Billionaires At War

CHAPTER XVII

Harrison snapped out of his daze and looked over his shoulder to see a fuming Josephine leaning on his car. There had been scenarios in his head, things he thought he would say when he finally saw her again, but nothing matched the pure rage that blinded him. His focus shifted from talking to Cassandra, and he made his way to Josephine with gentle but hurried steps.

"What are you doing here? You can't just..." before the last words left his mouth, Josephine cracked her palm hard against his face and backhanded him before he could recover from it. The sting only served to fuel his rage, the same fury he had been keeping at bay for her sake.

"Is that the woman you left me for? I knew she always had something to do with it." She tried to move past him, but he held her waist to stop her, and she pushed him away, "You are bastard, you hear me? A real bastard."

He laughed.

Grabbing her by the arm, he yanked her towards his car, turning her away from the entrance. Harrison gnashed his teeth, seething with rage, his blood bubbling furiously like an active volcano. He spoke slowly with his teeth clenched. "You have some nerve. Truly you do. I commend your level of condescension. You come out here and accuse me of dumping you because of another woman."

"Let go of me." She screamed, tugging her arm, but he only tightened his hold further. He was not ready to let her go until he knew she was too far to cause a scene.

"You know," he continued while they walked. "In case it slipped your mind. The reason I broke up with you was that I found out you are a liar. You lied to me first about being orphaned and then about being bullied. I see now how much you love to play the victim, but you are not turning me into your fool. You won't."

"You never even allowed me to explain myself. I know what I did might sound or look like the worst crime in the world, but I love you more than you know. I was scared to lose you, so I started grasping at straws."

"That's your best excuse for the lying? It's like me cheating on you than telling you I did it in the name of love." He turned her around, looking into her eyes. "Would you have accepted that kind of excuse? Would you kiss me and take me back? Just because I say I did it for you? You don't even need to answer because the answer is a no."

"Please let me explain."

"I could, but I won't because no explanation would be explanation enough. Had you told me you had a rocky relationship with your mother or told me that you live in an apartment when you live with your parents, that kind of lie is forgivable. It would have hurt but not as bad as this."

"I just wanted your love, Harrison. Your attention."

"No." he shook his head, breathing deeply and finally letting go of her arm. He whispered with less force, "No. If it was attention then you didn't need to start writing non-fiction with your life story. I found you beautiful the moment I saw you, we talked and I thought you were an easy woman to get along with. You liked some things I liked and I liked some things you did. Why couldn't it end there? What was the need to bring up something as sensitive as being adopted!"

"I don't know!" she screamed back at him, desperately holding on to the lapels of his jacket as she pressed into him, sobbing against his chest. "I wasn't thinking, I wasn't thinking but after I said it, I couldn't take it back."

"Well of course you couldn't. Your tongue would have fallen off right? Or maybe your heart would have stopped beating so you had to keep up the lies."

"You would have hated me. Imagine if I had taken it back? You would have thought I was playing around with a serious issue, and you would never have spoken to me again."