The Good Mistress: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (24 page)

Chapter 40

Blake

THE PANG OF
Mila’s hand across his face made him wriggle his jaw. She’d tried to fucking dislocate his spine with that slap. Before she could hit him again, he took her wrists, and snatched her to his chest. “You were never my fucking mistress, Mila. I’ve told you that.”

“Then I was even less? I was nothing to you! Nothing at all.”  The overactive synapses of her mind didn’t allow Mila to see the truth. The truth of his love. She had it all wrong.

“You were my woman, you were my everything. Diane and I had been separated for almost three years before I met you. During those three years we didn’t see each other but maybe a few times in passing. At a gala in Texas or some sort of benefactor event. Diane came from money she’s always been a socialite.”

“I don’t give a fuck about your wife!”

“My
ex
-wife.”

“Oh God,” she sighed, head tilted back. “Why the fuck is he telling me this, why is this happening to me? This day is supposed to be —”

“I dated you. I’ve never had a mistress, never needed one. Yes, I’ve dated women during the three years of Diane and my separation. She was against a divorce, while I’d been trying my damndest to leave—”

“Why? Was Diane
that
money hungry that she couldn’t see it was better to leave your sorry ass?”

Fire lit Blake’s eyes, but he didn’t react to the low blow.

“You’re just a gutter snipe from St. Louis who changed his name to come up.”

“That might be true, but you’re wrong about Diane and me. She cheated. I was in love with her. The day I met Diane I was so fucking in love with her. She wanted a prenuptial agreement. She was rich, I was far from making my first million. Isaac, Zennie, Aunt Serenity, they never understood what I saw in her. And damnit, Diane was much more beautiful when we met, when she was real.”

Mila’s glance flitted toward the sky as if in disinterest. But he knew she ate every word.

“She got the prenup. We married.  Half the time, she stayed busy on spa dates or using her family name to attend benefactor events while I branched out in the social media world. We were young. I was book intelligent, fuck that, street smarts when it came to the hood. But in my own fucking home, Diane had her own bank account until my company was up and coming. Then I found out she was cheating. I was done. I didn’t give a fuck about money, she could leave with half, but she didn’t believe that. And moreover, through her eyes, I had matched a certain status, me being a billionaire, she wasn’t going to divorce me.”

“Hmmm, that sounds like the psychotic Diane I spoke with.”

“You don’t know the half. After our lawyers spent so much time in deliberation, with my lawyers providing iron-clad proof that she could have more than her share of my company, Diane still refused.  She retreated into this fantasy world, cutting here, nipping there, tinier nose, heck, she even once asked me which eye color I preferred over her gray ones.”

“All right Blake, your time is up.” Mila snapped. “I have to go.” A crew of people stepping into the restaurant held the door open for her.

Blake’s hands went into his pocket, as he waited. She really was going to walk away, giving him no benefit of the fucking doubt. Just as she began over the threshold, Blake said, “Diane had Warren murdered.”

Mila spun around, stalking back over to him as the door swooshed close. “Wow, really? Are we going to take it there?”

“The day before I met you, I went back home to Diane.” Blake walked toward the side of the building so they could speak in confidence. “The feds began questioning me about calls from Warren a few hours before he got onto one of my company jets. Someone was hacking into my computer system fudging numbers. That someone was Tom.”

“Todd, Clarissa’s ex Todd?” Mila asked.

“Diane was using Todd to fake accountant reports, while pretending to be just some hacker trying to fuck with my business. Todd didn’t know Diane was also fucking someone at TSA around the same time as Warren died.”

He watched as awareness crinkled Mila’s eyebrows. “Warren was apologizing while we began to plan for our wedding. He’d tell me on a few occasions that numbers weren’t adding up. That the numbers… kept changing…” Then Mila’s almond eyes narrowed. “So were you screwing me to see what I knew about his mu… murder?”

“Never. Though a bit rusty in my own skills, I knew the hacking was an inside job, but I trusted Warren with every aspect of my assets, Mila. So I started to see Diane once more, Lamb began to look into her frivolous activities. Then at the funeral, I fell in love at first sight.”

A glossiness mirrored in Mila’s eyes. He could feel her closing up. Blake took her into a tender embrace.

