The Billionaire's Obsessed Concubine

Chapter 3 - Things worth having

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Tyler

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I open my eyes and immediately realize I overslept. I sit upright, yawning and stretching as I reach for my phone to check the time, and I have overslept. It’s 8 pm, and it's very late for mom. Just then, she knocks and peeks at the door.

“Come on in, mom.” I invite her in, leaning against the headboard, and she walks over to the bed.

“Hey, honey. You were out for a while. I don’t blame you, though,” she says, sitting next to me, and I apologize. She should have been gone by now.

“I must have been more tired than I thought, but I feel better now. Thanks for watching Kiara. I’m sorry I slept so long. Dad’s probably wondering where you are," I tell her, and she scoots over and hugs me.

“You are my son, Tyler, and Kiara is my granddaughter; you don’t have to thank me. I love being here with you, and your father knows I was watching Kiara while you slept. He knows you work long hours and need help.”

“Still, thanks, mom. I appreciate you. Where is she? What’s she up to?”

“She’s in her room, packing.”

“Packing? What’s she packing?”

“She’s packing her clothes. I told her I’m coming to ask you for permission to take her with me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand, baby? I want her to spend the night at her grandparents’ house.”

“Why? Why all of a sudden?” I ask, having this sudden feeling there’s more to it than she’s telling me.

“What do you mean all of a sudden, and why? Is this the first time I want to take her with me?” she asks, getting up and placing both hands on her waist, feigning innocence, but her eyes betray her. They sparkle with mischief.

“Of course, it’s not the first time. But you are acting strange. First, you showed up here earlier than I told you I would be dropping her off, and we both know you always prefer I drop her off. You said you wanted to cook for us, but you normally cook at home and bring us the food. Now, how I see it, you wanted to come here instead of me dropping her there. You stayed here the whole day. You normally leave around 5 pm, you hate the weekend traffic, and now, you just decided to take her with you. Did you fight with dad? Are you just trying to keep yourself busy to avoid him or something? What’s going on? Because I know something is going on.”

“Okay, okay, you got me,” she says, lifting both hands in surrender and sitting back down. “I’m up to something, but it’s not what you think. There’s nothing wrong with me and your father. You, on the other hand, are worrying me.”

“Me? What are you talking about? Why are you worried?”

“It’s been about a year since you broke up with Kimberly, not to mention the three years of highs and lows before that, and there hasn’t been anyone else in your life since then. Every time–” she pauses, looking at me with this sad look in her eyes. “—Every time, I look at you. I see loneliness and sadness," she says, and I take her hands in mine, hating that I'm making her sad.

“I’m not lonely or sad, I promise. I’m just focused on work and raising my daughter right now. I have my hands full, and I don’t want to add anything else I won’t have time for. I don't want to hurt anyone, that’s all.” I explain to her, and she squeezes my hand.

“You’re a wonderful father to Kiara, and she knows how much you love her, but you cannot just live for her. You need to do things for yourself too.”

“And I am, mom, I-” I start to say, but she doesn’t let me finish.

“-When you told me you were going tux fitting with Lia today, I was finally able to confirm something I’ve known for a while now.”

“Which is?” I ask, hoping she’s not going where I think she’s going with this.

“You love her.” Oh, God! She knows.

“Of course, I love her, mom. She’s my best friend,” I act clueless, getting off the bed, not wanting to have this conversation anymore, but she doesn't let me.

“Where do you think you’re going? We are still talking here, ” She asks, narrowing her eyes at me, and I stop.

“I’m going to check on Kiara,” I reply before walking again, but she calls me just as I touch the door handle.

“Tyler Roberts! Get back here! Kiara is fine. Stop making excuses, or I’m coming after you,” she threatens, getting up from the bed, and I let go of the handle and turn around.

I know this tone. She’s not going to let this go, so I walk back to the bed and sit down. “Fine, sit down.”

“You know what I mean, and you also know I’m right,” she adds after sitting down again.

“I know, mom,” I admit, looking everywhere but at her.

“I thought about it, Tyler, and I realized you need a little push. You’re scared of telling her how you feel, and I understand. So I decided tonight is the night I’m going to give you that push," she says, and I look up at her, confused as to where she's going with this.

