In Love With Mr. Billionaire - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

**** Aaron's POV ****
The highway was deserted as my car zoomed past the endless trails of trees on either side of the road. There was not a living being in sight. The darkness at the ostensible end of the road merged with the black sky at the horizon. I had driven too far away.
Driving helped me calm myself down. It helped me collect my thoughts. After a whole day of business meetings and stressful negotiations, driving back home helped me process the entire day, produce new ideas and find ways to put them to action. It was like therapy. So was Caroline. The smiling face and loving hug with which she always welcomed me home was enough to squeeze away whatever stress was still left behind.
Though neither of them was helping tonight.
The more I drove in the dark, the more I was thinking about the things I was trying to get away from. The image of Caroline's bruised face was a constant. I could not get it out of my mind. Whenever my mind tried to deviate from the events of the day, it would flash before my eyes, filling me with murderous rage.
I had to admit I was angry when Carter informed me about the transaction. I was angry at Caroline for falling into that trap. I wanted a confrontation. I wanted an explanation. Yet when she did come back to me, all I could do was stare back. Her bruised face was my undoing.
It was never about money. I've been trying to convince her to spend it without hesitation for so long, that it wouldn't have even mattered. Hell, I would have been happy that she was finally using it. But the transaction leading that sum of money to that asshole's account was something I was not going to accept.
He had played her into this trap and in turn, he had involved me in it too. This could have ended with me getting my money back from him, but after everything that Caroline told me about her childhood after everything she had endured living with her said 'father', James was in it for a big surprise.
He did not deserve a daughter like Caroline. She was too good for him. How she had managed to still keep the kindness in her even after everything that had happened to her was a mystery. All I knew was she deserved a better life. She deserved all the happiness that she was deprived of.
I was going to keep her safe, away from that asshole and close to me. I was going to give her that happiness, but is that what I had done today? The hurt in her eyes on knowing the truth was no better than the bruises on her face—if not worse.
My only solace was that she got to know the truth from me. If it was anyone else, it would have shattered her heart.
The contract was a thing of the past, it had stopped mattering to me the moment Caroline had said yes. It was not the reason why I was with her. It was so insignificant to me that I had almost dismissed how she was going to feel when she found out. But the moment she told me about her past, I knew I had to confess it to her. James had been manipulating and lying to her all her life, I could not bear doing the same to her.
I pulled into the nearby gas station and filled the tank to the full. I had a long way to go back.
Driving wasn't working and I doubt it was going to. I needed to talk to Caroline. I needed to see her. That was the only way I could give my mind some peace. She might hate me for not telling her sooner. She might not forgive me for doing that to her. But I needed to see her and make sure she was okay. I needed to know she was still at home.
It was around 1 in the morning by the time I reached home. Caroline was sleeping on the couch, at the same spot where I had left her earlier. After all the chaos of the day, she looked at peace in her sleep. I could recognize the remnants of dried tears on her face. I had caused that. And I would fix that.
I picked her petite frame in my arms and carried her to the bed. She leaned into me as I settled her down. It was a relief knowing she wasn't repulsed by me—at least in her sleep. The swelling around her bruise was not visible now, but the mark was still there. Red marks were left behind where that asshole's hand had hit my wife.
Caroline moaned in pain when I touched her cheek; she was still in deep sleep. I pulled my hand back and covered her with the comforter.
She needed to rest.
While I had a bastard father-in-law to take care of.
My home office was where I went straight. Wasting no time, I opened my laptop and emailed several attachments to Carter. It was late at night, he might be sleeping, but this work was more important than either one of our night routines.
I pulled out my office phone from the drawer—I doubted the broken pieces of my personal one would be of any use. To my immense annoyance, Carter didn't answer on the first ring. He took his sweet time to bestow me his voice on the other end of the call. It would have been unacceptable if it wasn't the middle of the night and the work I was going to burden him with, too important.
"Sir?" he said, startled by the untimely call.
"I emailed you a few things. I need you to start working on them right now," I ordered.
"Now?" he asked, in a similar startled tone.
"You heard me, Carter."
"I'll start working on it, sir," he said. There was a slight uncertainty in his voice, something I was not used to hearing from him. Any work handed over to Carter was as good as done, but I needed assurity for this one. I needed to know it would be done and ready before the need arises.
"Carter, once you open the email, you'd know how important this thing is. I want you to start working on it immediately and get it done by tomorrow morning. But if you're planning to not work on it diligently or if you're going to stall it and go back to sleep, feel free to do it. Email me your resignation the moment you wake up and make sure you're not found anywhere near the office," I threatened.
It was no idle threat because though Carter was an efficient assistant, I was not going to tolerate any lethargy and would fire him without a second thought.
"That won't be needed, sir. The work will be done," said Carter with absolute confidence.
