“What do you mean the articles cannot be published?” Valerie White blared at her husband in the car after he just told her that the plan to tarnish Charlotte’s image had failed yet again. “Each time my journalists try to publish anything about her, somehow it gets deleted before it goes mainstream and a warning sent to them,” Jonah explained. “I’m also confused about it myself.” “Do I have to do everything myself?” Valerie attacked him, crossing her arms in disgust. “What kind of silly excuse is that? You had just one simple job that anyone could have done, yet these people just told you an obvious lie and you swallowed it whole. Is this how gullible you are?” Jonah’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. He wanted her to stop talking. They had only been engaged for a few days yet all Valerie ever did was nag him morning and night. This was not how he thought being with her would look like. Unfortunately, all he could do was sit back and let her speak to him however she wanted. He
Charlotte could barely sleep through through that night Xavier had left her. When she woke up the next morning, she was still asking herself certain questions which she had no answers to. Like ‘was Xavier really that bad of a person?’ and ‘who was Samantha?’She eventually managed to go to sleep and woke up pretty early the next day. Feeling bored, she got out of the room and perused the outside of the mansion, walking around comfortably in her night robe since it was still a little dark out and no one was outside. There was a garden close to her side of the house. She went there and plucked a flower or two. While she sniffed the flowers, she heard a rustle behind her and spun around, afraid someone would show up to tell her she was in trouble for picking flowers in Xavier’s house without his permission. Fortunately, no one was behind her. It was probably just the wind or something, she thought. When she was done walking around, she sat down by the pavement and began to kick the ai
Charlotte glanced around anxiously in Xavier’s office as she waited for him to prepare for their discussion. He took his time removing his jacket and rearranging his already arranged desk before eventually sitting down to face her. “So, you were saying?” He asked when he was done, sitting behind the desk opposite her and giving her his full attention. Did he want her to repeat the fact that she wanted his money again? “You promised I would get paid for being your wife,” she said. “It’s in the contract. I want to be paid now.” He gave her an empty blank stare for a full minute while she melted under it. What was he thinking about and why wouldn’t he say anything, she wondered. “Should I be concerned?” He asked finally, raising a brow. “You’ve never mentioned anything about money before now and suddenly you want your full pay. What’s the problem exactly?” She straightened in her chair and tried to look as professional as the nightdress she was wearing would allow her. “I never m
Maybe it was the hurt look on his face that touched Charlotte, but while Xavier was still speaking, she placed her hand on top of his and rubbed it. It was the most innocent gesture, a sign to show him he wasn’t so alone in the world, but it shut him up immediately. His eyes darkened when he looked up at her and she removed her hand from his, mistaking his look for annoyance. However, he pulled her hand back and placed his hand over it. “Thank you,” he said. “It felt good to let that out after a long while.” “You’re welcome,” she replied with a tight smile,, looking down at where their hands were joined together. He still didn’t release it. From how he was holding her, she doubted he planned to let her go. “So…do you still want to leave?” He asked uncertainly. She sighed deeply. Although she felt bad for him, it was still his word against all the internet said about him. He never cared what she thought about him until it came to the point of her leaving him. What if he had only
As Xavier kept watching her, Charlotte felt her resolve breaking. She knew that if he made even the slightest move, she would surely fall. She wanted to stay strong, yet she wished he would do something already to wear her down and make her imaginations come through. He was staring at her, trying to hold himself from doing something he would regret. Their relationship was still on shaky ground. If he made the wrong move, she would leave and everything he had worked for would go to waste. From what he could see in her eyes however, he started to wonder if not making a move at all would be the wrong move. Suddenly, Xavier’s phone dinged, breaking both of them from the spell they appeared to be under. Xavier looked at the screen of his phone without bothering to pick it up, but when more dings came after, he picked it up in frustration. Charlotte watched his facial features twist from mild irritation to full blown anger. Whatever he had seen in his phone must have been really bad to b
Xavier knew he should have sent someone, but the anger in his heart was just too much for him to sit around and have someone do it for him. He had been very particular about Charlotte’s name being smeared in public that he had taken extra steps to make sure that no one except Grot publishing could mention anything about Charlotte. That had cost him so much money and required him to meet people he never wanted to meet. And now the publishing house he was cordial enough to give the honor of publishing whatever he wanted had the guts to ruin everything he had suffered to build. Xavier’s car couldn’t hold fast enough. His Bugatti which was guaranteed to surpass all his other cars couldn’t get him to the publishing house as quickly as he wanted. He wanted to be there immediately. It had to be his sister. This was her specialty. They had fallen out years ago but she had made it her life’s duty to tarnish his name every chance she got. He had hired the top tech gurus for this job, but he
Xavier was still fuming several minutes after getting back into his vehicle. He drove like a mad man through the roads with only one destination in mind. He didn’t need any distractions. Not even the publicist’s unsuccessful scheme of trying to make people think that he had touched her could distract him from what he planned to do. Xavier was going to give his sister a piece of his mind. He had ignored her schemes for long enough but that had only given her the balls to think she could go after him like that without facing the consequences. That would change after today. His phone began to ring. His face softened when he glanced at it. No one could distract him except her. She was the one he was doing all of this for, anyway. “Hey,” he said when he answered the phone and it connected to the Bluetooth speaker in his car. Since he was driving, he didn’t manually pick up the phone. “Hi,” Charlotte’s smooth voice glided through the speaker, causing him to momentarily lose his focus
After Xavier showed her the incriminating headline and left the house, Charlotte held back herself from searching online for further news. Her phone had been right there, staring at her and silently beckoning her to find out what the public had to say about her name. She had breakfast quietly alone in the dining area while her phone was tucked somewhere in her bedroom, where she wouldn’t be tempted to touch it. She didn’t put on the television for fear that the news would have been televised. It was extremely boring. The urge to find out was choking her. So, she did the next thing she could think of. She called Xavier. He was out of the house, probably rough handling the person who was responsible for circulating the false news. It was painful to think that someone could cook up lies about her to slander her name just because she was with Xavier. The thought of that no longer made her feel bad for herself like before. It filled her with so much rage she thought she would explode.