STOLEN HEARTS: A Billionaire's Deceptive Love

Ellie

He presses his lips to the curve of my neck and I glide my hand into his hair. I let a fake moan escape my lips as he cusps my breasts into his huge hands. He literally bites my sensitive nipples making me shudder in pain. He turns me aggressively making my back to face his torso. I am so not enjoying this. He makes me bend down in the doggy position and pulls my hair while aggressively humping me. I feel pain from the friction of his manhood thrusting into my small, dry opening. If he was not my boyfriend I would so not be doing this. Do not get me wrong I love my boyfriend. He means the world to me but lately, sex with him is not as passionate as it used to be. It is all about him being pleasured and I get nothing from it. I tried to have a talk with him and explain to him how I was feeling but it did not go as planned. I am thinking of the pancakes I had just prepared before this terrible sex when he makes his final thrusts in me and releases. He comes off me with a satisfied look and gives me a peck on my forehead.

"How was it babe?" he asks with a groan

Careful not to damage his man ego I lie to his face.

"It was amazing. You made me cum severally. I love you so much, baby." I answer with a fake smile.

"I am hungry though. Would you like some pancakes?" I ask him as I get out of the bed and wrap my gown around.

"Yeah, I would. Warm them up for me please." He answers as he gets up, slides into his shorts, and follows me to the kitchen

I loved pancakes. They reminded me of my mother and how we used to make them every Sunday morning before church. I liked them fluffy, made with milk and eggs and blueberries. I warm up the pancakes and serve them for Ryan and me. We sit down in the dining room with both of us sliding through our phones. We were in Ryan's house as it was the best place to hang out with no interruptions as I stayed with my dad.

"Babe, we should go over the plan for tomorrow again. You cannot be too prepared." Ryan says to me as he places his phone face down.

Ryan was not only my boyfriend but also my 'business partner'. We used to get high-end deals from billionaires seeking to bring down rival companies. They would hire us to hack and steal from rival companies important data and properties that were enough to make them thrive while bringing down their rival company. I needed to live this life of crime to provide for Dad.

"Have you talked to Sylvia and Drew?" I ask as I take a stool and crouch next to him

"Not since yesterday but I will call them before we sleep and finalize things with them. Okay, let us get down to business." He says putting on a stern face. "You and I will go into the server room in the company immediately after Sylvia shuts down the CCTV cameras and we have approximately five min to get in get the data and get out before anyone notices us. Drew will guide us through the shortest possible route. You and I will walk in dressed as usual employees in the company and once we get into the server room we start off. At this point, we will have approximately three minutes to finish the job and get out of there. We will go out using the front door and at this point, the security alarms will have gone off and there will be chaos in the company. We will walk out calmly and find Drew waiting for us outside and drive off. Luckily we will be home to catch the new episode of My Life with you." He finishes off while getting up to get a glass of water.

"The plan is simple and I am sure it will work out if we all stick to it. This is just like any other job." I reassure myself although I feel a tinge of nervousness. I am always nervous before any heist.

"We should get to bed El we have a long day tomorrow. I cannot wait to be done with the job, get paid, and come back home and have celebratory sex with the love of my life." He says while picking me up and placing me on the kitchen counter and planting a passionate kiss on my lips. If only the sex was this passionate.

"You did not have enough of me huh," I say giving him a mischievous smile.

"No, you do not get to tease me missy. We both need good sleep." He answers while picking me up and carrying me upstairs.

I stare at pictures of my mum before I go to sleep. I miss her. I slowly drift to sleep in Ryan's arms.

"Hurry up babe! You really do not have to be doing makeup while going to do dirty work" Ryan says to me as I am finishing drying my hair.

"I am not putting on makeup. I am applying my skin care products. I will be out in a moment when I am done." I shout back at him from the bathroom. "Can you grab my bag, please? It has our supplies inside."

" Have you called Sylvia and Drew?" I ask him as I come downstairs and grab a pancake as I head towards the door where Ryan is waiting for me.

"Yeah, they are ready. Let us go." Ryan says while getting in the car.

