The billionaire’s true love

Part 38

For a few seconds I just stared at the man who first captured my heart and then crushed it, trying to analyze his words. Talk? He wanted to talk? Did he not understand that I was done talking to him?

“No,” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest, making sure to look him in the eyes.

“I didn’t ask for your permission,” Trent replied, a smirk curving one corner of his sensual mouth. Fuck him!

“I don’t care. Get out of here, I don’t want to see you, let alone talk to you,” I bit out.

“You are going to talk to me. Hailey is not going to come back. She is busy getting everything ready,” he replied.

“Getting everything ready for what?” My brows furrowed in confusion.

“You’ll know once we are done talking,” he answered.

“Well I guess I will never know what she’s upto because I have no intention of talking to you.” I told him, looking the other way so as to avoid looking at his beautiful face; it hurt too much.

“If you don’t want to talk then you’ll listen.”

“I don’t want to speak to you, I don’t want to listen to you. Leave me alone, Trent. Go to your precious Tamara, she is waiting for you,” I snapped.

“Aren’t you curious to know why I’m not firing Tamara upon your request?” Those words had my heart pounding. Curiosity unsheathed its claws and dug them in the depths of my brain. I wanted, no, I needed to know why he was not firing Tamara; I needed it like I needed his kisses.

But, I was a proud woman and my heart had been broken, so I had to ignore the piercing ache of curiosity for the sake of my shattered heart and my pride.

“No, I’m not. You can keep your secrets and your precious model to yourself. I’m done asking you qestions, and I am done with you. So get out,” I hissed.

“Pride doesn’t suit you, shady, but jealousy, jealousy suits you beautifully,” Trent commented.

I scoffed. “Go to hell. Nobody cares what you think.” I was surprised to see Trent still standing against the dresser. I was expecting him to charge over here and exert his dominance and power over me like he’d done in the past. But no, he was just standing there, maintaining distance. Did he somehow know that I didn’t need him to be an asshole right now?

“You’re jealous, anybody can see the green aura surrounding you,” Trent stated.

“Shut up! I am not jealous! I have nothing to be jealous of,” I lied. I was jealous of Tamara for having Trent’s heart and attention. There was nothing Trent wouldn’t do for her.

“If you’ll listen to what I have to say, then you’ll have no reason to be jealous,” he said, making me curse his existence in all sorts of ways.

“Stop saying that I’m jealous because I’m not. Now leave me alone before I throw you out myself.” I pointed at the closed door for emphasis. Where the fuck was Hailey when I needed her the most? Oh wait, she was my ex best friend now, she wouldn’t come to help me.

“You are jealous, I can smell it from here,” he responded.

“Go to hell! Why are you still here? Leave!” I shouted. I hated Hailey for letting him in, but then again, could she stop him from coming here? The man was power and authority, I doubted anyone could’ve stopped him.

“I am not leaving until you listen to me. I let you go once, I’m not going to make the same mistake again,” he replied.

“The only mistake you ever made was to meet me. And now, both of us have to deal with the consequences, and I believe it is best if we do that away from each other,” I stated.

“Stop this, bumblebee, stop resisting me, I’ve had enough.” Trent glowered at me but I was not going to back down.

“You stop persuing me, I’ve had enough! What will Tamara think when I’ll tell her that her fiance was at my apartment at night?”

“She will say nothing because there is nothing going on between me and her.” Trent shrugged, an action I found adorable.

I rolled my eyes. “I so believe you.”

“Shut your mouth, shady, because you are now going to listen to me,” Trent commanded, all playfulness gone from his face.

“Or what?” I bit out.

“Or you’ll be screaming my name because if you don’t shut the fuck up right now then I’m going to fuck you; this burning jealousy and your fury turns me on,” Trent said, his voice soft, deep, like a shrouded feather upon my naked soul. His words awoke my sleeping desires, fuelling my passion. But what he’d done was not something I could ignore for the promise of wild sex. No, he belonged to someone else now. I had to swallow the bitter truth.

“You have ten minutes to tell me whatever the hell it is that you need to and then I want you out of my apartment and out of my life,” I acquised.

