Love In Crimson

Chapter 12- Discovery (1)

Natalia's anger increased with what Ace said. She watched his figure walking out of the house, fuming in anger. She stomped her feet angrily, sitting down on the sofa when she was sure she heard him driving out of the compound.

“Such a wicked entity”, she said out loud now that she was all by herself. “Pfftt”, she huffed.

That dragon prince really seems hellbent on making life hard for her. Natalia was disorganized. She just barely finished about half of the house chores, and now she has to start with the library,and why tonight,not tomorrow morning or even another day!! Natalia was beyond frustrated.

With another wave of cold breeze, Natalia remembered that she was still naked. With a walk of shame, Natalia picked up her dress and put them back on.

Continuing the chores and getting something tangible to eat before Ace comes back was the top thing on her list for the day.

Evening came by in the quick of an eye. Natalia decided that she was done with her chores for the day. She freshened up and went to the kitchen to make dinner.

Natalia packed her hair up in a loose bun. She was preparing yam porridge. Eating a light food will do her no good. She had to start with cleaning the library tonight as per Ace's orders.

She still hoped that she could evade starting out with the library tonight . If the work she had to do was deducted, she will really enjoy being in the library.

Natalia finished eating late in the evening. With nothing else to do,she started ruminating on whether to start with her chores in the library.

Doing something under Ace's scrutiny is not something she'd like to experience. Just few seconds later,to Natalia's horror, she heard the gate open and a car drive in. Of course, it's Ace.

“Arrrgh”, she sighed frustratingly. Such poor luck she has had ever since she can remember. She went to the kitchen in hopes that he won't ask her to start working if he doesn't see her.

Ace walked into the house and the first he did was to shout Natalia's name.

“Sirrrr, I'm coming sir”, Natalia shouted back from the kitchen. She hurried her steps and met Ace in the living room. What a devil!!, she exclaimed silently

“Your punishment starts now, lady”, Ace said, staring at her like he was looking for abnormalities.

Dejectedly, Natalia nodded and made her way to the library.

The library smelled like old paper and cedarwood. Natalia stood at the center of the enormous room with both hands on her hips, staring at the impossible mess before her.

Towering shelves stretched from polished marble floors to the dark vaulted ceiling. Books were stacked everywhere, on ladders, on velvet chairs, even on the floor in untidy piles that looked as though someone had been searching for something and abandoned the effort halfway through. Which she assumed that it'll be no other person than Ace.

Few minutes later, Ace came into the study with a glass of wine in his hand. He walked in like he owned the moment,of course he did.

“You want me to organize all this?” Natalia asked , almost pleading.

Ace barely glanced up from the wine glass in his hand. He leaned against the doorway in his usual effortless way, dressed in new casual home wear. His expression was unreadable as always.

“Well…this is punishment.”.A faint smirk tugged at his mouth. “Consider it character building.”

Natalia narrowed her eyes at him. Ever since their absurd arranged marriage forced them under the same roof, Ace had developed an annoying habit of assigning her random tasks around the mansion.

“Well,” she muttered, “if I die under an avalanche of encyclopedias, I’m haunting you first.” ,she said under her breath. Somehy, Ace caught what she said.

“You’d be an irritating ghost.”

“You already think I’m irritating alive.”

“That too.”

She glared at him while he calmly took another sip of wine.

God, she hated how composed he always looked. And for a moment, Natalia was taken aback. How come she grew wings so quickly to the point of bickering with him. She really must have a death wish.

And she hated even more that sometimes she enjoyed seeing tiny cracks appear in that composure.

Ace pushed away from the door. “The files on the west shelf are organized by year. Don’t mix them up.”

“Files?” Natalia frowned. “Why are there files in a library?”

“It’s my house.”

“That doesn’t answer the question sir”

“It wasn’t meant to.”

And with that irritating response, he walked away. Natalia resisted the urge to throw a book at his head. Instead, she turned toward the shelves with a dramatic sigh.

Three hours later, she hated every life circumstances that had brought her here.

Dust coated her fingers and her body ached. The smell of old books was not taking it easy on her nostrils.

She was sneezing occasionally. Apparently, Ace owned enough books to start a small university.

It was now very late in the night. She wanted to stop working but still decided to finish a reasonable amount of the work before retiring for the night.

The silence in the library was oddly calming. She could hear the echoes of her own footsteps.

Natalia climbed one of the rolling ladders and reached for a stack of folders shoved carelessly behind a row of hardcovers. “Seriously,” she muttered, tugging one free, “what kind of psycho hides paperwork behind books?”

The folder slipped from her grasp and it's papers scattered across the floor. “Great.” She said out of frustration.

She climbed down with a groan and crouched to gather the mess. Most of the documents looked boring, financial reports, property acquisitions, legal correspondence……..

Then one page caught her eye. Orchid Group. Her uncle’s company.

Her fingers tightened around the paper. Well, Ace himself is a business man so finding files about her uncle's company shouldn't be a big deal, right?

But Natalia's curiosity piqued and she slowly flipped through the rest of the folder.

There were newspaper clippings attached with black paperclips. Financial charts and investigation reports.

Then her father's name. Joe Wayne. Natalia went through all the files again and realized something that confused her. All the files contained her father's name,not her uncle's.

Her uncle is the owner of the company and his name should be on these types of documents, right?. But…. Natalia was confused,she didn't know what to think. And why does Ace has these files.

A strange chill crept down her spine. Why would Ace have files on her family in his library?, and the previous call she eavesdropped on,what was it all about.

Natalia's instinct screamed at her. Now she wondered if she should be afraid of Ace. Connecting the dots between the forced marriage,the phone call and these files only points to one thing, Ace is creepy.

What transaction is between Ace and her uncle, and why was a marriage necessary.

Natalia was distraught. Infact , she's now questioning herself about who owns the company.

She swallowed hard and continued reading. The documents referenced a lawsuit from years ago involving illegal chemical dumping and falsified safety inspections against Da Silva Corps, Ace's family business.

Natalia heard footsteps approaching. In fear of being caught by Ace, she hurriedly arranged the papers and shoved them to the back of a shelf. She picked some books and pretended like she was arranging them.

Ace came into the library and rested on the door.

“You can retreat for the night, you continue tomorrow and this house must still be kept clean, understood?”

“Yy…yyyesss si..sir”, Natalia replied.

Ace didn't give any thoughts to her and walked out of the library.

Natalia didn't even think about what Ace said. She was somehow jittery. She was wondering whether to hide the folder or place it back to where it fell from. Hiding it might be disastrous, what if Ace wants to use the files.

She kicked against the thought of hiding them. She removed them from the back of the shelf and climbed up the ladder. She placed it back in it's previous position and made a mental note of it.

Natalia walked to her room. She got into the bathroom and got under the shower. Now, her interest in Ace, her uncle and Orchid Group has been activated. Could there be more

to it.

Then boom, Natalia had a dangerous thought. The only way to get more information in this house was Ace's study…….