We get to Sage Enterprises and our mask look is that we are there to apply for jobs. As Ryan is distracting the receptionist, I manage to steal her key card. The company is so big with escalators going up and down every which way. Luckily we have Sylvia and Drew who are directing us on the path to follow. Earlier that week, we had looked into the company and had blueprints of it so it was easier now while being directed by our Bluetooth ear pods.

We walk past the receptionist and a few offices and finally get to the server room. We close the door and get to work. I remove the flash disk from my bag and place Ryan's phone on the desk for easier communication with Sylvia and start transferring data from the servers. We have approximately three minutes before we are busted.

One minute in, a message pops on Ryan's phone and I rush to open it thinking that it is Sylvia. I thought wrong. I am greeted with a message that makes my heart skip a beat.

"Hi baby, text when you are done and El is gone. Take care." I read it out aloud in disbelief. " Baby huh! What the fuck Ryan! Who the fuck is texting you like that!"

"It is not what you think. Calm down, babe. This is not the time and place for this"

"What exactly is the time huh? After El is gone? Who is that and why does she know me and most importantly are you fucking cheating on me, Ryan?!"

"It is no one baby. I am not cheating on you. She is no one. Hey listen to me, I love you okay? Let us finish this and then we can go home and I promise to clear things up, okay?"

"There is nothing to clear up Ryan, nothing. Let me see that phone, Ryan." I say angrily snatching his phone and I am not prepared by what I see. I recognize that number. That is Grace's number. My very own fucking best friend!

" What the fuck Ryan! You are cheating on me with Grace. How long has this been going on?"

" I wanted to tell you when it first happened. It was an accident, my love. I never meant to hurt you."

"Stop lying to me and answer my fucking question."

"Hey if we lose control now we will get caught. Look the drive is done. We need to get out of here."

"I do not fucking care, Ryan. How long have you been fucking Grace behind my back?"

" Hey babe, I promise I will explain everything once we are out of here," Ryan says while coming closer and grabbing my face. Almost immediately the sirens go off and they stir me to reality. As much as I feel so angry and betrayed I really do not want to end up in jail. Who would take care of my dad? Ryan grabs the drive and my hand and we run out of the server room. We run outside to the opposite side of the server room then compose ourselves and walk out calmly through the front door while guards run past us towards the server room. We find Drew waiting for us and as soon as we get in he drives off.

"Do not touch me, Ryan," I say as I strut past him and upstairs to get my stuff from his house.

"Let us talk about this like adults El." He says following me closely and grabbing me from behind making me turn to face him.

"Now you want to be an adult after fucking with my best friend behind my back. How 'adult' of you!" I say while poking him in his chest.

"Ouuuuu I sense trouble in paradise," Drew says while grabbing a pancake from the kitchen counter.

"Shut up Drew!" We both say at the same time while turning to face him.

"Listen to me baby, we only hooked up once I swear to you. She is the one who wants me I do not want her. I only want you baby. I love you. I would never hurt you, you know that." He says while moving a strand of hair from my face.

"How long has it been going on Ryan?" I ask him bluntly

"Like three months now. But I promise babe I only have feelings for you."

"Did you fuck her here, in your room?"

"Yes, but I swear it was only one time. It was a moment of weakness. I love you." He begs while taking my hand.

"That's it Ryan just

give me space. Let me get my stuff and get out of here before I do or say something I might regret later." I remove my hand from his grip turn and start going up the stairs.

Tears stream down my face with every step I take. I could not believe this was happening to me. I thought we were more like Bonnie and Clyde together. I love him and it hurts even more because it is not only his betrayal I am facing but also my best friend of fifteen years. How could Grace do this to me? I loved her like a sister. I reach Ryan's room bang his door and melt down. I cannot hold it at this point. The pain, the betrayal, and the anger are just brewing in me. I pick myself up and head to the closet to get my clothes. I pack up my clothes, shoes, and makeup that I had brought over to Ryan's place for convenience. I pick up my luggage and go downstairs.

