Everything was so confusing to me. Why he could invite me out on a dinner date that was supposed to just be about a business opportunity but in the end is in a romantic setting and I couldn't explain this feeling I had when he talked about this restaurant as being his and how he went through the process of building this restaurant up.
Before I had always thought that he was someone who gathered all his fame and fortune from just taking over his father’s company but in the end, it was a mixture. Behind the scenes, he did do his work and was very passionate about it.
"So, what did you want to talk about and what was this business opportunity that you thought I would be very interested in," I asked since the waiter had come back with our food and we had to get down to business before I finish all of the food.
"I asked you here to talk about a specific business opportunity that could change your life." He replied which suddenly make me very nervous as a business opportunity that could change my life was very daunting.
I looked at him with curiosity just wondering exactly what this business opportunity was. However, I didn't have to wait any longer as he started to state what it was.
"This business opportunity is being my wife for a year. If you don't end up falling in love with me by the end of the year than I will happily give you a section of the company’s shareholding.
This is a business offer that will change your mind either way if you agree to it. So, do you agree to this?"
I don't think I have ever been more shocked until now. How can this notorious player in the business world, who is known for using a women's body and leaving her within a couple of hours to never communicate with her again, leaving they are heartbroken, wants to settle down?
"Are you drunk from the wine already," I stated in a very serious manner believing that what he had stated was just his drunk state talking. He couldn't be serious. There was no way he could be serious.
What shocked me next was his laughter. He looked as if he couldn't believe that he was being asked if he was drunk of wine or if he couldn't believe that I thought he was joking. Everything was just a huge mess and confusion.
"Darling. I am not joking. I have the contract ready and within a year if you seriously don't end up falling in love with me, I will give you a piece of the shareholder's percentage under your name.
If you don't believe me then feel free to expect me to come to your office tomorrow with the contract and give you time to think about it until tomorrow."
Everything about his speech made it clear that he wasn't at all joking. I couldn't believe my ears when he stated that he was willing to give me a piece of the shareholder's percentage. Everything was once again more confusing when he is in the picture.
"How can you just decide on giving someone a percentage of the shares in the company is extremely unheard of. Why?"
"There shouldn't be a why but just yes or no. All you should be thinking about is the great opportunity that will come your way after the year ends." He replied whilst asking the waiter to bring the bill.
He was so calm about this business deal that he was willing to give a piece of his share of the company to me if I don't end up falling in love with him.
"Also, I have confidence that you will end up falling in love with me no matter what. Come now." I couldn't but help chuckling due to his confidence.
Standing up ready to walk out of the restaurant, I saw that Alec had been stopped by a female which I couldn't help getting a bitter feeling. Her arms were around his and were slowly caressing his arm.
Feeling this unfamiliar feeling rise, I couldn't stop my body as I moved towards them.
"Darling, we should be going now. It is getting late." I walked towards them and hooked my arm around his. I looked at the female and waved at her "Hi, I would like it if you removed your hands off my fiancé before it gets messy."
She looked me up and down and gave me a signature dirty look but did as she was told.
"Alec baby, who is this imposter believing that she is your fiancé," She asked in a very annoying voice that I couldn't stand to listen for one more second.
" Who are you calling Imposter, I never called you that when you insisted to everyone that I was your boyfriend, did I? As she said, she is my fiancé, so I would advise you to not touch me without my permission in the future as I am a nearly married man and make her angry in the future." He took my hand in his and guided me towards the car.
I couldn't help but blush with the way he talked towards the female and backed me up on my stupid decision of introducing me as his fiancé.
"You've agreed to the business proposal then." He spoke after arriving at my house and I had stepped out of his car. I couldn't believe that what he was saying was right. I had agreed with the business proposal the moment I opened my stupid mouth to state I was his fiancé.
"I-"
"You cannot back out anymore since you've already stated to the outside that you are my fiancé. Not agreeing right now would affect your public image and mine knowing that the female must have already started to tell people what you had just announced."
"But-"
"No but. I'll be at your office tomorrow with the contract, and tonight, if you have any other, inquires we'll talk about it tomorrow." I couldn't help but be shocked at his straightforwardness once again, but I didn't have time to reply after all he had driven out of our driveway.
I stood there dumbfounded for a couple of minutes before one of the maids came out to ask why I was still standing there. I quickly walked into the house, so I wasn't still out in the cold, but I was once again bombarded by my family members that I wanted to avoid.
"Who was that male?" Willow asked with a curious facial expression on her face but once again had a glimpse of annoyance.
"None of your business." I walked towards my room but was stopped one again.
