18. Christian
EIGHTEEN
CHRISTIAN
EARLIER THAT DAY
“I’m here to meet with Harry Samuels.”
The younger secretary startled at my voice. He pushed his glasses up behind before looking up at me and stuttered. “R-right. Um…” He clicked on his computer. “Your name… sir?”
“Christian Hayes.”
His elbow pushed into a cup of coffee which spilled over his shirt.
“ Crap .” He looked up at me, momentarily scared. “I’m sorry about this.”
“Who’s here, puppet?” Harry’s door slammed down the long hallway that led to Adelaide’s office. Panic flooded the young man’s eyes and he quickly looked around for something to cover up the stain on his shirt.
I took my coat off and offered it to him. “Take this.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to…”
Footsteps got closer and closer.
Raising a brow, “My arm’s getting tired.”
He snatched the coat and threw it over himself. He was tall, extremely skinny, and a little more than awkward. Recently graduated written all over his face.
“Who is—” Harry stopped at the sight of me. A sly smile appeared. “Ah, Mr. Hayes. What a surprise .”
“Harry,” I greeted. “Always a pleasure.”
Harry glanced at the younger secretary before beckoning me to follow after him. “Congratulations on your new relationship with Adelaide, Mr. Hayes. I never would have suspected it.” He opened the door and waited for me to head inside first.
“Ms. Mikael,” I snapped. The idiot had a niche for saying Adelaide’s name when it was only mine. He had no respect for female authority.
A couple of years ago, Osama put together a file on him. He was a part of a misogynistic reddit group that frequently commented on how women should go back to their traditional roles. He felt emasculated and as I quote, unprotected when a woman was in charge.
Was he a fucking dog that needed protection?
He wrinkled up his nose. “I’m sorry?”
“She’s your boss.” I put my hands in my pockets, asserting dominance with a wide stance.
“What are you trying to say, Mr. Hayes?”
Exactly that, motherfucker.
“Show some respect for my woman, Harry.”
He sat down and clasped his hands together on the desk with an annoying smirk on his face. “Your fiancé is a sore subject, I see.”
“Harry,” I warned.
“I must say that it’s odd how just last week society was bullying her, but now she’s being applauded for marrying you. Some might suspect something else entirely, don’t you agree?”
“My relationship with Adelaide is none of your concern,” I glared at him. “What should concern you is that I’m one step closer to getting the file and you’re not.”
Harry froze.
Got him.
The file was the main reason why I needed to marry Adelaide. Not only did Eda keep it somewhere safe, but it was also under Addie’s name—assumingly for Starlight’s CEO. Since Eda was never given the official title, whatever she needed from the trust fund had to be signed by Adelaide. Somehow, Eda copied Adelaide’s signatures and got permission to access the fund. No matter how much I fucking hated Eda’s guts, the woman was smart for throwing the file into the fund—a ruse—making sure Adelaide never knew it was there and if someone else got their hands on it, all evidence pointed to Adelaide as the perpetrator.
If it weren’t for Osama’s hacking skills, I’d never know that Eda was using the trust fund money to pay off victims of the shareholders attempted sexual violence.
In order to gain access to the trust fund and get to the files, I needed to become CEO of Starlight. The process was tricky and could only work if every member of the board sold three percent of their shares with me. This is why I was here, because there were certain photos of his father in that file that could ruin Harry’s career.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he rubbed his ear whilst avoiding eye contact.
“You don’t? Really?” I chuckled. “You’re telling me that you haven’t been desperately searching for the file that contains some… troublesome evidence about your father?”
“Why the hell would I care about my father?” He snapped. “There’s nothing in that file about me.”
Why did he want access to the file if it wasn’t to get rid of evidence against his dad?
“Let’s just say we have a common interest in that file.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’ve been wanting to get your hands on it for years and you think by becoming CEO, you’ll have access to it.”
“I’m afraid I have to burst your bubble because that file is under Ms. Mikael’s name. Which means I would obtain access to it,” I completed the sentence with an internal satisfied sigh.
“ Bullshit .” Worry painted on the irises of his eyes, blocking out the darker colour of brown. “You don’t know where it is either.”
“You sure you wanna doubt me?”
“What the fuck do you want Mr. Hayes?”
“A deal,” I replied. “You and I both know you have no interest in being CEO. If you can persuade the board members to sell me three percent of their shares, I can become CEO of Starlight, merge it with Moonshine, and return double the number of shares.” Step two was almost complete. “I’ll gain access to the file and give whatever belongs to you.”
One by one, each board member would be destroyed.
“You expect me to believe that?” Harry scoffed, running a shaky hand through his overly styled hair. “You’re marrying Ms. Mikael, Mr. Hayes. There’s a conflict of interest.”
Her name caught onto the unspoken gooeyness in my throat. You don’t deserve her , it said as it tugged against the deceit. What can I do? Avenging my mother was more important than getting back together with Adelaide. Even if that’s what I— deep down —wanted.
“A woman belongs at home and not in the office.” My lies would keep Harry in his bubble for as long as I needed.