"Drew, can you please give me a ride to my place?" I ask Drew while I approach the bottom stairs.

"Babe let us talk about this, please."

"I do not feel like talking to you. When I do I will hit you up." I say while walking outside followed closely by Drew. I remember there were pancakes and I was extremely hungry so I drop my luggage get in take two pancakes then storm out again.

Adrian

"How did this even happen? Where were the guards? All those people in the company and not one of you saw the people that did this? Are you fucking kidding me?! I am on my way right now. Do not call the police till I get there." I angrily hang up the phone and direct my driver to drive faster. How can this happen? Sage Enterprises is like my baby I will not let anything happen to it.

I reach the company entrance and jump out of the car. I walk as fast as I can to the server room. The company is in chaos and most people have been evacuated and only the IT people are inside trying to gather what exactly had been stolen.

"What is the status, Dave?" I ask my head in IT as I get to the server room.

" They accessed the main server and got proprietary intellectual property, some confidential research of the company, data secrets, and developmental documents. In layman's language, we are screwed if this gets to one of our rival companies and my guess is the thieves were hired by a big fish to do this. This is someone who wants to see the downfall of Sage Enterprises." Dave explains the situation to me his face full of worry.

"Is there anything you can do to salvage the situation? And don't we have our data secured? How were they able to access it?"

"This had to be some experienced people. Or people with some knowledge of computers as we have all our data three level encrypted. For someone who knows what they are doing, it can be very easy."

"Can we be able to catch them?"

"Maybe through our CCTVs but they had enabled blind spots in the places where they were passing through and completely disabled the ones in the server room for three minutes. Plus they came out through the front door where multiple people come in and out so it might take a while to catch them."

"Have you called the police?" I ask as I move towards the servers

"You told us to wait for you to get here Sir"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot. Go and call them."

"Yes Sir." He says while getting out and leaving me alone in the server room. I walk around and still cannot believe this has just happened. My dad left me the company when he died as one of the top companies in the country. I had maintained the good work and reputation I could not believe I was almost losing it this time. I am deep in my thoughts when I see a shiny substance at the corner of the desk.

I bend down to take it and to my surprise, I pull out a golden pendant. It looks shiny and expensive. I open the pendant and see a young woman in her mid-thirties. She looks elegant and beautiful with black flowing hair and strong cheekbones. The picture does not seem to be recent and my guess is that the woman is in her 50s now. I guess that this was dropped by one of the thieves as they were leaving. As I examine it, the police enter and I pocket the pendant.

"Good afternoon Mr. Sage." One of the police officers offers his hand to me as he enters the server room. He is short and his uniform barely fits him. He has a bulbous nose, a receding hairline, and a terrible haircut. He should sue his barber. Nevertheless, he seems nice and bubbly, unlike his associate.

"Not very good officer considering what has just happened," I say to him while shaking his hand.

" We are sorry about that and we promise that now that we are here we will get to the bottom of this." He says while I offer my hand to his associate. The second officer is quite tall and with a neat beard. He is not as talkative but seems to know what he is doing.

"Thank you, officers," I say while shaking the second officer's hand

" Okay, would you mind telling us what happened here?" The short officer asks me while taking a notepad and jotting something down.

"Actually, I was not around. I was at a business meeting in the morning when I got the call from Angela, my personal assistant telling me what had just transpired. I have however talked to Dave, my head IT guy and he explained we had lost a lot of important data about the company and our best guess is that this was done by a company rival. You should talk to Dave as he will give you the deity details."

"Do you have any rivals, Mr. Sage?" He asks while his eyes are still fixated on his notepad writing down some more.

"I am a big man officer of course I have rivals. There are people who want to see the downfall of Sage Enterprises. Too many people." I answer while folding my hands and leaning on the desk.

"Do you have specific

names? Maybe people who you have had quarrels with in the past umm let us say one year?" He asks while finally lifting his eyes and looking at me.

" I think I can name a few. Let me send you an email with the names."

"Did the thieves drop anything while fleeing the server room? Anything that can help us get them?"

