Reuniting with the Billionaire

by Lori Ryan

  She was leaving him.

  “Why did that feel like goodbye, Jill?”

  He felt her tears on his chest and he lifted her chin so he could see her eyes.

  He knew he was right. The pain that gutted his chest and made him feel empty and broken told him he was right.

  “Tell me what’s going on. Tell me why you’re leaving me,” Andrew whispered. He was surprised how calm he sounded, when inside, he felt anything but.

  He ached for Jill, ached to absorb her pain and her fear – to find a way to soothe her. But when she spoke and confirmed his fears he was desperate to make her stay.

  “I can’t, Andrew. I thought I could but I just can’t,” Jill began.

  He felt so many emotions when his worst fear was confirmed. Anguish, sorrow, anger. He was ashamed to say, there was a lot of anger.

  She slipped from the bed and pulled her robe on but he stayed where he was, trying to take measured breaths, to will away the urge to lash out at her for causing him this pain.

  “Why, Jill? Why can’t you?” His voice sounded so calm, but on the inside he was anything but.

  Suddenly, despite the fact that he’d never thought of Jill as being like Blair, that was all he could think. She was leaving him just like Blair had.

  He tried to remember that Jill was hurting and sad and he wanted to reach out and comfort her. But she was also the one causing him so much pain, tearing his future apart the same way Blair had. Taking away the happiness that had been in his grasp only hours before.

  She shook her head as tears began to flow and she pressed her hand over her mouth. “I just can’t go through that again,” she said, her voice small and quiet.

  His anger flared. He rose from the bed. “How could you think I would be anything like him? That I would leave you? I’ve done everything, everything, Jill, to show you I won’t leave. What more can I do?”

  He was yelling at her now as he pulled on his clothes in jerky, quick motions.

  Fuck! How had this happened?

  “I’m sorry, Andrew. There isn’t anything you can do. It isn’t you. I just can’t do this.”

  He needed to get away from her before he lashed out and said something he couldn’t take back. As he turned to leave, she called out his name and he turned to see her holding his ring out to him.

  In a moment that would bring him unending shame later, he growled at Jill and swatted her hand away, sending the ring flying across the room. He stalked out of her house and away from the second woman to take his love and shred his heart with it.

  Jill managed to hold herself up until she heard the door slam and Andrew’s car pull down the driveway. Then she let the flood of tears, anguish and heartache come as she sank to the floor.

  The pain she felt was so much greater than the pain she’d felt when Jake left her. How was that possible?

  Rev came and crawled into her lap – all eighty pounds of him – and she fisted her hands into his soft curls, buried her face in his neck and cried.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  By the following week, Jill was fully wallowing in her misery. She’d been in the same sweats and t-shirt for days, not something she usually did.

  When the doorbell rang, she glanced down at her sloppy clothes and her unshowered state but answered the door anyway.

  Kelly didn’t wait for an invitation. She walked inside, said ‘hi’ to Rev and then turned to look Jill up and down. “You’re a mess, honey. A hot mess.”

  “I know.” Jill couldn’t really deny that. “I just love Andrew so much, it hurts to breathe without him.”

  Kelly shook her head and then looked at the ceiling in frustration. “Okay, you need to start from the beginning. Why did you end things if you love him? You guys were getting married, so in theory – in the absence of some scheme to get around a clause in a will like Jack and I when we were married – it’s a good thing to be in love with the man you plan to spend the rest of your life with.”

  Jill sank down onto the couch and curled her feet under her. When Rev lay down on the floor near Jill, Kelly took her place at the other end of the couch and Jill launched into the whole story.

  “So,” she concluded, “when I finally realized I’d fallen in love with him, I just couldn’t go through with the marriage. He’s always shown he cared about me. I know Andrew cares a hell of a lot more than Jake did, but that’s just not enough. I can’t go into a marriage that’s going to be so one-sided again.”

  Kelly reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand. “You know what I think? I have a feeling with Jake, you found a man who was perfectly willing to tell you he loved you, even though he didn’t. And I think with Andrew, you found a man who can love you but can’t tell you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I see love when you guys are together, but from what Jack tells me, Blair really did a number on him. I doubt he can bring himself to admit how he feels to you, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear he loves you.”

  Jill shook her head, needing to ward off the false hope. She couldn’t go there. It would lead to more pain in the end.

  “I’d like to think so but I can’t take that chance. If I married Andrew and it turned out he didn’t love me, I wouldn’t recover this time, Kel. He would stay with me for the money, but eventually he’d resent me. We’d end up hating each other. Hell, I’d hate myself for keeping him with me. But, I wouldn’t be able to let him go.”

  She swallowed hard, trying to ward off the tears that threatened – but they fell anyway.

  Kelly had no more words to offer so she held Jill while she cried. When Jill was spent, Kelly helped her clean up and tucked her into bed before letting herself out the front door.

  If Andrew could just stay mad at Jill, he could hold the pain in check. So he worked and he stewed and he stayed angry. He told himself over and over that Jill was just like Blair – that Jill hurt him just like he knew she would.

