2. THE INTERVENTION

CHAPTER TWO- THE INTERVENTION

(BLACKWELL’S POV)

“Uhm, Carol... I don’t think I can come with you to the Gala this evening,” I told the lady on the line for the umpteenth time.

Would you believe me if I told you that I couldn’t even remember who she was?

For the first time in a long while, I actually felt bad about it.

I remember exchanging contacts with a certain Carol at the Nightshade Bar three weeks ago actually, but if you asked me to describe her to you right now, I’d fail miserably.

I really needed to change my ways.

This new perspective on my life started yesterday, after that embarrassing incident. Someone got physically hurt because of my stupid lifestyle yesterday for crying out loud. Now, if that wasn’t enough reason to want to change, I didn’t know what else could be.

Jennifer, perfect Mrs. Summers.

To be honest, until now, I had been living my life, perfectly content with my actions— surprisingly not haunted by shame or guilt. Until yesterday, that is. Looking into her lovely, hazel eyes, I found that that was where my conscience lay after all, and I found myself wanting to be a better person, so that if nothing at all, some other innocent person would not get looped into my mess.

But if only it was that easy.

It wasn’t my fault that I kept drawing women to me like a moth to flame, but it seemed to work for both parties… because while I got the companionship without the commitment, they in turn got their ten minute fame and a chance to be seen on my arm, a chance to make some riches too if they were resilient enough… truly, it was a win-win situation on both ends, one that seldom gave me trouble, but that quickly went down south real fast whenever my partners started to want more than we had agreed on.

I never did relationships?

What was the fucking point?

Giving one person such power… giving them the keys to your heart, and the ability to stomp on it at any time if they so wished was just plain crazy, and I had been a fool once, I surely wasn’t going to repeat that mistake again.

“Adonis?”

Right. I was on the phone with someone… what was her name again?

Carol, right.

“Look, Carol—” I was interrupted by the sound of the door to my office opening, and then Jennifer Summers poked her head in. “Can I come in, Mr. Blackwell?”

Look, I won’t lie to you, the guilt came rushing back so fast that it almost hurt, especially when I took in her outfit, a dark, long sleeved dress reaching to her calves, fitted so perfectly that it clung to her body like second skin, revealing her curves in the modest of ways, a scarf tied fashionably under her chin in a way that it covered her cheeks well enough to hide the handprint we both knew was stamped on her left cheek, and a pair of sunglasses and dark heels completed the whole ensemble. Innocent Mrs. Summers… she was not the standard of beauty I was used to, but she had this elegant grace about her that didn’t make me surprised at all that she was off the market, and yet, underneath that innocent grace and elegance was a streak of feistiness and stubbornness like I had never known but had been introduced to yesterday, when I had suggested she take the rest of the week off.

To be honest, it had had me intrigued.

I wanted to know her more, I wanted to be her friend, but I’d made it one of my golden rules never to be involved with someone I worked with, even if it was just friendship.

Besides, she was married, for fuck sake… and yet, in a way that was confusing, just as much as it was intriguing, I was attracted to her. Wasn’t that crazy?

“Uhm, Mr. Blackwell?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I shook my head to clear the thoughts, “Come in,”

“Your parents are here, sir,” She was quick to deliver the devastating news.

Fuck.

“I tried to tell them you were not around, but they wouldn’t listen, going so far to insist that they’d wait for you in your office then,”

I shot her a wry smile, “At least you tried, Mrs. Summers… even I can respect the effort. Please, let them in,” She gave me a curt nod and turned to leave, but I found myself calling out her name once again, “Mrs. Summers?”

“Yes sir?”

“H—how are y—you?”

Why was I suddenly a stuttering mess around her? Maybe it was the guilt.

It had to be.

“I’m as good as can be,” She shot me a wry smile… one that had me suddenly feeling warm all over.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

She was fucking married for crying out loud.

“I still think you should take the rest of the week off,” I said, and just like that, the warm moment we were sharing quickly disappeared, but not before I caught one look I had never seen before in her eyes,

Pure, unbridled fear.

