A YEAR WITH THE BILLIONAIRE

CHAPTER 53

Isabella's POV

I watch him struggle with his words. I watch him narrate every single thing without leaving a stone unturned. 

I watch him make an effort not to break down in front of me and I wish I could wrap my hands around him, comfort him and tell him everything will be fine.

Time they say heals all wounds. 

Jayden is healing already but he doesn't know. For a whole year that I worked for him, I never knew he was battling with something as deep as this.

I judged him to be cruel, harsh, and rude. I never knew he was battling with the trauma of watching his wife die in his arms just within a minute of arguing with each other.

It makes me want to cry. But I am refraining from letting my tears pour.

When I can no longer hold it in, a tear drops from my eyes. Before I can wipe it, Jayden sees it and he smiles sadly and stops talking.

How do I console him? 

It feels like I was right there that night, standing aside and watching him and Gabriel struggle to revive her back to life as the blood flows from her head and her protruding belly stops breathing.

I imagined myself crying so hard and begging her not to leave. I imagine myself crying and begging her to wait for the baby to come out first. But she left and Jayden hates babies.

"You have a chance for a new story", I find myself saying to him softly, balling my fist to control my nerves and stop the tears threatening to run down my face for the second time.

He lifts his head to stare at me with his dull eyes. "A new story?"

"Helena would want you to be happy, Jayden", I add instead and he shakes his head. 

Quickly, I grab his hand. It feels cold but I don't remove my hands from him. Instead, I rub my two hands over his to warm his cold hand. It is like a replica of his heart; cold. He needs something to make it warm again and alive.

"She loved you. A woman who loves a man would want him to always be happy. His happiness will guarantee her happiness too. You are healing already. I don't see someone who isn't healing right in front of talking about his pain the way you are doing. The person I am seeing right now is Jayden. The person I am seeing is someone who is a few inches away from healing from the hurt of his past and not letting it have a toll on him ever again. A person who isn't ready to let his past control his emotions. All I see is a strong man who has been holding onto the past for so long."

"Isabelle, you don't understand…"

"Because I have never been in love?" I cut him short. That must be it. He thinks it is because I have never been in love, that is why the words are coming out so easy for me. Maybe he thinks I won't understand how hard it is because I don't have a man whom I love so much and who died.