The French Billionaire(52)

Xander was absolutely furious. Why would these women do this to him!? Sure, he’d cheated a few times, and he knew it was wrong, but he didn’t think he deserved this sort of elaborate punishment. Shaking, he put Mia’s phone back in her bag, and tapped her on the shoulder to wake her up. It was time to go home.



Xander was extremely quiet on the ride home, to the point where Mia was starting to get worried. She thought they’d had a wonderful little afternoon getaway. After all, what was more romantic than sex on the beach?

“Xander, what’s wrong?” she asked. “You’re awfully quiet.”

Xander’s face was stone cold. “Oh, I don’t know, Mia,” he said acidly. “Maybe, it has something to with the fact that you’ve been plotting revenge against me with my ex-girlfriend the entire time I’ve known you?”



Mia’s heart practically stopped beating. He knew.

“H-how... when?” she stuttered.

“I saw a text from Lillian on your phone. I was obviously confused by that, so I did a little digging. Did you really think you were just going to be able to hide this from me forever? Even if you didn’t go through with Lillian’s plan, I still was going to find out about it eventually. Was this whole thing a lie, Mia?”

“No!” she yelled, in tears. “It may have started off as something I was just doing for Lillian, but it’s certainly much more than that now. I was going to tell Lillian the plan was off and give her money back. I just haven’t had the time yet, what with everything that’s been going on at work.”

“I don’t really want to hear your excuses right now,” Xander said. “You know what, actually, I’m just going to have the driver drop you off here. You can find your own way home.”

***





Chapter 9




Mia was still standing at a bus stop in outer Brooklyn, crying, when Jayden pulled up in his car.

“Sarah? What are you doing here?” he said, bewildered.

Mia was crying so hard, she couldn’t get the words out. “It’s.. it’s a long story.”

“Well, why don’t you get in the car, and I’ll take you home, okay? What are you even doing out here, anyway?”

“I just had something I had to do… I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“You know what?” Jayden asked. “Why don’t I take you to see the fireworks on Coney Island tonight.”

“Okay,” Mia said, too exhausted to protest.



Later that evening, Mia and Jayden were sitting on the beach, watching the fireworks and eating cotton candy. Jayden had his arm around her, and even though Mia felt extremely guilty for everything that had happened, she was actually having a pleasant time. But then, Jayden leaned in to kiss her, and she decided she couldn’t lie to him anymore either.

“Jayden, I can’t do this. I have something to tell you. Please don’t hate me. I never meant to do you any harm.”

She told him the entire story, from Lillian hiring her to investigate Xander, to Robert Jackson blackmailing her, and everything that had happened in between. Although Jayden seemed a little put off at first, he was eventually sympathetic to her story.

“I’m not coming back to work,” Mia said. “I just got in way over my head. I never meant to hurt anyone, I swear. I was never going to go through with the revenge plan. And I do like you a lot, Jayden. You’re a really great guy. I’m just sorry we met under these circumstances.”

“I understand, Mia. I’m really sorry you got caught in the middle of all of our drama. I’m disappointed, but I wish you luck with everything. “

“I hope all this stuff with Robert Jackson works out. He’s one scary guy.”

“He sure is. Why don’t I drive you home now?”



Mia cried in the car the entire way home. She was so upset about the way everything had happened. She truly loved Xander, and she had hurt him terribly. Even though he wasn’t always the best guy, she knew she wanted to be with him, and now that would never happen.

She sat down to send an email to Lillian. She informed her that she would be quitting the job and refunding her money, and that Xander had found out the truth about everything. She left out the part about her and Xander actually falling in love. She wanted to keep that between them.

She pressed send and then went to bed for the night. She cried herself to sleep, and slept fretfully until she was awakened around one in the morning by a loud, forceful knock at the door. She went to go answer it, and found an unidentified man standing there. Before she could ask him who he was, he grabbed her, covered her mouth, and put a black bag over her head. She felt like she was drowning. She couldn’t breathe at all. She tried to scream but didn’t have any air in her lungs. So, eventually she passed out into her kidnapper’s arms.