My Forever Billionaire

by Katie Evergreen

  Jackson’s foot was really starting to hurt now. He could feel the blood pumping into his toes, pulsing with pain as they swelled to the tips of his boots. He made sure he kept still, not wanting to walk in case he gave the game away.

  “You have done no such thing,” he said, trying to keep his voice level. He knew a heated argument never got anybody anything except hurt. “You offered a sum of money for the shop, a pittance no doubt, to a couple who felt obliged to take it due to financial woes—financial woes that I’m sure you knew all about before you made your offer. Then, before signing any contract, you changed the locks and started dismantling a property you don’t legally own.”

  Jackson saw two pink spots appear on Pete’s green tinged cheeks. He knew his own calmness was riling the man in front of him.

  “I paid money into their bank, it’s mine!” Pete shouted in Jackson’s face with a sour waft of garlic.

  “You may very well have paid money into their account, but that does not make it legally yours. Come on, you know better than that, you’re a businessman. Or do you do all your deals like this? How many more people have you swindled for your own profit? I can get my team on it in an instant and really delve into your books, if that’s what you want?”

  Pete’s face was now the color of a rotten tomato, but incredulously a smile was forming on his thin lips. He turned to Clementine.

  “His team?” Pete spluttered out a laugh. “His team? Are you hearing this, Clems? This man is deluded. He has a team no more than you have any idea how to run a business without me. You’re both insane. Now get out.”

  Pete’s voice was so high pitched now that only dogs could hear him. Jackson took a deep breath. It was now or never. His heart was hammering in his chest. He stood as tall as he could muster with the pain from his foot travelling up through his shin.

  “I have the world’s best team, they could take you down in a second. Because my name is Jackson Brodie, otherwise known as JB, the billion-dollar owner and CEO of Sweet Sensations. Now go.”

  He heard the whispered what from Clementine behind him.

  “You?!” Pete snorted the word with a nervous laugh, but he started walking toward the door. “You’re deluded.”

  Jackson automatically placed a protective arm in front of Clementine and drew her behind his own body as Pete passed them. He dragged his feet towards the exit of the bakery like a sulking child, his greasy hair flopping over his face. As he reached the battered door he turned to Clementine once more.

  “Now it really does make sense. You always were a gold-digger. You left me for someone with more money. I never stood a chance, did I?”

  Clementine saw red. She pushed Jackson’s arm out of the way and squared up to Pete herself. Her mind was whirring away six to the dozen with Jackson’s revelation, but she tried to beat past that and focus on the sniveling wreck in front of her. What had she ever seen in him?

  “No chance? You really think you had no chance?” she said, her heart thumping in her ears. “I loved you, Pete. I wanted to build a life with you. But you were always after a quick win, a quick fix. And that included with me. You weren’t willing to wait for us to get married, or even engaged. So why won’t you just man up and take some responsibility for the break-up of our relationship. All those times you tried to be intimate with me when you knew we weren’t married. What, did you think because you’d secured yourself a big deal, I was going to be so impressed that I’d forget my morals for you? No! It doesn’t work like that. And I gave you plenty of chances so don’t you dare say I left you because I found someone with more money than you, a business with more hope than ours.”

  It was Pete’s turn to flinch. His whole body sagged under the weight of Clementine’s words and she almost felt sorry for him. She softened her voice a little.

  “I didn’t even know until a few minutes ago that Jackson had any money. I thought he had nothing.”

  She felt a hand slide into hers and an overwhelming desire to collapse into Jackson’s arms filled her.

  “But yes, I guess I have always known that Jackson is my best friend, and my first love. So maybe I had always been holding out for contact from him again, maybe that did affect how I felt toward you. And for that, Pete, I am sorry. But you must know that there is nothing romantic between Jackson and me now. I didn’t know he was going to be here when I came home. I did not leave you for another man. I left you because we are incompatible.”

  Pete’s shoulders sagged even further.

  “But you were the best thing that ever happened to me,” he sniveled.

  “Then maybe you should have respected that feeling when we were together.”

  She walked over to the broken door and drew it open as best she could.

  “Please leave,” she said, firmly but quietly.

  And Pete walked out with his head hung low.

  Clementine waited until he was out of sight before she pushed the door to. She tried to lift it to click it into place, but Jackson had done too much damage.

  Jackson.

  She almost couldn’t turn to face him. Her heart was still hammering and if she didn’t calm down soon it was going to pound right through her pink sweater. She wiped her hands on her jeans and tried to stop them from shaking.

  “Clementine?” Jackson spoke close behind her.

  The sound of his voice and the feel of his breath made her breathless. She turned, and the sight of his face so close to hers made her knees feel weak.

  “Jackson,” she whispered.

  He wrapped her in his arms and Clementine let out tears that she didn’t know she’d been holding in. He held her tightly as she sobbed into his shirt. Tears flowing for her lost relationship with Pete, the fear she’d felt in confronting him just then; tears for the stress and anxiety she’d felt that morning when she thought she’d lost her new business, a business she was going to use to rebuild her life; tears for the failure she felt, the times she’d been made to feel useless and incapable without Pete by her side, those times she knew were now a lie invented by a manipulative man who just wanted to control her; and tears for Jackson, for the man he now was, for the lies he’d told her, for his disappearance.

