Becoming The Billionaire's Desire

complications...

Emily’s POV

About three hours before meeting up with Amy, I decided to visit Gail.

I parked my car in front of the address she had texted to me as my eyes widened in shock at what greeted me. The house was big and modern with prim and well-trimmed bushes and flowers in front of it. It reminded me of our house back in Ireland.

Stilling myself, I started towards the front of the house convincing myself that I was going to go into the house and find out why Gail chose to come there. The familiar suspicion that someone was watching my back had returned since our first encounter and I wanted to know if she was here on an errand from my family.

Aside from that, I was curious as to what dealing to had with Sebastian Carter. From the way they spoke, there seemed to be some level of familiarity; like they'd known each other for a while. I took the cobbled path that led to her house and rang the bell as soon as I got to the door.

A part of me didn't want her to be at home but a minute later the door swung open to reveal a robe-clad Gail with another towel wrapped around her hair with strands of red cascading down her shoulders. She had a toothbrush in her mouth and smiled welcoming me when she saw me.

"Come in," she motioned me inside standing at one corner of the door. "I'll just be a minute," she added in muffled breaths before dashing out of the living room.

The inside of the house was more beautiful than I had imagined. The walls were painted a light shade of brown giving it an almost peach colour. The furniture was off-white with specks of a light shade of brown making them blend with the room. The atmosphere was serene and welcoming.

Rather than a TV stand, there was a huge shelf that held several pictures on the largest part of the wall. Then the rest of the wall was covered with abstract paintings that made the entire place seem peaceful. I felt the initial stress and anxiety with which I had come begin to seep away.

I wandered to the picture shelf and began to browse through them. There was a picture of Gail and her dad building a snowman. She was about 13 in the picture and was smiling brightly into the camera with her dad lugging her from the side. There was another one of her and our grandmother holding hands.

She had the softest and warmest gaze as she stared at Gail which the camera did a great job of capturing, Gail was her favourite granddaughter. Perfect in every way; more feminine, downright respectful... exactly the kind of child my nana wanted. I wondered how old she would be right now and if she was still in the habit of cussing out everyone that doesn't agree with her.

I tried to push away thoughts of what had happened as I moved on to the next picture. It was a picture of Gail standing in front of what looked like a university logging a pile of books on the crook of her elbow. From the sweet smile on her face, she seemed like she was a fresher.

"Cambridge," her voice interrupted my thoughts making me jerk in surprise. I didn't hear her come in.

"The day I got the admission, papa threw a big party in town much to Nana's disapproval. She was so worried that he would burn all the money for my tuition for a party but he didn't care. It was my dream school," she came to join me at the picture shelf.

She was so close that our shoulders were rubbing each other. Even though I was at least three inches taller than her, I could smell her shampoo, the one we used as teenagers. The scent brought back fond memories of our childhood.

As children, we were the best of friends and inseparable, we did everything together; from clothes to food, to personal items but standing in this big room, with our shoulders touching each other, I couldn't feel the warmth. A lot of things have changed... so much in fact.

I shifted my weight on my other leg putting at least an inch between us. My eyes fell on the next frame sitting beside the one she took in front of Cambridge.

"Who's that?" I pointed at the picture of Gail smiling at a tall, lanky redhead man.

Both of them were oblivious to the camera and choose instead to stare at each other. I didn't need a blind man to tell me they were both in love.

"That's Colin," her voice dropped a notch as she responded wistfully "He was my boyfriend,".

"Was?" I spared her a tiny glance before concentrating on the picture. "Why would you leave such a fine, looking man? What happened?" I inquired.

"He died,".

My entire body froze as my eyes flew to Gail, expecting her to grin and call it a joke but from the sad smile on her face, she didn't look like she was joking.

"It was a hit-and-run" she continued as she walked across the room where the couch was and plumped on it "It was raining and we argued about getting married. I felt it was too soon and he wanted to settle down. He left in a haste and the next thing I heard was a call from the hospital. He died before I got there,".

I didn't know what to say. I could understand her pain; after all, I've dealt with losing a loved one before but I didn't know what to do or say. I've never been in a position where I could comfort someone so it was alien to me. I finally crossed the room to where she was sitting on the couch and joined her.

"How did you people meet?" I asked.

"It's funny actually," a small smile hovered on her lips as her eyes became glassy with memories "We fought the first time we met at the library. We wanted to borrow the same book for research and the library had just one at that time. Big argument but we ended up sharing," she chuckled at this point as she reclined on the couch "We exchanged numbers and we pretty much started talking. I can't remember when and how I fell for him but I woke up one morning and was madly in love with him,".

"Wow!" I clucked my tongue hoping I wasn't overdoing the emotion.

"Was he Irish?" I continued.

"Surprisingly, he wasn't," she grinned now. "He was Mexican and his red hair always made him stand out. He wanted to dye it at some point but I talked him out of it. We loved the same things, wanted the same kind of life and we were going to have lots of babies running around the house..." she trailed off as a tear rolled off her cheek. "Life isn't fair, Roisin," she completed.

"Yeah," I agreed copying her position, legs out-stretched in front of me "Nothing about life is fair but what can we do? But thank God we have the memories, at least we can always look back to all the good times and manage a smile even though s**t feels like hell,".

She didn't say anything in response as silence ensued. My heart was churning with thousands of questions I wanted to ask but nothing seemed to be forthcoming, they were all in my head.

"Thank you," she said suddenly breaking the silence.

"Thank you?" I echoed with surprise "What for?".

"For not turning me into a sympathy bag," she chuckled and wiped at an imaginary tear at the corner of her eyes "Usually when I tell people that I lost my boyfriend, they're always eager to tell me how sorry they are and proceed to treat me with pity. I hate that,".

"Don't worry," I chuckled "I won't treat you like that too because I hate it so much. Anyways," I started "how is Amy doing? Do you think you can help her?" I asked hoping I was sounding as natural as possible.

"Mrs Carter may take some time but eventually, she'll come around. I just wish she'll be more open to me," Gail sighed.

"Amy has always been that way; secretive but with the right coercion she might speak. Were you recommended to Sebastian by someone in your field?" I continued.

"Nope," Gail shrugged "Rather than beating around the bush, You can ask me anything, Roisin. I won't judge,".

"Fine" I shrugged "What are you doing here, suddenly? How are you working with the husband of my friend. Everything looks suspicious, you know,".

"I was going to move here anyway but somehow Sebastian found me, he said he wanted someone who had not been affiliated with any celebrity before and was almost unknown and I fit the bill plus the paycheck was awesome. I couldn't say no," she explained.

"But everything is confusing, Gail," I sighed "This wasn't what you wanted as a child, how come?" I complained.

"People change, Roisin. Time passed and I've changed. I chose this career for so many reasons and it's my earnest desire to serve people with my expertise,".

That wasn't the reply I was hoping for but at least, it cleared the doubt in my heart.

I was curious, I wanted to ask of everyone at home including my grandma but I couldn't bring myself to say the words.