Page 36 of My Fake Billionaire Damaged Boyfriend

Something tells me she likes my little apartment more than she claims to hate it. Either way, I rock on my heels, waiting for the elevator to hit the top floor. It’s only now that I realize I’ve palmed the paper that Alek handed me outside. Undoing the wrinkles, I pull the sheet out fully, my heat stammering to a dead stop.

“What the…”

Ping.The elevator doors yawn open, and I walk into the offices on the top floor, coming to the mess of cubicles that is this wretched place. I know where she works already, so I hurry into her office, a light cooing sound holding me back just behind the edge of her doorframe.

She’s crying. My body goes numb at the thought ofwhy.

Turning the corner, I see her bent forward against her desk, weeping shamefully into her crossed arms while she’s pressed firmly against the keyboard. It makes me wonder slightly, my steps light as I come around the side of her desk unnoticed.

Her screen is full of scanning code, the hidden search engine unfound even with her flash drive plucked into the keyboard. I finally grow the nerve to brush her shoulder, watching her jolt upright in sudden shock. She stands wearily against the side of her desk as she wipes her face dry, but the splotchy redness in her cheeks and button nose tells me those tears aren’t new.

She’s been crying for a while.

“What the hell happened?” I gust, pulling her into my arms. She fights me slightly, and I assume it’s because I just startled her, but she eventually pries out of my arms and wiggles away from me a few feet. “Hey, Izzy. Talk to me. Did he hurt you? Did he say anything to you today?”

“No, no,” she grumbles, working hard to collect herself like it’s not obvious that she’s drowning in sorrow. “I’m fine, I promise. I was just… I’m so… it’s just overwhelming, that’s all.”

I pluck her flash drive out of the system and hold it between us. “You probably shouldn’t use this here. If Alek found out you had this handy little aid, he would want it for himself.”

“Good point,” she sighs under her heavy exhale.

She takes the flash drive into her palm and steps away again, upset over something still.

I tap my fingers on the desk awkwardly, unsure how to handle this moment. She’s obviously despondent, and I can understand why if she would tell me, but she’s not letting a thing show. If it’s Alek, I’ll make him pay. If it’s just work stress, she can have my bathtub and some wine for dinner.

If it’s something else, I don’t know, I’d handle it. I just don’t want her to cry anymore.

I pull out the sheet that’s been lingering in my hands and hold it out, unsure what to say. She takes it without needing to be prompted further, her bloodshot eyes combing over the text that he’s just thrusted into my possession.

“What happened, Izzy?”

“What do you mean what happened?” Her brows furrow, her tense reaction a bit defensive already. “I was poor, Dimitri. Alright? What did you expect?”

“You told me that people crowdfunded your debts. They read your story and they pitied the fact that you were given away for adoption. I’m just curious about where the money went if you’re still in this amount of debt?”

She backs away slightly, crumbling the sheet into a ball and tossing it into the trash nearby. “It’s nothing that concerns you, Dimitri. I told you everything that I had to say that night. Yes, people pity me. Yes, they gaveme money before, and it did alleviate some of the debt.”

My mind is still in too many knots to make sense of. “Wait, so did it pay off all your debt or are you still—”

“Please, I don’t want to talk about it,” she says, her voice becoming deeper and more distraught.

I want to charge across the room and pull her into my arms, but she wouldn’t be susceptible to that. I can see it in her wilted, teary eyes. But why? What’s the big deal? Why wouldn’t she tell me she’s in trouble with money like this? Sure, we’re not like tightly bonded old friends or something, but I know this woman. I know she can be honest with me. she’s done it before.

Why didn’t she just tell me this before?

“Why are you hiding this from me?” I gust, a bit influenced by the fact that Alek had to give me this information, and not Izzy. “I’m just asking something simple, Izzy. It’s not the end of the world.”

“No, it’s not the end ofyourworld,” she gusts.

I shake my head, still lost in translation with this mix-up. “What is the issue then, huh? Why didn’t you tell me you were in trouble? I could have helped you.”

“Because I don’t need help!”

Her voice bounces off the walls, and I can see now I’ve poked a beehive that wasn’t ready to be trifled with. But it was a simple question. Why is she taking this to such an extreme? Normally I would walk off and give up trying to care, but not with her. Not with Izzy. I care about her too much to just let this blow over us both like some uncontrollable force of nature.

“Are you really down a million dollars?”

She stammers to keep upright, tucking her head down as tears hit her desk where she leans. “It’s a lot of money. I didn’t… I didn’t want people to know how bad it was. When they wanted to write the story to get me some help, I lied about how much I needed. It gave me some money to help, sure, but I still lost the house. I paid off the car, that’s about it. The rest went into getting me here.”

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