Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire .Chapter 7: Schemes and Surprises .*ISABELLA* Big fish. I caught a big fish that would help me take revenge on my sister and my stupid ex boyfriend.I don’t need hear the rest from Dara. I’m already turning back into the bar as I frantically search for that flannel shirt in the crowd. Shit. Shit.I emerge on the other side of the dance floor and scans the booths lining the far wall, pushing up onto my tip-toes. The bar is so packed that it’s nearly impossible to see, and I am about to give up, but then I see him—he’s just about to sit down, joining a man and a woman who is already seated on the opposite side of the booth.The man looked like he was in his late thirties, handsome, with a strong jawline and deep-set eyes that seemed to hold a world of experience. He had a rugged look, with a bit of stubble on his face, but it only added to his charm. His smile was warm and inviting, and he carried himself with a confident grace that drew atten
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 8: Back in line . *ARCHIBALD* Alan’s fists clenched at his sides, his anger evident as his jaw clenched. “I’m not telling you twice. Stay away from my girlfriend.” “Ex girlfriend.” Archibald corrected him immediately. Alan scoffed. “She’s only with you because I dumped her. If I wanted her back then I would.”“Keep thinking that.” Archie replied lazily reaching out to take a sip of Warren’s alcohol.Alan gritted his teeth and was about to argue more when Lisa cleared her throat interrupting.“Alan, that’s enough. Do not talk to your uncle like that.”“I will talk to him the way I want. He lost my respect when he went for what was mine.”“What was yours? Isabella is not an object.” Archibald said getting visibly annoyed by the way the conversation was going. “Stop talking about her like that.”“I’ll stop when you leave her alone.”“Isn’t it past your bedtime?.” Warren spoke up talking to Alan.Alan halted at the words as he scornful
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 9: Failing? . MONDAY MORNING *ISABELLA* It’s Monday and I’m surprised that no one has made an attempt to make fun of me this morning. Have the lucky charm finally gotten to me? First I bagged a very handsome billionaire and now I’m being left alone at work. I resist the urge to bask in it. After turning on my computer and logging in, I’m actually surprised to find jobs in my inbox that relate to my job position. I am to walk to an office on the top floor, find the hard copy of permission forms for artists to be able to be on camera and then I have to scan them onto the computer to file away electronically. I can do that. Maybe my third week in this new month will prove to be better than the first two. Throughout my ride in the elevator to the top floor of the tall building, I suddenly becomes aware of the caliber of person that would occupy a desk on the very top floor. The head of my department. Honestly, I should know
Ditch the ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 10: Embraces . *ISABELLA* “Isabella, open the door. I’m worried.” The world goes black for a second before I blink my eyes into awareness. I unlock the door but have no energy to move from my spot on the closed toilet lid. Warren carefully opens the stall door so he doesn’t startle me. His worried eyes meet the tear filled ones of mine and I had to clench my eyes shut, the tears overflowing down my face. Warren quietly takes my hand and places it on his own chest, over his own heart. “Copy me.” Warren’s calm voice speaks. “In for 3, hold for 2 and out for 4, copy me.” I copy him. For several moments I keep my eyes closed as I copy Warren’s deep breathes. Once my breathing is under control, I open my eyes, but I don’t meet Warren’s. I stare at my hand clutched in Warren’s grip, feeling the soft fabric of his grey overcoat. Unlike I expected, Warren doesn’t remove my hand. He lets my hand fall from his chest but keeps
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire. Chapter 11: Conspiracies .ALAN* Repeated knocks sounded on the door to my bedroom as I groaned rolling on my bed trying to avoid the noise. “Alan!!.” I opened my eyes reluctantly hearing my mother’s voice. She sounded annoyed. “Yes?.” I muttered getting down. I had no choice. Either wake up or she destroys the door. “Yes mum?.” I say again as I opened the door revealing her face. She was annoyed. She pushed past me walking into the room. “Why are you at home and not at work?.” “I rarely go to work, you know that.” I responded confused. “Well you have to, now wash up and go.” “Relax, it’s not like I’ll get fired. Grandpa would never do that to me.” I reply her going back to flop back on the bed. “Well your grandfather might not but your uncle will.” I sat up stunned as I faced her. “What are you talking about?.” “My brother is in the company today. I don’t know why but I guess it’s to see my father, to see your grandfather.”
