Resisting the Billionaire Collection (46 page)

"Is there something we need to be afraid of,
WowWow?"

She hesitated.

"Let’s just eat. I’ll open it tonight and
we’ll talk tomorrow."

Howard sighed and pushed the letter towards
her.

The following day, they got ready to go and
meet Melanie Hutchinson again. They would sign the contract in her
presence. It should have been a happy day, but the lonely pair
drove to the meeting in stony silence. Howard didn’t bother asking
about the letter.

At the hotel Melanie looked as stunning as
ever.

"I’m so happy you’ve decided to accept our
offer." She said. "So who would like to go first?" She held up a
fountain pen.

"It’s Howard’s place." Alison said. "All’s
you need is his signature."

Melanie handed the pen to the old man.

"I have to know that Alison agrees with
this." He said. "I won’t sign until she tells me it’s okay."

"So what is it, Alison?" Melanie asked. "Is
Howard going to sign today?"

Alison’s breathing was becoming labored, her
heart rate was up, and she didn’t even know why.

"You’ll have to excuse me. I’ll need a
minute." She jumped up walked quickly to the restroom. She locked
herself in a cubicle and fumbled with the envelope to take it out
and then tore it open.

There was one small piece of white paper
inside with two words printed clearly on one side.

‘
Forgive me.’

Alison had to take a deep breath. Her hands
were shaking. It had been nearly two months since she had left New
York; two months since she had seen or heard anything from
Sebastian Drummond.

She had never expected to see or hear
anything from him ever again.

But now here he was, still deceiving, still
trying to control and manipulate her life. She would be damned if
she would take anything from him, not even on Howard’s behalf. They
had struggled along just fine without help up until now and they
would get along just fine in the future as well.

She turned the card over and there was a
number on the other side.

"You smug asshole." She mumbled. "I’ll call
you alright. You won’t like it though."

She punched the number into her phone and
the call went straight to voicemail. The outgoing message wasn’t
Sebastian’s voice though. It wasn’t even male. Alison’s heart was
going like a jackhammer.

The voice on the outgoing message was
Olivia’s.

"Alison, please don’t hang up on me. You
have to hear this. Sebastian didn’t cheat on you, no matter what
you may think. I followed him. I was following him for days. I knew
all about him, figured out who he was. When he left the hotel, I
was right behind him. I convinced him to have a drink with me. I
told him I would help him explain things to you. Later, I spiked
his drink and then went back to the hotel. We fooled around just
long enough for me to get those pictures. Right after the clip you
saw, he passed out and I left him on the bed. I had all I needed.
I’m so sorry, Ally. I was stupid. We started out just trying to
help you, and then it got out of control. Please believe me. You
may never forgive me and for that. I will be eternally sad, but
please don’t take this out on Sebastian. He loves you. You have no
idea how much. Please call him."

The outgoing message ended there and Alison
hung up at the beep.

She sank her face into her hands and sat
motionless in the cubicle.

The sound of high heels against the tiles
brought her to herself again.

"Alison? Alison, are you okay?" It was
Melanie. "Are you in there? We’re getting worried about you."

She didn’t want to reply but the footsteps
came to a halt outside the cubicle door.

"Alison? Is that you?"

She stood up and unbolted the door, staring
the other woman in the face.

"Just who the hell are you exactly?" She
said.

"Alison, you know I am--"

Alison pushed past her. "No I don’t, not at
all. You can forget your contract, I’m not interested, and neither
is Howard." She hurried towards the door.

"I’ve forgiven him." Melanie said. Alison
stopped moving. "Maybe you should at least speak to him."

Alison turned around to face her.

"Tell me who you are." She said.

"My name is Melanie Hutchinson. I recently
married Alex Drummond, Junior."

Alison closed her eyes and took in a sharp
breath.

This damned family.
She thought.

"These meetings were my first priority after
our honeymoon."

"Do you even know what happened in New
York?" Alison said.

