Page 19 of Wanted By The Billionaire

“Apparently the one woman I want against all odds,” I say under my breath.

Her father stole from my father’s company. She cheated on me with another man and dumped me unceremoniously, and yet, I want her. Desperately. She wouldn’t even deign to speak to me. I recall the way she responded to me. Right before she threw me out like yesterday's garbage.

Is that all she thinks I’m good for then? Sex?

Hurt twists in my gut and clouds my vision and I stumble toward my desk, sink into my chair, and throw my head backward on the headrest.

Ethan’s expression is rapidly morphing from worry to alarm.

“Jordan?”

“I think...” I start, my voice breaking a little. “Quite possibly...” Actually, fuck it. “I’m in love with that woman.”

If I didn’t feel so miserable I might have laughed at his comical expression.

“And you know this after one night? About half an hour to be precise.” He whistles. “Must be some—”

“Shut the fuck up dickhead." I smile in spite of myself. "You know I don’t speak to my father right?”

“Yeah?” Ethan is still looking like the dumb kid who stumbled into an advanced math class.

“So it’s essentially because of her. It’s not one night man. It's been eight years.”

“What on earth? How come...?” Ethan’s going to break his face with what he’s doing to it. Besides, I'm so fucking tired of carrying the weight around and never speaking to anyone about it. So I start to talk.

“You'd better ask your secretary to hold any imminent calls or patch them here. This might take a while.”

Chapter 7

Jordan

Henderson, Nevada .

Eight years ago.

“Sit down Jordan.”

I take the chair across from Father in the large home office. It was one of the rare occasions when he visited the Henderson plant.

Apex Energy, over the past few decades, has been branching into sustainable energy. The vision started with my grandfather, then handed over to my father to run with. The solar plants are in the final construction stage in various locations across the States.

“What the hell are you still doing in Henderson?” He pins me with his penetrating, gray eyes.

Brendan Farrington was famous for his cunning and business acumen which made him either a powerful ally or a ruthless rival. A man few people dared to cross.

Tall and intimidating, with thick brows and a heavy-set jaw. I get my height and physique from him but take after my mother's Nordic side with the blue eyes and sculpted facial features. Something my cousins teased me about to no end growing up. ‘Pretty boy’ they called me. It took me a few years and incessant female attention to realize my looks were far from being a curse.

“You should be in Houston by now.”

Father is right. I should have moved to Houston last month, to spend four months shadowing Arrin Muller, the company's Chief Finance Officer. Most of the senior executives were based in New York but because of this ‘shadowing program’, a rite of passage, as it were, for future CEOs, those senior execs were required to spend time in key cities where the company had a huge presence—a refinery, oil rig, or major logistics hub—for months of mentoring. The Farrington ‘intern’ and future CEO could expect to do mandatory rounds across ten to fifteen cities in the course of three years.

“It's only a month overdue, I can pay it back. I’m sure the Arrin wouldn’t mind us moving things around a bit.”

He grunts disapprovingly. “I also understand you haven't been going to the Bakersfield rigs the past couple of months.” Apex Energy’s largest exploration and drilling site is in Kern County town.

“Again, a cumulative of four weeks missed, not a big deal. I’ve spoken to the team out there. I just have a few things to tie up.”

Father shakes his head in disgust.

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