on the other side

CHAPTER 4 ( LIES FOR TIES )

Grey's pov

I wasn’t a morning person, but today, I had a purpose. The contract was signed; Seraphim was bound to me now, whether she liked it or not. I wanted to see if she’d really follow through, or if she’d run the first chance she got.

So I drove myself down to the shabby neighborhood I had only been to once before. I didn’t even bother calling ahead; she would have no excuse.

The door swung open after my third knock, and there she was — hair a little messy, face still carrying the softness of sleep. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Wait—what the hell? How do you know where I live?” she asked, her voice half-panicked, half-irritated.

I smirked. “You signed papers, Seraphim. Did you really think I wouldn’t know the details of where my… wife lives?”

She glared at me. “Don’t call me that.”

“Fine,” I shrugged. “Pack your things. You’re moving into the mansion. Today.”

Her lips parted as though she was about to protest, but then she stopped. Something flickered in her eyes — worry, maybe guilt. She thought of someone, I could tell. Then her gaze hardened.

“Give me five minutes.”

When she returned, she had a small bag with her. “I already spoke to Nurse Riley,” she muttered quickly, almost like she was justifying herself to me, though I hadn’t asked. “She’s looking after Nana while I’m gone.”

I raised a brow. “Good. Now let’s go.”

Seraphim’s POV

"why the hell would he just come at this time", I thought, I sat on my bed for a while and started thinking of what to do , I can't leave Nana alone, all by her self, but then immediately a thought stroke in. " Yeah , yeah , nurse Riley, I'll call her now" I whispered to myself as I picked up my phone and called her, I told her that I was going on a job hunt and I didn't know when I would be back, but it won't be long, so I needed her to be Nana's care giver, and just as I expected, she gave in.

after sorting things out with nurse Riley , I picked a few clothes, put them in a small bag and went out to him. He stood there waiting for me to finish up. The.

I remembered I hadn't gone to check up on Nana, so I immediately rushed back to check her, she was still sleeping, peacefully, and just at that moment I wished it could always be this peaceful.

Anyways I snapped out of my thoughts and went back to the parlor, where grey was.

When he saw me he rolled his eyes and said " well you know time doesn't just freeze and wait for you to be done with whatever you're doing right" I looked at him wishing I could just hit him on the head " says the guy that came without saying he was" I thought.

We got into his car, and hit the road for his house, the car indeed smelt like money " these people are stinking rich" I thought, as everyone was silent.

we got there in an hour.

I walked in, and the mansion felt unreal, like stepping into a world that didn’t belong to me. Everything gleamed — polished floors, glittering chandeliers, walls that held more worth than my entire house. I felt out of place the moment I walked in, and Grey knew it. I could see the satisfaction in his eyes as he watched me quietly gape.

“Close your mouth,” he said flatly. “You’ll give yourself away before my parents even meet you.”

“I’m not some clueless girl,” I snapped back, though my tone lacked conviction. My heart raced. What was I doing here? How did my life spiral into this charade?

Grey walked ahead, his posture stiff, his presence demanding. “We’ll need to create stories,” he said. “About how we met, why I chose you, where you come from. My parents will ask questions — a lot of them. If you mess this up, Seraphim, I lose everything. And if I lose, you lose too.”

I swallowed hard. He was right. Still, the arrogance in his voice burned me. “Don’t worry. I’m a fast learner.”

“Good,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t believe me.

The next hours blurred into an exhausting practice session. We sat across from each other in the grand dining room, a notepad between us. Grey’s handwriting was sharp and precise, each invented fact about me scribbled down like a checklist.

“You grew up in Atlanta,” he said firmly. “Your father was a businessman, your mother a schoolteacher. They both passed away in a car accident when you were seventeen.”

I frowned. “That’s… dark.”

“Do you want it to sound believable or not?”

I sighed. “Fine.”

“Good. And we met…”

“At the restaurant where I worked,” I said quickly, remembering his script. “You noticed me one night when you came in with friends. You asked me out. I said no, but you kept coming back until I said yes.”

He smirked faintly. “See? You can play along when you want to.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get used to it.”

But despite our rehearsals, there were cracks. Sometimes I forget the details. Sometimes he got annoyed. Sometimes, in the middle of our fake love story, our real dislike for each other surfaced, and the whole thing fell apart in arguments.

I was already drained out by the entire story line we tried to bring up, after dinner, I just laid on my bed helplessly, I was exhausted, and just when I started dozing off, I heard a knock on the door, and behold it was him, yeah Grey.

" What do you want" I asked withixed feelings, anger and tiredness , " oh, in my house , you're asking me what I'm doing in my house , I can go anywhere I want as long as I own the property right?" he replied sarcastically.

" well if you really want to do this with me, you're going to respect my privacy, and yes I know you're going to tell me I'm doing it for the money, but guess what, yes I am, and I also don't see you giving away ten bands for nothing sake alright, you need something from me don't you ? I've had enough of you today already , so I need you to leave and let me rest, and yeah it's OUR house remember! , That's what you said" I said angrily.

"okay, you need to watch your anger issues cause I don't think my parents will buy that, and if the don't, then I don't get what I want, which means you've failed, and if you've failed, then you don't get s**t, so you need to mind your tone woman, and yes it's our house for the main time" he said with a grin as he patted my shoulder and left.

I stood there speechless, as he opened the door again and told me I'm meeting his parents tomorrow. Now I knew I was damned, we hadn't even gotten our story right.