"How dare you barge into here?" Charles asked, looking up at Abigail, who was now taking gentle steps towards them. He had forbidden the woman to enter his room without permission and she dared barge into the room and was even screaming on top of her voice as well."You can never do that; I forbid you from doing that." Abigail did not mind anything that would happen at that moment. She had suffered enough for the Vale family to be treated as trash and discarded when they no longer saw use for her."I am the one who can forbid anything in this house, and I am asking you nicely to leave," Charles said, staring at her. She had walked to Valerie and was now standing before her. She was holding her body as if she were wrapped in a hug herself."How dare you show up here after all this time? Was destroying my home twenty-three years ago not okay for you? Was taking away my husband from me not your life goal? Do you also want to somehow destroy the life of my son? Do you also want to throw m
Cade got into the house, his mind thinking of how chaotic the day had been. The drama and how his grandfather handled the situation were very foreign to him. His grandfather had never reacted so childishly ever. He was a bit afraid of what his teacher could do. After all, she had the advantage of being publically declared the madam of the Vale family.He was going to make dinner for Ophelia since she was so busy they could not go out for dinner, but it seemed as if the events of the day drained him so much that he decided to lie down in the living room for a moment, and somehow he fell asleep on the spot.Ophelia felt so drained as she walked in through the door; she had been on her feet all day and had barely had any time to sit down and rest. It was so bad that she had gone from one meeting to another without fail. She was working so hard to show her dad that aside from giving him an heir to take over his company, she was more capable of taking care of it herself as well.She walked
"I will make dinner for you," Ophelia murmured. She felt bad that he had waited to eat with her only for her to come home with a full stomach."You will cook for me?" he asked, staring at her."Of course," she said, trying to wiggle her way out of his arms that were now firmly wrapped around her. "Let me go; I would love to make a meal for my husband.""I like the sound of that." Cade's voice had suddenly gone down from the tone he had and was now sounding deeper than usual."That I am going to make you dinner?" She asked confused. It was not the first time she cooked for him, so what was so fascinating about it?"Not that," he whispered, shifting closer to her with his arms still wrapped around her."Then what?" She said her face scrunched up as she replayed the conversation in her mind. "Husband?" she asked, realizing that maybe that was what he meant, even though she hoped it was not."Yes," he said, trying to nod his head in that position."This is not the first time I have called
"Mom, I heard what had happened," Cael said, going into his mother's room. The staff were already gossiping that a strange woman had come home and had lunch with Charles. They did not know the true tale, and no one could say what it was but Abigail's screaming and throwing of things, who seemed to be enraged."What did you hear? Did you hear the full story or did you hear the gossip from the staff?" Abigail screamed as he got into the room and closed the door. She knew that her energy should have been directed toward someone else, but she could not help the way she felt at that time."I heard what the staff said," Cael said in a careful voice. He had seen his mom get range a few times, even with the way Charles treated her sometimes. All she did was take it with good faith. It was the first time she had made bad gossip on the lips of the staff, and it was bad. Usually, the sons and cousins were the topic of discussion amongst the staff."Okay then, that means you do not know what happ
Frances got to the house at the crack of dawn. She had gotten a message from Cael that his mom wanted to see her, and it was urgent. Frances was happy that Abigail called for her, which was a very rare thing for a woman to do. It was always as if she was independent and did not rely on anybody, but seeing that she was the one to reach out first, she was ready to do what she could do for it to work out. She made her way to Cael's room. She was no stranger there, as she had spent many nights with him. The staff who saw her did not bother to stop her from asking questions. It was like she blended right in. She stood and knocked on the door; when she did not get any response, she let herself in and sat on the bed. It was only when she was inside the room that she noticed he was in the shower. She wondered the reason he was getting up so early. He always stayed in bed till the last minute and spent the day on his winning terms. He never allowed the things happening around him to influenc
Ophelia had woken up early and she was ready to go to work. She stood in front of Cade's door, wondering if he was enjoying his break. She had expected to see him come to her room and even stalled all morning, but he did not show up at all, which was a bit of a concern for her. As she raised her hand to knock on the door, it flew open with him standing there, a huge smile plastered across his face."Ophelia," he said, excited to see her since he was going to her room to meet her."You are dressed," she murmured, looking at him from head to toe. She had been expecting to meet him still dressed in his pyjamas. "You are dressed," she said again, raising her head to hum, wondering if he did not hear her the first."Yes, I am," he nodded, and she took a step back to inspect his clothes."Are you going to work?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Then?" she needed answers, and he seemed to be taking his sweet time with responding."We are going to see my grandfather and your father," he said
