Epilogue
Eliza – Two Years Later
“Ugh, it feels so good to be back!” I exclaimed, dropping my bags on the floor of the cabin, feeling that warm sense of home all over again.
Traveling around a lot for Milo’s work, and my own now that I did a lot of creative hairdressing all over the country, plus splitting our time between the two homes made it very difficult to ever feel truly settled, but to be honest, the lifestyle suited me. It had been two years, and until something dramatic happened that forced us to stop, I didn’t see any point in slowing down for one minute.
“Tell me about it!” Milo exclaimed, sounding just as worn out as I felt. “I never truly feel relaxed unless we’re here.”
“Well, don’t get too settled; I’m sure Laynee will be over soon. Apparently, she has some big news.”
“What do you think it is?” he asked curiously, genuinely interested in the antics of my crazy friend.
“Oh, I don’t know – you know what she’s like, it could be anything!” I started pulling random items out of my bag, trying to uncover a certain top that I wanted to find. I never knew where any of my clothes were because they often got left behind at one home or another. “At least she has Landon to calm her down a bit; he’s like a Godsend in her life.”
“Good thing I introduced them, right?” Milo sounded far too pleased with himself, causing me to send him an unimpressed look. “Anyway, that’s fine; you two can catch up while I’m out.”
“Where are you going?” My ears pricked up excitedly. It was our two-year anniversary, and I kept getting the idea that he had something amazing planned. Mostly because he hadn’t even mentioned it yet. Last year, he had the most amazing night ever planned, and he wasn’t the type to forget.
“Oh, I need to see Landon,” he replied evasively. “I have some business stuff to do.”
I started to pout, irritation starting to get the better of me, but that was totally zapped from me when Veil bounded to my side and started barking for food. “Come on, boy.” I smiled, petting him. He could always alter my mood, even when it was at its lowest. “Let’s go and get you something to eat.”
“You have absolutely ruined that dog,” Milo mock scolded. “He used to be so well disciplined before you came along. Honestly, sometimes I think you’re the worst thing to happen to us both.” Luckily, he finished that joke by kissing me hard, making me smile brightly. “Okay, I do have to go, but I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
I didn’t have much time to mope about being alone, a sensation I wasn’t used to anymore, because it was only a couple of seconds later that I heard Laynee pulling up in her car. It had been a while since we saw each other because we both had such heavy schedules, so I was super excited to reconnect.
“Laynee!” I yelled through the door. “Come in quick.” I turned to go back in and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. My heart stopped dead in my chest as I slowly spun back around, a weird terror coursing through my veins. Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing? Is this real?
I flicked my eyes up and down her body, noticing a very obvious difference. Either she’d been eating a whole bunch of foods that caused her to have a rounded stomach or she was actually having a baby.
“Are you?” I gasped in shock, my hands covering my mouth. “Really?”
“Yep.” Tears were running down her face before we’d even talked about it. “Landon and I are having a baby. We just had the ultrasound this morning and found out that we’re having a boy.”
“How did you keep this from me?” I screamed, throwing my arms around her. “This is insane.”
“Well, we didn’t want to tell anyone for a while, and I knew that I wanted to say it to your face, so I had to wait.”
Oh great, now I’m sobbing, too. What a damn mess. “I’m just so happy for you,” I told her thickly. “You’re going to be the best mom ever.”
“Oh, well, I don’t know about that,” she replied modestly. “But I am excited, we both are. Luckily, I’ve got a few staff members in the salon now, so maternity leave won’t be an issue.”
“That’s utterly incredible.” I shook my head in amazement. Who would have ever thought that we’d end up here? It was amazing what could happen in a short time. “I don’t even know what to say. When are you due? I’ll have to be back here for when you give birth.”
She glanced at her watch, as if some terrible thought had struck her. “Come on, let’s go inside,” she announced rapidly. “I’ll give you all the details as I do your hair.”
It was all starting to come together. However much he tried to hide it, it was obvious that Milo had a plan for the night. Well, if that was the case, I was more than happy to go along with it. I was excited to know what he had planned. “Oh, sure, whatever you say.”
***
Whatever Milo had planned for me seemed even more over the top than last year. Not only had Laynee spent hours styling my hair in a very lovely, delicate way, Milo had also sent her with a glamorous designer dress that hugged my curves perfectly. It was almost as if it had been designed to fit my body exactly, which, knowing him, wouldn’t surprise me.