“I watched you at the church, tending to everyone else’s needs. Being the sort of woman Aunt Serenity always taught Zeenie to be and me and Isaac to search for. And you were fucking beautiful, even through tears, you were so damn gorgeous to me. I tried to wait for Agent Cynthia Taylor to put the pieces together, but I’m not that type of fucking guy. I couldn’t just let someone mess with the company I built brick by brick. My only regret was being so damn captivated by you, so hypnotized—shit, I almost took you down on so many occasions before you met me with your business prerequisites. You gotta believe, that I exerted as much control, but not enough to wait for Cynthia to complete her work.”

“So you had to have me,” Mila murmured, her heart beat to his chest. She felt like heaven in his arms.

“The moment I set eyes on you, I fell for you Mila. I realized I have never truly loved anyone the way I love you.”

Her body wracked with sobs in his arms. “C’mon Mila, don’t cry, please don’t fucking cry, I hate that I’ve caused you pain.”

“Blake, I love you.” He reached down, and his lips sought the missing piece of his sanity. She didn’t meet him halfway. “But it’s too late, Blake.”

He glared at the tears streaming down her face. Where they indeed false? Mila claimed to bare her soul to him. But all along, after Diane had fucked with his heart, he’d been truthful with Mila the entire time. Trusting her, loving her, catering to Mila’s need to get over a pivotal point in her life. Blake had no fears. He’d stepped out on faith while building his business. Being calculating had been a domino effect on his status. Being a billionaire? Well, that just solidified the fact that he didn’t operate on fears.

“I’m at a place in my life where family is the most important to me, Blake. I’ve made promises to my father. You have regrets, I do too.” Her tone was etched with sorrow. “But I just promised my father that I’d—”

“Mila,” an elderly man’s baritone voice cut through the bittersweet moment.

Chapter 41

Mila

Two Months Later

HE NEVER ARRIVED
. The man Mila’s father had hand-selected to marry Mila had never arrived. 

During the course of two months that single moment in life took siege of Mila. Every moment she spent awake, every time she lay her head down to sleep, every instance that her mind wasn’t busy, she thought about how Blake ruined her chance at complacency.

Warren Jameson once held the role. He was more than capable of latching onto a certain area of her heart—the space far-and-away, nowhere near the psychosis, the lunacy of falling… falling in love.

Then Mila mended her relationship with her father. He would save her from herself, from
Blake.
The man chosen by her father left the moment he saw Mila with Blake. Had her father’s choice been inside the restaurant all along? Or was he one of the patrons who’d passed by while Mila stood outside arguing with Blake?

For 67 days, Mila alternated from depression and self-made contentment. But that was only during the dark of night or when she was alone. Just like the young woman who’d climbed mountains at Hewitt Corp, Mila kept busy. People’s Love Project was being furnished with donations from Target and Ikea. Mila worked 40 hours a week at the bank, and another 20 hours spent with a Bluetooth glued to her ear.

Today she wasn’t can’t-eat-or-sleep in love with Blake.

As Mila stepped toward the back offices of Addis International Bank, her cell phone vibrated. She answered.

“You’re gonna hate me but,” Yasmin began, the worst phrase anyone can say when a person is managing a broken heart. Their relationship had gone full circle, as Lido predicted. Not that the youngest and oldest had anticipated as much. Lido was always busy with modeling, and now her claws had sunk into the sexiest Spaniard under the spotlight, a world-renowned chef. Yasmin and Mila predicted she’d tear the guy’s heart out.

“What happened?” Mila paused, stopping right at the inner-office door.

“Blame it all on your nephew, he got into a skateboarding accident,” Yasmin sighed. “Do you know how much I wanted to meet you in Milan? Besides I’d begged and begged Faaid for this girls’ vacation.”

“Yeah, I know, Yas.” Mila lifted the receiver slightly releasing a heavy exhale. She whispered while walking through the back offices.  “Lido also needed to see us as a supportive figure in her life. That girl has major undiagnosed problems.”

“I’m heading out to mail your birthday gift, Mila. I had to cancel the plane ticket. Faaid can’t care for our son like I do, my baby’s leg is broken.”

“All right, I’m probably going to cancel mine also. Can’t I just fall asleep, then wake up next week?” Mila pressed against the bar of the backdoor. She wasn’t in a hurry to turn 32, and she wasn’t interested in seeing another birthday pass. Warm sunlight enveloped her as Mila stepped outside.

