling out.

  "Let's stop with the act now Roman," I snapped. "Don't pretend to care."

  "What are you talking about?" he asked.

  "I'm talking about your little bet." I had the satisfaction to see his face go pale at my words. "Don't even try to deny it," I continued. "I heard everything you said."

  "Lily, you don't understand. It's not like that at all. Let me explain--,"

  "Don't try to bullshit me, Roman. I'm not an idiot. I might have fallen for your lies before, but never again. You're nothing but a selfish, egotistical prick and I never want to see you again!"

  I wrenched my hand free of his grip and put my key in the door and slammed it shut in his face. I hurried up the stairs to my apartment. Roman didn't try to follow me, which was just as well. I wanted nothing more to do with him. It was all I could do not to crumple on my floor and just sob. My heart was breaking into a million little pieces and there was nothing I could do about it. The anger that I felt earlier was quickly fading into a deep bottomless sorrow.

  I couldn't believe it had all been a lie. My heart didn't want to believe it. Roman had seemed so sincere, and so genuine in his feelings for me. The past three weeks, we'd practically spent every day together. How could I have not known or seen any sign of his deceit?

  Maybe there really was some other explanation? I hoped. As soon as it crossed my mind, I slammed the door viciously on that line of thought. No, Roman Conrad was a heartless bastard who deserved an Oscar for his performance as a caring boyfriend. I was just too stupid and blind to see what should have been clear to me from the start.

  I should have listened to my suspicions instead of being caught up in the charade that Roman had orchestrated. All our dates, every minute spent with him was gone over with a fine toothed comb. Everything he ever did for me was seen in a new light--the Jane Austen book, the opera, even his kisses and caresses--it was all part of a plan to make me fall in love with him just so he could win a car. I felt sick to my stomach, used in the worst way. It was like I was nothing but a means to an end; a pawn in his little game.

  My phone began ringing, but I ignored the call. There was no one in the world I wanted to speak to at that moment. I just wanted to be left alone, to curl up in a ball and just fade away. The incessant ringing didn't stop. As soon as it would go to voicemail, my phone would start ringing again. I got up and grabbed my phone from my purse and looked at the screen. Roman's face popped up as the caller ID. I shut off my phone before throwing it against the wall in a burst of anger.

  ***

  The next morning, I woke up stiff and sore from sleeping on the couch. I still had on the dress from last night. It was crumpled and wrinkled and I groaned at the fact that Colette was supposed to come by later today to pick it up. I had promised her I would keep it in pristine condition, but after last night, the dress was the last thing on my mind. I still couldn't muster much emotion or regret over its less than pristine shape.

  I didn't think I had any more emotions left. I was cried out and spent from sobbing last night. Now I felt nothing but hollow and numb. It felt like I was in a bad dream, but this was very real. I walked into my bedroom and took off the dress before heading to my bathroom. The sight that greeted me was horrifying. My hair was a rat's nest and my eyes were swollen and puffy. Black streaks of mascara ran down my face. I quickly turned away and turned on the shower.

  My instinct was to lock myself away and hide, but I knew it would only prolong the misery. I had to get back to my routine--back to my life before Roman. The shower was nice and hot and I was able to, for a moment, relax and close my eyes. I felt a little better after my shower but I knew I needed a plan.

  There was no point trying to hide my heartbreak. I was sure everyone who knew me would see it as soon as they saw me. I decided I would have to tell Doris and Miguel about my breakup. I didn't need to get into the details, but I needed their help to keep Roman away if he ever decided to stop by the shop.

  The next day, as soon as I entered the store, Miguel and Doris stopped what they were doing and looked at me worriedly.

  "You look like hell," Doris said in greeting.

  I bit back my sharp response that was on the tip of my tongue and walked over to the front counter. After I had taken off my coat and put my purse away I turned back to face them.

  "I feel like hell," I replied. "There's no use keeping it from you, since I know you'll just badger me any way, but Roman and I broke up."

  Doris sucked in a surprised gasp. "Oh no! What happened?"

  I shrugged my shoulders trying to come off as indifferent. "We just weren't meant to be. You know how it is, one day everything is great and the next day everything goes to shit."

  "Did you get in a fight?" she asked.

  "You could say that. Listen, I really don't feel like talking about it right now, but I just wanted you to know because I might need your help."

  "How so, boss?" Miguel asked.

  "I really don't want to see him again, so if you two could keep him away from me or keep a look out and let me know if you see him coming to the shop, I'd appreciate it."

  "Sure thing," Miguel said.

  Doris looked like she wanted to say more, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "I don't want to talk about it anymore," I said. "I'm going to the back to take care of some paperwork."

  I walked off, without another word and headed to my back office. Once there, I closed the door and leaned back against it, releasing a heavy sigh. It had been harder than I thought to talk about our breakup and I hadn't even told them the full story.

  I knew Doris had more questions, but she knew I needed my space now. She might be nosy and a busy body, but she did always have my best interests at heart. If she found out what Roman had done, she'd probably march right into his office to give him a piece of her mind.

  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 sai
d, 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. S
ince 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.