Pretend Married (A Billionaire Love Story) (14 page)

J
ulia twirled
her way into the kitchen in a flirty effort to show off her new gown to me. Unfortunately, my head was in the refrigerator looking for a snack so I missed most of her little dance.

“Ta-da!Well what do you think of my dress honey? Do you like it?”

I folded a slice of Armani Italian salami into my mouth and washed it down with a swig of milk before closing the fridge door.

“I love it! You look stunning Julia! Hot as ever! I feel sorry for all those other poor bastards who have to attend social functions with us. It’s really not fair to them that I’m always the man with the most beautiful woman in the room.”

“Oh Edward you’re terrible! I love your compliments honey but some of those women are beautiful…”

“Maybe so. But I just calls ‘em as I sees ‘em!”

“Well I guess I can relate. I too have the terrible burden of being the most envied woman everywhere we go!” Julia laughed and continued, “You are ALWAYS the most handsome and dashing man at every social event. Hands down!”

Julia kissed me hard and long and ran her persuasive fingers deeply into my ass cheeks like she wanted to strip me of my trousers right there on the spot. Normally I would’ve been game for that but we were already running a little late and I felt it would be in bad form to push it any further. The celebratory event at the Armani Building was for our stockholders, so there was no doubt in my mind I’d be missed if I were tardy – since I was the CEO and all…

We passed Nigel, with fork in hand, in the hallway as we were headed out to the car. I thought I’d extend one more invitation to him before we left:

“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the party Nigel? You’re certainly part of the Armani family.”

“No. No you kids run along. I have BIG plans for the evening.”

“Big plans? What kind of big plans?”

“I’m going to eat the BIG slice of chocolate cake that’s waiting for me in my room. Silly me, I forgot my fork and now I’m missing
Wheel of Fortune
. Thanks anyway though.”

Nigel waved his utensil at us as he scurried by.

“Slice of chocolate cake? Was there chocolate cake in the fridge Julia? How did I miss that?”

The company limo whisked us downtown to the event and we took the elevator up to the fifth floor ballroom. Everyone was in high spirits since the quarterly income reports were coming out and we had just had three months of record profits. Everybody was congratulating me on a job well done as their new chief executive officer and it felt great. I had a feeling my grandfather would have been quite proud of me.

And I think he would’ve been proud of Julia too.

She made the perfect “First Lady”. She was so sophisticated and charming, and so witty and gracious. And of course gorgeous as all fuckin’ get out! I couldn’t ask for more in a mate. I smiled to myself when I thought about that sneaky grandfather of mine bringing Julia and I together. This whole crazy situation had turned out to be a fairytale romance and the wedding was in only two weeks. We weren’t having anything lavish; Just a small ceremony at our estate. We both agreed we couldn’t have a more beautiful setting than our own yard.

The only disappointment was that Julia wasn’t pregnant yet. We had been bound and determined to create our child while we were in Europe but we had obviously failed in our efforts. We sure had fun trying though! Julia and I even postponed the wedding a couple of times while we waited for our monthly “answer” but eventually we got tired of putting it off so we decided to just keep our fingers crossed and go ahead with it now. We were cutting it very close to the Halloween deadline Nonno had given us.

I was enjoying watching so many of the guests in the ballroom shower Julia with well-deserved attention. She was really eating it up too. It was the perfect opportunity for me to slip over to the buffet table for a bite to eat. My salami and milk snack had not been nearly enough to keep my stomach from growling. If only I’d seen that damn cake before Nigel got to it!

People seemed to be having an exceptionally good time. I hired Michael’s band for entertainment and they were fantastic! And of course the food was superb since Armani’s Ristorante Italiano catered the affair. Quite a few guests were out on the dance floor so I thought I’d go round up Julia and join them. Unfortunately, I got cornered by a guy who wanted to talk business. I couldn’t just blow him off either because he was considering investing a sizable chunk of change in Armani Industries. I directed him to an information table at the back of the room where there was supposed to be stacks of recently updated prospectus brochures but to my surprise they were all missing.

