Billionaire Romance: Seduced by the Billionaire (15 page)

Patience wore thin, Mellissa
stomped her hands on the table. “What? Are we just gonna stare at each other? Say
something,” she urged.

A look of discomfort shawled his
face. He needed to answer. Now. “I-I don’t know if I could do that,” he said
stoically. His foot itched from the wool socks he bought from
Walmart
,
but scratching it would cost his focus. Usually, he’d explain everything in
detail, but now that his relationship with Natalia had developed an edge, he
couldn’t be bothered to spare a wink in the matter unrelated to his interest.

“Well, you left me no choice.
This matter calls for a worldwide announcement,” she threatened.

“Why are you doing this to me?
What have I done to deserve your wrath?” Thom kept his gaze down. Her statement
alarmed his concern. If she was to spread the news all around the country,
Natalia’s reputation would be at risk and that was something he could never
allow.

“You don’t. All I’m asking is
for you to appreciate what I’m doing. I’m doing you a favor, Thom.”

He frowned. “It is rather the
opposite, don’t you think? You’re the one who wants me to live with you in
England given my previous refusal. Mellissa,” Thom turned his head in her
direction, “you’re not like this. Why are you troubling yourself with such a
person like me? I’m not the same guy I was back in kindergarten, things change
and people move on, so please, for the sake of your own career, leave me alone.
I-I’m not what you think I am…” he expounded as the window of his soul spoke of
his curse, but it seemed the voice was not loud enough to reach her ears.

He’s right,
Mellissa
realized. Then, she copied him and brought her gaze to the clear glass,
meditating about what she’d become. Yes, desperation pushed her to ring him and
get what she wanted, but never in a gazillions years had she ever thought she’d
go this far just for the man whose heart would never be hers.

Thom waited for her answer but
heard nothing but the oppressive silence that hung in the air. The other diners
had already left and only a few had stayed behind. The waiter walked passed
them, stealing a few glimpse of Mellissa’s sour face.

After a couple of minutes, she
carried her gaze out the window to seek something to talk about. Despite his
persistence for her not to want him, Mellissa couldn’t seize her lust to chase
him. As her eyes adhered the cars passing by, her eyes spotted something she
wanted. Revenge. Outside was the proof.

With great luck at hand, she
drew a deep breath before calling his name. “Thom,” she hissed calmly.

“Did you make up your mind
already?” Thom assumed, oblivious to what was happening outside.

“Before I answer, look outside.”

Upon her request, he looked up
and gazed at the street. Nothing. All he could see was the cars passing by.
Just as when he decided to confront Mellissa of what she was talking about, a
familiar face caught his attention.
Natalia?
He wondered, squinting his
eyes as to ensure he got it right.
Who’s that guy?

“Is that your sister?” Mellissa
insulted, thrilled to see his reaction.

Heart racing against his
malicious thoughts, Thom couldn’t avoid to let his blood boil in jealousy. The
way the man forcibly held Natalia’s waist screamed for Thom to get out there
and give that idiot a beating. Only if he knew who he was, he’d be more
cautious of his action. Completely ignoring Mellissa’s contempt, he watched how
Natalia pushed the man’s hand off her body as if struggling to run away from
the pervert’s incessant plea.

“I’m gonna go out there and show
that guy what he’s looking for.” Furious and pissed off, he pushed the chair back
and clenched his fist to ready himself for a bloody combat.

Through reading his body
language and his speech, Mellissa knew her technique to enrage him to hate Natalia
was a complete failure. She stood up and blocked his way out. “No. Leave her
alone. She has her own life now, Thom. Let her decide for herself and stop
acting as if you care!”

Her words stung. Ouch! His knees
trembled to punch the man, but after an epiphany, he realized she was right. He
only cared for Natalia because she knew his deepest and darkest secret. But was
this all there was?

He let his fingers loose as his
anger dissipated to sadness. “You’re right,” he agreed, “I don’t really care about
her.” The memory of Natalia running away from the cemetery haunted him every
night. Each word Mellissa spoke rang true. If it didn’t, why did he hide
Tonya’s involvement with Natalia’s parents’ death? Those thoughts danced in his
mind all this time.

“You should come to my house,”
Mellissa offered while she still had the opportunity to do so.

Thom locked his eyes on hers.
Through the lens of her iris, he could predict that she wouldn’t understand who
he was. Under that handsome mask, she beheld, a brute of an extraordinary
strength hid. He knew letting his identity out would mean his death. Fearful of
his premature extinction, he decided to decline her offer.

“I have to go now. I still have
to help my parents tomorrow.” Diverting his gaze from her, he broke his way out
passed her. As usual, Mellissa had the habit of grabbing him by the arm.

