18: Another Rule

Carla

“Is he even allowed to do that? To go through your phone?” I asked, still feeling so much anger shrug through me. I still couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Zade did this, and I was so annoyed right now.

“Well, not really, but whenever he asks for my phone to check your texts, I’ll definitely not refuse him cause he’s my boss and he pays me quite well.” He sighed and I groaned then took a sip of my coffee cause it felt like I might lose it if u didn’t do that.

“We’ll not text too much, only whenever we wanna meet up, and we’ll delete the texts right after.” I muttered, breaking the silence after a few minutes. Seb had a shocked expression he regarded me.

“You’ll still wanna meet up?” He asked and I had to fight against the color slowly flooding my cheeks as I nodded.

“I mean, that would certainly be nice, don’t you think so too?” I asked and he shrugged once before nodding.

“It certainly sounds nice. I guess we can definitely keep seeing each other, just without Zade knowing, that is.”

I nodded while fighting the urge to roll my eyes.

“Of course.”

~~~

It was almost twelve a.m when I arrived at home, and it was completely dark in the sitting room as soon as I stepped into the house. However, just as I was closing the door after me, the lights were coming in and Zade was sitting right there in the middle of the sitting room. The sight of him made me jump so hard, I collided with the door while my heart raced hard.

“What are you doing here??” I cried out, hating how scared I got just now, cause I spoke about him to Seb before we parted ways.

Zade gave me an unimpressed look and I squirmed underneath his gaze just as he spoke.

“Where are you coming from at this time?” He asked without wasting time and irritation coursed through me as I glared at him. I was still so annoyed about what I learned from Seb, so listening to him ask me this question right now was quite annoying.

“Do I have to explain myself to you like a child?” I booths out while glaring at him, irritating still coursing through me. His eyes twitched just as he got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was presently in a normal shirt and a loose pair of pants, and it was insane and unfair that he still looked quite hot in a normal outfit like this.

“You have to, since you chose to act like one.” He stated slowly and I felt myself slowly bristle with anger as I stared at him.

“I’m not a child.” I muttered calmly and he barked out a laug.

“You sure do act like one. A reasonable adult has no business staying out till this time by herself, while being dressed like a cheap whore on top of that.” He stated and I flushed hard as a wave of anger and mortification came over me at once.

“I’m not a whore.” I yelled and he scoffed again while rolling his eyes.

“Where the hell were you?” He demanded and I huffed, glancing away from him as I folded my arms.

“I really don’t have to explain myself to you, Zade. Just because we’re about to get into a fake contract marriage doesn’t mean I won’t have a life anymore, cause I will. I’ll return home late a lot of times as well.” As I spoke, I didn’t notice him approaching me cause I had been pointedly avoiding his gaze, which was why when I gksbsdc back af hin, I stumbled backward cause he was standing right in front of me right now.

I took one more step backward, but he closed the distance between us, staring down at me with hard eyes as he spoke.

“You’re delusional If you think you’ll get to do whatever you want in this marriage.” He barked and I flinched, hating him even more at this very moment.

“Another rule which we’ll add to the list of rules I’ve given you is that you’ll always return home before eleven p.m, is that understood?” As he spoke, as I stated up at him right now, my hatred for him widened even more. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he ordered Seb to not respond to my texts and the likes, but found that would put Seb in trouble and also reveal who I went to see, so I had to force all the questions on my mind right now down.

I ended up exhaling before nodding. “Okay.”

It’s just a year. A year of enduring everythihg that gets thrown my way, then I’ll be on my own way at once.

The next morning, Zade and I were together in Ella’s room. I was still mad at him from last night, but what could I do? Ignore him? Give him the silent treatment? How would I dare do that to the person who’s calling all the shots in this wrecked union?

“I’ll be getting married to her in a few days, then you’ll have her to yourself completely.” Zade was softly speaking to Ella as he crouched beside her by the bed. Ella glanced up at me then back at Zade, then she grinned and nodded.

Zade laughed a little and ruffled her head. “You’d like that, right?”

She nodded again and I felt a warm feeling gather in my chest as I watched her. She was just so adorable.

After that, I hugged her for a bit while Zade explained something with the nanny. After that, Zade and I stood in the doorway of the room when I spoke.

“Poor thing, being deceived like this. How are you sure this won’t hurt her and make her withdraw even more after I leave the picture by then?” I asked quietly and Zade scowled at me.

“You think I’m happy lying to her? Or that I’m happy introducing you to her? You who also has a hand in this entire mess?” He shot at me and I flinched, my eyes growling hard and I blinked up at him, unable to figure out what that meant.

“What do you…” I was yet to complete my sentence before he was barking out a response.

“Nothing.”

I frowned at him, unsure if I believed him. That didn't sound like nothing, but knowing that I couldn't make him say whatever he didn't want to, I folded my arms while glancing west from him just as he continued. “The doctor recommended it, which is the only reason I’m doing this. Shortly after we get married, I’ll start taking her for treatments once again,”

I was about to say something before he cut me off. “This evening, you’ll be accompanying me over to my family’s house for dinner, cause I’m gonna introduce you to them.”

My eyes widened and it felt like I just got whiplash because we had just been speaking about Ella just moments ago.

“Oh.” I ended up muttering after a few heartbeats.

“Of course, we must act like we’re madly in love with each other.” He added and I rolled my eyes internally.

“Fine.” I ended up muttering in response because it wasn’t like I could refuse to accompany him just because I wasn’t in the mood.

~~~

“My family is quite intense, so be prepared. Frankly, none of them like you because of the family you’re from, which is why this is so much better for me.” We had arrived in the location of his family house but were presently in the car speaking.

“Why are you deceiving your family like this though?” I muttered but he scowled at me, making me swallow emptily. Of course he’d not respond to a question like that.

“You know you’ve never met my entire family before, so be prepared. And on top of that, be bold, be daring, don’t let yourself be ridiculed or walled over, cause that would make me feel very embarrassed.” As he spoke, I nodded before fluffing my hair.

“I’ll do very well tonight.” I muttered and he scoffed as he finally unlocked the car doors.

“You had better.”

As soon as we stepped into the large house, I just knew that we were gonna have a really long night. Kids were running everywhere, and all attention instantly fell towards us, then two beautiful women approached us, decked in exquisite clothes and jewels. They hugged Zade tightly and after some exchange between them, I realized they were cousins of Zade.

They had condescending looks across their face as they faced me, and I just knew this was gonna be ugly.

“Did you miss your way?” The first woman demanded as she looked me up and down.

“Zade, what is this trash and criminal doing on your arm?” The woman continued as she faced Zade who pulled me firmly into his side, making my heart pick up in my chest as he spoke.

“This is the woman I’ll be getting married to in a few days, her name is Carla.”