“That’s strange. We seem to be all out already. I apologize for the inconvenience sir. If you’d like to add your information to our email list we can shoot one over to you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“That is a shame Mr. Armani. I was planning on making my final business decision by tonight. I have two other companies besides yours that are in contention for my investment funds. You mean to tell me you don’t have
any
current information on Armani Industries
anywhere
in this entire Armani building?”

“I’m sure there are some in the offices upstairs. I was just trying to avoid being a rude host and leaving my guests. But I suppose under the circumstances uh…….I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Mr. Wakefield. Maximillian Wakefield.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Wakefield. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to run up there real fast and get one for you. I really should bring a whole boxful back down since the table is empty.”

“I would greatly appreciate that Mr. Armani. And I will certainly take your kind gesture into account when I’m making my decision tonight.”

“Well I would greatly appreciate that Mr. Wakefield. Please wait here and enjoy the party. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that.”

As I took the elevator up to my office I couldn’t help but dwell on Mr. Wakefield’s appearance. What was with that cheap toupé and loud plaid suit? And those ridiculous red cowboy boots?! He didn’t exactly look like a guy with money but sometimes wealthy people simply had bad taste.

At my office door I stuck my key in the lock but I didn’t need to turn it for the door to open. Did the cleaning crew forget to lock my door? That had never happened before. I switched on the light and could not believe what I saw. There were three absolutely naked women in my office! I rubbed my eyes in disbelief…….

I
was having
the time of my life! The stockholder party was a magnificent success! The food! The music! Everything was perfect! And I felt like the belle of the ball – because I truly was! Everyone was congratulating me on my up and coming nuptials to Edward and giving me marriage advice. Plus having Michael in attendance was like icing on the cake. It was great watching him up on stage drumming his little heart out and smiling down at me. Best of all……I had a wonderful secret: I was pregnant at last. And I was looking for just the right moment to tell Edward. He was going to be thrilled! He would have a wife and a baby on the way in time to get his rightful inheritance.

When his band took a break, Michael and I finally had a chance to talk. It was not my intent to tell him my exciting bit of news before Edward but I just couldn’t seem to contain myself.

“So Julia I never did ask you how your sailing trip was. Did you have a good time?”

That question in and of itself was enough for me to loudly blurt out:

“Edward and I made a baby on the boat!”

“Julia, seriously! I don’t even want that picture in my head! But… Shit Julia! You’re pregnant?”

A couple of older ladies nearby instantly turned in our direction and smiled in such a way that told me they had definitely heard us.

“Yeah Michael and I’m so excited!”

“What did Edward say? I’ll bet he’s on a cloud right now!”

“I haven’t had a chance to be alone with him and tell him. I was waiting for just the right magical moment.”

“Julia I promise you, whenever you tell him, THAT will be the magical moment.”

“You’re right Michael. I shouldn’t be keeping this news to myself. I need to share it with him right away so he can be as happy as I am!”

“I think you better because those two ladies sure as hell aren’t gonna keep a secret like that under their hats for very long.”

As I turned to leave so I could look for Edward, Michael grabbed my arm and pulled me back over to him.

“Wait a minute! Come back here Sis.”

Then he gave me a giant hug and kissed me on the cheek.

“Congratulations Julia. I couldn’t be happier for you. You’re gonna make a fantastic mother.”

“Thanks Michael! That means a lot to me. I better go find my baby’s papa now!”

“Yep. My break’s over now. Good luck!”

I searched all around the ballroom for Edward to no avail. I wondered where he could be. I thought for sure he’d be stuffing his handsome face with more of his favorite Armani pasta dishes but he wasn’t over by the food table either. Nor the bar. I started asking some of the guests if they’d seen him and one of them told me they saw him out in the hallway near the elevators a short time ago. I figured that meant he probably went up to his office for some sort of business. If I had had my phone on me I would’ve given him a jingle to see if he was up there, but I had no reason to bring it to the party and there were certainly no pockets in my dress to keep it in. Then it occurred to me: If he’s up there that would be the perfect place to tell him about the baby. There would be nobody else around to intrude on our intimate celebration for two. I chuckled to myself. Actually make that three….

I
t was an incredible sight
: There was a redhead relaxing in my chair with her long legs and black stilettos up on my desk, and a petite blonde with a shaved beaver perched on the corner of my desk, and a brunette with an ass you could bounce a quarter off of bent seductively over the side of my desk. I rubbed my eyes again, not entirely sure I was awake…..

