The Billionaire Prick

Copyright © 2021 Bethel-Gold.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author's imagination.

* * *

The dark room was dimly lit by the two lamps that were sitting at each of the bedside tables, the moon did little to gracing the room with its night lights from the window.

The bed is covered by a black-colored comforter and a white bedspread, on top of the bed is a crumpled shirt, a black jean trouser and a shoe. The headboard held the same color as the comforter, including the curtains and other cushions in the room.

"You bastard" the blond woman in a red revealing nightdress that was standing at the head of the king-sized bed, picked up her heels that were laying some meters away from her and threw one of them across the room.

The young handsome black-haired man in only his dark jeans, moved to the side to dodge the heel and let out a sigh.

"Look, Angela, we can talk about this, please just stop thro-" his words were interrupted by the lamp that crashed just inches to his face.

With wide-opened eyes, he looked to the wall that just took the crash and then back to the fuming woman who was breathing so hard as she glared at him.

It pissed him off.

'What the hell is wrong with her?' he asked himself and instead of lashing out like he wanted to, he closed his eyes and took in deep breaths then slowly let them out to calm his anger.

Now isn't the time to get angry because from his experience with the female gender, getting angry when she is angry or even provoking her when she is on 'rage stage' is a bad idea.

"My name isn't Angela you prick" she screamed then threw a pen in his direction and he caught it.

She was now looking around her to see what next, she could throw at him when he began speaking.

"Okay, Natalie let--" he was stopped by her second heel that met with his face in a hard blow.

Now he is furious.

"Prevail, my name is Prevail, you bas-" she stopped when she saw the angry-possessed man walking in her direction in quick steps.

There wasn't any time to escape since he was already standing in front of her and was now holding her both wrists in a tight grip.

"I said that we will settle this Prevail, am I clear?" he asked not remembering what needed settlement.

He needed her out of the penthouse he was presently occupying so that he could have his night rest and later in the morning he could check the damage she caused to his face.

He had brought her in earlier but stopped because he wasn't feeling it and she went all ballistic on him.

He let go of her wrist and pushed her lightly to the bed then took out his wallet from his back pocket and threw all the money inside.

"Here is your pay, now get lost," he tells her and she immediately grabs the money and scurries away from his room.

He sat on the bed and put his face in his palm then let out a deep sigh and wondered if women knew the meaning of a 'no-string attached' fling.

"Never have an overdramatic woman in your home again... it is a bad idea" he commented under his breath and lay on his bed with his hand at the back of his head.

'At least she isn't crazy like the last one' he thought with a smirk.

* * *

Dimitri Lorenzo is the second and now the only son of a Spanish business mogul, Donald Lorenzo, and a former British hairstylist turned businesswoman, Patricia Lorenzo.

He is New York City's most eligible bachelor/playboy as the media displays him.

The Lorenzos' have a wide chain of businesses from hotels to restaurants to beauty salons, clothing lines, shipping, and many more running back home in Spain, here in New York, in other states in the US, and many countries in other parts of the world.

The handsome man with his shades sitting on top of his full black hair is seated with his best friend Aiden Cameron Stuart on his patio that is located in between the pool and the gazebo of his house.

He is wearing a multi-color stripe vest with a pair of brown khaki shorts and slides, Aiden has the same clothes on but he is wearing a cream khaki.

Aiden's blond hair is quite messy with him constantly running his fingers through it, he has a good-looking five o'clock shadow beard. The blue-eyed man has his shades on while he sips his coconut juice.

Dimitri enjoys hanging out with his family and friends, they are his priority, then business, and lastly... women he takes out to events.

"Be glad she took the money and didn't react as badly as the other girl. What's her name again? Hayley?" Aiden asked.

"Eunice, I guess," Dimitri said checking his face on the hand mirror he was holding, "I told her we can settle it but she still went ahead to throw the shoe at me" he muttered in annoyance.

He had a bad purple color on his cheek, he flexed his jaw to check if something was broken.

"Is it that bad?" he asked.

Aiden laughed. "Uh... not really and settle what? If I may ask"

"I can't remember, but whatever made her throw things at me, I didn't want to make her anymore angry because"

"Making an already angry woman angrier is a bad idea," they both said together.

