Pretend Married (A Billionaire Love Story) (15 page)

W
hat the fuck happened
? That’s what I wanted to know. How could I go from being the absolute happiest man in the entire world to the saddest, most down and out pathetic wretch on the planet? OVERNIGHT??!!

It was only 11 in the morning but I was already nursing a Scotch out on the terrace. My brain was overwhelmed with a million questions, playing various scenarios over and over again and searching for the answers. But clear concentration was beyond my grasp while my heart ached with immense grief over the loss of Julia and, according to all news sources, our baby. Our
baby
for Christ’s sake! That’s what she was probably coming up to tell me about last night……and instead she got………Fuck! She must have been completely destroyed! I didn’t deserve to live!

Nigel came out and offered his unconditional help as usual. I had already talked his empathetic ear off for a good part of last night. Besides his many other talents he was an excellent listener. He usually laughed it off as being “part of his job” but I knew better. His brand of compassion and wisdom was second to none.

“Edward I’m certain this will all be ironed out sooner or later. The truth will come to light eventually. Julia is an intelligent woman and she loves you.”

“Correction Nigel.
Loved.
She
loved
me – past tense. But not anymore. She must totally hate me now. And I don’t blame her. Getting involved with me was the worst thing she could have done. I can’t stand the fact that she is out there somewhere thinking that I would betray her like that. My heart breaks for her when I imagine her pain.”

“Edward really? Worse thing she could have done? Being with you? You’re obviously not thinking clearly. You were the best thing that could have happened to each other. No question. And I’m confident that your world will right itself.”

“How can you be so fucking certain about everything all the time Nigel? I wish I could be. She’ll never believe my side of this!”

“My optimism has always served me well. I believe in justice. I believe love conquers all. And I believe in the truth. Those three things have always prevailed and they will this time too. You’ll see. I promise.”

“What should I do in the meantime? Julia won’t answer the phone and neither will Michael. And I’m sure neither one will answer the door if I go over to their apartment. Meanwhile our days are numbered for that wedding deadline. Time is quickly running out on my inheritance Nigel.”

“I think you need to first focus your mind and figure out who set you up with those three women. Once you solve that, you will have concrete evidence to take to Julia. Think back to last night Edward and try to retrace your footsteps back through the entire evening. Were there any guests in attendance who had a motive to do such a thing?”

“The only person I can think of was Michael. Maybe he was just pretending to like me? I prefer to believe that isn’t true.”

“Well what made you leave the party in the first place? What was so important up in your office?”

“I was going up there to get more prospectus brochures for our stockholders and potential investors. The information table was already empty. You know what? That was kind of suspicious……”

“What’s that?”

“Well this supposedly wealthy odd-looking guy at the party was hell-bent on getting his hands on one of those pamphlets immediately but they were all gone from the table.”

“Do you remember approximately how many had been put out earlier?”

“Probably around 150.”

“And how many guests were at the party?”

“Maybe 200.”

“Does that sound logical that seventy-five percent of the guests took a brochure that was full of information that most of them already knew?”

“No that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“I think you have the starting point for your investigation…….”

“You’re right I do! Now what was that weird guy’s name again? Wakeman? No! Wakefield! Maximillian Wakefield!”

“There you go! I’ll bet by the end of the day you’ll have it all figured out. Those women were paid for and there’s got be a money trail leading to someone. Somebody has dirty hands.”

“You better believe there is Nigel and I’m gonna find it! I’m going down to the office right now and dig around until I do. And then watch out! Heads are gonna roll!”

“Good-luck Edward. I knew you would figure it out!”

“As always Nigel, I wouldn’t have without your help. Thank you so much! I’ll see you tonight!”

I raced down to the Armani Building and flew into the parking structure. All four of my Porsche’s tires literally left the ground as I came off the ramp! And within five minutes I was already seated at my desk scouring files and other online sources for clues.

The first thing I discovered was there was no Maximillian Wakefield in any business directory. The next thing I unearthed was a $5,000 payment made to a corporation called “Girls-Girls-Girls! Inc.” three days before the party on my own damn credit card. Fuck! Could it be true? My own money was used to set me up?! I was livid! I zoomed in on the signature…….an obvious forgery signed with a distinctly thick pen. I immediately recognized it as the line created by a fountain pen… The sort my Grandfather used to use when I was a child. It was in neither my handwriting nor my accountant’s.

Hours passed and I knew I was definitely getting closer to solving the mystery. I examined every accounting entry and compared it to every document. Hundreds of receipts and invoices, debit slips and checks. I sat down at my desk no closer than I was when I arrived to uncovering the bastard behind this. In anger, I swept the papers from my desk, sending work scattering in all directions.

And I saw it…

There, at the corner of my desk was one of the pages from the prenuptial I’d had Julia sign just a few days ago in preparation of our upcoming wedding. I didn’t even want the damn thing, but my lawyer had insisted that it was necessary to protect the business, and Julia made it clear that she didn’t want to do anything that could hurt the company stock price. She signed it without question…

And so did my lawyer… Raymond Bidwell… With his name inked thickly on the page, the telltale blot of a fountain pen.

