All Chapters of The Billionaire's Ultimatum: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

149 Chapters

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY

XAVIER’S POV The cab came at ten-fifteen. Alec, once informed of its arrival, immediately made the situation significantly more difficult by deciding that this was not acceptable and that I should stay and they should go to the beach again and why did I have to go to Los Angeles. I crouched down in front of him on the pavement outside Laura’s house, where we’d come to collect my bag. “I have to go back to work,” I told him. “But I’m going to call you. Every single day. You can tell me about Gerald and what he gets up to. I want nothing but to listen to every single detail.” “Yeah, but what if Gerald does something really important and you miss it?” “If you just tell me then it’s as good as me not missing it, right?” He considered this with a frown. “You promise you’ll call?” “Every day. I promise.” He looked at me for a long moment before reaching forward and straightening the collar of my shirt with his two small hands. I had never felt a lovelier sensation in my life. Th

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE

LAURA The past few days have been…a lot. I thought as I took a sip of my orange juice. From running into Juniper, to Xavier popping out of the blue to watching him meet Alec. I genuinely thought that I wouldn't be able to handle them meeting…I thought that it'd break me down to a point of no return. And it did at first but eventually…that tight aching sensation turned into something else. Something that I couldn't quite understand yet. I was scared of how Alec would respond to Xavier, then I was scared that they liked each other a little too much and that I was getting left out. Now for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about how nice it felt—when we went around Santorini, grabbed a movie, had ice cream and ended up on the beach watching the sunset. I felt this warmness envelope me in a way I couldn't describe. Seeing Alec excited and happy like that meant everything to me. And Xavier… What about Xavier? I let out an even heavier sigh because that was the problem, wasn’t

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO

LAURA “Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked, my voice coming out quieter than intended as Jerry turned his attention back to the road. “Just...you seem pretty deep in thought. Anything on your mind?” My throat tightened. Was I supposed to tell him the truth? That I was thinking of my ex husband to an unhealthy degree and my heart was fluctuating as a result. Definitely not. “Nothing really…” “Certain?” “I’m certain, Jer. I just haven’t gotten a lot of sleep lately, so I’m a little absent-minded.” “So this has nothing to do with this Xavier guy?” He said it so matter-of-factly that something immediately flared inside me. Even if he wasn't wrong. And what exactly do you mean by that?” I shot back, my voice rising higher than I intended. Jerry was quiet for a moment. “I saw you at the café yesterday morning, you know?” My heart dropped straight into my stomach. “I walked in and out twice and you didn't even notice.” His grip tightened slightly around the steeri

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE

XAVIER "What did you just say?" "Ms. Juliette swung by the office during the day and made quite the ruckus when she saw that you weren't in." Juliette? Heat flooded my system at the mere mention of her name. Juliette was one of my business associates who had gotten…a little out of hand. Her father was one of our major shareholders, and since she’d recently started working at his company, she’d been attending quite a few of his business meetings and that’s how we met. What started off as small talk, to her barging into my office asking for some “business advice” quickly turned into full-blown flirting. Before I knew it, she was spending more time in my office than at her actual work place. I couldn’t lie—I liked the attention. She was beautiful, intelligent, and sweet. Until she wasn’t. When things started becoming a little too serious and she began dropping hints that I should ask her out already, I knew deep down that I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I still hadn’t fully

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR

XAVIER She was studying the menu when I pulled out the chair across from her, the moment she looked up and saw me, her entire face lit up. "Xavier." The smile that spread across her lips was almost blinding. I simply nodded. I didn’t have the energy for pleasantries or the patience to pretend that this was some merry get together. I came here for one reason and one reason alone To end this. "What?" she laughed softly. "No hello? No good morning?" "I don’t appreciate you showing up at my workplace and causing problems for my employees, Juliette." Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second before returning. "How else was I supposed to get your attention?" she asked, resting her chin on her palm as she tilted her head slightly. "It worked, didn’t it?" My jaw tightened. God, this was already exhausting. "What do you want, Juliette?" For the first time since I’d sat down, something vulnerable flickered across her face. "Aren’t you done?" I frowned. "Done with what?"

