Chapter 5 Nathan

Nathan's POV 

The smell of coffee beans being grinded greeted me as I stepped into the office building of my law firm. I was quite early today because a case had kept me awake all night and I was itching to get it over and done with.

The receptionist hadn't resumed yet as I walked into the quiet building, noting that my office lights were on. I walked into my office as my personal assistant, Toby, greeted me with a freshly cup of coffee. It smelled heavenly as I took a sip of the coffee.

"How did you know I would be at work early today," I asked inquisitively.

He shrugged in amusement as he regarded me, "you always become restless when we have a case against a wealthy man trying to take advantage of the poor, so I figured I would prepare a cup of coffee for you before you get here."

I smiled at him as I sat down behind my desk. I noticed he was hiding something behind his back as he started to move towards the door.

"What are you hiding, Toby?. Is it something I shouldn't see"

"Well....," he fiddled his fingers nervously," I didn't want to show you now since you have a big case ahead of you but this is what I saw in the papers this morning," he unfolded the newspaper he'd tucked behind him and slid it towards me.

I grabbed it and laid it across my desk as I scanned the front page headlines. I raised my eyebrows as the headlines read in bold letters.

Rich billionaire princess has an affair with married man and gets slapped in public 

A picture of my stepsister, Bianca was splashed across the front page with another of a woman slapping Bianca on the face. I studied the other woman's profile taking in her delicate features and found her intriguing. Standing next to Bianca, she was a stark contrast to her heavily made up face and designer clothes.

I shook my head in disgust. Bianca had once again effortlessly succeeded in dragging the family's name into the mud. There was always a scandal associated with her about something or the other at least once a month so it was no surprise to me. 

"Aren't you worried," Toby said, "If Bianca is truly having an affair with a married man then it's likely the man will be getting divorced from his wife," he intoned subtly.

"So,". I said with nonchalance.

"Well don't you think that Bianca might decide to marry the man"

I snorted in amusement, "knowing my grandfather he's probably already pushing for them to get married as soon as possible in order to do damage control"

"All the more reason why you should be worried. What if Bianca gets married and becomes the sole heir to the family company."

"No, the stipulation states that the company will be given to whomever gives birth to a legitimate child first, not who gets married first," I corrected him.

"If she's getting married to him soon, she has practically won half the race. You need to do something about it, if Bianca becomes the owner of the company, thousands of lives will be at stake"

"Don't worry," I said smoothly. "I have no intention of letting Bianca get her greedy hands on our family's legacy. She and her spiteful mother will run it to the ground if she becomes the owner".

Toby, content with my answer, visibly relaxed. He eyed me skeptically, "so then what do you plan on doing to stop her," he asked nervously.

I glance towards the papers again, an image lingering in my mind as an idea begins to take form. 

"It looks like I'm going to have to get married, Toby," I shrugged as my assistant gaped at me.

"To who?," he said confused, "you aren't engaged nor do you have a girlfriend and last time I checked you need one of those things to get married unless you're planning to marry a random stranger," he added suspiciously.

"Bingo, that's exactly what I'm going to do"

"What do you mean?," he said, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead as he looked at me in worry.

"Well you just said that the man Bianca is having an affair with and his wife are going to get divorced right," I said as he nodded wondering where I was going with this, "which means she would soon be free to marry again, right."

His jaw dropped open as he realized what I was saying, "Are you insane?. Are you trying to tell me that you want to marry the woman that's the ex-wife to your sister's lover," he said as he leapt to his feet, staring at me like I'd grown two heads.

I glanced once more at the papers again, the article hadn't written much about the woman except her name. Vivian Declan. The name rolled off my tongue. I lingered once again at her image and I felt drawn to her somewhat in a way I could not explain. I couldn't wait to meet her and find out more about her. 

"Find out every information you can get about her," I said firmly, "find out about her background, her family, where she works, find out everything as soon as possible"

Toby finally found his voice and regarded me subtly " what makes you think she would agree to your schemes and marry you"

"Well let's just say if you had the chance to get back at your ex husband who cheated on you by deciding to get married into the same family as the woman he cheated on you with, wouldn't you take it?"

"I don't know if I should be happy you already found a solution to your problem or if I should be scared of how your mind works," Toby said as a parting remark as he left my office.

I didn't respond to him, frankly I was more interested in why her husband had chosen to let a woman like her go. From his experience it was probably because of money seeing as how he was having an affair with Bianca.

I was very sure he would regret his mistake and by the time he finds out what kind of a manipulative bitch Bianca is, it will be too late cause then Vivian would already be married to me.