The Billionaire's Whispers Of Pleasure

Chapter 8

Those pair of green eyes look at me through the black mask. They are what I remember them to be: intense and powerful. He's someone that makes you tremble in unknown fear just by being in his presence. I didn't see the face of the person I bumped into earlier in the restaurant, but seeing him now raises the possibility that it was him. I furtively inhale a deep breath before I slowly walk toward him, careful not to trip onto the gown.

“Be confident. Don't let people think that you are weak,” he utters.

He opens an arm for me and I nod before I hold onto his arm before we slip out of the door.

“Do not talk to everyone here and just hold onto me,” he warns.

“Why do I have to attend this with you? What does this party have to do with me?” I ask, still unable to make sense of everything.

“This will matter for you in the future,” he answers yet vaguely. What does he mean by that? I want to ask more, but we have already stepped into the elevator, and I can see everyone is looking at us—at me particularly, judging me in any way possible.

“Be confident. Right now, you are the most powerful woman here. Everyone looks up to you. Don't let them see through your expression,” he reminds me again quietly. Even though everything is not making any sense, I listen to what he's saying. I clear my mind and keep repeating what he said to me: I'm the most powerful here and everyone looks up to me, and suddenly it's as if I'm possessed by someone, I hold onto him more confidently, so when the door opens, everyone gathers and looks at us with envy and jealousy. I don't exactly know the reason why I'm here, but whatever it is I can't disappoint him.

I put on a smile before I look up to the man beside me, he meets my gaze and flashes me a smile, putting on a show. Tables are scattered everywhere. We make our way to a table located in a center as everyone keeps their eyes on us. Mr. Mysterious Man pulls out a chair for me, and I flash him an appreciative smile before I take a seat. He then sits across from me. A group of people walk up to us and start talking to us; they call the person beside me Rocco.

“Good day, Rocco, who's this beautiful lady with you?” a man asks. A woman is clinging to his arm, eyeing me up and down through the mask, assessing if I'm worthy to even be close to Rocco's presence.

“Well, you will know later,” Rocco responds knowingly, and the man laughs in excitement. I cover my ears when a speaker screeches, stealing our attention. We all turn our heads to the person standing on a platform as he says jokingly, “I apologize for that,” he trails off, laughing, “Well, we all know why we're here. And that's to celebrate our partnership with the most powerful and successful businessman in the world.”

As everyone listens to the person on the platform, I roam my eyes around and observe how everyone acts and talks. I notice, everyone seems to be uneasy. Suddenly, my phone vibrates with a message, and I frown at what I read: you will die if you don't leave this place. It's from an unsaved contact number. Uneasiness creeps into me, and when I look up, the man across from me, or Rocco, whatever he's called, meets my gaze.

“Don't show weakness, Valeria. As long as you're with me, you're safe.”

Whoever texted me is obviously here, and they know me. How can I be calm after receiving a text like that? Just what kind of people are gathered here?

“I want to leave,” I announce.

“No, you can't. Once you leave, you will make yourself their prey all the more,” he cautions.

“This will be finished in a few minutes, by then I will have someone drive you home,” he continues, reassuring me.

“Let's call on Rocco. Let's give him a round of applause.”

I draw my attention back to the platform as everyone starts clapping. Rocco stands up and starts making his way to the platform, asserting power and superiority. It's not hard to tell that everyone here is after his power and is just waiting for him to fail.

The place falls into silence as everyone awaits what Rocco is going to say. The man whom everyone admires and envies is the same man who asked me to unzip his pants and suck his d**k. No matter how powerful a person is, I realize, we all share something in common: our hunger for lust.

“I want to thank everyone for coming here. This event is only successful because of your presence. Over the past years, I see how everyone fails and succeeds in this field, and it's true that without everyone's unity in missions and goals, a business is meant to go downhill, but more so, a leader should not fear to fail, as true success begins from the leader who dares to take risks and jump first from a cliff of the unknown. But we all know a leader is meant to pass on his success...”

Everyone starts to whisper among themselves from what the last sentence they heard.

“Taking a risk comes with planning the future, and to continue the future of our success, hence I will announce to you our future...” My heart ascends to my throat as Rocco meets my gaze among the crowd.

“Miss Valeria. Our future.”

Everyone turns their heads to me as they follow Rocco’s gaze. Taking a deep breath, I put on a smile, stand up, and make my way toward the platform. I can hear everyone whisper in disbelief and anger, but they can't go against Rocco. Some may have expected that their names would be called. I don't know what Rocco is planning and why I'm suddenly involved in this. I can only trust him now.

When I reach the platform, Rocco holds my hand, and everyone starts clapping. Someone yells, “For our future!” and everyone follows suit.

“You're doing a great job,” Rocco mutters.

A moment later, Rocco holds my hand as we walk off the platform, and everyone starts congratulating Rocco and me. I keep quiet just as I was told, and when we have the chance to leave everyone, Rocco brings me to a corner before saying, “Edward will be picking you up here. Wait for me in the car. I will follow you in a moment.”

A minute later, Mr. Edward arrives. He bobs his head down to Rocco. before looking at me and smiling, “Let's go.”

“O-okay.” I realize I haven't opened my mouth since his announcement. I'm in great shock and I don't know what to make of everything that's going on at all. It's getting dark already.

Later, Mr. Edward opens the door to the passenger seat and I mutter, “T-Thank you.” before sliding in. Mr. Edward hops in the driver seat and that's when I get the courage to ask, “Please tell me what's going on.”

What's only clear to me is that he's using me.

“That must have surprised you. I'm sorry, I can only tell you to trust him.” I don't speak anymore. He will not tell me anything anyway even if I force him. Silence enters the car for a few minutes before Rocco arrives. Mr. Edward gets out and opens the door to the driver's seat. I wrinkle my forehead. I thought Mr. Edward would be driving me home. Mr. Edward bows his head to Rocco before he throws me a glance and departs.

Rocco still has his mask on. I have taken mine off. I watch as he puts the key in the ignition before the car roars to life. He pulls out of the parking space, and later we're on the road, but still he hasn't spoken to me yet. There's only silence reigning between us, and I'm getting irritated because he doesn't seem to have a plan to explain everything to me. I cross my arms over my chest and exhale a breath of annoyance, and that's when I catch his attention as he looks at me through the rearview mirror, and I look away. There's something in his eyes that does something in me.

“Let's reach your place first before I tell you everything,” he says which only increases my annoyance.

“Whatever,” I mutter. When I see the road and place become familiar, I exhale a breath of relief.

“You should have received the money in your account by now,” he declares. What does he mean? I quickly pull up my bank account on my phone and I can't believe the amount of money I have right now. He sent me an astounding two million bucks.

“I... why?” I don't know what to say. I mean, I expected to be paid for what I did earlier, but I didn't expect it to be this much.

“That's for breaching our contract,” he responds, indifferent. It was never mentioned in the contract I signed that I would need to go somewhere else aside from our meet-up place at the bar, but paying this much for breaching the contract is just unbelievable.

“Well, I think... it's too much,” I complain but I'm jumping in joy and excitement on the inside. This money is going to solve all my problems, and I can finally buy a car and maybe move to a better apartment. But what's the substitute for this money? I remember that text that I received when I was at the party. They told me I was going to die if I did not leave the place, but nothing happened to me though.

Rocco does not respond anymore and looks more serious this time. When we arrive at the apartment, he looks at me through the rearview mirror and says, “That money is nothing, Valeria,” he trails off.

“I should have not brought you there, but it's the only way for you to be safe. Just trust me. The less you know, the safer you will be.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“You won't understand it now if I tell you everything. I'm only asking for you to trust me.”