Chapter Three

WILLIAM'S POV

I stared at the information my PI had gotten about her, 

'She's just twenty one ' I mused, I'm sure she's a spoiled brat who gets everything she wants, grandpa outdone himself, he wants me to get married to a brat.

Once again I glance at the files sprawled out on my desk, I took the photo which was in one of the files, sunset orange hair cascaded down her head,with freckles scattered all over her nose and around her face, and  full lips put in a smirk but one thing that caught my attention was her eyes, emerald green eyes, as green as a forest, stare right back at me, even in this photo you could see the defiance in them.

I kept the photo and glanced over the Information again, but this time I was impressed with the amount of information the PI could get about my soon to be wife, seeing that she's not always in the public eye, and I wonder why, her father, the man who insists that for the merger to go on, I must marry his daughter, was in every tabloid news as a lousy businessman who had run down a family business that was over a hundred years old.

I read that she had a degree in animation and game development, and that she was the one who developed Crimesmine before she sold it, which was one the most popular video game since last year.

I was deep into the information, that I didn't notice that the door to my office opened and my friend Sebastian entered

"Hey man, just got the news, congratulations."

He chirped before sitting down.

I wonder where my secretary was, since she didn't announce his arrival, just then she opened the door looking flustered and disheveled.

"I'm sorry sir, I tried to stop him" 

"I see you did" I replied sarcastically, as I arranged the files on my desk, 

"You can't blame her, no one can resist me" he smugged 

I can't argue that because that's  partly true, Sebastian has a way to charm all the women within a ten mile radius, but you can hardly blame him, with his sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, dimples and a natural charm, women can't resist him, but that's why he has more body counts than business partners, he never knows when to keep it in his pants and sometimes goes overboard with the daughters of his partners or worse their Mistresses.

I came back to our conversation

"Congratulations on what?"

He gave me one of his sheepish smile, and I knew whatever he was going to say next would be ridiculous

"Congratulations on your engagement, I knew you would be the first to get hitched, never knew it would be so soon"

I furrowed my brow, how did he know about this, so far no one except the Carrington's knew about the arrangements, so I had to ask

"What do you mean?"

But he sank deep into the seat and the vinyl underneath crackled as he tried to get comfortable.

"Oh, it's all over the tabloid, CEO of Carter incorporated engaged to the heiress of Carrington's winery " he stated.

Sure enough, when I searched on my phone, it was headlined in every entertainment news, I haven't even agreed to this ridiculous charade, even if I'm being threatened by my grandfather, why will they announce it.

"I guess it's not true then, man I was ready to be the best man this time" he 

"You weren't ready to be my best man when I told you I'd propose to Suzanne" I reminded him, but the bastard just shrugged at me.

" And boy am I glad, you're not marrying her" 

"I'm not marrying Naya Carrington either, it's grandpa's arrangements with the Carrington's, he can't drag me into it"

"Why are you stuck-up with that bitch anyways?" 

Immediately he said that, my eyes went cold and I glared at him, but he still continued

"I mean, she did reject your-" but I cut him off before he finished that sentence and earn a bleeding lip.

"You don't know when to stop, do you ?" I seethed.

I know Sebastian never liked Suzanne or my relationship with her, but what would a certified playboy know about relationships anyways, every day there's a new lady and the paparazzi always have a field day with his news.

I looked at the tabloid headlines, why was my grandfather so insisting on this, there can be a business merger without a marriage to hold it, and marriage to a child no less, my grandfather and her father didn't waste no time in selling lies to the tabloids about how we met, or it maybe the platform trying to gain more readers by writing this bullshit.

I picked up the telephone and called my secretary, after a ring she picked up.

'Sir'

'Call up whatever magazine that wrote that shit about my engagement and tell them to put it down, or they face a lawsuit'

'Yes sir' she agrees with a click of the phone, I ended the call.

I heard a phone ding, I picked up mine to see if it was a message, but it wasn't mine, it was Sebastian and he had a sly grin as he typed on his phone

'booty call' I thought.

He stood up, put his phone in his side pocket

"My work here is done."

"And what was that exactly?"

He grinned at me, 

"To annoy you". He grinned as he sauntered away from my office waving.

I took deep breaths to hold myself back from diving at him and strangle him, if I do that I'm saving a lot of women from heartbreak, but the number of women who'd kill me if I do are tripled.

He is not going back to his office, sometimes I wonder how the company thrives since their CEO spends most of his time with women than the office, again Sebastian is one of the most peculiar businessman I know.

My phone dings indicating a message from my grandfather, telling me I had a date tonight with my supposed fiancee by 5pm, I wanted to reply and flip him off but I just ignored the text and place my phone back on the desk.

I decided to do some work, I responded to some emails before I heard my door open again, I groaned internally, there are two people in the world who comes into my office like this, the other just left and this person happens to be my only sister Sarah.

She walks in showing her phone, 

"Did you see the news?" She asked before sitting down on the seat Sebastian left from.

I just shook my head in resignation from how these two acts a like but hates each other's guts.

"Don't you ever knock, or better, let my secretary tell me of your arrival?"

