Chapter 42
ῼ Ash Castillo ῼ
The girl disappeared from the courtyard and the door closed behind her. I frowned. Had that been Ella or not? Yes or no? I’d only caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye, so I couldn’t be sure. Cautiously, I slowly walked to the door and pressed my ear against it. Immediately, I heard a voice that was undoubtedly Ella’s.
“I don’t think I want to do it anymore.”
Smiling, I reached from the handle but froze when I heard another voice, also painfully familiar.
“You’re joking, right? You’re not serious. You’re messing with me.”
It was Will. What was Ella doing with Will? Alone? I suddenly remembered what James had told me, about Ella wanting to leave me and how Will was helping her. Fear ran through me, as painful and as startling as an electric shock. Surely she couldn’t want to leave me now, still? After everything that happened in Paris?
Fear was quickly replaced by anger. No. There was no way I was going to let her. Even if I had to lock her up, there was no way I was going to let her go.
“Will, I’m really not. I don’t want to leave him anymore.”
I stopped.
A slow warmth spread through me, and I felt myself smile. She didn’t want to leave.
“Don’t tell me… You’ve fallen for the guy!” Will sounded uncharacteristically out of control.
“Well…”
“I don’t believe this!” There was a loud thud, of fist against wall. I froze. “You’ve fallen for that idiot? The good-for-nothing fool, the player, the loser, the one who almost always get last place in exams? The one who tried to buy you, the one who cheated on you, the one who you told me you could never forgive? You fell for…Ash?”
“Let go! Will, let go of me.”
Will had hold of Ella?
I’d heard enough. I turned the handle, but found the door locked. Inside, their voices were rising ever louder.
“You said you hated him!” Will yelled. My heart thudded as I desperately twisted the handle, putting all my weight into it. “You’re supposed to hate him! You’re supposed to want to be with me. It’s meant to be you and me. Tell me you don’t like him! Say you don’t love Ash!”
“No!” Ella sounded panicked.
There was nothing else for it. I took a few steps back.
“Say it. Tell me!”
The door crumbled under the weight of my shoe and for a moment, I caught a glimpse of both their faces, turned towards me, surprised. Will’s hands were tight around Ella’s shoulders, and she was clearly in pain. Anger coursed through me, an anger I’d never felt before, not even on the night my Mom abandoned me.
I ripped Will off of her. When he stumbled back, I smashed his jaw with my fist. He fell to the floor and didn’t get back up. Ella began to fall too, but I managed to grab her and pull her into my arms before she fell. She was so small and delicate in my arms, it made me want to hold her there and keep her and protect her forever.
“Never let me see you again,” I threatened Will, my voice flat so he could tell I meant it. “Or I promise…I’ll kill you.”
I walked out with Ella, and didn’t stop until we were both deep in the middle of the school gardens. There, I let her down, setting her gently onto a bench. Finally, I allowed myself to look at her and to my surprise I saw her crying. Tears rolled down her face, shimmering like tiny little diamonds.
“I’m sorry!” she sobbed. Ella dropped a ball of paper – the contract – she’d been holding in her fist onto my lap. “I’m really, really sorry I asked Will to get me out with the contract. When I accepted his help, I…I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking straight. I thought you were in love with Lucy. I didn’t…I…”
She looked so hopeless and upset, I almost laughed.
“Ella,” I said, my voice strangled. I pulled her hands into mine and peered worriedly at her face. “Why are you crying?”
She hiccupped slightly, looking at me shyly through her wet eyelashes.
“Because…well…aren’t you mad at me?” Her voice was hesitant, like she was scared.
“Why would I be mad at you?” I said, confused now.
“Because I tried to break the contract,” she whispered, through barely moving lips. “Which would have made you waste a billion dollars.”
I did laugh now.
“I’m not mad at you at all,” I said, still laughing. I moved my hand up, still clasping hers, to wipe away a tear rolling down her cheek. “It was Will I was angry at, not you. I could never be mad at you. He’s the manipulative one who made you even consider breaking the contract, right? That night at the café, after Brooklyn Bridge?”
She blinked. “The café…How did you know?”
“James happened to be there,” I explained. She seemed to be calming down now, I noted. “He told me.”
“You knew this whole time?” Her expression changed. “Is that why we went to Paris?”
“No! Well, yes,” I amended. “I mean, I know I had to win you back somehow, back Paris was also a chance to tell you the truth. But it wasn’t just that. I wanted to take you somewhere you would remember for the rest of your life. What’s the point of having all this money if you can’t even spoil the girl you love?”
She blushed and I took advantage of her silence to plow on with my explanation, before there were any more misunderstandings.
“Besides, I wasn’t angry about the contract, not really,” I continued hastily. “I don’t care about the money, I’ve told you before. What really made me angry was the fact that you were going to Will, when he was clearly trying to steal you away from me!”
Ella frowned.
“So it’s not about the money?”
“Ella. The contract has been essentially void ever since this stopped being a fake marriage and became a real one. I trust you Ella. I trust that you won’t leave me. We don’t need a billion dollar contract to keep us together. I love you, Ella. In fact,” I said, letting go of her hand to pull out my phone from my pocket, “I’m calling my lawyer right now. I’m cancelling the contract. I want to be with you, and only you.”
A hard, burning look came on Ella’s face. Her eyes burning, she knocked the phone from my hand and grabbed my face, pulling me down so we were eye-to-eye.
“Call them later,” she whispered, before she kissed me.
***
ʘ Will Castillo ʘ
I listened to the sound of Ash’s confession from behind the willow, its long branches dragging across the ground as if in defeat. Peeking out from behind the swaying leaves, I glimpsed the two two of them kissing.
Though I’ve been trained to handle any possible eventuality in my business career, I found myself completely unprepared for the rush of emotion that hit me. My insides felt like they were trying to leave my body. My vision was replaced with a deep blood red. My heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest. I couldn’t breathe, think, feel. I collapsed onto the grass.
When I had recovered my senses long enough to think, the rage finally hit me. It started, a gentle bubbling in the deep pit of my insides, until it grew and expanded and crescendoed into a huge volcano of red hot lava burning my consciousness.
I dialed a number on my phone.
“Is this Theresa, at New York Times? I think I have a story you’ll find interesting.”
***
Author's Note:
What does everything think about the direction I'm going? Like or dislike? Interested?
I think Billion Dollar Girl has potential, so as soon as I'm done writing, I will edit it and try to send it to some literary agents. Wish me luck! :)
To the people asking about a sequel, I don't think I will ever write a sequel for BDG. But I promise to write an epilogue. I'm considering writing a story with Will, but I don't think I willl, because by the end the character will probably feel overused, though he might actually fit well in a book I'm planning. I also considered writing a story with Ella and Ash's kid, but I don't really know and it feels a little toooooo cliched (I mean, guys, there is a limit lol).
Anyway, just my thoughts. Now I want to hear from you! <3
VOMMENT!!
P.S. LOVE MY PRETTTY BANNER! Courtesy of @MaryanLovex! <3