The Billionaire's Dilemma

Prologue

Prologue

"Don't do it. It is a crime."

The nineteen-year-old boy stopped walking as he heard the voice of his best friend, Aldric Willows. Agitatedly, he pushed his dark hair back from his forehead, looking up at the ceiling of the dimly lit corridor. Tears threatened to leak from his eyes, but he controlled himself.

"I do not care anymore." He took a step forward, and then another. "You can arrest me red-handed. My life is over anyways."

"Are you kidding me?"

The teenager's hand was roughly grabbed from behind and he was spun about to look into intense black eyes. He wanted to cower away, as he had never seen this expression on Aldric's face before, but sheer stubbornness kept him frozen on the spot. He didn't leave, but he didn't move in the direction of the prison cell either.

"Your life has barely just started. Go home." The older man's advice fell on deaf ears.

"He killed my sister!"

Aldric didn't know what the teenager was going through, nobody knew. Emotions burst forth from the nineteen-year-old without hesitance. His desperate scream echoed in the empty hallway and for the tenth time that night, he was glad nobody was here. Nobody needed to see him breaking down like this. Aldric was the only exception.

"I know. But she wouldn't want this." Aldric sympathized with his friend, he truly did, but this was a war of morals. He couldn't let his friend proceed any further, else there would be a murder in the station tonight.

"Let me go!" He pulled his hand out roughly. "How do you know what she wants? She is dead! Dead!" Heart wrenching at his own words, the teenager tried to regulate his breathing. His head hurt too much. His body hurt too much. It seemed that everything hurt too much. It was difficult to even breathe.

Wordlessly, he turned around and moved to where the prisoner was kept, ignoring the silent words uttered by his best friend who had sunken to his knees in despair. "I loved her."

Enough was enough. Nobody can stop him from taking his revenge now.

As he made his way through the second last door, he stilled as he heard some noise. It was soft, and if it wasn't so silent, he would never have heard it. With stark realization, he identified them as sobs emanating from the corner of the room. Nobody was supposed to be in here, he wondered as he frowned, debating whether to ignore it and move forward to his goal or check out who was here.

I better cover all my tracks, he decided as he turned away from the door to the prison cells and made his way slowly to the seats on the side. The sound of his footsteps didn't bother the little girl on the ground who went on crying, her face hidden by her hands, hiccups racking her entire body.

"Why are you here? What happened?" the teenager asked as he tried to see her face. The girl in question didn't say anything, just turned around a bit in her position to shrink herself. Misunderstanding her move, the boy coughed and put his arms up, palms facing her, feeling embarrassed.

"Hey, I am not going to do anything to you. Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?" The sniffles of the girl were this close to breaking his heart and he didn't like it one bit. He had other things in mind when he had come to the precinct. Taking care of a girl was not one of them. And yet, he stood in front of her, taking in her appearance, waiting for her to calm down.

"Can I sit down?" He again waited for an answer but received none verbally. The girl just shifted her feet a bit and he decided that if she was not saying no, he could sit there beside her in the space she vacated. He settled down and tilted his head backwards, looking up at the ceiling. It was still night, but a few streaks of moonlight streamed in through the window. The floor was freezing.

A couple of more minutes passed as the cries softened and her hiccups dissipated. He heard the girl shift a bit, as she dried her tears on her sleeve.

"Feeling better?"

"A little, thanks."

The boy whipped his face around not expecting her answer. It took less than a second for him to fall in a trance as his brown eyes met her heterochromatic ones. Even in almost no light, the grey outer rim of her orbs shined brightly. The hazel color on the inner rim was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He cleared his throat, coming back to reality. "Why were you crying?"

"I lost my father today."

The boy just nodded as his eyes burned with unshed tears. "I lost my sister recently."

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl turn to look at him for a brief second before continuing to stare straight forward, tucking a piece of her brown hair behind her ear.

"Do you think it gets easier? This pain...all this heartbreak inside?" She questioned her words with a whisper, as she sniffed again, wiping off another tear.

"That has not been my experience." He said honestly but regretted it as soon as her soft snuffles started again. "But I guess as time goes on, you just learn to make room for it."

"Thanks." Her reply felt hesitant, as if the girl was considering his words. The boy smiled as looked at her once more, to make sure she was okay, feeling happy that her cries had died down. She nodded in return, not meeting his eyes. It was quiet for a moment before they both jumped when the girl's phone started ringing.

Sighing, she saw who was calling and then cut the call, getting to her feet. As she looked down to the boy still sitting in the cramped space, she realized they looked the same age. He talked in a more mature way, though, maybe he is in police training, she thought. Feeling gratefulness towards the person who had helped her calm down, she extended her hand, smiling when he caught it and shook it once.

As she left through the front door of the precinct, she felt light and unburdened. Some feeling made her stop and turn back to look at the building again, hoping to meet the boy again someday.