  Clementine felt as though she had truly come home when she’d bumped into Jackson and now—having found out he’d been lying to her about who he was—she was worried she was about to lose him again. She felt sick, her head started to spin. She felt as though without Jackson’s arms holding her up she would be in a heap on the painted floorboards. She wanted Jackson to hold her up forever.

  “Clementine, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. The heat from the words made her scalp tickle.

  “I need to talk to you,” he continued, and Clementine felt her legs wobble. “Woah, are you okay, my Little O?”

  She felt his arms tighten and she nodded into his chest.

  “If I let go will you stay upright?” he asked.

  Clementine nodded again, her heart almost breaking knowing that this might be the last time she would be in his arms. No-one says I need to talk when it’s something positive to say. She felt him loosen his grip and tried to keep her breathing steady. His beautiful, dark eyes shone with tears but he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

  “I need to tell you something. Something I’ve never told anyone before. And when I do, I know we will probably not be able to rebuild what we have started to rebuild these last couple of days. But I need to do this.”

  He cleared his throat and Clementine’s heart constricted like there was a fist around it.

  “Ten years ago today, something dreadful happened that changed my entire life. Changed the lives of my parents. Changed your life. Everyone thought it was a horrible accident, but it wasn’t. It was my fault Chase died. I killed my brother.”

  23

  I killed my brother.

  Clementine felt the world spin around her, those words like arrows piercing her soul. This time even Jackson’s arms couldn’t save her, and for the second
time in as many days the floor came up to meet her with surprising force.

  She jolted awake, unsure of who or where she was. Blinking her eyes against the bright sunlight, she lifted an arm to shield her eyes. When it touched the bridge of her nose a shooting pain hit her, traveling all the way to the top of her scalp and down to her jaw.

  “Ow,” she said, aware suddenly of a metallic taste in her mouth.

  “Clementine, thank goodness!” Jackson was leaning over her, and his breath smelt like mints as he spoke. “I’ve been so worried. Try not to move too much. You gave that floor what for with your nose and it looks a bit tender.”

  “No kidding,” Clementine winced as she spoke. “Where am I?”

  She tried to lift her head a little but Jackson had been right. It felt as if there was a whole bunch of workmen in there hammering away. She gave up and rested her head back down, slowly shutting her eyes.

  “We’re still in the bakery. I’ve called for the doctor but they’ll be a while yet. I’d forgotten how far away the nearest surgery was! I put my coat down for your head and you’re lying in the back of the shop. Near the oven. If you wanted to picture it in your mind, your feet are facing the door.”

  Clementine stifled a giggle, knowing that it would hurt too much to laugh. She loved that he was still so aware of her fears. She’d always hated being blindfolded as a child, she didn’t like not knowing which way was up, or which way she was facing. The number of games of blind man’s bluff she’d ruined by peeking under the scarf wrapped tightly around her head were too numerous to count. Lying quite still, she pictured in her mind where she was, orientating herself as best she could. Her nose throbbed painfully, dulling out something else niggling at the back of her thoughts.

  And then it hit her like a sledgehammer borrowed from one of the workmen inside her head. I killed my brother. She felt Jackson stroke her hair and her scalp crawled beneath his hands.

  “Jax?” she pleaded.

  “Clemmie, please, will you let me tell you my story while we’re waiting for the doctor? Then I promise I will leave here and you forever.”

  She heard his voice wobble and reached out blindly for his hands. Ignoring the blinding pain shooting through her head, she wrapped her fingers through his and drew them to her chest.

  “I promise to listen without judgement,” she said.

  There was a shuffle, and a grunt from Jackson, and Clementine guessed he had sat down next to her.

  “I don’t even know where to start,” he began, moving his hands in hers to make them more comfortable. “Maybe I need to tell you first that I love you. I have always loved you.”

  Clementine let out a sigh, her accelerating pulse making her head hurt even more.

  “It’s really unfair to tell me that when I’m incapacitated, and when I can’t see your face.”

  “Sorry,” he continued. “I know it is, that’s partly why I’m doing this now.”

  They both gave a small laugh.

  “When I was forced to leave Willingham, it was the worst thing that could have happened, but I knew it was for the best. My parents were trying to protect me from the knowing eyes, the snide comments, the attention. I thought I would be doing you a favor, too, that you wouldn’t want to know me, and it wasn’t fair to ask you to still love me after… after what happened.”

  “What happened?” she whispered, catching a gap in his words.

  “Please, let me tell you in my own time. I promise I will.”

  He took a deep breath before carrying on.

  “But just because I knew I had to leave, that didn’t mean it was easy. Of course, I had no choice in the matter, but I did have full control over whether or not to get in contact with you, and I chose not to. It broke my heart. As I’m sure it did yours.”

