The Billionaire's Forgiveness Read online

  “I don’t like your tone. I’m standing here with a fresh copy of our marriage certificate, should I just call Mr. Winters right now?”

  Robyn looked at me, her eyes pleading. I mouthed to her to tell him one week. She put the phone back to her mouth and said, “No, don’t call him. I’ll get the money but I’ll need time again…”

  “I cannot wait two more weeks…”

  “One,” she said. “Give me one more week.”

  “Okay baby, I’ll expect a call in three days.” The line went dead. A blind rage was coursing through my veins. If the man had been standing in front of me, I may have done something that would send me to jail.

  ~

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ~

  ROBYN

  I was standing there still holding the phone looking at Aaron and wondering where we would go from here. He looked so angry and I felt so bad. I started thinking about it all again and before I knew it, I was hanging over the toilet again, heaving and coughing and trying to breathe. When I finished my dry heaves I sat back against the wall and pressed my face into the towel. I couldn’t get my breath, I literally felt like I was going to die. I looked up and saw Aaron standing in the doorway looking at me again. I remembered earlier when he asked me if I was pregnant and actually seemed happy about the possibility and my whole body started shaking and I started crying again.

  Aaron came over then and sat down next to me. I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t walked out yet. I was waiting for him to get on his phone and call the authorities and have me hauled away. I was a thief and a liar… I deserved it. In spite of all of that I suddenly felt Aaron’s arm stretch around me. He pulled me into his chest and held me there and that act of kindness after everything I’d done put me over the edge once more.

  He sat there on the floor of the bathroom with me, Aaron Winters, CEO of Winters Inc. One of the youngest billionaires in the world, the smartest man I’ve ever known, was sitting on the floor of my bathroom holding me after I had both lied to him and stolen from him.

  He reached down and took my chin in his fingertips. Tilting my face up towards his he said, “All I want is you. I don’t care about the money, or the business or your past. I care about your present and your future and I want to be a part of that. I wish that you would have come to me, but maybe I played a part in you being unsure that it was okay to do that.”

  “You’re not going to leave me?” I said, in a pathetic sounding sob. I was beginning to annoy myself.

  “No, not unless you want me to,” he said. I clutched onto the shirt he was wearing with both hands, the shirt I probably ruined with my running make-up.

  “There is nothing I want less than that. I tried to imagine what my life was going to be like when you left me… I couldn’t do it… I love you so much.”

  Aaron kissed me on top of my head and said, “I love you so much too. We can fix this… together. You have to trust me though, always. Please don’t ever lie to me again. I don’t know if we could get past another one.”

  I felt like a house had fallen on me and Aaron had just lifted it off. I was still afraid it wasn’t real. I was in utter disbelief that he would forgive me. “Never, ever, ever! I will never lie to you again. I do trust you and I will do anything to earn your trust back. I’m so sorry, Aaron. I’m so very sorry!”

  He pulled me back against his chest and sat there rocking me like a baby saying, “Shh, it’s going to be alright. Everything is going to be okay.”

  AARON

  I finally got Robyn up off the floor. We never did eat the lasagna. I spent the rest of the night holding her and reassuring her that I wasn’t going to leave her. I didn’t believe for a second that she was with me for my money. I had come to know her well and she was the least materialistic person that I’d ever known. I had also seen the diamond necklace I gave her for Valentine’s day laying on her dresser. If she was interested only in the money, she could have pawned that necklace easily for fifty of the seventy-five she needed. The fact that she didn’t reaffirmed that she loved me.

  I was still angry, but at this man who would take advantage of a young girl in need the way this Igor person had. If he hadn’t seen a photo of her with me in the paper he probably would have left her alone. But, once he found out that she was involved with a billionaire, the opportunistic bastard jumped on it. The thought of how upset and frightened she must have been upset me terribly.

  The next morning I told Robyn to take the day off work. I left her in bed with assurances that I would be back later. The first thing I did was call off the internal investigation on Hayley. My men knew better than to ask any questions, they just did as I asked. The next thing I did was make a call to the bank where I held my personal accounts. I had seventy-five thousand dollars transferred back into the business account. Once that was done, I checked online to make sure it was back in place. I saw that a five hundred dollar credit had been made on Monday morning. Robyn had started paying it back already… she hadn’t even told me that she’d done that. It again reaffirmed my faith in her character.

  I had Jeffrey take me to city hall then and I went to the mayor’s office.

  “Hi Sarah!” The mayor’s assistant was at her desk. She was an older woman who had been with him for years. She and I were well acquainted.

  “Well hello Aaron! How nice to see you. How have you been?”

  “I’m doing well, thank you. I need to have a word with his honor if he’s not too busy.”

