Page 6 of Recruited By the Billionaire

That was why, after he took another long look at his still-beautiful ex-wife in her beautiful casket, he stood up, glanced at his grieving children one more time, and then walked back out of that sanctuary, his bodyguard and publicist in tow.

As soon as they stepped outside, the press representation had grown in size and they all ran to Robert like a bum-rush. Cameras flashed in his face, microphones were shoved at his mouth, as his bodyguard moved them aside to help him to the limo.

They asked many questions as Robert hurried down the steep steps, but one questioner got to him. “Mr. Marris, why do your children hate you?” she asked, and then shoved the microphone back up to his mouth for an answer.

Robert didn’t respond. He pretended he didn’t hear her, and got in the limousine. But his heart was pounding. And inwardly he was alarmed to hear an outsider say those words to him. His children hate him. He knew it for years, but to hear it spoken out loud made it real to him. It crushed him. What a legacy. What a mess he was making of his life.

But when Laine got in the limo with him, he refused to display even a hint of hurt or anguish.

“So much for positive publicity,” he said to her, and the driver had to ease around the horde of reporters just to steer him away.

CHAPTER FIVE

In the motel’s parking lot, Royce and Taymar had gotten out of Royce’s car and gotten into Frankie’s. But Frankie was still trying to process what it all meant. And her heart was breaking.Not Devin too, she kept saying to herself.Please Lord, not Devin too!

“We had to do it, girl,” said Royce. “After I caught him in that restaurant kissing all up on that lady, and then he denied it to my face, I knew I had to prove I wasn’t lying on your husband like he told you I was. I didn’t want to put you in the middle. But I knew, after he denied it so brazenly, that I had to have proof.”

“And now we’ve got proof,” said Taymar. “There’s his car right there. And that’s the chick’s car next to his, according to the investigator we hired. Said they come here every single day like they live up in this bitch. She work at his law firm. And guess what her job title is, Frankie?”

Frankie didn’t give a damn what that woman’s title was. She was still processing the fact that her husband,her husband, was even there.

“Secretary!” Taymar proclaimed. “She’s his secretary!”

“I was shocked too,” said Royce. “No his ass ain’t that unoriginal, was what I said.”

But while her two best friends were going on about something that didn’t matter a damn to Frankie, Frankie was fuming. That wasn’t some stranger they were talking about. That was her husband. The father of her soon-to-be baby, although even her friends didn’t know she was pregnant yet. And Devin didn’t know either. Tonight was to be the big night she would tell him how all of their hopes and dreams for all of those years had finally paid off. She was pregnant. They were having a baby! And this was how he repaid her? “His cheating ass,” she said with bitterness in her voice.

“And you know what’s so horrible about it?” asked Taymar. “If Royce hadn’t hired that P.I., you would have never known anything about this.”

“Devin must be out of his mind pulling this shit on you,” Royce said to Frankie. “He know you! He know you don’t play this shit.”

But Frankie remained silent. Their opinions weren’t even registering with her. Because seeing her husband’s car in that parking lot spoke volumes to her. It meant everything was crashing and nothing would ever be the same again. It meant her heart, that she had given to Devin so willingly, would be broken again.

Maybe her mother knew exactly what she was talking about. No man gave a damn about her.

What was so wrong about her that no man treated her right?

Royce looked at Frankie. She could see the anguish all over her pretty face. “We know it’s hard, girl,” she said to her. “But you’re better than this. You deserve better than this.”

“Which room?” Frankie asked them.

“He’s not worth it, Frankie.”

“Which room?”

“Number eight, according to the investigator,” said Taymar. “They always be in room number eight every time they come. Like they have a standing reservation. That’s why we showed up today, to see for ourselves. And sure enough, there’s his car parked right like that P.I. said it would be.”

“Don’t let him ruin your life, Frankie,” said Royce. “I been telling you all along something wasn’t right with Devin. I told you that before you married him. Even your mama told you that. But it’s done now. He’s shown you who he is and you got to believe it. All you got to do now is take yourself to your own lawyer, file for divorce, and then take that Negro for everything he’s worth!”

“I know that’s right!” echoed Taymar.

But instead of leaving, Frankie was getting out of the car.

Taymar was shocked. “What you doing? Frankie?”

“Oh Lord,” said Royce as she and Taymar began hurrying out of the car too.

“Frankie? Frankie? Frankie? Frankie!”

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