" No, my IT people found nothing but you are free to look around." I lie. The thing is I do not really trust police officers. I will not just be handing them the only evidence I have to pin down the thieves. I will get down to this myself with the help of my trusted private detective, Steve.

" Okay, we will look around and even look for some fingerprints and interview your employees. It might be that one of them helped them in this."

"I do not think so officers. I have the most trustworthy employees but do anything you need to catch these people." I answer as I slowly start heading for the door.

"You can never be too sure. We will inform you when we get something." The short officer says while shaking my hand.

"Thank you, officers," I say while heading out of the server room. I walk towards my office and close it ready to make a phone call to Steve.

"Hey Steve, how are you?" I say after he picks up at the fourth ring.

"Hey, I am good, how about you?"

"Not that good buddy. Some data has just been stolen from the company. Data confidential enough to bring down the company." I say while taking a seat on my office chair.

"Oh my God, I am really sorry to hear that and shook too. What happened?"

"How about we meet at Tim's café and I fill you in. I need you to look into the people behind this."

"Yes sure, no problem. How does five sound to you? I am attending to something right now but I will be done by 5 in the evening."

"Five sounds good. I will meet you there." I say while hanging up the phone. Steve has been my friend from high school and even though we took different professions we have maintained ties over the years. He has come through for me severally on issues about the company and even personal matters especially matters that I did not want to involve the police.

Tim's bakery has been my solace for the longest time possible. Tim and my dad were friends, I think they went to high school together. Tim was the nicest man I knew and he made beautiful sweet lattes that I had never had in all the five-star hotels I have been to. The café was small but cozy enough and I liked coming here to gather my thoughts together. It was something close to home. I walk in and see Steve sitting at the corner of the café reading a paper and I walk towards him.

"Hi mate," I say while approaching his table. He drops his paper and stands up to give me a hug.

"Hey there, how are you holding up?" he asks genuinely while returning to his seat.

"Today has just been a series of events. I am glad the day is over honestly. I cannot wait for Tim's latte. Let me order it first."

" No, I had already ordered it for you. They were just waiting for you to come for them to bring it over so that it is not cold." He says while signaling the waiter to bring over the latte.

"Thank you."

"You got it, mate. You had a rough day you deserve someone buying you a cup of coffee."

"I appreciate it," I say with a genuine smile.

"Okay so tell me, what happened?"

"So I had a meeting in the morning when I got a call that someone had just invaded our servers. I went back to the company as first as I could and Dave explained to me what had happened and turns out it is bad. They took a lot of important data that would potentially be used to bring down the company. Then the police came and told me that they would look into it. Before the police came I found this pendant and my suspicion is that it was dropped by one of the thieves." I say as I take out the pendant from my pocket and hand it over to Steve. He takes it and looks at it in silence for a couple of seconds.

"This looks quite expensive. It is made of pure gold." He says while looking closely at the pendant.

"Yeah, I noticed that and the picture of the woman on the pendant does not seem like a recent picture."

"Maybe it belonged to one of the thieves' mothers that was passed on to them."

"Where did you find it exactly?" Steve asks while the waitress finally brings over my latte.

"Thank you," I say to my waitress and take a sip of my latte before answering Steve allowing enough time for the waitress to leave.

"I found it at the desk almost towards the door of the server room at a corner. No one had seen it luckily except for me." I say while putting down my cup.

"Most likely it fell while they were leaving. This is nice Adrian. This is a start. Keeping in mind that not many people own pure gold pendants it might be easy for us to track down the owner of the pendant." Steve says while taking a sip of his latte.

"I do not want the police to be involved in this. They do not know about the pendant and I want to keep it that way. I just do not trust those people."

"I understand, maybe the police are working with the thieves, you never know. I promise we are going to catch these sons of bitches and lock them down." He says while giving me a reassuring look. I trust Steve and he is the best detective I know. If anyone catches these thieves it will be Steve.