“What the fuck is this? How did you girls get in here?”

The redhead responded by spreading her legs open wide, hooking her high-heels on the edge of the desk and fingering her pussy with a come hither look. She practically purred when she spoke:

“Now what kind of greeting is that Eddie? Why don’t you come over here so we can welcome you properly?”

Next thing I knew, the blonde lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply before fondling her tits with her purple polished fingers. Then she smiled seductively and exhaled her smoke up to the ceiling while she taunted me with her nipples:

“Would you like to suck on my nipples Eddie?”

I was completely unnerved by this point and struggled to form a coherent sentence.

“Sorry Miss…… but uh………there’s no smoking allowed anywhere in this building.”

Before I could convince the blonde to snub it out, the brunette distracted me big time. She started sensually moving her ass around and sliding it along the top of my desk like an exotic dancer. Then she bent straight over and raised her ass high in the air, making sure I could see her pink slit.

Fuck! What were these three writhing sirens up to? It was all extremely suspicious…….and extremely hot…..and I knew I had to get them the fuck out of my office as soon as possible!

“Look, I’m gonna call security right now if you don’t tell me who let you in here and why!”

The blonde took another long drag before speaking:

“You’re little girlfriend down there hired us for the evening; a little thank you present to her man…….. for everything you’ve done for her…..”

“That’s fucking bullshit and you know it! Julia would never do such a thing!”

The next thing I knew, all three women were slithering over to me but I backed away toward the door.

“She said you’d play hard to get Eddie…..do you need us to give you a spanking you naughty boy? Do you like it rough baby?”

“If you think I’m letting any of you three bitches anywhere near me you’re all fuckin’ crazy!”

I knew I needed to get out of there immediately before anyone in the building accidently happened upon us. The chance of that was probably remote but I was still terrified. The whole thing not only smelled fishy, it reeked of a set-up. And sure enough just as I turned to grab the door knob I noticed someone out in the hallway taking pictures through the office window.

Fuck! I knew it! I was gonna kill that fuckin’ guy right after I made him eat his fucking camera! But lo and behold I couldn’t open the door! I was stunned. How the fuck did the door get locked?

I decided I was gonna have to get tough with my captors but the trio was on me as soon as I turned around.

“Look girls…… I need you to unlock the fuckin’ door now! This isn’t fuckin’ funny! Tell me who REALLY sent you here?”

All three of them were laughing and giggling at my expense. The redhead defiantly and forcibly kissed me on the mouth leaving her bright red lipstick smeared on my face. Then she ripped open my shirt while the brunette unlocked the door.

I wiped the bitch’s foul perfume and make-up off of my face the best I could with my shirtsleeve and spat on the office floor in disgust.

I threw open the office door, escaping their grasp at last.

And there she was… The love of my life was standing in the hallway. The look of horror and disappointment on her face said it all. My worst nightmare was about to come true.

I
t was like a bad dream
; too surreal to be true. I couldn’t believe my own senses. But there it was: I could
see
the three naked women in the office behind Edward. I could even
smell
them; a putrid combination of sex and cigarette smoke. And I could
see
the smeared lipstick and the torn shirt on the man who supposedly loved me. And worst of all, I could
feel
the pain of my heart being ripped to shreds and I could
hear
the undeniable sound of my entire world crumbling and crashing in on me. It was all real and it was all true.

My words stuck in my throat as I tried to speak until I was finally able to cry out, “Edward how could you?!” through my tears.

“Julia! It’s not what you think! Julia please let me explain!”

I turned and saw the elevator door was still open so I ran into it as fast as I could and buried my face in my hands. I heard Edward call out, “Julia!” one more time before the door closed behind me. I sobbed and wailed all the way down to the ground floor. I went outside to look for the limo but it wasn’t there. I couldn’t even call it or any other ride for that matter. I had no phone, I had no purse, and I had no money. I was at a total loss for what to do. That fucking Edward!! The mere thought of him now made me want to vomit! My only dreaded choice was to head back up to the ballroom and get Michael, so that’s what I did.

