The Secret Billionaire Heir

Chapter 2

THIRD PERSON’S POV

The party was loud before Jake even reached the door.

He could hear the bass from half a block away. He stood outside the building for a moment, looking down at himself. His shirt was stiff with dried blood. His knuckles were cut. His left shoe still had a dark stain across the toe that no amount of wiping on the pavement had fixed. He looked like he had crawled out of a wreck.

Because he had.

He pushed the door open and walked in.

The party was in full swing. Crystal glasses caught the light from chandeliers above. Women in dresses that probably cost more than a year of his salary moved through the crowd like they owned the air itself. Men in suits laughed too loudly at jokes that weren't funny. There was a live band in the corner and a bartender behind a long marble counter pouring drinks.

Everyone turned to look at him.

The music didn't stop, but the conversations did. The guests looked over his disheveled appearance, his blood-stained shirt, his worn shoes. He watched the expressions shift from curiosity to disgust. Someone near the entrance actually stepped back, as if being bloodied might be contagious.

Jake kept walking.

He was scanning the room for Emily when a hand clapped down on his shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.

He turned to see Tyler, Emily’s best friend.

"Well, well." Tyler's voice was mocking. He held a glass of champagne loosely in one hand. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a white shirt that probably cost more than some people’s monthly rent. He looked Jake up and down slowly then smiled. "You actually came. I thought Emily was joking."

"Where is she?" Jake asked.

Tyler tilted his head. "Is that ketchup?"

A few people nearby laughed.

"I need to speak to Emily," Jake said. His voice was flat. He had no energy left for any drama.

Tyler swirled his champagne. "You know, I've heard about you. The struggling husband. The charity case Emily kept around because she felt sorry for you." He leaned in slightly. "Tell me, what's it like knowing your wife throws better parties than you'll ever afford in your lifetime?"

Jake said nothing. He just looked at him.

Tyler seemed almost disappointed. He had expected more of a reaction. He stepped aside with a theatrical sweep of his arm. "She's at the center table. Try not to bleed on anyone."

More laughter followed Jake as he walked away.

He found Emily exactly where Tyler had said. She was seated at a round table near the center of the room, surrounded by women. She was in a red dress. Her hair was perfect. Her jewelry caught the light. She looked beautiful.

She looked up when he approached. Her expression turned into one of irritation and disgust.

She stood slowly and walked toward him, stopping a few feet away. She looked him over the same way Tyler had, but slower.-

"I'll give you this, Jake," she said, loud enough for the people nearest to them to hear. "You've really gone all out this time." She gestured vaguely at his shirt. "You even used ketchup for the blood. That's a new level of commitment."

Jake sighed "Emily-"

"The car crash story. The unconscious mother. The hospital." She shook her head slowly. "I've seen you pull stunts before but this one had details. I almost believed it for a second when you called."

Jake stared at her. His chest felt hollow. "I don't care what you believe. I need you to transfer the money right now. That's all. One hundred thousand. Just transfer it."

Emily's expression turned cold. T. She glanced around at the people watching them, and Jake could tell she was enjoying the audience.

"Transfer it," she repeated, as if the word tasted funny. "You came here, looking like that, and you're telling me to just transfer it."

"My mother is going to die," Jake said quietly. "Please."

Emily looked at him for a long moment. Then she said, "Kneel."

Jake blinked in shock  "What?"

"You heard me." Her voice was cold. "You want money? Kneel down and beg me for it. In front of everyone."

The room had gone quieter around them. People were watching openly now. Someone had even turned from the bar to look.

Jake looked at her face and found nothing there that he recognized. There was no warmth, no love. There was no trace of the woman he had built four years of his life around.

He looked at the floor. He had no choice. He thought of his mother in the hospital. He had to do this for her.

He knelt.

Everyone gasped. He heard it but he didn't look up. He kept his eyes forward, his jaw tight, his hands on his knees.

Jake didn't move. He stayed there.

"Emily," he said, looking up at her from the floor. "Please. I'm begging you. Save my mother's life."

Emily stared down at him. The silence stretched.

And then she said, "No."