Trent took a deep breath. “All right then. The reason I can’t fire Tamara is…because of my mother.”

My eyes shot to his dark ones, trying to see whether he was telling the truth or not. And when Trent didn’t blink or avert his gaze, I knew he was telling the truth; his eyes told me so.

“What? Why? What does your step-mother have to do with this?” I questioned. If Trent was doing this for his mother, then this was going to get complicated. Then there was no way I could get rid of Tamara and stop her from poisoning my life.

“Not my step-mother, my birth mother. She is the reason why I can’t fire Tamara,” Trent said.

“Why? How old is Tamara anyway? I mean your mother passed away when you were a kid, right?” I hope I was getting my facts straight. With whatever Trent had told me about his childhood, I distinctly remember his birth mother passing away when Trent was a kid.

“Tamara is older than me, you silly girl; she was around fifteen when my mother noticed her; I was fourteen months old at that time.” Amusement sparkled in Trent’s gaze as my eyes widened. Tamara was older than Trent! Then why did she tell the media that she and Trent were engaged to be married?

“Tamara is older than you! But-but she looks so young; I mean not forty!” I cried out.

“Tamara is not forty, shady.” Trent shook his head.

“I don’t care how old she is. She is an old, ugly witch according to me. But oh my God, she is so old!” I grinned, I knew one of her secrets now.

“Are you going to keep celebrating her age or are you going to listen to what I have to say?” Trent sounded annoyed.

“Yes, yes, continue please.” I smiled at him.

“Right, so my mother saw Tamara at one of the beauty pageants. My mother was one of the three judges, and when she saw Tamara, she instantly liked her. And when she interviewed her in private after the pageant was over, she discovered that Tamara belonged to an extremely poor family. And so my mother took Tamara under her wing and made her a model of our industry. She told my father that no matter what happened, he won’t fire Tamara because she was the breadwinner of her family,” Trent informed me.

Silence. That’s the response Trent got from me after his little speech. I was surprised to say the least. Trent’s mother made Tamara who she was today, and that was how she repaid her kindness, by lying to the media and trapping her son in a marriage with her.

“Why is Tamara still a model if she is so old?” I cursed my idiocy for asking such a stupid and irrelevant question.

“She is still a model only because of my mother’s wish. She should retire now, and maybe she will, I have yet to talk to her about this. Maybe I’ll give her another job, something to make sure her family doesn’t starve, but she is not fit to be a model anymore. Her face looks too old now, and there is so much the make up artists can do,” he stated.

“She still looks young, the bitch.” I glared at the wall.

“She is not young and she is not beautiful…anymore.” Trent smiled at me.

“So you can’t fire her, then? Because of your mother’s wish.” Trent was only honoring his mother’s wish, but was it so wrong to feel angry about it? I mean, his mother helped her in the past, but it was over now. The Bensons shouldn’t continue feeding Tamara like that. And she had been in the modelling industry long enough to earn a considerable amount of money; enough to feed the next two generations of her family.

“Like I said, I need to talk to her to know why she did what she did. There is nothing going on between Tamara and I, so I need to know why she told the media that we are getting married. And if she fails to provide me with a reasonable explanation then I will fire her; my mother wanted to help her but that doesn’t mean we have to deal with her shit as well,” he stated.

“So what counts as a reasonable explanation for you?” I hoped his idea of a reasonable explanation was reasonable enough, otherwise I would bang my head against the wall.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“To be honest, bumblebee, I don’t know yet.” Trent shrugged. “But I will decide after hearing what she has to say and take the required action according to that.”

“And what if her explanation seems reasonable to you? Then what? You will let her go off scot-free? You will allow her to continue ruining my life?” I needed to know what were the odds of Trent firing Tamara. If there was a chance, then I could hope.

“I have a solution for that, shady, don’t you worry,” he responded.

“What solution, tell me,” I commanded.

“Uh uh uh, be patient, sleeping beauty.”

I huffed in annoyance but allowed the subject to drop for the time being. “Why would Tamara want to marry you when she is so much older than you? Why can’t she marry someone her own age? Or does she have a thing for young men?”

