Chapter 7: The House Rules

She saw Ethan and Olivia walking out of the court walking hand in hand and Mrs Carter by their side. Mrs Carter was behind them

[It is done, what prevented you from coming] She typed and sent

[The stupid police wasted all my time] Mrs Garcia replied  

[But don't worry, I did something. Her troubles start today]

Mrs Gracia typed and sent 

Mrs Carter read it and smiled, looking at Olivia looking all beautiful and smiling as she walked hand-in-hand with Ethan towards their parked car. 

"When are you leaving for your honeymoon?" Mr Carter asked standing by his car

"Tomorrow, morning. I need to confirm our reservations first. Which I intend to do today," replied Ethan as he opened the door for Olivia

"That is perfect," Mr Carter replied but before he could sit in his car, his phone rang and he retrieved it from his pocket.

It was a call from the company. He answered the call immediately

"Speak?" he said holding the phone to his ears as he got into the car

"Sir, we are not sure what happened but our systems have been crushed. None of our platforms is working and we have been struggling to bring it up," the IT manager reported 

"How long now?" Mr Carter asked 

"Sir, it's been six hours. No one can send or receive an email," he reported

"What?" he yelled and got out of his car stopping Ethan from leaving 

"Sir, we have another problem. The business partners who came here yesterday are here again and we don't have access to all the information they sent to us," reported 

"I am coming over," he said 

"Dad, what happened?" Ethan asked standing next to his car

"Something strange just happened. All our platforms had been crushed. We have been down for the past six hours. We need to go to the office now," he announced 

"Olivia, you go home, I would see you later in the day," Ethan said to Olivia, planting a kiss on her cheeks and joining his dad's ride after instructing his driver to drop his mother off first and take Olivia home. 

Both cars drove out of the compound with different destinations. Mrs Garcia watched them from a distance sitting in her car. She also drove out of the compound after a while heading back home. 

Unable to stop the wedding, she paid an IT expert to crush the company's platforms just so Ethan would go to the company with his father leaving Olivia alone. 

There was silence in the car as Mrs Carter sat in the back seat with Olivia. She could read a lot of hostility from Mrs Carter, so she pushed herself to the door ensuring she does nothing to offend her. 

The whole journey was done in silence until Mrs Carter was dropped off at the mansion. The car drove out of the compound heading toward Ethan's apartment. Olivia felt a lot more relaxed now that she was alone on the ride. 

Mrs Garcia drove into the mansion's compound and found a place to park her car. Mrs Carrter waited seeing the familiar car that had driven in. Mrs Garcia's face came into view when the person got down from the car

"Ah, Mrs Garcia," she said 

"Your husband and son left for the company right?" she said and Mrs Carter frowned 

"Wait, what did you do?" she asked 

"I paid someone to play with the system a little bit," she replied like it was nothing

"What were you thinking? The idea is to get the servant low-life girl out of my son's life not to run my family bankrupt," she pointed out 

"Relaxed, the plan was to get them busy while we engage Olivia alone. I can't go to your son's apartment without being asked to disclose my identity since they don't know me, but you can. Let's start with putting the fear of god into that stupid girl," she explained 

"Let's not waste time then. I don't want my husband to return home to meet my absence," Mrs Carter said and sat in Mrs Garcia's car.

They drove out of the compound heading for Ethan's house.

Back at the company, Ethan used his IT knowledge to identify the source of the problem and quickly rectified it restoring all their tech platforms. 

"Ethan what happened," Mr Carter asked 

"Two things. It is either a bug or someone tried hacking into our system. I am leaning towards the latter," he replied 

"Has anything been tampered with?" Mr Carter asked 

"No, so far, everything is in place," he replied looking at the readings on his laptop.

"Ethan, I think your honeymoon would have to wait. We need to investigate what happened to prevent future occurrences," he said 

"I agree. I wonder how the person managed to breach our security system to cause such damage. Anyway, do we still have the partnership deal?" Ethan enquired 

"Yes, lucky for me I printed the documents out to read them in my office so I gave that to them and we were able to make the needed changes," Mr Carter replied 

"I would monitor the systems while I investigate what happened," Ethan said and left for his office. 