“Wait,” she said, unbothered to
turn her head around. “In case you change your mind, I’m just at home waiting…”

Her soft hand was like a sponge
on his skin. Though he might want to sleep with her tonight, his desire to stay
faithful to Natalia prevailed. Without warning, he pulled his arm away. Not
gently, but rather quite rudely. He waited for her to say something, but
Mellissa had said enough, sufficient to get her point across. Then, he left…

As her calves’ muscles twitched
caused from wearing high heels, she turned around to see if he’d gone far.
Seeing no sign of him, she swept a glance at her surrounding to see how many
people had seen her act like a baby. Then, she walked back to her seat. Her
stomach cried for food as her intestines crumbled. But before she ordered
anything, her curiosity led her in Natalia’s direction.

Opposite the restaurant, Natalia
struggled to boo him away.

“I’m fine. My car is going to
get fixed really soon,” Natalia explained.

“What’s wrong with me dropping
you off? It’s dangerous to walk on the street at this time of the night,”
Gilbert insisted. For minutes, he’d been following her, adamant to know where
she lived. Upon hiring her, he certainly made no mistake as Natalia proved
herself worthy of being the new supervisor. Having all the attributes of a
leader set an asset to her promotion. Whether she’d tell it or not, truth be
told that she worked her ass out to get this far in order to afford her
property.

She stopped at the pedestrian
crossing. “I’ll manage, so please go home now and have a rest. Like you, I’m
tired too…” she clarified. Her purse clutched over her shoulder. 

“That’s why let me drop you
off,” he insisted.

Natalia sighed. “Sir, I mean
Gilbert, I don’t need your help!”

An expression of annoyance
registered across Gilbert’s face. No one had ever refused his invitation. Girls
went crazy when they saw him, but his charm on Natalia had proven resistible.
Impatient to pursue her, he still waited for her to change her mind.

“Are you sure you’d be okay?” he
finally asked, relinquishing his hope to get her laid tonight.

“Yeah,” she breathed out,
feeling the sudden alteration in his mood.

He looked around and when he
felt safe crossing the road, he’d stolen another glance at her. “See ya
tomorrow.” His voice faded, conquered by the loud and audacious roars of the
metaled animals.

She sighed again. Curious about
how far he’d gone, she looked back and scrutinized the restless road – only to
see a face of her abhorrence.
Am I seeing it correctly?
She asked
herself in utter disbelief.

As Mellissa straightened her
knees, Natalia’s eyes grew wider. “It’s her…” she murmured to herself. Troubled
to see the woman of her nightmare, her ears did not hear the ticking sound of
the pedestrian crossing button. Her eyes watched Mellissa’s every move,
wondering if Thom happened to be with her, although she suppressed the thought
to the bone.

A beep pierced her ears. She
turned around and a shout slapped her. “Cross if you’re gonna cross, freak!” A
voice of a woman echoed in the intersection, making her legs sprint in a great
hurry. She looked back again, but Mellissa had left already.

Natalia’s condominium looked
like the previous cover of
Cottage Style
magazine. The furnishings were
branded and none of them came from the Salvation Army – all brand new. Her
L-shaped gray couch smoothened the bold orange on her wall, seemingly intended
as a feature wall. The chandelier suspended two-and-a-half meters from the
floor, centered above the dining table to cast elegance in her house, barely
called a home.

Despite the aesthetic of her
property, the
air
was filled with emptiness, nullified by the fact that
Natalia was alone, prone to depression and loneliness of all kinds. At night,
she could barely sleep as her thoughts wandered around the notion that Thom and
Mellissa had been enjoying each other’s company. Of course, she got jealous,
but what else could she do now? Return and accept Thom’s apology? What about
justice to her parents’ death? His family stole it from her!

Sharing the gloominess of the
weather, Natalia found herself staring out the window, visualizing Thom in the
darkening clouds of the sky. Thunder roared and lightning struck, but still,
her face was untamed by the viciousness of nature. Today was her day off. At
last, she finally had one after three weeks of without.

As depression traveled in her
head, she looked around to find something to keep herself busy. Reading tons of
books had lost its power as every time she focused her attention on the story,
Thom would suddenly pop into her mind and distract her.

“Come on, Natalia, think of
something productive to do,” she forced herself. After a minute of pondering
things, she rose up and walked toward the kitchen. The countertop was spotless,
an indication she hadn’t been cooking for ages.

“Alright…” Her index finger
tapped her chin.

Full of stuff to cook, her
pantry looked like a grocery store. With all the choices she had, her decision
was slim. “Okay…” She picked up a can of gherkin and then put it back down.
Seconds later, her hand grabbed a couple of canned peaches and red plums.
“Right, I’m gonna make myself a porridge,” she said, but her mind disagreed so
she put them back down again. She slammed the pantry’s double door, pissed off
that nothing in the house made her feel contended.