"I know everything. You have no idea how
angry Alex and I were, but you have no idea how sorry Sebastian
is."

"Or how sorry I am. I trusted him. I loved
him… " her own words surprised her, "… and set me up, he lied to
me."

"And that was completely wrong. He knows
that now. He hasn’t been anywhere or done anything since then that
didn’t have making things good again with me, Alex, and most of
all, with you in mind. He will do anything to show you how sorry he
is. I’ve never seen him like this before. Neither has Alex. All he
wants to do is be truthful with the people around him and to make
you happy, even if you don’t want him anymore."

"So this whole thing with the contracts, is
that all his idea?"

"It makes good business sense, too. Howard’s
place is great--"

"We don’t need his charity."

"Maybe you don’t, but what about Howard? Do
you know how sick he is?"

"We have it covered."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

"Do you know what’s wrong with him?"

"He’s got a bad smoker’s cough." Alison’s
voice faltered. One thing Howard had always refused to discuss was
his illness or his medical bills.

Melanie took a step closer.

"Alison… he needs to tell you himself."

Alison turned and ran back to the foyer
where the meeting was taking place. Howard looked up to her, his
eyes full of questioning, full of hope. There was a man sitting
opposite him. Alison recognized him instantly.

"What are you doing?" She hissed.

"Alison--"

"Can’t you just get out of my life and leave
me alone?"

"Please, just let me explain--"

"There’s nothing to explain. You’re trying
to manipulate me with your power and your money. I don’t want it. I
don’t want any of it."

"Please Ally -- Wow Wow, just hear Sebastian
out. Every guy deserves a second chance, even rich guys."

Alison’s jaw dropped.

"You know him?" She stared at Howard.

"A little. I know he’s payin’ all my medical
bills at least. Feller can’t be all that bad. Come on Ally, sit
down and hear him out."

"Please Alison." Sebastian said quietly.

Slowly she sat down.

"You all have some explaining to do." She
said.

Sebastian looked into her eyes. Against her
will, the old feelings began to arise. He was Daniel again. Her
knight in shining armor on a busy New York morning. She shook her
head to get back to reality. The man in front of her was powerful,
determined, ruthless, and willing to lie about anything.

"Speak." She said.

"I know I was wrong." He said. "But I never
cheated on you. You heard Olivia’s message. I was tricked."

"Like you tricked me and Alex."

"Just like that, and I’m sorry. But I never
would have let it go too far. I know it doesn’t excuse anything,
but I swear I would never have let you do anything you would have
lived to regret."

"I already regret it."

"I know, and I’m sorry. I screwed up. But
now I want to make it up to you, so I followed you here. I needed
to know that you were okay. I needed to know that what I had done
wouldn’t ruin your life. When I found out about Howard’s, I came to
meet him. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Then I learned how
sick he was and offered to take care of his bills."

"And you accepted?" Alison couldn’t believe
that her proud uncle would accept charity from a stranger.

"I had to, Ally. I got you to think of as
well now. If I hadn’t taken Seb’s help, we’d have been homeless by
now. He saved us. He’s saving me. I’m getting the best help I can.
It’s cancer, Ally. Lung cancer. But they can fix it if they get it
in time and if I got the money. Thanks to your buddy here,, I got
both those things covered."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"No sense in worrying you Ally. Ain’t
nothing you could have done anyway. Seb here he told me not to tell
you because you might not take any help from him or it would make
you feel too bad if you did. Seems to me like this boy here really
has some strong feelings for you, Ally. Ain’t many who would come
all the way out her to Nowheresville from Los Angeles and give so
freely of his time and money. I figure the boy’s got to be in
love."

Alison was stunned.

"What about you?" She turned to Melanie.
"Why are you here?"

"I owe it to Sebastian and to you as well.
He’s the most important person in the world to Alex and my husband
is the most important person in the world to me. I just want to see
everyone happy."

"How long have you been here in Winterfield,
watching me and planning all of this?" She asked Sebastian.