“How do I believe you about the file?”
“Let’s just say there’s something in that file I need to get rid of, so it doesn’t affect my business.”
“Never knew you’d be one of us, Mr. Hayes.” He stood, fixing his tie. “You have yourself a deal.”
“Not just yet.” I added a tsk . “Stop the investigation and give Adelaide her role back.”
If I knew anything about the man in front of me, he’d act like he was on my side, but he’d find a reason to push Adelaide under the bus if things didn’t work out.
“Excuse me?” Harry’s voice was close to yelling, appalled by the suggestion. “Your words are contradictory, Mr. Hayes. Women should stay at home, but you want Adelaide back?”
“This isn’t up for negotiation,” I simply commanded. “If you want those files, you’ll do as I say.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
A dark chuckle.
That’s where he was wrong. “Not when it comes to my wife.” Fuck . Calling her my wife had a ring to it that made my blood rush to my groin way too fucking fast.
Now really wasn’t the fucking time.
“Stop it or else the deal is off,” an indignant shrug would be enough to knock his senses back in his brain. “If you don’t, I won’t hesitate to reveal to the world that it was you and your friends who were behind that scandal.”
Shock swarmed through his mouth to his brows. “Fine,” he said. “You have yourself a deal.”
We shook hands to seal the deal. It should feel great. I’d been planning this for seven fucking years.
Except the sudden ache in my chest made it feel far less than okay.
Count to fucking eight.
That’s what I told myself when I saw her talking to Harry—the fucker was getting revenge for this morning—he had his arms around her, and she was fucking panicking— shaking and no one was doing anything about it.
Count to eight.
That’s what I told myself when I thought she could handle it. She was awkwardly moving away from him and was rigid as fuck. But she had this. I had nothing—absolutely nothing to fucking worry about.
One more second and I bet the fucktard would come in his pants from hugging her.
Count to?—
Fuck that.
Striding over in their direction, I pulled Adelaide out of his measly arms. Her body instantly melted into mine. Fuck .
“Mr. Hayes,” the bastard smiled like he didn’t just have his filthy fucking hands on my wife. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
“Is it?” I raised a brow, questioning his very perverted action of groping her at our engagement party. “You had your hands on my wife.”
“She isn’t your wife yet ,” he replied with a subtle tilt to his head. “No woman is truly ever taken.”
“The fuck did you just say?” I grunted menacingly. What kind of stupid fucking thought was that? His eye twitched, yeah, the fucker was trying to fuck with me. If he hadn’t been punished enough with his stupid fucking face, I’d beat the shit out of him.
Adelaide was cold in my arms, loose hairs from her braid clung to her neck.
“Baby,” I whispered. “Are you okay?”
She barely nodded.
Tightening my arms around her, I pointed a finger at Harry. “Stay the fuck away from my wife.”
“What will you do if I don’t?”
Reel it in, Christian. He’s doing it on purpose.
Gasps echoed across the room when I pulled him by his collar. His eyes bulged out of their sockets when I said, “You know exactly what I’d do.”
As soon as I dropped his collar, Harry cleared his throat and all but scurried out of here.
“Christian,” she whispered. “Let go of me.”
People were, in fact, paying attention to us now, which was just great. This was clearly what we needed for the engagement.
“You’ve done what you needed to do,” she stepped away. Looking everywhere but at me.
What is she talking about?
I found Hasan standing next to Osama. “What happened?” I mouthed to Hasan, who shrugged. Osama tilted his head to Hana.
She stared at us with a champagne flute in her hands, smiling… giddily at me. Jutting her head to Adelaide, Hana pressed her fingertips together to make a circle, then extended her other fingers outside and moved it with a tiny flourish.
Giving me the excellent sign.
“Are you jealous?” I smirked.
“Why would I be jealous over you?” She narrowed her eyes. “Be with whoever you want, fuck whoever you want, see if I care.”
My lips fell.
Muscles tensing.
I was fucking tired. “You know what,” I gritted. “Maybe I will.”
“You should.”
“I will.”
“Fine.”
“Okay.”
“ Whatever .”
Both of us were breathing heavily. Our chests knocking the breath out of our bodies—figuring out a way to fucking survive the turmoil of each other’s animosity. Maybe it would have been better to tell her Hana was just an old friend, that she was a client and we bonded over fucking threads and shit.
But I was pissed at her for thinking I could be the kind of man to openly cheat on his wife .
For looks purposes, I took the black fucking velvet box out of my pocket. Gasps echoed across the hall—putting shaming to the orchestra. “Give me your hand.”
“No.”
I gave her a dark look.
She extended her hand, and I slipped the blue diamond back where it fucking belonged.
Everyone started clapping.
Detective Rowlen stood in his corner, wearing a suit, and watching carefully. When my eyes caught his, he lifted his glass up in congratulations.
Adelaide was going to be the fucking death of me, and I hated her for it.
Real or fake, she was going to be my wife.
Whatever it’d take, I’d get her to trust me again.
Even if it fucking meant losing my damn mind to get there.