Mercer continued to walk toward Calla, and she continued to move back.Then, she felt the couch behind her with her heel, and she dropped down and sat on a single-seat couch.Mercer quickly put his hands on the couch's armrests and leaned in toward her. Calla looked at him with a terrified expression and stammered, "What… What do you want?"Mercer looked at Calla, who was like a frightened bunny at the moment. Then, he said in a suggestive tone, "I remember you said that my skills were lacking. I have been practicing very hard for the past month. "I've finally reached a whole new level. So, I've called you over to ask you to experience it again. I'd like to see if my skills have grown to an acceptable level for you—since you paid me so little last time."His warm breath brushed against her skin and caused her to panic."Mr. Garland, we're at the office right now," Calla reminded him loudly. "Are you saying that we should go back to the Grand Hill Hotel again?" Mercer said in
This time, a huge group of people had also gathered next to the elevators. Calla had no choice but to go to the freight elevator so she wouldn't be late.Luckily, there wasn't any cargo in the elevator this time. She pressed the button for the 20th floor, and the door was about to close.A man in a black coat rushed into the elevator abruptly. Calla frowned when she saw him. She lamented her bad luck inwardly. Why was it him again? Why did a CEO like him take the freight elevator? Was he doing it on purpose?Mercer saw the frown on her face. So, he asked, "Do you not want to see me?""That's not it. I'm just curious why you stopped chatting up the front desk admin so quickly." There was a tinge of mockery in her tone. Mercer smiled when he heard that. "What are you laughing at?" Calla had a bad feeling when she saw the smile."You're jealous," Mercer said as he stared straight at her."Why… Why would I be jealous? You must be kidding!" Calla said angrily.Mercer took a s
"W-What are you doing here?" Calla exclaimed in shock as she eyed Mercer.Mercer grabbed Calla by the wrist and led her out of the ultrasound room."Let go! Where are you taking me?" Calla screeched as she tried to break free from him, to no avail.Mercer dragged her to a quiet stairwell before releasing her."Mr. Garland, can you please show a little more respect to your employees?" Calla snapped as she massaged her wrist. It was hurting from his tight grip.Mercer took out a document and raised it in front of her.After taking a look at it, she was dumbfounded."That's… Why is it with you?" Calla asked sheepishly.It was a copy of her ultrasound report from her last trip to the hospital, and it included her pregnancy results. She recalled stuffing it into her bag back then, but it ended up disappearing somehow."You had a colleague named Jeanne Duran, right? She brought this document to the HR department to report you," Mercer stated.Calla had a realization. She now knew w
After leaving the hospital, Calla stood by the roadside and tried to flag down a cab.However, a black Bentley shot out from behind and came to a sudden halt beside her.Alarmed, Calla jumped backward. Immediately after that, she saw Mercer coming down from the backseat of the car.She wanted to flee, but he grabbed her shoulder before she could."How dare you trick me?" Mercer fumed."I… wouldn't dare to, of course! My stomach stopped hurting, so I…" Calla attempted to stammer out an explanation.Out of nowhere, Mercer fixed his gaze on her and declared, "Let's get married!"Calla stared at him in disbelief.What was going on? That wasn't how she envisioned things playing out between them. Shouldn't he be tossing a check or a debit card to her and instructing her to deal with the pregnancy herself?"Married? Don't joke like that. I might actually believe you," Calla said. She firmly believed he was kidding around and didn't mean what he said.Plenty of women would kill to ma
Calla combed through the terms of the prenuptial agreement."Once married, the husband (henceforth 'Party A') and wife (henceforth 'Party B') shall abide by the following terms."1. During the marriage, Party A shall bear all expenses incurred by Party B and Party B's child."2. In the event of a divorce, Party A shall give Party B a property of at least 1,600 square feet in size as well as a sum of 2 million in cash. Party B shall not be entitled to any of Party A's assets."3. During the marriage, Party B shall refrain from engaging in overly intimate interactions with the opposite sex."4. Party B shall cooperate with Party A in portraying themselves as an exemplary married couple."5. In the event of a divorce, Party A shall retain full custody of the child."Calla was Party B in the agreement, and after understanding the terms, she figured out the gist of the situation. By marrying Mercer, she would be able to live a life of luxury, but if they ever divorced, she would lose
Calla frowned at Mercer's words. He was asking her to make the tough decision. The worst part of this was that if she refused to marry him, she wouldn't be able to give birth to the child. She would end up being the reason why the baby had to die.Although Calla cared about maintaining her dignity and self-respect, her child's life was at stake, so she had to compromise.She looked up and saw that the courthouse was already in view. Thus, she turned to Mercer and said, "I disagree with the fourth and fifth terms. I want to retain custody of the child. Also, since I'm working at your company, I won't be able to have a single day of peace if people find out I'm your wife."She was willingly sacrificing her dignity and love life to give birth to this child. Naturally, she couldn't let him seize custody of the child from her.They didn't have feelings for each other, so how could they act like a married couple? Surely others would see right through them!Taking in Calla's determined e
Ever since Calla graduated from college, she worked hard to support the family financially and fund Zoey's education. She didn't think she'd ever done anything wrong."The nerve of you to ask me why! Although I'm a weak woman, I've always lived a principled life. You've humiliated me!" Carol shouted."What on earth did I do, Mom?" Calla asked even though she had an idea what this could be about. Could it be that Carol found out about her pregnancy?True enough, Carol questioned her, "Are you pregnant?""I am," Calla admitted. She had never lied to Carol before.Carol slumped onto the couch and started sobbing. "Why is my life so hard? My husband abandoned me so early on in life. It wasn't easy for me to raise you myself, but I did it in the hopes that you would make me proud someday. Yet, look what you did. You went and got yourself pregnant! How disgraceful is this!"Calla instantly figured out that Peggy was it again. Peggy was hellbent on messing with her life.Despite feelin
"Huh? Mom, about that… Because of his job, he has to go on business trips quite often. He's leaving on a business trip tomorrow morning, actually. It'll take at least a week or two before he returns." Calla hurriedly came up with an excuse."Is he always going to be away on a business trip? How are you two going to have any alone time then?" Carol remarked worriedly."He gets an additional allowance for each business trip he goes on. He needs to earn more money to support the baby and me, so he doesn't have a choice," Calla quickly said."That's true. In that case, once Mercer comes back, you must bring him over for a meal," Carol declared before heading to her room, still studying the marriage license.Once the door shut behind her, Calla finally exhaled in relief.She had finally gotten over this hurdle! As for the next one two weeks later, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.Calla went back to her room. As soon as she closed the door, Zoey, who was doing her homew