“That is exactly what I intend to find out. I’ve had my assistant call Tamara and tell her to meet me in my office day after tomorrow. I will discuss everything with her,” he answered.

“Why day after tomorrow? Why not tomorrow?” I enquired.

“There are a couple of…things I need to do. Problems…that need to be taken care of. I’ve put them off long enough and now I’ve had it. So once I solve those problems, I’ll meet Tamara and have a serious talk.” Trent told me. The way he said those words was strange; there was an unusual excitement in his voice, totally uncharacteristic of someone who claimed to have to a lot of problems to deal with. I wonder what was it that made him so excited.

“What kind of problems? Are they related to work? And would you be able to work them out in twenty four hours?” I queried. Maybe I could offer to help him. Now that I knew the reason behind Trent’s refusal to fire that tramp, I wasn’t mad at him anymore. Sure, it sucked that she was here because of his mother’s wishes, but that didn’t mean I had to act like a petty, spoiled bitch. I needed to be a woman and face my enemy head on. I had to be strong.

“Uh…not exactly work related, but they are, sort of. I will tell you about them in just a little while,” he replied.

“Listen, Trent. I know I haven’t been the most easiest person as of a few hours ago, but if there is anything I can do to help you, you can tell me,” I offered.

“Oh you will help me, I’ll make sure of it.” He winked; the action causing my stomach to somersault. Just a few hours ago I made the decision to hate Trent forever, but clearly, my heart and mind didn’t agree with me.

“Right. And um…” This was not easy to say, but I had to do it. I knew my ego rivaled the height of Mount Everest, but I had to ignore it. I owed it to Trent.

“Yes, shady?” Trent urged me to speak, to say whatever was taking me so long to say.

“Uh, well…I’m sorry,” I blurted out, my cheeks heating in embarrassment. It was never easy for me to apologize to anyone, but I had to apologize to Trent; for judging him too quickly, for not listening to him, for not being patient with him. Even though I said I was not going to be like other people and jump to conclusions, I did just that. So I had to apologize.

“And what exactly are you apologizing for, sleeping beauty?” Trent enquired.

“You know…” I didn’t want to say it; it was too difficult.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.” He flashed me a grin.

I groaned. “Why do you force me to say it?! Okay fine. I’m sorry for judging you and running off on you when I promised you that I will stay with you. There, I said it.” Man, that was hard.

“It’s alright, bumblebee, in a few hours, I’ll make sure you never go back on your promise ever again,” Trent stated.

“Okay, now you’re starting to scare me. What are you upto? You’ve been weirdly cryptic since you started talking to me; and where is Hailey? What the hell is taking her so long? I’m hungry!” I complained.

“I told you, Hailey is getting everything ready. She will come once everything is in order,” Trent replied.

“See, you’re doing it again! Tell me what is going on, right now, Trent Benson,” I ordered.

Just then, the door of my bedroom opened and entered a breathless Hailey. She looked like she’d run a marathon, flushed. Just looking at my best friend confirmed my suspicions that she and Trent were upto something, but I did not know what.

“Is everything ready?” Trent enquired. God, I had to give him points for being a gentleman. My best friend was gasping for breath and he was worried about his things.

“Yes, it’s all ready. We must hurry up, if you want to…you know,” Hailey replied.

“Right, of course. Why don’t you go and wait in the car, I’ll bring her down.”

“Alright, but hurry.” Hailey looked at me. “And Mandi, don’t create a scene right now, just do as he says.” With those words, Hailey turned and jogged out of the room, leaving me bewildered.

“What was she talking about?” I asked Trent.

“Go wash your face, shady, we need to go, now,” Trent ordered.

“Uh why? What’s going on?”

“Don’t ask questions, just do as I say.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on,” I stated. Trent looked impatient.

“You were worried about Tamara and I getting married, right?”

“Uh yes,” I replied.

“Well that’s one of the problems you are going to help me with,” he stated.

“Okay. But how?”

Trent looked me straight in the eyes as he uttered his next words.

“We are getting married.”