“I want to take Kiara with me tonight, and I was thinking maybe you could take Natalia out to a late-night dinner or whatever you kids do these days and tell her how you feel – do it once and for all. You said she’s off tonight, right?” she says, and my mouth hangs open, speechless. What am I? Five?

“What?” she asks, shrugging her shoulders like what she’s doing is normal, and I sigh, a part of me knowing she means well.

“This is really awkward, and I….” I pause, running a hand through my hair. “I understand what you’re trying to do, but that’s impossible. Plus, Lia is going out clubbing with her friends tonight anyway, and even if she wasn’t… I can’t do that, mom. Lia doesn’t see me that way, she never has and never will sh-” I explain to her, but she cuts me off before I finish.

“-How do you know for sure? Maybe she-”

“-No, mother, please, just… Look, I know you mean well, and believe me, I want nothing more than to tell her how I feel. But I don’t want to put her in that position. It’s not fair to her. Trust me, okay? It’s better this way. Telling her that might ruin our friendship, and I don’t want that. She needs me as a friend, and if I make things awkward between us — I won’t be able to reverse it. So please, just let it go, okay?” I plead that she drops this and never speaks of it again.

She stays silent for a moment before she starts to smile. “Come here,” she says, opening her arms and pulling me into a hug. I hug her back. We stay like that for a moment before pulling away. She reaches up, cupping my right cheek, and I lean more into her touch. “I love you, mom,” I whisper before placing a kiss on her forehead.

“I love you too, baby, and I’m very proud of the man you’ve become. It was not my intention to put pressure on you. I just want you to be happy, that’s all.”

“I know, mom. I know,” I kiss her on the cheek before giving her a soft smile.

“Listen, I still want to take my granddaughter. Plus, I promised your father that I’d bring her,” she adds, now getting to her feet, and I get up too.

“Okay, take her.”

We go to Kiara’s room and find her packing her toys. I help mom pack her things, and I walk them to mom’s car when we are done. I hug them goodbye, telling Kiara I love her and I’m going to miss her before opening the door and getting her seated. “Be good at grandma’s, okay?" I add, and she nods as I place a kiss on her forehead before closing her door.

I open my mother's door, but instead of getting inside the car, she removes my hand from the handle and pulls me into a hug again. She squeezes me tightly before speaking into my ear while we’re still hugging, her voice soft.

“Things worth having don’t come easily. Sometimes you have to take risks and push harder, knowing it will all be worth it in the end, ” she says, giving me another squeeze before pulling back from the hug and placing a kiss on my right cheek.

I smile at her, knowing what she means but not knowing what to say, and she gets inside the car.

“Maybe go out too. What are you going to do here all by yourself? You slept so much during the day. I doubt you’ll fall asleep tonight,” she says, sliding down her window before bidding me good night and pulling away, not waiting for me to respond.

Kiara looks back, blowing me kisses. I catch them and place them on my heart, returning her smile as the car disappears out of view.

"What to do now?" I mutter, feeling lonely suddenly as I walk back inside the house. Maybe mom’s right. Perhaps I should go out somewhere, but I’m not going to ruin Lia's girl’s night out. I take out my phone and call my cousin, Brady.

“Hey, man. Where are you? I’m bored. Mom took Kiara, and I thought we could meet up for drinks. Okay, good. I don’t want to go to any new club that’s opening tonight. See you just now.” I end the call and head upstairs to shower and change.

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Hours Earlier

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Chris

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I’m woken up by my phone’s ringtone, and I glance at the clock to see it’s 11 am. I cuss, picking up the phone, and I look at the caller ID to see Kyle, my best friend.

“What?”

“Seriously, man? That’s how you greet your only best friend in this whole narrow world?”

“Narrow world? What the f**k?”

“I don’t know, man; I’m just tired of the word wide after last night.”

“What do you want?” I cut him off, just wanting him to get to the point of this phone call so I could go back to sleep. But he replies with a question instead of telling me what's this about. He asks where I am, and I tell him I'm at home before asking him again what's up.

“I’m on my way.”

“Wait. What? Why?” I ask, sitting up on the bed, and he says I'll see before the phone dies in my ear.

I fall back on the mattress, looking blankly at the ceiling.

This bastard interrupted my sleep.

