Chapter 6

HUDSON’S POV

“James?”

“James!” I roared, glaring daggers at anyone that dared gave me side glances. “Yes, boss” he replied and immediately appeared at my right-hand side. “I need every single detail about Valerie and all her movements from the last 5 years!”

“Yes boss, I completely understand” he replied hastily.

“And this time, do it right!” I barked and tugged the keys of my black Bentley out of his hands.

With anger surging inside of me, I just turned on the car and sped off, away from the building for the event. Most important guests were gone already and that bloody twat was the very first to leave!

The nerves! Leaving me behind to the guests like I was some errand boy of hers!

She even dared to threaten me. Me! "Can you believe it?" I chuckled darkly, my annoyance increasing. After 5 years of her disappearing on me, she shows up and does this?

Pretending like I never existed? That gold digging bitch! She had clearly found a new rich man to prey on, one that even allowed her to be the face of his company. That's why she's so full of it.

Calling me, ‘Mr. Rodriguez,’ all over the place like I was some sort of stranger! I can't even believe it.

Just the memory of her last words had my blood boiling, "she wants to sue me?" I spat angrily and scoffed"Dream on!" while stepping on the accelerator even more.

At this rate I would arrive home in mere minutes but I could hardly give a fuck about it right now.

“I will find out all your dirty little secrets Valerie and when I do, I will spill it all over your face! Don’t you worry.” I said with a growl, clenching my steering wheels, “let’s see who will be sued at the end.”

In less than 10 minutes my tires came to a screeching halt as I stepped out of the car and then into the front doors of my mansion, leaving the keys to a staff.

My steps echoing in the large house as I walked angrily into the brightly lit luxurious living room. But I was in no mood to speak to anyone so I went up the stairs to the master bedroom while roughly tugging at my tie and cussing under my breath “A good day suddenly turned sour just because of one woman.”

Why was I even surprised? Valerie has always had a knack for ruining good moods. She ruins things and then leaves you hanging out dry in the open.

Just like how she barged into my life before, turned my grandpa on me, signed the divorce papers out of nowhere and then disappeared!

“Poof!” Just like that. No records, no friends or family she could have gone to. Fuck, no trace of the damn plate number of the very car she had left our house with!

It was like she never existed, trust me I searched. Now, she was back again, “As a damn CEO??, Ridiculous!”

Suddenly, an excited shrill sounded behind me causing me to jump a little “Welcome back, baby!"

"Argh, Charlotte..." I groaned inwardly. Her voice startled me a bit, when did she come in? I must have been so lost in thoughts that I didn’t even hear her come in.

I turned, meeting her smiling face and instantly a scowl built up on my face. Why was she smiling so much? I was in no the mood for smiles and here she was smiling like she won a medal.

A little 'read the room' would be nice. Without a word to her, I moved to pour myself a drink from my mini bar in the room. I heard her huff and her soft voice followed "Baby! Don't you see me standing here?" she whined, pouting like a child.

Heavens knows I was in no mood for this at all. I heard her heels clacking the tiles, signaling she was approaching me and soon they stopped right beside me. Not able to hold it in any longer I snapped “Why are you here?” a bit surprised at the coldness in my tone but I was already irritated “Can’t you knock?”

She blinked, taken aback by my statement, “Knock?” she asked, her brown eyes widened in disbelief. “This is our room, why do I have to knock baby?”

I narrowed my eyes at her statement, she did have a point. We shared the bedroom “Or… do you want us to... sweat a little under the covers?” she teased, her voice sultry and her hands slowly moving to my chest. “What do you say, Huddie bear,” she whispered and pecked my collar lightly. I scrunched my nose at the nickname and immediately stepped away from her touch, causing her smile falter a bit. "Wah... did I do something wrong?" she asked quietly, her lips quivering a bit.

Though her moves were seductive and all, just that... something about her felt particularly repellent today. Which was very unusual, It must be because of my mood. "I'm not in the mood for any of that today, just leave Charlotte" I stated firmly.

"Well then, let me help you out of your clothes so you can take a shower" she suggested, moving to touch me and without thinking a frustrated groan escaped my lips "Why can't you just listen? I said let me be!"

She flinched back with a jump, a shocked expression appeared on her face. For about a minute, a wave of emotions passed through her eyes and eventually they became shrouded in tears.

I turned away, moving to the window to avoid the wave of guilt that passed through me at seeing her cry. Charlotte has always been a softie, so fragile and soft . It was one of the reasons I fell for her, she was easy to talk to and could easily evade my anger with her gentle presence.

But tonight, it just wasn't working. Her presence was not giving that usual comfort. In fact I wanted her far from me at the moment.

After a few minutes, I heard sniffles. She was most definitely crying now but I refused to look at her. Seeing I wouldn't budge she turned on her heels towards the door but stopped right in front of it, " I don't know what I did to make you speak to me like this Hudson, but" her voice shaking, i turned to face her.

My eyes ran through her choice of clothing, a short pink mini skirt and deep v- line white blouse and in a split second, the image of Valerie walking into the event hall in a well tailored white suit, her bright green eyes staring intently at me flashed before my eyes and my heart skipped a bit.

I blinked immediately, and Charlotte stood beside the door with hopeful eyes. Flustered at my own thoughts I quickly faced the window " Leave my room Charlotte"

With a huff the door slammed shut and my phone rang almost immediately, startling me for the second time today.

"What the fuck," I checked the ID and instantly took the phone to my ear as James breathless voice flowed through the speaker.

"Boss, you won't believe what I found"

My breath hinged in my throat as a million thoughts ran through my mind. What the heck did he find? I knew Valerie was up to something, that sneaky gold digging bitch! "Tell me you got something on her" I said darkly, clenching my phone in anticipation.

" I just forwarded the files to you Boss, check it out," he replied and I immediately cut the line.

Quickly, I clicked on the file and watched it load painfully slow. it was barely a minute but it seemed to take forever. But when the file opened and my eyes read the first few sentences, my eyes widened in surprise at first and then in anger.

In a split second without thinking, I smashed my phone to the floors in anger, unable to read more. Glass splinters from the screen flew everywhere, cutting a bit on my chin but despite the mess, only one word registering in my head and I roared in anger, "VALERIE!"