Rapine 2: Ravished by the Billionaire (The Trophy Wife) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

In the morning,
Julian and I get dressed casually. I have learned to dress casual during the day and high-end at night when traveling with Julian. I wear white shorts and a simple red top. Julian wears all black as usual—a timeless black Eton shirt and black pants. Wearing all black makes him look masculine, dangerous, sexy, and mysterious—just the way I like him.

We
have breakfast and then walk around and explore Vancouver. We see all the main streets, sights, and attractions during the day.

I relish walking hand-in-hand with Julian, exploring a city that is completely unknown and
foreign to me. I have started to really enjoy traveling and observing how people live in different parts of the world. I notice that there is a very different vibe in each city.

In the early evening
, I am exhausted from all the walking, so I’m glad when we go for a romantic horse-drawn ride in Stanley Park.

As I hold hands with Julian during the horse-drawn tour, I suddenly recall
that back in New York, this is exactly what Derek and I did in Central Park before he proposed to me. It’s so surreal. A chill runs through me. I’m so glad I met Julian right before I tied the knot with Derek. I’m also glad Julian pursued me so vigorously. My loyalty to Derek blinded me to the fact that there might be a better man out there for me. Julian truly is my soul mate and makes me happier than I’ve ever been in my life.

After the horse-drawn ride, w
e have dinner at a top-rated restaurant in Vancouver. After dinner, we go to our suite and get dressed up to go to a popular cocktail lounge.

Julian wears a
black custom-made suit, black dress shirt, black tie, and black pants. I wear a red sheath dress by Valentino, one of my favorite designers and my favorite color, along with red Jimmy Choos.

Our designated
private limo driver in Vancouver drives us to the cocktail lounge. I see a huge-line up in front from around the block. The limo stops right in front of the lounge, and Julian and I get out.

Julian takes my hand and we
walk to the entrance of the lounge where a six-foot-five bouncer stands guard, picking and choosing who he wants to let in. He is obviously not letting many people in, as the line is barely moving.

As we approach the red velvet rope surrounding the entrance of the lounge, the bouncer immediately recognizes
Julian. He nods his head in deep respect toward Julian, quickly unhooks the red velvet rope, and lets Julian and me enter while others gape at us as if we were A-list celebrities.

Once inside,
Julian confidently orders us cocktails as if he ran the place. The interior is all white, sophisticated, and elegant—definitely my style. The music is diverse, consisting of old and new songs, from pop, to dance, to trance, to hip hop. The crowd tonight is mid-twenties to thirties, wealthy, dressed to the nines and good-looking. I don’t see even one unattractive person—it’s a beautiful people scene. They’ve come to see and be seen. It’s noisy as everyone socializes, drinks, and laughs.

We take our seat on one of the
ultra-modern white couches. Julian wraps his arm around my shoulder. Our cocktails arrive and the pretty, dark-haired waitress smiles shyly at Julian and scampers away.

During the rest of the evening, a
s we sip at our cocktails, every so often Julian whispers something into my ear—a witty comment or a funny observation about someone in the crowd. We’re people-watching, laughing, listening to the music, and sipping cocktail after cocktail. I start to feel really tipsy after my fifth cocktail.

Frequently throughout the night,
men and women glance at us. Many of the women are admiring Julian. I notice a very attractive woman with long, blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a gorgeous white dress, gazing longer than she should at Julian. Julian seems oblivious to her. His attention is completely fixated on me and on making sure I am having a good time.

“I love you in red,” Julian comments. “It reminds me of the first time I laid my eyes on you in New York.”
He smiles as he appears to be recalling that day. “You were really feisty that day, weren’t you?” He grins mischievously.

I smile as I
recollect that day, the way he pursued me and the way I refused his aggressive advances, brushing him off even though I felt so intensely attracted to him. He was wearing a black custom-made suit just like he is now.

At that moment, I hear
an old song play throughout the lounge, “Mama, I’m in love with a criminal,” and it resonates so much with me. As I listen to the words, I recall that I need to call my mother. I really miss her. I also recall I really miss my friends in New York. I listen to the words of the song further and I know that no one would understand my love for Julian. Many would consider him a criminal for what he did, but I can’t help loving him. He is no criminal in my mind.

I have to admit it to myself, I love the fact that he didn’t give up
in pursuing me even though he knew I was engaged. I love that he pursued me to the point of rapine. To anyone else he may seem like a criminal, but to me he is nothing more than a hot alpha male that takes what he wants. I consider him to be the most masculine of men in every way, including the way he pursued and seduced me.

I feel the
relaxing effects of the alcohol take hold over me. “I love how you abducted me and made me fall in love with you.” I giggle.

He gives me a serious look
and then smiles. He takes a sip of his cocktail, he’s only on his third one.

“
Why are you such a slow drinker?” I tease, slurring my words.

“I pace myself now. I need
to be clear-headed so that I can protect you.”

I love that.
I also know that it’s necessary with Derek still in the picture.

“
Did you ever drink a lot?” I ask him, curious.

“
Fuck yeah. I drank like a fish in the past,” he confesses, but does not reveal much more.

I catch a thirty-something,
brown-haired, fairly good-looking man glaring at me for a while. Julian notices the man’s excessive staring and gives him a fierce, aggressive, back-the-fuck off scowl.

The man
looks away and begins chatting with his group of friends. He says something to his friends and they all look my way. Julian is still fiercely glaring at the man as if he were about to go over there and knock the guy out. Finally, the man and his friends look away.

