My Savior Is A Billionaire

Someone was following her. She could feel it.

She was certain it wasn't the wind, she could feel a presence around her. She walked faster. She took a quick glance at her surroundings. She saw no one.

She was a few blocks from her apartment, she could see her apartment now. She picked up her pace. The wind had picked up its speed, it was becoming intense, so she pulled the hood of her hoodie over her head as she silently hoped it wouldn't rain. She got to her apartment and was about to put the key into the lock when she caught some movement at the corner of her eye.

As she turned to see who it was, a gravely voice said, "you thought you could get away from me, didn't you peach?".

She straightened up. Her pupils widened in fear. Her blood ran cold. She recognized that voice.

It was the same voice she had been running away from for the past two years.

As she wanted to let out a scream, he held his hand firmly over her mouth. She struggled and writhed against him, but he was stronger than her.

"Why are you being so stubborn my peach? We could be very happy together my love", tears were trickling down her face now. He was dragging her into the elevator and taking her away.

"Shh shh, now, now Stella, don't you want to be good for me? Like the sweet little girl you are", he said as he smelled her hair and kissed her temple.

She was struggling for breath now. She managed to bite his hand, he grunted and pushed her against the door of the elevator. She was on the floor, and he advanced menacingly towards her.

She looked up at him, he looked disheveled and drunk, his clothes were dirty and he reeked of cheap alcohol.

He looked at his hand, he was bleeding from where she bit him, "you stupid bitch", he said and hit her across the face. She cried out and she started pleading, "leave me alone Frederick , please", her voice sounded so small and scared.

"I'm not going anywhere baby", he said and his voice suddenly softened, "don't you see, the world around us my peach, they want to take you away from me", he said with a maniacal look in his eye as he gestured towards no one in particular. "I can't let that happen", then, as he stooped down and reached to touch her, she pushed him away and screamed, "get the fuck off me you bastard!".

He began to laugh. He put his hand into his coat pocket and brought out a revolver.

Fear gripped her, "what are you doing?".

His laughter subsided, "you see peach, if I can't have you", then he aimed the gun at her, "sadly, no one can".

Two shots rang out.

Her alarm blasted through her phone. She was already awake, she let it ring a few more times. She wanted something that would fill the silence of her room. She had been dreaming again, this time he was chasing her and he caught up to her. She shuddered as she relived the part where he smothered the life out of her, that was when she opened her eyes, sweating and out of breath, she continued to lay there till her alarm rang.

She looked at her bedside clock, it read 7:05, she needed to get ready for her early morning runs. She dragged herself out of bed, made herself a cup of coffee, got dressed, and headed out.

When she got back she checked her answering machine for messages, she had only two and they were from her best friends, she played them, "Hey Stella, it's Ellie, so um, would you be available tonight?, Eloise and I wanted to come over", Stella groaned as she heard it. She loved her friends but they could be a huge pain in the ass. She was sure they just wanted to drag her to one of their silly rich people's parties.

She opened her laptop and started to work on her blog when she saw an email with an unknown ID. "And who might this be", she said as she clicked open the mail. It read:

They can't keep us apart, my peach.

M.

My Peach. She almost threw up in her mouth. The writer was the subject of her nightmares, the reason she was always looking over her shoulder whenever she was walking on the street. She knew it was him, Frederick , her boyfriend she broke up with while she was in San Francisco. She found out that he had been secretly stalking her and keeping tabs on her relationships, especially making sure she didn't keep any male friends. When she confronted him about it, he either became defensive or changed the topic.

Regardless, her complaints were like adding fuel to fire because after she complained about it, he became even worse. He became possessive and obsessed with controlling her every move. He kept telling her, "We are meant to be together forever my peach, no one can ever keep us apart".

One Sunday evening, she had enough, "I can't continue like this Frederick , I'm barely living a life, you're taking everything away from me", she was on the verge of tears.

"What are you talking about?", he asked with a bored expression on his face.

"This!", she nearly screamed, "our whole relationship Frederick , us!, don't you see?, you're suffocating me, I can't continue to live by your rules like this",

Suddenly, his face lost all its expression, "so what are you saying Stella?", he said and stood up, towering over her, in earlier times she used to look up at him and relish on how much taller than her he was. Now, all that she felt was fear.

"I'm j... Ju...just.. just saying that maybe we need to take a break", she looked up at him, "I know you say we are meant to be forever Frederick , but I don't think it's gonna work out".

