Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
As if telepathically connected, James asked Jolene such, but the young woman quickly shook her head. She’d never do that. She had caused enough trouble.
Danika was even more worried now.
Her father came up to her. “Did you invite Randy?”
He hadn’t sent the invite, but he could accept that Danika had done so, given she was the star of the night and now, head of the family.
“No.” Danika shook her head.
Graham nodded. “I’ll go speak with him.”
He was about to walk over when Danika pulled him back. Her eye was twitching wildly.
“Let me go, instead.’
Even if Randy might just be there to mock her and her entire family, she didn’t want anything to happen to Graham, as he was still recovering.
“Alright. This’ll be a good chance for you to learn how to handle things as head of the family.” Graham nodded approvingly. It didn’t seem like Randy could get up to too much trouble, either.
Danika went up to Randy, standing before him, only to find him looking more unkempt than ever before.
“What are you doing here?”
Randy sneered. “What? I can’t come to congratulate Miss Zellweger for finally becoming the family head?”
“I doubt you’re that kind.” No way would someone like Randy genuinely wish her well.
Randy scoffed. “I’m here tonight to give you a present, actually.”
“Present?” Danika frowned. Something told her it wouldn’t be anything good.
“Yup. I’m sure you’ll like it.” Randy grinned, then slowly unbuttoned his coat under
Danika and every other onlooker’s gazes.
“Aaahhh!!!”
“It’s a bomb!” “Has he lost his mind?!
What Do You Want?
The first thing that came to mind when Danika saw the dozens of bombs strapped to Randy’s body was to run, but Randy seemed to have guessed it already. “I advise you to stay put, or I’ll blow up these pretty little things and hurt everyone here.”
So Danika stayed put. Even if Randy didn’t detonate the bombs, she still had to put on a brave front to protect the others’ life, or she’d become the talk of the town for the next decade for being a coward.
“Good, good. You still have your wits about you, I see.’ Randy’s grin turned menacing as he dragged Danika up onstage, the bomb detonator in the other hand. He tapped on the mic and said, “Good evening, everyone. Glad to be here tonight.”
The audience was deathly silent, though Randy didn’t seem to mind. He scoffed.
“Dear me, it doesn’t sound like I’m very welcome here. I’ll warn all of you first. Any of you try to escape this place tonight, and I’ll send the building collapsing on us all.”
Now the crowd of guests was really frenzied. They’d thought Randy’s bombs were only limited to the ones on his body, so they wouldn’t be affected if they stayed far away from him, but his threat clearly meant death for everyone present.
The guests began yelling and speaking frantically, some weeping fearfully for their lives, while others didn’t believe Randy would actually plant bombs in the entire building. Thus these guests went to leave.
“Boom!” A bomb sounded off in the entrance, blasting them into bits and pieces.
Screams rang through the hall again while Danika stared at the scene in sheer dread.
“What did you do?” she asked, horrified.
“What didn’t I do? Don’t any of you think you’ll leave here alive tonight!’ The moment the Glasses came crashing down, Randy’s world had permanently distorted, turning him into nothing more than another city rat. He couldn’t take it anymore.
Meanwhile, Danika was already planning how to avoid further enraging him.” Your family still has countless stores of wealth enough to last you an entire lifetime. Why do this?”
“Wealth? Hah, bullshit!’ Randy didn’t just want wealth. He longed for power and influence, for people to bow to him with respect. Purely money wasn’t enough for him at all.
Danika didn’t understand. She glanced at Graham and James downstage, signaling for them to calm the guests down, making sure they didn’t wander off and meet their deaths.
The two men were already on it, though they weren’t succeeding much. In fact, several guests began to whine about how it was all because of the Zellwegers, how
Randy wouldn’t have done it if they hadn’t cut off the Glasses’ lifelines.
“What do you want?” Danika asked Randy. Clearly, he had a purpose, or he wouldn’t have waited this long without blowing up the bombs on him.
Randy ignored her, yelling at the crowd instead. “Shut the fuck up, all of you!!”
The guests responded with immediate silence.