“I need to
pee,” I whisper into Julian’s ear.

Julian stands me up
and I get a head rush. I can barely stand straight. Julian holds my hand as he walks me over to the ladies’ room.

Julian
stops me right by the door of the ladies’ room. “Are you okay from this point forward?” Julian asks, looking concerned.

“I’
ll manage,” I mumble.

I stumble in and see a few
young women around my age by the mirrors in the bathroom. I sneak into one of the stalls without their notice. I listen in on their conversation while I pee and I recall how much I miss my girlfriends back in Manhattan.

“Why
are all the good men taken?” I hear a girl complain.

“I know,
” shrieks another, sounding drunk. “Did you notice the stud with that brunette girl?”

“OMG
, yes. He is so good-looking and he looks loaded,” another woman whines. “I would steal him away from that girl in an instant if I had a chance to get my hands on him.”

My mouth drops open
as I finish peeing.

I hear their
laughter as they exist the ladies’ room.

I come out of
the stall, wash my hands, and glance into the mirror. I notice my brown eyes look red and tired from all the alcohol. I touch up my red lipstick. I pull out a tiny portable brush from my purse and brush through my waist-length, dark brown hair.

I
exist the ladies’ room and walk toward Julian, trying to maintain proper footing as the room begins to spin before my eyes.
I need Julian to take me to our suite now.

When I spot Julian, I see the blonde women that was eyeing him all night sitting
beside him. He’s talking to her. My heart begins to race as anger and jealously overwhelms me. I freeze in position about thirty feet away from Julian.

He’
s mine! Back off bitch
, is the first thing I feel like screaming at the blonde but I’m frozen in position as I try to process what’s going on.
I’m his wife! Why is he talking to some woman he just met?

I stay frozen as I
reason that I’ve had a little too much to drink and I don’t want to make a big scene. I need to find out what is going on first. I examine them chatting. He seems deep in conversation with her and he still hasn’t noticed me. My pulse pounds and my heart exhilarates with anger.

My
mind begins running wild and crazy with all the possibilities:
Is she pursuing him? Or maybe he is pursuing her? No, that can’t be possible! Isn’t he loyal to me? Maybe she is an ex-girlfriend?

I watch them exchange
smiles. She flips her hair back flirtatiously and nods her head in response to something he said.
What is going on here?
I feel like grabbing her by the hair, slamming her against the nearest wall and kicking her.

Julian asks the blonde
another question and she shakes her head
no
. My face heats up in anger and my heart beats fast and hard. Julian finally notices me, and quickly rushes over to me.

“Who the fuck is she?” I blurt out.

Julian ushers me over onto a couch, across from her.

“This is my beautiful wife
, Cheryl,” Julian introduces me to her.

She smiles kindly at me, flashing
impeccably bright white teeth.

“This is
Joanna,” Julian explains. “She’s a friend.”

I
give her the evil eye. “I want to go,” I growl to Julian. My heart is beating rapidly through my chest.

“Ye
s of course.” Julian takes his cell phone out of an inside pocket in his suit jacket and makes a call to our limo driver. “We’re leaving,” he says simply. Then, he tucks the phone away, takes my hand and stands me up.

I stand on two wobbly feet and the room spins. Julian
offers me his arm for me to take but I refuse. So Julian steps behind me, and leads me through the crowd, gripping my waist tightly. I am feeling furious and need answers, but I wait until we get outside.

Our driver is waiting
outside standing by the black Mercedes Benz limo. He opens the door for us. I crawl in as lady-like as I can manage in my drunk state. Julian slides in beside me.

“Who is she?” I cry out.

“I’ll explain everything once we get to our suite,” Julian responds calmly.

I turn my head
away from Julian. For the entire ride to our hotel I look out the window.

Julian
touches my arm gently to grab my attention and offers me a bottle of water and a natural herbal hangover pill which he keeps in his suit pocket for me to take every time we go out. I accept the water and the pill. I start feeling a little better after finishing the entire bottle of water.

As soon as we get inside our hotel
suite, Julian confesses. “That woman is one of the courtesans I used to role play with whenever I had business in Vancouver.”

My eyes widen.

“I was just telling her that I recently got married and how happy I am,” Julian explains.

My palms are all sweaty and
I realize how jealous I feel.

“My past is
behind me. I’m 100% committed to you now,” Julian reassures me.

I don’
t know what to think. Julian’s playboy past disturbs me. I can’t stand to think my husband used to play out his dark fantasies with courtesans and high-end prostitutes.

Julian
draws closer to me and strokes my face lovingly. “I love you more than life itself. I made a promise to you when I married you that I will be loyal to you until death.”

I gaze up into Julian eyes, and notice the love and warmth
emanating from them. I know Julian truly loves me, maybe as much as I love him or maybe even more. However, his past troubles me.

“
Seeing you talking to another woman, and finding out she is one of the courtesans you played out your fantasies with—it’s just so hard,” I murmur.

“I know
, Cheryl. I know. I’m not proud of my past,” Julian lowers his head in shame. “I just never thought I would settle down until I met you, so this all seemed very normal to me at the time.”

Julian embraces me
and squeezes me tightly. I let him hold me and breathe in his irresistible manly, musky, spicy cologne.

He
gently pulls me away, examining my face. “I love you so much, Cheryl,” he whispers, tenderly stroking back stray strands of hair away from my face as he gazes at me lovingly.