The billionaire’s true love

Part 36

“That’s not possible,” Trent said, snatching the newspaper from me, quickly scanning its content before fixing his gaze on the picture that made my blood boil-because Trent and Tamara were looking a bit too cosy for my liking-that was below the headlines that read: Billionaire Tycoon Engaged To Be Married.

“The newspaper tells me otherwise,” I replied, shrugging. Trent couldn’t fathom the heat and ferocity of the anger bubbling inside me, threatening to spill, but I kept my emotions in check. If Trent said that he would change his ways for me, then I would try to change myself for him as well. Although, I really wanted to revert back to my old angry self and pull Trent’s hair out.

“I…I can explain,” he stated after a minute.

“Oh yes, by all means, explain,” I responded. I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions, I would give Trent a chance to explain himself. And the fact that my heart was telling me that something was terribly wrong, was another reason I was willing to listen to Trent.

“Can you sit down? I would feel better knowing that you are sitting.” He told me.

Glancing at the couch, I took a deep breath before flopping down on it. “Alright, I’m sitting. Now explain to me.”

“This is a lie. This.” Trent shook the paper angrily. “Is a fucking lie! Tamara and I are not getting engaged and never will be.”

“But then where did the newspaper get this from? Are you saying that they are doing this for publicity?” I questioned, folding my arms across my chest.

“I don’t know! Maybe. I am going to have a talk with them, and by that I mean shut this bloody newspaper company down for good.” Trent fished his cellphone out, fully intending to follow through with his words.

“Why are blaming the newspaper company? If you want someone to blame, I suggest you look somewhere else.” I told him, crossing one leg over the other.

“What are you talking about? Do you know something I don’t?” Trent flung the newspaper to the side.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“I cannot believe you are a billionaire at this age.” I rolled my eyes. “I mean Tamara. She might’ve been the one feeding this information to the press. People are not stupid, Trent. They would never make up something like this unless it comes from a reliable source according to them. And in this case, Tamara is the so-called reliable source who is responsible for all this.”

“This is insane, why would Tamara do something like this? She knows how much I detest liars; especially those who lie about my life or my family.” Trent raked his fingers through his hair, frustration evident.

“You might not believe me, Trent, but Tamara is a greedy bitch. She is power hungry and she will do whatever it takes to get to the top. She tried to ruin my career and when that didn’t work, she decides to go after you. You really shouldn’t have told people that we are getting married in three days. What were you thinking, Trent?” Now it was me who ran a frustrated hand through her hair.

“Still, she wouldn’t stoop to this level. I know Tamara, I’ve worked with her numerous times before she came here,” Trent said.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you deliberately doing this to piss me off or are you really that blind as to not see the living proof of what a conniving bitch Tamara is?!” I threw my hands in the air. It was a surprise how I was still sitting on the couch and not banging Trent’s head against the wall.

“I’ll have a talk with her. I’m sure she will have an explanation for all this,” Trent muttered.

His words cracked my heart and nearly shattered the fragile trust I was beginning to have on him. After all she’d done, after everything I’d told him, he still thought there was a rational explanation for all this. The media was giving proof of how evil Tamara was, and he refused to see it. Why would he do that to me? Did he not care?

“Unbelievable.” I stood up, having enough of all this. “This is unbelievable. You don’t believe me. Even after everything she’s done to me, you still think she is innocent. Perfect. This is what your love is, that you don’t even believe me when I tell you that Tamara is a power hungry witch, let alone the world.”

“Don’t question my love for you, bumblebee. I love you and only you, this is a lie,” Trent stated.

“And why should I believe you? Why should I believe anything you say when you don’t believe me?” I threw at him.

“My love for you is pure and it is the one truth you can be absolutely sure about,” he said. Just by the tone of his words, I could tell that he wanted me to believe him.

“I don’t think so. Not when you believe someone who nearly ruined the life of the woman you claim to love. You’ve seen the CCTV footage, you know what she did; and still you think she is innocent. Unbelievable.” I huffed, forcing myself not to cry. I was so happy just a short while ago. Trent told me he loved me, and when I told him to fire Tamara, it looked as if he would fulfill my request. But I was wrong. With just one picture and a few printed words, my world came crashing down on me.

“No shady, you do not get to do this to me.” Trent stepped forward, placing his hands on my upper arms. I wrenched away from him and took a couple of steps back.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t you dare touch me when you’re already engaged to that witch!” I shouted.

“Tamara and I are not engaged! I already told you that’s a lie!” Trent raised his voice, clearly at the end of his patience and temper.

“Then what is this?!” I pointed at the scattered pages of the newspaper lying haphazardly on the floor. “Where did this come from?!”

“I am telling you this is not true. I will talk with Tamara and she will explain everything,” Trent said.

“No.” I shook my head. “No explanations needed anymore. I am done. You can go marry her for all I care.”

“No bumblebee, you do not get to say those words to me. You are going to be my bride, not anyone else and definitely not Tamara. Why can’t you understand that? I know Tamara, I know she has a reason for doing all this.”

“You believe her and not me, that clearly explains who is going to be your bride; because I will never marry a man who won’t believe me.” I bit my lip as my eyes filled up with acidic tears.

You will not cry in front of him! Don’t you dare shed a single tear!

“Amanda, no, don’t you dare.” Trent’s words had fear sinking like a rock in my stomach. Oh no, he was serious now. One wrong move from me and he would explode.

He is fucking around with you. Fuck his feelings!

