Charlotte ended up getting three more dresses which were just as expensive to complement the mauve one, in case of future outings. After seeing how quickly Xavier had been willing to part with his money, she now knew he wasn’t bluffing when he told her he was very generous with his money. “Are you hungry?” He asked her after they had been driving for some time and her stomach grumbled. Perfect timing. “A little,” she whispered, feeling embarrassed. “Alright then,” he said, thankfully not remarking on what just happened. “There’s a restaurant close by that has the best roast meals. What type of food do you like?” “Roast will be fine,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She noticed his gaze go down to where her hands were and stay for a while before he eventually turned away. Why did the car suddenly feel so hot? When Xavier spoke of a restaurant that had roast meals, she had imagined a small and simple place with smoke everywhere. This establishment that looked so glass
“How do I look?” Charlotte asked him with wide eyes when she walked down in that dress that hugged her body in the right places. He shrugged.“Good,” he said. “Let’s go. We’re getting late.” Xavier saw her face fall at his dismissal, but he pretended to be focused on something on his phone, appearing not to pay her any heed. ‘Good’ was an understatement. In that dress, she looked gorgeous, sensational, breathtaking, but he couldn’t possibly tell her any of that. She was beautiful already without any of the extras, but she always walked around with a dull expression on her face and a slouchy posture, constantly facing the ground, that it was hard to tell. Xavier had spent just less than a full day with her, yet he could tell how lowly she rated herself. He couldn’t blame her. After being with someone like his nephew whose confidence only came from putting people down, for two whole years, she had begun to doubt her self-worth. However, after wearing this dress and makeup, he knew
Charlotte did not know what made her agree to let him kiss her, but she did not regret it one bit. He lapped her lips with his, right under the scrutiny of everyone, holding her by the waist closer to him as if he wanted to remove any iota of space between them. The kiss sent jolts down her spine and she found herself holding onto his neck and deepening the kiss. The only other person she had ever kissed was Jonah but he was the last person on her mind as Xavier’s lips made love to her own. His lead was easy to follow. He nibbled her bottom lip, given her control over his upper one and she was more than happy to return the favor. It felt so intimate, so divine. She stood on her tiptoes to get to the same level as he was and she almost fell on her heels if he hadn’t been holding her. Kissing was usually just something she had to do before sex, but with Xavier, it felt like a declaration of their connection, his possession. He was showing everyone around that she belonged to him an
In Jonah Roman’s family home, two women - Julia, his sister, and Mia, his mother and Xavier’s sister, were getting ready for the occasion. “Your deadbeat uncle has finally found another gold digger to marry. I just hope this one will be worse than the last,” Mia said, as the makeup artist went to work on her face. “I thought he vowed never to get married after the last one humbled him,” Julia snorted. “Let’s see how long this one will last. He thinks having money will suddenly make him less of a loser.” “Once men get money that they didn’t work for, they begin to fall in love at every corner,” Mia said with obvious irritation in her voice. “I wish this one will actually suck him dry until he is left with nothing.” “He just had to set his engagement right after Jonah’s own. What a cheap copycat,” Julia scoffed. While they spoke back and forth berating Xavier, the makeup artist rolled her eyes. “If you hate him so much, why did you agree to go to the party?” She asked. Mia’s face
“What’s wrong?” Xavier asked her, holding her hands and looking into her eyes tenderly when she got to their seat. She almost fell for the look of concern on his face, but reminded herself he was only worried she would make the plan to fail and not because he cared about her. However, at this point when she now knew that the only people she thought cared about her had actually hated her from the start, she was ready to take anything. “I’m fine,” she said, plastering a smile on her face. “I almost fell down outside.” He nodded, although it was obvious he didn’t quite believe her.“I should have told you about the engagement party. I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you. I’m sorry,” he apologized, thinking that was the reason she was mad. “It’s fine,” she waved her hand and the smile on her face widened. Charlotte felt the opposite way about her engagement now. Nobody felt bad for her after being dumped by her jerk ex-husband but had berated her and praised him for finding someone
The rest of the party went by smoothly and the few people who were allowed to speak to her only congratulated her. No one mentioned what happened the day before with Jonah and she was thankful for that. Unfortunately though, everyone was interested in hearing the story of how they met, who she was, and what family she was from. Charlotte assumed they wanted to know how affluent her family was before she met Xavier. In response to their prodding questions, she just smiled each time and scooted closer to Xavier who faced anyone that questioned her too much. He didn’t have to say anything. Just a stare from him and they were gone immediately. When she wasn’t meeting new people, she was sipping a glass of champagne. Without knowing, she had downed more than five glasses of potent champagne or even more. She didn’t mind. It made her feel freer and soon, she was dancing and not having to attach herself to Xavier like a second skin anymore. At this point, everybody was mixing together an
It took Xavier a short while to realize that his wife to be was no longer close to him. This would be the second time she was disappearing from his side that night. Unfortunately, Carlos, his bodyguard had gone on leave for a few days, so apart from the general guards that were stationed around, no one was particularly looking out for her. The worst imaginations came to his mind. What if something bad had happened to her? She wasn’t used to this kind of life so anything could happen. It was even worse because she had been drinking a little too much. He wanted to stop her, but she seemed less controlled and more comfortable after each drink that he just let her carry on. It had been so easy for him to take her into his home after she fainted the day before. That meant it would equally be as easy for someone else with the wrong intentions. The thought of someone taking her away and doing things to her scared him. If anything bad happened to her. Then the sole aim of doing all of thi
