Taken By The Arrogant Billionaire

“A penny for your thoughts” He repeated.

She stared at him suspiciously. Meeting with a complete stranger for the second time today. That was not a coincidence, was it? He dragged the chair back. It made a screeching sound on impact. He saw her suspecting expression and quickly made to explain.

“I was just passing by and happened to see you here, so I decided to check” he lied. He had spent most of the time at the company, waiting for her to come back out. He had followed her when she did. She nodded.

“You look worried. Want to talk about it?”

“We are not close enough” she snapped. She bit the insides of her cheek. She desperately wanted to speak to someone. Sandy was newly married, and Layla…. well was nowhere to be found. The matter was eating her up. She cleared her throat.

“How….. How do you know if you are starting to like someone?”

Damon frowned. “You like someone?”

“Just answer the damn question… You know what, never mind. I’m out of here ” she grabbed her purse, standing up to leave.

“Wait. Let me take you. My car is outside” she was going to deny, but a free ride would not hurt. She nodded and together they left the place.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Outside, Jared sat in his car. He sat up, smiling when he saw her come out, but the smile was soon wiped off when he saw someone behind her. She went in alone, but came out with a man! He gripped the wheels tightly and his veins began to pop out. He watched as the guy opened the car door for her. His anger heightened when he saw her smile at him. She just smiled at him! He felt like killing someone.

He, also like Damon, had followed her discreetly after she left the company.

He started the car immediately theirs moved.

Damon dropped her before her house.

“Thanks for bringing me home”

He nodded. “I hope to see you again” she made no reply to that. His eyes stayed on her till she closed the door behind her before it went to the mirror. He could see the car behind him, and the driver was seething. The asshole actually followed them. Was he actually serious about his secretary? He chuckled. Alright then. Let the game begin. He drove off smiling happily.

She arrived at her office to Kathy smiling weirdly.

“What?”

Kathy wiggled her brows. “Can you please say something and stop doing that?” Then Kathy pointed at something she hadn’t seen.

“This-” on her table sat a beautiful bouquet of red roses.

“It arrived this morning” Kathy said, looking visibly hungry for gossip. “Someone’s got a lover, huh?” She winked. The name of the sender was not written there. She wondered who would have sent her flowers. Or was it sent to the wrong address. She was still thinking about it when a call came in. She frowned. She didn’t know this number.

“Did you like my present?”

“Who is this?”

“You can’t recognize me by my voice? I’m so hurt” he whined. “It’s Damon” she walked to a secluded space, away from Kathy’s probing eyes.

“Why did you send flowers?”

“I woke up this beautiful morning and thought of a certain pretty person. It prompted me to send you something beautiful. Don’t you like it?” She did. It was beautiful. But why did she feel he was flirting with her?

“I like it, but please stop sending me flowers” without letting him say something else, she ended the call and went back to the office.

“So?”

Valerie sighed. “Nothing gets past you, does it? They are from a friend. Not what you think”

“A male friend”

“Well, yes. Not really a friend, but he is still a fr… Can you please stop quizzing me?” She was about to get dizzy from trying to explain. Kathy gave her a suggestive smile, but she ignored it. She picked up the flowers. She didn’t like Damon sending her flowers, but it will be such a pity to throw these pretty things away. Jared arrived just in time to see her take a sniff of the flowers. His gaze darkened. Roses? So she had an admirer now? And she even liked his presents. His mind went back to the scene he encountered at the restaurant, and his blood boiled anew. He needed to speed things up. He could not let someone else take what was his.

************

Jane bit on her finger as she paced back and forth in Xavier’s apartment. She had tried calling him severally, but he wasn’t picking up and came to his house. He wasn’t there too. Did something go wrong? Impossible. He was a professional hit man. She heard a click on the door and heaved and a sigh of relief.

“Why are you here?” Xavier asked, surprised to see her in his apartment.

“I was waiting for your news and when I heard nothing, I came. I’m glad you are back. Now let’s celebrate”

“Celebrate what?” He asked as she opened the refrigerator and brought out a bottle of wine and two wine glasses.

“Her death. My archenemy is gone!” She laughed, pouring the content. Xavier pursed his lips.

“Actually….. she’s not dead”

She paused, slammed the glass down and slowly walked towards him. “What do you mean she’s not dead?”

“It didn’t work out” he shrugged.

Her face became red with anger. “Did you miss the target or what?”

“I didn’t use a gun”

Her forehead creased in confusion. “If you didn’t use a gun, then what did you use?”

“I tried to run her over”

Jane raised a brow. “With a car?”

“No. My motorcycle” He had barely finished when a hard slap landed on his cheek. His eyes burned with fury.

“A motorcycle!” She said incredulously. “You tried to kill someone with a motorcycle? How much more stupid can you get?”

Xavier clenched his teeth angrily. His breathing came out labored.

He pushed her against the wall, his hands on her neck, but he didn’t choke her.

“Now listen very well. The fact that I do things for you does not make me your servant. If you think you can treat me the same way you treat others, then you are so wrong” It was a battle of glares as they glared daggers at each other. He finally released her. She shot him one last lethal glare before storming out, cursing.

************

Valerie was seated in the car with Jared, his eyes glued to his tablet. She felt extremely uncomfortable being so close to him, but he didn’t seem to notice. According to him, they were on their way to a business meeting, one she didn’t know about.

They arrived at the five-star restaurant, and were led in. Oddly, there was no one there. It was so silent that even a pin dropping will make a noise. She looked around. Why were the people they wanted to meet not here yet? Jared wasn’t someone who would accept such, but presently, he didn’t look mad. A waiter walked up to them asking for their orders. She was going to explain that they were here for a meeting but was interrupted by Jared, who gestured at the menu before her.

“Order whatever you want”

“But this -”

“Just do it, it’s an order” she bit her lips, nodding. She turned to the waiter.

“Can you come back later. I would have made my decision by then”

“Alright” he left. Shakily, under Jared’s stare, she picked up the menu, putting it before her face, so it covered it. Her eyes weren’t on what was written there, instead she was sneakily glancing at the man before her.

“What are you doing?” His voice came suddenly and startled the hell out of her.

“Huh? Looking for what to order, of course. It’s really hard to make a choice. The food here is amazing ” she said, nodding.

“It is upside down”

“What?”

“You are holding the menu upside down”