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ISABELLA
I knewmy parents were rich, but not that rich. Then again, I had never seen my father actually go to work. He spent most of his time in his home office doing God knows what. I assumed he spent his days buying and selling stocks online. Whenever I would inquire about his business, my mother would shrug it off. She made a habit out of telling me that it wasn’t important what he did, or when she was in a precariously shitty mood, she’d simply say that it was none of my business.
Memories of my childhood flooded through my mind as we made our way through Westfield. We passed my grade school, where my third-grade teacher had become a second mother to me. Looking back, she must have known how toxic my own mother was to have taken me under her wing. Countless afternoons were spent in her classroom long after school had been dismissed, listening to her read fairy tales until my mother finally showed up.
Blade remained silent as we cruised onto the roundabout, which provided breathtaking views of the local botanical garden. It’s where I used to go with my childhood best friend. We’d zigzag in and out of the beautiful flowers as the caretaker watched, reassuring us that we were okay.
He knew that my mother forbade me to do the same in our own garden back home.
And then we passed the stables, where my heart sank as I remembered the day that I fell off a horse. Everything had been going well during practice until my horse slipped on a patch of mud, propelling me over her head and landing face-first on the ground.
I clutched my stomach, remembering the quick trip to the emergency room and hearing the devastating news that I’d lost the baby.
Blade sighed as he saw my hand on my stomach. “Are you sick or something?”
I propped my head up against the window and looked out. “No.”
I was hoping he’d reach for my hand, but of course, he didn’t. He wasn’t the man he was when I first met him, but he still wasn’t the kind of man to always take the initiative to comfort me. Besides, I figured he was mad at me for what happened at breakfast.
I should have told my parents to go fuck themselves over their ridiculous stipulation, but I could do so much with half a billion dollars. And I’d start by erasing my parents’ disgusting legacy in that town.
Blade hadn’t said a word to me since we left breakfast. He didn’t even hold my hand as we walked out to the car, nor did he open my door. The wheels in his mind were in motion, wondering if he’d made a mistake by agreeing to go public with our relationship to a girl still emotionally attached to her ex-boyfriend.
I finally reached out and tried to lace my fingers with his, but he recoiled. “Blade, we need to talk about what happened.”
He stopped at the red light and ran his hands through his hair. “What do you want me to say, Isabella? That I’m okay with you working for your ex-fiance?”
“We were never engaged, okay? And if you knew how much money my parents are leaving me, then maybe you’d understand.”
He kept looking in the rearview mirror as though looking at something in particular. “What kind of car does Jason drive?”
“He has several. Why?”
He shrugged when the light turned green. “No reason.”
“Do you wanna know how much money I could inherit?”
He was apathetic, to say the least. To Blade, money was nothing more than green paper. I didn’t know how much his family was worth, but paying for my tuition and practically throwing money at me spoke volumes. “I’m all ears, babe.”
“Five-hundred million dollars. How can I turn down half a billion dollars, Blade? Would you?”
He slammed on the brakes at the next stoplight and cocked his gaze to me, hot and furious. “You know damn well that it’s not just about the money. Jason still has a hold on you, doesn’t he?”
“Not for the reasons you think. It’s…complicated.”
“It’s just money. Besides, I’ll be signed by a professional football team by next spring.”
It was the Jason scenario all over again.
I plopped my head back against the headrest. After taking over Frost Technology, Jason would become a local politician in Westfield, but I could practically own the town with half a billion dollars. He’d have to go through me to get anything done. Maybe I’d get involved in local government or build a charter school. Hell, with five-hundred million dollars, I could start my own rival company to push Frost Technology into bankruptcy.
That’s to say nothing of the fact that I didn’t particularly want to be owned by anyone ever again. Maybe that’s not exactly what Blade was implying, but I couldn’t help but feel that he had written out the path of our future together without asking for my input. “Look, you and I just started dating. Who’s to say where we’ll be in a year?”
His gaze stayed icy as he nodded, accepting the cold, hard truth. Relationships were complicated, especially when you were in college and working on a career simultaneously. His initial hesitation at being my date that weekend was palpable, and I knew the real reason he finally agreed.
I folded my arms over my stomach again. “Why are you so jealous, Blade?”
“What?”
