Falling For The Billionaire
1002 Words
Chapter Eight: Falling for the Billionaire (For Real)
The silence between us stretched for days.
Not cold… just tired.
We went to events. We smiled. We played the part.
But at night, in the penthouse, we were ghosts.
Passing each other in hallways. Eating in separate rooms. Breathing the same air, but never touching.
The thing is, when your marriage is fake, you expect the feelings to be fake too.
But mine weren’t.
Not anymore.
And I hated that.
Because I could handle pretending to be his wife.
I couldn’t handle pretending not to care.
---
One night, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I found him in his home office, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, staring at something on his laptop like it had personally offended him.
I stood in the doorway, heart pounding.
“We need to talk,” I said.
He didn’t look up. “Not now.”
I walked in anyway. “Yes. Now.”
He finally glanced up. “What is it?”
I crossed my arms. “Why are you pushing me away?”
He leaned back slowly, face unreadable. “You know why.”
“No, I don’t,” I snapped. “You act like I’m some… risk. Like I’m going to ruin you by caring.”
“You’re not a risk,” he said calmly. “You’re the danger.”
That made me laugh. “Danger? Me? I wear socks with cartoons on them.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” he said, standing. “You were never supposed to matter.”
My throat tightened. “But I do. Don’t I?”
His eyes met mine.
And for the first time, he didn’t lie.
“Yes.”
The word hit me like a wave.
“Yes,” he repeated, softer this time. “You matter. That’s the problem.”
I blinked. “So what do we do now?”
He stepped closer. “I let you go.”
“What?”
“This contract was supposed to protect me. From scandal. From vulnerability. From feeling anything.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get to run now. Not after everything.”
“I’m trying to protect you too.”
“From what, Xander?” I said, voice shaking. “From you?”
He didn’t answer.
And I realized—he wasn’t afraid of the world.
He was afraid of me. Of us.
Of how real it had all become.
---
The next morning, I woke up to a letter on my nightstand.
Not a text.
A letter.
> Reina,
I never wanted to need anyone.
But then you walked in.
And now I can’t imagine this life without you.
Which is why I have to let you go.
Because the only thing worse than losing everything…
is losing you.
– X
I read it twice. Then three times.
Then I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Because he loved me.
And he still chose to walk away.
---
A week passed.
I moved out of the penthouse.
The press said we were “taking space,” and I didn’t correct them. I buried myself in old design projects, ignored the calls from Elia, and cried into my pillow like the heartbroken wife I technically wasn’t.
Until one day, Savannah showed up.
On my doorstep.
Uninvited.
In heels.
“Cute place,” she said, peeking around. “Very… DIY.”
“What do you want?”
She smiled. “He’s miserable, you know. I saw him yesterday at some press thing. Dark circles. Cranky. Very un-Xander.”
I crossed my arms. “Not my problem.”
“Oh, come on. You love him.”
“Yeah. I do,” I said, surprising even myself. “But he’s the one who walked away.”
Savannah looked at me for a long moment.
Then she pulled something out of her purse and tossed it onto the counter.
It was a folder.
A new contract.
“No cameras. No board. Just him,” she said. “He’s trying to buy back the shares he gave up for the marriage deal. He’s dissolving it all. For you.”
I stared at the folder.
“You didn’t hear this from me,” she added. “But if someone was willing to give up a billion-dollar empire just to be real with you… maybe it’s not fake anymore.”
Then she walked out.
Leaving me stunned.
And suddenly, I was running.
---
Xander’s office was in the heart of the city.
I didn’t have an appointment. I didn’t care.
I stormed through security. Through assistants. Straight into his office like I owned it.
He stood from behind his desk, shocked.
“Reina—”
“You gave up everything?” I shouted. “Your company? Your control? For me?”
He stepped forward. “I—”
“You idiot.”
“What?”
“You absolute billionaire i***t,” I said, voice cracking. “You could’ve just told me you loved me.”
He blinked. “I didn’t think I deserved to.”
I laughed, tears in my eyes. “No one does. That’s not how love works. We just choose it. Every day.”
He stared at me.
And then he kissed me.
For real.
Not for cameras. Not for the contract.
Just for us.
And in that moment, I knew we weren’t pretending anymore.
We were just two broken people who accidentally found everything they needed in each other.
---
One Year Later
“Mrs. Knight, you’re glowing,” Elia teased, fluffing my dress.
I stood in the mirror, heart racing.
But this time, it wasn’t a contract wedding.
It was real.
Flowers. Friends. Laughter.
And him.
Waiting at the altar.
Smiling like I was the only girl in the world.
I walked down the aisle, every step a full-circle moment.
Because sometimes love doesn’t start with butterflies.
Sometimes it starts with a broken heart, a fake marriage, and a billionaire who didn’t believe in forever…
Until you.
- Writer