Jake's breath left him slowly.

What?

"I want you to know something." Emily's voice was quiet now, almost gentle, which made it worse. She crouched down slightly so she could look at him more directly. "I genuinely didn't think you would do it. I thought even you had a limit." She stood back up. "But you don't, do you? First you lie to me about your mother being in some car accident. Then you show up here, to my party, looking like something that crawled out of a ditch. And now you're on your knees in front of everyone, begging for money." She shook her head slowly. "You disgust me, Jake. I will not spend another cent on you. Not one."

Jake rose from the floor.

He didn't say anything for a moment. He just looked at her. The hollow feeling in his chest had shifted into something quieter. He couldn’t believe the woman he loved could be so cruel.

"I want a divorce," he said.

Emily laughed.

"Even now," she said. "Even standing here like this, you're still scheming, You know that since you're the poor party, I'd have to give you a settlement. Is that what this is?"

"I don't want your money," Jake said.

That silenced her.

"I want the necklace back," he said. "The one I gave you when we got engaged. That's all I'm asking for."

Something shifted in Emily's expression. She looked at him carefully, searching for the angle, the trick, the manipulation she was convinced was buried somewhere in every word he said.

"That cheap little thing?" she said. "Fine. I'll give it back." She reached up and unclasped the gold chain from her neck. She had been wearing it tonight. Jake noticed that. She dropped it into his palm. "Take it. And I hope you don't come crawling back asking for money when the act falls apart."

She pulled out her phone. Her fingers moved quickly. She turned the screen toward him.

The divorce was finalized. The whole thing was signed and processed.

Jake closed his fingers around the necklace. "Goodbye, Emily."

He turned and walked out of the party without looking back. No one stopped him. A few people moved aside as he passed. Someone near the door made a comment under their breath, but he didn’t bother to hear it. He was already somewhere else inside his head.

The night air outside hit him cold after the heat of the party.

He stood on the pavement for a moment. Then he started walking back toward the hospital.

-

The hospital corridors felt different at this hour. It was quieter. The overhead lights were the same harsh white but somehow they felt heavier now. Jake walked through them with the necklace curled in his fist and his mother's face in his mind.

He turned the corner toward her ward and stopped.

Kathy was standing there.

His younger sister looked up the moment she heard his footsteps and something in her face cracked open when she saw him. She was twenty years old and tonight she looked younger than that, standing under the hospital lights with her eyes red and her hands twisted together in front of her. She had clearly been crying before he arrived and had been trying to hold it together while she waited.

"Jake." Her voice broke.

She ran into his arms, hugging him. Jake held his sister while she cried quietly against his shoulder. He didn't cry. He couldn't. He had moved past whatever place tears lived in. He just held her.

After a long moment, she pulled back, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She looked up at him, at the blood on his shirt, at the cuts on his hands.

"What happened to you?" she asked with concern.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"Jake-"

"I tried, Kathy." The words came out flat "I went to Emily. I did everything I could. She said no." He paused. "We're also divorced now."

Kathy stared at him in shock. He watched her process it. He watched the grief and the anger and the helplessness move through her face one after another.

"I'm going to raise the money," she said finally. Her voice was shaking but her chin was set. "I don't know how yet but I'm going to figure it out. There are people I can call. I can sell things. I can-"

"Kathy."

"Don't tell me to stop." She shook her head firmly. "Don't tell me there's nothing we can do. She's our mother, Jake. She's our mother and I am not going to stand here and do nothing."

He looked at her for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Okay."

She pulled him into another hug. Then she stepped back, straightened herself, and walked down the corridor.

Jake watched her go.

Then he leaned against the wall and opened his hand.

The necklace lay in his palm. It was a beautiful small necklace. His mother had given it to him years ago, told him to give it to the woman he married one day. He had done exactly that and look how that had turned out.

He turned it over slowly between his fingers.

That was when he felt it – a seam. It was thin and nearly invisible. It was at the back of the pendant. He pressed his thumbnail against it and the pendant shifted. He frowned and pressed again.

It clicked.

The pendant opened.

Jake stared at what was inside.