The next hour of ending that call was followed by going through a series of files. There was a lot of research and strategizing still left to be done, but I needed food to work through it. I had skipped breakfast because I was angry at Caroline for going to meet that James-bitch, and lunch and dinner were not even in my thoughts after the confrontation. But right now, it made me feel I was going to starve and not survive the night.
I walked to the kitchen and checked inside the refrigerator. There was nothing in there that I could eat. I understood that Caroline and I were going through a lot of shit, but that didn't mean that everyone else was going to have a memory loss of what was expected from them. The chef was going to have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.
Irritated with everything around me, I searched the cabinets for something edible enough. The instant noodles were where my quest ended. Since it was the first time that I stepped inside the kitchen to do more than fetch something to eat for myself, I turned around the pack to read the cooking instructions.
Cooking was not even close to something I was mildly interested in. And I was always surrounded by people who would do that for me without asking. I had never felt the need to learn that skill. Not until now, apparently.
First thing first, I thought as I placed the packet on the countertop and searched for a bowl. After a little struggle, I found it inside one of the cabinets.
As in the instructions, I filled the bowl with water, brought it to a boil and threw in the noodles and emptied the flavor packet. Next, it was the vegetables that were to be added. I searched for some in the refrigerator and placed them on the cutting board.
I was struggling through the 'chopping the veggies' part when I heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen. Caroline came in after a few nerve-wracking seconds.
I studied her face, trying to gauge her mood. She didn't appear angry, but she wasn't looking at me either. Silently, she walked inside, surveying the entire kitchen with one look.
Caroline looked inside the bowl and frowned. My noodles were not noodles anymore. They had magically turned to curry!
"They aren't edible now," I heard her speak. Her voice was low, both in volume and spirits.
Next, she looked at the horribly chopped vegetables and shook her head. I smiled at her slyly and stepped away.
The noodles—turned curry—ended up in the bin, and the vegetables followed shortly after. Caroline took out a pan and a packet of pasta to put it on boil. She cleaned the counter and chopped the vegetables with startling finesse. Not a word was said. I silently stayed by her side, watching her, waiting for the calm to subside and the imminent storm to wreck the peace. I would prefer her outrage over her silence any day.
"Did you really sign a contract for our marriage?" she did not look at me as she asked the question.
"I did," I agreed, intending to offer her nothing but the truth.
"Why did you lie to me when you proposed to me at your penthouse?" I could see the layer of tears glistening in her eyes. She was fighting hard to not let them fall.
"I didn't lie to you, Caroline. Not that day, not ever. I used to like you a lot by the time that happened. Everything I said that day was the truth. Those were my real feelings for you. Though I did hide the whole truth from you that day, it was only because I didn't want to hurt you. You were so kind, so sweet. I had hurt you already at that charity event, I could not bear to do it again. My company was at stake as well. I was not going to let James have a win and you would not have married me if I told you the reason. I understand there were many other occasions and chances to tell you about it after our wedding, but I didn't want to hurt you, Caroline. I liked you too much to do that to you," I said earnestly.
"Then why today? Why tell me about it today?" she asked, trying to blink back the tears but leading them to cascade over her rosy cheeks anyway.
I wiped the tears away with my thumb. She didn't pull away from my touch, but I kept my distance, realizing she needed that space.
"Because when you told me about everything that you went through, how everyone chose money over you, I realized I had done the same. My intention was never to hurt you, but I didn't know I was giving you the deepest wound by keeping you in the dark. You made a mistake and you came back home, accepting it all. It was only fair that I did the same. I might have decided to marry you for the sake of my company, but I liked you enough that the contract didn't even matter by the time you were walking down the aisle."
My words might have come out a little harsh, but it was nothing other than the truth. I could have sugar coated my sentences to make them attractive and my deed forgivable. I could have thrown in a few sparkly lies and misled her. Hell, I could have gone through the diplomatic way of dealing business. But this was not business. This was Caroline. She was the calm that I craved for after the complexities of the day. And she deserved nothing less than the truth as it was—harsh, unvarnished truth.
"You're saying everything in the past tense. Do you realize it? 'I used to like you'. What about now, Aaron?" she turned to glare at me. Her voice was high as she spoke through the anger. "What about yesterday when you were trying to stop me to go see James because you thought he was going to hurt me? Or has it all changed today? Do you not like me now that James got the money and you remember there was a contract that was binding us together?"
Fresh translucent pearls of tears fell down her eyes. I did not notice I was referring to my feelings for her in the past tense. Though as I repeated the words in my head, I found nothing wrong in them. They were meant to be that way. I used to like her—in the past, not anymore—because now, the feeling was stronger and more pure than what it was before.
