I Knew He Was A Billionaire, I Let Him Pretend To Be Poor Chapter 10

I Knew He Was A Billionaire, I Let Him Pretend To Be Poor Chapter 10

I left the city and cut every thread connecting me to what came before.

I signed up for the GED and ACT as a nontraditional student.

I was smart enough, and I wasn’t afraid of the work.

My luck didn’t stay rotten forever.

I did well. Well enough to get into the school I wanted.

I was years older than my classmates, but nobody could tell.

I had a clean start.

No one bossed me around, harassed me, or used me.

I could sit in the dining hall and eat a real meal without checking the price.

A few months in, large deposits started hitting my account.

Enough money to live on for the rest of my life. Maybe two.

I knew it was Nolan.

I needed to go into a branch to reverse the wires. Between classes and work, I couldn’t get to the bank, so it

sat there.

The first cold day of November, I finished my shift at the coffee shop and found a guy waiting outside. He’d been chasing me for weeks.

I didn’t like him.

He reminded me too much of Grant: the look, the attitude, all of it.

“Mara, why are you getting out so late?”

He jogged to catch up. “It’s freezing and you’re in that? Come on, let me take you to get a real jacket.”

I’d turned him down enough times. I was done being polite.

“No. Thank you.”

His face hardened. He grabbed my arm.

“What is it about me? Just tell me. Or do you get off on stringing me along?”

I pulled free. My voice dropped ten degrees.

“I haven’t led you on. You won’t leave me alone. There’s a difference.”

He opened his mouth again, and someone’s fist connected with his jaw hard enough to put him on the

pavement.

He scrambled up, swearing, then went quiet.

I turned to follow his stare/

Nolan. I hadn’t seen him in months.

He looked nothing like the man I remembered.

The coat alone probably cost more than my rent. He was sharp, cold, and every inch of hint screamed

money.

The guy muttered a few more things under his breath, clocked the McLaren at the curb, and disappeared.

Nolan just stood there, back to me. Not moving.

I turned and started walking toward campus. His hand closed around my wrist.

His breathing was ragged. When he spoke, his voice cracked.

“Do you hate me thatch Mara?”

“YO

number. Deleted your account. Moved out.”

Let me fix this?”

wer. He pulled me in and buried his face against my shoulder.

shit for lying, and I was blind for ever doubting you.

I fell in love with you. For real. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Not once. I…”

His voice broke. He couldn’t finish.

I let out a breath.

“Nolan, you and I were never going to work. We both know that. If you want to play at love, find someone else. Okay?”

Nolan nodded.

“Yeah. Two different worlds. But I’m the one who’s not good enough. If I’d gone through what you went through, I wouldn’t have survived it. Forget going back to school.”

“But I can’t stop thinking about you. It kills me. I worry about you, and I love you, and I can’t turn it off.

Even if you’re disgusted by me. Even if you want me dead…”

“I don’t want you dead.”

“I knew you were lying from the start.””

“You and Grant came to our restaurant once. You opened a fifty-year-old scotch worth four hundred grand. You forgot about that, didn’t you?”

Nolan went still.

It was a long time before he could speak.

“Then why… why did you act like you didn’t?”

“Why were you so good to me?”

I told him the truth.

“Because I had no parents. I was drowning in debt. Nobody cared about me. Nobody helped. My life was so

bad I thought about ending it.”

“The day you picked up my scooter and asked if I was okay. I knew you were full of it. But I was so lonely I didn’t care. I just wanted somebody there.”

“So I played along. You had your game, and I had company. That’s all it was.”

“I was never in love with you, Nolan. So you didn’t break my heart. You don’t have to carry that.”

“But I don’t want to die anymore. I built something new. And I’m not as scared of being alone as I used to

be.”

“So I don’t need you anymore. And you need to… stop showing up in my life.”