There was really no way for me to be inconspicuous. People were going to see me and people were going to talk. It was inevitable. But I hatched an idea in an effort to keep it on the QT. I snuck into the ballroom and quietly tapped one of the guests on the shoulder. I whispered to her to please notify the drummer in the band that there was an emergency out in the hall. Two minutes later Michael came running out into the hallway as breathless as he could be.

“Julia! Are you alright?! What’s happened? What’s going on?!”

I began sobbing so hard that I started gasping for air and hyperventilating.

Michael was clearly worried out of his mind and demanding answers.

“Julia please! I can’t help you if you don’t get a hold of yourself!”

“Oh Michael! I just caught Edward upstairs in the office fucking three women! It was horrible!”

“Three women! That IS horrible! Can’t he leave some bitches for the rest of us poor schmucks?! Fuck!”

“MICHAEL!! What’s the matter with you?! Stop it! How can you joke about this?! Oh my God I swear all men are disgusting pigs!! Can you just give me some cab fare so I can get the hell out of here before that fucking asshole comes down?!”

“I’m sorry Julia. I guess I was right all along about that bastard. Look… here’s my apartment key and money for a ride. I’ve got to let the other guys know what’s going on and wrap things up here with them, then I’ll head home. Will you be okay?”

I nodded and thanked Michael through my sniffles and tears.

“Yes. Thanks Michael. That sounds good. Don’t go doing anything stupid… Edward isn’t worth it. I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. Then I took a cab back to my
old home
where I
really
belonged.

After about an hour, Michael finally walked through the front door…. with a big swollen black eye!

“Michael! What in the world? How did you get that shiner? Wait don’t tell me! You threatened Edward and that son of a bitch beat you up? Oh my poor baby brother! I’m so sorry I dragged you into this mess!”

“Well it is
because
of him but that’s not exactly what happened. Could you get me a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer? This thing is really starting to throb.”

“Of course. Lie down here on the couch and I’ll get it for you. Oh my gosh you poor thing!”

I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a frozen bag of mixed carrots and peas.

“Here ya go. Just keep it there now. How about some aspirin? Do you want something for the pain?”

“A lady at the party gave me some Tylenol from her purse as I was leaving. Fuck it still hurts though!”

“Here put your head on this pillow. What happened Michael? I told you not to do anything stupid! I guess now I know why it took you so long.”

I was suddenly startled by the tea kettle whistling loudly on the stove.

“Hold on a minute. I’m sorry. I forgot all about that damn thing. I was making some tea right when you got home.”

I ran back into the kitchen once more to finish preparing my cup of peppermint tea. I really wanted a stiff drink but under the circumstances I was forced to settle for something healthy instead. I couldn’t bear to think of that sicko’s baby now. Every time I did so I cringed at my own stupidity. I brought my steaming cup of comfort back into the living room and sat on the edge of the couch next to Michael.

“Okay. I’m sorry about that. Tell me the whole story. Start with what happened after I left.”

“Well after you left I went back to the stage and told the guys I had to leave because of a family emergency. They weren’t too happy about it because that was a pretty important gig. Anyway, as I was leaving the party I heard Brian, you know our singer Brian, tell the guests that the music was over for the evening because the drummer had just taken ill.”

“That sounds like a pretty plausible lie.”

“Well there’s more…..someone in the crowd yelled out ‘Is he ok?’ and without thinking Brian blurted out ‘Just a touch of food poisoning’ off the top of his head.”

“Oh no! Food Poisoning?! Oh my God! Don’t tell me everybody thought the Armani food made was responsible?!”

“You got it! All those rich folks immediately started looking all queasy and green like they were seasick! They started holding their stomachs and rushing toward the door just as Edward was coming in.”

“I figured he’d return to the party. He didn’t even care about what happened to me…..”

“That’s exactly what I thought too, so as soon as I saw his despicable face I got so fuckin’ mad I hauled off and I socked him right in the jaw.”

“Oh my God Michael! Did you knock him out?”

“No. Not at all. I didn’t even make a dent in his rich pretty face. It barely phased him actually.”

“But the big brute attacked you anyway didn’t he?”

“No. He wouldn’t hit me. He just said, “Michael please listen. You gotta…..”

“You gotta…..what? What did he say?”

