The Romeo and Juliet's Billion Worth Marriage

"Stop."

But I didn't dare to. From the moment I heard him plead for me to stop, I continued further unto my plan. Besides, my position is rather comfortable and beneficial for my part. I won't trade anything as pleasant because of a word.

"Elle, NOT TODAY..."

His words made me stop, staring at him for a moment. I can feel my lips quirking up into a smile.

"Elle. Not now..."

I stared back at him, disliking the way his eyebrows were furrowed. Now I have to deal with the snappy old Gabe again. I get off his desk and strut around his chair, earning another groan from him.

"Elle--"

"Okay, Okay. I'm going out now." I stated in a nonchalant tone, shrugging my shoulders. But before I completely went out, I gave him something to remember.

I lean down on his seat, a smile plastered on my face. I grabbed his cheek using both of my hands and kissed him. I pulled his lower lip with my teeth, hearing him groan, "El-"

"Elleana Cassidy!" Oops, almost full name. Oh, well. I still won't stop, Mr. West.

I grin. No one really knows Gabriel West as well as I do.

It was all a misunderstanding. People thought he was heartless and a git, and I thought so too when I married him. It's not like we married because we fell in love. It was all just a partnership - a partnership that has created a very powerful company, Greene-West Holdings Inc.

This dog's dinner all started a year ago.

When my father called me from Paris to get my ass back here in New York right at that very moment, I knew something was up. I am worried sick because he won't tell me the reason. I thought it was my mom or something that concerned my past, but as I stepped out of the cab, I knew that the reason why I was there had nothing to do with my family. Or even me.

It was for the freaking company.

The memory was so vivid that I had to smile every time I reminisced that day. The day that my husband and I met back at his father's office. We both went mad when they announced the agreement, but we did nothing to stop it.

We are born to comply.

The craziest thing is that we even have to marry before the end of the month. Not to mention the fact that we had only two weeks to prepare, not enough time to plan for a very grand celebration. The wedding was simple and close to the paparazzi. It happened inside a chapel in Italy, with only our relatives and close friends witnessing it, but privacy was not maintained. Soon, a couple of paparazzi came to our reception, spoiling our supposed-to-be first dance.

Of course, a billion worth of marriage is breaking news! Two rival families joined as one is a century's worth of history.

It was that kind of cliché - the not-so-normal billionaire cliché.

But the fact that Gabriel had actually moved to his penthouse after the reception had finished was insane - for me, at least. Not to mention the week-long honeymoon vacation spent only by me in Miami. Only me, swimming on the beach while he types away on that piece of metal they call 'laptop' somewhere inside his 'cave.'

Yet the assumption of us not going to have a chance at this marriage changed the moment we got back to New York.

It was all because of that chocolate cake I gave him for his birthday. If I only knew that a chocolate cake was the key to our relationship, I would have acceded to making pastries and offered him all the chocolate cakes I could ever bake.

I did not expect that he would open up to me right after he had his first bite. I guess I'd never get the chance to possess his heart if I didn't choose to bake the blasted cake. It was an effort not wasted, indeed.

I was so engrossed in reminiscing about our past that I hadn't realized that I was now sitting on his lap again. My hands rake his hair as I moan, grinding myself against his John Thomas.

"Elleana...oh, Dio!" He groaned, crashing his head on my neck as he took a whiff.

I was about to start undressing him and let him do the DID to me, as I was currently up for it, when his phone rang. "MIO DIO!" He spat, pulling his phone from his pocket.

"West," he answered, his eyes not leaving me as his lips flattened themselves into a line. A slight frown developed on them as he listened to the voice from the other side, his expression growing gloomy. I sat there, feeling awkward, as I slipped my blouse on and fixed my skirt. Gabriel raises an eyebrow at my action and turns his attention back to the call.

I sigh, getting up from his lap only to sit on his desk. I watch him as he talks on the phone. He was speaking in Italian so fluently that I hadn't had the chance to understand a single thing. I wish I have taken a liking to it rather than my French class. Who knows if I will marry an Italian someday?

