Page 23 of A Billionaire's Secret

“Thank you,” she smiled, peeled her hand away from mine, and walked in.

I ran up the stairs to my house, taking the steps two by two, invigorated by my time with Victoria. But as soon as I opened the door, my enthusiasm vanished. Diana and her mother were seated on the couch, Diana’s face wet, her face and nose red from crying.

“Dee-Dee, what’s going on?” I rushed to her side. “Amelia, hi.”

They both looked up and stared at me. I blushed, realizing that my hair probably still had pieces of hay tangled in it. I ran my fingers through my hair, and some fell on the rug.

“Where have you been?” Amelia inquired.

“Will one of you tell me what’s going on?” I ignored the question, as I didn’t owe them any explanation.

“She’s having an anxiety attack about tomorrow.” Amelia clarified.

“Dad, I’m not good at this. I’m not good at anything.” Diana sobbed louder.

“Nonsense! What are you talking about? You won a very tough race. You’re good at it.” It took all of me to lie to my daughter, but she needed to hear that.

“No! I suck! I know she’ll win tomorrow—” Diana got up and continued to mope around. “She’s so much better than me. It’s like she was born for that dumb sport.”

“Who are you talking about?” I looked confused, but I knew exactly what she meant.

“Victoria! I hate her!” Diana yelled, and my fist balled up. “I mean, I want to hate her, but she’s so nice to me. I just don’t get it…”

My fist loosened up, and I walked over to hug Diana.

“Calm down Dee-Dee, just go out there and do your best, alright?” I spoke gently.

“Like, she’s been helping me and teaching me some stuff. But I’m still going to lose,” Diana continued her rant.

I tried to hide a smile from spreading and exposing my secret, but hearing Diana say that Victoria has been nice to her and even helped her erased every last piece of doubt I may have had that she was the one for me.

“It’ll all be fine.” I declared. And for the first time in a long time, I truly believed it.

11

Victoria

Ilayinthedark, desperately trying to shut my eyes and fall asleep. But I couldn’t. My body was still buzzing with passion and adrenaline. I could smell Christian’s billion-dollar cologne on me, and I dreaded the hour when I would eventually have to wash it off.

No matter what I tried to think about, my mind protested and circled back to him. Just days ago, I had ignored his calls, determined to pay back his secret loan and never see him again. And then, the minute he showed up, I had melted in his arms, all reason fleeing my mind. The moment his arms wrapped around my waist, my armor fell to the ground, and I was his for the taking.

With no clear idea of what the future held, I drifted off to scattered flashbacks of him and finally fell asleep. When the alarm went off the following day, I jumped to my feet immediately, eager to race and see him again.

My father loaded all of us in his truck and offered to take us to the racetrack, irritating my nerves the entire way there with his slow, cautious driving.

“Dad, hurry up! I need to get there, like now!” I scolded him from the back seat.

He completely ignored me and turned up the volume of his radio.

“Vicky, can you please take some time off after this?” My sister pleaded with me. “You’ve been on edge and so yelly lately.”

“Yelly? Is that even a word?” I laughed nervously, realizing that she was right. “Yeah, this is the last race for a while.”

“Thank God!” Lizzie looked up at the sky. “And get a date, won’t you?”

“Oh, so I can be annoying like you and your precious Adrian?” I mocked her.

“She might already have someone in mind,” my mother said, twisting her neck to look at me and wink.

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