Mr billionaire's regret chasing his irresistible wife by Gabby Emmanuel

When business gets personal

(ARIELLE'S POV.)

The air around grew awkwardly thin and very silent.

Neither of us knew how best to react to the situation. I looked around the parking lot for no reason in particular, marking the time until it was okay for me to leave without looking any silly than I felt for walking up to their car to begin with. Tiana looked even more flustered

than I imagined I'd appeared before them. Jared's lips were drawn in a stiff line.

"Arielle.. we umm.. I.. Good morning," he managed to find his voice with a terrible stutter.

"I guess we'll just continue this conversation when you return," Tiana shrugged with a placating smile.

Jared ignored her comment and climbed down from the car. He had a stern face when he spoke up again. "I've just ordered you a ride, Tiana. Go back home."

I took the hint and excused myself from the side of the car. Jared fell into stride beside me as we walked across the parking lot to the entrance of my restaurant.

"...Hi," Jared tried to start a conversation. But I grunted an inaudible reply as I doubled my pace.

"Woah. Slow down," he said with a cheesy smile.

I only slowed down at the entrance to the restaurant and he caught up with me.

"What's up with you though? You're acting funny," he tried teasing.

I couldn't help myself. "I don't know... Am I in some sort of trouble now that your fiancée knows where you've been for the last couple of days?" I shot back, layering as much sarcasm into my words as I could manage.

I didn't need to look at him to know I'd hit a sore spot. His frown was practically visible without me turning around. But did I care? Not at this moment.

serious. "I was

now, in the audience of hired cleaners. I nodded in response to their greetings and ignored Jared completely, as I made small talk with one of them even though I barely knew the last thing about the lady. "So I was saying...," he

hearing it, Jared.

of hurt on his face as I turned around to let myself into the

the room. They both sprang up from their

head wrapped up in the course content. I took out my tablet to

"Alright, morning, class. We'll keep today's session brief. Yes, my time costs money, and I don't like to waste it." He gave me a quick, pointed

and flipped through his notes before answering. "Sure. Since we started, we've covered two main topics: financial health and strategy, and marketing and

but his expression remained serious. "And what do those

understanding profit margins, cash flow, and making projections using financial metrics," he began. "And branding... well, it's about building a consistent image and identity for a business, especially through marketing

were clearly reading off your notes," he teased. "Try not to rely on them so much, Stephen. It's a good habit to develop remembering what you've learned." Stephen gave a sheepish smile, glancing at me and Rebecca for

detail, we've been focusing on understanding profit margins, analyzing cash flow, and making projections based on financial metrics, among other things." "Arielle? I didn't say

time is valuable, so why don't we just get to it?" I replied, keeping my tone

He leaned back, crossing

singling out one person

a glance, and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. It was clear neither of them wanted to get

his next words. "You know, Arielle... I think you've been running your business a bit inefficiently lately," he said, his tone sharp but not unkind. I raised

financial books," he said. "What have you done with your money over the

doing from this

the last email I

I smiled

look of triumph. I scrolled through my

out the balance sheet

see any issues, but I wasn't about to let Jared get away

report.

the

here? Just one look at this and I could tell