I am almost ready to give myself to him completely, but I guess now is not a perfect time. I was taken aback when he stood, ending the call before looking down at me, his eyes wild with emotions: Fear, anger, loss, and guilt.

"What happened, Gabe? Tell me, Bello..." I tried to grab his arm, but he pulled away, raking his hands on his hair. "It's Papa..." He stated, his voice breaking before he ran out of the door.

"Gabriel," I ran down the stairs, following his steps, but his strides were longer than mine.

"Gabe!" We were out of the house now. He swiftly entered the garage, the lights switching on their own accord as he went farther, taking his keys and clicking a button to unlock his car.

"Gabe..." He abruptly stopped and stared back at me before he made a move to open the car door. "Gabriel," I latch myself on him as though my life depended on it. We stand there, looking at each other with so many words unspoken between the two of us. Gabriel shakes his head before he kisses my forehead and says, "Ti Amo..."

I know then that everything will change.

*

"We've done all that we could, but we cannot save him."

"There's too much blood lost."

"We found him in his office, already dead."

"The gun is nowhere in sight."

"The company needs you..."

"You are the appointed heir, and you cannot escape this, Gabriel."

"We need to process the documents as fast as possible."

"The company depends on you now,"

*

I was lying down on our bed, sheets tangled on my feet, mourning someone that hasn't really left me. I silently cried, holding tight to the sheets as I folded myself in a fetal position. The dusk has settled, and slowly, the night begins to capture my surroundings as though it were a thin blanket being draped over the land. I sniffled and sighed.

I am almost there.

I'd never seen this coming, and I never expected this after all that had happened a couple of months ago. I thought everything was going alright, that everything I had worked for and cultivated over the months would finally bear fruit. I've never imagined that something like this would change everything, that this kind of happening would alter the current "US."

I thought that everything was perfect.

I thought he finally accepted me, that he was willing to risk the chances and be with me. I thought that we were going to have a chance in this relationship, but I was wrong. So wrong. I haven't seen this coming.

Now, Gabriel's beyond my reach, a billion miles away. He's so cold, so rude. He doesn't care, nor would he even care what happens to me. He's now back to being an insensitive jerk like he was a year ago. He had shut himself off not only from me but from the world, also.

He's back to that shell of a man he once was.

Gone is the one I have fallen the most. Gone is he, to the deepest of the earth. I know that he's not going to come back, but I'm still hoping. I am waiting for him to fight and resurrect - give me his smiles, those smoldering looks that feel as though he is holding me. He'll cuddle me in, peppering kisses, and he'll hug me to death. Too much wishful thinking is for I know that it's not likely to happen.

We've had so many fights these days that I thought about giving up. It has been five months now since his father's passing. It shattered me to think that he blamed me for it. He thought that it was my family who plotted the murder of his father. I thought it would change when we had already found who the killer was, but as the days passed, he chose to forget my presence. He dwells more on his grief and neglects the fact that he has a wife to lean upon.

I'm nothing in his eyes.

Sometimes, in a mere second, his cold mask is gone, and he'll smile at me, but as fast as it came, it is as fast as it fades. He'll give me that poker face again and let me suffer into oblivion. I don't understand why he blamed me for it. I didn't do anything wrong for him to suspect me, and if it is his only excuse to make me guilty and leave him, that will never happen.

I really missed him, and even though he's so cold to me, I still love him.

I lost track of seconds, hours turning to days, days transitioning to nights. Those memories we've had from the past few months faded in the background, and my lips trembled as I tried so hard to hold unto them.

I twisted my body and stared up at the ceiling, my thoughts running. He always made me feel alone and empty every time he left. I frown. It would have been nice to have some company. A small smile tugged at my lips, and the feeling it brought me was so bizarre, for I hadn't felt this happy before. He won't like the idea of it, but I decided right then and there that I want something he doesn't want.

I'm determined to have my way. I would do it one way or another.