Page 104 of Battle with a Billionaire

“Not true, actually. I had another one.”

His features scrunched at the words as he dumped the dishes into the dishwasher. “Of him?”

“Yes,” she said before she bit into her lower lip.

“Well, I’m still holding seventy-five percent, so I suppose that’s fairly good.”

She smiled at him.

“So, what was it? The flashy wedding? The one that gigantic picture hanging in the living room came from?”

She shook her head. “No, it was…an argument.”

She pressed her lips together as she slouched in her seat. “And you were right, he had me followed.”

Kyle heaved a sigh, offering her a conciliatory glance. “I’m sorry, Julia. I know this will sound hollow, but I really take no pleasure in you realizing what he is. It must be jarring, especially when you don’t know why you agreed to this…nonsense.”

“Why did I?” she asked him.

He shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. We met after you were married. On the surface, it seemed you’d married for love. I didn’t find out about the contract until it had almost ended. The first one, that is.”

“And I agreed to a second because I had no choice,” she said with a sigh.

“Very little from what I could see. You were stunned when he named you CEO.”

Julia traced the edge of the counter as her mind searched for answers.

Kyle’s phone buzzed across the side table in the living room. “Sorry, I’m on call.”

“That’s fine, take it.”

He stared down at it for a second, his brow furrowing.

“Kyle, take it, really, I’m fine.”

“It’s not the hospital.”

Her forehead creased as she spotted the tension in his jaw. “What do you want?”

Kyle sighed, setting a hand on his hip. “Why?”

Julia struggled to make sense of the one-sided conversation.

A moment later, Kyle sighed. “Yes, I have. She’s with me, she’s fine.”

His jaw tensed again as a flicker of anger crossed his eyes. “I will as soon as she’s ready.”

He pulled the phone from his ear and jabbed at the display to end the call. “That was your loving husband.”

Her stomach turned over. He must have noticed she was gone. She swallowed hard, torn between the comfort she was finding here and the unknown at home. “Oh, I didn’t tell anyone where I was going…or even that I was going. I just…had this building in my head and left.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to him, Julia. You are an adult.”

“Who is married to him.”

“Barely,” he reminded her as she leapt from the stool.

“Still,” she said with a shrug as she skirted around him to pull her shoes on, “I should get back.”

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