  Over the next two weeks, he threw himself further into work, spending long hours at the office, taking on new projects, and terrorizing his staff with his bitter anger. Andrew knew he was driving everyone around him crazy but he didn’t know any other way to keep the pain from bubbling up inside him.

  On Thursday afternoon of the second week, Jack finally walked into Andrew’s office and shut the door.

  “Andrew, you gotta stop this.”

  “Stop what?” He looked at Jack as if he didn’t know what he was talking about but he knew Jack wasn’t buying it.

  “The whole finance team is walking around on tip-toes because they’re afraid of setting you off. I’ve had three of your staff tell me they need to take their comp time next week. Your staff is trying to get away from you. No one can handle your temper right now.”

  Andrew let his head fall into his hands. “Yeah, I know. I just really don’t know what to do about it.”

  “What happened with Jill? You told us you broke up but why?”

  “I wish I knew. She just said she can’t marry me. She’s too afraid I’ll leave her someday. I gave her a fucking prenup that gave her everything I own if I left her, Jack. What more can I do?”

  “Do you love her?” Leave it to Jack to know to ask that question, Andrew thought wryly.

  Jack had always been able to read Andrew.

  Andrew could only nod.

  “Did you tell her that?”

  He shook his head. “She’s not looking for love. She doesn’t believe love can last after what Jake put her through. She wants stability and guarantees, which I gave her, but I guess those aren’t enough.”

  Jack had no answers for Andrew. “Come on. Let’s go to my house and let Mrs. Poole spoil us while we get wasted. Kelly’s headed to the spa for a long weekend with her sister so we can drown your sorrows in whiskey. I’ll have Chad meet us there.”

  “No, man. I don’t want to end up like I did with Blair.” Jack and Chad had pulled Andrew out of a week-long drinking binge when Blair left. Andrew had no intention of going down that road a
gain. “I’m just gonna head home.”

  Jennie knocked on Chad’s office door and poked her head in.

  “Got a sec, big man?” Jennie asked, irreverent as ever when addressing her boss.

  Chad gave her the tolerant sigh he reserved for Jennie and waved her into the room.

  She shut the door and took a seat across from his desk.

  “So far, I’ve got nothing we can really document on Theresa. There are odd things. For example, Andrew’s been in a piss poor mood the last two weeks since, well you know...”

  Chad nodded. He knew Jennie was referring to the tension around the office since Jill and Andrew had called off their engagement.

  “Well, the entire finance team is walking around on eggshells. Everyone’s miserable. Everyone except Theresa. She’s been on cloud nine. I found her humming in the copy room today. She’s probably ecstatic he split up with Jill.”

  “Damn. We need something concrete to fire her. ‘Gives us the creeps’ and ‘happy over breakup’ are frowned upon in human resources.” Chad leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head.

  “I could have sworn I saw her coming out of Andrew’s office the other day when almost everyone had left for the day. But, it was one of those things where I walked around the corner and she was in front of his office, not in it. It just looked as though she might have just come from there.”

  Chad sat up. “All right. I’ll stay late tonight and put a camera on the door to Andrew’s office to log who’s entering and when. I don’t want to put anything in his office because he holds a lot of meetings with confidential material in there. But one on the door should be okay. I’ll let him and Jack know about this.”

  “I have another idea,” Jennie said, but then she hesitated.

  He nodded at her expectantly.

  “I’d like to log onto her computer and see if I can find anything more incriminating. I don’t like the idea of just sitting around waiting to see what she might do if she really is as crazy as I think she is,” she said.

  He just watched her for a long minute weighing all of their options – the dangers, the pros and cons. Technically, his team or HR were allowed to access any of their employees’ computers at any time but it was something they rarely did.

  “Let me talk to Jack this weekend and clear it with him. I’ll let you know after the weekend if he approves.”

  “You got it, Herc.” Herc was another pet name Jennie reserved just for him. Short for ‘Hercules,’ it drove him crazy.

  He knew that was the allure of the nickname for Jennie. She lived to get a rise out of him.

  He glared. “Go.”

  “Oh, and Jennie,” he said as she reached the door to his office, “if we do any snooping on Theresa’s computer or desk, we’ll do it together. I don’t want to take a chance on Theresa catching you alone, peeking through her stuff.”

  Chad caught Andrew and Jack just as they were leaving.

  “Are you serious? Theresa?” Andrew sounded incredulous as he looked from Jack to Chad and back again.

  “Jennie was the first one to notice Theresa’s odd behavior, but I’ve seen it since then, too. I’m going to put a camera facing the outside of your door so we can see if she really is going in and out of your office. And, Jack, I want permission to search her desk and computer,” Chad said.

  “I’ll document everything with human resources and get approval as soon as we dot our i’s and cross our t’s,” Jack said, then turned his attention back to Andrew who was still sitting in a chair looking stunned.

  “You okay with this?” Jack asked.

  “Hmmm? What? Oh, yeah. Fine.” His head clearly wasn’t on the conversation. Jack threw a quick look to Chad.

  “So, Chad’ll take care of everything. You just let us know if you see anything unusual going on with Theresa, okay?” Jack asked.

  Andrew nodded.

