Submitting To The White Billionaire (BWWM Interracial Romance) (9 page)

Shortly after I got off of the phone, Kyle came back to the room with a huge grin on his face.

“
What’s the good news?” I asked.

“
Well my beauty, we no longer have to worry about the negative stories being printed in the major press,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow, “How in the hell did you pull that off?”

“I’ve got connections baby,” he said as he plopped onto the bed next to me.

I giggled, “What kinds of connections? Please don’t tell me that you’re dirty dealing.”

“Nope, not this time. I just know someone on the inside, and he’s taken care of it for us. Bill has been working with him, and we have an injunction against them. From now on the only stories they can print are positive ones.” 

“
That’s music to my ears. I think we’ve had enough negativity to last a lifetime,” I said.

“
I also have some information for you, but I’m not sure if you’ll want to hear it,” He said soberly.

His expression turned serious, and I wasn’t sure how to take his sudden mood change. I wondered if I truly wanted to know the information that he had.

“How bad is it?”  I asked cautiously.

“
Honestly babe, it’s pretty fucked up. However, I think it is important you know the truth.” he said honestly.

I groaned, “Just tell me and get it over with.”

“I found out who sold the story about your past,” he said.

“
It was Marcus right?” I said.

“
Babe, no it wasn’t Marcus. I told you that they said it was female,” he said.

“
Yeah, but I figured that it was someone that he had to do his dirty work for him.”

“
I don’t think that’s the case this time,” he said.

“
Well who was it then?” I said in annoyance.

“
You’re not going to like it,” He said.

I picked up the pillow and threw it at him, “Come on, and just say it.”

He looked at me in the eye, “It’s your mother.”

“
Are you fucking kidding me?” I shrieked.

“
I’m so sorry,” he said em-pathetically.

“
That’s it,” I yelled as I hopped up from my bed to get dressed.

“
Where are you going?”

“
I’m going to find her, and then I’m going to kill her.”

“
Calm down,” he said, “I don’t want you to go out there while you’re so upset.”

“
I’m not going to kill her but I am going to speak to her. It’s long overdue, and I can’t take it anymore. My own mother sold me out!”

My blood was coursing with lightning speed through my veins. I was beyond pissed and extremely hurt. I knew that my mother was shady, but I had no idea that she would sink so low.

“You can’t go see her Camille, but you can call her,” he said in a concerned tone.

I gave him the evil eye and swallowed the impulse to tell him to fuck off. My temper was at an all-time high, and it may have been best if I didn’t see her in person. There was nothing that she could say that would have made me feel better. If she stood in my face and made excuses I probably would have completely gone nuts.

I snatched my phone off the bed and dialed my mom’s number.

“
Wow I didn’t know that you had my number,” my mom said sarcastically as she picked up.

I realized how right Kyle was about calling her instead of seeing her. I probably would have slapped her. I know that it’s wrong to physically assault your parent, but I just felt like she was asking for it. I wanted to see if she was going to lie to me.

“Did you sell that story to the media?” I asked completely ignoring her.

“
W-what? I know you didn’t call me with this bullshit. I haven’t heard from you in forever, and you call me with this?”

“
It’s something that I really need to know,” I said.

“
Who told you that?” She asked guiltily.

“
Why does it matter? Did you or didn’t you?”

“
If you would have called and took care of your mother then I wouldn’t have had to sell that story. You know I’ve been struggling and so what was I supposed to do?”

“
You can’t be fucking serious,” I yelled through the phone, “All I’ve done my entire life is take care of you.”

“
What have you done for me lately?” She said defensively.

“
First of all, I took care of myself and that was your job.”

“
Camille, you have lost your mind. You know that times were hard, I was a single mother and I had to do it all by myself.”

“
No! You were a single junky mother. You were never there for me, and all you did was beg. I just needed you to keep your fucking mouth shut, and you couldn’t even do that,” I yelled.

“
All I told was the truth. If you wouldn’t have been involved in all that ghetto shit, I wouldn’t have had anything to say,” she countered.

I had figurative smoke coming out of my ears. I’d never unloaded on her, but I refused to hold back any longer. She’d crossed the line.

“You were the reason that I had to do all of that ghetto shit and you’ve been taken care of because of it. I swear, I should have left you to your own devices when I was fifteen. I only stayed around because Marcus didn’t want to you see you tricking off in alleys for cash. I’m done with you,” I said as I paced the floor, and I turned my back to Kyle in shame.

“
So you’re really going to turn your back on your family? All over some damned money?”

“
You made that decision, not me,” I said as angry tears pricked at the back of my eyes, “I wish you well mom, but I’m done.”

I hung up the phone and walked out of the bedroom without looking back at Kyle.

I grabbed a bottle of wine and walked upstairs to the balcony. I grabbed a glass and the opener from the portable bar outside and took a seat. I should have been working, and I definitely shouldn’t have been drinking because it was too early in the morning. I let my mother get to me, and it pissed me off. I knew exactly what was coming from her and so I shouldn’t have been surprised. She’d been the same selfish bitch ever since I was young.

