Page 12 of My Cruel Billionaire

“I enjoy the hell out of my life. I enjoy the hell out of making money, and making money IS my life. So I don’t know how you can say things like that to me. Not all of us have… distractions.”

I stopped myself from directly referring to his family as a ‘distraction,’ but I sure as hell implied it.

Evan had a strange reaction. He didn’t get angry, or even comically miffed as I had expected him to. Instead, he got this almost smug look on his face. Like he knew something I didn’t know, and couldn't wait to see me stumble right into it. But after working for eighteen hours I was exhausted and probably seeing things.

I decided my best bet was to change the subject before I got more confused or he decided to be angry about what I’d said about his family, and called off the merger.

“So, you really want to delegate this to someone else?” I shook my head and snorted. “I mean, we’ve worked very hard on this. I’d hate to see things go south now because of someone incompetent.”

His smile faded.

“You really think I would hire anyone who wasn’t competent?”

“That’s not what I said. Even great employees have their moments of incompetence. But if you handled things yourself, at least you know who to blame if things get fucked up.”

“Things aren’t going to get fucked up.”

“They won’t if you take care of the leadership on this project yourself,” I said.

Evan arched his brows.

“I am going to delegate this to someone who I trust implicitly. You might say this individual is like my right hand. I’m not sure if I could get anything done at this point without my assistant.”

“Come on,” I said with a sigh. I was starting to lose this discussion and I knew it. “You know that ordinary people are unreliable, incompetent, and untrustworthy.”

“You think everyone is that way, ordinary or not. The only person that you trust is yourself.”

I shrugged as if that should be obvious.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Well, to be honest, it is a bad thing,” Evan said. “Don’t get me wrong. Not that long ago I thought exactly the same way as you. I’ve seen the light, though.”

I gave him a sour look.

“This is all so you can spend more time with your family, isn’t it?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. But that’s not the whole story.”

“Then enlighten me, what is the whole story?”

He chuckled and took a deep breath, held it for a moment and then let it out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m enjoying the fresh, breathable air that we have here. Of course, if it weren't for the Amazon Rainforest, we might not have any air to breathe at all.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

“Here we go again. Evan Jones, philanthropist and world savior.”

“If you like,” he said, not taking offense at my hyperbole. “I do want to spend more time helping Amanda with her charity work, though.”

I laughed and shook my head sadly.

“You, my friend, have come down with a terrible affliction.”

“And what might that be?”

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