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 12: Surprise? . *Isabella* Archibald stared at me expecting me to at least say something. “Um .. .” I started nervously before shaking my head. “Just forget about it, it’s nothing.” A frown immediately found its way to his face as he regarded me. “I know it’s not nothing. It has to be something because it’s making you cry, it has to be something for Warren to step in. Isabella, what happened?.” “Just .. .” I pause a little thinking of how to phrase what happened. “Just a little work issue but don’t worry Warren had it settled.” But he wasn’t budging. He arched an eyebrow. “And why did Warren had to step in exactly? Was the situation that important?.” “I was being bullied, I think.” “You think?.” “I don’t know.” I softly groaned not knowing to put this. “It’s just— I had to do something today, take some very important papers and then fill the information off them onto my system but then I was sent out for another job that’
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 13: spoiled . *ALAN* I stared at the strip, my heart racing. “You have got to be kidding me.” I muttered. “You must be joking, tell me you are joking.” “Joking?.” She scoffed in response. “I certainly am not, Alan. I’m serious about this, that’s why I’ve been trying to reach you, you idiot. I went to the hospital because I’ve been getting some symptoms and then they ran tests.” Chantelle stood there crossing her arms as if daring to me to talk back. “The tests came back positive?.” I blurted out, unable to contain my fear. “Yes it did. What’s your problem?.” “My problem?!.” I sneer. “You are the one who barged in here giving me unpleasant news. Why the fuck are you pregnant in the first place?.” “Oh gee, I don’t know Alan, maybe because we had sex.” She responded sarcastically. I roll my eyes. “Don’t give me that bullshit. You are not the first girl I’ve had sex with. Are you sure what you are saying is the
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 14: Time for Emmys .*ARCHIBALD* I walked into my father's office with a mix of nerves and determination. This was it, the moment I had been waiting for—to convince him that I was ready to take back my position as CEO of the company. I had spent countless hours pouring over the reports, analyzing every detail, preparing my case. "Dad," I said as I entered the large office, my voice steady despite the flutter of anxiety in my chest. "I need to talk to you about the company."My father glanced up from his desk, his expression unreadable. “My son decides to step into the company for the first time, I am greatly surprised.” I resist the urge to roll my eyes at his sarcasm. “Dad I need to talk to you.” “What is it, Archibald? I'm quite busy."“That’s the reason I booked for time with you. I knew you were going to say that you were busy so I had to book a meeting with your secretary.”And he paused, finally looking at me. “Archibald, fo
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 143: .It happens by accident.Archibald’s out of town again for work but tries to call in the evenings when he can and Isabella, consequently, does her best to be available despite the three-hour time difference. Dara can roll her eyes all she wants — and does — but keeps her smart remarks, if not to a minimum, then to an average.(“It’s part of our arrangement!” Isabella protests noisily as if the forty-five minutes she spends holed up in her bedroom have anything at all to do with those initial terms of their relationship and aren’t simply because she misses the man like a limb when he’s gone.Dara makes an unflattering snort and digs her elbow into Isabella’s side, stealing a pretzel out of her bag while she’s distracted.“Uh-huh,” she says, “Is that what we’re calling it now, Ms. Codependent?”“I don’t think I like you anymore.”Isabella, among other things, is a liar. A bad one.)It happens by accident because Isabella’s bundled up
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 142: .See, if Isabella’s life was a movie, this is where it would end.A great romantic conclusion tied up with a neat little bow, roll credits, and scene.But this isn’t a movie, and this isn’t where it ends.“I’m thinking about going back to school,” Isabella says one afternoon during a lunch date. She doesn’t stop stirring anxiously at her gelato until Archibald reaches out to physically stop her before it turns to soup, and she won’t like it as much.“I think that’s a good idea,” he replies.Isabella is still basically unhireable, further blacklisted professionally by the drama that came out of her father’s quick but messy trial that put him in jail for years and ruined any good reputation any of them might have had.(The man left a single furious, frothing voicemail on Isabella’s phone that could be summed up as three straight minutes of death threats that included everyone from Isabella herself to the cat to the goldfish that had o
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 142: .“You know, I almost broke up with you last night.”Archibald’s steady calm, the largest holdover from last night, holds up even as he nods in agreement. “I know.”Isabella scowls at him.“How’d you know? I barely knew until I’d decided not to.”“Because I know you. You’ve been given precious few people in life who haven’t broken your trust, and I did that by going behind your back. It would have been an understandable reaction, and I wouldn’t have begrudged you—“Isabella slams that ocean blue tumbler down on the table with a clatter. Her eyes are bright with emotion, and her lips are turned down in an irritated scowl.“Maybe you wouldn’t,” she snaps, “but I’d sure as shit begrudge you if you just, what, let me break up with you without so much as asking me not to? What the fuck, man.”“You are an adult who can make your own decisions—““Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want you to just let me go when I’m about to do something stupid!