“You look incredible.” Laynee clapped her hands together excitedly, acting a little bit like a child. “That dress is wonderful.”
I spun about, looking at my body from every angle in the mirror, and I had to say that I agreed. It wasn’t often that I thought I looked great, but in this dress, all done up, I just couldn’t ignore it.
“Do you know what the plan is?” I asked her anxiously. “I don’t know if I’m ready for a night out on the town.”
“Trust me, you’ll love it,” she told me with a knowing smile, driving me even more crazy. It was so frustrating that I had no idea what was happening, and even worse that Laynee knew and was managing to keep it to herself. Since when did she get so good at keeping secrets from me? “You’re going to have the best night ever! Oh, hang on; I think that’s him.”
I peeked out of the window, my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting to see, a limo maybe, but what I got was actually a very cool vintage car. At least that went some way to calming down my pounding heart. It wasn’t going to be all serious.
“Good luck,” Laynee mysteriously told me, kissing me on the cheek. “And, I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nodded quickly and made my way outside, finding Milo in a ravishing tuxedo. He still had the ability to make my heart skip a beat and still turned my legs into jelly. It didn’t matter how much time I spent with him, how many times I saw him sick or in a bad mood, I still loved him like crazy. That wasn’t ever going away.
“What’s all this?” I enquired, leaning in to kiss him. “Is it a special day or something?”
“Oh, as if you haven’t been agonizing over it all day long,” he chuckled. “You’ve probably gotten everything out of Laynee already!”
“Actually, no, I haven’t,” I pouted jokingly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’d gotten very good at keeping secrets recently.”
“Ah, so you heard the good news then? Isn’t that amazing? Landon is over the moon.”
I nodded, but I felt all confused and weird. Whenever we were doing our thing, I enjoyed it like mad, but whenever I was in Florence, I yearned to stay. That sensation had gotten even worse with the knowledge that Laynee was about to have a baby. I wanted to be there, to see her child grow.
Still, it didn’t matter – it wasn’t like I’d never get to see him grow. It was just the way things were.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he finally pulled up by Landon’s boats. “What is all this?”
“We’re going out for a fishing trip,” he teased, causing me to roll my eyes. Was I never going to hear the end of that one? “No, we’re going out on the boat.”
I glanced down at my outfit, feeling a little overdressed for that, but I was willing to go along with it. “Okay, sure, is there a ball or something?” I laughed.
“No ball, but a nice picnic. I just thought that you’d prefer that to a dinner.”
“Oh, okay.” I felt a bit chastened by that; it was actually thoughtful for him to go to all that effort for me. “It sounds nice.”
And as I climbed aboard, I felt even worse for my doubt. Milo had turned it into something amazing. There were fairy lights everywhere, twinkling like stars, and a red velvet picnic blanket filled with strawberries, champagne, chocolates, and other treats I loved so much. It was actually a sweet night he had planned.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to a bag. “Is that Landon’s?”
“Fireworks.” He grinned happily. “Do you want to see?”
I sat down, taking a big swig of champagne while he moved the fireworks toward the end of the boat to set them off. He lit the first one, before joining me with a massive smile on his face.
“Wow,” I exclaimed as the sky lit up pink. “This is awesome; thank you so much.”
“You’re totally worth it.” He smiled happily.
I trained my eyes on the sky, enjoying the show as Milo threw his arms around me. Then I started to notice something unusual about the fireworks. It became increasingly obvious that this wasn’t a normal display at all. My suspicions started when they began to take on the shapes of hearts, and grew as the fireworks formed words.
“Will…” I read, furrowing my eyebrows. “You… Marry… Oh my God!” I screamed as the last word formed ‘Me.’ “Are you serious?”
He stared at me with intense love in his gaze. “Of course, I’m serious. I love you – you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’d be crazy not to make you my wife.” He paused and stared at me, leaving me feeling breathless and in wonder. “So… Will you? Be my wife? Your silence is starting to worry me…”
“Of course!” Somehow those words managed to unlock my voice box. “I’d love to. I want to be your wife, too.”
As he produced a box with an incredible diamond ring inside, it all became a reality. This was it: Milo and I were about to make that ultimate commitment, and that felt amazing.
“That isn’t all,” he told me as he slid the ring onto my finger. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of all the moving around.” My breath caught in my throat. “I want to start a family, and for that, we need to stick in one place. Things are different now, so I think we should stay here. We could live in the cabin.”
