Billion Dollar Vows

Chapter6

Leila

The room went utterly silent, except for the ticking of a grandfather clock in the hall. The air between us turned frigid. James Harrison slowly placed his fork down, the soft clink echoing in the vast dining room.

He laced his fingers in front of me. I didn't realize it, but a single crystal-clear tear trailed down my cheek. A devastating emptiness filled me up.

I just needed him to shut up. I got tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. I didn't even know where to begin. Last week I saw Molly at work. We went out for brunch in the middle of it, and she went inside to use the loo. I saw an incoming call from her phone, it said an unknown number. The phone number called again, then I saw his number. It was a number I could recognize anywhere from six-four-eight-eight at the end. A ping from a message came in. “I’m alone today, drop by after work,” it said.

When Molly came back, I had to fake it. I tried to pretend I didn't know what was happening. Even when he shouted at me in the middle of the night when I had to submit those articles, I was already avoiding him. I didn’t want to believe what I saw.

Molly was my best friend. I didn't believe she could do that to me. We met during my internship after university. I introduced her to everyone, my father and Barry. I had to confront Barry myself. What better way than to snap in his face. Worst decision I made. Ever.

The thought of the man in front of me made me freeze. This James man had audacity. His company left me hanging, didn’t buy the apologies of our companies one bit. We told them it was a mistake, but they went ahead to threaten them with either having them blacklisted or firing me. Now the debt on my apartment I was supposed to pay with my salary was nowhere to be found.

Now he comes all of a sudden. Doesn’t know that his company ruined my life by asking for my hand in marriage?

That felt like escaping the belly of a whale to enter a Lion’s den. Locked up in the darkness of anticipated death for good.

“The future of your family's bloodline rests in your hands, Leila, you need to know about this.”

What did he mean with this? Father told me to come to his house. He had something important to tell me, but I just had to break the news to Barry first. He broke my phone, using a metal plank to hit my leg. He instantly turned into a beast and when the random call from James came in, I needed all the help I could get, and it had to be this insane man claiming he wanted to be my husband…

Now I'm all alone with him in their giant castle or whatever it was, and I don’t know how he knew my phone number or the particular address.

I was the worst person with eye contact, and it looked like the man in front of me was already realizing it. He had a smug smile. After tomorrow, I’ll book a flight and return to London and live with my aunt Madelyn and Jasmin, away from my father and the madness that happened within those twenty-four hours.

I've had enough of it.

“What do I need to know, Mr James? Enlighten me, or better humor me again with the marriage crap,” I said. I knew I sounded rude, but I was honestly just fed up with everything.

“Do you know who your grandfather was?” He ignored my antics. His fingers tightened on the table, my eyes traced his veins that went up his fore arm.

“Yes, of course, Grandpa Tristan. He lives in London currently.”

James leaned back in his seat with a sigh.

“Your father's side?” he asked.

“Not so sure. He passed away but he lived in London."

He leaned in closer to me. His eyes held such seriousness that it could potentially make a newborn cry. His jawline was so sharp and his expressions tightened.

“You’re more than clueless about this situation, Leila.”

James revealed to me things I'd never known. My head tilted in amazement. I burst out laughing in his face. I had to give him that, he was hilarious and an excellent storyteller at that.

The deep frown lines I saw instantly sent chills down my spine. His shoulders tensed and his nose flared.

“Do I look like I play games? Leila, if you don't know, this is a critical situation, and you’re the only one that can take us both out of it.”

I looked down at my soup and it was getting cold. I took another sip of it and thought deeply.

So, all this time, I was bullied, undermined for not being financially up there with the popular kids. All the time, I studied so I could get into the University of Edinburgh to increase my knowledge so I could become the best writer. All of that came crashing down at this particular moment…

I was always meant to be in a family that inherited fortunes, that went on random trips, that could hold conversations about billion dollar contracts. Talk about a billion dollars in revenue over dinner. All that came crashing because of one man: Thomas Harrison. The media's Golden CEO with his picture-perfect wife, Jenna Harrison, and his oldest son, David. All that life, all that legacy… was never meant for them. It was meant for me.

My shoulders slumped, and I couldn't look up to James again. I felt like I had been robbed. I didn't know all this.

I was extremely rude to my father and the man in front of me. But what really could I do about it? I'm nobody. Nobody cares for me. I've not even grieved my boyfriend. My best friend, the only girl I trusted with all my secrets, betrayed me the minute Barry showed her interest.

It all makes sense now. She always complains about how she’s still sad. She has no guy ever batted an eye at her, or if they did, they weren't her type. All that for her to cheat with my boyfriend.

I looked to my stomach, I could even be pregnant with Barry right now. Would James even treat me with basic human decency if he knew? I'm not even sure of it myself. I felt James' eyes on me. Boring holes. I knew he wanted me to say something, to say anything. My mind was racing with different thoughts. The room suddenly went quiet.

He stood up slowly, the chair scraping loudly against the marble floor, and walked towards me. Every instinct in my body screamed to run, to move, but my legs refused to move an inch.

He stopped just a step away, his presence heavy, suffocating. He bent down slightly towards me, his strong cologne hitting me like a cold breeze.

“Leila,” he said quietly, “this is neither a story nor is it a joke.”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“You have twenty‑four hours to decide… or everything your family built dies with you.”