"You move fast sis. Only within a couple of hours, you've been able to open your legs and invite someone in." I couldn't but be angry with her reference.
"How dare you! You are insisting that I've been with a guy not even 48 hours since I've settled down, is not my type of scene but yours sis. You forget that I am still a virgin but you on the other hand..."
"How dare you!" Feeling the slap on my face was something that I haven't felt for 2 years. It was something that I forgot happens when I'm here.
I didn't want to create more drama so walking into my room was the only way that I could escape this family and believe that everything was okay.
The slap still stung. I walked towards my bathroom to see if she had left a mark. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, I couldn't help but chuckle over the fact that this was the feeling of home that I was familiar with.
The stinging had slowly decreased but the mark she left on my face was inevitably going to stay put until tomorrow morning if I was lucky.
------
The first thing I did when I woke up checked if the slap mark was still there. It had to be covered with makeup, after all, it would be humiliating walking into the company with a slap mark on my face on the second day.
The makeup did a very good job at covering the mark that had appeared overnight. I hadn't realised how hard she had slapped me after all its been 2 years since she had left a mark on me.
It was weird to have a heavy layer of makeup on my face when I normally just wear some eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. But I'd have to suffer from feeling the foundation seeping into my pores until I come back.
I walked out of the house to grab my breakfast at Starbucks once again, not wanting to deal with my family especially after yesterday's drama with Willow.
Arriving at the company after getting my breakfast, I made my way towards my office.
"Morning." The sudden familiar voice spoke up the moment I stepped into the office. It scared the living hell out of me thinking that there was nobody here since it was still quite early.
Some of my coffee had, unfortunately, spilling onto my hand which made me squeal. But a hand quickly took the coffee out of my hand and rushed me towards the sink. Looking up I saw Alec and a concerning expression lingering on his face.
"Does it still hurt?" He asked whilst still running my hand over cold water.
"I'm fine Alec, fortunately not a lot had spilt onto my hand. However, what are you doing so early in my office?" I questioned whilst he was still checking my hand.
"You forgot, didn't you. I brought the contract for you to look over, seeing I have to leave the country in a couple of hours as something came up."
"Oh okay." I couldn't help but feel sad with the knowledge that he was about to fly out of the country when we haven't even fully gone through the contract together yet.
"Do I hear some sadness, Tesoro." He replied with a smirk appearing on his face whilst his band caressed my cheeks. I accidentally hissed due to him touching the hand mark Willow had left yesterday.
"What's wrong Tesoro? What happened to your cheek" I didn't have time to reply when he suddenly wiped off the layer of foundation.
The anger on his face was surprising but it was masked with concern seconds later. "Who did this! Tell me who did this to you!"
"I-"
"Don't you dare lie to me!" The anger in his tone was suddenly frightening me. His whole demeanour made me shiver.
"Now Tesoro, who was it who laid a hand on you" At this point, I looked away from him,
"Tesoro, don't make me ask you one more time." Lifting my chin and his deep blue eyes stared into mine made my goose bumps arise.
"Willow..."
---Alec's POV---The moment I scared her, and her coffee spilt on her hand, I felt the need to protect her. This was the first time in years since I've felt this feeling. The moment she came into my life, I've felt all sort of things that I thought I couldn't be able to feel anymore. I looked at her hand after rinsing it under the cold tap to see if it was still hurting. It was slightly red which did make me worry but knowing that she didn't spill a lot made me feel at ease. I should give myself a note to ask one of the workers to send her some ointment for this. I couldn't help but crease her cheeks when I detected some sadness in her voice when I told her that I had to fly out of the country for a couple of days. It wasn't intended to leave just after giving her the contract see I would
---Nevaeh's POV---The moment I pushed him out of the door I couldn't believe what I had just done. Without think, I had teased him and had given him a hard-on without realising. However, I just didn't have enough time to give myself even a second to think about my actions when Camilla came in to tell me that my first meeting of the day was about to start. However, before leaving she told me that Alec had left an ointment for my hand. This did make me feel slightly happy that he was able to think about me, but I remembered that he was the sole reason to why I got burnt in the first place. Within a couple of hours, we had finally gotten through all the meetings without one of the workers being late or out of place.
After getting ready I was already drooling from the smell of pancakes that Iris had started to make. This homely feeling was unfamiliar to me. When I was younger, my parents never stepped into the kitchen and if I wanted to have breakfast, I would have to ask one of the cooks. It was also very rare that I would have breakfast with my family since they would take my sister on her pageant runways and I would wake up in a house that was only filled with workers. They were more like my real families than my actual families. So when I suddenly got bombarded at how I was doing and how I was feeling these couple of days whilst being served a huge plate of delicious pancakes, I couldn't help but wish that I could feel this way forever. "Alec, come down here and eat some pancakes before you leave!
