Billionaire, Let's Divorce! by BELLA

DENNIS

I slammed my fist on Cole's desk, causing everything on top to rattle.

"What the hell do you mean you can't find him?"

"Did I hear you well or have I suddenly developed an ear problem?"

Cole shrank back. His eyes were wide with fear and remorse.

"I'm sorry man, I've tried everything. James just...disappeared without a trace after taking all our investments."

Rage boiled inside me. I grabbed Cole by the lapels and shoved him against the wall.

"You're supposed to be the expert! You vouched for this guy!"

"I know, I know," Cole sputtered, hands up defensively.

"Believe me, I'm just as gutted as you are. I lost every penny too!"

I sneered.

"Yeah? Well it's a lot easier for you to be casual about losing pocket change. I put in $100,000 man! Do you have any idea how much I sacrificed for that?"

The memories flooded back, of all the rights I had to part with to raise that money. I thought that if the investment paid off, I could buy a whole new collection and more. Now all I had to show for it was NOTHING. Letting go of Cole, I ran shaky hands through my hair. I started pacing, mind racing over how I could possibly make this right. The bars were doing well, but not well enough to absorb that steep a loss quickly. "I'm ruined..." I muttered, then whirled on Cole again.

"This is on you! You talked me into this scheme with your big dreams about life-changing profits!"

Cole flinched at my booming voice.

"I didn't know he was going to run a damn Ponzi scheme! The backgrounds, documentation, it all checked out!"

desk and hurled it across the room. It shattered

head in, alarmed. "Everything okay, Mr.

causing the woman to shrink back in

I braced my hands on the desk as I fought

a way to track this bastard

could only shake

man. He covered his

final threads of my restraint. I flipped the desk with an animalistic bellow, raining

cart and heaved it against the wall,

and

hard the frame nearly splintered. I ripped my suit jacket off

the parking

my face.

wheel until my knuckles turned white. I exploded with a strangled cry of anguish, pummeling the wheel over and over until my hands felt numb and

"Stupid...fucking...idiot!"

was punctuated with another bone-jarring strike

to be some

through my hands chased away any hope

forward

on the

everything crashed down around me. I sold

every asset to

bitch," I spat at my own

to chance it all for more. For what? To get

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying in vain to somehow make this waking nightmare

had gambled

drew a shaky breath and tried to compose myself enough to drive home. I fumbled the

stuck fast, defying my increasingly frantic

as I wrenched the key back