Billionaire's Only Cure Read online

  What was wrong with him?

  “Boss,” she said. Her lips moved in slow motion, blowing all sane thoughts from his mind. “The machine is broken, so I’ll get the copies done somewhere else.”

  He jerked his eyes away from the beautiful vision in front of him and waved her off. One more second. One more second, and he would have jumped across his desk and pulled her into a tight hug like he used to.

  So scary. His heart beat like an accelerated molecule in a chain reaction, fast and uncontrollable.

  He thought it would stabilize after she left. Instead, it beat faster than before when Alice stopped on the fifteenth floor and stepped into Max’s office. His feed was cut after that, as Max had a no-peeking clause in his contract when it came to his office space.

  Jade slammed his fist on the wooden desk, hurting himself and shaking the monitor.

  Grabbing his desk phone, he dialed Mr. Mason.

  “Mr. Mason, throw away the copy machine and get a new one.” He rubbed his neck. “And make sure it won’t break for the next two years. Two years, I said. Or you’re fired.”

  Chapter 14

  Alice dropped her yellow bag on the fluffy red couch in the middle of Medusa’s main hall. Medusa wasn’t in yet, but she had messaged her apartment’s security code so Alice could settle in early.

  Alice twirled on her feet, observing the interior of the posh apartment she would be living in. Medusa had an innate sense for interior design, and her main hall represented her trendy choices.

  A colorful modern art painting decorated the main wall, the first thing anyone would see as they entered the apartment. The second thing? Mood-enhancing bright amber walls. Third, a full glass wall exposing New York’s stunning beauty.

  She lingered in front of the wall for a few moments, taking in the view from the ninth floor. It was nice, but the view from Jade’s thirty-first floor penthouse couldn’t be beaten.

  After adjusting the thermostat to seventy, she peeked into the adjacent kitchen. It was as beautiful as the main hall. It had all the modern amenities, including a big oven and a stainless steel refrigerator. She could store lots of cake and pastries in it along with her favorite booze.

  She was going to love living with Medusa. Her soul sister.

  Yay!

  It all happened suddenly. While she was annoyed with Jade, she got a call from Medusa directly asking her to come and live with her. Surprisingly, she lived quite close to Parker Chemicals. She had leased a two-bedroom apartment, and her roommate had just moved out. What good fortune!

  Alice quickly accepted her invitation. Why would she decline an opportunity to live with her soul sister? It would be like high-school again.

  When she opened the refrigerator, chilly air blew across her face. A neatly packed sandwich attracted her attention, but what enticed her most was the ice-cold beer. The smell of booze, even in the air-tight can, luring her more than food.

  Her mood instantly shifted from lingering annoyance to happy contentment. All the worries and nuisance of working with Jade the devil vanished. She grabbed a can and put it on the long wooden dining table that separated the kitchen and the hall.

  “Starting without me?” Medusa’s cheerful breathy voice filled Alice’s ears.

  Alice swung around and opened her arms for her bestie.

  Medusa flew into her arms and pecked her cheek, like the old days. It was their move, to flow into each other’s arms no matter where they were. Once, they did it in front of the principal and got scolded for bad behavior. Bad behavior, her foot. It was pure love.

  Pinching her nose with two fingers, Alice growled. “Ugh, you smell like disinfectant.”

  Medusa giggled and pushed herself more into Alice’s arms. “I wish Pat and Sam were here too. Have you heard from them recently?”

  Alice pulled away from Medusa’s bear hug and shook her head. “Everyone drifted apart after graduation. Only Pat remained in contact for a year or so. The last I heard, she was working in South Africa at a children’s hospital.”

  “Damn, that girl is still keeping up her philanthropy work.” Medusa grabbed a beer and wrapped her hand around it, then patted her own cheeks.

  Alice smiled knowingly as she picked up the remote to lower the temperature. Medusa liked things chilly.

  “She chose to specialize in nursing work after she finished school.” Alice sighed. Memories flooded her mind. “The death of her mother affected her a lot.”