"I appreciate it. I cannot wait to catch them. Now I am just wishing that Sage Enterprises will be able to survive the storm that is before it. I cannot imagine it falling in my hands. I will be a disappointment to my family and Dad wherever he is in hell or heaven. I cannot let that happen, Steve." I say while taking another sip from my latte.

"We will not let that happen. You are stronger than this and you have survived other attacks in the past. This is like any other attack and we will get past it."

Ellie

Drew drops me off at home and I take my luggage and get in the house. I go to the couch and break down. Unending streams of tears just continue to wet the couch. I am hurt, how could two people I love and trust do this to me? How dumb was I not to see this coming? My head is aching and I have puffy eyes at this point from all the crying I had done when I hear a soothing voice.

"Hey sweet pie, I did not hear you get in." My dad says as he wheels his wheelchair towards where I was. I get up wipe my tears and try to hide from my dad that I had spent the last hour feeling betrayed.

"Oh hi Dad, I did not want to disturb you. How have you been? Have you eaten and taken your meds?" I say trying to seem calm but my dad knows me too well.

"What is it, baby? Why are you crying? And please do not lie to me and tell me that you are okay?" he asks while taking my hand and directing me to sit on his lap.

"Ryan cheated on me." I manage to mumble my words but they are a bit clear for him to hear me and I break down crying on his shoulder. He moves his hand and wraps it around me consoling me. I spend the next minutes just crying on my dad's shoulder like a baby and he takes it quite well and is silent throughout allowing me to just face my emotions.

"The worst part is that he cheated on me with Grace. Can you believe that dad? Grace is like a sister to me. How could she bite me in the back like this?" I say amidst my wailing.

"Honey there are things that just happen to enable you to know the true form of the circle that surrounds you. Some people are just evil people masking themselves into our lives. At least you now know the kind of friend she is." He says while stroking my hair.

"What did I ever do to them? I was a good, loyal girlfriend. I was the best friend ever always on her side in her time of need. I did not deserve this." I say while breaking down some more.

" Yes, sweet pie you definitely did not deserve this at all. You are a nice sweet person but that does not mean everyone else is. People will stab you in the back repeatedly. You know what they say what does not kill you makes you stronger and a little wiser too."

"Dad I thought we would get married and get cute babies together. He was the love of my life" I say while getting up and wiping my tears away.

"You can always get cute babies with another cute guy. Do you know how many cute boys that are not jerks are in this world? I am sure you will come across one, you are so young sweet pie. I met your mother when I was in my thirties and you are barely there." He says while wheeling to get me a glass of water.

"Dad it is not the same. I do not want to start over with someone new. Do you know how tiring talking stages are nowadays? Plus I can get another cute boyfriend who is not a jerk but it will be hard for me to get another best friend like Grace." I say while a tear escapes my eyes.

"You have other friends like Reina and Brielle. Plus you will meet other people in your little life. For now, just feel the emotions and cry as much as you have to and get over the betrayal. You know you can also consider forgiveness. There are people who turn out okay after second chances." He says while handing me a glass of water.

" I do not think I can be able to forgive them, Dad. I feel so broken right now. Even if I do I do not think things are ever going back to the way they were. They have done a number on me. I might as well give up on love and accept my fate as an old cat lady." I joke as I take in a big sip of water. I needed that water.

"You are not becoming an old cat lady. I need grandkids to carry on my name. I would actually appreciate it if you gave me five daughters and no sons. Boys can be a handful. And you name them all with names starting with A like the winners they are." He says bluntly while giving me a reassuring smile.

"Really Dad, how am I supposed to be responsible for what gender my kids will be," I say chuckling. My dad never fails to make me smile even at the darkest moments. I love him to death.

" I do not know just make it happen. I love you sweet pie and remember you are bigger than this." He says while taking my hand.

" I love you too dad."

" Okay enough tears for today and come over to the dining table. Food awaits you, princess." He says while wheeling towards the dining table while I follow closely.

My dad is one of the best cooks I know well he is not as good as my mum used to be but he is better than I am and that makes him pretty good. He had prepared lunch consisting of lasagna and sauce and a glass of milk. I have loved milk ever since I was a little girl. We have our lunch and I clean the dishes after.