"So you want to leave me, my peach?", he said as he started inching towards her slowly.

She started to back away, "honestly Frederick , I just think it's for the best, maybe we weren't meant to b-".

She was cut short by the sound of his hand hitting her across her face. Her flesh burned from the stinging sensation. Her ears were ringing. She was shocked.

"Oh no my peach, look what you made me do", Frederick said as he took her into his arms and started to comfort her, his voice had softened, it was like he took on a new personality like he was no longer the Frederick that hit her just two seconds ago.

She was stunned, she couldn't speak for some time. She just let him carry her and set her on the couch. Then she finally managed, "you hit me?", she said shakily.

"No my peach I swear I didn't mean to", he said with tears already forming in his eyes, "it's just that you wanted to leave me, peaches, that's not the plan, we are inevitable my love, don't you see?".

"You hit me Frederick ?", her tears were running freely now.

"I'll never do it again I swear it, this would be the last time I'll ever lay my hands on you my peach, I love you so much".

'The last time' happened four more times until she mustered the strength to file a restraining order. Even still, that didn't stop him. He kept leaving messages for her, some threatening, some inquiring about her well-being, and others, asking for weird photos of her feet.

After some time she made sure he got into rehab and decided to leave San Francisco because she couldn't stand to be wherever he was, no matter how far.

She decided Manhattan was far enough, so she and her best friends decided to move. It was a good decision, she thought to herself. At least she was far enough from her traumatic life, and she could apply for her dream job at Moments , Manhattan 's biggest magazine.

Thinking back to all that happened, she realized she wasn't far enough, Frederick would still haunt her dreams and keep her on her toes.

Ding!

Another email came in, from the same ID, with shaky hands, she reluctantly opened it. She froze, with her eyes almost popping out of her sockets, she couldn't believe what she was reading, "no, no, no, no, no, NO!, oh god no".

We're gonna be together again, sooner than you think. I'm coming for you, my peach.

M.

********************************

"So, what do you say, Stella, will you come with us?", Ellie asked. Stella knew it, they just wanted to invite her to a party.

"C'mon Stella, it'll be fun, and lord knows, you need to get out more, you're just always stuck in this apartment", Eloise, Ellie's twin sister said.

They were Stella's best friends since college.

"Guys, I got a lotta work to do", Stella said as she thought of what to say next, "I mean, I haven't written anything on my blog for the past few weeks, I haven't even gone on there today", she knew she was lying, but she didn't want to have the twins panicking over something that might be a prank. She silently hoped someone was playing a cruel prank on her, just for laughs.

"Oh please, your readers should get a life", Ellie scoffed, "and besides, didn't you apply for that writing job with Moments ?",

"Yeah",

"So it's settled then, you're gonna get that job and you're gonna come with us to the party to celebrate", Eloise said.

Stella laughed, "that doesn't even make any sense".

"It does to us, and besides, all the wealthy hotties are gonna be there", Ellie said gushing with excitement.

"And by wealthy hotties, she means Grayson Stone". Eloise said, giving her sister a knowing look.

"Umm... who's Grayson Stone again?", Stella asked.

Surprised, they simultaneously turned and looked at Stella with their mouths agape, "bitch you better be joking".

Later that evening, Stella, and the twins were dressed and ready for the party. It turned out to be a dinner party and an auction event all in one place. The hostess was Barbara Oliver, a friend of Ellie's. She welcomed them warmly and ushered them in. After the dinner had been served and everyone had enjoyed themselves, Stella sat alone while the twins chatted away with old friends of theirs.

She decided to walk around, and that was when she spotted an old colleague of hers, in a group of good-looking young men. Her face lit up, "Coleman", she called out and walked up to him, at least she knew someone other than the twins, "Coleman, hey, it's me Stella, Stella Marco, we used to work together back in San Francisco". But the look he gave her was discouraging, it was like he didn't recognize her, or was pretending not to. Her smile was turning into a nervous laugh, the men in the group were staring at her now.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you", Coleman said, "are you sure we've met before?".

"Yeah of course", she continued, "Leo's pizza hut, remember, we used to work there before you went and got that big 'ol career ". She said edging him further, trying to make him remember.

"Don't you think you're trying too hard?", came a deep husky voice.

She turned to whom the voice was coming from. She was slightly taken aback, she knew the men chatting with Coleman were good-looking, but this one, he was made by the god Adonis himself. He had the most beautiful set of piercing dark green eyes, with lips that she wanted to imagine what it would be like to kiss them. She was staring, and he noticed. She brought herself back to reality. "Excuse me?".

