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.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mia cried as Xavier trudged angrily toward them. “Aren’t we your family? What do you mean by you will make us pay for trying to come after your family? How can we be coming after ourselves?” Julia came forward but stopped when he turned to her. “Uncle Xavier, you haven’t visited or even spoken to us in years and now you’re threatening us? It’s not fair at all.” As they spoke, Xavier felt his anger leaving him slowly. What was he even doing? Charlotte was right. Coming here wasn’t going to change anything. They were both acting like they didn’t know what he was talking about, even though he knew that Mia was behind the posts. His only proof was Grant’s confession, but even before then, he already knew she was responsible. Mia took his silence to mean he was digesting what she said, and that gave her the confidence to continue. “We’ve missed you so much, brother,” she said in a way that sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “Jonah m
Mia’s mouth hung open as she mumbled unintelligible words. Xavier was staring down at her with a look that showed he knew the truth from the start but had been waiting for her to talk herself into a corner and expose herself. “Julia, could you leave us for a moment dear?” She said sweetly to her daughter who hesitated. “Julia!” She snarled, before her daughter finally left reluctantly. “It wasn’t necessary for her to leave,” Xavier said. “I’m sure she already knows how much of a loser her mother is.” Mia swallowed, torn between being angry at his statement and making Xavier believe she was innocent. The man she had called to blackmail the owner of Grot had assured her nothing would traced back to her, however, she already had a history of doing this kind of stuff so she was easily the prime suspect in his list. “What do you want?” She asked, giving in. “Now you’re talking,” Xavier smiled and sat back down on the bed. “Where’s Jonah?” “He doesn’t live here.” “Oh, he lives with h
Xavier ran a hand through his hair as he tried to ignore the scary images his mind painted. He had to keep reminding himself that his wife was capable enough of taking care of herself but at this point, he couldn’t just remove the possibility of anything. “You said she left with someone with a car. Which way did they go?” He asked the gate keeper who had given him the news. “I don’t know which way they went because I went back inside but I’ll check the tire marks.” He left his post to check. “They went that way, to the left.” Xavier nodded. “What type of car was it? I want to know the color, everything.” He dialed a number on his phone as he spoke. “Did she seem comfortable around the person? Did she look like she was being forced to do something?” “It was a man in the car,” the gatekeeper answered, furrowing his brows to remember all the details. “It was a grey Audi. I couldn’t really see her face but she didn’t look excited to see the person. She was just neutral to me.” Xavier
The ride home was quiet but the tension in the car was sharp enough to cut through steel. Xavier was so angry because of how nonchalant Charlotte was being with the whole thing, that even the fear of her running away no longer made him watch his mouth when he threatened her. Charlotte on the other hand was angry, but her anger was more or less a mask to conceal her fear. No threats could pass the one she had just been given a few minutes ago by the driver of that Audi. From how Xavier had attacked her without trying to convince her to explain herself, it was obvious he wouldn’t believe her even if she told him the truth. When they finally reached the house and got down from the car, Xavier held her hand and pulled her to her side of the house. “Stop holding me like that. You’re hurting me,” She cried out because he was dragging her roughly, but he simply ignored her. He opened her door with one hand and pushed her in, while his curious guards watched everything unfold from a dista