Betrayed But Reclaimed by Her Boss.

Chapter 9

Nathaniel.

Once I reached home, I flipped the light switch on and was welcomed with an overwhelming emptiness. My space was void of her; only her lingering scent filled the air. I decided not to let my mind dwell too much on her absence and walked to my bar lounge.

My thoughts naturally drifted to what Adrian said to me back in the car. He appeared confident. Too confident.

"You always end up doing some half-baked job, Adrian. Even your best appears lacking.”

He flexed the ring on his finger. It is only half-baked because it isn’t ready yet. I won’t be so cruel as to let it catch you unaware, so I would tell you the end results.”

I scoffed, “Always bluffing as usual.”

He gnashed his jaw, offended by my deliberate disbelief, but surprisingly, he didn’t fall for my trap to get him to spill. “You have a long week ahead of you, Nathan, and I’m not sure Father’s grace will extend further than a week. So maybe start rethinking your little lie with your secretary.”

I let my glass of whiskey drop with a thud. “What the hell was he planning?” I thought out loud

.

I need to speak with Julius tomorrow.

***

I woke up the next morning and, without wasting time, I prepared to go to the office. I was used to waking up to the coffee of Aria made drifting in the air, but I guess I would need to order a Starbucks on my way to work. I looked forward meeting her at the office, here’s no way she would miss work; I was still her boss, and she was my PA.

I trudged downstairs when I noticed a familiar coffee-brewing smell. Someone was moving around in the kitchen. Was I imagining things? There’s no way I missed her having her around so much I’ve started hallucinating.

She walked out, her burnt-brown hazel eyes meeting mine. I held her gaze for a minute till she pulled them away.

"Well, I happened to know the condo pass key. I’m only here as your secretary; there was some recent ”

A smile grew on the edge of my lips, but I hid it well and joined her in the dining room. “I didn’t ask for an explanation, Aria Vale.”

She placed my coffee on my desk; I saw she had prepared a cup for herself as well. It was creamier and perhaps a bit sweet.

“I think it’s ridiculous, the thought of us dating. It’s not as believable as you want it to be.” She softly spoke, her eyes lowered to her finger, at the ring I had slid on her finger that night, and kissed her to start a rumor.

I sipped my mug of coffee. “I never intended it to be believable. I wanted a story."

“It’s the gold digger looking to siphon her boss's money. A discontented secretary charming her boss so she’d climb up the social ladder. I’m the daughter of a criminal; of course I would be dissatisfied with simplicities and want wealth unimaginable. Those are all the stories out there.”

I dropped the mug, signifying I’m done with the talk and the drink. Her eyes appeared resolved, but so was I.

She walked to me, fixing the buttons on the hem of my sleeves. She drew nearer as she fixed the collars; her scent, though nothing like designer’s perfumes, appeared entralling and immersive. It had emmeshed her signature scent with some of the coffee's fragrance.

“I will remain as your secretary but not the lies we are telling before you become more entangled in my miserable life. Let’s end it.” She requested softly; her voice carried a plea.

My thumb found her face; her skin under my feel was soft, her eyes filled with beads of tears, some fell to her cheeks, and my thumb appeared to be eager to wipe them away.

“Our fates are more than entangled, Aria Vale; it’s too late to stop now.”

She pulled away from me, tears falling from her face. “I thought it ended with the interview, but the footage with my mother, all that she said. How agitated I was, everyone has seen it. It was leaked; I’m just a leech who was motivated by her mother to come for your money.”

“So this is what Adrian meant."

"Adrian?" she muttered confused.

“He was the one who invited your mother.”

“What?”

“He’s planning something big.”

Her eyes appeared to have some kind of panic. “I need to see my mother.”

“Why?” I asked. “The reason I gave her that card was to buy her loyalty, not because I genuinely cared, Aria. I could tell her character and I didn’t want her slandering us in the media because of a few thousands."

"Well, you should know my mother has no loyalty, and you might have just fallen into her schemes to take as much as she can from both sides. This is not some happy moment for her; it is an opportunity.” She paced around anxiously. “Following her break-in into my house, her illegal gambling, and conning two people, she was rearrested to be charged, but she was bailed out.”

