He Thought I Was Poor,But I Am a Billionaire

Chapter 2

Jayden never did make it home that night, though Mabel couldn't honestly say she was all that broken up about it.

Over the seven years they'd been together, he'd spent so much of his life crisscrossing the globe that even though they called it seven years, the time they'd actually spent under the same roof barely added up to 328 days.

She'd always been well aware that there were other women scattered across his flight routes, but it was only now that she truly understood the one person who'd always held his heart was still his first love, Riley.

Mabel remembered how one of his friends had once told her that Jayden had turned into such a serial dater because his first love had betrayed him, and back then, she'd actually felt sorry for him and genuinely sympathized with the hurt he carried, but now, she was beginning to realize that the person she really ought to have been pitying all this time was herself.

That night, she fell asleep without a single dream to trouble her.

*****

The next morning, she got herself ready and headed straight to NovaSky Airlines to turn in her resignation, since she worked as a private travel consultant under the company's travel branch, the one that crafted bespoke itineraries for well-heeled clients.

No sooner had she walked into the building than she noticed a cluster of flight attendants gathered around a woman, laughing and chattering away.

One of them was saying, "Riley, you've finally come back from Claymont. You disappeared on us seven years ago without so much as a goodbye, and we were all worried sick about you, but now that you're here, it's like the face of NovaSky Airlines has finally come home."

Mabel followed the sound of the chatter and spotted Riley right away, standing in the middle of a small crowd of people who seemed to orbit around her like she was the center of their little universe, and Riley, almost as if she'd felt the weight of someone staring, turned her head and met Mabel's eyes,

In that one suspended moment when their gazes locked—perhaps it was simply that instinctual thing women have, a kind of silent recognition that doesn't need words—they both understood exactly who the other one was without anyone having to say a thing.

Just then, a colleague Mabel was fairly close to sidled up beside her and murmured under her breath, "You see that woman? That's Riley, Captain Gibson's first girlfriend. She just flew back in from Claymont. You've got to give her credit, honestly. She cheated on him, walked out on the relationship, and even after seven years, he still can't seem to get over her."

Riley was dressed in a simple white dress that made her look like some kind of delicate little flower, all innocence and stillness, and Mabel found herself thinking that this, then, was exactly the type of woman Jayden had always fallen for before she looked away, went through the security gate with a quick facial scan, and headed upstairs to the Global Travel Division to hand in her resignation.

The department head stared down at the letter on his desk, completely thrown. "Where is this even coming from?" he said. "You've been killing it here. Just yesterday somebody asked for you by name, wanted you personally as their guide for a trip out to Ashford. You walk now, and where am I supposed to find another private guide who can switch between ten languages on the fly?"

Mabel gave him a gentle, composed explanation. "I've already signed the papers. I'm officially married now," she said. "I'll be going back to my hometown with my husband to hold the wedding, and once that's done, I'll be settling there permanently with no plans to come back."

"When did this happen?" the department head asked, a puzzled frown creasing his forehead. He had always thought she was single. In all the eight years she'd been there, he didn't think he'd ever once heard she was seeing anyone."

She told him honestly, "It was someone my parents arranged for me to meet through a blind date."

He pressed further. "Where's your husband from?"

She gave him only half the answer. "He's from Hale, just like I am, from an ordinary family."

The department head offered his congratulations. "Well, I wish you all the happiness in the world."

After thanking him, Mabel headed over to HR to start the offboarding process, which would take about a week to complete.

Just as she'd finished signing all the resignation paperwork, one of the HR staff called out to her, saying, "Captain Gibson's throwing a welcome-back party for Riley tonight at the Gilded Table. The whole company's been invited. You should come along, since you're leaving soon, and it'll be a nice chance to see everyone one last time before you go."

She agreed.

*****

By eight o'clock that night, Mabel was there at the Gilded Table, where Jayden and Riley sat side by side in the middle of a lively crowd, and his attention never drifted away from Riley for so much as a moment. He probably didn't even realize that Mabel had turned up at all.

The restaurant was filled with laughter and chatter, and Mabel settled into a seat by the window, where she happened to catch a proposal unfolding on the terrace outside. She watched the happy couple fall into each other's arms, and a quiet ache of envy stirred in her chest.

Just then, one of the colleagues called out to Jayden with a teasing grin. "Captain Gibson, I've heard the Gilded Table is practically famous for proposals. Are you here tonight checking out the venue, hoping someone might pop the question to you here someday?"

All eyes turned toward Jayden and Riley with barely concealed curiosity, watching closely to see how they'd react.

Jayden offered nothing but a quiet smile, though his gaze happened to drift across the room and land on Mabel, who was still watching the proposal unfolding on the terrace outside, and a faint flicker of irritation passed through his eyes before he brushed it off with an easy, offhand reply. "If there's any good news, you'll all be the first to know."

Mabel finally pulled her eyes away from the window and found herself meeting his gaze for the briefest second, but she simply pretended she hadn't heard a word of it and turned right back to the colleague beside her, picking up their conversation as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, one flight attendant after another kept raising their glasses to Riley, and Jayden drank every single toast on her behalf, even though drinking that much was strictly frowned upon for a captain. But he seemed more than willing to set that rule aside for her.

Before long, he was completely done in, barely able to keep himself upright as he slumped heavily against Riley's shoulder.

She wrapped her arms around him and glanced around the table at everyone else. "Jayden's done in. Could one of you give me a hand getting him home?"

One of the colleagues laughed and called out, "Oh, come on, Riley, don't be kidding around. You're practically family to him. How could you leave it to any of us outsiders to step in?"

The word "family" landed somewhere in Mabel's chest with an unexpected weight, and she found herself thinking back over the seven years she'd been with Jayden, realizing that no one had ever once described what they had in those terms.

Mabel took a sip of water, but then, she watched as Jayden, drunk and swaying, slung his arm around Riley and slurred, "I'm not going home, babe. Wherever you are is where home is, so I'm staying with you."