"I don't believe this." The suited man turned in his stance to further bore his grim sight at the tearing woman seated in front of him. "I have been calling the wrong man my father for thirty-one years."
"Christopher is still your father regardless. He accepted you, loved you as his own," she said, her voice trembling, her obviously expensive silk scarf doing a good job of wiping her tears off before they could damage her make up.
"He knew?" Charles scoffed as his mother confirmed it. Taking a seat on the leather sofa which strangely was the only furniture he ever sat on, he ran his hair backwards, the dryness annoying him a bit. "I still don't believe that you kept this from me."
"Charles," the richly dressed woman whose age wasn't telling on her spoke softly. ", truthfully, if I had my way, I would have preferred you not to know. Rodrigo is sort of a bastard, Charles."
"I was a bastard unknowingly for years, mother."
The gentle look on his mother's face turned to a frown for a second. "Don't speak such things about yourself Charles. You were raised by a wonderful father, the best you could ever have."
He sighed.
He did love the man he called Father. Charles appreciated him for everything he had done. But it hurt. It hurt to know that he had spent years calling the wrong man his father.
"So, if this letter hadn't come, I wouldn't have known about this."
"I really wish it didn't come," Mrs. Oxford whispered into the office that wore a cold look similar to the one on the face of its main occupant.
Silence took over. Mother avoided her son's piercing glares. It was as though she knew that he was trying to mask the anger within him behind his roughly chiseled face. Charles took another look at his mother, his eyes all set. "I have to meet Rodrigo Ordinaz."
The silly hat on his mother's head bobbed as her whole body reacted to his statement. Shaking her head, tears forming on the surface of her eyes, she begged, "Please my son, don't do this. Don't give in to his demands."
"I deserve to meet my real father before he dies." He rarely saw his mother cry, so he could tell how serious she was with her plead. But his mind was made up.
"But if you want to meet him, you will have to give in to his demands."
Charles gave a short shrug. "I have to get married, how hard can that be?"
"You can't just pick any girl to marry, that's like the worst thing that can happen to a man."
"Who says I am marrying any girl? Mother," his hands tucked beneath his chin. "I am a man that deals with precise selections of things, I will not make an exception when it comes to choosing a wife."
"Is this about the wealth? Rodrigo's wealth? You don't have to do this son. Your father's empire is more than enough."
"I don't care about his money. I just want to meet my real father, dammit!" He hated to see his mother flinch, but she was too blinded by her emotions to see how important it was to him. Heck! He would marry a thousand times to get to meet his real father and… siblings.
"I have even have siblings. Don't I deserve to meet them?"
"What I am saying is that you don't have to give in to his demands, there are other ways…"
"Mother, you said it yourself, Rodrigo Ordinaz is a strange yet calculating and highly manipulative man. I am sure he must have broken off any alternative routes that I could use to get to him. Please mother don't make this any harder, I have made my decision."
"So, you are getting married." Contrary to the usual excessive grins mothers wore whenever their child tell them they are tying the knot, the formal looking middle- aged woman had her face falling.
"It seems so."
"Just be careful Charles." And she got up, leaving him with his thoughts and his lonely looking office.
His recent decision meant a change in his plans. Apart from looking for a woman who would want to be his wife- (which would be a bit tasking), he needed to move to America where his real father has lived for many years. Charles needed to be closer to his recently discovered family.
His intent on meeting Rodrigo Ordoniz may seem unnecessary to some people, like his mother. But, he grew up wondering why he had features of a Brazilian, when both his parents were British. He certainly wasn't going to miss an opportunity to find a complete answer to his question.
But the conditions attached. Where was he going to find a woman that he could trust enough to get married to?
If only she had gotten married to him back then, he wouldn't be having this problem. He still had not forgotten her. It was difficult to forget a woman with a face like hers. Voice so seducing, it made you react instantly. Her body was so curved in the right places, Charles could almost see him running his hands through her soft skin.
It bothered him though, that he was yet to forget her.
For crying out loud, she left him waiting at the altar, left without a note, vanished without a trace. She made him suffer a heartbreak and it sure was a heartbreak, because he loved her and he had every reasons to believe that she did too.
"Mr. Charles?" The voice of his secretary brought him out of his thoughts.
"Miss Kane, what is it?"
"The files are on your table sir," he noticed that her shirt had a few buttons loose and they definitely weren't like that when she came in to announce the arrival of his mother.
"What about the contract…?" he cleared his throat, she offered to pour him water. "What about the contract with Jubili Limited?"
Charles could see the swell of her breasts as she angled her body to achieve a seductive pose. He had to give it to her, she knew her game. Miss Kane was attractive no doubt, with her blonde silky hair that she never failed to flaunt. And her office wears which she always wore fitly to bring out her body shape. But he had a strict no sex with employee policy and he sure wasn't going to break it.
"Here sir." Her fingertips brushed his knuckles as she handed him the glass of water. "They have sent the copy of their signed contract."
"I need you to have the private jet ready. By next week Monday, we will be leaving for America."
"Okay sir." She was importantly competent, he wouldn't want to taint that by having a night pleasure with her.
"So, send me the rest of the documents yet to be signed. And try to see if you can squeeze meetings into the rest of this week. If at all any meeting will fall in the following weeks, make sure it is meetings that will be held in the States."
"Alright sir. Is that all?" He gave a curt nod which was to his secretary's disappointment, but he did not notice that. He had gone back to relishing the beauty of the woman in his earlier thoughts.
Charles hated that he was doing it, yet a part of him seemed joyous as though Isabella was still in his life and was going to walk into the room any second soon, her eyes beaming with hunger for him.
