A Fiance For The Holiday

Chapter 003: Long Time No See

~XAVIER~

*News Headlines: Xavier Delgado finally shows his true colors. Scandalous affair with an unknown woman caught on camera*

I clench my fist as I angrily slam the computer shut. I turn to my secretary who seems to be trembling a bit.

Pathetic!

“And why are you showing me this now?!” I thunder and she flinches as she bows her head low.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t think you’d be interested in this one as you always ignore rumors like this.” She replies, her voice breaking as she does so.

“Except this isn’t a rumor!” I yell as I slam my hands on the table, making her shiver in fear.

“Forgive me, sir. I’ll be careful next time—”

“Next time?” I cut her off, letting out a scoff.

“Since you obviously can’t do your job well then I’ll find someone who can!”

“Please forgive me sir, I promise this won’t happen again.” She begs but that only irritates me.

“You have five seconds to rid me of your pathetic self.” I warn and she scurries away before I even begin counting.

“Another one? That’s the fifth secretary you’ve fired this month.” I hear the annoying voice of Manuel as he makes his way into my office.

“Feel free to join them if you want to.” I respond with a frown.

“Oh lighten up, would you? It’s just a silly headline. Everyone gets involved in a scandal every now and then.” He says with a slight chuckle and I glare at him.

“Fine, I’ll have it all taken down.”

“It doesn’t matter. She should have seen it by now.” I let out a frustrated sigh as I run my hand through my short dark hair.

“Should I begin a countdown?” Manuel asks and almost immediately, my phone rings. “Speak of the devil.” Manuel chuckles and I glare at him before picking up the phone, making sure to keep it at a safe distance away from my ear.

“XAVIER CHRISTOPHER DELGADO! What in the name of crisis is going on?!”

“You’re done for it.” Manuel says as he holds back his laugh.

“Grandma, I have everything under control—”

“Under control?! You call those dropping charts under control?!” Madam Odell, my grandmother yells over the phone.

For someone that old, she sure has a lot of energy.

“I’ve already called up a board meeting to tackle the sudden drop in charts and sales rank.” I respond and I hear her sigh from the other end of the line.

“We are this close to launching our holiday sales project. We can’t have such scandals getting in our way!”

“I’ll have the posts taken down and—”

“Who said anything about taking it down? Since you were careless with your affairs and got caught on camera, you are going to give the public what they want.” Grandma says firmly and I frown a bit.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

I have a feeling I won’t like the answer.

“I want you to marry that woman.”

“What?!” I exclaim as I sit up straight. She can’t be serious.

“You heard me. And bring her along when you’re coming home next week.”

“Grandma, you can’t expect me to get married all of a sudden. I already told you I would settle down when I’m ready.” I try to reason with her but it’s as though she has been waiting for such an opportunity for long.

“When you’re ready? You mean when I’m dead and gone then?”

“Grandma,”

“If you want to keep your precious position in that company or keep your name in the family Will, then you will do as I say. I’ll be expecting you both by next week.” The call ends after that and I slam my hand on the table angrily.

“That woman really knows how to put the F in fear. Look, I already have goosebumps.” Manuel says and I shut my eyes, trying to calm my nerves.

“How about you make yourself useful and find out who that woman is.” I say to him as I open my computer again and stare at the headlines.

It’s been two weeks since the one night stand and for some annoying reasons, I couldn’t seem to get it off my mind.

The look of horror on her face when she saw me, probably disappointed that I wasn’t Lucas. Whoever that is.

And not to forget the clean slap she gave me. No one, man or woman has ever dared to do such a thing, which made me assume she didn’t know of my identity. If that were the case then why did she come into my room at that exact moment?

I shake my head as I push all thoughts of her at the back of my mind. I don’t care about her reasons, however she has successfully tied herself to me. I guess in the end, she did have a motive.

“If you’re done daydreaming, I was saying that I had already looked up the woman’s information.” Manuel’s voice snaps me back to reality and I stare at him intently.

“And?” I ask expectantly.

“It looks like she’s been abroad for a while and returned recently. She seems to be in some hot water with loan sharks at the moment.” He replies as he places a folder on my table.

