THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN SIN

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 — Locked Door

Regina's POV

The drive from the restaurant to my house was completely on ice, and nobody had said a word to another since the car moved. I should thank him for his help earlier since I hadn't done that, but I took my face off completely and watched the streetlights go by instead.

The scene earlier played in my head non-stop. How I went from almost getting humiliated, to a stranger coming to my rescue, and now standing at the edge of losing someone dearer to me.

Everything pissed me off, including the man giving me a drive.

Mum was already outside under the porch light, the one that had been flickering since March and still hadn’t been fixed. Her face changed the second she spotted the car.

My hand went for the door handle before the car could balance itself, but it was locked.

"Is that your grandmother?" He finally broke the silence as he was looking past me at her. "She is too old to be up this late waiting for you."

Heat crawled up my neck, but I forced my voice to stay even. "That's my mum," I said, still fumbling for the handle in this car that had felt wrong the moment I sat down.

He didn't apologize, just looked at her another second like he was trying to memorize her face before turning back to me. "You've got her eyes."

"Can you unlock this?" I said bluntly, not minding his compliment.

He kept going like I hadn't said anything.

"You are annoyed back at the restaurant. I only wanted to finish my help. Is that too much?"

I paused and faced him properly.

“That was too dumb of you,” my jaw clenched, and my voice raised in a way I never wanted. “Do you know how important he is to me, and you made me disappointed him like that?”

"Really?" He shrugged. “I guess I should have waited just a bit and see if this superman would have saved you earlier at the restaurant,” he smiled faintly.

“He may not, and I don't care.” I shook my head in disgust. “And I had never needed your help either. You only choose to come in.”

He turned and laughed at me, not hard but enough to remind me all I said wasn't real.

"You've got some tough voice, girl. You should have used them at the restaurant earlier.”

"What did you mean? Don't you ever call me a girl. I'm a grown-up lady." My voice went up before I could stop it because I didn't care who he was or what he'd just done for me, I wouldn't let anyone talk to me like that.

He stared at me and gave no reaction as he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a card, cream and thick paper, the kind that cost more than my weekly grocery budget. He held it out between two fingers instead of just handing it to me.

"I had wronged you badly. A dinner with me is worth compensating," he said in low cold voice.

"Never." It came out blunt. My eyes had reddened completely.

"That wasn't really a question."

"And mine wasn't really an answer either. Look, thank you for everything you did at the restaurant. I genuinely appreciate it, but we're done here with no debts either way, and I'd like to get out of this car and just forget tonight happened."

"You really think we're done? I'm sure we aren't." His voice came out flat. "We only just met and we can get to know each other better."

"And that's kind of my point. I don't want us to know better than what we were tonight."

"Regina, what exactly are we tonight?" His voice raised slightly, I couldn’t explain if that was annoyance or a desperate move to convince me completely.

"We are nothing," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "You stepped in when I needed you—"

“Where you needed me?” he said with another smile.

I tilted my head to the back, and I was completely drained.

“Regina, this is where things get interesting."

"Just get me out of this car." My voice had exhausted its patience this time.

He stared at me for a moment with the card still in his hand. "You need to take this along."

"I'm not!" I grabbed the card and flipped it onto the car cabin harder than I needed to before going back for the handle again and yanking it. My wrist throbbed from the effort, but I yanked harder again.

"Let me out."

"Regina—"

"I mean it, let me out of this car right now—"

He didn't say a word, he watched me struggle with the car handle before I turned back to look at him.

And at the instance, his hand crawled up slowly, fingers brushing my chin before tilting my face toward his. I should have pulled away and I wanted to pull away, but something in his eyes held me there just for a second. And that second was all he needed.

Before I could process anything, his mouth was on mine, firm and warm and completely unfair.

I was supposed to protest and push him away, but I don't know what happened to my hands in that second. Instead, I found myself gripping his shirt tightly like I'd been waiting for this part all day.

Then I got my brain back and shoved him away. “What’s wrong with you?" My voice cracked. My hand landed on his cheek with a loud bang of slap, and I was pained he pushed me that far.

No apology this time either, just that fierce look like he'd figured something out about me and was proud of it.

"This is not fair! You are a beast!" I shouted just to make him answer for his ruthless personality.

He reached over without a word and the lock clicked instantly.

I didn't stick around for an explanation. I shoved the door open and got out fast, nearly stumbling onto the sidewalk.

I didn't care to confirm if he'd gone or not and just walked toward my mum, who'd been watching a scene she couldn't explain this whole time.

"Regina, who was that?" Mum was already coming down the steps with anxiousness on her face. "I said, whose car is that? Has Kelvin bought a car?" she pressed harder.

"Nobody." That's all I could say, I brushed past her, got the front door open, and went straight inside.

"Nobody? You mean a ghost just drops you off in a car like that?" She followed me straight into the kitchen. "Regina—"

"Mum, I said it's nothing. Don't frustrate me tonight!” My voice bursted and I hated it.

She stared at the me for a second.

"You're shaking."

"I'm cold."

"It's not cold out."

I turned to her, frustrated and completely drained at her desperation for an answer. And she should be, seeing her daughter sit in a limousine five minutes after the car pulled off was worth questioning, but not at that moment.

"Mum, I said I'm fine. I'm fine." I pulled her into a tight hug, hoping that would save the conversation.

Then a knock came on the door and I already knew what it was. I didn't know how but somehow I did.

Drew was standing on the step like the whole thing five minutes ago hadn't happened, holding my phone in one hand and that same stupid card in the other.

"You left your phone in the car, likewise this." He held both out.

I grabbed the phone and left the card hanging in the air between us until he finally tucked it away himself.

"Seven o'clock, tomorrow," he said, like all my rejection fell to his dead ear. "I'll have someone pick you up."

"Don't try it, and I mean it." My anger boiled up again.

He smiled at that, the same annoying unbothered smile since we met. He turned and left before I could say another word.

I turned and slammed the door behind, hard enough to rattle something loose in the frame and landed my phone on the counter. From the loud bang, I knew the screen would have split right across the middle.

Mum looked at the phone, then at me, then back at the door like she was trying to decide which question to bring up first.

Before she could rain another pack of questions, I picked my phone, went to my room and sat on the edge of the bed for a long time. Not really thinking, but trying to explain how a savior had become a hunter in the span of one night.

And no matter how I turned it over in my head, I couldn't shake the feeling that this is chaos that isn't ending soon, and that scared me more than anything.

My phone buzzed.

Kelvin. A text message.

I stayed behind and watched you entered his car as he dropped right at your house. I thought as much since you told me never to bother giving you a ride. So you meant it, you are truly leaving. Never should we meet again, but I promise you will regret this.

I curled up on my bed, shivering, and all I could do was to cry.