Page 178 of Billionaire Temptations

He shook his head and walked down the stairs as I went to our bedroom and slammed the door. So much for things being perfect. If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is. Isn’t that how the quote goes?

I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I wanted to throw everything I could get my hands on, but I didn’t. I refused to let him break me. I was a fighter, survivor, and, apparently, a very jealous person. You see what he did? He turned it around and blamed me. Did I really doubt his love for me? In a way I did only because he was holding another woman and wouldn’t talk about it last night. What else was I supposed to think? I needed to get the fuck out of here for a while. I needed to clear my head and really think about what had just happened, and I couldn’t do that in this house. I was heading down the only road I’d ever known.

Chapter Forty-One

Alex

I went out the back door and down to the beach. I needed to cool down. For her not to believe I loved her killed me as nothing ever had. We wouldn't be having this argument if she had never seen Bella and me. I would have told her today why she was there, and she would have understood. She was hurt by what she saw, but to doubt that I loved her was crossing the line with me. I had given her everything I had. My heart, my soul, my world, and in one lousy fucking moment, she doubted me. That right there hurt me to the very core of my existence.

About a mile up the beach was a waterfront restaurant. I needed a drink to calm down and to think, so I walked there. Sitting at the bar for a couple of hours, sipping on the same drink, something hit me. I told her to leave. Panic settled inside me because that was exactly what she’d do. I should never have walked away from her, and I shouldn’t have been so stubborn and not told her the truth. I threw some money on the bar and ran up the beach back to my house. I ran as fast as I could as the wind swept across my face and the ocean roared. I flew in the back door and up the stairs to our bedroom. The door wasopen, and Emerson wasn’t in there. I looked in the closet to see her suitcase gone and empty hangers hanging where her clothes hung. Slamming my hand against the door's molding, I yelled, “Emerson!”

Jenna came running into the bedroom and looked at me. She knew something. I could see it in her sad eyes.

“Where is she?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know, Alex. She just said that she needed to think and clear her head.”

“She can’t fucking do that here in California?”

“Calm down. You don’t know if she left the state. Maybe she went to Adam’s house.”

“Maybe she did. I’ll give him a call.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed Adam.

“Hey, Alex, what’s up?”

“Adam, have you talked to Emerson by chance?”

“No. I was going to call her later to find out how she was feeling. Why?”

“Are you home?”

“Yeah. What’s going on, man?”

“We got into a huge fight, and her suitcase and some of her clothes are gone.”

“Shit, Alex. What the hell happened?”

“It’s a long story, and I’d rather not get into it right now. Could you do me a favor and give her a call? If I call her, she won’t answer.”

“Sure thing. I’ll call you back.”

Suddenly, I heard her phone go off. I looked at Jenna, and she looked at me. It sounded like it was coming from the nightstand. I walked over, opened the drawer, and saw her phone sitting there. I answered the call from Adam.

“It’s me. She left her phone here.”

“Ah, fuck! Find her, Alex. Do whatever you have to and find her. I don’t trust that she’ll come back, especially if she’s hurting.”

“I will. I’ll keep you posted.”

Looking over at Jenna, who was shooting me a nasty look, I walked over to the closet and took the map she had stored up on the shelf. Laying it on the bed, I said, “Let’s see if we can figure out where she went.”

As we looked over the map, nothing was looking right. I sighed as I sat down on the bed. Suddenly, the song she sang at karaoke last night crept into my mind.

“Jenna, Emerson sang a song last night at the club, and she was staring at me the whole time she sang it. Something about Boston.”

“Hmm. Let me google it. Hold on.”

---