My subconscious was right, I should be thinking about myself right now and should protecting my heart from any more of Trent’s hurtful lies. I needed to get out of here.

“Stop it, Trent. For once, just stop bossing me around to get your own way. I am going home, I’ll see you at work tomorrow. And congratulations on your wedding. May you live a happy life with Tamara,” I replied, not knowing what else to say anymore.

“You cannot leave, shady. You promised to stay with me in this house. I won’t let you back out of your promise,” Trent replied.

“You were never the boss of my life, and you never will be. And as for my promise, I’m sure after having my heart broken by you, I can break a silly, little promise,” I responded with a shrug, then cursed myself. Shit, I shouldn’t have told him that he broke my heart. He already had so much power over me and I just provided him with more ammo.

“No. Breaking promises is not acceptable. I won’t let you go back on your word, bumblebee.” He shook his head at me, forbidding me to do what I needed.

“I no longer care what is acceptable and what is unacceptable for you. I am leaving this place, and you will see me at work. Don’t worry, I’m not quitting.” I told him.

“Why don’t you believe me, Amanda? What can I do to make you believe me?” He enquired. Looking in his dark, captivating eyes, I felt arrows of guilt piercing my heart. Trent looked desperate…and angry.

“You know exactly what you can do to make me believe you,” I stated. My heart wanted to shatter, but I had to keep myself together until I got out of here. Trent would never see my tears.

“I told you I will talk to her, what more do you want?” Trent looked like he wanted to break something, and if I didn’t relent, he might actually destroy something.

“I want you to fire her.” There was no middle ground here. Trent either fired Tamara or I was done with him. No longer would I listen to my heart telling me to love him despite his flaws. Trent had his limits, and so did I. He went ballistic when I accidentally told him I slept with Jose, so he should understand how I was feeling right now.

“Amanda, it’s not that easy. Firing Tamara is not as easy as you might think,” Trent said.

He didn’t love me, that much was clear. And boy did it hurt. Why did he say those three words to me when he didn’t even mean them? How could he be so cruel as to play with my heart like that? I thought he was human, that he understood how people felt.

“Fine, then you keep her along with all the other problems she comes with. I will not create problems for you, I will step out of the way.” This was difficult. Those words caused me physical pain. But what else could I say, Tamara was clearly more important for Trent than I; once again the conniving bitch managed to ruin my life. God, I hated her.

“Stop this, shady, right the fuck now! When I said you are not leaving this house, then you are not bloody leaving! Go back to your bedroom right now, or else I’ll drag you there.” Trent pointed towards the room which I woke up in.

“No, I’m leaving. When you decide to fire her, you can call me and I’ll come back,” I replied. I hoped I wasn’t too far from home; but looking at the beach told me that I was very far from home. I would just have to call Jose now.

“This is not fair, bumblebee. You do not get to walk away from me just because things are not going according to you.”

“And you don’t get to bend me to your will just because I’m doing things which you cannot accept,” I argued.

“You walk out of that door and you will not like what I will do to you. You are mine and I will not let you leave me, not when you promised to stay,” Trent stated.

“You try to keep me here against my will and I will call the cops on you,” I threatened.

“Sit down, Amanda, you don’t want me to lose control,” Trent warned.

“How can you lose something you never really had in the first place?” I queried.

“I’m serious, shady. Do not walk out of here. If you know what’s good for you.”

“I know what’s good for me, and it’s not you.” I told him.

Hailey. That’s who I needed to talk to. Thinking of my best friend made me realize just how rare a happyily ever after was. For a minute I believed that I would get my happy ending with Trent. But now, I wouldn’t be happy like my best friend was. There would be no one who would care enough to fight for me. No one. I had to fight for myself, my life, my career, because no one would do it for me. I had to be strong, for myself.

“Amanda, I love you. How can you leave me like this? I am telling you this news is not true. I only love you and only want to marry you. Tamara is nothing to me, never was and never will be. She is just my employee, an asset to my company. You are the one I want, the one I need. No one else. So don’t believe this shit, this is nothing. Believe me. Believe that I love you,” Trent pleaded.

Please listen to him. He is telling the truth.

Even after all this, my heart still wanted Trent. And it was because of this stupid heart that I had to walk away. I couldn’t allow Trent to hurt me anymore, especially not because of Tamara. If it were any other woman, I wouldn’t have objected; but it was a woman who spiked my drink in order to remove me from the modelling industry, and I wouldn’t allow her to ruin my life a second time. No, this had to end. I had to walk away.

“I want to believe you, I really do. But you are not giving me anything. You are telling me to trust you, blindly, with a woman who is hell-bent on ruining my life. And I can’t do that, Trent,” I said.

“Trust me, shady and I will not let you down. I know what I have to do, but I need you with me,” he responded.

I shook my head. “No, you either fire Tamara and remove her from your life or else I’m leaving you.”

“You are asking me to choose, bumblebee?”

“I really didn’t want to do this, but you gave me no choice. I thought I will listen to what you have to say, that I won’t jump to conclusions, but after what you’ve just said, I have no reason to stay in your life when you are going to pick Tamara over me. So yes, Trent, I am asking you to choose. It’s either her or me,” I stated.

“Amanda, I am begging you, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me like everyone else. You promised to stay.”

“You told me you love me. I guess we both lied.” I gave him a sad smile and turned to leave the grand mansion on the beach.

“My love for you is not a lie. It never was,” Trent uttered, truth dripping from every syllable.

“Good bye Trent,” I said and walked out of the mansion…

Taking my broken heart with me.