Raymond Bidwell?! My estate lawyer? But why? I couldn’t immediately think of a motive, but my mind quickly latched onto another obscure memory.

I pulled out my phone, tapping my way through my Facebook app until I was staring Raymond in the face. Here it was, more information than I ever wanted to know about him, prior to today anyway. And as soon as I got into his profile there it was: Raymond Bidwell’s dog - a photogenic little pug named Maximillian!

Holy shit!

And as I scrolled further down his page there was the missing last name: Bidwell’s recently deceased sister’s name was Anne Marie Wakefield! BINGO!

Now all I needed to do was somehow persuade Julia to see me and hear me out. She was an extremely stubborn, strong-minded woman. And of course Michael was with her, probably working against me. It was going to be a challenge. I wondered if she still loved me and if I could still convince her to marry me by the Halloween deadline.

E
dward was persistent
. I had to give him that. Over the course of a few weeks he had left hundreds of voice mail messages and texts. But I refused to read or listen to any of them. I simply deleted them each day. He apparently had no idea where I was. Michael and I had gone to stay at Uncle Avery’s for a bit until some of the media attention died down. That made our uncle very happy since he’d been wanting to spend some time with his favorite niece and nephew.

I had also gotten a new phone since I destroyed my last one in a huge fit of anger. I was so tempted to get a new number but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It would’ve been way too much work notifying the hundreds of contacts in my directory. Instead I chose to mute my phone for most of the day and night to avoid the constant ringing, buzzing and general annoyance.

Besides the relentless messaging, once we’d returned back to our apartment I’d occasionally catch a glimpse of Edward slowly driving back and forth in one of his sports cars, wearing sunglasses and a hat as a disguise. One time he even had a fake moustache! Like I wouldn’t recognize him! Moron! Truthfully, there were days when I felt my resolve weakening and I’d start really missing him. But then all I had to do was close my eyes and flashback to the mental picture I had of those three horrible women with Edward and I could count on all the pain and humiliation to come flooding back again.

The most surprising thing to me was Michael’s attitude though. I would never have guessed he would have fought so hard to get me to give Edward a second chance. In fact, he thought I was being downright silly and obstinate for not at least giving him an opportunity to explain what happened that night. Deep down I kinda knew he was right. But I was scared of being hurt some more. Besides, I felt as though I needed to retain
some
shred of dignity and pride. I had a hunch Michael was becoming quite worried about me and he proved it by giving me another brotherly lecture before he left for work:

“Julia don’t you think you should at least get out of the house a little bit? How long do you plan on isolating yourself like this? You’re like a hermit.”

“I know it’s weird Michael but this is what feels comfortable to me right now.”

“I think you need to try to move forward with your life. Since you seem dead set on starting your life over, without Edward, at the very least you need some closure. And how can you get that if you don’t at least sit down and have a conversation with the guy?”

“You’re probably right Michael but the thought of facing him after that betrayal is just too much to bear.”

“But you still don’t know exactly what happened. Maybe he didn’t betray you at all. What about that possibility? Julia I gotta say I have never seen any man look at a woman the way that Edward looked at you. He
adores
you. And I keep thinking back at how he refused to take a swing at me that night. Any other guy would have cleaned my clock, I guarantee it.”

“I hear what you’re saying Michael and it all makes sense. I just still feel so confused about everything… that’s all. Besides, we messed our marriage deadline. When I left, he lost out on his entire inheritance. His stupid wandering dick cost him a billion freaking dollars! How can Edward not be pissed about that?”

“Maybe he is but how will you know if you never talk to him?”

We were both suddenly caught off guard by the doorbell ringing. Neither one of us was expecting company so Michael peeked out the window to see who it might be.

“Hey I see a florist van out in front of the complex. Looks like someone is trying to apologize by sending flowers. I’m surprised it took him so long to do that.”

“Oh he’s tried several times this week. I just refused to answer the door that’s all.”

“Well I’m here now Julia and I’m gonna open the door this time.”

Before I could stop my brother, he opened the front door to accept the flowers from the delivery guy. And there stood Edward smiling with a huge bouquet of long stem red roses.

“Flowers for Miss Julia Jones…..”

“Edward! How did you get that uniform?...... and that truck?”

“It’s not exactly difficult to find a delivery boy willing to take a cash bribe and a chance to relax for a few hours! The real challenge was squeezing into these tight coveralls. I think I tore the crotch!”

I couldn’t keep from laughing. Edward looked pretty funny with his obviously too small pants hiked up into his ass crack and the sleeves four inches too short for his arms. I also had to admit he looked pretty adorable. I really did miss him. But this was exactly what I was afraid of; Him showing up and melting my heart. I needed to think clearly which was very hard to do with that incredibly handsome man standing right there in front of me.

“By the way Michael thanks for opening the door for me man. I owe you one buddy.”

