Page 50 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

She wants space. I can understand that.

What we’re doing, it’s a lot. It’s a lot for both of us, and it’s crazy. But I was starting to get used to seeing her face all the time, to having her here with me. I miss her now that she’s gone.

More than anything, I don’t want to tell Chris what’s going on. I don’t think I could bear the smugTold you so.

I don’t care what he says. I don’t care what anyone says. I know the truth. Eliza is a good person. No matter what our relationship status is, I’ll defend her on that front forever.

When I get to the office, I want to sneak up to the top floor and hide, but I’m stopped three steps into the door. Chris escorts me up to our main conference room. “You’re going to love this,” he says.

“What’s happening?” I frown. I don’t exactly want to be here, and I really don’t like surprises.

He refuses to say any more until we step inside. At least twenty people are in there mulling around, wearing sharp suits and dry-cleaned shirts. I blink in surprise. “What’s going on?” I hiss at Chris. “Who are they?”

“They’re all here for you. We have representatives from a bunch of different companies here who want to make partnerships or buy stocks. You should speak to them.”

“They’re all here for me?” I stammer.

“Yeah, man. Don’t act so surprised. That girlfriend of yours has done us a miracle.”

I bite my tongue to try and stop myself from commenting on the fact that it was him who wanted us to break up.

As I step into the room, I clear my throat to get everyone’s attention. For the first time in my life, everybody turns to look at me, and I’m met with a spontaneous round of applause, which I grimace at. Chris knows I hate being at the center of attention like this. Why did he have to bring everyone here at once?

A couple of representatives scurry over to me, desperate to shake my hand, glaring each other down like they’re ready to elbow each other out of the way.

“Hi,” I say to all of them. “Good to meet you.”

“Mr. Burroughs,” one of them says. “I’m here from Lemon. We’ve asked you a couple of times over the last few months, but we would absolutely love to arrange a merger with you. I’ve got all the paperwork with me now for our proposal. We would be so grateful if you could give me five minutes to explain our position.”

As I nod along with him, I clench my fists to stop myself from grinning.

Does this guy know how rude his company were to me just a few short months ago? Does he have any idea how much that hurt? We’ve had plenty of better offers than what they’ve been trying to give us, so I’ve kept telling my team to reject them. It’s my way of paying them back the favor.

A merger, though… that’s something new.

Taking on other user bases could do us a world of good, especially because I’m about to lose a significant proportion of mine.

I have to stop thinking like that. It makes me sound like I believe Eliza would do that to me deliberately. I know she wouldn’t, no matter how badly we end things. I know she’s not vindictive enough to make me crash and burn on purpose. I find that impossible to believe. After all, we only did this because we agreed to help each other.

Why would she have wasted her time and effort on me and my company if her only intention was to tear us down at the end of our marriage?

The end of our marriage.

That thought makes me sick to my stomach. The end.

Now is not the time to be thinking things like this. I’ve got work to do, mergers to plan, advertisers to woo. I can mope about Eliza later when my entire livelihood isn’t at stake anymore. I can forget all the ways she helped me, the ideas she had, the tips she gave me for talking to people like this. I can forget. I have to forget.

I chat up a few other companies, trying to appear knowledgeable, like I have full confidence in what I’m doing, even though that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Just like Eliza taught me.

Everything keeps coming back to her.

I shuffle along the line and greet another rep. He beams as he takes my hand. “No pretty young wife today?” he says as he smiles wolfishly.

I shudder as I imagine the kind of thoughts he’s had about her. “No,” I say, giving him a tight-lipped smile. “She has her own work to do. She’s very busy.”

“A shame. You probably don’t remember me, but we met at that networking weekend. Awful event, wasn’t it?”

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