BETROTHED TO THE BILLIONAIRE

Valerie’s POV

Many thoughts are running through my head while he sits calmly beside me, driving the car.

I still haven’t been able to comprehend his confessions. I still haven’t been able to accept that my Mother is right this time.

I haven’t come to terms with what he said. Being nervous around men has never been my thing but for weeks, I have been extremely nervous around him and I try as much to avoid him.

I know he wants answers but I have nothing to say to him. I just wished he never confessed his feelings to me and I am still as clueless as ever. I doubt if I can ever become comfortable with him again.

“Are you ok?” He demands with a voice thick in concern.

I spare him a glance. He is watching me with a worried expression while driving expertly with his left hand. I don’t think I have ever seen him drive himself.

“Yes”, I nod and gulp down loudly before looking away.

He must think I am nervous about the information I got this night which involves my father and his but that isn’t it. I am nervous because he is here, right beside me and we are alone.

I never knew Ryan was as curious as I am about our Father’s relationship. He employed a private investigator who came home to find him this evening.

I thought it was going to be about Celina or some other girl but it was something huge.

He came with an envelope and asked me to give it to Ryan when he got home. Out of curiosity, I opened the envelope to see what it entails. It was information about both fathers and all the private investigator could gather is a tiny bit of what we wanted to know.

Without putting a call across to Ryan, I wanted to go out on my own to the penthouse so I can get out with his bike and visit his Father’s office.

But I met Ryan at the gate.

He already knew that I saw the contents of the envelope and he asked John to get out of the car so he could drive me.

And here we are.

Instantly, he halts the car with his gaze forward and he opens the car door to go out. He turns to the other side and opens it for me to come out too.

Glancing around, I notice the company is a few meters away. He holds my hand and we begin to run toward it without a word.

We ought to talk. Not about the feelings but about the plan to get into the office and get the file we need without alerting the securities.

I want to stop him from running so I can tell him my concern but he doesn’t care as he increases his speed, dragging me along.

Breathlessly, in five minutes, we get there. The whole place is in complete darkness. Before I can ask if he brought along his phone since I left mine at home, he fumbles with his jacket to produce a tiny torch of light.

I furrow my brows in confusion. He seems prepared for this. How? He didn’t even see the envelope the guy gave to me. How did he know about this then?

Did that guy bring me the envelope on Ryan’s instructions? Does Ryan know that I would go through the envelope no matter what?

I don’t have time to find answers to my questions because the next thing he does is to grab me along once again, the torchlight showing us the path to the lobby.

How we escaped the securities at the gate is what I have no idea about. Are there no securities at the gate?

The moving doors stop and we enter, my body very close to his. We start to walk quietly without a word towards the staircase.

If we take the elevator, it might alert the guards.

Before we can get to the staircase, another bright light shines toward us and I rush behind Ryan to hide. Ryan does not stop, he holds my hand and begins to race up the staircase.

The sound of our running feet alerts the guard and he comes running too.

Before I can tell Ryan not to run, he opens a door and we both enter. He slams the door shut and puts off the torchlight.

I can’t see him but I can feel his minty breath. I am sure he is close.

We stay this way for two minutes while listening to the guard talking to someone else, asking if he saw anything suspicious.

The other guard replies with a no and then their feet begin to fade away.

Ryan and I wait for another two minutes before we speak at the same time.

“Ryan.”

“Are you ok?”

That concern is still there.

Why is he doing this with me? I expected him to be angry because I wanted to sneak into his father’s company to get back the file that will save my father and answer all my questions but Ryan is helping me.

The torch flashes on my face, probably to see if I am indeed ok since I am not answering him. I can see the reason why he isn’t holding me. His two hands are on the door, caging me in while my back is to the door.

I nod with a gulp.

He takes the torch down and stretches his hand for me to take it again. I take his cold hands, rubbing in my warmth with him.

He twists the door open but instead of going out, he rushes back in and whispers. “Shit!”Owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

“What happened?!” I question behind him in surprise.

“The guards”, he whispers, holding me tighter and beginning to move away. I don’t know where he is going but I feel safe with him, not because he is a man and my husband but because he is the son of the owner of this company.

If we get caught, we will come up with a perfect lie that they can’t help but believe.

He walks through a tiny space and drags me in. This space is too small for us but he manages to hold me to himself. His back is on the wall while I am embracing him.

We hear the sound of the door at the other end open and the guard begins to search around until they give up and leave.

Ryan heaves a deep sigh of relief but we still stay this way in silence for a very long time.

He shines his torch on my face again and I look away. He chuckles.

“You look cute”, he murmurs and I raise my head to his face. I can’t see him well because of the darkness. The torch has gone off again.

“You are beautiful”, he adds and my heart goes still.

The torch comes on again and he twirls a lock with his finger to jerk me back to life. His fingers brush my face, tugging the fallen pleats of hair away.

His breath fans my entire face and I know he wants to kiss me again. Ryan never takes permission to kiss me. He does that anytime he wants and I feel like my answer to his confession won’t stop the kisses, whether it’s a yes or a no.

The more he moves closer, the more anxious I become. I can’t even think properly but I know I will think about this after the kiss.

His lips brush mine but before he can deepen the kiss, we hear another sound of the door and a guard shouting. “Who the hell is there?”

This is when we realize our torch has revealed the fact that someone is in here.

Ryan pulls away, curses beneath his breath, sneaks out of the tiny door, and drags me out too and we run out through the door we came in.

By the time we are on the staircase, there are tens of guards at our heels but Ryan is running so fast that I can barely catch up with him if he isn’t holding my hands.

We run out and this is when I see he took a secret passage into the company instead of the gate where there are guards as well.

When we get outside, running towards his car parked at a distance, I glance back to see that the guards are no longer following which shows that they must still think we are inside the building and they have no idea about the secret passage or they have no idea the intruder is someone who knows about the secret passage.

Without giving the fact that I just lost an opportunity to help save my father, I burst into laughter which makes Ryan stop running.

I yank my hand away from his grip, squat down breathlessly, and begin to laugh. Ryan watches me for a second before joining in.