All I wanted to do was to eat this burger in peace. But obviously, this group of males decided to trash my peaceful time and I am so close to hitting them.Nobody! And I mean Nobody should interrupt a women's food time. Especially when this woman has been dragged around by her crazy friends for possibly 4 hours. "Move." "Oh, this woman is feisty. We all like a feisty woman, especially when we can tame them."Now, this pissed me off. Nobody should talk about a woman that way. We are not objecting or something that men can just "tame". "Excuse me. But who the hell are you on about "Taming them" because I know for a fact that you don't mean us!"
---Alec's POV---It was very hard to leave her when she had just moved in. I had one of my PI to give me some background information on her father's company and her life at the house and it shocked me. I couldn't believe my own eyes that someone would treat their child like dirt. I wouldn't have believed that she was their biological child if I didn't see the medical information. This was very shocking, but I guess she is in at a better place at my house than at hers. I also found out that she wasn't financially helped when she was in London. This was very shocking since her father was the owner of a multi-billion company. The information stated that she got most of her financial help from her grandmother if she seriously needed it but o
---Nevaeh's POV---I woke up a couple of days ago and had just gotten discharged from the hospital today. I spent at least 3 days there since they needed to make sure that the drug wouldn't have any side effects on my body, especially when I had reacted that badly to it in the first place. Through those 3 days, I've grown to like Alec as an individual much more. The one main thing that I realised about him was how caring he was in those 3 weeks. He was sitting across my hospital bed and wouldn't leave the room for more than 3 hours. Those were the times he would go home to freshen up and bring back food for me since hospital food wasn't particularly appealing for me and the time that he would check up on his company.
It’s been hard this past couple of weeks. After my father and sister came, I was in a bad mood all week and did just only focus on work. This week was just to make sure that all the planning for the project was coming along smoothly and made sure that I was caught up on all the work that I missed out due to being hospitalized.I needed to make sure that I had everything ready for the next couple of weeks, just to make sure that this project would run smoothly. I had to show my father that I had everything I needed to show them that I can take on the role as the next CEO. "Nevaeh? Do you have some time?" I looked up to see a surprised face, I have not seen his face for a week since I have been in the office most of the time without leavin
---Alec's POV---"Alec, what do you think about this?" "It’s beautiful Tesoro." After having the moment with Nevaeh yesterday, and the fact that she has been neglecting her interests. So today we decided to just have a day where she can do whatever she wanted to do and just a relaxing day for her to gain back her interests. "You sure it's beautiful?" "Yes Tesoro, it is beautiful. We should get a frame to put it on the wall." After going shopping in the morning, she did get a lot of painting products and has been going crazy with it for a couple of hours now. So far, we've been sitting outside with her
---2 week later---"Are you ready?" I asked my sister since our case against our father has been accepted by the court and we will be going to him right now with our lawyer and the charged that we are going to charge him."I am slightly worried but I know that everything will be fine. He is going to get what he deserves and I know that we can win our case with all the evidence that we have.""I know Willow, however, do not forget that this is our father that we are talking about and he has many ways to make sure we do not win."I know I was supposed to give her some reassurance but we are walking in unknown territory. Nobody has ever gotten the courage to go against my father for a reason."I know, however, with the help of your husband, we can be sure that everything is going to go well.""True, let us just hope that everything does go well and things will be fine because my son is waiting for me to hold him in my arms aga
"How can you not tell me that." I was shocked at the detailed description that Willow has told me about."I couldn't. The moment I tell you what I had to go through to please father. I would have dragged you into all this mess.""We could have done something about it.""I couldn't though. I knew that the moment I started helping dad, everything would have changed. I was not just his daughter anymore but also a source of income for him.""Playing with people's heart is not a job Willow. You are destroying someone's life with the games that you guys are playing. We seriously need to but a stop to this.Just look at you. This is a reason to stop. Your bruises are the outcome of what would happen when it backfires on you and I can't allow you to continue this any longer!""I know but how do I get out of this mess?""Wait, I'll call Alec and we'll sort something out as soon as possible.""Okay."I quickly ma
The moment we got back, it was clear that our relationship had changed for the better. We were inseparable due to the confession that we had given each other over the weekend.Thanks for giving was this weekend, so I had to prepare myself to meet his whole family once again. I had met most of them on our wedding night, however, I believe Alec did say that some of them couldn't make it due to some business issues that they had to take care of."Babe! Who are the people who I didn't get to meet on our wedding day?" I asked whilst cutting some cabbages for our side salad."Well, one of my cousins didn't make it due to having a case in London and he wouldn't have made it on time. Other than that it was just my aunt and uncle, but I don't think they will be coming.""How come?" I asked whilst slicing up some cherry tomatoes."They don't associate with our family after my dad was the one who took over the company rather than my uncle. P
---Nevaeh's POV---It’s been roughly a week since the reveal evening, and everything has been going smoothly.I had just come back from Asia for a week just making sure that everything was running smoothly from the start of the construction."Welcome back!" Alec greeted me the moment I stepped out of the plane. "I am so glad to be back," I replied hugging him whilst he takes my luggage."So, how was it?" He asked as we started the journey to the nearest IHOP since we were both cravings for some pancakes covered in syrup."It was everything that we planned for. They are starting construction as soon as possible and then in a couple of months’ times everything should be up and running since people do things very quickly there."That is very true.""So how were you this whole week?" I asked seeing I couldn’t contact him that much throughout this week due to the time zone difference.