I open it and go through the file with a slight frown on my face.

“And here I thought she was a saint. She needed money to pay off her debt and so she bags herself a billionaire. Pathetic!” I let out a scoff as I toss the file to Manuel.

“What do you want me to do?” He asks in a serious tone, his playful personality is now gone.

“Draft out a contract for me, I’ll let you in on the details later. We’re paying Miss loan shark a visit after my meeting.” I reply as I stand up from my chair and make my way to the door.

“Olivia Denovan, that’s her name.” Manuel says as I walk out of the office.

“Whatever.” I respond dryly.

“With that attitude, you might as well end up alone.” He mutters and I let out a scoff.

“A lot of women would die just to hold my hand.” I counter proudly as I walk further away from the office. I hear him mumble some words but can’t make it out.

I make my way into the conference room and the board members were all present.

“So, can anyone explain why our rates are suddenly depleting?” I ask as I walk over to my chair and settle down.

“We believe it’s due to your recent… rendezvous.” Fredrick, the oldest member of the committee speaks up.

“So you want me to believe that all this is because of a single photo?” I ask with a frown as I try to keep my anger in check.

“You have always been putting up such an uptight front since you were made the CEO of Nexus Global Cooperation, but after those photos were leaked, a lot of assumptions have been made about you lately and our rivals have taken the opportunity to push forward new brand sales.” Edward, the head of the Finance Department responds.

“Then what are you waiting for? Push out new brands as well!” I snap.

“With the holiday sales project approaching, I don’t think that will be a good idea, sir.” Rachel, the Marketing manager responds and I clench my fists.

“Then that simply means you are not competent enough to work with us. You’re dismissed.” I say coldly and she stares at me in total bewilderment.

“Sir,”

“Do I need to call security?” I ask not sparing her a glance and she quietly gathers her stuff and leaves the room.

“Now, let’s be serious. What can we do to level up our charts while I handle this annoying scandal?” I ask firmly and the members begin to whisper to one another while I impatiently wait for their feedback.

“We could make an open statement, that would at least clarify the misunderstanding.” Fredrick suggests after a while.

“I’m not doing that.” I respond firmly.

“But Mr. Delgado—”

“If that’s the only thing you could come up with then you do it!” I snap and the room falls silent. “This meeting is over. I want those charts up before the next meeting.” I state this as I stand from my chair and walk towards the exit. I have wasted enough time already.

I meet Manuel at the door the moment I walk out and I don’t say anything as I walk right past him. We leave the company building and Manuel opens the car door for me to enter.

Yes, he is my driver, my personal advisor even when I don’t need his dumb advice and as much as I hate to admit it, he is also a really close friend, but no way in hell will I let him know that. It’ll only make him feel more entitled,

We arrive at a remote part of the city and Manuel parks in front of an old but moderate building.

“Is this the place?” I ask with a frown as Manuel alights the car and opens the door for me.

“Were you expecting a diamond castle?” He asks instead.

I ignore his question and step out of the car.

As we near the porch, we hear distant arguments which becomes clear when we reach the entrance door.

“Let go of me!”

“We warned you of the consequences if you didn’t pay up. Maybe you can put this body of yours to good use.”

“Get your dirty hands off me!”

“Let go of my daughter!”

I don’t like the sound of what I am hearing as it seems they are being harassed by some men.

I turn to Manuel and he understands the message as he kicks open the door, drawing the attention of the men.

“Who the hell is this? I hope he has my money or else…”

I wait outside as Manuel takes care of the men and shortly after, I see all three running out of the house in a beat up state.

“Are you alright?” I hear Manuel ask and that’s when I step in. My gaze lands on the frail looking brunette woman on the floor as Manuel helps her up. She doesn’t seem to notice my presence yet.

“Thank you but who are you, and what are you doing in my house?” She asks Manuel who simply turns his head in my direction.

She stares at me for a while as though trying to recall where she’s seen me before. She seems to have remembered as her gaze suddenly darkens.

“Long time no see, Cinderella.” I say with a smirk.

“You!” She yells as she glares hard at me. If eyes could kill, I wouldn’t want to be in her line of sight right now.

Well then, this should be fun.