“By Adrian?”

She nodded. “I think so. The police described him as a man with affluence; he also arrived with reputable lawyers. He is the only one who matches such a description."

“Adrian desperatelys to reveal our relationship as fake.”

Over the past week we have worked hard enough to push the image; we were in love and were happy. Father wouldn't want to cause a controversy, but if he found out I had fooled him, that’s an entirely different discussion. He’d see that I was trying to buy as much time to get away with the crimes I’ve been accused of. According to Adrian I barely have a week.

I threw a car key to her.

“Find your mother. I need to speak with Julius.”

Aria Vale.

I drove through the neighborhood I’ve known Mom to live in since she came back from prison. It was a rundown apartment down in the outskirts of town. One, she is never in because she ran into many troubles and had people looking for her.

I knocked on the door and had little hope no one would answer, but surprisingly the door was open.

“Mom!” I almost muttered when I noticed it was a different woman who answered.

“You are?” She asked.

“I’m Florence's daughter." I pulled out my phone showing her the image of my mom.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, you are her famous daughter who is dating a billionaire.”

I chuckled awkwardly. Nathaniel will be proud his dating news has reached the outskirts of town; my mom might have bragged a bit as well.

“Well…yeah, do you know where she is?"

"Oh, your mom no longer lives here. She mentioned a mansion, so I suppose she’ll be living with her wealthy in-laws."

“A mansion?”

“She said something like a dinner with her daughter’s in laws.”

I blinked hard. A dinner with Anfields. My mom can’t be that stupid, can she? Having dinner with his family without me.

Stuttering a thank you, I hurried to the car and zoomed off.

***

I steered onto the company premises. Nathaniel was waiting for me as I ran towards him.

“My mom… dinner with your family." I coughed breathlessly.

He and his lawyer, Julius, stared at me cluelessly, not getting what I had just blurted.

“Confirm where your family is and if they are having dinner with my mom?”

A look of panic flashed in Nathaniel's eyes, and he dug his hands in his pocket for his phone. Making a quick call.

His face paled faster than I expected, and I feared the worst had already happened.

We hurried together to his car as I kept on trying my mother’s phone and pleading she read her text message, have some sense in her, and leave.

We arrived at a five-star luxury hotel and headed to the restaurant. We were led to the VIP section. Once we entered the room they were in, all eyes turned to us.

Mr. Williams Anfield appeared disgusted at the sight of Nathaniel; my heart raced from fear that the unimaginable had happened.

“You were not invited to the dinner? What are you doing here?” Adrian asked, visibly annoyed.

“How can a dinner be hosted with the mother of my fiancee without her presence? "

“If you have no skeletons in your closet, I don’t see why you should be worried leaving her with us. Besides, we are becoming families, we need to get more familair.” Kate said, sipping her white wine.

I smiled and walked forward. “I was worried about my mother; it's her first time meeting the . I was afraid she’d feel lonely without me, but she appears to be doing fine.” I smiled through my teeth as she ate unrestrained, barely covering her belch with a napkin.

“Family.” She chuckled and downed her glass of red wine.

“Running here so desperately points to something else; maybe you are afraid everyone would find out. Maybe Ms. Vale would like to say why her mother was unaware of her engagement with Nathaniel.”

“My mother and I don’t have a typical mother-and-daughter relationship as you’d expect. Her words to me in the interview reflected that. We later had a talk and resolved our differences.”

“Your mother said something different.” Kate said with a smirk on her lips.

My heart dropped. “Something different?”

"Are you still trying to cover up for him? He has my daughter trapped in some evil contract.."

“What are you saying, mother?”

“I already told them what you told me. I can’t let you stay with such a man. He commits a crime and wants to use your image to clean his mess.”

Mr. William Anfiled turns to Nathaniel, “You dared to lie to me!” His voice thundered.

“Lied to you? Father...”

“Are you still going to deny it?” Adrian said, throwing an envelope to our feet. I immediately recognized it; it was my copy of the contract.

Why was it here? I turned to my mother, and a smirk was etched on her lips. “I hit gold," she mouthed to me.