A slap rang out, startling him.
"Madam, I didn't. I'm sorry." The maid cried. He rushed over to find the little maid crying at his mother's feet, while the latter hit her and pulled her hair. "Mother! What are you doing?" He pulled his mother away before he could register what he was doing. Why was it his business? "Disciplining this b*tch. If maids do whatever they want here, won't this mansion turn chaotic?" Mrs. Dumont straightened up but continued glaring at the maid hatefully. He quickly figured that this was about the maid going to clean his room. "I asked her to clean my room." He lied. His mother mumbled something about regretting letting the vixen stay, before she sauntered away. "Are you alright?" He leaned over and helped her up. Her face was red and swollen from the slaps. "Thank you, young master." She didn't look up at him, probably trying to hide her tears. "If you want to thank me, keep my room cGemma looked him up and down and if there wasn't a devilish grin on her face, he might be fooled into believing that she was considering his suggestion. However, he knew from his interaction with her from the last couple of days that what was about to leave that mouth was the most venomous remark one could ever hear.He decided to evade it. "On second thought, I will no longer be nosy.""So you do know that you are nosy." She smirked. It was not amusing."Well, I was just worried about you, ma'am. But now that I think about it with a clear mind, even the devil is scared of you. Dealing with a nutcase detective will be a piece of cake.""The devil is afraid of me." She repeated his words with a raise of her eyebrows. "Why is that? Because I'm too innocent and good?" It was amazing that there was someone who thought so. He was definitely blind.But his next words proved that he wasn't. On the other hand, he must be the most ballsy employee
Time seemed to freeze for a moment. When Gemma came back to her senses, she steadied herself and pulled out of his arms.He held both of his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry for offending you, ma'am. If I didn't hold you, you would have fallen."He was stating the obvious but something was off with the way he said it. Why did it almost sound like he was hitting on her? She cleared her head to stop thinking nonsense and nodded. "I'll go to my room."A couple of steps later, the pain was unbearable in her ankle so she bent down and took off her heels, then she walked upstairs with more ease.His heart ached as he watched her leave. He must be the only man who wished for the woman he loved to be slightly more delicate. If she were as delicate as most wealthy women, she would not have the strength to take off her heels at that moment. She would be in so much pain that she would need help getting to her room, and he would give her just that.
Gemma felt something odd about Livian. Why did he look uncomfortable when she asked him to follow her to her room? He made it feel kind of wrong.Thinking that it was probably because he was scared that he could have done something wrong and upset her, she led the way and kept some distance so he would be comfortable. Whatever she was about to tell him was not something that could be discussed in the kitchen. Not with the Black family snooping around for ways to end her life. They could thwart her plans and before she dealt with them, it was best to be cautious.Her room was nothing like Livian imagined. He had imagined a feminine room with warm tones of gold, red and perhaps white, which would suit her taste from the past. However, her room was filled with silver and black. How cold. This was probably in line with Ethan's taste and she had not changed it. Did she love the bloke that much?She locked the door and sat on the fluffy couch, an arm's length aw
Livian made a panic run down the stairs and when he was certain that no one had followed him, he slipped into his room and shut the door before answering the phone. "Why did you call?"His assistant was taken aback by his raging tone and almost hung up in fear. He would have, if it was not an emergency."Sir, something needs your immediate attention." He nervously reported. "Mr. Parker would like you to make an appearance at the meeting with him tomorrow. Otherwise, he will no longer sign the deal with us.""Damn it." He cursed under his breath. This was a deal he had been negotiating for the past three months, he could not mess it up.For the past few days, he had been making sure to take care of company matters but he had been doing so behind the scenes, while sending his assistant to meetings that could neither be postponed nor held through conference calls. Apparently, it was not working anymore."Someone spread a rumor that you had a fatal accid
Trying out the wedding outfits was nothing like Livian had imagined. It felt magical. The gunmetal gray suit haunted him when he looked at it on the mannequin earlier, but when he wore it, the rest of the world seemed to fade away.It was just him in front of the mirror with a grin of disbelief across his face. He was really getting married to the woman he loved. For a moment, he wanted to forget that this whole charade existed. Forget that it was all fake. Forget that it would all come to an end after six months or even worse, as soon as she recognized him. The thought made his heart clench but he soon let out a breath. The most important thing right now was to make sure she didn't end up with a stranger who might as well be a swindler or a serial killer in the name of a contract marriage.What made her go down this route anyway? Knowing that he had no right to ask, he decided to be there for her nonetheless. If she ever wanted to talk about it, he would be there
"That sounds…" He didn't know what to say. He would have been happy for her knowing she and the man she loved reunited in the least expected way even after losing each other, but he couldn't. The man was an asshole."Fated?" She chuckled. "I thought we were too." She looked down into her cup."He didn't deserve you." He said in a low voice that almost sounded forced. Heaven knew how much he had wanted to say it in the last nine years. He knew that she would be angry with him so he had kept it to himself. Finally, he could say it with ease.She was surprised when he did. "How would you know that?"Crap. He had forgotten that he only knew from years of stalking her.He cleared his throat and shot up another excuse, digging himself even deeper into the mess he had created when he started lying to her. "You don't speak of him as someone you miss but as someone you hate.""Well... ironically, yeah."Maybe it was because Livian was easy t
Gemma had chosen a private garden to be the venue of their wedding. There was a cottage and a front yard that wasn't too large, filled with at least five kinds of flowers. It would have been a jumbled mess of color if the garden had not been well taken care of. The flowers were in good shape and the hedges and grass perfectly trimmed.It must be her hideaway. He loved it as soon as they arrived and to be fair, he would have loved it even if it didn't belong to her.They didn't have many guests—Cora was her bridesmaid as well as her only guest, while his guest was Heidi—the woman who had taken up the role of his grandmother when this whole charade began—and her grandson. It was a stretch to say that she and her grandson were his only family but one thing about it was true. He considered her his family.Heidi had been his nanny when he was little so he was closer to her than he was to his real family. Her grandson, Blake, had agreed to be his groomsman under
"Aren't you getting a little too much into the act?" Her eyebrows quivered when Livian placed her on the bed and proceeded to take off her heels. The room had been decorated with red roses and candles, typical of a bridal chamber. It was his idea and of course, it was too real for a contract wedding.The light illuminated the side of his face, accentuating his handsome profile as he took her foot to gently massage it. "You asked me to put on a realistic act. How can it look realistic if I don't act like a normal husband would?"A chuckle escaped her lips. "Do normal husbands massage their wive's feet at random occasions?"Her question made a frown settle on his lips. "Why are you certain that they don't?""That's something dream husbands do and let's be real. They don't exist." She looked indifferent about it. "If we are both working and I'm tired after a long day of work, then so is he. I don't expect any special treatment just because I'm