“Oh, my God,” I gasped, intense happiness consuming me. “That’s what I want, too; that sounds amazing.”
As his lips collided with mine and our fates were sealed forever, I realized that I finally had it all, everything that I’d ever wanted. It felt wonderful.
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BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR
By Alexa Davis
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Alexa Davis
Part 1
Chapter One
Justin, Monday, early February, Portland
As I pulled the charcoal suit around my body, I couldn’t help but feel pleased by the way it fit me so well. I didn’t grow up with too much; my family was never the wealthiest, so now that I was filthy rich, rather than simply middle class, and I’d made that money all by myself, I enjoyed reaping the benefits of it. I loved having clothing sculpted directly around my frame, I relished the solid gold cufflinks clipped on my sleeves, the thick platinum chain that I hung around my neck made me feel like a big shot…and that was exactly what I was. At the grand old age of thirty-eight, I finally felt like everything was really good.
When I was in school, and the teachers noticed that I had an aptitude for mathematics, they did their best to hone that. At first, with childish arrogance and naivety, I wasn’t interested. That was boring. I found it much more fun to think about girls and partying.
But as I grew and actually started to consider my future, I quickly realized that I could use my skills to make myself a get-rich-pretty-quickly scheme. I worked on my own talent, I did a lot of research by myself, and I discovered that smart investments were the best way to make a lot of money fast, so I went with that. And, it worked very well in my favor – now I had absolutely everything that I could ever want.
“Garrett,” I yelled through my house as I thundered down the stairs. “Garrett, I’m off to work. Don’t get yourself in any trouble, all right?”
I trailed off as I finally spotted him, lying across my massive couch with three women entangled with him. I shook my head, disgusted at his behavior, but of course, as I was already perfectly aware, he was never going to change.
My younger brother, who I only had two short years on, was light years away from me. He’d never had the realization that he could actually make something of his life. He simply continued along in the idiotic, youthful way that he always had, using my money to his advantage. All he would ever care about was drinking, women, having fun…acting like a fool. I’d tried to tell him millions of times that he was throwing his life down the toilet, but he just laughed at me and insisted he wasn’t.
Okay, so I wasn’t a prude. With my millions, my tall, dark, and handsome traditional good looks, plus bright blue piercing eyes to boot, I had women throwing themselves at me all the time. I could have lived like Garrett if I wanted to, especially with my company now pretty much running itself, but that just wasn’t me.
Then again, I wasn’t exactly experienced at relationships, either. I hadn't ever managed to find anyone that I wanted to let in close enough – not to make things real, not to have a solid, proper relationship with. So for now, I simply focused on the company.
“Idiot,” I muttered, frustrated at myself as I grabbed the nearest blanket to throw over the foursome. Unfortunately, that small movement might not have been enough to wake up the undoubtedly intoxicated women, but it was enough to wake up Garrett.
“Urgh, God, what time is it?” he groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Why is it so bright?”
“This is called early morning,” I shot back sarcastically. “You might never have seen it before, considering you don’t have a job to get up for.” It did annoy me that he was so lazy, but what the hell could I do about it? It certainly wasn’t my job to force him to work.
“Are you going to work now?” he asked, actually having the audacity to sound bewildered by that. “But why? Why not just sleep in for once? Why not take a day off? They don’t need you at the office, do they? Plus…” He smirked, which meant I knew exactly what was coming next. “Haven’t you made enough money?”
My brother was never going to get it, especially when he didn’t pay for his own life. Most of my money wasn’t actually with me; it was tied up in investments and that was where it would stay. At least until I had a solid nest egg to leave behind…and maybe someone to leave it behind for, of course.
“Actually, I am needed at work – a concept you might understand if anyone ever needed you…”
“Oh blah, blah, blah,” he shot back bemusedly, standing up in front of me, despite the fact that he was damn near buck naked – a sight I did not need to see. “Yeah, I know, I get it, and if you’re really about to head into another rant at me, then I’m going to need some coffee.”
I shook my head and sighed deeply. “No, I don’t have time to lecture you today.” I wanted to, I had a whole lot that I wanted to say, but I didn’t need to alienate him. He was the only family that I had left, after all. Any distant relatives that we had lived oversees, a lot of them in England, and our parents…well, they weren’t around anymore. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
I stalked out of the house before I could get too annoyed with Garrett. I couldn’t really blame him for his behavior because I’d never tried to really force him to change. I’d always funded his lifestyle, but that was just me doing the best with what I had.
