Page 21 of The Billionaire's Lust

Once her stilettos became a muffled tap, I whipped to face Jacob. “What the hell is going on with you and your mother? And Jakey--”

“We don’t have nearly enough time to get into that right now.”

“Maybe we should make time,” I hissed. “Because she’s dropping not so cryptic comments about us. About me. And I want to know how you could go from that letter I found to not being able to stand being in the same room as her.”

His eyes were still raging, but he let out a sigh, trying to calm himself. “The day after I wrote her that letter, we had a conversation that changed everything. The things she said…” His voice trailed off and I could tell he was getting riled back up.

My throat tightened. “About me?”

“About everything,” he corrected. “It took my mother and I a long time to work through our past and she went from being so excited about meeting you to swearing she’d put an end to us if it was the last thing she did.”

I dropped my head in my hands. “I don’t understand. I don’t even know her. What happened to change her mind?”

“I have a feeling that someone didn’t take lightly to the rescission of our contract.”

“If you say that crazy woman’s name...” I left it unsaid as I heard his mother’s shoes click excitedly as she breezed back into the room.

“Why don’t we just cut to the chase?” she said, dropping the niceties. She walked to the island and opened her clutch, pulling out a small rectangular case. When she flipped open the cover, my heart lurched to my stomach. Not many people carried them around anymore, but there was still no mistaking what was in her hand.

A checkbook.

“How much do you need to start your own business and forget this whole marriage thing, Leila?” She clicked her pen and poised the tip on the blank check. “Because the only way I’m letting you marry my son is over my dead body.”

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