My hands shook as I poured myself a delicious glass of Malbec. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I took a sip after sip. Looking out at Chicago from our balcony soothed me although I felt a little guilty as I watched everyone going to work. I was letting Kyle down, but I wasn’t in the mood to think about anything.

“Are you okay?” Kyle said as he took a seat across from me.

I jumped because I didn’t hear him approach.

“You scared me,” I said.

“
I’m sorry, I guess I’ll knock first,” he grinned.

I shook my head and gave a short laugh.

“So tell me what’s going on with you,” he said.

I was going to tell him that everything was okay, but I thought about the conversation that I had with Cynthia earlier. He and I couldn’t have a relationship if I wasn’t able to share this kind of stuff with him. Everything isn’t roses all the time, and I have a lot of baggage. I’d spent a lot of time hiding my baggage from him, and all it did was drive a wedge between us. I wiped my face and took a deep breath.

“She didn’t even apologize,” I said as fresh tears streamed down my cheeks.

“
I’m so sorry; maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”

“
No,” I said shaking my head, “I needed to know. Although I really thought that it was Marcus, and now I’ve turned him in.”

“
Don’t upset yourself over that. You did the right thing, he was blackmailing you.”

“
I knew that she wasn’t going to say sorry, but I really wanted her to surprise me. I just wanted her to own up to her shit for once in her life.”

“
Unfortunately, it seems that you’re going to have to give yourself closure on that part of your life. I’m not saying that she won’t come around because it’s very possible, but she may not. You can’t spend your life waiting on her to apologize,” he said.

“
What’s fucked up is that I thought I was over it. That’s why it’s surprising that I feel this way.”

“
She’s your mom, and I think its human nature to not give up on our parents. That doesn’t make you weak, it makes you strong. Don’t write your mom off but don’t expect anything either.”

“
I’m going to work on that,” I said as I took another sip.

“
It takes time,” he said as he grabbed a wine glass and filled his glass.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“If you can’t beat em’,” he said with a smile, “How about we take it easy for the next two hours, get dressed, go to check on the progress of the venues, and then just do whatever in the hell we want?”

I perked up a bit, “You mean that? I know that this is a really busy time for us.”

He quickly shook his head, “Nothing is more important than you. We have a great team behind us, the marketing is going well, and we’re up to speed with staffing.”

“
I love that you’re willing to do this for me. Let’s finish this bottle of wine and continue to be bums for the next two hours,” I said as I raised my glass for a toast.

“
To being bums,” he echoed as he tapped my glass with his.

Kyle and I went through the rest of the day flawlessly. When we arrived at the last venue I couldn’t stop smiling. It was becoming the exact vision that we had in mind. We walked into the restaurant, and it was breathtaking. We’d taken the space of an old bar and grill and turned it into a refined high end steakhouse. It was two floors, right off the magnificent mile, and so the traffic was going to be phenomenal.

The modern black and white décor with amber lighting was everything that I could have hoped for. Modern décor was amongst my favorite, and maybe that’s because I never grew a real appreciation for the other stuff. I didn’t enjoy the big bulky furniture, huge heavy curtains, or deep reds that some of the other high end restaurants had. It was easy for me and Kyle to agree because he and I had similar taste. The restaurant looked like it could have been an extension of our loft.

“There are some finishing touches that need to be done, but we’ll be finished within the next few days,” the foreman assured us.

“
You’re ahead of schedule,” Kyle said.

“
Yes sir. So if you want to add or change anything we’ll have plenty of time to get it done.”

“
We’ll be back in a couple of days, and Jack will check in with you tomorrow,” Kyle assured him.

“
So what do you think?” Kyle asked me.

“
I love it. It’s exactly what we had in mind,” I said with glee, “I can already envision the furniture and where it will go.”

“
I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you think that any of your friends would be interested in working at either of the locations?”

I turned to him and hugged him tightly, “Thank you so much! I wanted to suggest that, but I wasn’t sure how you feel about it.”

“It’s clear that they love you, and they’re like family to you, so we’re going to take care of them,” he said.

“
That’s amazing. I think they’ll appreciate it a lot.”

“
There is more where that came from. We need to get them out of that neighborhood. So you can take them apartment hunting, and we’ll pay it up for a year. By that time they should make a wage that allows them to continue the payments on their own.”

“
That makes me feel so good, I don’t care if I have to drag them out of there kicking and screaming. They’re going to move,” I laughed.

“
You know that if you wanted me to do something for your mother then I would,” he said seriously.

“
I’m not ready to even think about that yet. I may change my mind later but right now I don’t want to deal with her at all,” I said.

“
Okay, I’ll leave it alone for now,” he conceded.

“
Thank you,” I said before I lifted to my toes and kissed him on the lips.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying Millennium Park. It wasn’t a huge place, but I loved watching the kids play in the fountain and the garden was beautiful. I was at peace, and I couldn’t stop hugging and kissing Kyle. I was safe with him, and he was not only taking care of my basic needs but he was taking care of my emotional needs as well. I couldn’t wait to become his wife.

That night he took me to
Ruth Chris Steak House
, and we spent a lot of time critiquing the food, décor, and service. We took notes on the things that we liked and on the things that we didn’t care for.