"Are you going to work today?" Dad asks as he passes me his plate.

" Um no, I have not had another business contract after the last one at Lockwood. I have a business meeting tomorrow with the Wright brothers company. It is a shared contract hence I will not be making much from it but it is something you know."

"I am proud of you baby, any small thing you do I am so proud. I actually wish I was not a burden to you and you would not have to be working this much."

"You are not a burden to me Dad, and you should never think that ever again. I love you and I want to make you live as comfortably as you can and besides it is only fair as you took care of me when I was little it is only fair I return the favor." I say while turning to look at him to emphasize what I am saying to him.

"I love you. I will be in the garden watering the flowers." He says while wheeling away towards the garden.

I finish cleaning the dishes and go to my room. I start journaling when I decide to finally end things with Ryan. I cannot live like this. I pick up my phone and dial Ryan's number.

" I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at the park in 15?" I say as nonchalantly as I can.

"Sure baby. I will be there."

"Oh, and come with Grace I am sure you know her whereabouts," I say and immediately hang up the phone. I have to face the bull by its horns and deal with the situation as it is. I put on a T-shirt and some shorts and put my hair up in a bun. I take my phone and go downstairs.

" Hey, Dad I am going to the park to meet up with Ryan and Grace."

"What did you just say?" Dad asks with a shocked expression.

"I have decided to just end it with both of them once and for all and what better mature way to do it than in the park with a cotton candy in hand." I sarcastically say while hugging my dad and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Take care and do not be out too late. I love you sweet pie."

"Bye Dad, I love you," I shout as I run outside and get in my car. I drive off in silence not even caring to turn on the radio as I am deep in thought. I say some affirmations in my head to give me the strength to face what was ahead of me. In less than ten minutes I arrive and get off my car. I start heading to the cotton candy stand to get some before walking around and trying to spot my ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend. For some reason, I feel like the cotton candy will ease the conversation. I buy and start walking around when I spot them at a corner together, laughing. The audacity these two have! They are probably laughing at me and planning their whole life together. This riles some bile in me but I promised myself not to show them any emotions so I compose myself and walk towards them.

"Hi El, I missed you," Grace says as she gets up to give me a hug when she notices me approaching them.

"Cut the crap, Grace," I say as I move from her way and dodge her hug. I mean business this time.

I sit down at the edge of the seat after shooting glares at Ryan. His face just reminds me of what just transpired that morning when Grace's message popped on his phone.

"I do not want to waste your time here. Grace if you do not know by now I already know of your shenanigans with my 'boyfriend'. To my take, you are the one who approached him and you know what I really do not care who approached who in this case but you both hurt my feelings. This was so immature of you. I carried both of you with respect and a lot of love but I guess that ends today. I wanted to talk to you to clear things up on where things are with us. I do not care if both of you date or something but all I am wishing you is that one day you get to experience the pain that I am feeling in this life or the next. I am done. Does any one of you have something you may wish to add?" I finish off and take in a big chunk of my cotton candy. I was right it sure does help.

"El I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to tell you when I first started to have feelings for Ryan but at the moment I was not sure of what I felt and then things escalated really fast. I never meant to hurt you and I love you so much I do not want us to break up like this." Grace says while letting crocodile tears down her cheeks.

"Well, I cannot have a snake for a best friend so this is the end of us, Grace. It was fun while it lasted." I say as I take another big chunk of my cotton candy.

"Please El just hear us out. We do not want to lose you. Everyone makes mistakes at times. We are sorry." Ryan says while coming closer to where I was.

"You would have thought about that before sticking your dick in her."

"It was just once babe."

"Do not call me babe for the last time now!" I say angrily while taking one last chunk from my cotton candy.

"You are mad right now El and we understand that. How about you relax and calm down and then we can have this conversation with no emotions clouding our decisions." Grace says while standing up from the seat.

"How about you both get out of my life and I never hear from you again," I say as I stand up and start walking towards my car. I am so done with them.