“Girl, what do you mean wake up next week? Your birthday is in a few days. Look.” Yasmin took on an authoritarian tone. “You’re my
walaashay yar
, Mila. Stop this madness. This isn’t circa 2006, Mila. I refuse to go back to the role of me talking till I’m blue in the darn face, about you working so hard at
that
stressful job. All for a friggen partnership, forget this quest for a heart attack.
Let me tell you something
–”

“Damn, I thought you were already telling me how you really feel, right out the gate.”

“Humph, I haven’t even started. You are going to be happy if I have to get on a plane for a turnaround trip, just getting off long enough to smack you upside the head.”

“Upside?” Mila scoffed, taking a seat on the bench. Again a smile graced her flawless face. Twice in one day! Then her good luck continued, as Mila gazed at a mother and daughter. The child had to be about seven. The silkiest, sun-kissed sandy brown curls, with a bright smile. Mila imagined the two heading toward the
merkato,
the daughter beseeching her mother for something sweet.

“Yes! Two months ago, you ruined it with the man who should be holding you down at this very moment. I have the feeling you haven’t smiled since I’ve last laid eyes on you, Mila. That hurts me to my heart.”

Her eyes widened as Yasmin took flight, saying she knew her baby sister wasn’t happy. It took a minute but, Mila cut in. “Wait, what are you talking about. Yasmin, now you’re talking out the side of your mouth! Don’t you remember my arranged marriage? Hello! The guy probably walked toward the restaurant while I was outside gallivanting—”

“With Blake! The man father wanted you to be with.”

A psychotic chuckle erupted from the pit of Mila’s stomach. An elderly woman walking by turned toward the odd noise, her face wrinkled. There it was, the non-mastery of her emotions. Whatever Mila once felt for Keith had been kiddy
lust
. Pure stupidity on her end. True love, the crap she was currently submerged in, sucked! She needed to stay away from Blake. His eyes still lingered in her mind, along with the moment she chose to put her family first, and walked back into the restaurant.

Mila whispered, “Are you crazy?”

“Not at all. I realize that when you were with Blake, a lot of people had a hand in your relationship. Faces you’ve never seen were posting screenshots of the two of you on social media, magazines, Entertainment TV.”

A thick note strangled in Mila’s throat.

“Blake called me a long time ago, even before Lido did that stunt in the house. Let’s see, it was before that one time us girls went to the movies. Didn’t you think it weird me being so friendly toward him, during our conversation? I would have at least asked a rigorous battery of questions first. Blake was very intuitive during his chat with Faaid and I.”

“Faaid?”

“Yes, Mila. As is our custom, he chatted with us both. He told me that we need to be more concerned about Lido. He knew the little shit was abusing alcohol, when all you or I do is try to cover for her. At first, you know me, can’t nobody tell me about my sisters. They sure as hell can’t tell me about blood. But I had this feeling he was more family oriented than I could give him credit for. Anywho, we chatted a bit.”

“A bit?” Mila wanted to know the specifics verbatim, but the imaginary vise-grip to her neck didn’t allow it. “Family Oriented.” After meeting Isaac and Zenobia, Mila knew that regardless of the timeframe the three were as thick as thieves. She felt the same warmth seeping into her abdomen as she had when Blake spoke of his Aunt Serenity.

“Yes. He wanted to know why you didn’t see father, and why Wednesdays weren’t a good day to call. We chatted once again when you two were supposed to go to Italy, some other fancy countries by yacht, then you were going to end up in Ethiopia. Father was waiting for the both of you. He told me that he and father had a chat. The sort of chat that he knew our dad would keep quiet about until the right time…”

Mila thought that maybe Blake told her father about the hell Diane put Blake through.

“… Blake’s really considerate you know,” Yasmin said. “Now, we both know from the get-go that Blake didn’t mess with Lido. No disrespect to our mother, that girl was born suspect. She’s foul, but for whoever stoops down to Lido’s level, then we’re wrong. That’s just how the cookie crumbles. Now, like I just said, Mila, at the restaurant you were supposed to invite Blake in.”

Those words all but blew her away. “No, that can’t be true. I chose family.”

“Under any other circumstances…” Yasmin’s voice seemed to fade as Mila stood, readjusting the cross-strap of her purse, walking with purpose.

“What about father?” Rushing, Mila teeter-tottered around a family, mumbling a quick Ethiopian apology.