“I don’t know! Some other big guy punched my lights out! I guess he had some kind of bodyguard at the party. I was out for several minutes. When I woke up I heard someone asking Edward if he wanted to press charges against me but he said no. He told them to get me some medical attention instead, but I declined that shit and came straight home.”

“That is crazy! I just can’t believe the whole horrible evening. And to think….it started out so wonderful…”

The memory of the sheer joy I had experienced at the start of the evening started my tears flowing again. Michael sat up and hugged me tightly against his body as if doing so would help him absorb some of my pain.

“Do you feel like talking about it now Julia? Or would you rather just get some sleep and talk about it in the morning?”

“I’m really super tired. I think I’d like to just go to bed now. But I will say this: It’s all
over
between Edward and me. I really thought he had changed. But boy was I wrong. Completely wrong! I was such a fool Michael. Is it okay if I move back in with you?”

“Of course. How can you even ask that? You’re always welcome to live here. But Julia you gotta stop beating yourself up. If it makes you feel any better, he had me fooled too. I had really honestly started liking the guy too. But….I guess you just never know about a person.”

“That’s for sure. Good-night Michael. I love you.”

“Sleep well Julia. I love you too.”

T
he next morning
, I awoke to find a gazillion texts and voice mails on my phone. People were wondering if I’d read the paper or seen the news. I was afraid to find out what they were talking about. I went out to the kitchen to make breakfast and found Michael at the table reading a newspaper.

“Where did you get that? Since when do we get the paper?”

“Since this morning. I nabbed Mrs. Conroy’s. She doesn’t get up until at least noon so she won’t miss it. I had so many friends texting me and asking me about your story that I had to check it out as soon as possible.”

“Well did you find it? What does it say?”

“Didn’t have to look hard. It’s the front page story… And if I were you Julia I would save myself the stress and not even read it.”

“Of course I have to read it! Lemme see it! What’s it say?”

“Well first of all it’s highly exaggerated…..they’re calling a little fight a brawl!”

“The fight is in the newspaper?! Oh my God!”

I quickly snatched the paper from Michael’s hands and ran into the living room with it. It was worse than I thought. WAY worse. The headline read:

Billionaire Ball Becomes Billionaire Brawl

My knees instantly became shaky and weak and I had to sit down. The article got worse with every sentence:

Billionaire Edward Armani III caught in illicit office sex romp………..cheats on pregnant bride……..assaults local musician…….poisoned food…….Armani Industries stock likely to drop……..

Pregnant bride?! Holy shit! Edward would be learning about our baby from the gossip columns! I felt like I was going to faint at the thought. Serves him right though! That cheating piece of shit!

And if that weren’t enough, underneath the article was the topper: A photo of Edward with the three naked bitches I had seen him with last night in his office. Of course in the picture their “private parts” were blacked out. Private parts my ass! The only thing those three ever kept private was their brains!

Michael tried to comfort me the best he could as I stared at the page with tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Julia most people probably don’t even read the rest. It’s just a bunch of society junk that nobody pays any attention to.”

“I’m a laughing stock Michael. This entire city is laughing at me right now. And if they’re not laughing at me, they’re feeling sorry for me. I’m just a sorry-ass little foolish pawn in the big rich man’s cruel game.”

“I’m sure you’re wrong about that Julia….”

“And you know what also kills me Michael? I’m a fucking first-rate publicist and what good does it do me? I can’t even keep my own name from being dragged through the mud! How ironic is that?”

“Well if it’s any consolation that fornicating freak comes off looking a hell of a lot fucking worse than you do!”

The entire time my brother and I were talking and looking at the newspaper I could hear my phone going off in the bedroom; Constant chirping, buzzing and ringing without let up. It was insane! My nerves were completely frazzled. I had had enough humiliation! I furiously marched into the room, picked the phone up off of the nightstand and hurled it into the wall. Pieces went flying all over the place. But I didn’t care. It felt great! Take that Edward Armani! I hate your fucking guts!! You’ll have to get some other fool woman to marry you! Good luck finding one in only a couple of weeks! You can kiss your inheritance good-bye asshole!

Then I threw myself onto the bed and cried my eyes out some more. I felt so sorry for my poor child. My little
Alenna
deserved a better father than that creep. What had I ever seen in him?