Page 51 of Dr. Billionaire's Fake Marriage

I pace the street for a while, knowing I have no home. I can't return to Troy's house, and I am still very mad at Mother.

I return to the hotel I stayed in last night, to take a few days to clear my head.

Amelia calls before the taxi stops. "Your mother says you left her house this morning, and Troy says you didn't sleep in the house last night. Where the hell are you, Camile Howard."

"I checked in at a hotel," I tell her. "I am returning there now. I just want to clear my head for a while."

“You should have called me,” she says. “My father owns a cabin he never uses downtown.”

"Amelia," I reply. "I don't want to bother you. You just got married, for God's sake."

"What do you want to do now? Do you want to find your father? I can have my father's private investigator get on it. He'll find your father in a few days.

I take a few seconds to think about Amelia's offer. She thinks I need closure. She thinks being in the dark about the whole event while my father still lives somewhere will hurt me more than I know.

I shake my head. "I don't want to see him, Amelia," I reply. "I don't want to ever see him again."

I never thought there would be a time when I never wanted to see my father again.

Although I share great hatred for the man who left me and Mother when I was young, I still hope to see him one day. But now, I don't need closure for a man who cannot stand his ground to fight for his family and the hospital.

"Are you sure?" Amelia asks. "You are not thinking straight right now. You should think about it and get back to me."

“Amelia,” I respond, “I am sure I never want to see him again.”

Chapter seventeen

Family Business

Troy

I run up the stairs to Mother's mansion to see her sitting on the patio, pretending to be engrossed in the book in her hand – a familiar sight. "Do you have a problem?" Mother asks coldly. "Shouldn't you be at work, running the biggest private hospital in Wallace?"

I am livid, almost bursting in anger at Mother's nonchalant attitude toward Camile's pain.

"You offered to pay Camile off to disappear from my life?" Mother raises her face when I mention Camile. "It can only mean one thing…," I say, "there is more to this story than you are telling us, and I demand to know it right away."

"You don't have to know anything." Mother turns to pick up her book. "What you have to know is that I offered to pay Camile off because I think it’s best for her to stay away from you. Everything I did, I did for you and this family."

"What did you do, Mom?" I beg her to answer. "What did you do to Camile's father?"

Mother looks away. "David and I offered to pay him off, but he declined the money," she begins, "then he threatened to involve the legal system…to sue the hospital and take back the company. So, I threatened him with his wife and child. I made him leave Wallace forever, drop the court case, and never step foot on Wallace soil."

I am nervous hearing Mother speak without remorse. "You destroyed a family, and for what, Mom?" I ask, hoping to see an ounce of remorse reflected in her face, but she doesn't show any.

She is as cold as ice. It scares me to see her this way. I have seen Mother act coldly, but I haven't seen her as ruthless as this.

Mother glares at me. "For you!" she lashes out. "For you and for this family. I will do it again if I have to." She sighs and adds, "I did it so you can have this life. So you and your brother can live a luxurious life for the rest of your lives."

"Your father wouldn't do it," Mother continues, boasting about how he got Camile's father to flee Wallace. "David wanted to be noble, but you know who isn't? Me! I made George Howard leave without looking back." I exhale softly, hoping this was a bad joke.

"You will leave Camile the hell alone, and you will do as I say," she commands, but I shake my head, reminding her that I am a forty-five-year-old man who is old enough to make his own decisions.

“No,” I insist. “I am not leaving Camile, and I am not coming back here until you make things right with her family.”

"You've fallen for her, haven't you?" As I leave, Mother quietly stammers, "You have fallen in love with Camile."

I don't deny her observation.

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