Tired.There was no other name to use to describe her feeling at that moment. Slumping onto the brown leather couch, Isabella recalled with bitterness, the meeting she just had with the bank's representative.The company was running more and more into debt and she was not seeing a way out soon. Grabbing her phone to check the time, Isabella realized it was almost time to go home.Home.That was another problem of its own. A problem she would deal with once she gets there but at that moment, she needed to work out a way to get her company out of the extraordinary debt it was in. Getting up, she walked towards her desk and dialed her secretary to come inside."Hey Isa.""Caleb." She sat slightly against the edge of the glass desk.The blonde man walked towards her, his stride different because of some accident on his father's farm. Somethin
Charles pinched the bridge of his nose. The past few days have been a mental hell for him. Apart from his norm of attending meetings after meetings, the fact that he was so close yet far from his real family members tortured him.And there was the fact that he had not found a suitable time to devote to searching for a wife.He needed a break, he needed some sort of entertainment. At that moment, in order to find his plans working out perfectly he needed a clear mind.Charles picked up his phone and called in his secretary."Sir, you called me.""Yes," he poured himself some whiskey, his one and loyal company. ",are there any events in town that I can attend? I need a break.""I don't know...""Miss Kane, you are good at what you do, instead of telling me you don't know any, I should be hearing you will be finding out if there is any."The slight cruelty in his voice did not appear to move her, that was one of the reasons he had
"So, it is basically a hotel?" The fat man asked again."She just said..." His partner gave up trying to explain anything to the man who was making light of the little meeting they were having.And Isabella was trying so hard not to get unduly angry. Her free hand kept tugging at the table cloth, the same time, her smile widened. "Yes, it is a hotel. But a vintage kind of hotel.""Why would anyone want to stay in such a place?""The services offered there are like no other sir. Everything about the hotel is amazing, magical. Our guests always have a good time.""If it is so magical, why is it failing?" David Maxwell's secretary gasped with shock at the directedness of his boss. Isabella could feel it, the anger, it had made its way to her chest. Her hold on the cloth became fiercer, it shifted off the table.Caleb placed his hand over hers to placate her."We are actually working on ways to improve the standards of the hotel. We just
It really was him. Isabella sat back into her chair. She had been hoping it was a dream, but it wasn't. He really kissed her. Anthony... Charles actually aroused her without trying hard. After six years he was still that good. Her fingers grazing her lips, she recalled to the last detail how he took her with more intention than he used to when they used to date.That same day, when she got home and took a look at Gabriel, Isabella realized it had been a while that she felt so strongly aroused. Her husband never took the liberty to make her feel good during sex. All Gabriel ever wanted to do was empty his nut into her.Feeling sadness set in again, Isabella wondered how life would have been if she had not run away few minutes to her tying the knot with Anthony. She wouldn't be derived of intense intercourse, certainly. She probably won't have a failing company to be worried about too. Sighing, Isabella reasoned that it was useless to swim in regret at that stage. If any
There was definitely something off with her.It was as though she was lacking something or maybe she wanted something so bad.Whatever it was, Charles wondered what it could be.Sitting back into the leather chair he had specifically had constructed to his taste, he wondered when she exactly was going to walk into that room and ask what his proposition was with attitude.He smirked to himself. She sure acted like she did not break his heart six years ago. And he knew her so well, it was sure that she would keep up with that attitude for a while until he decides to break it. Smiling even more, he could totally picture the defiant look on her face once he does kill that attitude.Charles groaned inwardly.She was driving him crazy.So, so crazy.And that was wrong to him. He should be the one making her regret. He was m
"Are you joking right now?" Charles was impressed. He wasn't sure why- it might partly because she still maintained a cool look- but he was."You heard me Miss Shade. Marry me and your debts will disappear, I assure you."Isabella let out a bitter chuckle as she got up. "You must be joking.""I most certainly am not.""So, you just want me to marry you." She moved dangerously yet graciously towards Charles."Be my wife and that's all you need to do.""Did you hit your head? Or don't you know that it is stupid to tell a married woman such nonsense?"Charles's eyes narrowed as he thought confusedly, 'She is married?'He checked her ring finger for both hands but there was no sign of her being married. He wondered if she was lying. The man who had her situation checked didn't mention anything about a husband and truthful
AUTHOR'S NOTEHey guys, before you go on with this chapter, you should know that there is a bit of violence towards the end. Even though I tried to make it less graphic, if you do not roll well with reading stuff like that, you can always skip it. Thanks for reading :)~Isabella violently adjusted the neck of her gown which felt like it was growing into the length of her neck to suffocate her more and more. But she was just harming the poor gown whose neckline did a good job of giving her chest breathing space.Her hands leaving the almost mutilated material, Isabella found a nearby bench to sit on to gather her thoughts properly.At that moment, the only source of help at that moment was putting her in a spot. A spot she definitely did not see coming.Recalling his proposition which he said with all seriousness, Isabella wondered why her of all people.
Like every other human on earth, Claire Oxford had her past sins.And typical of such sins, it was back to haunt her and take grasp of her son, Charles. Wondering what he was doing at that moment, she took another second to silently pray that he did not stray or fall into wrong hands.As she took a seat on one of the cushions in her tailoring room, Claire wondered if it would be safe to let her husband know of the situation.She certainly did not hide her previous shameful marriage with Ordinaz from her husband. And she appreciated that he did not judge her based on the fact that she was sold to Ordianz, he even accepted her son with whom she had run away with when troubles kept mounting troubles in Ordinaz's home.No.She shook her head as her eyes wearily wandered the huge room that reeked of lavender and was a sight to anyone who loved expensive garments. Telling her