  “You okay, Andrew?” Chad asked. “You don’t need to worry about this. Jennie and I will take care of Theresa and get her out of here as soon as we can document something that justifies firing her.”

  Andrew waved off the concerned looks on his friends’ faces. “Yeah, sure. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Guess I didn’t notice anything was going on.” He pushed to his feet. “I’m heading out for the rest of the day, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He walked out of the office, ignoring the worried looks Chad and Jack exchanged as he left.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Andrew looked around the carriage house and shoved a hand through his hair. It was time for him to pack up and go back to his condo downtown. Lydia and Nora didn’t need him here anymore and being so close to Jill was killing him.

  Most nights, he couldn’t resist watching her as she let Rev out in the backyard to run. He watched from the shadows and stewed and let his anger build.

  It was time to put some distance between them. Nora and Lydia had insisted he and Jill would likely work things out before the wedding date. They were plowing ahead with the wedding plans regardless of what he told them.

  But that wasn’t what he needed. He needed to try to move on and forget that Jill had ever happened.

  He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to clear her from his mind. Thankfully, he hadn’t sold the condo. He would pack things up and move back to his place this weekend. He moved to the window and looked down on Jill’s yard.

  “What the hell?” Andrew said out loud as he watched Jill drive her SUV through her grandparent’s backyard, bouncing over the lawn. Jill stopped when she came to the pool, unable to go further.

  He watched as she got out of the truck and ran around the pool. That’s when Andrew saw what she was trying to do. Rev was laying on the ground seizing and Jill was struggling to lift him and carry him to her SUV. But eighty pounds of dead weight was clearly more than she could lift for long at a stretch.

  “Shit!” he spit the word out as he ran through the door and over to Jill’s yard through the woods.

  “Jill,” he shouted as he came around the back of the fence and jogged toward her.

  “He’s been seizing for fifteen minutes. I have to get him to the emergency vet.” There were tears streaming down her face as she struggled to lift the dog.

  “I’ve got him, honey. I’ve got him.” He lifted Rev and ran to the SUV as Jill followed behind.

  “I’ll drive. You ride with him,” he said as he carefully placed Rev onto the back seat and helped Jill climb in.

  Andrew ran around to the front seat and shoved the car in reverse, backing it out of the backyard and onto the driveway.

  “Where is the emergency vet?” He asked.

  Jill clung to Rev and tried to catch her breath and calm herself.

  “On Chase Parkway, near Route 64.” She pulled out her cell phone to call and let the vet know she was on her way.

  Jill had programmed the number into her phone when Rev was first diagnosed with epilepsy, just in case she ever needed to bring him in after hours for something like this.

  Her vet told her if Rev ever seized for longer than five minutes, she needed to take him right in for intravenous anticonvulsants. She was timing carefully. It had already been twenty-two minutes for the seizure by the time Andrew pulled into the vet’s parking lot.

  Andrew picked up Rev while Jill opened the door to the clinic. Two technicians met them in the lobby to take them straight back to an exam room.

  When they entered the room, Andrew was instructed to put Rev on the table and they began to fire a series of questions about Rev’s age, general health, previous seizures and this particular episode.

  Within minutes, the doctor entered the room and began to administer medications that would, it was hoped, stop the seizure.

  Without looking up, the doctor began to explain what she was doing. “I only have a few more minutes to try to stop this within the thirty-minute window we need to shoot for so I’d like to administer meds and explain later. Do I have your authorization to do that?”


  “Yes, that’s fine,” Jill said. She and her veterinarian had already discussed the danger of a seizure that lasted this long. She knew they needed to stop the seizure before permanent damage was done to his brain.

  Rev usually appeared somewhat aware of Jill when he was seizing but now he seemed completely unaware of her and his surroundings. This was worse than anything she’d seen in the past.

  The vet tech said his temperature was already at 105. Jill’s palms were sweating and she was still shaking from the effort she had exerted trying to get Rev here and the panic she felt when he convulsed.

  She watched as the doctor began pushing several medications into the IV and then began to recheck Rev’s vital signs. After a few minutes, the doctor turned to Jill and Andrew.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Kerry. Sorry for the late introduction. This is the first time Rev has had a seizure of this length, correct?”

  “Yes.” Jill nodded as she spoke and put one hand on Rev’s leg. She wanted to feel a connection to him and was relieved to feel the tense spasms had left his body already.

  “What happened was called status epilepticus. It’s essentially any seizure that lasts longer than five minutes. The seizure puts a great deal of strain on the animal’s body, which is one of the reasons we saw Rev’s temperature shoot up. If we aren’t able to stop it quickly, there can be lasting effects, but I think we got to him just in time,” Dr. Kerry explained.

  “I’ve given him Diazepam to stop the seizing quickly and Phenobarbital to prevent the seizure starting up again. The Diazepam is fast acting, but it only lasts fifteen to thirty minutes so we need the Phenobarbital on board before the Diazepam wears off.”

  “Can you tell if there’s any permanent damage?” Andrew asked before Jill could and she was glad for his warm strength beside her. She wouldn’t have made it here on time if he hadn’t come to help.