Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 56: Chapter 56

DESTINY
Rain poured from the skies. Fucking spring.
But the gray damp matched the way I felt inside. I watched the branches bend with the wind as wetness cloaked the city.
The floor to ceiling windows were phenomenal, and I was really going to miss the view. But it was never mine to keep.
Just like him.
Boxes had arrived from Vegas with the rest of my belongings, and I kept them stacked by the elevator. It would be easy to get them delivered once I had a permanent address.
I’d already packed the few articles of clothing I’d brought with me. But I noticed a smaller box on the floor next to the others and I picked it up, frowning at how light it was.
“What is this?” I murmured, using my hands to peel off the duct tape.
It was the regular silver kind and not the beige threaded packing tape on the other boxes. Frowning harder, I opened the box and winced when I saw the four-inch stilettos I’d thought I left back at Lux inside.
I dropped them right in the garbage. There was literally no way in hell I’d ever wear those again. Marat must have had the movers double check my old work locker. That was thorough of him.
Sadness squeezed my chest. Thinking about Marat made it hard to breathe. I didn’t want to leave him, but I had to. I didn’t belong here. I didn’t belong anywhere.
I’d already called Bear to ask him if I could use his couch for a few days. He had two roommates sharing the place, so there were no spare beds. But that was fine. I’d lived in worse conditions.
What was more important was the fact my big brother said yes. No questions asked.
That was nice. I hadn’t expected him to agree so quickly. But he had. After meeting Marat and Josef that day in the diner, my brother had been super busy. Finally, he’d sent some strangely worded texts. Basically, Bear wanted me to thank them, and I deduced they’d put some things in motion for my brother.
I was not sure what they did, but my mother had been moved to a private facility that was ten times better than what we could afford. I didn’t know how we were going to pay for that after Marat discovered me gone and he started divorce proceedings.
But maybe we could work something out. I was heartsick and full of melancholy. I let it envelop me. I let it fill my senses until I had nothing left to hold on to but grief.
But I refused to cry anymore.
Marat had been texting me since he left five days ago. Nothing earth shattering. Just checking in.
Good Morning. How are you feeling?
Hello, Wife. Just checking in. Did you see a doctor?
Have you been eating? Can you see my texts?
I stopped replying after day one. He acknowledged that by texting that he wasn’t sure about the connection. He just hoped I was able to read his messages.
Miss talking to you. I’ll check our data plan when I get back.
Are you being good, Wife? I’ll call you from the SAT phone tonight.
I didn’t answer his call. I just couldn’t do it. I knew I was weak. If I talked to him, I’d confess, and he’d convince me to stay. That’s what Devil’s did. They made you think you had a choice, but you didn’t.
This was all a goddamn setup from day one. Marat set me up for the fall. He saw me and wanted me and plucked me out of my life, thrusting me into his. He made me fall in love with him.
But he didn’t believe in love. He wasn’t capable of it. And that was more than I could bear. His inability to love was the end of me.
I wiped my face, feeling the wetness on my hands with wonder. When had I started crying?
When did you ever stop? My inner voice asked.
There was one more thing. One more weight added to the pressure on my chest. Every time Marat ended a text, he did it with the same sentence. And it was breaking my heart.
Talk to you soon, sweet Dumplin’. I miss you.
I’d just rolled the small suitcase I’d found in the closet and packed with my things when I heard the telltale ring of the elevator.
My heart pounded as I let go of the handle, leaving the evidence of my betrayal right there on the floor as I went to check to see if it was him.
Did he really come home to catch me when I’d just found the strength to leave?
For days, I’d wandered around like a ghost. A half-empty shell of a human being who’d only just realized I wasn’t really there anymore. I wasn’t myself without him.
I couldn’t help it. I missed him. I loved him. So damn much.
I’m so stupid.
I’d fallen in love with my husband, and it was the dumbest thing I’d ever done. But if that was him. If he’d returned just as I was about to leave, I knew I would never get out the door.
The elevator opened and instead of my fallen angel husband, it was Sofia.
“Des? There you are,” she said, exasperated. “I’ve been texting you and calling and you don’t answer! Some best friend you turned out to be,” she said, and I don’t miss the accusation.
She wasn’t wrong. I’d been avoiding her. The last thing I needed was to have the great love story of Adrik and Sofia tossed in my face.
Ugh. That sounded bitchy. And I hated I felt that way.
“Sorry, I haven’t been feeling well,” I began, wringing my hands.
It was the truth. That stomachache I’d feigned started to manifest itself, and I didn’t know if that was karma or if the idea of living without Marat was just making me sick.
“Des, what’s wrong? You look terrible,” she said.
“Thanks. Nothing. Look, can you keep a secret?” I asked, needing to tell someone.
“I think so,” she answered honestly.
“I’m leaving him.”
“What?” she whispered, and her crestfallen expression was my undoing.
“I-I just can’t stay,” I began, barely finishing my sentence before the tears started falling.
“What happened? Did Marat do something? Did he hurt you?”
“What? No, I mean, he tricked me into marrying him, made me fall in love with him when he knows he can’t ever love me back. So yeah, he hurt me, but not that way. I just feel so stupid. This is my fault. I have to go, please, I just have to,” I explained in a jumble.
“I know Marat. He’s been spoiled by his damn good looks, so maybe he doesn’t know how to show he cares. But I swear, Des, I have never seen him treat anyone how he treats you,” she told me, and her words were comforting.
“That might be true, but I don’t want to stick around till he gets tired of me. I don’t want to be here when he realizes he made a mistake. I just can’t handle that.”
“Oh no. Okay, we will figure this out. Don’t cry, Des.”
Two seconds later, Sofia had her arms around my shoulders, and she was squeezing me tightly, promising to help. Her own eyes were filled with tears, and it just felt so good to have someone understand where I was coming from.