I moved forward to cup her cheeks, carefully so as to not hurt the bruised portion. "That's right. I used to like you, Caroline. But now," I closed the space between us, "now I love you. With all my heart. With all my soul. I don't know what took me so long to realize this, but today when I thought you were not going to forgive me, that you were going to leave me, I felt helpless. I've never felt that way and I hated it. Every plan that I have for the future, every big and small achievements, every moment in all the years to come has you in it. And when those pictures started to blur, I was scared of losing you. That's when I knew I had fallen for you so damn hard that it would be close to impossible for me to get back up if you're not there. Nothing was ever fake between us, Caroline. I didn't even realize when I started to put you before everyone—everything—in my life. All I wanted was your happiness and myself to be the cause. But after knowing the amount of hatred you've got from people around you I want you to know that you'll always have me by your side. I'll make sure you get all the love and happiness you deserve to—"
I couldn't finish what I was saying because Caroline had thrown herself in my arms. Her hands wrapped tightly around me as she sobbed away all her worries on my chest. I stroked her hair gently, making no effort to stop her from crying. She needed to let it all out for this time. And I was going to make sure there was never a next time.
"You trust me, Caroline?" I asked as her sobs became inaudible.
She nodded, her face still buried in my chest. "Just like you did earlier today."
When she pulled back, her cheeks were red from all the crying. The bruise was still significant. "Does it still hurt?" I asked, brushing my thumb over the area.
"Not much," she said. It was a lie, I could tell. My eyes dropped to her lips and I pulled her yet closer, to kiss her tenderly.
I wrapped my hands around her waist, to pull her up, and made her sit on the counter. Caroline wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my face closer for the kiss. My hands went up to her hair and released the beautiful curls from the hold of the scrunchie. It curled around her face—both of our faces—and I tucked them back to deepen the kiss.
Caroline moaned when my hands went under her shirt to touch her skin. I moved my hands higher, slowly, and was pushed back, away from her with a sudden jolt. Caroline ran a hand down her shirt while she jumped off the counter in a hurry to reach the knob of the—now burning—pasta.
I was too stunned by the sudden change of events, then caught sight of the black fumes floating out of the pan. It seemed the pasta was destined to a similar fate—with a little technical variation—as that of the noodles. My fate, on the other hand, was still unchanged. I was still in dire need of carbohydrates.
"Look what you did." Caroline glared at me.
"What did I do?" I asked, innocently.
She pointed at the almost black pan. It was a miracle that the smoke detector wasn't activated yet. Caroline dumped the burnt pasta into the trashcan and started to work on another batch.
"I talked to Carter about the illegal transaction," Caroline said, pushing her hair back to look at me. I was leaning on the counter, watching her cook. It was a magnificent sight.
"Did you?"
She narrowed her eyes at me. "There is no way he didn't tell you about it already."
I moved towards her and wrapped my arms around her waist. "He might have told me something," I kissed the delicate skin below her ear.
"Did you get your money back?" she asked, hopeful.
"I will, Caroline. You don't have to worry about it."
"It was my mistake."
"And you tried to fix it the best way you could," I assured her. "Enough worrying about things, let me take over now."
She leaned back into me, then with a sudden realization walked out of my arms. "You go and wait. I can't let this pasta join the others in the bin."
"I wouldn't mind." I reached for her playfully.
"Go away," she giggled and pushed me out of the kitchen.
Minutes later, as I settled back in my office, Caroline walked in with the pasta. The aroma of tomato and fresh herbs filled my whole office, triggering my hunger once again.
"You weren't in the dining room. I had to search for you," Caroline said, as she served me the bigger portion of the pasta. "Why are you still working?"
"Too important. You go to bed after eating. I'll join you later," I told her as we dug in.
The sun was high up in the sky by the time I finished all the work and headed back to our bedroom. It had taken more than the expected time, but it didn't matter. The work was done and I could finally put it on play and let everything crumble down.
I headed to the shower to rinse away the exhaustion of the night with refreshing, cool water. Minutes later, as I plodded around the walk-in closet getting dressed for office, I heard the faint ringing of Caroline's phone. Since she was absent from the bedroom when I had come in, I decided to take the message for her.
Still in the process of fixing my tie, I walked out to find her standing with her cell phone in her hands, staring at the screen. Freshly brewed coffee paired with eggs and toast were waiting to be savored. But one look at the screen and it was known the breakfast was going to go cold.
I took the phone from Caroline's hands and answered it, putting it on speaker.
"Caroline?" James sounded angry. Anger was good, but not paired with my wife's name.
"What?" was all she said.
"You're asking me what? You're fucking asking me what? We had a deal. You signed that fucking check and I gave you that woman's address. That was the deal. But you, you bitch! What the fuck did you do to my money? How the fuck did you even— Don't tell me you told Aaron about it. You better not have done that. Oh, you whore. Did I not tell you I will kill you if you start using your brain. Wait for it, I will fucking—" the rest of it remained unheard as I threw the phone to the wall, shattering it.
Caroline gasped. I reached for my coat and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Caroline called after me.
"To give that man what he actually deserves," I said and walked out.