Married To Bury His Secrets: Caught Between Two CEOs

Chapter Three

—Anthony

Two nights ago.

In the pitch black darkness of my hospital room, a little after eleven that night, I made a phone call to an old friend and my former boss.

"Daniel?" my voice broke the silence in the room.

The other end was quiet for a while but I could hear faintly the sound of someone breathing.

More breathing, until finally, "I didn't think I'd ever hear your voice again, Anthony."

"Or you hoped you would never hear it again?"

Silence.

"I need a favour. I would not be calling if it was not very important."

"I assume that's why you're calling at almost midnight. What do you need, Anthony?"

"My daughter," I paused, trying to make sure I was certain about the next few words I was about to say.

"I need to make sure she's protected after I'm gone. Protected with your name."

For the first time since the call began, Daniel Coleman did not sound so composed.

"Are you asking what I think you are?" His voice let out a hint of fear, worry maybe.

"Yes."

"You're asking me to take her in?"

"I'm asking you to arrange a marriage between your son and my daughter."

Silence. The longest one since the call began. Neither of us said anything for a long moment.

Finally Daniel said, "Dominic would never agree to that. You've seen the papers, you know how he is."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. A father like you would surely know how to make his child obey."

"You're asking that I use my son to repay a debt that he knows nothing about?"

"Yes."

"And if I refuse? If I say no?"

Daniel's words caught me unprepared. I hesitated to reply.

"Then I go to my grave a man worried about his child's safety."

The quiet that followed went on so long, I thought Daniel had dropped the call. Then, suddenly, "I will do it. I'll get Dominic to settle down. It'll be best for him too."

"I'll make the arrangements. I'll tie his inheritance to the condition that he marries your daughter. If there's one thing my son cares about, it's his part in the Coleman Group."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Anthony. I owe you this much. Who knows what prison I'd be rotting in right now if it weren't for you? I owe you a lot more than this."

"Thank you still." I waited another second then hung up.

I lay in the dark, my eyes to the ceiling, my breath held and my heart heavy in my chest as I contemplated what I had just done.

Two days after.

—Sophia

He looked like himself again, I thought as I sat next to my father's body.

His hands were cold and his eyes shut but he looked like he was at peace. At least those were the words Lily kept using to describe it.

"Peace," she said. "He's at peace now."

But all I wanted to do was scream and shout and cry. I wanted to tear the hospital down.

I walked to the nurse at the door and grabbed her by her shirt. "I don't understand, the doctor said he had at least another year."

"I.. I don't know ma’am." The nurse had no answers for me. She was just scared.

Lily and Robin were almost restraining me and consoling me at the same time.

For the rest of the day, Lily stayed by my side, even at night when I could not sleep. When all I could think about was how the last conversation I had with my father ended in a fight.

We had the funeral the next day. It was held outside, officiated by a priest in a graveyard close to where I lived with my father.

"Beautiful ceremony, your father would have loved it," a woman I had never met held my hands and said as she offered her condolences.

That day, I got a message from the hospital saying all my outstanding bills had been paid for by some anonymous donor but I suspected who it was.

In the midst of the hundreds of people gathered at my father's grave, all dressed in black with tads of white, gray and green here and there, I spotted him, Dominic Coleman.

He was hard to miss. His tall physique ensured that he towered over the crowd. He had two men in dark shades always by his side. His bodyguards, I presumed.

His eyes wandered and then he caught me staring. I wished I had looked away because now he was walking towards me.

"Miss Williams," his deep voice cut through the wailing silence around me.

"My name is Dominic Coleman."

"I know who you are." I realized my tone was aggressive only after I'd said the words.

"Ah," a wicked grin formed on his face. "Then you must know that I had only the utmost respect for your father. We may not have met but my father has told me all about him."

"Your father?"

"Ah, yes. He should be somewhere here. Surely, you couldn't have missed the Daniel Coleman."

I could not decide if it was sarcasm or sincerity beneath his perpetual smugness.

"Anyways, I am very deeply sorry for your loss."

Then he bent towards me and whispered the next words into my ear.

"See you soon, Mrs. Coleman." All the while grinning before walking away with his bodyguards.

"I see you've met my son." Daniel Coleman almost startled me when he sneaked up on me like that.

"Mr. Coleman!"

"Pardon me," he stretched out his hand, asking for mine. I gave it to him and he kissed it.

"Allow me to say how sorry I am about your father. He was a good man."

Daniel Coleman was charming. It was in the way he spoke, the striking physical resemblance to his son, the calm about him, the way he kissed my hand.

"Were you the one who paid my father's hospital bills?"

"Yes. I'm sure you must have so many questions." Daniel responded in his cool and collected manner.

"Come live at the Coleman mansion and I'll tell you everything you need to know."