“A genius in his own right, our father probably has saved more lives than he’s had conversations with anybody on this earth. That’s why you were his favorite, Mila, he could be bandaging little Hakeem’s arm for the umpteenth time while you talked to other ailing patients. Our father, though so very intelligent, he lacks in his ability to address emotion. He said nothing when the two of you came back into the restaurant, but he expected you to choose. He is a very just man, Mila. I didn’t have to marry Faaid. This doesn’t mean I would have went against our father’s wishes, no it would have just meant that Faaid wasn’t the one for me. We knew each other as children, as you and Lido also knew the men you were supposed to marry in the past. Above all, dad wanted you to be happy.”

“Yas, I gotta go.”.

~~~

The last twenty-four hours were a blur. After calling Blake incessantly while grabbing just enough things for a flight, Mila bit the bullet. Lamb had answered. She’d been surprised at his offer to send one of Blake’s fleet of jets for her. He stated that Blake was with “the crew” in Nepal. She’d kindly declined, purchased the next, overpriced commercial flight to the Himalayan Mountains.

On the long flight, Mila ruminated over the past.
Blake never even complained…
After all was said and done, Mila had been the lukewarm one in their relationship. Not fully trusting, not fully loving a man whose forest green’s only gazed over her with positivity. She judged Blake’s ass every chance she got.

Once Mila arrived, she became a sales person’s dream, buying adequate clothing and climbing gear. The bus trip to one of the Annapurna villages took her past green pastures, Buddhist villages, and even more serene sights that didn’t break through her haste.

On the ride up, Mila had questioned anyone within earshot who spoke English, Somali, or Ethiopian for a voyager. One English climbing group said that they wouldn’t be climbing yet, but gave her the name of one of the well-known trekkers. The gorgeous mountain view before her was nonexistent, so as suggested by the group, she passed the ascetic yogi. Her lips chattered, and every other second she sniffled. A cold chill couldn’t permeate through her being; she was only focused on
him
. After about thirty minutes of traveling about the various shops, Mila found the voyager. Mila quickly made her request.

“C’mon lady, you wanna climb the Annapurna Circuit?” All she could see of the voyager were his eyes.  Ice and a clean sheet of snow dusted his jacket.

“Yes, and you can take me.” The group who recommended him knew of her plight, and had said he was the best.

“No, ma’am,” he said as she began to pull money out of her purse.

She started to shovel out cash, even though it wasn’t a respectable gesture. For the first time in Mila’s life, she wasn’t overthinking ways to get
out
of love with Blake. The only notion roaming through her was that Blake and his crew were a day and a half ahead of her.

“Excuse me, miss…” A man held up a few pieces of crumpled cash that had flown away.

She looked toward him, unsure that it was hers. Then she took the money from him and placed it back into one of the many compartments of her snow jacket. After a quick thanks, Mila tried to follow the voyager into the bar.

“You wanna climb Annapurna?” The man who’d helped return her money asked.

Mila glanced into the establishment. Heat along with savory food warmed her face and made her stomach grumble. The voyager wouldn’t budge.  She turned back to the man who’d helped her. Thick neck, super-athletic build, he had to be about five-six, because she was an inch taller in her new shoes, and eye level with him.

“Yeah.”

“If I may, what’s the highest mountain you’ve climbed?”

Her chin jutted out. He was sizing her up, but this might lead to a conversation about the nameless man helping her. “La Soufriére.”

“Oh. Very, very big difference, I’m not even mentioning the elevation. So how many days have you been here?”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

He chuckled. “There’s nothing I’d like better than to help. But you should know that it takes a few days to become acclimated to Annapurna’s change in elevation. Therefore, you probably wanna stay down here for another two days, probably more. If you wait longer, maybe whoever you’re looking for comes back down. Saves you…” his eyes twinkled, and it was so very easy to read between the lines, “the trouble.”

“Trust me, I can climb anything right now. I can’t wait! I have to get up there and talk to him. I have to tell him that it’s been me all along who wasn’t confident enough in
us.
I have to tell him that I love him, that… that he means so much to me. That, I don’t doubt us anymore, and nobody can come between what we have.”

There. She’d gotten it all out. But the burly man before her obviously didn’t understand. “You should also know that there are six peaks.”

“Six?” From this angle, a plethora of clouds masked her view. There was no top, the end was unfathomable at this instance. However, an imaginary concoction had spurred Mila on. Panting at the thought of scouring each peak, Mila tried to recall that one morning long ago when Blake told her about the scar to his abdomen. Had he said which summit? She repeated the number.

“Yes, Miss…”

“Miss Ali, Mila Ali.” She extended her gloved hand.

“Don’t even try it,” A hard, yet very familiar voice said from behind her.