"It is plain stupid" Aiden added. "Women are beautiful creatures, why not appreciate their beauty, eh Dimitri?" Aiden asked.

"You are correct bro"

"What are you guys talking about?" Caleb Lorenzo asked as he joined the men on the patio, he was holding a can of soda in his hand.

Caleb is Dimitri's cousin, they have been real close right from when they were little. Dimitri, his older brother Cade, and Caleb always dress up as superheroes saying they have to save the whole world.

When they became grown men, they would always laugh at how ridiculous they were to have thought they could save the whole world by dressing as superheroes.

Aiden joined their circle when they got into college. The four of them were inseparable until Cade finished college and decided to travel abroad to 'explore'.

Dimitri, Caleb, and Aiden were kind of sad they wouldn't be seeing their 'Big Brother' as they call him. He promised to be back soon, but that never happened.

It has been almost four years and Dimitri hasn't yet healed from what happened. It was hard on everyone, but Dimitri didn't take it easy. It was heartbreaking not to see the man he looked up to anymore.

Cade was the one always protecting Dimitri, keeping him on track, and the one Dimitri looked up to. Dimitri loves his dad but Cade was more of the dad to him.

Their father was quite harsh on Dimitri 'like who could blame him?'. Dimitri wasn't a normal child to begin with, he was out of the ordinary.

"Women" answered Dimitri.

"I wondered why I asked when I already know the answer," Caleb shook his head then frowned at the coloring on Dimitr's jaw "Should I ask about the injury you sustained?" Caleb asked as he settled on the available chair.

"No, how is everything, man?" Aiden asked.

"Okay, everything is fine man, just been busy with preparations" Caleb answered.

"What preparations?" Aiden asked.

"My engagement party, remember guys? My engagement party is next month" Caleb said looking from Aiden to Dimitri. "You guys don't remember?"

"You are getting married?" asked Dimitri.

"Yes, I told Alina to mail you guys the invites, I am guessing she didn't, looking at how confused you guys seem," he said.

"If you told Alina to send Dimitri the invites, you should know she won't," Aiden said.

"She hates my guts" Dimitri adds.

"Why won't she?" asked Caleb.

"I haven't don-" Caleb cuts him off.

"Don't say something nasty about her" he glared at Dimitri.

"Chill dude, she isn't your real sister to begin with," he remarks and Caleb throws him a glare so he raises his hands in defense "Don't be mad dude, I haven't touched her. I don't have a death wish" he rolled his eyes.

"She won't hate you if you stopped your playboy games and not used her friend" he accused and a frown sat on Dimitri's forehead.

"Woah, Woah there bro, Hannah knew what she was getting herself into, I didn't use force on her, and neither will I ever use force on any woman. I told her no strings attached, it was just an unserious affair and we both enjoyed it." Dimitri defends.

"Still and her name is Rebecca," Caleb said.

"Whatever, but congratulations man I am so happy for you," Dimitri says.

"Congratulations, I am so happy for you too Caleb," Aiden said to him.

"I will mail the invites to you both" Caleb assured.

"Will be expecting it," Aiden said "And my invite to be your best man" he added.

Dimitri gave Aiden a look and laughed "I am his cousin so I get to be his only best man, right cousin?"

"Look no fighting over the post of being the best man, okay? you both could take the duty" Caleb said.

Dimitri and Aiden looked at each other.

"Na, I am more man enough for the post, so I get to be your best man," Dimitri said and Aiden hissed then shook his head.

"You wish" Aiden scoffed.

You guys will be my best men, no need to throw tantrums about it" Caleb said and that shuts them up.

"Fine, fine but I am glad for this great news you brought to us," said Dimitri.

"Thanks, man" they shook hands and shared a hug. "Why don't you settle down?" Caleb asked.

Aiden looked at him with his brow raised, same with Dimitri.