The breakfast table was very lively. Ophelia did not know if Charles had always been like this; she would have thought that he was just a stuck-up old man who liked to get rich and play matchmaker; however, that morning he was the one making all the jokes and talking at every chance that he got.After breakfast, Charles invited them to his study to sit and have tea with him. "I know you are going to work, but there are some days that you have to take it easy," he said to Ophelia.She had said that she was going to work when she had gotten there earlier, even though she was not. At lunchtime, they were going to meet her father, and then they said that they were going to spend the rest of the day together. Ophelia had asked countless times what they were going to be doing, but Cade had said it was a secret. She wondered what secret or surprise he had planned and when he had the time to plan it.Cade had called Harper; he was going to use this opportunity to pass on to her a very firm me
"Mom, you called for me?" Frances had waited till Abigail had finished her meal. From the way she fumes all the way from downstairs to her room, Frances could tell that she was very angry and that this meant serious business."I did, but first things first, can you fight?"Frances could not understand the question; it was not the kind that someone would ask you just randomly. "Fight?" she asked, causing Abigail to give her a questioning look."I mean are you willing to do what I want you to do?" Abihail clarified. "It is a dirty fight are you willing to go all in?" she added."Of course," Frances said, shifting till she was at the edge of her seat. "Why else would I stay with Cael like this until now?"Abigail beamed to herself; she was so glad that she had picked Frances. She made a good choice; at first, she was worried that she would be too calm, but she was also as power-driven as she was. It made sense for her to fight this much at the end of the day; she would enjoy it as well.
Abigail could not believe that instead of debunking the rumours that Cade was an illegitimate child, he was owning it like it was his identity. He was still facing so much backlash for keeping it a secret from the public that the people seemed not to like the idea behind the fact that he was not a full-bodied Cade.The girls who swooned over him before suddenly began to dislike him. Abigail was thrilled, but she knew that the battle was not easily over; there was no way that Charles would just let him go; she needed to do something that would make the board of directors and all of the people of the nation want him to leave the company. She had to make him unfit.She was glad that she always prepared for this; while she was busy siphoning money away, she was still actively preparing for someone else to take the blame in her stead, and now it meant that she could easily take all of the blame and dump it on him. She had called Frances into the room to share the news with her; she knew th
Carl had come to meet his grandfather earlier. He was tired of his mother's games and how she kept trying to put him in the middle of it all. He knew he was incapable of being the good chairman the company needed, and amongst all the grandchildren, only Cade had been preparing for this moment his whole life.The rest of them sat with their hands folded because they believed that since they were affiliated with the Vale family, a responsibility was going to drop on their laps soon, and they could get on with their lives. Even without the jobs in the company, they could live good lives on the return on the shares they owned because they all owned a lot, and the company was always doing well."But Grandpa, if we do that, the prices of the shares?""See this," Charles said, showing an electronic tablet that had been resting on his lap since he came in. "This is supposed to go up tomorrow, so are you saying we should do nothing about it?"Cade took it up and read through it. His face chang
"I did not think that you would help me out," Harper said to Green with a smile on her face. She had called him about a week ago to tell him that Ophelia and Cade were now locked in. Green had been so angry about it. He waited years for Ophelia, only for her to end up Cade. He had expected that he could pull them apart, but now he was hearing that she was together with Cade and they loved each other now.When they kept telling the public that they were deeply locked in, he could tell that she was doing this just because her father asked her to do it. He waited, hoping that there would be a time when they went their separate ways and then he would swoop in to save the damsel in distress."I refuse to lose to Cade.""I like how you think," Harper said, and her phone began to ring. She took up her phone and stared at the screen. "Ophelia is calling me?" She murmured, looking at the screen, her eyes growing wide and wider."What are you waiting for? Pick it up," Green urged her."I should
