King of Deception: A Secret Billionaire Romance (Billionaire Kings of New York Book 1)

17. The Things They Broke

seventeen

The moment I stepped into my apartment, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

There was the couch where Jude had tossed his phone on earlier. Here was where I threw my bag. That table was what I’d bumped into when he started intimidating me.

And there was the bedroom door.

A single tear dripped down as I slowly walked toward the door, hesitant as if I would find him waiting for me there. After turning on the lights, my eyes slowly moved over every detail.

In his frenzy, Jude must have knocked over my night light because there it was, shattered on the floor. The messy curves and burrows of the covers on the bed stood as a testament to my pathetic attempts at resistance. Looking farther, I saw the spot where he and Abel had brawled. The rug was twisted sideways, and a single bloodstain soiled its sky blue fabric.

Letting the tears rain down my face, I angrily opened the closet, stretching up my arms to reach the duffel bag on the top shelf. Pulling it down, I quickly unzipped it and tossed it on the bed.

Without thinking, I scooped up some clothes in heaps. A stack of tops, a couple of pairs of jeans, and a bunch of cardigans. I stuffed them carelessly into the bag before rushing over to the drawers, pulling the top one open, grabbing as many panties and bras as I could. Frantically, I scooted over and opened the sock drawer, cupping my hands and carrying as many pairs as I could.

Without looking back, I stepped over the broken glass, turning off the lights and slamming the door behind me. As I roughly wiped the tears, I grabbed my purse and left the apartment.

Unannounced, I stood outside Alex’s door, pondering my stupidity for not calling first. I could hear music inside and thought that he might have company. But I came all the way here now, and there was nothing left to do but ring the doorbell.

“Ella!” he sounded out of breath as his eyes widened at the sight of me. I could see James sitting on the couch behind him, sipping wine. “What happened to you?”

“I’m—I’m sorry,” I froze in place. “I can come back.”

“Ella, hi!” James approached with a smile that soon faded. His eyes went down to my bag. “Come on in.”

“Yeah, come inside,” Alex quickly leaned over, grabbing the bag. “What happened?”

“Are you alright?” James asked, stepping backward as he studied me from head to toe.

“Ella?” Alex repeated, “What happened?”

James rushed to close the door while Alex took my hand, gently leading me to the nearest chair. “Get her some water, babe,” he hollered at James.

Lowering myself into the chair, I felt the embarrassment gnaw at me. “I should’ve called. I’m sorry.”

“Can you stop?” He knelt down, holding my hand over my knee. “Ella… what happened?”

“Jude… Abel…” I knew how incoherent I was, but hard as I tried, I couldn’t form a sentence. “Blood on my rug.”

“Blood?” James repeated with wide eyes as he approached, handing me a glass of water. “Whose blood, Ella? What did you do?”

“Me?” I tittered before falling into a hysterical fit of laughter. “I—I didn’t do anything! Oh, no,” I lifted a finger. “I did. I certainly did.”

“Okay, she’s in shock,” Alex stood up, looking at James. “Should we call Frances?”

“No, no,” I slowed down my laughter, barely containing it. “I’m not in shock. I mean, yes, I am. But…”

“But?” Alex dipped his head, anticipating the rest of my sentence.

“Oh my God, my family!” Suddenly, I began to fumble through my bag until I caught the phone. Dialing my mom’s number, I looked at Alex and James, who remained baffled, staring at me. “Mom! Mom, hi. How are you, and how’s dad?”

“Hi, honey. We’re good, baby. How are you?”

“Mom, listen to me carefully, okay? I got a restraining order against Jude.”

I watched Alex and James’ eyes nearly fall out of their sockets.

“What?” she exclaimed.

“If he tries to contact you or dad, you have to report him immediately. Do you understand? You have to.”

“What the hell happened, Ella?”

“I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’ll tell you later. I just have a lot to do right now.”

“Ella! You can’t just—”

“Mom, can you trust me on this?”

“Oh my God, Ella.”

“Kiss dad for me. I’ll call you tomorrow. Bye, mom.”

When I hung up, Alex was reaching for his wine, chugging it down as if it were water. James just stood there with his hands in his pockets, quietly narrowing his eyes at me. I shrugged, putting the phone back into the bag before taking a drink of water.

“What did the fucker do?” Alex finally asked.

“I’d rather not relive it.” I sat back, rubbing my forehead as I closed my eyes.

“And… where’s Abel?” James sat down on the couch, leaning forward with the rest of his wine in his hands.

“Oh,” I widened my eyes. “You mean Abel Drakos?” I tittered, shaking my head. “Philip Drakos’ son?”

“What?” Alex sharply asked. “Your Abel is Abel Drakos?”

“Well,” I flipped my hand in the air. “Technically, he’s not mine anymore.”

“Okay,” Alex started pacing back and forth, wagging his finger beside his head. “You can’t just say ‘blood’ and then follow it with something like that. What did you do, kill the man?”

Grunting, I clenched my hands into fists. “God, I could!”

“This is ridiculous,” James pointed at me with his open hand while looking at Alex. “We’re not getting any real information here.”

“Wine,” I slowly nodded. “Gimme some of that wine, and I promise you,” I tightly closed my eyes, “I’ll try to be more articulate.”

An hour and two glasses of wine later, Alex and James had gotten the full picture. As soon as Alex sat on the armrest next to me, hugging me with one arm, my tears began to fall again.