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 140:.There is coffee, kept hot in the kind of insulated tumbler that costs too much and coordinates with the beachy colors of the house. Isabella has a suspicion that it was bought specifically for her, because Archibald is a crazy person who thinks about that kind of stuff. It doesn’t stop her from drinking it.“Tell me what you did,” Isabella orders before she can talk herself out of it and in spite of the very large part of her that doesn’t actually want to know. “Something something something about buying out the board?” she elaborates with a pointed stare. Because Chantelle, of all people, wouldn’t be bailing unless the ship is sinking. The ship might already be sunk if she’s that willing to abandon what she sees as her birthright. A birthright that she’s always seen as a competition, even though she’d won right out the gate and Isabella’s so stupid that it took literally being disowned to see that she never stood a chance.“Oh, th
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 139: .Isabella and Alan had settled many a disagreement with an angry tussle in bed that was worth the drop afterward for being able to get a little of her own back, to feel seen and heard. Except that Archibald already makes her feel seen and heard, and right now Isabella just sort of wants one of them to hurt, and she’s not sure who.“Stop, stop, enough,” Archibald orders, kinder than Isabella deserves, and wipes the beginnings of tears out of the corners of Isabella’s eyes before she even realizes that she’s about to cry. “I know, baby. I know.”“You don’t know anything.” It comes out way less cool and way more pathetic when Isabella’s voice cracks on what is definitely an overtired, strung-out sob. “You don’t know anything.”“I know that you’re exhausted and running on fumes and that you’d rather have the kind of sex that’s not good for you and that you don’t even want than get what you need,” Archibald tells her. “I’d say I know pl
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 138: .The only tears Chantelle’s ever shed have been of the crocodilian variety, as purposeful a tactic as any insult. Even after she’d forced herself to learn how to stop, she’d never managed to wield emotion like a weapon. At times like this, Isabella sort of wishes that she had.Isabella trembles and wraps her arms around herself, chilled even underneath the blanket. The edges are getting wet with saltwater and crusted with sand, and she would bite anyone who might try to take it from her.Archibald doesn’t touch her, but Isabella can feel him practically vibrating with the way he wants to. Right now, Isabella would be happy to bite him, too.“I don’t think you’re stupid.”“Well, it sure feels like it.”Archibald literally wrings his hands in open distress, and even now, it doesn’t feel remotely like a win. Isabella’s gotten exactly what she’s asked for—space and someone else being the one to hurt, but it doesn’t lessen her own, not e
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 137:.It's still pitch black outside, but Isabella finds herself at the edge of the water anyway. The ocean doesn’t give a damn about Isabella’s battered foundation and rolls happily up the night-cooled sand, leaving only foam and bits of seashell behind.Isabella sits at the shoreline and tucks her knees up under her chin.She wonders, miserably, where Chantelle plans to go.God, she hopes her sister gets as far away as she can.Isabella's spent her whole life loyal, but Chantelle? She’s fanatical to a degree that Isabella could never quite manage, and she wonders if putting her loyalty into a cage match with her relentless drive to protect herself finally did what nothing else could—crack that fanaticism. She’ll never know; it’s not her place now, and even if it was, Chantelle would never let her.God, she hopes Chantelle got as far away as she possibly can.Mai, with much derision, refers to it as Isabella's "better place theory." Mom
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 136: .“Oh, please. Because your boytoy just woke up and bought half our board and their corresponding shares out from under us for some weekend summer fun? I didn’t think you had it in you, but I guess you had to grow a spine sometime.”Isabella’s brain goes blank. Chantelle’s words land with all the delicacy and grace of anvils, pinning her down under their weight like a butterfly in a box.“I didn’t—you’re wrong,” she protests.“Sure, okay. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, don’t bother saving this number; I’m ditching the phone once my plane boards. Congratulations on your win, Izzy. We always knew you’d ruin the family, but I didn’t think it’d be like this. Have a good rest of your life, I guess.”There’s a click and then a dial tone. Isabella tries to call back, but it goes straight to a generic voicemail that she knows won’t ever be checked. At best it’s a burner phone; at worst it’s Chantelle’s regular phone that she’s willing t
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 135: .There’s the temptation after breakfast to go back to bed and find another way to entertain themselves, but Archibald shuffles her to go shower instead.“It’s about ten miles to get into town,” he says when Isabella protests in an appropriately dignified manner, definitely not pouting at having to put pants on. “You’ll like it.” Isabella does pout, then, and is rewarded for her bad behavior by being hoisted up onto the bathroom counter and thoroughly kissed until she’ll say yes to just about anything. And she does say yes, eventually, and delays the inevitable by about ten minutes by sticking her hands down the back of Archibald’s pajamas.Isabella’s never had this kind of domesticity in a relationship before, and it should feel strange but it doesn’t, just scaffolds its way up the norms built in by months of getting to know each other. It doesn’t feel weird at all for Isabella to snag Archibald by the wrist and tug him into the sho