College Senior and actress Savannah Duley meets complicated and repressed billionaire business mogul, Alexander Holt. Their on and off again relationship starts to worry her when people around her warn her that maybe Alexander's "love" might be more...
It's 10:30 and Alexander isn't back yet. I'm getting frustrated because I haven't heard from him. I mean, I know he's busy running a billion-dollar company, but geesh.
I pack my bag and there's soon a knock at the door. When I open it, a woman I don't know is standing there.
"Um, hello?" I say to the middle-aged woman, who is very well-dressed and has black hair speckled with gray streaks, brown eyes, and laugh lines.
"Are you Savannah?" she asks.
"Um, yes. Who are you?"
"My name is Trisha Brooks."
"Um, okay. Should I know you?"
"No. But what I am about to say to you is very important," she says, extending her arm as though she wants to enter. She seems harmless enough, so I let her in the room but look around her to make sure Jim Taylor isn't standing there as well. When I don't see him, I close the door and follow her to the sitting area.
"May I ask why you're here?" I say.
"You've been dating Alexander Holt for a while," she says.
"Um, yeah. Two and a half months."
"That's why I'm here," she says and sits on the sofa.
"What?" I ask.
"I've known Alexander since he was a boy. You aren't going to cut it in his family. You need to walk away now."
"What? Why? Who are you to him?"
"I was his mother's closest friend and believe me when I tell you that you are not the kind of woman she had in mind for her son. So, you need to cut ties with him and walk away now."
"What if I don't want to?"
"Well, you certainly have that right, but if you think things are bad now, just wait until you sign the contract, get married, or even try to have a family," she says. There's something about the way she looks at me that makes my heart pound in my chest and my hands are shaking I'm so nervous. I don't have the chance to reply because Alexander walks in.
"Savannah," he says not noticing Trisha yet. "Sorry I took so long." He starts stripping off his suit jacket and shirt, looking over at me, probably wondering why I'm so quiet. He finally notices her on the sofa as he stands there in only his gray suit pants with his hands on his hips and frustration on his face.
"Quite the view. Thank you. You have kept yourself in good shape, now, haven't you?" Trisha says, and I think it's an inappropriate thing to say if she was his mother's friend, but what do I know?
"What are you doing here?" he asks her, glancing back and forth between us.
"Xander, you know I only care about you and what your mother wants for you," Trisha says.
"Wanted. What she wanted for me. She's not alive anymore. It should be irrelevant now anyhow."
He walks over to me, kissing my cheek as he whispers in my ear, "I'm sorry."
"Xander, now you know very well what your mother intended for you and you also know she would be sorely disappointed in how you're choosing to spend your time."
As much as I don't want to care about her words, I do. There's a small part of me that cares Alexander's mother wouldn't have liked me. There's an even bigger part of me that knows I will never fit in here, so I lean over, kiss his lips, and walk to the bathroom. While I'm in there, I text Simon.
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I take a few deep breaths as I contemplate what to do. All my things are in the other room with him, but I know that if I go out there, he'll try and talk me into staying with him like he usually does, but I can't. I'm just over this. I grab my purse hanging in the closet and my jacket, and I walk out, leaving all my clothes and other things in the room; I head to the lobby to wait on Simon.
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I slip my phone into my purse and wrap my jacket around me, looking around at the busy street.
"Savannah, come back inside," Alexander says.
"No," I say, glancing over my shoulder at him.
"Look, I'm sorry about her. Okay?"
"I know."
"I'll take you to Chicago," he says.
"I know you will, but I'm going with the cast."
"Fucking hell, Savannah, just come back in and get your things," he says, getting very frustrated with me, rubbing his hands in his hair as he walks in little circles.
"Alexander, I know that you don't like when things are outside of your control, but..."
Interrupting me, he yells, "That's not what this is, damn it! I want you to be here because I love you!"
People are staring at us now, and I know a lot of people know who he is, so I grab his arm and pull him off to the side of the building where no one is standing.
"Alexander," I say, tears flowing from my eyes now. "There's nothing you can say that will convince me staying is a good idea. I'm done."
Simon pulls up and I get in the car. Alexander stands there with his arms crossed over his chest staring at me as I buckle my seatbelt. There's a part of me that's going to regret this, I think. But I have to do it.
