Truly happy

Blaine watched her as she walked in. She did not see him immediately as she fixed herself a highball, and then she finally turned. 

She gasped and her glass almost slipped.

“What the hell? Do you want to kill me? What are you sitting there pale as a ghost for?” Her voice came out high from her fright.

“What are you up to?” He was watching her.

“What?” She began to walk again, heading to where he was sitting this time.

“How did you get those shares?” 

She stopped, and then she smiled fully at him. “So you’ve heard, and now you want to talk to me?” 

He was watching her, it was taking all his effort not to attack her. 

He really should not be in quiet places alone with her from now on. 

The urge he had to hurt her, hurt her so bad since her father’s status would hinder justice except they had rock-solid evidence which they didn’t, was so strong it made him dizzy.

When she saw he had not said a word, she made a face and took the chair beside him. “I tried to tell you many times, but you were too busy,” She rolled her eyes at this, “To listen.”

He still did not say anything, just crossed his fingers together, hoping his will would not break, and his self-control would not snap.

Then she smiled and leaned her body towards his, like they were friends, and she was about to drop real hot gossip. “I told you the Sullivans were getting a divorce, right? So Ariel put her shares up for sale and I bought them.” She smiled brightly. “For you, honey.”

She giggled shyly, “But since I am no longer sure of my place in your life, I have decided to put most of the shares in Olivia’s name. But it will still be under the Tucker name, so you can go back to part ownership of Mõshon with Sullivan.

He was watching her now, thinking about how he deserved the most foolish man of the decade award. 

How did he never see this side of her all these years?

She was so sneaky, manipulative and viciously selfish. 

She put those shares under Olivia’s name so that if Blaine went ahead to divorce her she would fight bloody for custody and then the shares would be technically hers till Olivia was eighteen, which would be more than enough time to amass wealth for herself.

Also, Olivia owning shares would partly fulfill the Turner dream of getting their spot back in Mõshon.

“So you made this exchange directly with Ariel?” he asked, even though he could not see both women having a business transaction over a cup of tea.

Ophelia gave him a dirty look at that. “You think I would want anything to do with your whore?” 

Blaine sighed and looked away, although his head had suddenly begun to pound from exercising restraint for long. 

He knew he should leave and go rest.

“Then how did you get those shares?” He said calmly, still staring at the The Bride Of The Wind painting on the opposite wall. 

He had loved that painting because it had resonated with how he viewed he and Ophelia’s relationship. The beauty queen that would never be his. 

The one who was here today, and gone tomorrow. 

He had needed her so badly that time it made his head ache and caused him an inability to concentrate on anything else. 

He stayed in that toxic cycle, wanted it, the crumbs of affection Ophelia gave him occasionally incentivized him to work harder so he could make her fully his.

He blinked as he realized he had stopped feeling that way after he met Ariel. 

He had not known it at the time, but she had cured him of that. That heedless need caused him to chase Ophelia down a slope with the danger of crashing at any moment.

He winced. 

Why did it take him so long to realize this? Maybe it had been impossible for him to resist the flattery of a woman he had chased nonstop, now wanting him badly and ready to stay by his side. 

Still, if she had been a good person, he believed he would have stayed at her side regardless.

He would have continued to love and honor her, even though he had no urge anymore to worship her.

“She listed the shares.” Ophelia’s response finally broke into his thoughts and he turned to her.

“What?” How would Ariel list Mõshon’s shares and the whole country was not aware, with all businessmen elbowing their way through to have a grab at it.

“I know that sounds shady,” Ophelia quickly responded. “But what do you expect from a woman like that? Also, Kan Sullivan has no idea she plans to leave him, so she cannot alert him by going public with this.”

Blaine frowned, shaking his head in perplexity, “What are you even talking about? Where the hell did you get all of this from?”

“When would you stop treating me like I am an idiot?” Ophelia flared up. “I’ll let you know I got an excellent education in the US and am not just a pretty face.”

Blaine barely stopped a disgusted grimace from appearing on his face.

“I had one of my father’s employees who knows a lot about these things look into it. You don’t think my agency is the best in Asia because I am a business dummy, do you?”

He was about to tell her that her agency was thriving, and she had countless sponsors because she was the National leader’s daughter, and many ass-lickers thought they could bribe their way into her father’s good books by being generous with business grants, loans and sponsorship to her. 

But she had already stalked off, and he was left sitting there alone in the living room, thinking.

If someone who worked for the government had checked this, then it was legit. 

But it still did not make any sense to him why Ariel would want to give her shares to Ophelia.

He sighed. 

He really had no option but to wait till tomorrow to find out what Ariel was up to. 

But he did not have a good feeling about this.

It was too easy. Why could Ophelia not see it was too easy? If life was this easy, and Ariel possessed a simple mind, they would never have lost those shares in the first place.

He frowned, and why was she chasing after the shares when he had already told all of them to back off? 

As he slowly hobbled out of the unit towards the new one he had taken up residence, his mind traveled back to a few weeks ago at that children’s hospital.

Sullivan had accused him of trying to get shares in a trickish way. 

He had thought the man was just saying stuff to get on his nerves at that time, but now, he wondered if he had been telling the truth after all. 

And was it Ophelia who had tried to buy those shares he was talking about?