"Seriously? You can say all that your talk to Aiden, but as for me, nope I am not interested in settling down, not now, not ever" Dimitri took a swing from his drink. "Love or marriage isn't for me"

"Is it because of Da--"

"Don't mention her name," Dimitri raised his voice a bit as he glared at Caleb before they softened after a moment. "Look I am sorry for snapping, but I don't want to talk about it at all, okay?" he said

"Sure" Caleb nods.

There was a moment of silence before Dimitri spoke again.

"This calls for a celebration,"

"We are going to party like it's the end of the world," Aiden said.

"No, no, no I don't want an elaborate party... just with family. Emily agrees too" Caleb said.

Dimitri and Aiden almost spat out their drinks when they heard the name.

"Seriously?" Aiden asked just at the same time Dimitri asked.

"Emily?"

"So, that's all for today," Audriana said then began packing her books and laptop from the table.

"Okay Miss" the students got ready to leave the class too bus she stopped them.

"Your assignment is to create a portfolio website. Simple but elegant, if you know what I mean," she further explained to them in detail what they could also add.

"When you are done with it, make sure to submit it to the school portal under the computer science department before Friday, no copying. You guys are very talented and I want each of you to express yourself in this project, okay?" she said.

"Yes, Miss Audri" the class chorused.

"See you in the next class," she said.

"And you too," they replied and she walked out of the class to her office.

Audriana is seated in her office as she goes over the code challenge her dad sends to her every week. She had done 30% of the work the previous night but she got stuck when she was going to move forward with it so, she stopped and promised to continue later.

The code seems complex to what she had handled over the years but she was determined to solve it and make her dad proud as he has always been of her.

"This should work" she muttered as she typed a few lines of code then ran it and waited for it to process.

The code ran for a few seconds and no error was displayed on the screen. It brought a smile to her lips which later turned to s grin.

"It worked" she laughed then stood to do a happy dance before sitting down again to continue to the next stage of the code.

She wrote a few more codes and when she ran it, the result was both annoying and unexpected. The screen was filled with a lot of errors mainly saying that the code could not properly run because of a mistake in her previous code.

"How? What mistake in the previous code?" she reads the code error to see where the mistake was from but there was no place it pointed to. "Oh dang! Now I have to read the codes line by line from the beginning" she banged the table and buried her face in her palms.

A groan of annoyance left her lips, she felt like she would cry but it was pointless. She would still have to re-read the code and figure out where the issue was from.

'Except you re-write the code from scratch so you can compare and contrast' she could hear her dad's voice say in her ear and she considered doing that but then if she did, it would be a lot of work for her.

The school exams were approaching and she didn't want to bombard herself with so much to do.

"I'll read it again," she said to herself then closed her laptop "But not today" she shook her head, leaned back on her chair, and closed her eyes.

Memories of how she and her dad would do an overnight code sprint ran through her mind and it made her smile at the good memories they had.

Her dad Kingsley was have first-ever tech teacher, instructor, and mentor, and most of the things she learned about coding and how the tech industry was, she learned from her dad.

He was her guide all through her journey from when she interned in their company till now when she works at the University of her choice.

Audriana feels grateful to have him as her mentor and biggest supporter along with her mum.

While she was getting lost in her thoughts, the beeping from her phone took her out of her thinking bubble, she sat up to see that it was a message notification from her best friend Sofia.

She opened the message and saw two pictures, one contained a large-sized pizza and a bottle of soda beside it and the second was of Sofia taking a large bite of a slice with her eyes closed as if she was enjoying the food.

Audriana laughed and then typed out her reply to her before setting her phone down on the table as she thought about what to do now that she was less busy.

In a moment, another beep came from her phone, so she opened Sofia's message chat to see that she sent rounds of laughing and silly face emoji.

"You're childish" she sent a voicemail then a video call came from Sofia which she accepted immediately. "You are pretty shameless" she comments when Sofia takes a large bite of the pizza.

"At least I'm pretty" she winked then showed her the almost finished pizza "I would have left you some but you aren't me"

"There's olive, I can spot it from here" Audriana mentioned.

"See that I love you that much" she blew her a kiss then took gentle bites from the slice she was holding. "Are you being useless or useful?"

"I'm not stuffing my face but I feel useless. I have nothing to do and I am bored" she sighed then relaxed back on the chair and rested her legs on the table.