“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked him, finally settling on confusion. “I asked you to marry me because you have just as much as I have to lose if the truth behind this arrangement gets out. We’ve both been at the receiving end of being betrayed so right now, you, like me, will want to do this right so we can get what we want without hurting anyone,” he said, “or soiling your name in the process.”She turned away. His words did not relieve her. He chose her particularly because of who she was and what she would stand to lose if she tried to turn against him. He chose her because he believed she wasn’t a trouble-maker, one who would end up becoming greedy and suing him for everything he had. He knew she was afraid of what everyone else thought of her and was willing to use it to his advantage. He hadn’t said those words precisely, but it was easy to deduce the hidden meaning behind them. Charlotte hated how disappointed she felt. She knew what she was getting into when she agreed to
“It’s time for bed, Caleb. Let’s go,” Charlotte told Caleb with her arms crossed over her chest, giving him no room to argue. “Just let me win this game…” he argued absently, more focused on the game he was playing on his iPad. “You’ve spent your extra fifteen minutes,” she said, taking the device out of his grasp. He frowned, but conceded in the end. “Fine.” As Charlotte tucked him into bed, she couldn’t imagine how the times had changed. It had been six months since Laura had been taken away, her parents had been released and since she had started running her own business. Caleb had started therapy again, and it had definitely worked. These days, he spoke so often and did whatever he wanted to do that it was hard to believe he had been the same mute boy from months ago. He had just turned four, but the topic of his birth mother never came up fortunately. He seemed to blend right in, just as sweet and annoying as any other four year old boy. “I love you mommy,” he wh
When Charlotte saw Jonah being led out by a prison ward officer, she froze and started to wonder what she had been so scared about. He looked nothing like he did before. He had slimmed down to an almost unrecognizable state and his face looked like he had permanently lost the ability to smile. He walked with the slouch of someone that had given up on life in general. Charlotte doubted that whatever he was going through had happened in that prison in such a short time. “You can wait for me,” Charlotte whispered to Carlos who reluctantly left her side when he understood. “Hi,” Jonah said when he was sitting opposite her. He tried to smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace. He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Hi,” she said simply. She couldn’t let him see she pitied him. “How have you been?” He managed to ask. “You look good.” She couldn’t say the same for him. “Why did you call me here, Jonah?” “Straight to the point like always, huh?” He said with something she suspec
Xavier could only relax comfortably when they were back on the jet and on their way back to California. He could finally let himself be convinced that his dream had been nothing more than that. It hadn’t been a sign of anything, because it had gone on perfectly with no dramatic appearances from anyone. Unfortunately, the thought of one day running into Laura again came often to him and disoriented him. However, he always pushed that possibility away to the back of his mind. He had run a background check on the psych ward Don had placed her and from his research, it was a very exclusive place, so her chances of leaving were lower than zero. It was like a madhouse for wealthy people to drop off their family members who had lost it through drug use of whatever means. Their security was so prioritized that it was practically impossible to get in or get out unless the very owner of the establishment permitted. There was also no possible way Laura could bribe anyone there. It was afte
“Xavier, wake up! Wake up!” The sound of the female voice calling out to him sounded so distant at first, but the hand violently shaking his shoulders brought him back to consciousness. He was breathing fast, as his eyes got accustomed to the light around him, his chest heaving rapidly. “Are you okay?” Charlotte asked him, peering into his eyes as she touched the sides of his face. He could see the fear in her eyes as she studied him. “Charlotte,” he whispered, holding her arms and wrapping her in a tight hug. She was alive, here in front of him. “You’re alive.” “Yeah,” she said uncertainly, hugging him back. “Did anyone kill me?” She asked with a chuckle. He finally pulled out of the hug and glanced around. They were still in the jet, on their way to Orlando. He had just had a bad dream. “Where’s Caleb?” He asked. “Right here,” she said, pointing at a part of the jet where a small makeshift bed had been made for Caleb to lie on. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah,
After bidding Kate and her family goodbye, Xavier and Kate had to take the journey back, while consoling Caleb, who couldn’t understand why the twins had to leave without him. It was a Saturday, and for the first time in such a long time, Xavier had a free day. They all decided to spend the day together, to make up for Caleb’s friends leaving. Charlotte was extremely happy. She chatted and laughed all the way to the four seasons Orlando, where they decided to spend the day with their son, since he had seen a video about it online and wouldn’t shut up about going there. She held Caleb’s shoulders during takeoff in Xavier’s private jet, more to distract herself than him. No matter how often she rode in the jet, she still got jittery when they had to go anywhere in it. She had made an appointment with Dr Anna that morning and she couldn’t wait to finally carry out the surgery the week after. “Are we really going to Orlando?” Caleb asked, peering out of the window of the jet.
