Invest In Me

You can read Invest In Me free below.

Blurb:

An African American, marriage, billionaire, whirlwind romance novel. Bella Drew is a true country girl. She loves where she lives and finds solace and tranquility in her rural paradise. But a sudden revelation shatters her idyllic life: her house isn’t truly hers after all… It belongs to none other than the undeniably celebrity billionaire Thomas Graves!

Now she finds herself a world away in New York, where there are surprises at every corner… But what surprises her even more is that she’s fallen hard for the man, instead of hating everything he stands for. Their connection is undeniable, and soon leads to marriage…

But Bella is about to realize that the glitz and glamour of high society isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. And she misses her home in the country. Will Bella end up regretting following her heart? Or will Thomas prove to her that he is the husband of her dreams? Get answers in this black wedding romance book by Natasha Dillion.

Chapter 1

Bella Drew hated the city life. She was watching one of those morning shows on the TV and for perhaps the hundredth time concluded that the busy life of the city was not for her.

They were showing snippets of New York and Chicago and Boston and Los Angeles. The tall buildings made her head spin even from watching on her comfortable sofa. The beautiful presenter with a gleaming brown skin was smiling at the camera with scenes of San Francisco accompanying her. She talked on and on about politics and some economic growth and rises in the stocks, but Bella didn’t care for that. Her eyes were fixed on those huge, frightening structures of glass and steel. The people roaming the crowded streets looked as if they didn’t know where they were going. She noticed stress, panic, and sadness distorting their expressions. Bella cringed.

All of it was too strange, too alien to her country soul. Most of her friends after finishing college had gone to the big cities in flocks. But not Bella. It wasn’t just the fact that her mother was still here, but living in the country simply grew on her, and she wouldn’t leave it for anything.

She stared at the screen sheepishly until she got the remote control in her hands and changed the channel. It was a pleasant morning, with clear blue sky outside and a pleasant wind; however, Bella’s ritual was browsing through the channel immediately after waking up. And she was doing that precisely for about two hours while her mother was preparing the breakfast.

“Mom, do you need some help with that?” she shouted at the top of her lungs. Her voice was unusually croaking from not using it.

“No, Bella. I’m perfectly fine.” Her mother’s words were a bit muffled by the hissing of the cooker.

“Okay,” she shouted back, unsure whether her mother would hear. “Call me if you need anything.”

The screen of her cell suddenly lit up. There was a picture of two gorgeous brown-skinned girls, hugging in what seemed an unbreakable hug. And to this day, it remained unbreakable. The left one was dressed in a red top. Bella. Her hair was to her shoulders, long and curly. The other had put on a dress. The top half of the phone revealed her name: Amy.

“Hey, Amy. What’s my best friend up to today?” Bella spoke into the phone.

“Hmm… Let’s see. I didn’t know what to do today. I woke up at around six, you see, and guess what?”

“What?” Bella chuckled. Amy was always the type for drama and not sticking to the point.

“A nice, brilliant thought occurred to me. Why don’t I go and see what my girl has been up to?” Amy started to giggle from the other side and Bella had nothing to do but join in.

“And?”

“I’m right in front of the house of my best friend since childhood. How freaking cool is that?” Amy was shouting now, and Bella stood up at once, yelling as well.

Her brown sandals were a bit slippery on the recently-cleaned floor, but she managed to get to the door completely safe and sound. Her fingers curled around the door knob and now the two friends pressed the red buttons on their phones and hugged themselves tightly.

“Oh, hi, dear!” Bella said. “It’s so amazing that you thought to come to me. I was dying of boredom the whole morning.”

“Apparently you were not the only one,” Amy said, and they burst into laughter.

“How are you doing? Did you wake up nicely?”

“Yup! My mother says that when the day goes tremendously it means that you’ve stood up on the right leg. But what is that?” Amy suddenly exclaimed and that took Bella slightly aback.

“What?” She started to look around her for anything strange.

“That smell, you dummy. It’s, ah, I think that I’ll die from hunger. Oh my God, I haven’t been this famished since forever.” Amy fondled her stomach, licking her lips.

Bella laughed as she realized that the house indeed smelled fantastic. Her stomach rumbled at that thought. “Please stay for breakfast. Mother makes plenty, you know that,” she said and put her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, thanks for doing that. I was going to invite myself.” Amy chortled and Bella did too.

“My Amy… What would I do without you?”

“Nothing, probably. You’ll be sitting in that sofa with a grim face and not doing anything for the rest of your life,” Amy joked and Bella laughed wholeheartedly.

“You realize that you should be a stand-up comedian?” Bella stated, stepping out into the light of the day as the both of them headed for the table outside.

They started by setting the table, putting a fine, white, linen cloth on.

“Too much competition. And besides, there would be no one left to entertain you here. I know for sure that you won’t be following me to the big cities.”

Bella put three glasses and a bottle of fresh orange juice on the table. Next, she brought several plates and replied, “You got a point. I’m never ever moving out of here. Nothing on Earth can replace this.” She spread her hands to emphasize her statement.

The nature around them was truly one for fairy tales. The one-story house Bella lived in with her mother was not so spacious, but was perfectly enough for a family of four, for instance. It was colored in white with a gorgeous red roof. It had an always-clean porch with two creaking floorboards that the women didn’t have time or skill to replace. The furniture was pretty scarce and rustic, but it was definitely the right one for that place. Inside there were six rooms – two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a dining room merged into one, a bathroom and one study. Bella loved every single piece of it, even the smallest of the details. The wooden clock. The images of flowers on the walls. The wooden carvings on the beds’ headboards. Everything represented home to her.

The house’s surroundings were nothing short of spectacular either. It lay in a field of green that changed its color with the passing of the season. The closest neighbors were half a mile away, so Bella and her mother enjoyed all the privacy.

Now the sun was throwing its rays on the wonderful green grass that scratched Bella’s ankles softly. It was going to be a clear, but hot, day, Bella knew.

Amy began talking about their high school friend she had seen the other day in the supermarket. “And can you believe it? I see her, with a double chin, a huge stomach. I didn’t recognize her at first. In fact, she did. All of a sudden, she screams my name like a lunatic and I turn and see a complete stranger. Her hair, though, and the eyes and some lines remained the same. Two plus two and there she is with a face and a name attached to it in my mind…”

Bella was laughing hysterically, more because of the way Amy was describing the situation than because of the actual humor in the story.

Then they heard a loud, blood-curdling scream and a thud. Bella froze on the spot and so did Amy. They were looking at each other, their eyes blank, their minds filled with the darkest thoughts.

Eventually, Bella found some strength in herself and rushed into the house. “Mom! Mom!” she yelled as her feet carried her into the kitchen. She screeched at the sight of her mother on the floor, lying on her stomach.

Her legs couldn’t keep her and she felt them breaking down beneath her. She was on her knees now with her mother’s face in her hands. “Mom! What happened, Mother? Please talk to me!” Her heart was beating fast in her chest as she tried to wake her only parent. Her only family. She felt her insides tie into a knot and her hands turning wet. “Mother, don’t leave me alone in this world. What am I going to do all on my own? I won’t last long, Mother. Mom, please wake up!” She was screaming. Terrifying sobs tore from her chest. They were the ones of a lioness that had lost her pride.

In that moment, Amy stepped into the room. “What happened?” The color was drained from her face and her black eyes were full with tears.

“Mother… Mother…” Bella couldn’t find the right words. She checked the pulse on her mother’s neck and on her wrists. Tears were falling down her face, not stopping any time soon. She felt as if all of her emotions turned into a hurricane destroying her from the inside.

“What happened?” Amy asked again, not knowing what other question to ask.