He said behind his laptop and started typing away, investigating what happened. 

At Ethan's apartment, Mrs Garcia and Mrs Carter had arrived and were walking into the apartment. 

"How are you, Olivia?" came Mrs Garcia's voice making Olivia who was entering the living room jumped in fright 

"Oh dear darling, why are you scared? I came to congratulate you and found out how you are doing," Mrs Garcia sarcastically  

"I am fine," Olivia replied bowing to her like she would always do back in the Garcia apartment

"Anyway, I just wanted to ensure you are fine. I would be on my way now. I would let Camila and Jonathan know you are doing well," she said and looked at Mrs Carter

"Thank you for bringing me to see her. I would be on my way," she said and smiled before exiting the apartment. 

She sat in the car and drove out of the compound, finding a place to park waiting for Mrs Carter to do her thing.

Back in the house, Mrs Carter moved towards the sofa and called Olivia to join her.

"I would first say congratulations to you. You are now a Carter. I warmly welcome you to this family," she said and Olivia replied with a thank you.

"Ah Ah," Mrs Carter reacted

"Rule number one, you don't interrupt someone when they are still talking," she said 

"I am going to give you the rules to help you fit in seeing you are from a low class," she said seizing the opportunity to humiliate her. 

"We the Carters have part of our lineage coming from a royal family. This makes us different and for that reason, we have house rules, to ensure anyone going by the Carter name falls in line. Do you understand?" she asked 

"Yes please," Olivia replied 

"Address me as Mrs Carter," she replied 

"Yes, Mrs Carter," Olivia replied 

"Good, rule number two, I got the report on how you lack table manners and eat with your hands. It is a must you know how to use the cutlery and you should know, understand and apply all the table manners," she stated

"Yes, Mrs Carter," she replied 

"Rule number three, you are a servant to your husband. It is taboo in our family to express emotion. You respect your husband keep your romance and emotions to yourself," she said

"Rule number four, as a newly wondered wife, you are to wake up as early as 4 am ensuring you do not disturb or wake your husband up and clean the house continues for six months. Do you understand?" she said

"You are expected to know these rules, asking your husband about them can only lead to divorce. Do you understand?" she added

She continue with one ridiculous rule after the other and Olivia listened attentively. Realizing the rules are many and she was supposed to remember everything, she excused herself and went for a paper and a pen and wrote them down so she will read them and not forget any. 

"Last but not least, you can't have friends come over except family," she said making room for only Camila to come around to execute the rest of their plans.

"Final rule, before the second month ends, you are supposed to be pregnant," she said and Olivia looked at her

How on earth can she make that happen? She knew nothing about reproduction, what goes into sex and all. How is she supposed to make a baby by the end of month two?

"Write it down, sweetheart," she said and Olivia wrote it down

"Remember, you are to know the rules, so you can't go asking your husband. So make sure your husband doesn't see this paper. It would only mean, you didn't know the rules, the punishment for that is divorce and you would be thrown out into the street," she warned 

"Yes, Mrs Carter," Olivia acknowledged writing it down. 

"Your husband would be out most often, so you will be home alone at all times. Feel free to invite any of your family members to keep you company. Do you have any questions?" she asked 

"No please, Mrs Carter," Olivia replied

"Good," she said and got up to leave

"I would help you. You can come to me anytime you are confused about something I would help you without telling anyone," she offered and Olivia smiled 

"Thank you, Mrs Carter," Olivia acknowledged with a smile

"You just broke one of the rules, you can't express emotion," she reminded

"I am sorry, Mrs Carter," Olivia apologized and kept on a straight face. 

Mrs Carter left Ethan's apartment and found Mrs Garcia. She sat in her car and they drove back to the Carter's mansion

"How did it go?" Mrs Garcia asked 

"You are right, she is dumb. The stupid girl wrote down everything I told her in the name of they are rules.  And I am sure she will read and execute them religiously. It would be good to send your daughter Camila over to keep her company, That way we will ensure she doesn't get pregnant," she replied 

"Perfect, we will end this marriage soon," Mrs Garcia said with a smile as they drove towards Carter's mansion.