Our mother died when we were young. I couldn’t remember too much about her, except for the image of her lying in the hospital bed before she passed. My father always described her as an immensely beautiful woman, but to me, she just looked frail and sad. If I couldn’t remember her, then I highly doubted that Garrett could, which was likely a big part of the way he acted out all the time. We don’t even really know what happened to her; Dad was always too saddened by the memory of her to discuss it with us.
Then there was our dad, the man who pretty much raised us alone. He was a wonderful man, a rock through some of the most difficult times in our lives, the person we assumed would always be there…until he got sick, too. Prostate cancer got him. And because he was such a proud man, by the time he actually went to get himself checked out, it was much too late. He wasn’t concerned for himself, though. He didn’t seem to have any consideration for his own needs; he simply worried about me and Garrett until the bitter end. Well, more my brother than me. I already had my life together by that point.
I had promised him faithfully on his deathbed that I would look after my brother, no matter what, and that was what I was trying my best to do. I wasn’t totally sure that I was succeeding in the right way, but at least he was being looked after.
I strutted proudly into the office, and everyone turned to look at me when I walked in. They all admired me, they all saw me as some sort of business hero, and I loved that. People enjoyed a rags-to-riches sort of story.
“Hey there, handsome,” the overly flirty receptionist, Marie, purred at me. “How was your weekend?” She wasn’t even slightly trying to hide her attraction to me, but then again, the women here never did. I would never go for it, though – gold diggers didn’t attract me. They just came with the territory with being successful.
“Good, thanks.” I shot her a wink back, just to make her day. “How about you?”
She rambled on, telling me about her plans that seemed to involve a whole lot of drinking, which I only half listened to. I could see Harry, my financial advisor, looking my way. It wasn’t me throwing things down the drain, of course; I was damn sensible with cash, but I had to take the flak for how Garrett was leading his life.
“Sorry, Marie, I’ll see you in a bit.” I eventually stopped her, the distraction lacing my tone. “Harry, how are you this morning?”
He came into my office and I rang through to my PA, Lucia, to sort us out some coffee before we both took our seats for the serious stuff to begin. I sighed deeply, and shuffled uncomfortably in my chair. “So, what’s going on, Harry?”
“Well, as you already are aware of,” he said in a pinched tone, “your business is doing really well. The percentage of your investments making you money is incredible. It’s just the outgoing that are causing you problems.” He didn’t say Garrett, despite the fact that we both knew he meant it.
“You really need to find a way to curb your spending.” He handed me a list and started to reel through it all. “Artwork that I know you don’t like, seven limo trips in one day, the flight to New York—”
“Right, I know, I’ll sort it out,” I snapped at him, taking my temper out on the wrong person. “Don’t worry.”
He’d heard it a million and one times before, which was obvious in his expression. “Look, I know, but…well, my advice to you would be to expand even further, make some more investments.”
This was him giving up on me ever dealing with Garrett, which, to be fair, I understood. If I were him, I would probably give up, too; it had been years after all. “I would get your research assistants to find you some new places…”
As he told me exactly what to do next, my eyes drifted down to the family photo sitting on my desk. I couldn’t help but wonder what my dad would think of me now, of both of us. I had everything I’d ever wanted, plus more, but I was risking it all just to keep a promise that I’d made to a dying man. Maybe I would be better off helping Garrett in a different way. Maybe the best thing to do would be to kick him out and make him stand on his own two feet, but that didn’t feel right. I knew Garrett wasn’t capable of looking after himself yet, so it wouldn’t be fair.
I would just have to expand the business for now and make more money that way. Garrett, I would deal with later on.
Just as I was saying goodbye to Harry, he shot me one more meaningful look. “You have done well, Justin,” he told me seriously. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have that threatened. I understand your situation, I know why things are the way that they are, but someday soon, you won’t be able to expand anymore. There will come a time when there is no other solution. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
With a sinking heart, I nodded morosely. “I understand.” Probably much better than he thought I did. “Thank you, Harry. Thank you for everything, as always. I’ll keep in touch with you; whatever I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you,” he smiled sadly at me. “I’ll speak to you soon.”
My head fell into my hands for a few moments once he’d gone, the reality of everything hitting me hard, but then I forced myself to snap into action. I needed to go and see the research team now, before things got too overwhelming for me. I would put in some calls myself, too. If I needed more money to keep things the way they were at the moment, then that’s what I would do.