  He let out a puff of air.

  “In fact, our separation was the kickstart I needed to invent the Sugar Coated sweets. Once I’d healed as much as I could, I wanted to reconnect with you. But I knew that was out of the question. For one, I would have absolutely no idea what to say. And that was where the idea of a sweet coated message came from. You are the reason I have such a successful business, Clemmie, and I owe you my life.”

  He shuffled a bit on the floor.

  “It was only when I arrived back in Willingham, when I bumped into you and saw your mom and dad, that I realized how lonely I really am. Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent. I just wanted to tell you this before I tell you everything else, so you know that my intentions were always to look after you, to protect you, even if that meant hurting you. And I am so sorry for hurting you.”

  She squeezed his hands and felt him reciprocate.

  “That morning, ten years ago, feels like it was only yesterday.”

  Clementine felt the air in the room drop a degree, closing in on her like a rush of icy water.

  “I remember very clearly climbing over the gate between our farms to see if you were about. I had something exciting to show you, it was a nest of baby mice, and I didn’t want to wait. Only, Chase had spotted me leaving and had followed me to the gate in the annoying way that only a little brother could. I vividly remember his protests. Why can’t I play? Clemmie loves me too, she’d want me to play. I want to see the baby mice. Where are they? He went on and on about it. Then I saw you. You were like a dream, the sun behind you made you look like you were in a movie. Your dress was swinging about your knees and your boots covered the rest of your legs. The smile on your face was angelic, and I knew right then that I didn’t want to share that moment with Chase.”

  Clementine wanted to open her eyes but the pain was too great. She heard Jackson clear his throat and take another deep breath.

  “He was so excited to see you coming. I think he wanted to be the one to show you the baby mice, too, because he would not keep quiet about it.”

  Another pause. Clementine could feel the tension in the room now. The air thick and heavy.

  “So I… I told him the baby mice were in the barn. I told him if he looked hard enough he would find the nest in the corner near the plough.”

  Jackson’s words were cracking, his voice thick with tears that Clementine couldn’t see.

  “I told him if he hurried now we would come and meet him and he could be the one to show them to you. Then… then… that was the last thing I ever said to him.”

  Clementine heard Jackson’s wracking sobs and pushed through her own pain to sit up and wrap her arms around him for a change. She hushed his tears and held him close, feeling him shaking under her arms.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she repeated over and over, not knowing what else to say. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she wasn’t sure it was all to do with her fall.

  “My parents dragged me away from my home, from everyone I loved,” Jackson said, his voice muffled by Clementine’s sweater. “They must have known it was all my fault. They died of heartbreak not long afterwards. I not only killed Chase, I killed my parents too. You must hate me. I know I hate myself.”

  Clementine felt so many emotions rushing around her mind at that precise moment, but she knew that hate was not one of them. She also knew that the nausea was winning, so she let Jackson go and laid back down.

  “I’m sorry, my head, it’s so sore,” she said, wanting to comfort Jackson more than anything. “Jackson, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. You left me in limbo for ten years and I still don’t hate you, I’m not about to start now. I can’t believe you’ve been carrying that around for all these years. Jackson, Chase’s death is not your fault.”

  She flailed her arms to try to find a part of Jackson to hold but he wasn’t there.

  “Jackson?” she said as loud as her head would permit.

  “Yes, sorry, I’m still here.”

  He had moved. His voice sounded distant.

  “Of course it’s my fault. If I hadn’t told him to go and look for those mice he never would have been in the building. He never would have fal
len off the plough. The mice weren’t even in there, they were by the riverbed. I was just selfish, and my selfishness killed everyone I loved. Almost everyone.”

  “Jackson, please come back over here.”

  She listened for his footsteps, but the silence around her was suffocating.

  “Jackson?”

  “I’m here,” he said, his voice nearer.

  “Jackson, Chase was young. You didn’t ask him to climb on the machinery. You didn’t tell him the mice were in the plough. Your parents even said the police found his frisbee at the back of the barn. He had probably forgotten all about what you’d said and was trying to find his toy.”

  “What?” Jackson’s voice was almost on top of her. “What do you mean his frisbee? He’d lost that months before. I remember because he thought mom had confiscated it because he kept trying to loop it over the handle of the harvester and she thought it was dangerous to throw it around the machines.”

  “She was right.” Clementine whispered.

  “You mean he wasn’t climbing up there to find the mice?”

  “No, from what your mom said, when she was saying goodbye, she blamed herself for not confiscating the frisbee when she should have.”

  “Oh no,” Jackson cried. “No, no, no.”

  And suddenly he was back down beside her, his head on her stomach, the sobs moving through his whole body.

  24

  All these years he’d felt himself responsible for Chase’s death. Yet all these years his mom must have been feeling the same. Why hadn’t she spoken to him? Why hadn’t she told people how she had been feeling? He knew no one would blame her, he knew he didn’t blame her. He also knew exactly why she hadn’t spoken about it— it was the same reason he had stayed silent for ten whole years.