  Medusa grabbed Alice’s arm, rubbing it lightly. “How’s your mother?”

  Did Medusa know something had happened to Alice’s mother, somehow? An image of her weak, pale mother sleeping in a hospital bed crossed her mind. Her throat choked up.

  “She passed away four years ago.”

  “I’m sorry,” Medusa whispered, pulling Alice into another hug.

  Alice swallowed her tears. “It’s okay. It’s been four years.” If she had said she was over it, she would have lied. She still missed her mother a lot and wished her mother was with her through this lonely time.

  Letting the silence continue for few moments, Medusa lightly patted her back.

  Alice pulled away and picked up her beer, but she didn’t drink it right away. Instead, she rolled it in her fingers.

  “Hey, what about your Batman boyfriend?” Medusa asked, her tone turning naughty.

  Unintentional laughter burst from Alice when she heard the word Batman. Her friends used to call Jade that because he always hid inside his cave.

  The laughter didn’t last long. Sadness filled her, and she smiled weakly. “He’s Jade Hyde-Parker, my current boss.”

  Medusa arched a brow. “Wow! Dating your boss. That must be awesome, right? If my boss hears about this, he’ll die of shock.” She went on cursing her boss for a sentence or two, in her usual way, and then slammed her beer can down on the table. “If allowed, I’d slice my scalpel through his nasty mouth one day.”

  Alice shot her another weak smile. For some reason, she wasn’t interested in gossiping about any bosses tonight.

  “But tell me about your dating life. In detail,” Medusa said.

  Alice sighed, a sad sigh indeed. “It’s nothing like that. We broke things off five years ago. Just after graduation. But fate has brought us back together as boss and secretary.” It wasn’t fate though, was it?

  “Why did you break up?” She sipped her beer while tapping her long nails on the table. “Was it because of his disease? I read a bit about it in med school, and trust me, it can get nasty. I guess you’re better off without such a man.”

  Alice stared at Medusa’s long red painted nails. Medusa liked red too much. She used to wear red everything. Red, red, and more red. If her mom permitted, she would have dyed her hair red too.

  “Not completely,” Alice said. “There were many reasons for our breakup. You could say his disease was one of them.” The image of a scared Jade came rushing back to her. Her stomach became upset as she thought about the year they were together. In its own way, it was one of the best years of her life. “He’s improved a lot though. Now he can shake hands with other people, and he doesn’t devolve into self-destruction. I’m happy for him. Relieved. I don’t want to see him hurt like that again.” It was true; when she saw him shaking hands, and then not hurting himself after the panic attack, she felt like someone had lifted a thousand pound weight from her heart. At least she wouldn’t see him getting hurt anymore.

  Medusa patted her arm, “Girl, do you still have feelings for him?”

  A shock went through Alice’s body like someone threw a live wire on her. “Feelings? No way. I hate him.” It was weird, how she sounded normal while inside she was churning and burning.

  A wicked smile curved Medusa’s lips. “Your face doesn’t agree with your words.”

  Alice lifted her beer and gulped a large portion of it in one go. Medusa saw something she didn’t want to show.

  Medusa was evil, ruthless, a slap on the face kind of girl, but she loved her so
ul sisters more than anyone. She went to great lengths to take care of them, so Alice couldn’t hate her. Sometimes you accept people with their bad sides because they are what they are.

  “I’m tired, Madison. Let’s just call it a night, eh?” She faked a yawn, hoping that Medusa wouldn’t pursue the topic. It was a done deal for Alice; she had no charitable feelings left for Jade. She left them all in the New Paltz five years ago, and she hadn’t gone back to pick them up—nor would she, ever.

  Medusa gave her a knowing look. “Well, let’s call it a night. Use my bedroom for tonight. I’ve called a room cleaning service for tomorrow. They’ll change Natasha’s bed and other things.” She leaned forward and patted Alice’s shoulder.

  “What about you?” Alice asked.

