The Reckless Marriage

Chapter 12: A Shocking Announcement

I walked up nervously to the crowd as everyone stared at me all at once.  Seeing all the blank eyes on me, make me quite nervous about everything.  

Looking up at Mr Grayson, I found an annoyed look on his face. I gulped as I finally reached the centre of the room. 

Standing next to Jake, I leaned towards him and whispered, “What’s happening?”  

“I have no clue!” he whispered in response. Jake seemed like a great person... the sweet look on his face along with the welcoming aura around him, made him an easy person to approach.  

I tried my best to compose myself and not succumb to my nervousness. Mr. Grayson scared me more than Katie did! And that’s saying a lot!  

Speaking of the devil himself, I was able to see Mr Grayson or Mr Arrogant as I rightfully call him, stand up on an elevated surface from the ground, on looking the four of us.  

My conscience alerted me that what was about to happen, was not going to be a good one.  

I got nervous but what else was new? 

“I would like to make an announcement.” Mr Grayson announced with a loud voice that engulfed the whole living room. The intensity and seriousness of his voice could be felt immediately by us. 

“As you all may not know, I will be in talks with a few huge companies this week in order to purchase them! Which means, you guys will have to work double your shifts to ensure we get the contracts, paperwork etc done properly... I will not tolerate any kind of sloppy work.” He said in a threatening voice.  

My soul left my body when he said that. The files he had given were too much to take in and now the work is going to be doubled? I became exhausted just thinking about it.  

“Especially from you Ms. Williams!”! 

When I heard him say that, I wanted to say a lot of stuff to him but I knew I couldn’t so I just kept quiet.  

Mia and the rest starred at me, thanks to Mr Arrogant for putting the spotlight on me. Targeting me was so humiliating in front of my new co-workers. 

“Double the shift means you all will be working for extensive periods of time, and going back home everyday would make no sense whatsoever! So, you all will be staying at my home for the whole month!” 

My jaw dropped to the floor when he mentioned that. What on earth was he talking about?  

Living here? With him? No! I couldn’t! I couldn’t even imagine how much torture I would have to bear just staying here for another hour, let alone a month.  

Everyone else too were stunned by his weird decision. He didn’t even consult this with us.  

As the murmurs in the room started to grow, so did the questions.  

“What if I don’t want to stay?”  

“I have a family, I couldn’t just leave them for a month. Can you please get an alternate method sir?”  

Jake and Piper continued to raise their concerns while Mia and I stood silent. I admired their courage to raise a question against his decision.  

I didn’t quite know why Mia remained quiet. In fact, I was puzzled at the fact that she was smiling. It looked like she was given something so valuable to her.  

Anyways, I, on the other hand was filled with doubts and concerns that I wanted to raise to Mr Grayson but I couldn’t find the courage to do so.  

I knew if I even said one word, he would snap at me and God only knew what he would do to me. I didn’t want to revise another thick file again.  

“Silence!” Mr Arrogant yelled which stunned all of us. His screams were enough to send shivers down our spines. We stood still at our positions and didn’t dare to open our mouths for any reason.  

“All of you can call your families and let them know about this. Remember, you are telling them, not asking them. I don’t care about your concerns and my decision is final!”  

“If anyone disagrees, the door is wide open and if you leave, mark my words, I would never allow anyone to hire any of you in the future!” he added with an intense expression on his face.  

The anger built within him was so evident that it made us lower our heads.  

This guy was capable to ruin our lives at the snap of his finger so none of dared to do anything again.  

As Mr Arrogant left the room, one by one, Jake, Piper and Mia left to call their respective families to inform them about the situation.  

I went towards the area beneath the large staircase to talk to Katie in private. When Katie answered the call, with a sigh, I informed her about everything in detail.  

“What? Are you serious? Who is going to cook the food and scrub the floors? Me?” she asked with a dumbstruck tone in her voice. 

I knew she was going to ask these exact questions as I was usually the one who would complete the house chores.  

“Don’t worry Katie, you can call a maid and I will pay her with the money I earn here.” I said even though I didn’t want to. 

I wanted to save as much money as possible to get us out of debt but I knew that if I didn’t do this, Katie would’ve have treated dad badly and make him, her personal servant.  

After hearing my solution, it didn’t take too long for Katie to change from an angry wildebeest into a happy quokka.  

She hung up without even asking me how I was or anything regarding my wellbeing but it was something I got used to.  

The one thing that saddened me was that she didn’t even allow me to talk to dad for a moment. I always wondered what was wrong with dad to marry such a witch like her! 

“Are you done?” I heard from the staircase above me.  

I turned around with a jerk and saw Mr Grayson standing tall in front of me with his charming blue eyes looking down upon me.  

I nodded in response to his question timidly.  

Even though I looked calm on the outside, I was super anxious on the inside and I was hoping that he wouldn’t make me study files considering it was almost bed time.  

“Come, I’ll show you your room.” he said while getting off the grand staircase and standing in front of me.  

He continued to walk to the left of the staircase towards a large hallway.  

I followed him obediently and once I stepped foot into the hallway, I was amazed at how never ending that hallway was. To the right of the hallway, I was able to see a huge indoor swimming pool situated in the middle of the room.  

Right then, Mr Grayson, opened one of the many doors that were situated to the left of the hallway. I walked inside as he left the area.  

In the room, a queen size bed was located in one side of the room. A huge cupboard was situated in the opposite side. A large rug was placed on the floor to add a pop of colour to the room. 

I walked ahead and discovered a door that led to huge white marbled bathroom with a large white tub in the middle.  

I got extremely excited at the sight of such a magnificent bathroom. I was only able to see such bathrooms in movies and I never thought I would have the luck to step into one. It felt so surreal to be here.  

In the cupboard I found a few pairs of clothes that were given to us for the night. I had to remember to call dad to bring me a suitcase filled with clothes the next day. 

I stripped myself off my clothes and walked into the tub that was now filled with numerous bubbles.  

After talking a relaxing bath after the hell I was put through the day, I was ready to throw myself on the bed.  

I shut the lamps on the two nightstands at the sides of the bed and closed my eyes shut.  

As I was deep into my dreams, a sudden click of the room’s door, broke my sleep and I felt extremely panicked. 

Who was in the room?