CHAPTER 7

Christopher

I'm sitting in my office and typing vigorously, trying to get rid of this foreign feeling.

I got angry at a lot of things, but never at a woman being with another man, especially when that woman was Allison.

I have no idea why I got so worked up when she mentioned being with someone else.

When I still couldn't shake off the anger, I took a walk around my office.

As I did, I went through the marriage contract again, wondering if it was a good idea.

Allison had no idea why I had arranged for the contract and I had no intention of letting her ever find out.

If she did, she would shred the papers and walk out the door faster than I can blink.

I did not need that to happen.

When she first rejected the contract, I wondered if it had been a good idea to approach her.

Even now, I still feel guilty for dragging her into my mess.

It was my mess and my problem. I shouldn't be asking or rather, blackmailing someone into cleaning it up for me.

But I had no choice.

This was the only way to keep the Press away from ever finding out.

Allison was the distraction they needed to get off my tail and I had no doubt that she would put on a show for them.

That was what made her perfect for the role.

A knock interrupted my thoughts,

"Sir," Charles walked in and gave a small bow.

"Does she like the place?"

It wasn't like I cared if Allison liked her apartment or not. I just wanted to do everything possible to keep her in her best behavior.

Her most dangerous trait was her unpredictability, especially when she was pissed.

Even I knew that the contract had a very small hold on her and she wasn't going to wear a leash if I told her to.

Right now, the last thing I want to entertain is the aftermath of Allison's madness.

"She loves every detail of it." Charles answered.

Instead of leaving, Charles remained in my office.

I could already tell what he wanted to talk about.

"What is it, Charles?"

"I respect your decisions about the marriage contract but I do not think having the ex as Miss Davies' driver is a good idea." He looked genuinely concerned.

I could not tell if his concern was for the possiblity of Liam trying to be with Allison again or what Allison could do to him.

"They're exes. Allison never goes back to her exes. Moreover, Liam ruined every chance of getting back together with Allison the moment he decided to get together with her best friend."

I don't even know why but I hated the thought of Liam driving Allison around.

I didn't employ him as her driver because he was a good driver.

I only wanted to let her understand that I didn't care who she was with as long as our contract wasn't affected.

"Actually, Sir that's not my fear."

Charles was intelligent and that was why he's worked for me for this long.

So if he said something was a bad idea, then it was a terrible idea.

"When your wedding will be announced and the public sees that your fiance is Allison, I do not think the Ex will be thrilled. According to what I found out, he lost his job after Allison got imprisoned. He might want to do something to get back at her. We cannot afford to let anything or anyone jeopardize the contract."

Liam wasn't the brightest person on planet Earth but he was vengeful.

It wouldn't surprise me if in the nearest future, it is proven that he only got together with Allison's best friend to get back at her for ruining his reputation, and not actually for love.

If that was true, then it was unsafe to have him anywhere close to Allison.

However, I wouldn't fire him just yet.

For the fun of it, I wanted to see Allison get back at him for hurting her like that.

"We'll deal with Liam later." I waved away the matter but Charles didn't leave.

"Anything else?" He wanted to say more, I could see through him.

"Not informing Miss Davies beforehand about Miss Sophie might not have been the best decision, Sir, respectfully. Seeing how she's unpredictable, I believe it would be best to let her know about Miss Sophie early to prevent a disaster from happening when she finds out...."

"No!" I firmly interrupted Charles even before he could finish.

Telling Allison about Sophie was not an idea I was going to entertain.

"There would be no reckless reaction from Allison because she will never know about Sophie, not even after our contract expires. Sophie remains a secret Allison will never get her hands on."

"It's much more risky having her know about Sophie. This discussion isn't going to be brought up again and any information about Sophie remains away from Allison."

"Yes, Sir." He gave another small bow.

"Speaking of Sophie....."

Someone pushed the door to my office with so much force, cutting me mid sentence.

The harsh clicks of my mother's heels echoed in the room as she walked over to my table.

I was not expecting her until tomorrow.

What was she doing here?

"Good afternoon, Mrs Jacobs." Charles acknowledged my mother with a greeting.

"Good afternoon, Charles." She responded to Charles greeting but her eyes remained on me.

"Leave us." Her voice became even more cold.

Charles did not need another reminder before leaving me with my mother.

"Good afternoon, m...." She raised her right hand in the air, cutting me off before I could complete my greeting.

"We've lost almost three percent of our stocks in less than one week, again. This has been a regular routine ever since that scandal was published." Her nose flared in anger as she spoke.

"I am...." Another hand in the air, cut me off again.

"We have lost a total of twenty percent of our stocks. Allow me do the math for you. This simply means that monetarily, we have lost over four hundred billion dollars in stocks."

I remained silent, waiting for her to finish because I knew that she was not done.

My mother walked over from the front of my desk to my small library around the corner of my office.

She did that whenever she was about to throw a rhetorical question at me.

"Do you know why?" This time, she didn't spare me a glance.

She simply played with the books like we were casually discussing our next read for a book club.

"Our company is on the verge of losing her prestigious financial value because of one man." She finished with the books and returned to my desk.

"It is beyond unfortunate that man had to be none other than my son. You thought you could think for yourself, you ruined our family's name and now, you're about to drag the company into the mud too. You are extremely lucky that the Blairs are being considerate and kind enough to protect you from the Press."

Bending lower so she could properly look into my eyes, she pointed a long pedicured red nail straight at me,

"If they were to suddenly turn against you and then leak the truth to the press, it will be over for you, the company and our family."

"They will not, I'll make sure of that." She was right but better than anybody, I knew that.

She didn't need to consistently remind me of a mistake I was actively trying to correct.

"With a contract marriage?"

What?

How did she....?

She wasn't supposed to know about that.

Her lips curled into a smile as she saw the shocked expression on my face,

"You cannot even properly cover your tracks. How exactly do you intend to cover up your secret from the Press?"

I knew for sure that Charles did not tell my mother about my arrangement with Allison.

She had someone watching me.

"I have everything under control. I'll clean up my mess without causing harm to our family."

I wasn't going to let one mistake ruin a family that took years to build.

Never.

She waited as if to say something else but reconsidered and simply walked away.

She still had no idea who my contract wife was which was good.

I could not afford to let her know it was Allison before I introduced them.

I didn't think about it before but this was the scariest part of this arrangement.

Back then, Allison and my mother in the same room was a bad option.

I needed to be prepared for whatever would happen when they met.

But most especially, I needed to prepare Allison to meet my mother.