The Daring Billionaire’s Wife by Lypstical

Aileen

The door on the other side of the partition swings open and in walks a corrections officer, escorting a man into the room. My heart instantly skips a beat as our eyes meet, even through the thick glass that separates us.

The man being led to his seat is a far cry from the person I expected. I've only seen pictures of him from the documents and articles, which were all taken twenty years ago and there's such a stark contrast between those images and the current reality.

His freshly shaved face has deep lines and scars, his eyes only filled with an intimidating hardness. The short sleeves of his prison-issued shirt show off all the tattoos on his muscular arms, some of them being skulls and snakes. It then comes back to me that he's regarded as one of the most dangerous criminals here.

After he sits down, he leans forward, his eyes slightly narrowed with curiosity as he takes in the view of me. Then, he reaches for his telephone but doesn't speak, eyeing me in silence.

This intimidation is more than I can take as it sends shivers down my spine. Bringing my telephone to my ear, I swallow hard, trying to find my voice.

"Hello?" My voice is barely above a whisper.

"This is fucking crazy." His voice rumbles through the phone as his eyes widen a little. "I might be way over here with this glass in the way, but how do you look so young, gorgeous and out of prison? Is it really you, Arlissa?"

"I'm guessing that's my mother's name. I'm Aileen."

He suddenly rises to his feet with wide eyes and a chuckle, slamming the glass with the palm of his hand. It almost feels like he can break it.

The corrections officer steps in, instructing him to sit down and as he does, he bursts into laughter and I can't tell if it's excitement or just pure shock.

"Aileen! I didn't think I'd see you again!"

His enthusiasm gives me a little hope and I can't help but smile as I point out something. "I kind of look like you."

He scoffs. "Wait until you see your mother. You're all grown up. You look so beautiful. Isn't this my lucky day? No one has come to visit me in ten years here at Cyphers Maximum Security Prison. What a way to kick things off. How did you even arrange for this when it's usually impossible?"

"I pulled a few strings with the receptionist."

"That woman never listens to anyone, why would she listen to you?"

"I just told her my name. Aileen Richards."

The telephone slips from his hand and he quickly picks it up. "Richards? Which family is that? Dominic's?" "Do you know him?"

"Just from the news and shit like that. So, you're a billionaire. Did you bring some cash with you? You know, I need money."

His tone and facial expression turn greedy and I can already feel myself leaving here disappointed. Composing myself, I quickly change the subject. "I've been looking for you and mom for some time now and when I first came across those files with your information, I refused to believe it. Did you really do all those awful things I read about?"

"Listen here, for all I know, you might just be an imposter, in which case you'd be a convincing one because you do like Arlissa. If you want to talk, DNA test first."

"But what's so hard about admitting whether you did it or not when it's already in the information I have and you're here?"

"Then go with it."

"I just want to hear it from you."

"I'm not telling you shit. Get that DNA test done first. I'll give you what you need from me." He looks back

at the corrections officer, who nods in agreement with bringing the sample to me. "I see you have everyone here working as they should, Mrs Richards."

"You really won't talk to me unless we get this test done?" My voice cracks a little.

He scoffs. "Am I not talking to you right now?"

I smack my lips. "You know what I mean."

"Nope. There's nothing to say anyway. I have to admit that it feels strange having someone like you visit me.'

"You said it yourself, I look like Arlissa."

"So what?" He shrugs.

I sigh with disappointment. "That's it. I'm leaving. I need to go to Black Widow Maximum Security Prison." "Off to see your mother? You were always more fond of me. I guess that's why you first came to me." "Really? I don't remember any of that."

He scoffs. "How could you remember when we left you a long time ago?"

The way he says it makes my heart sink, making my eyes a little watery as I can't seem to figure out what he's really all about.

"Are you really my father?"

"Who knows?" He shrugs. "That's why you're getting my sample. Why don't you find out?"

Forcing a smile, I close my eyes with a sigh of defeat. "I'm leaving now."

"Wait." His voice is urgent.

I open my eyes and look up, wondering what he's about to say to me.

"Don't leave just yet," he says.

"Why not?"

"I asked you for some money. Don't you remember?"

I clench my jaw, shaking my head in disbelief. "I was expecting something different, but you're just like

them."

"I don't know who you're talking about." He nonchalantly shrugs.

Unable to take it anymore, I hang up

the phone and rise to my feet, rushing to the door so I can leave but I stop right before I step out and look back at him, only to find him laughing. What type of person is he?

I step out into the hallway, putting on my hat and shades just to hide the tears that now stream down my ĕ face but as soon as Meryl spots me, she rushes to me and quickly figures out what's going on with me

"Come here," she whispers, gently patting me on the back. "How did it go?"

"It was awful." I sniffle. "He reminds me of my adoptive parents."

"What?" She breaks the hug. "It couldn't have been that bad."

"It was."

Wiping my tears and composing myself, I tell her all about what we discussed and she clenches her fists. "Had I been there with you, I would've slapped the shit out of him!"

"You wouldn't have stood a chance." I force a smile. "You know, I don't know what I'm feeling right now." "Hey, it's only been a few minutes since you walked out of that room. Give it some time to take it all in. Let's go."

While I try to compose myself and not feel so low, Liam sends me a sweet and flirtatious message which brings a smile to my face.

"Looks like somebody's blushing. I only have one person to thank for that," Meryl teases me. "Shut up!" I chuckle.

After collecting the DNA sample, Meryl and I make our way out, get on my private jet and we're off to see Arlissa Guthrie. I can only hope that she's different.