The Billionaire's Forgiveness (A Winters Love Book 3) Read online

  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, please?”

  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 him it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. Oh! He gave me a full-time position too! I can pay off my student loans and finish my Master’s program now!”

  “I’m so glad for you. I came by to apologize to you, Hayley.”

  “Apologize? For what, Robyn?”

  “This whole thing was my fault. It was my error with some of the advertising accounts. Until they took you out and you never came back… I didn’t realize it. I’m so sorry!”

  “Oh Robyn. That was a simple error. You didn’t realize I’d be accused of stealing it…”

  “No! No, I didn’t realize that, I promise you. I would never want someone else to pay for one of my mistakes. I just wanted to let you know that I’m so sorry for what you were put through.”

  She hugged me tight. “I owe my job to you… and my new boyfriend,” she said with a grin.

  “You and Gary?”

  “Yes! Oh Robyn, I like him so much.”

  “That’s great. Have you talked to him? He’s been so worried about you.”

  “I just got off the phone with him before you came over.”

  “Okay, good. I have to get to work now. I’ll see you there tomorrow?”

  “Yes, for sure. Thank you for coming by.”

  “Thank you, Hayley for everything.”

  I left there feeling a little better. I went ahead and went into work then for the rest of the day. I was ready for life to return to normal. That evening, Aaron came back to my apartment as promised. I made us dinner and this time, we got to eat it. As we ate, he told me all that he’d done to fix my mess. I almost started crying again, but I held the tears at bay. After dinner we watched a movie and I fell asleep in his arms again. I still couldn’t imagine how I got so lucky.

  The next few days passed in blissful normalcy. Friday evening, I got the call from Igor. I was with Aaron at his apartment and I put him on speaker phone once again.

  “Hello baby!” I could tell by the look on Aaron’s face that he didn’t like that anymore than I did.

  “Igor.”

  “You have my money yet?”

  Aaron nodded and I said, “Yes, I have it.”

  “Good girl! You’re getting very good at this.”

  “I don’t want to be good at this. This is wrong and I want nothing more to do with any of it.”

  “We’ll see baby,” he said. “Meet me at the diner in the morning.”

  I hung up and Aaron put his arms around me and hugged me tight. After a few minutes he said, “Where’s this diner at?”

  “It’s on Fifty-seventh street. It’s called ‘Mauve’s’.”

  Aaron got on his phone then. I heard him ask for the “Chief.” After a few minutes I heard him

  say they had their mark and he told him the name of the diner and the street. When he hung up he said, “This will be the last time you have to see him.”

  ***

  “Okay baby, this is it, are you ready?” Aaron and I were sitting a block away from the diner. He arranged for the police to meet us there and the INS. The police needed me to get Igor to say something about the money I gave him before and the money he expects me to give him today. They put a tiny little microphone in the bag I was carrying that was supposed to have the cash in it.

  “I’m ready,” I told him. “I want this to be over with once and for all.”

  He squeezed my hand and said, “Very soon.” Then he leaned over and kissed me. “I love you.”

  Those three words filled me with a strength I had never known before every time he said them.

  “I love you too!” I got out of the car and walked the block to the restaurant. When I got close, I could see Igor sitting by the window. The sight of him made me feel nauseated. I was tempted to turn and run in the other direction, but I pushed forward telling myself that I was going to be glad that I did when this was all over with.

  I walked over to the table he was at and sat down. I tried not to look around the room. I knew there were undercover police in the restaurant but I didn’t want to be too obvious about it.

  “Well hello there, gorgeous wife of mine.”

  “I’m not your wife,” I said.

  He ran his eyes over me and licked his lips. I felt like I needed a shower. “You don’t know what you’re missing not consummating this union of ours baby. Maybe that’s what I’ll ask for next time.”

  “Over my dead body,” I said.

  He laughed and said, “Your spunk only turns me on that much more my dear. Do you have my money?”

  “This is it, Igor. This is the last time. How much do you think your so-called secret is worth?”

  “It’s worth what I say it’s worth!” he said.

  “I’ve already given you a lot of money.”

  “Oh I don’t know, I was thinking I should have asked for more. Your boyfriend is a billionaire. He shouldn’t be so greedy that he won’t give you a little bit of money to keep me from spilling the beans about your past to the press.”

  “He gave me seventy-five thousand dollars already and now...”

  “Fifty,” he said, licking his lips. “Don’t worry; the seventy-five thousand you already gave me was put to good use. This fifty will be put to even better use. Now, may I have my money?”

  “I don’t think so.” Aaron was sitting right behind him. I was shocked. I have no idea how he came in and did that without us seeing him. I looked past him then and saw the kitchen. There must be a door back there. Igor was glaring at him. He turned to glare at me then as well. “I thought since you were stealing my money, we should meet, face to face.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Igor said.

  “Really? So Robyn’s not married to you and you’re not using that information to blackmail her? You’re not planning to sell the story to the media to ruin my reputation?”

  He narrowed his eyes and stood up so that he was toe to toe with Aaron. Aaron was a lot taller than him, but Igor was beefier. “Yeah, I got your money and I’ll keep taking it unless you want her name and yours smeared all over the tabloids.”

  “Igor Reznisky?” Igor turned towards the voice. It was two men, dressed in black shirts and jeans.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  One of them held open his wallet with his badge and I.D. inside and said, “I.N.S.”

  “So, I’m a U.S. Citizen,” he said.

  “So you told them when you filed for your citizenship, but there seems to be a problem.”

  “What problem?”

  “There’s just no record of this so-called marriage you listed… anywhere.”

  “What the…?” He looked at Aaron then who was smiling. “You rich, arrogant, smug son of a bitch!” One of the INS agents was cuffing his hands behind his back. “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll
have to be sent home until we can sort this all out,” the agent told him.

  “Igor Razinsky?”

  “Who the fuck are you now?” Igor said to the new man that approached him.

  That man showed him his I.D. and badge as well and said, “Detective Brady, NYPD. You’re under arrest for the crime of blackmail for monetary gain and grand larceny for the monies you’ve already received.” Igor looked livid, but he wasn’t a stupid man.