Page 13 of The Billionaire Revenge

“Still doesn’t answer my question, why are you here?” he asked.

“I came to check on you” she said “I haven’t heard from you in over a week and you know we don’t live like that Malachi.”

“Oh, I must have misplaced my phone,” he lied.

He had intentionally hidden his phone in his drawer so he wouldn’t have to see it ringing and be tempted to pick up the phone when Carrie called.

“I found your phone,” she said holding it up “who is this Carrie girl?”

“You went through my phone?” he asked.

“No, she’s called twice since I’ve been here. Malachi what’s going on, are you in some sort of trouble?”

“No Marsha” he said taking his phone and walking into the kitchen.

“I screwed up,” he said trying to get her to stop talking “I fell in love with an amazing woman and I let the past screw everything up”

“What are you talking about?” his sister asked.

“The new company I was working for” he said “the boss, Carrie, I fell in love with her and I chickened out and walked away.”

“What does that have to do with eh past?” she asked.

“Do you remember when I was younger and I had a crush on the most popular girl in school and then she broke my heart?” he asked.

“Yeah, the pretty red head. She didn’t even acknowledge you existed.”

His sister said this with more excitement than he liked.

“Well it turns out, she’s my boss” he said “I fell in love with the girl who rejected me in middle school.”

His sister’s laughter was a surprise. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you anything,” he said walking towards the fridge to get a bottle of water.

“No” his sister said between bouts of laughter “you have to believe I’m very concerned about you. But you would have to be the stupidest man on earth, to let something that happened when you were a kid keep you away from the woman you love.”

“She broke my heart, though.”

“And so what?” his sister asked. “You decided to break hers?”

Malachi was silent.

“Maybe you should take a look in the mirror, because the only heartbreak I see is standing right in front of me. Now get your shit together and call the poor girl. If she loves you back, you’ve just put someone who is brave enough to love you through a lot of pain”

Malachi suddenly realized that his sister was right. He took his phone from her and went into his room. He was about to call Carrie when he realized she had left him a voicemail. He played it and heard the anguish in her voice. He decided he wasn’t going to wait another day. It was just after lunchtime, which meant she would still be in office.

Malachi walked into Carrie’s building as if it was his very first time. Coupled with being nervous he was afraid that she would reject him and that he would have to spend the rest of his life alone.

“Malachi” Jilan said surprised when he stepped off the elevator “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Carrie,” he said.

“She’s at a production staff meeting in the main cafeteria,” Jilan told him

“I need to see her now, Jilan,” he said.

“Alright” Jilan said skeptically.

They made their way back down to the first floor where the employees had gathered in the main cafeteria. Malachi could see Carrie smiling as she addressed her employees. He decided to be brave and make his way straight up through the middle. Once she saw him she stopped. He could see the fear and indecision on her face as he approached her and he was mentally cursing himself for causing her so much pain. Once she stopped speaking everyone else turned and watched him as he made his way up to the stage area.