“Was that your uncle?” Mia asked her son after he ended the strange call he had just received while speaking with her. “Yes,” he said, still holding the phone in his hand in disbelief. “He said he wants to meet up and talk or something.” Mia’s eyes lit up. “What are you waiting for? Dress up and go!” She said. “What if it’s a trap?” Jonah asked, not sure about the whole thing. “Why would he want to meet me?” “Don’t be a fool,” his mother said, practically pushing him from the chair. Your uncle has finally come to his senses and wants to patch things up with us. The plan finally worked.” “But no one is talking about that anymore, mom,” Jonah protested, getting up even though he didn’t want to. “All anyone is saying about them is that picture they took together and how in love he is with his wife,” he said with deep rage. “I know, and that’s why he has to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said, rolling her eyes with impatience. “Ugh. Stop asking me stupid questions and go
A sly smile appeared on Xavier’s face but it was gone before Jonah could see it. “That’s good,” he said, using the back of his hand to cover his mouth. From Jonah’s end it would have looked like he was simply deep in thought. “Make sure you say everything exactly as it happened.” Jonah swallowed and thought back to the time when Charlotte announced her pregnancy to him. “She told me she was pregnant but…but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t even like her that much. I was just using her to make Valerie jealous but then one thing led to another and she fell pregnant,” Jonah said. “I asked her to get rid of it but she vehemently refused. Her mother threatened me to marry her so I did, because it would have affected our family name if she told people I had denied her pregnancy so I had to.” Xavier nodded as he listened to his nephew. This was going just like he had planned. His phone was on, recording every word that came out from his mouth. “I understand you,” Xavier said, urging him to spea
“What took you so long?” Charlotte asked Xavier when he returned by midnight. “I kept calling but my calls weren’t going through.” “I’m really sorry,” he apologized with a broken voice. He wasn’t apologizing for staying out late alone, he was apologizing for all she had gone through in the hands of his nephew. Charlotte’s expression softened when he apologized and looked at her like that. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” she said, hugging him and pressing her face into his chest. “I was just worried sick. You don’t have to feel bad. It’s okay. I missed you, that’s all.” Xavier hugged her back, holding her so close to him and shut his eyes. They stayed in that position for a while, and she maintained the hug even though she didn’t know what had triggered it. She had suffered so much, even more than she knew. She had been practically poisoned by Jonah whose selfishness had robbed her of her ability to ever carry a child. “Is everything okay?” She asked, breaking the hug a lit
Xavier woke up some time later and frowned when he realized Charlotte was not beside him. He couldn’t tell what time it was, so he tried to switch his phone on, but couldn’t find it anywhere. While he sleepily wondered where his phone was, he heard slight whimpering coming from the bathroom. Confused, he rushed in there and found Charlotte sitting on the closed toilet seat and sobbing. “What’s wrong?” He asked, crouching down and holding her shoulders. “Did you have another nightmare?” Charlotte wrestled out of his grasp and lifted his phone to show him. Her eyes were puffy and her face was swollen, a sign she had been crying for a while. “The only nightmare is coming across your family!” She tried to yell, but her voice only came out as a raspy whisper. “You’re all terrible people. Every last one of you.” When Xavier saw the recording he had made with his nephew playing under the texts he had sent to his detective, Xavier understood what was going on. “Shit,” he cursed, angry a
“I actually thought you’d be much different-looking in person,” Xavier said to his private detective while he swirled a glass of wine in his hand. “How so? You thought I’d be taller?” Private, as he was known asked with a smirk. That was usually the first thing people said whenever they found out about his job or saw him face to face for the first time. “Definitely. And i thought you’d be more mysterious generally,” Xavier completed. “I get that a lot,” he said with a chuckle. “Why did you ask to meet me in person?” Xavier shrugged. “I realized I’d never seen the man that knows almost all my secrets and knows where to find out the rest.”“I never said you couldn’t meet me. I’m not a hitman. People knowing my identity does not directly put me in danger,” Private said. Xavier downed his eighth glass of wine that night and began to pour another. “I suppose I just enjoyed the mystery,” Xavier slurred. “Oh just forget it. I know you already know what I look like. You ran a background
Thanks so much for helping me out, Carla. It really means a lot,” Charlotte said as she arranged the room where she would spend the night. “Hey. We used to best friends. This is the least I can do,” Carla said while helping her friend. Charlotte smiled weakly and went back to what she was doing. “Besides, I know you’re going to get enough out of the divorce,” Carla said with a wink. “I’m just playing my cards right.” Charlotte’s forced smile became a grimace after she heard those words. “Relax, jeez,” Carla said. “I was only joking.” “I know.” Even though she knew her friend was only joking, it still stung to think about what the future held for her. Would she really divorce him? Was she even allowed to? Their marriage hadn’t even lasted for up to three months and according to their arrangement, they could only get divorced after two years. “Let me fix us something to eat,” Carla said as she walked out of the room and left Charlotte to settle down. Had she overreacted by walk
“Their marriage isn’t real!” Carla whisper-yelled into the phone at the other side of the house while Charlotte slept. “What?” Jonah asked. “It’s crazy,” she chuckled. “They managed to fool everyone. He just married her to change his reputation for the better. What a sad thing to do.” Jonah pursed his lips as he absorbed what Carla was saying. “Where did you get this information from?” He asked doubtful. Carla frowned. “Do you think I just made it up? Charlotte told me herself, just an hour ago before she went to bed.” “Hmm. That makes sense,” Jonah said. “I always wondered when she got the chance to build a friendship with him not to talk of marrying him. Did you get a recording, anything we can use to back up the claim?” There was a pause. “You didn’t tell me I had to do that.” “You idiot!” Jonah cursed in his mind. “How else are we supposed to convince people it’s true?” He asked out loud. Jonah was frustrated. Nothing he did was working. Slowly, he was beginning to lose
“Is there something you need?” Carla asked Charlotte when she entered the room and saw her going into the kitchen. “No,” Charlotte whispered. “I mean yes. Very hot tea.” “Stay here, sugar. I’ll go get it for you,” she said sweetly. Charlotte nodded and stayed by the dining room table. She kept hitting the table absentmindedly. She was in big trouble. Just a few minutes ago, she had overhead Carla on a call with someone discussing her husband. From the little she had heard, the only reason Carla was doing this was for them. As Charlotte heard her friend singing in the kitchen while she waited for the water for her tea to boil, her hands tightened in rage. That thing that always caused people to betray her was back again and now, the only friend she thought she had was literally selling her off to god knows who. She hated herself in that moment. How had she been dumb enough to reveal all those things about her husband to him? She had no idea who her friend had been talking to, but