Page 74 of Saved By the Billionaire

It was impossible to stem the ache that spread through his body.

How is she?

His need to know shocked him. It was a force taking over his whole soul.

I thought you didn’t care?

He ground his jaw.

Are you trying to piss me off?

No.

Again, her dots danced and stopped, danced and stopped.

What aren’t you telling me?

When she didn’t reply, he dialled her number. She answered on the third ring. “What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing. You said you’re over her. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Tia, what else is there to say?” His voice held a sharpness he hadn’t used with Tia before. He couldn’t stop it. Urgency was pummelling him. “Is she okay?” He closed his eyes, acid biting at his gut. “Is she hurt?”

“She’s fine. She’s…stunning, as always. Easily the most beautiful woman in the whole room tonight. She stood out like a glorious thumb.”

“I can easily believe it.”

Silence. It throbbed. He stared at Manhattan and saw Kate. He ached. He hurt. No, he bled. His body gushed blood from a thousand invisible wounds that would never heal.

“Tia.” He pressed his palm to the thick glass, closing his eyes, but Kate was there, too, haunting his eyelids. Taunting him with her absence, only Kate would never taunt him. She was too good. Too kind. Glorious, just like Tia had said.

“We only spoke for a few minutes,” she said, slowly, like she really didn’t want to say whatever was coming. “She was flustered to see me. Something she said made me think…”

“Made you think what?” His voice was dark. Angry. Frustrated.

The silence made his whole body tighten.

“Well, she told me she was working. She was trying to explain why she was at the function with the guy who’s bankrolling the whole development.” Roman closed his eyes on a cascade of bitter, all-encompassing jealousy. Tia’s voice was gentle when she spoke. “The thing is, I’m pretty sure she’s working as a paid escort, Roh.” And then, with a heavy sigh that he barely heard over the gushing of blood through his body. “I’m so sorry. Maybe you were right; I guess it’s over between the two of you.”

Usually, he chased sleep fruitlessly, but that night, he fought it. Because every time he drifted off, Kate was there, and now? She wasn’t alone. It was so easy to imagine her with someone else. Someone else who’d make her laugh. A faceless man who’d touch her how Roman had, who’d hold her close to his body. Someone who’d maybe promise her the world and mean it, not stop at wanting her to ‘be safe’, when of course Kate deserved to be happy. It was such an important difference, and it was a step beyond what Roman could ever offer.

He drank black coffee and worked, but every time he looked at his phone, he imagined calling Kate and some random guy answering. He imagined whoever it was handing her cash the next morning, and Kate taking it, as though her beautiful body could be bought, and for the first time in his life, a violent spark ignited in his stomach. He wanted to burn the world down, starting with anyone who’d ever dared look at her, let alone the men who’d thought they could take what they wanted for money.

Was this fault? Had he put this in her mind? When he’d suggested the NDA and explained the amount he was willing to pay for her silence, she’d been adamant that she didn’t need money, that she’d never have sex for anything materialistic. Hell, she’d left a pair of earrings that were worth a fortune. So what had changed?

Desperation. He knew the answer to that. When Kate had been in his apartment, she’d had hope. She’d hoped her father would be alive, that she’d be able to see him, to meet him, maybe even to become a family with him. To stay in New York while that happened, to work, to not be alone. She’d had hope, and now she had none.

Roman went to work before five o’clock in the morning, desperate to leave his apartment and the ghost of Kate behind, determined not to think about Kate and the choices she was making, even when that was killing him. He’d let her go; now he had to suffer the consequences. And so, by the sound of it, did she.

Two and a half months after leaving New York, Kate had finally managed to convince herself she was okay. She hadn’t heard from Tia again. She hadn’t heard from Roman, and somehow, knowing that he knew where she was and didn’t care was like the unlatching of a lock, or so she told herself. After all, it was the final nail in the coffin for the ridiculous fantasy she’d been clinging to that maybe he cared for her more than he’d been willing to admit. That maybe there’d been something real there.

Then again, what would Tia have told him? They’d only spoken briefly; she could hardly remember what she’d said. Her mind had been made fuzzy by the shock of coming face to face, by memories of Roman and their time together.

She dug her fingernails into her palm, furious at herself for thinking about this when she was at work, forcing herself to walk confidently into the foyer of the upscale hotel, towards the bar, where she’d been directed to wait for her date. New York would be in the first flush of winter by now, perhaps even covered in Snow. Whereas Sydney was balmy and warm, the subtropical city preparing for Christmas, the warmth giving rise to slinky dresses and morning swims at Bondi.

Kate hadn’t wanted to think about Christmas. It was her first one without even the dream of finding her father, though. Without even the idea of having a broader family out there, and she just wanted the day to come and go with as little fuss as possible. She planned to fill it with at least two books and a margarita.

At the bar, she ordered a soda water. This was work, not pleasure, and she didn’t drink while she was working, particularly not with a new client. With someone she had dated a few times, through the agency, she might relax enough to have a glass of champagne. But Roman’s words were always in her ears, the promise he’d extracted that she’d take care of herself a warning she couldn’t unhear.