  Medusa curled her small mouth downwards. “I’ve got overtime, sweetie. See ya on the weekend.” She leaned across the table, wrapped her hand around Alice’s neck, and gave her a quick peck before leaving.

  Alice waved goodbye and grabbed another beer from the refrigerator. The night was far from over. Medusa had raised a storm in her mind, and she needed lots of booze to settle it down.

  Chapter 15

  Jade relaxed into the soft leather of his office chair, muscles aching. His thoughts wandered back to the after exercise bath in the infinity pool. It felt good to relax in the warm water after an hour of cardio.

  The relaxing fragrance of the Americano he had brewed for himself calmed his mind. He had followed Alice’s recipe to the letter, but he’d never managed to achieve the perfect brew she made. Maybe he should learn it from her.

  The alarm on his cellphone pulled him out of his relaxed mood, reminding him about the day’s work.

  Jade went through his morning emails, firing back replies to his R&D and marketing departments. This was how his mornings always went, getting up at five, spending time in his personal gym, drinking a ton of coffee, and then checking his email. In the afternoon, he would be found in his personal R&D lab working on chemical experiments—the most exciting part of his day.

  Or, at least it had been. Not anymore. Troubling Alice turned out to be equally fun. Especially, he suspected, the task he had planned for today.

  Right now, his eyes were glued to monitor, waiting for Alice to arrive.

  As expected, she arrived at nine sharp, wearing a dark red long-sleeved wrap dress and matching heels, her long hair tied in a bun. A brown tote hung on her shoulder. Even though he hated her, he couldn’t help but admire her beauty.

  Relax, Jade.

  Patting his chest, he focused on the mess on her desk. It was a sure shot way to forget how good she looked today.

  Throwing her bag on her chair, Alice went through some papers and then tossed them in the trash can, but soon more papers took their place. Why didn’t she clean it? Didn’t she know how many bacteria would make that space a home if it wasn’t cleaned regularly?

  When Athena worked as his secretary, she’d kept the desk tidy. Why wouldn’t she? She’d had no work, other than flirting with Ross Davis, his R&D head. Jade mostly ignored it. In reality, he didn’t need a secretary, but Max insisted that he should have one in case any large client visited his office. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. But he would have to tell Max about his phobia in order to get him to drop it. Instead, he’d employed a secretary and watched her ensnare his R&D head in her net. But she’d kept the desk clean. Perfectly clean.

  After going through the papers, Alice settled with the coffee she had brought with her. As she sipped it, her eyes closed in ecstasy. She always did that with the first sip, closing her eyes like she was sipping the finest wine in the world. He loved that about her. Cuteness overload.

  Wake up, Jade. Wake up.

  Jade slapped himself lightly and pulled his eyes away from the monitor. He needed to focus on today’s punishment.

  A sinister smile crept onto his face as he thought about what he was going to make her do today.

  “Miss Myers. My office,” he whispered into the mic, broadcasting to the reception speaker.

  Alice jumped, nearly sloshing coffee on her keyboard. Jade watched as two small drops landed on the device. Alice either didn’t notice or ignored them, turning away to hurry into his office.

  God, how could she ignore coffee spilled on the keyboard?

  “Yes, Mr. Parker? What can I do for you?” A fake smile played on her lips. It didn’t suit her.

  He considered asking her to clean her keyboard first, but shook the thought off.

  The task he had planned for her was much more enticing.

  “I have a task for you.” He pushed a document across the desk toward her.

  Her brows lifted. “Yes, sir. How many copies do you want?”

  “None. That’s a list of fifty coffee shops in the surrounding area. Call them and ask for latte and Americano recipes.”

  Her mouth opened and hung open for few seconds. “Fifty shops?”

  Jade nodded, trying to keep the smile from his face.

  She leaned forward and placed her hands on his desk. “Mr. Parker, I can get you dozens of recipes online. I don’t see a point in this. Most coffee shops use proprietary machines too, so there’s no way we can know those recipes. And why do you need coffee recipes? You used to like my coffee—” She bit her lower lip, her eyes jumping away from him.

