Billionaire's Single Mom

Sobbing, I dropped my phone and lowered my head to my pillow.

Yes. I loved him. Before Juniper got sick, I felt something, but the last week had finally let my heart win over my head.

But it didn’t matter. It was too late. I couldn’t risk losing Juniper to Lionel. He’d ruined my chance at happiness like he’d ruined our marriage.

“I’m sorry, Logan,” I whispered into my pillow. “I’m so sorry.”

Chapter Thirty-two

LOGAN

Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting at my office computer reviewing a very long report on cryptocurrency growth potential and possible investment opportunities. I didn’t trust the asset class, but part of staying ahead in finance and investment was exploring all the opportunities. I’d made as much money as I had by taking calculated chances.

The problem was that trying to do a detailed analysis on a potential investment was hard when my mind kept drifting away from blockchains and initial coin offerings to a certain brown-haired, hazel-eyed beauty.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I needed to stop thinking about Emily, at least at work. It’s not like it was doing me any good to obsess over how she pushed me away. She’d made herself very clear the other night.

That didn’t stop me from feeling uneasy about the whole thing. Something didn’t sit right. I wasn’t exactly an impartial and unbiased observer though.

It had taken me two days to go from hurt to angry, not so much at Emily but at the entire situation. I wasn’t used to feeling so powerless and out of control, not a comfortable feeling even when you’re not talking about a woman you love.

Yes. I loved her. I knew and accepted that. Even her pushing me away hadn’t changed that. I wanted to understand what the hell had even happened.

I kept replaying Emily driving away in my mind. Rejection was one thing. A clean break after trouble, I could handle, but none of this made any sense.

It’d be one thing if she told me to stay away right after we got back from Tokyo. It would have been a natural point to push me away, especially after what we’d shared, a way to make it clear she didn’t want more.

She’d told me our relationship would stay in Tokyo, but she didn’t mind me spending time around her and Juniper. For all my offers of help, I’d not done much but bring some treats and movies. It’s not like it would have hurt her daughter’s recovery to send me on my way. She had nothing to lose.

Instead, Emily made it seem like the time in the hospital had changed everything between us. Or so I thought and not only because she kissed me. I believed she was opening up to me, that she accepted we could have more than a friendship. If she’d felt differently, why wouldn’t she have said something at her house?

I leaned back in my chair and let out a long sigh. What was I missing? Something was there, poking at the edge of my mind.

Her behavior didn’t follow from what had happened earlier. Something had changed. Something other than just Emily thinking over a couple of days. That was the only logical explanation.

The look on her face when she told me ate at my heart. She didn’t look like someone angry or disappointed, but distraught, as if she were doing something she didn’t want to do. Like someone was forcing her to say those things to me.

But who? Certainly not Sally Jolie.

r /> Emily didn’t want to stop seeing me. Not really. I’d stake my fortune on it.

I needed to figure out what was going on and who was behind it.

* * *

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” I said over my phone a couple hours later. I only barely kept from yelling at my mother.

For all that I’d worried and complained about my mother being involved in my personal life, I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to glean some useful information. I hoped she’d heard something, so I had called her up.

“I didn’t know until an hour ago myself, Logan,” my mother said, sounding exasperated. She sighed. “I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sally, and even she just found out herself. I was shocked; I can tell you that.”

“But why would Emily listen to Lionel? She hates the guy, but she’s going to listen to him when he tells her to stay away from me? That doesn’t make any sense. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I don’t know why she’s doing what Lionel wants. Sally doesn’t even know, other than to note that Lionel always did have a way of manipulating her. Emily only told her that Lionel made it clear it’d be a good idea, and Emily agreed, and that’s why she pushed you away. She feels bad about it, but she says done is done.”

“And that’s all her own mother could get out of her?” I gritted my teeth. At least I knew that bastard Lionel was involved, but something terrible must be going on if Emily wasn’t even willing to tell her mother the entire truth.

The guy had made her marriage miserable, and now he was making her life after their marriage miserable. If I knew how, I could use my resources to stop it. Lionel might be many things, but in the end, I had a lot more money than he did. And money was power.