“Do you love him?”
I could only nod. I did love him. But I didn’t want to say it out loud.
“Alright, what is your plan?”
“I was going to stay with my brother⁠—”
“Your brother who lives with two other men. Don’t ask how I know. But are you crazy? Marat will lose his fucking mind,” she said.
“How would he find out?”
“Don’t be dense. Look, I came here to see if you wanted to do some bookish things with me today. I’m going to meet with a couple of Adrik’s friends who own a recording studio. They have some narrators they want me to hear, I’m interviewing for my next audiobook,” she explained.
“I know it’s over the top, but when you’re married to Adrik Volkov, everything is over the top. But I’ve got a car and a driver at our disposal, and because I needed to get out of the house, I thought this might be a good excuse, so I don’t feel guilty about leaving Michaela for a few hours.”
“You are such a good mother! A few hours away from Michaela is literally nothing,” I told her, wanting to chase away the cloud of doubt I saw flash across her gaze.
“Thanks. I appreciate that. It is so hard. Sometimes I don’t even want to go to the bathroom because I’m afraid I’ll miss something, or she’ll need me. Adrik is with her now, and it is the cutest damn thing. He needs to learn to trust himself with our daughter, so this outing is for his sake too,” she said.
“You two are amazing together,” I told her, not really wanting to explain how her epic romance was pretty much what prompted me to run.
That could get awkward.
“Okay, so we’re settled. You come with, and I’ll find you someplace better than your brother’s couch to crash.”
Of course, I wound up doing everything she said. Sofia was relentless when she wanted something. Apparently, she wanted to keep me as her best friend.
The recording studio turned out to be this cool little setup in some high rise owned by Volkov Industries. The guys running it were actually gals, and that made sense, seeing as how Adrik was homicidally possessive over his wife.
“Destiny, you’ve got a really unique tonal quality,” Marjorie, one of the owners of Big City Voices had said during our visit.
“Why don’t you get in there and give this passage a try?”
I did.
And I loved it. And Sofia loved it.
So did Marjorie and her wife Ally.
They offered me a job as an audiobook narrator, and the pay was beyond my wildest dreams.
Sure, Marat had buckets of money. But I wouldn’t be his wife much longer, and even as that thought had pain slicing through me like a knife, I had to focus on the positive.
I needed to make a living. I’d been standing on my own two feet since I was eighteen, it wasn’t anything new. But damn, I missed him.
The letter I’d left addressed to him sat on the kitchen counter in the penthouse next to the bowl full of lemon sour candies I’d bought one day when we went food shopping.
It was as clear a goodbye as I could manage. Next to it, I placed the sapphire ring he gave me in Vegas. I loved that thing, but I had no right to keep it. Not when I was leaving him.
Shit. If I didn’t stop thinking about him, I was going to cry again. And that wouldn’t do. I refocused on my new job.
Narrating books? That seemed like kismet. I’d always loved reading aloud, acting out parts. Ever since I was a kid.
Hell, I spent years studying drama and theater. Practicing on my own. It was going to take a few sessions to learn everything I needed to learn about the equipment and how to use it to my benefit.
But I was up for the challenge. Getting to narrate Sofia’s spicy books was just icing. That beyotch could write steamy scenes like nobody’s business.
Sizzle, baby.
“We’re here,” Sofia announced.
The drive to New Jersey was faster than I expected. I looked out the window of the car at the neat little apartment building where the driver had stopped.
“Where are we?”
“This is it. Where you’ll be staying,” Sofia clarified.
The two of us got out, and fifteen minutes later I was sitting at a table eating a bowl of the best tortellini soup I’d ever had.
“This is delicious.” I moaned around a spoonful of the delicious cheese filled dumplings swimming in piping hot chicken broth.
“Of course it is. Homemade,” Nonna, Sofia’s grandmother, said.
Apparently, the little old lady owned this building. After Sofia met Adrik, he’d seen to some repairs, and the whole thing ran smoothly. My sneaky new bestie had already said her goodbyes, and she was visiting her Dad who lived in the upstairs apartment before she went back home.
Meanwhile, I was treated to a full dose of Nonna in mama bear mode. It was no wonder Sofia made such an awesome mother.
“You look tired, dear. Why don’t you go to your room and have a nice nap?”
I smiled and nodded, cleaning my plate before heading to the bedroom Sofia had shown me earlier.
I wasn’t hiding from Marat, so it did not bother me that he would know where I was. I mean, I couldn’t sign divorce papers if he couldn’t find me, right?
Just thinking about not being married to him hurt so badly, my stomach turned, and I almost lost the lunch I’d just eaten. I held onto the wall, swaying on my feet.
I was staying in Sofia’s old room. It was furnished with a pretty dresser and a full sized bed. Everything was pink and white, with matching curtains, bedding, and pillows. It was pretty and neat. But I felt detached from it all.
I was exhausted and sick. Really sick. And once again, I had only myself to blame. I knew better than to put things out in the universe that I didn’t really want to happen. Served me right pretending to have a stomachache.
Maybe if I put it out into the universe that Marat loved me, he would?
I rolled my eyes at my idiocy. Sitting on the bed, I kicked off my shoes and undid the button on my pants. My phone buzzed. And I grabbed it, hoping it was him. But it wasn’t. And I felt foolish for wanting him so badly.
It was a text from Bear. Turned out my brother’s place was close enough he’d promised to visit after work.
“What are you doing with your life, Destiny?” I whispered, and for the first time in twelve years I hated the name I picked for myself.
Once upon a time, I thought I was going to have a wonderful future. I thought I was destined for happiness. But those dreams were gone, and they left nothing but sadness in their wake.
All alone again. But I have only myself to blame.