Throughout the day, we had gotten everything ready for tonight's ceremony. We did go and see Archie and was grateful that he was doing perfectly fine. It didn't seem like he was rejecting the liver transplant, but the doctor did say that they need to keep him there for another couple of days just in case.Through that period where we went to see Archie, I had a moment where I found myself wondering what it would be like to have a mini Nevaeh or me running around our home. It made me realise that I did think she was the one for me.We have been officially married for around 4 months now. Things have gotten to the point that we are more comfortable with each other and I have never felt this way with another woman.It also worries me that there are only 8 more months to somehow make her fall for me or I could potentially lose her. I just hope that everything will work out on its own when the time comes because I don't think I can see her with anyb
---Alec's POV---She should be home by now. It had currently been an hour since we called each other and I was confused as to why she wasn't back yet.It only takes around 20 minutes to get home from her company and she was already on her way back when I called her.This was extremely confusing and worrying. I tried calling her a couple of times but she hasn't picked up and I didn't know what to do.Pacing around the house was not helping with my nerves but I could not help it. It was not long before I heard the door open and she walked in."What the hell happened?" I stated in a frantic moment before running up to her to see if she was okay."What do you mean?""It doesn't take you an hour to get back and I thought something serious had happened to you! You had me so worried Tesoro.""I'm sorry, there was a lot of traffic due to an accident on the way back which was why I w
"Father!" I stormed into his study after knowing the test results. He had seriously gotten a female employee pregnant and then sent her packing."I see you know the test results.""Yes. He is your child! You got a female employee pregnant.""Impossible! The rest results must have been forged""Father! Own up to your mistakes. I had my private doctor do the test, so now tell me. How can it be forged, father?"I couldn't believe the fact that he is still in denial after getting the proof that indicates he is my father's child."Fine. Make sure that this doesn't get leaked to the press and most of all your mother. If this gets out, there will be huge consequences for you.""I understand father, but now I have to go and take care of the mess you have made. Like always." I stated and stormed out of his study, back down to my car.I had decided this morning to drive for myself since I couldn't rely on the driv
"Alec! What are you doing here." I was shocked at the fact that he was here when I never told him about my plan to visit my father."You should be grateful that I came here on time. Camellia told me when I called to ask if you would be free to have lunch with me," he stated whilst walking to me stood between my father and I, as a way of protecting me."Mr McKinley, there is no need for you being here when I'm having a peaceful conversation with my daughter is there.""I'm sorry Mr Miller, but this did not seem like a peaceful conversation that you have described. All I saw when I came into your study was you about to lay a hand on my wife. I don't know if you and I have different ideas on what a peaceful conversation is but that is nowhere near what I had in mind.""Well, Mr McKinley, if you don't mind waiting outside whilst I finish my conversation with my daughter before you entered and she will be with you as soon as possible.""Yeah Alec,
Its officially been around 2 months since we've come back from our honeymoon and everything has moved on smoothly.I am in my final stage of finalising everything for the project and by tomorrow morning I would have finished with everything.These two months have flown by after the incident of Naomi and my relationship with my father has gotten far worse.There have been rumours going around the whole company stating that something had gone on with my father and his old secretary when she suddenly came back demanding to see him.That was over a week ago and I am trying to understand the situation to make sure it isn't leaked to the press but why would a secretary who was fired over a decade ago come back demanding to see my father.It was all very confusing, especially when I went to ask my father what had happ