The ride home was mostly silent, with Xavier at the backseat, pondering on all that had happened that day while Carlos drove them home, shooting glances at his boss from time to time. “How was your break?” Xavier asked all of a sudden and Carlos cleared his throat. “Great. Thanks again for it. I really needed it,” he said with a smile. “How did it feel to have an actual conversation with her after so long?” Carlos sighed. “Not as bad as I thought. I actually feel better. Thanks for advising me to do it. We cleared some things out. She was mature about it and that’s that.” Xavier nodded and looked out the window at the trees that were zooming past. He remembered when Carlos had come to him for help when having to see Kate after the history they had was threatening to drive him insane. He had advised him to take a break, and then discuss with her when he was ready. It seemed to have worked. Carlos looked like himself again. It had been weird to find out that there had been a
“When will you come back, daddy?” Caleb’s little voice came over the phone and Xavier smiled. He could picture his son standing next to Charlotte and holding the phone to his ear with both his hands. “I’ll be there this night, I promise,” he replied. From the corner of his eye, he saw Private trying to get his attention. “Take care of mom for me, okay? I’ll see you soon.” “Bye daddy,” Caleb said and Xavier nodded before he ended the call. “What’s up?” He asked Private. “She’s causing a scene, boss. She’s yelling at everyone and she even pushed her brother and broke a glass on the doctor’s head when he tried to sedate her,” Private told him. There was an urgency in his private investigator’s voice as he reported to him, but there was also a hint of amusement in his tone. Xavier rolled his eyes and walked past him toward the ward he had left to answer his wife’s call. “Why was there glass next to her in the first place?” He asked no one in particular when he enterrés t
“My daddy used to beat my mommy before that woman took me and told she’s my real mommy,” Caleb explained the best way he could. “He told me he’s not my real daddy and that my mommy sold me to him.” “Wait, wait,” Charlotte told him. She had no idea what he was talking about and the more he spoke, the more confused she became. None of what he was saying made any sense. At this point, he was just throwing the words ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ around. “Laura, the woman that brought you to us, she’s your mommy, isn’t she?” She asked him slowly, hoping his answers would make sense to her this time. He shook his head. “That’s what she told me and then she brought me here after,” he said. “So you had other parents before she came?” She asked and he nodded. When Charlotte realized he wouldn’t give her an understandable answer, she decided to stop asking him so that he wouldn’t confuse her more. Since Xavier had gone out to find answers, this one might be one of them. She would ask him wh
“Mommy!” Caleb squealed when he saw Charlotte and ran up to her. She carried him up and enveloped him in a tight hug. She was still not used to him calling her ‘mommy’, but hearing it was so natural and calming. Whenever she was with him, she secretly hoped something would happen to Laura or that she would say she didn’t want him again. She didn’t think she would be able to move on if he had to leave to go back to his real mother. “Did you miss me?” She asked, tickling his tummy. “Uh huh,” he replied, laughing and trying to get her hand away from him. Charlotte kissed him on the forehead and carefully set him back on his feet. She held his small hand and allowed him to lead her into the house. She had been in a sour mood after the meeting with her parents, but just a few minutes with Caleb had softened her up. Kate looked at her and smiled. With a playful frown, she nudged Caleb and asked him why he didn’t notice her. He started to laugh. “What did you do today while we were g