Out of expectation, her phone
vibrated.

A meter from where her phone
was, she quickly ran for it, hopeful Gwen had texted her to go out shopping. To
her surprise, it was someone she’d been thinking about. Wiping the screen, her
phone came to life, so did the message… It read:

“Hey, Nat. I’m just wondering
if you wanna meet up today in the same café we went to the last time. I just
want to say something important…”

Her intellect opposed, but her
heart quarreled for her to go. In just a matter of seconds, her mentality brightened
up again. She clenched her phone, debating the wisdom of whether she should go
or not. The unpleasant weather made her think twice…

She turned her gaze back to her
phone again. “No, I shouldn’t… I’ve already made my decision,” she murmured,
but the word ‘but’ came on the way. “But, what if… no, he’s not gonna do that.”
Her mind wondered if Thom was going to apologize and convince her to come back
home, but her skepticism deceived her of his genuine intention.

To quench her disbelief, she
inhaled repeatedly, allowing her brain to break free from all the negativities
that had been happening to her lately. Moving in her own condominium had proven
not helpful at all. She raised her arms up and down, in harmony with her
breathing. As the clock ticked a second, her muscles began to settle down,
letting her think straight.

She paused. “Alright, I can do
this. It’s just meeting somebody I used to know, no big deal…” Then, she
carried her eyes at the clock hung on the wall. “Eleven-thirty. Okay, I still have
time to get dressed.”

In the brink of turning away,
the calendar below the clock yelled for her attention. All of a sudden, she
wondered what date it was today. She walked toward the calendar and as she
neared closer, her gaze landed on the 15
^th
. The red symbol of an
incomplete moon reflected in her eyes.

Shaking her head, she refused to
believe that tonight would be Thom’s worst night ever. “Half-moon.”

*****

 The café had not changed a
thing. Thom sat at the same spot they were at the last time. He looked around,
thinking where all its customers had gone. The place looked deserted and barely
anyone come in. He brought his eyes down at his
Rolex
wristwatch Natalia
gifted him on his 21
^st
birthday. One-forty-five, two-and-a-half
hours since he texted her, and yet she was nowhere to be seen…

Anxious for her arrival, he
finished his second glass of water.
I hope she comes…
he dreaded,
counting each second on his wristwatch. He’d been waiting for an hour now, but
he extended his patience to lay his eyes on her again. It had been a couple of
weeks now and her melodious voice slowly had escaped his ears. His sharp ears
caught the sound of the cow’s bell ringing on the door. “Natalia,” he excitedly
breathed out as he walked toward her, excited to see her again.

Still a meter away from her, he
reached out his hand and landed it on her right shoulder. A horrid look shawled
his face. “Hey, mister, get your hand off me!” the lady said sternly.

Thom obeyed and pulled his hand
off the ‘feeling-beautiful’ lady’s broad shoulder. He bowed down as a sign of
his sincere apology, but the bitch snubbed him as if she had the guts to be his
girlfriend. That same waiter who drooled over Natalia’s cleavage stood still,
wondering what was happening. The awkward atmosphere enveloped them, making the
situation severely embarrassing.

The lady turned her head to the
waiter. “I’m not gonna order any more. You need to place a sign outside this
cafe to warn freak people not to enter, okay? Next time this happens, I’m gonna
report it to the police and close this café down,” she snapped as if she had
the authority do so.

The poor waiter bent down. “I’m sorry,
it won’t happen again,” he promised as he cast a nasty look at Thom, indignant
of his mistake.

As the lady walked past him, an
expression of annoyance registered across her face, making her mood pronounce
and visible. He just kept his eyes on the floor to avoid meeting her gaze.
Feeling the lady had walked far enough, he took something from his pocket.

“Here.” Thom reached out a
twenty dollar note to the waiter.

“What’s this?”

“It’s nothing, really. Just take
it… and sorry for the inconvenience.” Thom turned around and headed back to his
chair.

The waiter looked confused but
managed to pocket the cash. And then, quickly glanced around to see if his
manager was around.

Back to his seat, Thom’s
patience had run low. Irritated, he slammed his fists on the table, causing it
to almost break apart. The café quaked as the floor shook the other tables and
chairs. The waiter had heard it but feared of being bashed and kept his mouth
shut instead. As clouds of doubt veiled his mind, he stood up and decided to
leave.
She’s not gonna come,
he thought.

He headed to the exit door and
as he looked up, there she was standing opposite. Natalia had no need to open
the door as he did it himself. His annoyance and disappointment quickly
vanished as he finally laid his gaze on her again. A sudden delight crept into
his mind. Her presence had proven to have such effect on him that one would
agree he could never live without her. True.

Thom pulled the door wider.
“Hey… please, come in,” he beamed.