I Will Never Forgive You
Randy nodded in approval, then gazed at Graham and James amongst the crowd.
“You two are so fucking pleased with yourselves, aren’t you? You got what you wanted-my family wiped off from Bardoff City.”
“You can tell us what you want, Randy, and well give it to you, whatever it is. Just let Danika go first. I’ll swap places with her instead.” Graham offered. If Randy detonated those bombs on his body, he would lose his daughter.
Randy snorted. “I said to stay put, didn’t I?”
Graham pursed his lips but stayed where he was.
While everyone waited for Randy to speak up about what he wanted from them, Stephanie had just returned home. She was about to relax and head inside after the exhausting night when she spotted someone familiar at the door.
Chills ran down her spine. She froze where she was, hesitating about whether to go forward or not.
“Shit, it’s not like I could wait out there all night. Plus, there’s no reason to be scared of him. He doesn’t have any influence in Bardoff City.”
With that in mind, Stephanie walked up to her house, coming face to face with Paul Wagner. The shred of hope that it might be someone else instead instantly evaporated.
Stephanie tried to walk past him, ignoring his presence, but the man stepped up in front of her, blocking her path. “I need to talk to you, Stephanie.”
She rolled her eyes and took a step back, crossing her arms defensively. “I don’t think there’s anything to say between us.”
They’d concluded everything in Parrington. Whatever talk this was would only be bringing up old scores.
“I beg to differ.” Paul hadn’t gone up to Stephanie at the event earlier, not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t have the guts. He had stayed in the corners, watching man after man come up to her, trying to flirt, while suffering from the ball of jealousy in the pit of his stomach.
Only after she went home did he finally decide to follow her back. It was time to face her, he decided.
Stephanie sighed. Her fear from her traumatic experience with Paul made her reconsider being too harsh with him. ‘ What is it then?”
It took a minute or so before Paul finally answered, “I’m sorry.”
It was met with pure shock on Stephanie’s end.
Was she hallucinating?
She wondered if the man before her was Paul and not some secret twin he’d be concealing.
“I…What I did to you in Parrington was wrong. I hope you can forgive me,” Paul continued. He had never felt such a pain as terrible as having to say sorry in his entire life. But he had no choice. If he didn’t do this now, there was no way Stephanie would ever want to see him again.
Stephanie had been waiting for him to say this for a long time, yet the release she anticipated would come never did.
She gazed at Paul, conflicted. “I accept your apology, Paul, but…l will never forgive you for what you did to me.”
Drag You Down with Me
“Let me make it up to you.” Paul grabbed onto Stephanie’s wrist, stopping her from walking away.
“Some things aren’t that easy to mend,” Stephanie replied.
“I know I messed up before, Stephanie. But I know better now. I know I need to improve, so please, give me a chance.” Paul said dearly.
In truth, he rarely showed this side of himself, so Stephanie was actually touched by his words. She loved him once, after all. But still, she remained level-headed. They weren’t compatible. Even if they dated one another, they’d never have a happy ending.
There was no point in wasting each other’s time.
Shaking loose from Paul’s grip, Stephanie said, “You don’t need me around to improve yourself. You should be able to do it alone.
“Steph-“
Paul was cut off by his ringtone. He was about to decline when he saw the caller ID. His expression changed the moment he heard the other person speak.
Stephanie picked up on it instantly. Something told her it wasn’t anything good. But it was none of her business, right?
With that in mind, Stephanie turned to leave.
“Something’s happened to Danika,” Paul quickly said. Stephanie stared at him in shock. “What did you say?’
Paul gnawed on the inside of his cheek, waiting for the other person to finish talking before hanging up. “Someone’s installed bombs at Danika’s event space. She’s being held hostage right now too. I need to go. We can continue this some other time.”
Paul wasn’t giving up, but he couldn’t stay either. He had to go help rescue some folks from being blasted into bits. More specifically, Eustace, of course.
“I’m coming with you.” Stephanie wasn’t going to sit back and wait while Danika was in danger.
Paul frowned. “No. It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s why I need to come with you.” Before Paul could stop her, she had gone to his car, refusing to be held back.