"I arrived here the day after you did. I’ve
been living in the hotel here since then. Ally, please, I don’t
want anything from you. All I ask is that is that you let me set
things right again, back to where they were."

Alison was reeling.

Olivia had tricked Sebastian, which meant he
had never cheated on her. Alex and Melanie had already forgiven
Sebastian for what he had done, so she was the last one to hold
out. Maybe he meant it, maybe he had never intended for it to go
further, and now he was genuinely sorry?

If he were really just playing a game, if
all he wanted was to prove he could sleep with any girl, any time,
then would Melanie really get involved? That was all just crazy.
And then he had come all the way out here, to the middle of
nowhere, just to watch over her and take care of Howard, to save
their business…

"I’ve got to think." She said. "Is there
somewhere that we can speak alone?" She said to Sebastian.

"Of course there is. We can go to my suite
upstairs. This must be a lot for you to take in."

"I’m not sure that’s a good idea." She said,
thinking about the last time, she had gone to meet him in a hotel
suite.

"Really, it’s okay, Alison. But if you don’t
like it--"

"No, it’s okay. Come on, let’s go."

They left Melanie and Howard behind and
after an awkward silent wait in front of the elevator, they got in
and he pressed the button for the top floor. The old lift chugged
slowly into action.

"Why did you do that do me?" Alison shouted
at him. "And why won’t you leave me alone?"

"You know why, Alison. I’ll never leave you
alone because I love you. I’ll always be looking out for you. You
can always count on me."

The slow elevator strained upwards.

"I don’t need you." She said, looking down
at the floor. For some reason she was afraid to look into his eyes.
She could feel his tall, masculine presence next to her, just like
when they had worked together in the Tête-á-Tête, except that he
was dressed like the boss of a billion-dollar corporation now,
instead of wearing a barista’s apron and uniform.

"I know." He said. "But I need you more than
anything I’ve ever need before in my whole life."

"Then I’m sorry for you." She said. "Maybe
your money can get you anything else in this world, but it can’t
get you me."

"I know that. I know that now. And if that’s
how you feel, I’ll respect it. But you can’t stop me from helping
Howard and you can’t stop me from watching out for you. I’ll always
be there because I’ll always love you."

He was so close to her. His voice was so
deep, yet so soft.

"If there’s no one else in the world to
watch over you, I’ll be there, even if you think I’m gone, even
when you’ve forgotten about me, I’ll be taking care of you. I don’t
want anything in return -- ever."

Alison’s breath was shaking. He was so close
to her.

"I’ll do anything for you, Alison. I’ll even
stay away from you. But I will always be there if you get in
trouble. Always. That’s how love is."

The lift wobbled from side to side and his
big hand brushed lightly against hers. Before she realized what she
was doing, she had put her own hand inside it, resting there
gently.

"Alison." He whispered.

She closed her fingers around his and then
turned to him, looking straight up into his dark, intense brown
eyes. His strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her
effortlessly from the ground until she strained to keep her toes on
the ground. His warm lips came to hers, first slowly and then
filled with passion.

"Daniel." She whispered into his ear but
then could say no more as his mouth devoured hers, his tongue
avidly exploring, his warm embrace sending thrills of pleasure
through her whole body. Weeks of anger and sadness were melting
away, replaced with the thrill of passion.

The elevator finally came to a halt and they
ran hand-in-hand to the door of his suite. He swiped his card in
the lock and then hesitated.

"What’s wrong?" She said, pushing her hand
to door. He held back.

"Alison… "

"What is it?" He didn’t want to go in. She
could tell. "I want you." She said. "Don’t be afraid. I need
you."

He let go of the door and allowed it to
swing inwards. Alison’s jaw dropped as she saw the hundreds of
lighted candles all over the honeymoon suite.

"Daniel… what is this?" Her eyes followed a
line of candles through the rose petals covering the floor. It made
its way to the bed and then surrounded a diamond ring mounted on a
small platform on the bed.