Read Before Her Billionaires for Free Online

a statement. Not a question.
    “Yes.” He knew he should say more than just one word, but he couldn’t. He didn’t have any more words now. The words were sweating out of him, sticking to the surface of his skin, coming out in the clench of his muscles, the twitches in his calves, the pull of tendons and sinew against bone as his body sat in this chair.
    D r. Harr paused, deep in thought, considering Mike like one would study a painting at the Museum of Fine Arts. Then she peered at him with eyes that pierced his soul and said:
    “Does knowing what you know change Jill herself ? Is she a fundamentally different person? ”
    In $2.2 billion ways , he thought. Mike closed his eyes and envisioned Jill. Opening a Christmas gift the first year the three of them lived together, Mike and Dylan so broke they went in on the set of audio CDs of the Harry Potter series she’d desperately wanted. Another memory: tent camping in West Virginia on parts of the Appalachian Trail, down to their last few dollars and supplementing with wild edibles just to have enough money for beer when they found a bar.
    How the ultra-chic apartment they’d moved into years ago had seemed so cheap. Jill collected the rent and told them she’d just handle the bills.
    Lies. All of it, lies.
    “She was an heiress,” he said softly, the memories turning around in his head, as if viewed through a kaleidoscope. His words marched out of his mouth in a neat, orderly line, as if repo r ting for duty. “She left me and Dylan a trust fund worth a combined $2.2 billion.”
    Dr. Harr’s eyes widened slightly but went back to normal so fast Mike almost didn’t catch the reaction.
    Almost.
    “And all those years we never knew. All those years she pretended to be someone she wasn’t. Who does that to a person? To two people? We were a threesome. She deceived me and Dylan, ” Mike said with a choking sound at the end.  
    Dr. Harr sniffed slightly, nodding to herself. Warm, bright brown eyes met his. “Someone who was deeply complicated.”
    “Conflicted, you mean,” Mike said. A deep weariness settled into his bones, making him feel like cement and steel in human form. The relief in him was clear: he’d finally told someone about Jill.
    Too bad he only had three more sessions covered by insurance.
    He clapped his palm against his forehead and began to laugh.
    “Mike?” Dr. Harr asked, brows knitted in curiosity.
    “I—insurance,” he said, gasping. “I was just thinking,” he said through a chuckle, “that insurance only covers four visits.”
    “I can submit for approval for...” Her voice dropped off. She got it.
    “Right.” He made a low, mirth-free laugh. “I don’t have to worry about it. Jill’s death changed my life in more ways than one. I can afford all the sessions I want, to talk about how everything I knew about her was a lie. ”
    Dr. Harr inhaled slowly, biting her upper lip, clearly thinking through her next words.
    Then she nodded, her chin moving up and down like molasses, a rhythmic movement that mesmerized Mike.
    “It’s important for you to understand why Jill kept this information from you.” Her eyes remained focused on him.
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    He let a puff of air escape and just shook his head sadly.
    “That, Dr. Harr, is what I don’t know.”
    “It’s why you’re here,” she said. Not asked -- said.
    “Yes.”
    Dr. Harr thought for a moment, then asked, “Her motivations can’t be known by anyone now that she’s gone.” It came out with a compassionate tone but Mike heard the warning in her words.
    “I know,” he said with bitterness. “But I’m stuck trying. Jill didn’t give me a choice.”
    “ You always have a choice.”  
    M ike really wished that were true.
     
    * * *
    Dr. Harr had listened to him rant about how Dylan pushed him to sign up for this stupid online dating site. While Dylan pulled a twenty-four-hour shift, Mike had the apartment to himself.
    I t felt like an echo chamber,