contracted to my ruthless CEO

Chapter 3: The man from the rain

“I’m fine Gerard. Don’t call the ambulance.” His father's voice came out trembling.

Daniella paused, with her mouth slightly open, she looked at him for a moment, the phone still in her hands.

“Sir, are you sure you're okay?” Her voice trembled.

“Yes I am.”

Gerard froze for a moment and kept staring at them exchanging puzzled glances. Richard was helped back to his chair. Gerard sat beside him, his jaw tightened as his chest pounded in and out quickly. Daniella was still at the corner, standing and watching. Her throat went dry as she couldn't say a word.

Richard looks at his son. “I’m sure you already know it by now Gerard. I’m dying” His voice came out low.

Gerard didn’t not move, he didn’t speak. He just sat there with his jaw tight and his eyes fixed on his father's face waiting for the part where it turned out not to be true. But it never came.

"I can feel it." his father said. "At most. I'll be gone soon.”

“Dad don't say that please.” Gerard's voice cracked.

The room went completely silent.

“Years ago, I had a deal with Victor Mills.” His voice dropped as he began explaining. “We agreed our children would both marry each other in their adulthood. In order to keep saving the company and sharing the company's revenue.” He concluded as his eyes met the floor.

Gerard's mouth fell open. He sat still. His eyes shifted to another end of the room. “Dad? How could you do that? You had no right.”

His father didn't argue. “No. I don't.” He paused as he glanced at him. “But that’s why I am telling you now anyway.”

Daniella on the other hand was still sitting in the corner. She didn’t make a single sound. With her face facing the ground and her hands folded in her lap.

Gerard slowly stood up, shook his head slightly, glared at his father for a moment. Then left the room without saying a single word.

Daniella watches him leave quietly. She stood up and tried following him outside. But Richard stopped her.

“You are a smart woman,” He said quietly.

Daniella paused but didn’t looked back.

“And you’re definitely smart enough to know when something is already settled.” Daniella turned around, looked at him then smiled. Before she continued moving out.

She quietly shut the door behind her and paused. Her hands were placed on her chest breathing loudly. Her feet trembled. Her vision blurred.

“This can't be possible”She whispered to herself.

It was clear. He didn't need her. His father didn't want her. She slowly pressed herself to the ground thinking. After a while, she slowly stood up, wiped her face, fixed her dress, and left.

Morning came too fast.

Stacy woke up with her cheeks still swollen and red. She sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes were heavy but she still had to get ready for work as usual. She stood at the bathroom mirror and looked at herself for a long moment. She had already decided.

The answer was No. And still wouldn't change no matter what happens.

She got dressed. Her documents were placed in her bag correctly. Just then her phone rings, it was her father. She stares at it until it stops. Then a notification came throug. It was a message.

It wasn’t from her father. But from an unknown number.

"Miss Mills. My name is Eleanor Hayes. I am the executive assistant to Gerard Blackwood. Mr. Blackwood requests your presence at Crestline Holdings today at noon. This is not optional.”

Stacy carefully read the message again and again. She blinks and puts her phone back down. She sat quietly for a moment. Then she picks up her bag, and walks away.

In the cab, she kept muttering to herself. “I am not going. But what if I tell them in person that I'm not interested?” She thought eventually.

“Street 9.0 Crestline holdings” She immediately told the driver. “Please take me there. Now!”

She stood in front of the building. Her heart raced. Her body trembled. She walked slowly in. Everyone worked In black suits moving up and down.

She lifts her chin despite her outfit and walks to the reception. “Good day madam. My name is Stacy Mills, and I'm here to see Eleanor Hayes.”

“Welcome ma'am. Please just be patient” The receptionist quickly dialed a number. In less than a minute, Eleanor Hayes appears wearing an expensive suit. Her face holding a bold expression.

She looks at her from head to toe. “You must be Stacy… right?” she asked blankly.

But Stacy didn't respond. Her eyes were on Eleanor.

“Come with me” She takes Stacy to the elevator immediately.

The doors opened on the exclusive floor. And Gerard Blackwood is standing at the end of the corridor with his back to her, phone against his ear, one hand in his pocket.

Just then Stacy stopped walking. Her stomach dropped before her mind caught up. Her heart slowed.. She froze.

He turned around and looked at her, their eyes meet again. He had a flashback, The rain, the puddle, the glasses. And the words "And do I look like I care?"

Recognition moves across his face in exactly the same second it moves across hers. Immediate. And completely impossible to take back. Eleanor looks between them. Her head swung from left till right. She says nothing. Gerard ended his call as his hands slowly went down.

After a long pause, he walked toward her slowly with his hands in his pockets and that unbothered expression she knows he already has. But stops two feet away. "Miss Mills." His voice came out steady.

"You." Her voice came out before she could stop it.

The corner of his mouth moved. Not quite a smile but something colder. "Apparently," he says quietly, "It seems we have a problem.”

"We don't have anything," she says. "I came here to tell you personally what I already told my father. The answer is no. It was no last night and it is still no right now and it will still be no when I walk out of this building.”

Gerard studied her for a long moment. Like she was a variable he is calculating rather than a person he is speaking to.Then he said. "Vantex made their move this morning." He paused, searching her eyes. "Your father's company has forty eight hours before they lose everything. So by all means," he says quietly, turning back toward his desk, "Walk away."

He stopped at the desk without turning around.

"But when you do, make sure you have already said goodbye to everything your father spent his life building. Because it will be gone before you reach the pavement. And maybe you too”

Stacy turned back. “What do you mean?”

She was still standing in the corridor waiting for his answer when her phone buzzed in her bag. She ignored it. Only when the elevator doors closed behind her and Eleanor did she pull it out.

It was from an unknown number. "You don't know what you just walked into."