LOGINLucy’s POV“What’s going on, Luce?” “You tell me,” I retorted impatiently. I could see in his eyes that there was something he was holding back. “Lucy, I-”“Alaric, what have you been hiding from me?”“What makes you think I’ve been hiding something from you-”“I’ve seen it, Alaric,” I retorted. “The worried looks, the stressful stares, the constant paranoid phone checks. Something's going on, and I need you to tell me what it is.” “I’m assuming you’ve talked to Ray,” he exhaled.Though he was right, I wasn’t going to mention Ray at all. “How I found out is irrelevant,” I told him. “Outside of the fact that you didn’t tell me.” “I didn’t tell you, Lucy, because I can handle it.” “Judging by how stressed you’ve been looking when you think no one is looking, I beg to differ.”“Lucy,” he sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”“Well, you’re going to.” I pressured further when he turned his back on me. “I know that Livia has something to do with this.”He turned around, his
Alaric’s POV“Stocks are the lowest they’ve been in twenty years!” My father blasted as he paced the floor in my office. “I know that, father,” I hissed. “And I am working on getting things back on track-”“Back on track?!” He snapped back at me, stopping in his steps. “You need to do far more than get us back on track, boy!” he snapped. “We need to exceed ‘back on track’! We need to exceed the track!”I dropped the paperwork I was looking at and glared at him. “And what exactly do you suggest?” I said sarcastically.He laughed bitterly. “What I’ve been suggesting the moment Locke and Hyman pulled out of the deal! You need to drop that wife of yours and get with Livia!”“You don’t even know if she’s the cause-”“Oh, the hell she is!” My father snapped back. “Everything started going to hell once you had that conversation with her.” he spat, and began pacing the floor again. “That woman-you underestimated her-we all did. And now we’re suffering for it.” He stopped again. “You need to
Alaric’s POVDid I really just tell this woman that I loved her? And…did she just say it back?The initial premise of this conversation was for me to be honest with her about everything that was going on. In a matter of three hours time I’d had two more lenders pull out of Kingsley Group stocks. Our equity had practically plummeted within days of Locke and Hyman’s decision to withdraw.Shit was hitting the fan, and I felt like I was drowning. And I wanted to tell Lucy-not because I wanted her help fixing it but because at one time in my life, Lucy was the one I’d go to when I needed someone to talk to and lately, I’d begun to feel that connection again.Then, when I heard her voice, saw her coming in, I realized this wasn’t like the old days. She was my wife now, and I needed to protect her from this.“You don’t have to say it back,” I told her as the silence thickened between us. I could tell that she was shocked. “After everything that’s gone down between us, I know that you probab
Alaric’s POVI sipped on my morning coffee as I sat in the meeting room waiting for a lucrative potential client board to arrive.“Good morning, Alaric,” Ray said.“We’ll see how good the morning is after this meeting,” I said. “Do you have the acquisition rough draft?”Ray nodded then handed me the papers. “Any more idle threats on the Livia front?” he asked.I shook my head. “No, but I can’t help but feel like she’s just biding her time.”“Are you worried?” I shifted a haphazard glance toward him before returning my attention back to the paperwork. “Should I be?”Ray didn’t respond. I looked at him expectantly and that’s when I saw a hint of concern in his eyes. I put the papers down. “Is there something that I need to know?” He hesitated at first and then spoke. “It might be nothing, honestly.”“But?” I pressed.“I went over the paperwork for Locke Enterprise and Hyman Co. and…the money that was negotiated doesn’t match with the final acquisition paperwork.”I quickly shifted th
Lucy’s POV“What makes you think that I will give in to your threats, Livia?” I finally said after she sat there silently dangling that threat over my head.Livia frowned. “Oh you will,” she said arrogantly. “You see, I’ve given this offer to your husband. And he seems to be taking his precious time giving me an answer.” “Well if he hasn’t given you an answer then that clearly means you have one already,” I countered. “You just don’t like the one that he gave you.”She frowned but only for a split second before her grim expression changed into something cocky and smug again.“Maybe,” she said. “Then again, I’m thinking that it’s just that Kingsley is proud,” Livia shrugged. “You, however, being a woman, well, I’m sure you’ll consider my proposition more thoroughly than he has.” “Proposition?” I said, amused that she’d use such a term. As if she were really offering a choice in the matter.“Yes,” she answered. “It’s clear that Alaric didn’t tell you about what we’ve discussed, so, I’
Lucy’s POVDespite going through the grief-strick task of dad’s funeral, I’d worked hard to dispel any rumors of less than perfect hygiene management at the restaurant. That gossip was easily dispelled. Alaric and Livia rumor was not something that I could fix, however. That was all up to Alaric, and whatever he did quieted that gossip as well. Least for the time being.I went to the restaurant to clear my head. What better distraction than my own business. “Table 34 needs their puff pastries, yesterday.” I called out to the back. It was busy today. At least that was one good thing I had going for me amidst all the chaos in my life. “Lemon raspberry swirl mini tarts at table eleven,” I announced as I placed them on the order rack. “I’m taking a fifteen.” I then headed to my office.Stephanie knocked on the door shortly after. “Mrs. Kingsley.” “Come in.” Stephanie entered. “Were you still interviewing for the sous chef today?”I shook my head. “Push the interview to Thursday. It’s