“I don’t know what to say,” Alex said in a low voice as his hand moved up and down my back.

“How about ‘that’s some shit luck you got there’?” James shook his head.

“Technically, you were dating a billionaire!” Alex tittered in an attempt to make me feel better.

I forced a chuckle, but it wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?” Alex asked.

“Are you kidding? My head’s gonna explode,” I blinked, lifting up my palms. “What does he do? Where does he live? That car he drove, what the hell was that even called?”

“Hell if I know,” Alex shrugged.

Deeply exhaling, I looked at James. “You should be impartial. Am I an idiot?”

He briefly chortled, hanging his head and running his hand over the hair on the back. “Y’know, Ella—”

“Just be straight with me.”

“Eh,” he let out a puff of air. “You’re not an idiot.” Looking up, his eyes carried a great deal of kindness. “We all fall in love with the wrong guy sometimes.”

Who said anything about love? Looking down at my third glass of wine, I suddenly felt my stomach turn. “I think I need to take a shower.”

“That’s a great idea.” Alex stood up, sipping the last of his wine. “And I’m gonna prep the guest room.”

“Have you eaten?” James stood up, taking Alex’s empty glass and walking toward the kitchen. “I can whip up some spaghetti.”

“Jesus, guys. I’m so sorry. I completely ruined date night for you.”

Alex scoffed, “Please.”

If anyone asked me how the week that followed was, I would swear that I hadn’t a clue. Every day was a battle for me to keep my head on straight as I performed at work, reviewing every document twice as I doubted my ability to finish tasks I had completed a million times before. Luckily, nobody at the office noticed since gallons of coffee helped me forge a lively demeanor.

Eight days had passed with me struggling to achieve a semblance of normalcy. On Saturday morning, I decided to call a cleaning service for my apartment. After all, Nathan had informed me that he had taken care of everything and that the police would no longer need it for further evidence. He was such a professional, and I was comfortable with him since he didn’t try to bring up Abel in any way whenever we spoke. There was only the matter of payment, and every time I brought it up, he would change the subject.

When I arrived at the building, I was greeted by Dana, the cleaning lady, downstairs. Going up together, I was glad that I had some company when I opened the door for the first time since that night.

As soon as we stepped inside, she walked in with her tools, and I was held back by the fact that my phone suddenly started ringing. “You might wanna be careful. There’s broken glass in the bedroom,” I hollered as I fished out the phone. I saw Abel’s name, and my hand clenched the device harder.

Watching the phone ring, I froze in place, letting it be.

“Is everything alright, Miss?” the woman asked, and I slowly nodded.

“Yeah. Hey, I’m gonna run downstairs and grab some coffee. How do you take yours?”

“Sugar and cream,” she smiled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Careful with the glass, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Without looking at the phone again, I tossed it in my bag and ran downstairs.

Standing in line at the coffee place, I glanced at the faces around me. A couple in their mid-forties was contemplating the various muffin options, while three teenage girls argued about the best biscuit to go with their dairy-free iced coffees.

“Ella?” Vanessa’s voice made me spin, almost hitting the person behind me. “Wow, I was just thinking about you! Guilty!” she rolled her eyes and giggled. “I was gonna call you since I’m right around the corner, but—”

“No hard feelings, trust me,” I tittered, calming her down with a wave of my hand. “I’m just grabbing a quick coffee for me and the cleaning lady.”

“Oh, cleaning day, huh?” she scrunched her nose. “Where’ve you been? You’re such a grown-up all of a sudden. Busy all the time?”

“Yeah,” I nodded and sighed. “Had this tight crunch at work.”

“Not tonight, though, I hope. They’re having Ladies’ Night at Randall’s. Why don’t we go?”

“Uh—I’ll have to check. I’ll text you, yeah?”

“Deal!”

When I went back to the apartment, Dana was emptying the dustbin into a plastic bag. I heard the sharp rattles of broken glass and felt a shudder run down my spine.

“Gee, Ms. Boraine… some of that was on the bed!”

“Yeah, well,” I mumbled, putting down the cups on the kitchen counter. “Must’ve been in his shoes.”

She widened her eyes at me.

“Uh—My ex broke it by accident,” I explained. “He must’ve stepped in it.”

She nodded with a sympathetic look on her face. “Still fresh, isn’t it?”

“What?”

Putting down the bag by the door, she approached and took her cup. “Thanks,” she lifted it up to me before taking it to her lips. “The break-up?”

“Um, yeah,” I looked down, hopping up to sit on the high stool. “Pretty fresh.”

“It’s okay to miss ‘em,” she shrugged, leaning against the edge of the counter. “Even if they’ve done you wrong.”

Smiling, I wondered why she thought she could talk to me about something so personal. Still, since I couldn’t share anything about Abel with Vanessa or any of my girlfriends out of shame, I felt like I needed some female input. “You think?”

“Totally normal,” she shook her head in confirmation. “I heard that after a breakup, a switch flips in your brain, and it suddenly remembers all the good stuff about them.”

I silently nodded.

Recalling the way Abel beat up Jude for my sake, I was embarrassed to admit—even to myself—that I actually liked it. But he had been lying to me. I didn’t know if that was something I could forgive.

“But you also gotta remember,” she added, “you deserve better than a man who gets into bed with his shoes on.”

If only it were that simple, Dana.