The Billion Dollars Revenge

Chapter 2

“I hope you like it here,” Jacob asked. 

 "Well, at least you didn’t pick the cementary” Christine laughed.

Jacob feigned a laugh, but he couldn’t stop to wonder. He hadn’t met her before; at least he couldn’t recall it. And what did she mean by that? It was the best day of his life. Why is he even sitting with a strange lady in a coffee shop on the same day he got fired and divorced?

“I actually have been to this coffee shop a couple of times before, so I’d give you nine out of ten. I’d have given you a ten if you had picked the club," she smiled. 

Jacob smiled, but it was short lived. He wanted to be nice, but at the same time, he wanted to know what she wanted from him.

“Okay, I think I know what you are probably thinking,” Christine said, noticing how much unease he felt. “Who is she? And what does she want?”

“I am sorry, but I don’t know you or what you want from me, and it’s been quite a day for me. I just want to go home. So I’d appreciate it if you"

“You got fired?” 

Jacob paused a little; he had a frown appear on his fore. “What?”

“Well, I saw you leave that building, Wilson Corps, with a box filled with random stuff; you were untucked, your tie is sagging, and it is not closing hour already. You were all jumpy when I first met you; it’s all kind of weird but easy to guess.” 

“Okay, sorry, who are you, and what do you want again?” 

Christine looked at him with a smile on her face and said, “Umm,” She cleared her voice, then continued, “I don’t mean to freak you out.” She finally spoke up.

That’s a little too late, he thought.

"It's just that I have been looking for you for almost a decade now.”

“A decade?”  Jacob rested his back a little and asked, "What do you mean?” 

"Yeah, unbelievable, but true.”

“Okay, I don’t do well with suspense. So please, just tell me what this is.”

She took a deep breath in and then said, “While you might not remember me, I do know you... In fact, I know you enough to say you have a burn scar on your back from an explosion about ten years ago” 

How did she... “How did you even…?” Jacob leaned forward. 

“Ten years ago, you saved a girl from a car explosion at Oaklane. She and her friends were coming back from a party when they had an accident. You couldn’t save everybody because, while you were saving that one girl, the cars exploded. The explosion gave you a third-degree burn because not only did you save her, you covered her with your body as the explosion happened.”

"Okay, now I think I know what’s going on... If you are a reporter,”

“I am not a reporter.”  she interrupted him. “The girl had a concussion on the head regardless, a couple of bruises, and a few burns. Anyway, it took her a month to fully recover from her wounds and shock from the incident. So she wanted to see you, but you were admitted to another hospital for treatments. She tried to locate the hospital, but again, she wasn’t allowed to see you at that time. Time passed, and she couldn’t stop thinking about you and then tried again, but this time you’ve been discharged, and she has been looking for you until now” 

“Holy shit! No way! No fucking way!”

"Yes, Jacob,  I am that girl.”

“I am so sorry I didn’t recognize you... It’s been so long, I must have... What the fuck?” Jacob had his first genuine laugh for the day: “How are you? Of course, you are fine. Look at you!”

She nodded. “You bet?” 

“I am so glad you are okay. I had forgotten about this, you know. And how did I not recognize you?” 

“I didn’t expect you’d given the condition we first met.” 

"Umm… Yeah, I barely saw you that day.”

“That’s one of the reasons why it was difficult to find you. I had to get a private investigator to deal with finding you. He  finally tracked you to your working place.” 

"Oh,” the reality dawned on him again, “if you had waited a day, you’d have missed me.”

“Well, all of that is about to change because, for the past ten years, my family has always wanted to find you, to thank you for what you did.” Christine leaned forward a little. “I especially wanted to say thank you.”

“Trust me, you already did. Nothing beats knowing you weren’t just okay, but you looked for me” 

"Yeah," she smiled, “now, that’s not just it.” She reached for a check in her bag and said, "Here."

Jacob collected it slowly. “What is this?” he asked, too shocked to believe the figrue on it. 

“It’s all yours…” 

“Wait… ten million dollars? You are telling me that this is a ten million dollar check with my name on it?” 

“That’s just one of the things we have always wanted to give you.” She laughed. “We even placed a reward for anybody who finds you.”

"Wow!” Jacob laughed, unable to get his eyes off the check.

“Yeah, hundred thousand dollars?” 

“I should have found me,” he laughed, and then she laughed. 

They both quieted down, and then her mood changed and her voice became calmer. 

“Now, my father died recently," she said. 

"Oh, I am sorry…” 

"It's fine; he had a wonderful life. So umm It’s part of his will that I get married before I have access to my inheritance. He has always been very skeptical about me getting married” 

“Okay?” 

"Yeah, umm, this probably sounds a bit too early; that’s where I need your help.” 

Jacob asked with a squeezed-up face, “what?” 

“Listen, I know this sounds stupid, and please understand that I am not big on marriage too. But I promised that if I’d be getting married to anybody, it’d be a man who was willing to die for me even before he got to know me. I have to pick someone I can trust” 

“That… that’s something… I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t have to be something serious. Just to get the will before my father’s company gets taken over by someone else” 

“That’s crazy”

“I know, but it’s true,” Christine’s face became serious, “if you get married to me, you get a chance to actually run my father’s company for me.”

Jacob couldn’t think of what to say; he leaned back. He now wishes he had ordered at least some water. "Can we take this one step at a time?”

“I’m sorry if I was too forward” 

“No, you are not. It’s just that... umm, I am married legally.” 

“Oh…”

"Yeah, about that,  but she also gave me a divorce paper today.”

“Oh fuck, you’re really having the shittiest day” 

“You have no idea,” he said, shaking his head. 

Christine looked him straight in the eye and said, “I didn’t know you were married; my private detective must have left it out... but are you signing it?”

“Excuse me,” the waitress said, interrupting their conversation. “Here’s the coffee as you wanted it,” she served Christine. 

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” the waitress asked jacob. 

“No Liz. Thank you,” Jacob replied.

"Okay, then,” Liz said, taking her leave. 

Christine had a smile on her face. “You didn’t tell me you frequent here too” 

“I come here every day," Jacob said, “plus Liz is a nice person.” 

Christine nodded in agreement. 

"So, um, I don’t think I have an option” 

“What?” 

“I’d  have to sign the divorce papers any time soon, either way... and all of this? It's all a lot to take in. I’d need a couple of days.”

“Good. I’d get you my lawyer whenever you are ready; divorce will be concluded in no longer time.” Christine picked up her phone. 

The night started to come back to him. It was his freshman year; he was coming from the initiation party when the accident happened. The car crashed into another. He tried to help all of them, but he couldn't, and in just one explosion, about eight people died from both cars. He had been told that she had recovered, but he didn’t get to see her anymore since then. He didn’t even know how to describe her, but he had always believed that he’d know her should he stumble upon her on campus, except he never did. Her name was also exempted from the news and the college newspaper. And now the reason has started to dawn on him: she’s the child of a very powerful man.