The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 76

Cassie remembered the kiss. It had been filled with so much passion that she was wishing, craving for more. But the moment had ended with a phone call that had left Felix profusely apologizing and promising to meet her later as he stumbled out of the café. “What can I say? You’re a really good kisser.”

“I could say the same for you.” Felix said in a low rumbling voice. He tipped her chin upward and placed a kiss on her lips: enjoying the viscosity of her lip gloss and the subtle taste of strawberries from her mouth. “And a brilliant programmer.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You remember when I asked to borrow your laptop so that I could log into my email? Well, when I opened it, the first thing I saw was the foundation for an app called For Isabel that looked very similar to Preston Blackwell’s Care Compass. Do you have any idea why you only attended one meeting with Mr. Blackwell?”

Cassie shook her head.

“Daniel Henderson, head of the marketing department mentioned something about feeling an odd vibe when he encountered the two of you in the hallway when we were talking about how to market the app. He said he got the feeling that you guys knew each other before and that he could tell that none of you seemed particularly pleased to see the other.”

“Preston was my ex from uni and we didn’t exactly end things on good terms.” She admitted.

Felix nodded. “That explains it. I thought that whatever the story was between the two of you, it wouldn’t do anyone any good to have the two of you sitting together in a closed office for hours on end. During our meetings, I was able to tell that Preston wasn’t the one that built the app. It was the way he would approach each question; as if he wasn’t quite sure if he was answering it correctly. At first, I thought maybe he was just a businessman that had bought the app off someone intelligent enough to build it but not smart enough to know how to market it. But when I opened your laptop, everything just fell into place. He stole the app from you, didn’t he?”

Cassie suddenly had difficulty swallowing the scone she had been chewing. “Yeah. I mean, the two of us were dating so he had access to all my passwords. I didn’t even realize that he had stolen the app until I saw him in Tech Town trying to pass it off as his.” She took a deep breath. “While we were dating, Preston would always tell me how my work was less than his. I started to believe that my work was and would never be good enough. He did it in this subtle way that I didn’t even realize what was happening until I overheard him doing the same thing to the twins.”

“They would pick up a new hobby. I don’t even remember what it was but he was trying to twist his way into their minds and make them believe that not only were they not good enough at it but that they would never be good enough and that they should just give up while they were ahead. I could tolerate him doing that to me, but I won’t have anyone trying to do that to Aaron or Lily. So I broke it off with him.” She explained. It was why she would never forgive Preston for what he did or Luther for calling Aaron an idiot. She let out a bitter laugh. “Now I’m the one talking about my ex.”

“Isn’t there a way you can prove that the app is originally yours? Wasn’t there someone you showed it to? A relative?”

She shook her head.

“A friend?”

She shook her head again.

“A professor.”

She made to shake her head but realization suddenly flooded her features. “I did. I showed it to one of my professors. I don’t remember whether her name was Goldberg or Golding but I definitely remember showing her.”

“It’s settled then. You’ll contact your lecturers about your app and I’ll reach out to my cousin.”

“Your cousin?”

“Yeah. Eliza Callahan. I was an only child but she was the sibling I always hoped for. In the end, I fucked it up like I do everything else and I haven’t spoken to her ever since. I’m not even sure that she’ll respond but at least I have to try. Because that’s what you do when someone means something to you. You try.” He turned to face Cassie. “I want to try to make this work. I want this to work between us, Cassie.” He cradled her face in his hands. “Because you mean a lot to me.”