  Heat rushed to his heart. It was true. He loved her coffee. She was the one who’d introduced him to the Americano. Before meeting her, he drank whatever coffee his housekeeper made. Alice changed him, introduced him to different types of coffee from the mundane to the exotic. Drinking coffee and chatting for hours, that’s how they spent their time together. He missed it. Badly.

  Jade pulled his gaze away from her. Seeing her, thinking about the past brought up more pain than he’d imagined. The good times—well, how could he call them good anymore? The pain he’d suffered after she left him... Could it be taken away from him? The madness, the edge, he hated those changes. Maybe he should stop drinking coffee that reminded him of her.

  Revenge. Yes, that’s why she was here.

  “Just do it. It’s for market research,” he said, pulling a contract out of his rightmost drawer. He had a meeting tonight, so he’d better prepare for it.

  Alice left with the list.

  Thirty minutes passed. Jade kept trying to focus on the contract, but no matter what, his eyes flicked toward the monitor again and again. Alice was going through the list and calling one coffee shop after another, and by the look on her face she wasn’t having any success.

  Yes, that’s the suffering look he wanted to see on her face. In fact, he wanted to hear it as well.

  Out of curiosity, he reached for his desk phone and picked up the line she was using.

  A harsh male voice spoke on the line. “Woman, I don’t know what you’re planning, but are you crazy? Why are you calling the managers of my coffee shops and asking them for our recipe? Have you no shame? If you do it again, I’ll report you to the cops.”

  Alice’s face hardened. Her fingers brushed against her nose. “Sir. Please listen...”

  “Shut up, you b****!”

  Rage burned inside Jade’s heart. How could he speak to a lady like that? He smashed the receiver down and cut the call. If the man had been in front of him, he would’ve punched him straight away.

  No, he wasn’t going to let that slide.

  No one spoke that way to Alice.

  He jabbed the speaker button. “Miss Myers, stop calling coffee shops. Your task ends here.” Then he dialed Max. “Max, I want details about the owner of—" Wait. What was he doing? Why was he asking for the owner’s details? Didn’t he want Alice to suffer?

  Jade pushed his hand through his hair. Pain throbbed through his forehead.

  Was he concerned about her?

  No, of course not. He didn’t like it because he hadn’t intended to stoop to such a low level. Alice worked for him, and he didn’t want her to be treated like this by others. The punis
hment was wrong in the first place. He should have chosen something else, something that didn’t involve Alice getting verbally abused by strangers. If she was going to get the rough side of someone’s tongue, then it’d be his and his alone.

  “Mr. Parker. Are you still there?” Max’s voice echoed from the other side of the line.

  Jade cut the line and slumped back in his chair with a sigh. All the fun of watching her suffer had slipped away.

  Chapter 16

  Jade wrapped his Patek Philippe around his left wrist before stepping into his office.

  The watch reminded him of his father. It had been a gift from his late dad on his tenth birthday. The sole memory he had of his father.

  Tapping on the diamond-coated glass, he recalled his father’s words. Son, showing wealth isn’t always bad. It helps us to maintain our pride. At the time, Jace didn’t understand those words, but after making a billion dollars himself from scratch, he understood the meaning of those words. If he didn’t wear this to major deals, people might delay signing. They believed in showing off their riches more than business talks. Business talks were for lawyers and accountants. The CEO’s—they just liked to show off their wealth.

  Heirs and bastards, he was sick of this.

  He patted his Kiton-K’s pockets to double-check he had his gloves. In meetings like this, he had to shake hands with other CEOs. He could do that now, shake hands while wearing gloves. Three years ago he achieved a breakthrough in his therapy and shook hands with his doctor for the first time since age ten. Now, every time he shook hands, he felt like he could reach further. Maybe he would try receiving a pat on his shoulder from someone. Maybe he would be able to fake a friendship with another human being.

  That sounded disgusting.

  At eight o’clock on the dot, he stepped into his office, expecting Max to be waiting for him. Punctuality and Proactivity. That man must eat both of them for breakfast.