The Billionaire's Replacement

CHAPTER SEVEN - WARNINGS AND SECRETS

Emma's POV

I hurried down the stairs, letting the maid lead me to where my mother was waiting.

My heart raced extremely faster as I took each step down the stairs. What would my mother be doing here? How did she even find me? After all, she said she would cut me off if I married Jeremy.

The maid eventually halted in her steps, we were now in the small sitting room and I found my mother waiting by the entrance.

My mother hurried forward the moment our eyes met. "Emma."

“What are you doing here?” I asked with my brows furrowed in confusion.

My mother hastily grabbed my hands. "Emma, you need to leave this family."

“Stop!” I pushed her hands off mine.

"Emma, you need to leave the mansion! Divorce that man and come back home.” Her voice was low and urgent.

“Or what?” I snapped at her. “Are you going to threaten to cut me off again?”

“Emma, I am saying this because I care about you.” My mother flashed me pleading eyes.

I scoffed in disbelief. “If you cared about me then you would have supported me! You would have helped me find out what happened to dad!”

For twenty-three years, my mother had avoided talking about my father's death. She hated hearing anything about my father and that made our relationship very complicated.

“There's still time, you can still leave. Leave before you become the same thing that happened to Jeremy Bennett’s ex fiancee.”

I was getting sick and tired of her warnings. It was obvious that she knew something but she was intentionally hiding it away from me.

“You need to leave.” I pointed to the door.

“Em–” My mum started but I cut off her immediately. “If you are not willing to help me uncover the truth about dad's death then leave!”

I expected my mother to press forward but surprisingly, she just turned around and made her way towards the entrance.

“Of course! Run away from the truth like you always do!” I yelled angrily as she walked out and slammed the door in my face.

I stood there, staring at the closed door and wondering why my mother was always so afraid of the truth or rather afraid of what would happen if I discovered it.

I walked back to my room with my mother's words echoing in my head. Fortunately for me, Jeremy was no longer in my room so I wouldn't face any questioning from him until tomorrow.

I threw myself carelessly on the bed and rested my head against the pillow.

Right now, all I needed was sleep.

The next morning, as usual I was at the dining room at exactly eight.

I halted at the entrance when I noticed Jeremy was wasn't alone at the dining room, The man sitting beside him was the same man I'd met the previous day outside Gabriel's office.

Adrian Beaumont, Gabriel's son.

His eyes landed on me and a smile spread across his face.

"Good morning, Emma."

"Uhm, hi.” I paused to clear my throat. Isettled down on the seat opposite Jeremy.

“Why do you sound so casual around her?” Jeremy raised a brow at Adrian.

"Oh, I totally forgot to tell you. I met your wife yesterday."

Jeremy glanced at him. "Did you?"

"Yes." Adrian paused to chuckle. "She's actually very funny."

I nearly choked on my tea from the death glare Jeremy shot at me. "Funny huh?"

"Very." Adrian nodded, his smile not fading for once.

Jeremy picked up his coffee and took a small sip from it. "That's a shocker, she's usually grumpy around me ninety-nine percent of the time."

"I'm not grumpy." I snapped at him.

"You were yesterday." Jeremy snapped back at me.

"You were annoying yesterday."

"See?" He paused to look at Adrian. "Exactly what I mean."

Adrian on the other hand was clearly enjoying himself.

I folded my arms. "Maybe I'm only grumpy around you because you're impossible."

Jeremy raised a brow at me. "And yet you married me."

“I–” I was speechless. I couldn't exactly make it known to Adrian that the marriage was strictly a contract orchestrated by his own father.

“You two are a really good match.” Adrian laughed.

Jeremy gave him a flat look. "That's not funny."

"As much as I would love to see you two lovebirds argue, I have stuffs to do.” Adrian stood, still smiling. “Don't forget what we talked about, Jer.”

Adrian walked past me and quietly mumbled. "See you around, Emma."

I flashed him a small smile.

After Adrian left, Jeremy and I ate breakfast in silence, although I could feel his judgemental gaze on me.

After breakfast, Jeremy stood. “You're coming with me to work today.”

I raised a brow at him. “Why?”

“Right after work, I have dinner with several major shareholders tonight. There will be people from the board there." He paused to adjust the hem of his shirt. “I need my wife beside me."

I couldn't protest so I just nodded my head and went straight into my room to change into decent clothes.

Afterwards, I joined Jeremy in the black convertible. As expected, he wasn't the one behind the wheels.

The drive to the company was mostly quiet.

I looked out the window while Jeremy worked through emails on his phone.

After some minutes, he finally spoke. "I didn't know you and Adrian were close."

I turned toward him, he had dropped his phone already and his full attention was on me. "We aren't."

"He seemed very comfortable with you.” Jeremy pointed out.

I raised a brow. “Should I be worried about that?”

"No.” He paused to shift his gaze back to his phone. “I don't care who you talk to."

I didn't say anything, I turned back toward the window and neither of us spoke for the rest of the drive.

We finally arrived, The Bennett headquarters was huge. It was practically made of glass and steel. There were several people rushing everywhere. Everyone seemed busy.

The moment Jeremy stepped through the entrance, everyone seemed to halt in whatever they were doing, they bowed their heads at us as we made our way towards the entrance.

I noticed no one dared to make eye contact with us, everyone literally had their head bowed

We entered the private elevator and when the doors opened, Jeremy led me into his office.

"Wait here, I need to see someone.” He said.

I nodded, my eyes gazing around the spacious area. It was exactly what I'd expected, cold, expensive and immaculate.

My eyes shifted to the direction of his desk and I felt instant curiosity.

I walked towards the desk and carefully opened one drawer.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just documents, pens and a few files.

Just as I was about to push the drawer close, I noticed a small black box tucked beneath a stack of papers, I pulled it out.

It was a photograph inside of it. My curiosity grew as I picked it up.

It was a photograph of a little boy, he stood in front of what looked like an orphanage, his small face turned toward the camera.

I stared at him and I noticed something about his eyes. It looked strangely familiar.

I gripped the photograph tight and looked at the boy again.

Those eyes... I had seen them before.