The Billionaires (#1)

21 || High Hopes

Meryl was stunned to silence as the jeweller placed the set of expensive rings in front of her. She stared at the rings in awe and shook her head in disbelief; she had expected many things tonight, but this was not even at the back of the list. She had certainly not expected to have a set of expensive diamond engagement rings placed in front of her and asked to choose whichever one she wanted.

"Jorge, this is incredible, this is…wow!" She breathed, and Jorge gave her a big smile that melted her heart on the spot. She stared at the rings to keep herself from crying because of the emotions feuding inside of her. "Uhm…I don't know what to choose, there's a lot of options." She said to the jeweller who was not the least interested in the rings but on Jorge.

“Choose something that’s gonna make all women wish it was them getting married to me," Jorge said softly, and Meryl nodded and took in a shaky breath before averting her gaze to the beautiful gems.

"I'll go with this one." She picked a huge rock; a diamond ring with 24 carats. It had a small blue gem in the middle that made it unique from the other rings; it was beautiful and had everything required to make any woman wish they were marrying Jorge Billings.

"You have made the right choice, that's the only one of its kind available." The jeweller said, finally seeing a lot of zeros instead of the flame in the room.

Jorge also nodded in approval. "I agree with you. Well, looks like we'll be taking it. My lawyer will keep in touch with you; we are dealing with a lot of money here, Mrs Luis." Jorge said.

"I understand, Mr Billings." Mrs Luis said as she carefully closed the ring box and placed it in her bag.

“Good. I’ll have to get back to you about the size.” Jorge said as he took the ring out of Meryl’s hand. “I’ll walk you out.” He said and gestured at the door.

"Thank you." Mrs Luis blushed, and Meryl rolled her eyes.

Jorge walked her out and thanked her for making time to come and see him. He closed the door and walked back to where Meryl sat on the couch. “Listen, Jorge, I-” Meryl started, but Jorge cut her off as he took her hand in his and sat down next to her.

“Before you say anything, Meryl, I just want to say thank you for all of this; you have no idea how much it means to me.” He said sincerely, gratitude written all over his face. Meryl smiled at him; she had never seen Jorge like this before. “I swear that I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve spent years playing with women’s hearts and feelings, thinking that it would make me happy, but I was wrong; it did not get me anywhere and it did me no good. All I benefitted from this was almost losing the woman I love the most in this world.” Jorge chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not getting any younger, Meryl. I need to settle down; I want to come back to a home filled with love and happiness. I want to have my own family- I want to come back home to my kids running to me and calling me ‘daddy.’ I want that kind of happiness and love that blossom every day.” Tears of joy were rolling down Meryl’s face as she took in every word he said, but everything stopped when he spoke again, “and I can’t imagine that life without Sonya.”

“W-what?” She asked, and Jorge blushed slightly.

“I’m going to propose to my girlfriend, Sonya Smith. That is why I asked you here so that you could help me choose the perfect ring for her.” Meryl pulled her hand away and jumped away from him as if he had suddenly turned into some kind of a monster. The tears started to flow furiously, and Jorge frowned at her, not understanding why she was suddenly moving away from him.

“Damn you, Jorge Billings.” She said quietly, but Jorge heard her.

“Excuse me?” He asked.

She got off the couch and yelled, “I said, damn you! Damn you, Jorge Billings! I’ve met my share of bastards in my life, but I’ve never met a man as evil as you!” Jorge stared at her with wide eyes. “First, you insulted me and called me a w***e, and then you invite me for dinner at your place so that I could help you choose a ring for your fiancé?” She shrieked, and Jorge flinched; he had never seen Meryl this furious ever, but he still could not understand why she was mad at him. “I went all out for you, damn it! I went to do my hair, I did my nails, I did my eyebrows and eyelashes, I bought a new dress and new shoes- I had a f*****g makeover for you, and you didn’t even notice! You didn’t even tell me that I was beautiful, you jerk!”

Her words sank in and guilt overwhelmed him; now he understood why she looked different. “Meryl…” He stood up, but she backed away from him when he extended his hand to touch her.

“Don’t touch me!” She shouted, and Jorge took a step back. “I hate you, Jorge Billings, I hate you!” She cried and shook her head at her own stupidity. “I hate you.” She said quietly and picked up her handbag from the coffee table, and backed away from him, towards the door.

"Meryl," Jorge said apologetically, but she shook her head and opened the door.

“I actually feel sorry for the woman who’s about to throw away her life for you.” She shook her head and slammed the door shut. Jorge closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

Meryl stood outside his door and cried. She stood against the wall and slid down as she wailed. She was hurting and there was nothing in this world that could compare to the pain she was feeling.

She did not have a car and did not feel like driving back in the car of the same man who hurt her. She opened her bag with shaky hands and took out her phone to call Anita. Meryl did not have many friends; she and Anita were not that close, but she could not think of anyone else to call at the moment. The phone rang and Anita answered on the third ring. “Hello?” Anita’s voice rang through the line.

"Anita." Meryl cried, and a dead silence followed.

“Meryl?”