Last night, one of our big clients threw a party to celebrate a case we won for them, and I was invited. The party ended at midnight, but once Kyle and I start, we don’t like to stop. So, we took the party somewhere else, just the four of us, Kyle, myself, and our dates. We came back when the sun was already up, and I don’t even know when I fell asleep.

I turn to my side, and I close my eyes, feeling sleep coming again but just then, I hear running footsteps before my door slams open, revealing Kyle with an annoying smirk on his face.

“What are you doing here? What do you want?” I ask as he throws himself on the bed before turning to face me.

“Did you eat?”

"That's why you are here? To ask me that?"

“No, I came to tell you I’m hungry.”

“Am I your mother?”

“Thank you for saying that. I was wracking my brain, trying to figure out why your face looks so familiar,” he says, leaning his head on his elbow.

“Haha, very funny.”

“No, seriously though, dude, I really wanna get some food. I don’t want to go by myself.”

“I don’t feel like going anywhere. I want to lie here in peace… by myself until nighttime. Ask Gabby.”

“Noooo, I want you. I don’t want anyone else,” he says, playfully clinging to my arm. Kyle likes goofing around.

“God, you’re weird. No wonder I’m your only friend,” I mutter, sitting up on the bed, “You have serious attachment issues, man."

“I love you too, bud,” he says, patting my back as I get up from the bed.

I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face, and I get dressed and grab my car keys when I'm done. Kyle takes his as well, and we head out.

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We get to the restaurant, place our orders, and order drinks while we wait for our food, and I'm busy looking at my phone when I hear Kyle speak.

“Don’t you sometimes wish you had that?”

“What?”

“That,” he says, pointing with eyes at a couple sitting across from our table, and I follow them and see a guy and a woman, probably our age, eating.

“What do you mean? I do that all the time with Rene.”

“But do you look at her like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like that guy keeps looking at her while she’s not even looking at him. Like she’s the air in your lungs.”

I glance at them again, scoffing. “Why would I do that? She’s not the air in my lungs. I don’t even know what s**t you’re on about right now. Sounds stupid.”

“I want that,” he says, still looking at them like he’s in a trance, causing me to raise my brow at him, not knowing where all this is coming from.

“What is going on with you? Why are we even having this conversation? Where’s this food, anyway?” I ask, frustrated, looking in the direction the waiter went in, suddenly hungry.

Eventually, the waiter comes, and we dig into our, and I see the couple get up to leave, and I’m glad cause I don’t know what the hell is going on with Kyle. I finally see the girl’s face as she turns while the guy helps her put on her coat. She’s pretty, but still not enough to change my mind about relationships.

I receive a call from my dad telling me about some files I need to fetch from him, just as we finish our meal, and I tell him I'm coming. It’s always business with my father. It doesn’t matter if it’s the weekend or a holiday. He doesn't care, but then, again, I understand. Being an owner of a well-established law firm means putting in lots of overtime, but I don't want to live that way. I want to be successful, but I want to have a life as well.

“I hate to admit it, but I feel much better now that I've eaten. Are you up for round two tonight?” I ask Kyle, and he smirks.

“You see? Your ass would die without me, and sure, why not? Meet at your place at 9 pm?”

“That’s a plan,” I reply, getting up, and we share a side hug before heading our separate ways.

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I get to my father’s place and find him busy watching cricket. I sit with him, watching and chatting, and I only realize when the game ends that I've been here for five hours. We go to his office to look at some documents and get the files I came to fetch. After I’m done, I bid him goodbye and head home.

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I pull up in front of my place and head inside. After hanging my keys with the others, I make my way to the kitchen to get some water. I place my wallet on the island with my phone and head to the fridge but frown in question when I turn around, seeing a woman’s coat I didn't see this morning lying on the sofa.

I move towards it and immediately recognize Rene’s perfume. She knows I don’t like it when she leaves her things here, especially lying around like this. I like things neat and in their places.

I pick it up and head upstairs, but my frown deepens as I walk inside my bedroom to hear the shower running.

What the hell?

I proceed inside, and I’m greeted by luggage—just bags on top of other bags and stuff on my bed.

“What the f**k is this?!” I yell, taking long strides to the shower, and rip the door open to find Rene inside, and she screams.

“Chris! What the hell?!”