A knock came on her door and she immediately took her legs off the table, adjusted her hair, and told her friend that she would call her later then she disconnected the call.

"Come in," she said while organizing her table. The door opened and when she looked at the person that came in, it was Philip, her colleague who had been trying to get her to go on a date with him since he joined.

A sigh escaped her lips and she shook her head then relaxed on her chair. "You need something?" she asked.

He nodded then walked in front of her and sat on the chair, leaned back, and smiled directly at her.

"I am... wait" he cuts himself off then leans forward with his hand resting on the table "How are you doing? It feels like I haven't seen you in a long time," he said and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Philip, we saw this morning when I arrived at the compound, remember?" she asked and he grinned at her then leaned back.

"I know but it just feels that way," he said then looked around her office. "You do not have any code challenge to attend to?" he asked and she shook her head 'no'.

"I got stuck last night, decided to try again today and it seemed promising till I got loads or error" she sighed in annoyance.

"I don't write codes but I can't feel how frustrating that is," he said and she just shrugged. "I am not busy either" he mentioned and already she knew where this was going but before she could say anything, he beat her to it.

"Let's just eat out, as friends. It's obvious you don't want any romantic relationship with me, I get it clearly but a friendly outing will not hurt" he said, looking pained a bit when he said the part of her not wanting anything more with him.

Audriana feels bad for the man but she can't go out with him because she feels pity for him. It will not be fair to him, and hurting this nice man is something she avoids at all costs.

"Philip, I just don't want a relationship now"

"Oh no, I understand you" he chuckled "At least it's better than going out with me because you pity me, that will hurt badly" he blinked severally and let out a sigh as he looked at his hand on the table.

"Thank you for understanding" she smiled at him.

"No problem, so..." he trailed "Do you want to go out for a light lunch?" she hesitated "As friends, you can pick where you would like us to go to," he said.

Audriana thought for a while then closed her eyes as a sigh left her lips. "Well, okay" she smiled then checked the time "I need to be back here before the school closes, I'm heading home with Sofia," she said, already on her feet.

"Aye captain" he salutes then stands to his feet, he holds his hand out for her which she took as they started to head out of her office.

They went to a lounge area that Audriana frequently comes to for some alone time. She didn't let him know but she felt like coming here that's why she brought him here.

"This place is good and they have great food" he comments and she agrees with him with a nod.

"I like it here" she states then takes a sip from her coffee. "The coffee tastes weird though" she comments.

"How weird?" he asked.

"Not bad that I can't take it" she shrugged.

Philip stopped eating to watch as Audriana enjoyed the food in front of her as she looked at her phone with a smile.

"A guy trying to swoon you?" he asked.

She looked up at him with her cheeks slightly red and her eyes widened a bit.

"Oh no, it... it's just Sofia trying to make my head burst with her goofiness" she replied.

Sofia was truly making her go red but because she told Sofia that she was having a friendly lunch with him and Sofia has since bombarded her with funny couple memes, some made her cheeks flush and made her laugh so hard, she thought her face would burst from so much laughter.

Philip looked at her for a while then he nodded. "Are you done eating?" he asked and cleaned his hand with the tissue paper.

Audriana looked at him, the smile vanished from her face "I didn't..."

"Oh no, I just..." he had no words to say then he looked at the time. "School closes in twenty minutes, let's go," he said to her and stood to his feet, he helped her up and dropped the bill on the table then led her out of the building.

They walked quietly to the school and when they reached, he smiled as he waved her goodbye before heading to his office floor. She felt bad for him as she watched him turn a corner then she stood in front of Sofia's office door.

She was going to knock on the door but another text came and it was from her dad.

A frown creased her forehead as she wondered what the issue might be. This would be the second time he sent her a message like this and the last time was when her mum had a health scare.

"Dad... Mum, hope you're okay?" she muttered.

Sofia typed on her computer and then sent a file to the printer before looking at Audriana who was on her phone.

"Did you call him after receiving the message?" she asked.

Audriana looked up from her phone "Yes, I did" she put her phone in her bag.

"He sounded worried?"

