Chapter 040

30.

Samantha stormed into her room and flung her handbag on the bed. She wondered why he was always acting like a saint when all men were the same. As far as Nathan could break her after all the love and affection he showed her, she had no doubt Aiden would do the same, and she was guarding herself from him and his lies.

“Don't you think you were too hard on him?” Linda asked as she walked into the room.

Samantha turned to her. “What are you talking about? Did you hear us?” she asked.

“I didn't hear, but I saw how you slammed the door and walked off, and I know how your anger can be, Samantha.” Linda folded her arms, taking a seat on the couch in the room.

“I wasn't hard on him. I just had to put him in his place. He keeps acting as if he is different from other men!” Samantha facepalmed and slumped on the bed, releasing a heavy sigh.

“What if he is different?” Linda asked.

Samantha quickly sat up with a frown. “No, he is not. If Nathan can do it, so can he.”

“You don't have to judge someone else's character with your experience, you know? Aiden is actually a very cool person, and for him to have waited three years for you showed how genuine he is.”

Samantha scoffed. “I'm guessing he was just faking it.” she looked away with an eye roll.

“Sam,” Linda called softly. “Have you seen the way Aiden interacts with other business partners?”

“How is that my business?” she asked, her tone laced with irritation.

“If you let me land…” Linda narrowed her eyes at her. “Aiden is a force to be reckoned with in the business world, girl. He is a ruthless and cold businessman, whose competitors and partners are afraid of. He chose to be down to earth with you because he loved you. He might look cold to them, but people like him have the warmest of hearts, especially when they are with someone who can bring out that side in them, and you're the one he's like that with. Shouldn't that be convincing enough?” she asked, but Samantha scoffed?

“He is like that with his cousin too, so forget about all these you're saying. I just don't want him to act all nice towards me. It annoys me to the core!”

“When he gave you his suit jacket, did it annoy you?” Linda asked and Samantha became quiet. “I may not know what happened that got you stained, but he was a gentleman and handed you his coat. Is that still a pretense? And be sincere, how did you feel when he covered you with this jacket?” Linda asked.

Samantha began to think. She wasn't actually mad when he gave her the jacket. In fact, she was moved and for a moment, her heart fluttered. She recalled how she had been drenched in rain one day when rushing to meet Nathan at a restaurant, and she began to feel cold, but Nathan never handed over his suit jacket to her. Instead, he scolded her for coming late and gave up on the date since she was soaked from top to bottom.

If she were to analyze it from all angles, Aiden was different from Nathan. He was perfect, and she began to wonder if she was actually angry because he cared about her or because he was too perfect for her. She felt like being with him was too good to be true.

“Sam!” Linda yelled her name, bringing her out of her daydream. “You haven't answered me.”

She looked at Linda and shook her head. “Linda, it's already late, and I have work tomorrow. You can leave now. I want to sleep.”

“But-”

Samantha gave her a warning glare, and she raised her hand in surrender. “Fine, I'll leave, but the day you'll fall helplessly in love with this man, I will personally laugh at you.”

“That day will never come, now leave before I throw my shoe at you! You have your own room, but you're always in mine. Sometimes I wonder if you're an assistant or a meddling younger sister!” she hugged.

Linda chuckled. “I'm both.” she winked. Just as Samantha was about to grab her shoe, she rushed out of the room and closed the door.

Samantha stood to her feet and ruffled her hair as she recalled Linda's words. She quickly shook off the thought. It can't happen. There's no way she's falling in love with that man.

She took his jacket and stared at it with a plain expression on her face. Remembering how he wrapped it around her, her heart skipped again, and she raised it with the attempt to hang it then give it to him later when she suddenly got a crazy idea. She brought the jacket to her nose and sniffed it. A smile spread across her face as she took in the make cologne.

“Nice,” she nodded with a smile and after taking another sniff, which she found weird herself, she hung the cloth in her wardrobe.

She took off her clothes, preparing to hit the shower, when her head banged with a serious headache again.

“Fuck!” she grabbed her head, and went into the drawer, where she had kept the drug Aiden gave her and took it. She held her head and laid on the bed, her eyes shut tight as she tried to fight the pain.

The headache wasn't supposed to be this constant. She thought it was just a once in a while kind of thing, but this was becoming more serious than she imagined. Her eyes watered, recalling that the stress she had to go through to please Nathan was what made her this way.

She balled her fists, vowing never to forgive him for this.

*

The next morning, the beeping of her phone woke her up. She reached for the phone and took it. She glanced at the time and her eyes widened when she realized that it was 10am.

She had a meeting with Aiden and some directors in thirty minutes concerning the exhibition at Detroit, and here she was.

She knew most of them were going to use this against her during the meeting.

There was going to be trouble, and she knew it.