"No, and I'm talking about this" she says showing me the same blog news, I thought I told Claudia to call the blogger and make them take it down.

"I have, and I've ordered the site to take it down" I stated.

Seeing as the site didn't put it down, the information must be from my grandfather.  I sighed and rubbed my temple, 'this is such a headache'

"It must be from grandpa isn't it, he's going along with the threat, how could he ?, You made Carters inc. what it is today?-" I raised my hands to stop her from her outburst, grandpa's decision can't be overruled, I have to do as he say or he gives the company over to 

Zeke, and goddammit he does, everything I've ever worked for will go down the drain, Zeke never worked for anything, everything he's ever gained was given to him, like being director on the Carter shipping business, he has almost run the company down because of his and his mother's extravagant lifestyle, but my grandfather wants to handover Carter's Inc. to him, I can't let him do that, I'll do as he says and marry Naya Carrington.

"Have you told Annie about this?" Her question got me out of my thoughts

"Not yet" 

"Who is this Naya Carrington anyway, I searched on I*******m and Twitter, the only post she made was in her highschool graduation on Twitter, and her F******k picture is so weird, it doesn't show her face" she shows me the picture from her phone.

"What if she's so ugly?, I mean there's not a single photo of her on social media" 

"I know, and I did a little digging" I informed her.

She's a beauty, but I don't have to tell her that, my sister is always on my side, we've got each other's back since our parents died years ago.

But what's important is if Anne finds out about this, I love Anne, I do, but my grandfather doesn't approve of her, I wondered if it was because of her background or something, but I love Anne because of her loving heart and kindness, when we first met, three years ago, our gear called out to each other, maybe because we were both orphans struggling on our own, she started as a model but now a fashion designer and owns her own fashion line, she worked hard to achieve such success, but grandfather prefers a girl whose family is old money, and lives off daddy's money.

"You know sometimes, I'm glad it's you he wants in this arranged marriage thingy, better you than me" 

I chuckled,  I needed to change the conversation about this  arranged marriage, so I asked her about her job, she's an art curator and has been working on opening her own gallery, I help when she asks for my help, but that's never happen, she always love het independence and has been working so hard on this project.

She sat up straight and bubbly talks about how the project was going, I could sense the pride she felt because in less than three months her dreams will come to actualization.

A lazy smile hung on my lips as  she chatted about the progress made, not until I had a call, the caller was Annie, and immediately I picked up, I heard her distressed voice

'where are you?, I'd meet you there now' I said frantically, I knew she's seen the tabliods and I know she's not feeling good about it, I need to be with her right now as I began clearing up my table to leave 

" was that Annie?"

"Yeah"

"I thought she was in LA ?"  Meeting my worries with hers

"she just arrived, and she's seen it, she's so distressed right now, I need to be with her" 

She nods at me, and follows me out to the elevator.

I arrived at Suzanne's penthouse and she was curled up in her cushion, her head bowed to her knees and her blonde hair covered the knees, on her hand she held a glass filled with red wine, 

"Annie" I called out

She raised up her head, and I saw her face was stained with tears and her eyes bloodshot, like she's been crying for hours, I removed my jacket and place it on one of the chairs and sat close to her, I reached over and collected the wine glass, her sniffles, making my heart wrench with pain.

"Is it because I rejected your proposal?" She asked

I scrunched up my face

"No, this isn't about you, or us"

"Then why?" She sobbed, and began crying, I put her face on my shoulder, because I was hurt too, I loved this woman on my arms right now, but can't be with her because of some stupid deal.

"We will get around this, I promise" I reassured, raising her head, so she could see my face, and then I kissed her, with all fervency.

"Make me forget Liam" she whispered into my mouth as I kissed her, I carried her into my arms and take her into the master bedroom.

LATER THAT NIGHT

The blaring of my

 phone woke me and Annie up, it was my grandfather, I checked the time it was a two minutes after nine o clock

"Oh shit" I mumbled.

With sleepy eyes Annie turned to me 

"Baby, what's wrong"

I shook my head at her and whispered to her

"Go back to sleep, I'll see you in the morning" 

She nodded and went back to sleep, I quickly dressed up and rushed out to the elevator, answering the call, his angry and booming voice rang in my ears

'William, where the hell are you?!'

I could feel the severity of his anger, I just stood up Naya Carrington.

SUZANNE'S POV

As soon as he left, I stood up too, standing at the Sliding glass door that overlooked the city, I dailed his number, after a few rings, he answers

"Hey" I greeted with a smile

'hey, yourself' came his gruff response that sends me to edge

"He just left now, James Carter snr is so mad at him, he's missed his date with the Carrington girl, I told you William plays right in my palm"

'and I told you, do a job well done' came his reply, although rude it was his way of saying I did a good job

"I miss you, when are we meeting?" 

' I'll text you when I have the time, for now keep William in check, he's not to marry the Carrington girl'

"Ok, love you" 

'love you too" his reply makes me giddy like a high schooler, who just got a news that her crush likes her back, that's how he makes me feel and that's why I would do anything for him, anything.