"Surprisingly, no. He sounded rather calm but the urgency in his message got me worried"

"So, we're headed to your parents after I'm done here?" Audriana nods in response "Well then, I hope my proposal doesn't get rejected because I worked my butt trying to make it more presentable and better than the one, I sent earlier"

"What did the counselor say about the previous letter you sent to him?"

In the best gruff voice Sofia could muster, she said "I will not waste my time reading a five-year-old written letter about an excursion to a place that makes no sense or adds any value," she mimicked then scrunched up her face so bad, you'd think she was bathed with acid.

Audriana bursts out laughing as she slams the table.

Sofia had a bored look written on her face when she took the printed letter and read through it. A smile crept to her face when she was done reading, she handed the letter to Audriana who read through it too.

"Don't let anyone tell you that your passion is whack, okay?" Audriana put the letter on the table "I know how much you love Archeology and you know that I will always support you even if the world won't?"

Sofia grinned and then wiped an invincible tear.

"You're going to make me cry with your sweet words"

Audriana laughed.

"When someone is passionless, the passionate ones are a threat to them" Sofia grinned when Audriana whispered that to her. "Just keep at this, and maybe, just maybe when I have enough to fund a trip to the place you want to take your students, we could all have all the fun in the world as we want to," she winked.

"And everyone wonders why I can't leave you. You're my bestie"

"You're my love" Audriana blew her a kiss and she dodged it.

"I will finish up here so that we can get going," she said then went back to her work and Audriana continued typing on her phone.

A few minutes passed and it was almost 5 pm. Sofia stretched and then stood on her feet to stretch some more.

"If I don't stop now, we will not leave here on time" Audriana looked at then stretched a bit.

"Meet me downstairs," she grabbed the key on the table and then left the office.

When she got downstairs, she saw Philp coming out of the restroom that was on the ground floor.

"Hi there" he greets and she smiles in return.

"Going home already?" she asked and he nodded. "See you later Philip"

He made a peace sign and then took the stairs to his office floor.

Audriana continued to where Sofia parked her car which was outside the campus and on the other side of the road. She felt her phone vibrate and started to check her purse for it, but she didn't see the car that just turned to the lane she was crossing from and just kept trying to find her phone.

A scream from a familiar voice made her stop, she looked to her right and saw a car stopping just a step away from her. Her heart stopped beating for a second or two, her legs felt like jelly, and her hands were shaking from the realization of what would have been a disaster.

She wanted to move but couldn't find the strength to do so, her throat felt dried and she just stood there rooted on her feet.

The driver came out of his car with an annoyed look on his face. He walked up to her and took off his shades as he accessed the shock-looking young lady.

He was attracted to her beauty but he couldn't let himself get lost in it because she almost made him kill her had he not stopped his car on time.

He wanted to ask if she was okay but what came out of his mouth was different.

"The least you could do is watch where you're going so that no one has to go to jail for your carelessness," he said with utmost anger.

Audriana was still in a phase of a shock to answer him and just when he was going to say something, Sofia pulled Audriana in a hug and started checking if she was okay and nothing happened to her.

"Are you okay? Hope you're not hurt?" she asked but Audriana could barely say anything other than just stare.

"Sofia?" the man said her name and she looked at the black-haired man who stood beside the car with a frown which was replaced by a glare when she recognized him.

"Dimitri," she said his name like it was sour as vinegar. "Did you do anything to my friend?" she asked still angrily glaring at him.

He raised his hands in surrender "She was the one trying to get me to jail with her careless road crossing" he pointed to Audriana.

"Look at you, still selfish and arrogant. It's no wonder your fiancée left you" she spat then held Audriana and helped her cross the road.

Dimitri didn't have the chance to retort because she left, he was boiling that she went as low as bringing up his past but could he blame her? People thought of him like that right from the start and there was nothing he could do to change anyone's mind about him.

With a loud grunt, he kicked his car tyre and entered his car, his head felt full of so much anger and he wanted to release it, to let it out and he knew just how to do that. Switching on his car engine, he drove away from the scene taking one last look at Sofia trying to console the crying lady.

Sofia hugged Audriana as she cried on her shoulder.