Page 41 of My Cruel Billionaire

“Can you leave the light on?”

“Sure, honey,” I said. I didn’t feel like debating the logic of his under-the-bed monster following us all the way across town. I dropped my hand from the lamp and kissed his forehead. Then I moved for the door.

“Hey, Mom?” he said just as I opened the door. I paused, and looked over my shoulder.

“What is it, honey?”

“Are we going to…” he yawned huge. “Are we going to live here from now on?”

“What?” I sputtered. “No, I mean… why would...”

“Oh.” He yawned again and closed his eyes, snuggling in deep to the blankets. “It would be nice if we did.”

I started, and turned back. When I came to the side of the grand California king bed, however, I found my son to be fast asleep. I stroked his cheek, and tucked a tuft of blonde hair out of his eyes. Then I kissed the top of his head and made for the door.

I supposed he was right. It would be nice to stay at a place like this one. Or maybe even this one. A place that also happened to include Michael.

I returned to the living room to find that Michael had changed the station to one of those picture-in-picture deals. The bigger screen showed the financial information from the internet. The smaller one displayed a football game in full swing.

At that moment, I felt very much the intruder. I knew how much my nightly routine meant to me. Here we were, in this man’s home, interrupting god knew what. The man couldn’t even watch the television without me interrupting it.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m sorry for all of this.”

“Sorry for what?”

He turned his gaze on me, thumb working the control to turn down the volume on his television. I licked my lips and chose my words carefully when next I spoke.

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience, I guess. I’m really grateful for the help, and I don’t know how I can ever thank you properly. I just feel like we’re invading your life and making it, well, inconvenient. You know?”

I felt stupid for rambling on like that, but Michael didn’t seem to mind.

“Think nothing of it. You didn’t ask for your mother to have a heart attack. I’m just happy to help you and your son.”

I looked at him for a long moment, trying to figure out what was going through his head, and maybe, his heart. At length I spoke again.

“I’m surprised to see you being like this.”

“Being like what?”

“Caring about people. I mean, I always suspected you cared more than you let on, but to actually see evidence of it is... weird.”

He chuckled and shrugged his massive shoulders. “To tell you the truth, it’s a bit of a surprise to me too. I don’t really hate people, you know. I just hate when people bring me down. Which happens all the time.”

His face turned sour and I knew he was talking about the robbery at his office.

“Did I bring you down?” I asked softly.

He turned his gaze my way and favored me with a long look.

“What do you mean?”

“Did I bring you down when I used to work for you? Is that why you fired me, Michael? Because I brought you down like so many other people?”

Michael’s nostrils flared, and his eyes grew distant with memory. I couldn’t tell if he was upset with me or not. At length his eyes focused on the here and now and he faced me dead on.

“Actually, thereisone thing that I miss from that time.”

Chapter Fourteen

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