Natalia’s heart beat a
nanosecond.
He hadn’t changed a thing
, she thought. To his invitation,
she entered the restaurant and maintained her gaze ahead to abstain meeting his
gaze. By the aura of her attitude, you could tell she still hadn’t forgiven
him. She walked on, unbothered to wait for him.

Once his hand released its grip
on the door, he rapidly went before her to show where he was sitting. Usually,
Natalia would say something to spark a conversation with Thom, but this time,
her words were expensive. Not even Donald Trump could afford them.

“Please, have a seat.” He pulled
a chair out, showing his gentleman side Natalia had never seen before. With all
seriousness, he was adamant to evince his real feelings for her, and there was
no better timing than this. She kept his words after all.

She took his offer and
graciously sat down. Thom waited for a moment for her gratitude, but silence
greeted him. “Right…” he whispered under his breath.

Eager to catch up with her, he
went around her and sat next to her. Natalia placed her
MK
purse on the floor
beside her and stuffed her gloves on top of it before bringing her gaze at Thom
whose eyes adhered her every move, fascinated by her sophistication.

Thom looked away and whistled as
if to pretend he hadn’t been adoring her.

Natalia parted her lips with
refined elegance as her red lipstick glossed with savoir-faire. “What is it
that you summoned me here?”

Her voice…
“Um… I just
want to know how’s life been by your own. Do you hang out with anyone?” His
question sounded intriguing.

To avoid making a direct
eye-contact with him, she took the knife and mirrored her teeth in it to make
sure her lipstick hadn’t smudged out all over her teeth. “Yeah. I hang out with
whoever I want. It’s not as if anyone cares, right? I live by myself now so I
can do whatever I want. After all, I have no family left so no one could tell
me how to behave accordingly.”

Thom frowned at her response.
What
happened to her?
“Oh, right… how’s your job? Does everyone treat you well?
I-I mean… you know, people could be mean at times,” he laughed forcibly, trying
to disguise his clumsy question just to attain her attention.

“I just got promoted,” she
bragged as she put the knife back down. “What about you? Any progress?” she
asked with an insulting timbre in her voice.

“The same old me… I can see that
you’ve changed quite a lot, haven’t you? You’ve gained a few pounds which is
good. You look meaty now,” he complimented, eying her arms and chest.

Natalia rolled her eyes away,
but deep down her heart yelled to take his praise and let it sync into her
mind.

The waiter came over without
excuse. “Good afternoon ma’am, sir, do you want to order anything? We have
special deals today. There’s –”

“No, thank you. You may leave
now.” Natalia recognized his face and quickly shooed him away. Shocked, Thom
stared at her with a huge surprise of what she’d become. A demure lady turned
out to be the brute of his nightmare…

“Oh, okay. Sorry,” the waiter
apologized and walked away shaken by the intensity of her rudeness.

“What happened to you, Nat?
You’re not like this. You don’t scare people off,” Thom enraged as his voice
echoed his dismay.

“Oh well, Thom, people change.
They can’t always allow other people to trample them under feet. They have to
stand on their ground and fight for themselves,” she snapped, raising her voice
to match his.

“Is this what that guy did to
you? How much did he pay you to act like this?”

Natalia’s ears angered. “How
dare you talk to me like that?! And how did you know I’m with another guy? Have
you been spying on me? I-I can’t believe this–” she looked away, oppressed by
his comment.

Thom quickly went for her hands
to comfort her, but as soon as she felt his grip, she pulled them away. “Don’t
touch me!”

“I-I’m so sorry, Nat. I didn’t mean
to say those words. I was just carried away, but I swear I didn’t mean to
accuse you of anything,” he explained, completely regretful of his mistake. He
should’ve known better that she was still the girl with a sensitive heart.

“I have to leave now.” Natalia
bent down to grab her purse.

“Please, let me talk to you
first. You don’t have to leave, you know.” His hands grasped her right
shoulder.

In response, she pulled herself
together as she let her yearning prevail. Although she tried to hate him, her
heart resisted to uproot him from her life. With all those years she spent
living with him, she found it difficult to cast her ‘brother’ away.

Thom signed in relief. “I’m
sorry again. I promise this won’t happen again…”

Natalia kept quiet.

“So, does your new boyfriend
treat you well? He looks decent. What does he do for a living?” Thom tried to
revive the soul of the conversation and Natalia seemed hooked to his question.

“He’s good. He’s the CEO of the
company I work at, so just imagine how rich he is,” she said.

He swallowed in amusement,
cynical of what he’d heard. “Really? Nice…” was all he could say to avoid
revealing his insecurity. Then, he looked at all the jewelry around her neck,
ears and hands… they were all pure gold. Not to mention her Michael Kors handbag. 

“How’s mom and dad…? And
Samantha? Are they back yet from Fiji?”