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE

LAURA I didn't stop for any pleasantries. Even when a few of the other nurses greeted me on my way in, I barely acknowledged them. Anger pulsed through every part of my body, making it impossible to focus on anything else. By the time I reached my office, I slammed the door shut behind me and let out a silent scream. I was upset. I was furious. I was feeling so many things at once that I couldn't even make sense of them. I knew I was partly in the wrong. I knew I was being petty. And I knew the way I'd treated Jerry wasn't fair. But... There wasn't a "but," was there? I dropped into my chair, practically shaking from head to toe, and forced myself to take slow, deep breaths. Think clearly. Just think. But no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts remained tangled. What was I really angry about? Was I angry at Jerry? Or was I angry at myself because everything he'd said was true? We rarely fought, and Jerry rarely picked fights, so I knew for a fact that I had hurt him

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX

XAVIER The restaurant doors had barely stopped swinging from Juliette’s exit when my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I didn’t check it. I sat there for a long moment with my cheek still stinging, acutely aware of every pair of eyes still on me, every phone that had been raised and was probably still raised, capturing whatever I did next for the entertainment of strangers. Unbelievable. I put a hand up for the bill before the waiter could even approach. Paid in cash. Left without looking at anyone. Marcus was waiting outside, already wearing the expression of a man who had clearly seen the footage before I’d made it three steps out the door. “It’s everywhere,” he said without preamble, falling into step beside me. “I assumed.” “Trending in three different cities. Someone’s already given her a nickname.” “I don’t want to know.” “You don’t.” We got into the car. I sat in the back and stared out the window while Marcus and Elena worked the phones in the front, calling

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN

XAVIER Every other thought in my head went silent all at once. “What?” “She texted me. A few hours ago. I don’t know how she got it—maybe she pulled it from somewhere, maybe someone gave it to her, I don’t know. But she knows who I am. She messaged me—” Laura’s voice caught slightly. “And let's just say it wasn't the most delightful.” The car suddenly felt very small. “Read it to me.” “Xavier—” “Read it to me, Laura.” There was a pause, and then her voice came through again, quieter, reading words I could hear costing her something even secondhand. “So you’re the bitch that was taking all of Xavier’s attention away from me. When I loved him with everything I had, where were you? What did you do? Absolutely nothing. I was the one who cared about him the most. I was the one who wouldn’t leave even when he pushed meaway, yet he chooses you over me? Absolutely pathetic.” By the time she finished, my hand had closed into a fist on my knee tight enough that my knuckles had gone w

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT

LAURA I sat on the edge of my bed for a long time after the call ended, my phone face-down in my lap. The house was quiet. Alec was in his room, surrounded by his dinosaurs, conducting what sounded like an elaborate trial with Gerald presiding as the judge. I could hear the soft murmur of his voice through the wall, completely absorbed in a world only he could see. I should have been getting dinner ready, prepping and planning for the week ahead, running to the supermarket. Doing a dozen ordinary things. Instead I sat there and thought about the way Xavier had said — “I noticed.” Two words. Completely unremarkable on the surface. And yet they’d done something to the inside of my chest that I was still trying to recover from twenty minutes later. It wasn’t even what he’d said, exactly. It was the way he’d said it. Quite and certain, like he hadn’t needed to think about it. Like noticing me was just something he did, the way you notice weather changing or a room going still. M

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE

LAURA “What?” Jerry’s voice went up and that was just the beginning of my heartache. “Jerry…” “No… no, don’t Jerry me right now.” His voice sounded low and hurt, and it felt like all my greatest fears were finally coming true. “What are you saying right now?” I swallowed hard. “I think I still have feelings for Xavier.” Silence stretched over the phone for a solid minute. “Laura.” “I’m sorry,” I quickly said. “I’m so sorry, Jerry. I feel like the most awful person in the world and you don’t deserve any of this and I…” My voice was cracking now. “I just had to tell you. I had to.” “So you’re telling me that you’re throwing away our relationship because of a guy you met once after three years? Just like that?” The way he put it sounded much too cruel. “Jerry, it isn’t like that. I swear.” “Then what is it like, Laura?” His voice trembled as it shot up. “What is it like because I am trying my best to understand right now, so tell me.” “That’s what I’m saying… I, I just real

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