"He obviously doesn't know who you are, why are you women always after the ones who made it big, have some self-respect, am I right fellas?", he said and the men around started laughing.

Burning with shame and embarrassment and realizing they thought of her as a gold digger, she walked up to him, grabbed a glass of wine on the table next to her, and splashed it on his face, ruining his pearly white suit, "I don't fucking need any man's money you fucking bastard", she said and walked out on them.

She was boiling with rage inside, how could Coleman not recognize her, they literally worked together at a pizza restaurant back home, she couldn't be mistaken. And that man, that aggravating yet devilishly handsome young man, had the guts to call her a gold digger, who the hell did he think he was?

The auction event began, Barbara Oliver took to the stage, "thank you all so much for coming, now I'm going to introduce to you, someone who donated 10 million dollars to my charity foundation, a man you all know quite well, my very good friend, Grayson Stone".

Stella watched in shock as the man climbing the stage, was the same man she had emptied a glass of wine on just moments ago, except that this time, he changed his white suit to a navy blue one, which seemed to heavily complement the color of his eyes.

"Hello and good evening everyone, as you all know, I am Grayson Stone, entrepreneur, and CEO of Stone Jewelry".

Stella nearly choked on her drink.

"And tonight", he continued, "I'm going to be auctioning one of the company's most prized possession", he said as he brought out a small box, people in the crowd began murmuring, "this is a very valuable jade necklace, it belonged to the crowned princess of Spain, we will be giving it out to the highest bidder and all proceeds would be given to charity". He said and handed the box to the auctioneers and went back to his seat.

"So let's begin, we'll start with the jade necklace of the crowned princess of Spain, do we have any bidders?".

Almost immediately, someone said, "5 million bucks",

"10 million", the crowd gasped and turned to look at who was affluent enough to afford that, and to their surprise, it was Grayson Stone.

"15 million", someone said from the crowd,

"30 million", Grayson countered.

"35 million", another said,

"42 million", Grayson countered. Silence.

"42 million dollars, do I hear 50 million? no? going once, going twi-",

"70 million", a woman shouted from the crowd.

"100 million dollars", Grayson said and smiled a mischievous little smile, he was sure no one would top that. The whole room went quiet.

"A 100 million dollars, going once, going twice, and...... gone, to Mr. Grayson Stone".

Everyone clapped as the box was given to Grayson, everyone except Stella. A lot was running through her head, especially the fact that she had just assaulted the richest man in Manhattan .

Back at her apartment, Stella tried to push the events of the night to the back of her head. Her dumb luck had struck again, she thought, first it was a creepy email, now this, she hoped he wouldn't file anything against her.

After Grayson was handed the necklace, she decided she wanted to leave, she told Ellie and Eloise she was feeling unwell and that she had to go. She left the party and went straight to her apartment. Her head was pounding. She took some painkillers and went to bed.

As she fell asleep that night, for the first time in two years, she didn't dream about being stalked or chased down by her psychotic ex boyfriend. No, she dreamt about a certain billionaire, with his dark green eyes and irresistibly handsome face.

"It was really weird the stunt you pulled last night", Eloise said the next morning. She and Ellie were on the phone with Stella, they called to see if she really was sick.

"What do you mean?", she asked, "wait did you hear about what happened between Grayson Stone and I?", she asked hoping they would say no.

"Um.. no, we were talking about you faking an illness just to avoid partying", they said.

"Phew", Stella said in relief.

"Woah hold on, hold on now, what's this about you and that hottie?", Eloise asked.

Stella opened her laptop and sat on her bed, "nothing", she muttered.

"You know we don't believe you right? So spill" , they said.

"Ughhhhh, okay fine!. He embarrassed me in front of his friends and I... maybe... splashed some wine in his face".

"What?!", thundered the twins.

"Okay, maybe a whole glass".

"A whole glass?!, Stells, I can't believe you right now", Ellie said surprised.

Stella put her hands in her face in embarrassment.

Ding!

An email came in. She looked up, secretly hoping it wasn't another email from M.

She opened it, and screamed with joy, "oh my God guys!", she yelled.

"What, what is it?", they were confused, "what happened Stella?",

"Remember that job application we talked about?",

"Yeah",

"Well, you're talking to the newest writer for Manhattan 's Moments !", she said, giddy with excitement.

They all screamed with joy, "that's good news Stells, we're so happy for you".

"Thank you so much, guys".