  “He’s never too busy for you,” she said. She pushed a button and said, “Sir, Aaron Winters is here to see you.”

  “Send him in,” was the reply.

  I went in and found him seated behind his desk. He got up and shook my hand.

  “How the hell are you?”

  “I’m doing well, for the most part,” I told him.

  “I saw a photo of you and your lovely lady in the paper the other day. You both look happy.” “We are… for the most part,” I said. “Robyn’s actually the reason I’m here. We have a problem and I need your help to deal with it.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Whatever you need, you know that.”

  “I need records of a marriage to disappear off the face of the earth.”

  The look on his face might have been funny if I was in an amused kind of mood. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand…”

  I proceeded to tell him the story. I didn’t mention the embezzlement but I told him about Robyn’s marriage and the man’s blackmail. When I finished he said, “Oh dear, it sounds like he should be in jail.”

  “That’s my next step,” Aaron told him. “I’ll be going over to One Police Plaza as soon as I leave here. “

  The mayor was nodding, “Under the circumstances you’ve described… I may have a clerk who can take care of something like that for you. Meantime, I’ll call over to the police chief and make sure he helps you out however you need him to.”

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” I told him.

  “I know you do,” he said. “This city appreciates all you do for it, I’m sure. You go take care of your lady and tell her she doesn’t have any paperwork to fear here in city hall any longer.” I thanked him again and shook his hand before I left. When I got back to the car I gave Jeffrey the address of our next stop, Hayley’s apartment.

  I knocked on the door and I heard, “Who is it?”

  “It’s Aaron Winters.”

  I heard a sharp intake of breath and just that small sound was enough to make me feel awful. She was frightened of me, or at least what I had the power to do to her. I didn’t like that at all.

  Hayley opened the door a crack and peered out at me. She looked like she’d been crying. Her eyes were swollen and her nose was red. “What can I do for you?” she said. “I spoke to an attorney and he said that I shouldn’t talk to any of you when he’s not present…”

  “It’s okay Hayley. I’m here to do the talking. May I just have five minutes of your time, ple
ase?”

  She still looked worried, but she stepped back and let me in the door. The place was small, but neat and tidy. I actually felt huge standing in the middle of her living room. She didn’t invite me to sit down however and I didn’t blame her.

  “First of all Hayley I owe you a very large apology.”

  “For?” She was looking at me, suspiciously.

  “For accusing you of something that I have since found out you had nothing to do with. As a matter of fact, the money had just gotten moved somewhere else and no one had taken it at all. So from my heart Hayley, I am so very sorry for whatever you’ve been through the last couple of days.” She looked hopeful then as I went on, “I realize that you may not want to keep working for me after this, but I assure you if you do I will change your job status from “Paid Intern” to “Full Time Employee” effective immediately. I also have a check here for you,” I said, taking it out of my wallet. “In hopes that this might compensate somewhat for the humiliation of what you’ve been through.”

  Hayley was looking at the check in my hand like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Finally she swallowed and said, “Thank you, Mr. Winters. I’m so glad you found out that it wasn’t me. I love my job there and I would love to keep it. I realize that everyone makes mistakes, and I heartily forgive you for yours. But as far as that check there goes, you don’t have to do that…”

  “Please, Hayley. I know it seems like a bribe, but I’m not asking you for anything. I just want you to have it in order to ease my own conscience.” She looked at it again. I could see just in the room I was in that there were many things she could use it for. I didn’t doubt that she, like Robyn, had plenty of student loans to pay off.

  She finally, shyly took the check from my hand. She looked at it one last time and now with tears in her eyes she said, “Thank you so much!”

  “You’re welcome. I’m so sorry.”

  ~

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ~

  ROBYN

  Aaron told me to stay home from work on Wednesday, but there was something that I had to do. I showered and made myself as presentable as I could after all of that crying the night before. I text Aaron then because I didn’t want to do anything to make things worse and I said, “May I go apologize to Hayley?”

  A few minutes later I got a text back that said, “If you feel you need to. I told her it was an error in the accounting.”

  “I won’t mess with the story. I will just take responsibility for the accounting error. I have to take responsibility for something. This was all my mess.”

  The next text I got reaffirmed that he was the most amazing man on earth. It said simply, “I love you.”

  I sent back, “I love you too. So much!”

  I drove over to Hayley’s apartment and knocked on the door. She pulled it open and grabbed my arm, pulling me inside. She was smiling from ear to ear.

  “Hi,” I said. “You’re happy.”

  She giggled and said, “Aaron Winters… your boyfriend, our boss… he just came by here a while ago.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, he said that he told you everything was taken care of now.”

  “Yes, but he also handed me a check for ten thousand dollars. I told