It vanished just as quickly though, only to be replaced by anger, “With all due respect sir, I thought I made it clear that it wouldn’t be necessary. I am doing everything I should, I’m not complaining,”

“I—I never said you were,”

“Then please don’t make me go home,” She turned to leave, “I’ll show your parents in.” And then she was gone.

“I can see you’re quite busy, Adonis,” Ah, Carol, I’d forgotten all about her for a second. Why the fuck was she still on the line? “I’ll call you later on in the day…”

“Look, Carol… there’s no need to call again… I don’t think I can make it to your gala… maybe some other time.” I didn’t even wait for her to grace me with a response, ending the call and placing my phone on my desk.

I had barely hung up the phone when the door burst open for the second time that day, and my parents waltzed in.

They were holding hands, how romantic, note the sarcasm.

I kept my expression blank, and my body languid, going so far as to relax in my chair and toss my feet up on my desk. My father hated that.

“Mom, dad… what a pleasant surprise,” The sarcasm was all over my tone, so much so that my mother just rolled her eyes, even as my father clenched his fists. “Adonis, we really need to talk,” She said, taking a seat in one of the chairs facing me, sitting so upright that I wondered what stick she had up her ass.

“So talk, I’m listening,” I said.

“You really need to settle down son,”

Oh… we had an intervention on our hands.

“Do I though?”

My question made my mother bristle with irritation, “News of what went down yesterday has reached the board of directors, Adonis. They called at our house yesterday threatening to buy us out if you don’t stop your playboy ways and get settled by the end of the month.”

This time I sat up, “What?”

“Exactly what she said,” My father piped in,

“But they can’t do that,” How could they threaten to buy us out when we were the owners of Buzz? That was just absurd.

“They can when you’re going about embarrassing the Blackwell name,” My father spat out in my face, making me stand up, visibly steaming in anger, “Embarrassing the Blackwell name? Fucking tell me who closed the deal with the Scotts barely three days ago… a feat which mind you, the same board had declared impossible?” My voice was surprisingly calm despite my much apparent anger, “My personal life is my personal life, and up until yesterday, it has never gotten in the way of business,” I insisted stubbornly.

“It has started to, Adonis,” My mother calmly said, causing me to shoot her a confused look, “What do you mean?”

“Harrison and Co. pulled out of our deal… according to them, they are a family company and cannot afford to uhm…” She trailed off suddenly.

“Cannot afford to do what?”

“They cannot afford to associate with a business that so blatantly disregards family values and promotes promiscuity.” My father finished angrily.

Fuck!

“You have until the end of the month to present your chosen bride to us, Adonis…” He continued, making my head whip to look at him so fast that it almost hurt, “Or what?”

“Or I’ll name your cousin Peter Welsh as my successor to appease the board, and you would be left with nothing!”

I laughed… hard, “Are you on something, dad? We all know you hate Peter Welsh,”

“But I hate to see all my years of hard work burn to the ground because of you even more than I hate Peter Welsh… and so if that’s what would get the board to stay, then you can rest assured that I’ll do it.”

It was a promise and a threat… all mixed in one, and judging from the perplexed look in my mother’s usually amused eyes, I knew that he meant every word.

I was fucked.

In every sense of the word.

A month!

I’d had ten years to find the perfect woman, and I’d failed in every step of the way… what made them think that one month would make any fucking difference?

“You can’t just settle with any woman, Adonis,” My mother whispered softly, taking me out of my thoughts. “She’ll have to be nothing short of perfect. From a respectable home, and most importantly, with no scandal attached to her name. Until you find her, son… please, lay low for a while, and avoid all public events that are not related to the company.”

If only it were that easy.

Long after they were gone… everything they had hammered into my head in the last thirty minutes continued to ring loud and clear... haunting me to no end.

The perfect woman.

Where was I going to find her?

Only one name kept resonating over and over again in my mind,

But she was already shackled to another.

Perhaps, what I really needed to do was go out there… because contrary to what my dad believed, hiding wasn’t going to find me a partner. I needed to be out there, mingling with women, seeing if they had what it took to become my wife…

My perfect wife.

So I was going to go to Carol’s gala. It was just my mentality that I needed to change this time… instead of seeking partners for the night, I just needed to find one for life.

How hard could that be?