Frances was sitting in a coffee shop; she had gotten a message from Ophelia that they had to meet up. As much as she did not want to have to go out there to meet her, she was curious to see her face after reading the news. She had not thought to publish the news like that because she did not want to do anything that might affect Cael, be it directly or indirectly, because she still believed that they would be able to get together soon.She was however happy for whoever had taken that news and ran with it; the entire city was buzzing while waiting for a statement on the family. She felt that now that Cade was so put in the public eye, Charles might consider Cael as a better-suited candidate for the position."Did I keep you waiting for long?" Ophelia asked as she sat down.Frances swallowed as she saw how good she looked; she was tempted to almost comment on it; she did not look like she had seen the news. "No, I just sat down a minute ago," she said, and Ophelia nodded."Have you orde
THREE DAYS AFTER THE WEDDING TUESDAY MORNING "Honey" Ophelia sat by the side of the bed shaking Cade; his eyes opened slowly as he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her in."Good morning, darling," he said and pouted, waiting for a kiss. She closed her eyes and bent down to kiss his lips. "That was so short," he said, his eyes opening wider. "Something is wrong; what is wrong?" he asked, his eyes catching a glimpse of the frown on her face. "What happened?" he asked, sitting in bed quickly."You might want to see this," she said, taking her phone and giving it to him. He took the phone from her hand and sat up straight. He read through the screen as his eyes widened with each statement he came across."What is this?""The number one trending news in the city this morning.""From what source?""Apparently it started as a rumour from a blog but when the reporters reached out to Abigail yesterday evening for an interview, she did not confirm or deny it so they are just carry
"My mom wanted you here, but I never did, so it is crazy that you are trying to force me to sleep with you," Cael scoffed as they sat on the bed in the room. They had been so preoccupied with other things that it was the night of the wedding that they all realized that they did not have a house, so they went back to the mansion.Charles had taunted them for their poor planning; Cael could not believe that his grandfather had not stepped up to do anything concerning the wedding even after he had leaked the secret to him. He was feeling overwhelmed by the situation and was now convinced that his grandfather was doing the right thing by not allowing him to be the next in line for succession. Even when he had leaked the secret of the wedding to Charles, he did not do anything about it.Even this evening, when they got back to the house after the wedding, Charles was not shocked to see them back at the mansion; he just nodded his head at them and retired to his room. He did not know why he
"You look so beautiful," Fiona gushed over her daughter as she entered the room."I do?" Frances asked, and her mother nodded."Like the star of the show that you are," she murmured, and Frances smiled.She had been so busy stressing and preparing for the wedding that she feared she might not look good in any of the images because of how stressed she was. She felt good to receive a compliment from her mother considering how shallow she was; she would be into complimenting something or else she found it appealing to the eyes."I hope you remember all I have been telling you." Fiona said, and Frances nodded.Her mother had basically turned it into an anthem that was engraved in her mind. She had told her to make sure to get pregnant between the first few weeks of pregnancy so she could have an edge over Ophelia, who was still yet to show any signs of having a baby. She also told her to make sure she sucked up to Charles, even though they all knew how almost impossible that might be."Do
THE FAY OF THE WEDDING Ophelia's eyes fluttered open as she turned to Cade sleeping beside her. She felt his hand that had been holding her head up all night. She snuggled into him and felt his hand pull her in closer."Are you awake?" she murmured, trying to look at his face from her position."No," he drew out, and she laughed."You are asleep yet talking?" she said, and he tried to nod but was failing badly because of the pillow."I talk in my sleep," he added, and she gave him a frown."Then sleep and talk some more. I want to go get myself a cup of tea," she said, trying to stand up from the bed, but his hand on her wrist pulled her back, and she dropped to his chest."What are you doing?" she asked, propping herself up with her hand on his chest."I think you forgot something," he said with a pout and his eyes closed.She traced his pouted lips with her fingertip. "And what can that be?" she asked, feigning ignorance."I know that you very well know what I am talking about," he
A FEW DAYS TO THE WEDDING"I have something to report," Paul said, coming into Charles's office. He had been working in the background to make sure that Aigail and Cael's plan did not work. He knew that they had been so busy with the board meeting, and he had to work too. He was not going to sit down and assume that since he was the chairman, everyone was supposed to be automatically loyal to him.He was meeting with all of the board members and directors while trying to know their stand on the matter; for most of them, they kept trying to play both sides and see which side would favour them. Charles lowered the glasses from his face and dropped them so they dangled by a rope on his neck.The entire company was so tense that even a child could tell that something was up. The staff were trying their best to be careful not to choose sides so they did not find themselves jobless after the board meeting. Everyone was walking on eggshells since the chairman was no longer working from home