Page 51 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

I nod, biting my tongue because I don’t trust myself to say anything.

“Anyway, I was rather hoping that your wife and business associate would be here. I was looking forward to seeing her.” He says it in such a slimy way that it makes my skin crawl.

“Excuse me, please,” I say as politely as I can manage while anger starts to bubble up in my chest.

The truth is, I want to get as far away from this guy as possible. Whatever company he works for, I’m not making a deal with them, not if he’s going to be weird about Eliza like that. I don’t care if it is one of the companies we’ve been trying to woo for months or even years.

She deserves better than to be thought about like that by some weirdo.

I need some air.

I run off to the bathroom, the only place I can think of to find a moment to myself, a moment to breathe. All of this is making me sick.

The only reason I was achieving anything at events like this was because of Eliza. All of this is because of Eliza. How could I be anything without her? How could I have been stupid enough to let her walk away from me like that?

We had something beautiful growing, and just like that, I’ve gone and tossed it all away. Now I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me.

I take a shaky breath and stare at myself in the mirror. Now is not the time for self-pity. I gave up on her for my work. So, my work is what I’m going to do.

Shouldn’t I be happy that all these companies are here? It’s great for me, for my business. All these companies who for years have rejected us, patronized us, ignored us — they’re all begging for a piece of us now. I should be proud of that.

I should feel something.

So, why can’t I? Why does all of this feel so completely pointless without Eliza?

CHAPTER 28

ELIZA

One of the things my new manager is very excited about is getting me in the public eye. “I’m already in the public eye,” I tried to argue, but he shook his head and told me that all my press lately has been way too negative, and way too focused onthat CEO guy.

“But I likethat CEO guy,” I had argued and been completely ignored. So, into the public eye I go.

But that CEO guy and I do have an agreement. So, when I’m told I have to do a stupid red carpet event for some stupid actors, and their stupid awards, the first thing I do is call Jason. No answer. No surprise. I text him instead.

Red carpet event tonight. Lots of press. I’ll text you the address.

It’s not like this would be the first publicity stunt we’ve done since I moved out.

It’s the only time we ever speak to each other anymore.

He says no to most of them, but occasionally he seems to remember that our act depends upon us being seen together,and the more often he refuses, the more likely it is that people are going to start gossiping. Fortunately, I haven’t heard any rumors yet, but there’s always time.

And rumors aside, I miss him.

Being in my apartment alone is just not the same as having an entire wing of a mansion. My album is stalling to a halt again, and everything reminds me of him - every coffee, every show, every song, every shower, every breath.

I haven’t told anyone that I’ve moved out of his mansion, because I don’t want to answer their questions. And I want to save him from that kind of rumor. Besides, it’s not like I have that many people to talk to. All of my friends are fake as hell. I really need to find some new ones.

I’m not totally surprised when Jason declines my offer, but I am a bit disappointed. I haven’t seen him in weeks. I haven’t spoken to him beyond passing polite texts every now and then. I guess he’s busy with his work. I guess I should have realized that would always be true, no matter how much we started to like each other, if we even did. Handshake was always going to be his first priority.

I can’t think of anything to say, so I just send back a thumbs up and try to push him out of my mind so I can decide what dress I want to wear. If I were really an insane person, the thought would cross my mind that even if I go to this event alone, Jason will see the pictures later, and when he looks at the pictures later, I want to make him regret the fact that he wasn’t there.

But I’m not an insane person (or not that insane at least) and I don’t feel like being particularly flamboyant today. The media are annoying enough without encouraging them to makecomments on what you’re wearing. Something simple and elegant is the way to go. After all, their focus isn’t really going to be on me tonight. It’ll be on whichever stupid actors have performed in their stupid plays and made annoyingly pretentious movies.

At least the food is usually pretty good at events like this, and free champagne will be on tap. There are plenty of benefits when you think about it.

I select a crushed rose gown, a satin fabric that flows to the ground, with a flattering cinched waistline. I have to breathe in to zip it up, though. I must have put on weight since the last time I wore it. It’s probably all those amazing meals that Jason’s chef had been feeding me.

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