“You don’t owe
me
anything. I’m the one who owes you an apology for throwing a punch.”

“Forget about it Michael!”

Edward looked intently at me and pleaded with his words and eyes: “May I come in Julia? Please?”

There was no escaping it: My heart had been softened. I wanted Edward to come in. I invited him into the house and directed him to sit down on the sofa while I put the roses in some water. But no sooner had I got to the kitchen sink, that’s when I felt his wonderfully familiar strong arms embrace me from behind and his hands rest softly on my tummy.

“Julia… our baby! It’s incredible! I can’t believe it! How are you feeling? God I’ve missed you so much…” He started kissing my neck and shoulders and it sent shivers down to my toes.

I turned and looked up Edward. It felt like old times. And it felt right. Something deep inside told me that somehow everything was going to be okay between us.

“I feel fine. Much better…. now that you’re here. I’ve missed you too Edward. And about our baby……we conceived it on the boat you know…”

“I can’t believe it! Our baby was made on our sailboat! That’s the best news I’ve heard yet!”

Edward lifted me high in the air and spun me around like a crazy man. Afterwards, he told me he had been unscrupulously set up the evening of the party. We kissed each other like never before. I apologized for my pig-headedness. I should have given him a chance to explain. He apologized for all the pain I had gone through even though I acknowledged it was not his fault.

We returned to the living room and Edward proceeded to tell Michael and I the whole story about how he had been set up by Raymond Bidwell.

“Raymond Bidwell? Are you sure? What makes you think he was the culprit behind it?”

“Well… At first all I had was a hunch and a picture of a dog, but it didn’t take long to put together an indisputable paper trail leading to him that shows he hired those three hookers in my office.”

“Really? Why in the hell would he do something like this?”

Michael jumped in to proudly interject at that moment.

“See I knew there was a logical explanation for all this! Edward didn’t betray you Julia! I knew it!”

“Well I’m thinkin’ you realized that
after
you socked me in the jaw! Anyway… There was a guy that night claiming to be an investor by the name Max Wakefield. He wanted financial information on Armani Industries. I thought it was odd that we were out of prospectus brochures already. He must have hidden them somewhere! Max demanded to see one of those damn brochures because he was considering making an immediate large investment in the company. He was a weird-looking man with a bad hair piece and very tacky clothes.”

“A bad hair piece and tacky clothes? Was he wearing red cowboy boots by any chance?”

“Yes Julia! How did you know that? Did you see him?”

“I not only saw him I talked to him! Who do you think steered me up there to you? He told me he had just seen you out in the hallway waiting for the elevator. He sent me to your office!”

“That filthy fucker! By the time I got back downstairs everyone was shouting about goddamned food poisoning.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Michael said, looking down at the carpet.

“It doesn’t matter… What matters is Mr. Red Boots was already gone.”

“That Raymond Bidwell! Wait till I get my hands on that creep! He purposely derailed our wedding! Why would he do that Edward?”

“Money. Lots of money. Isn’t that always the motive? When we missed our Halloween marriage deadline it’s not like my Grandfather’s inheritance money vanished into thin air. The will made it clear if I failed to achieve the terms presented, my Grandfather’s entire estate would go toward charity work. The corporate lawyer is in charge of all decisions from the charitable arm of the Armani corporation. He holds a 49% share in the company Julia, and has nearly a billion dollars in cash at his disposal…” Edward said quietly.

“And the corporate lawyer is…” I began, catching Edwards eyes.

“Raymond Bidwell, of course. That’s why my grandfather had him working with his estate. Raymond is now in direct control of my grandfather’s estate. He immediately cancelled every single charitable contribution I was making prior to the takeover. I’ve already discovered several disbursements Raymond has pledged to questionable charities! I know damn well he’s getting huge cash kickbacks. He’ll be able to skim untold millions off the top with nobody ever being the wiser. That crooked bastard is going to get very rich very fast... All due to my grandfather’s generous nature and wicked sense of humor.”

I listened carefully to what Edward was telling me.

“Wait… Since your grandfather’s death,
you’ve
been continuing his charitable work?”

“Of course Julia. I wouldn’t consider running his company any other way. I’ve seen the true value of helping the less fortunate. It’s pretty amazing, just like you always tried to tell me.”

A lump formed in my throat. Edward was truly carrying on his Nonno’s work and legacy!

“It’s not fair! Nonno clearly wanted US to be together and he wanted YOU in charge of his company! Now Raymond Bidwell will be in control?! It’s sickening Edward!”

“It gets worse… The quarterly board meeting happens tomorrow, and Raymond is going to use the voting shares he has to remove me as CEO. The entire board is in on this Julia. They’ve shorted the stock like crazy. They’re going to deliberately destroy my grandfather’s company, and they’re going to get rich doing it!”

“What’s going to happen to us?” I asked with tears filling my eyes.

“Well there’s nothing stopping us from still being together Julia. Not even Raymond Bidwell…”

“Is there anything we can do to stop this?” I asked him with tears in my eyes. “We can’t let this happen!”