Chapter 5

Elliot’s POV

I try cracking my brain but still won't get the answer. 

Her eyes go down to her baby, soothing it as it clings to her nipple for life. Now covered but the image of her exposed big boob comes up again. 

Shitt! 

I slap my thigh. Especially that I'm staring at her, it's making it so hard for me to forget. 

That boob. So big and plumpy. 

A massive jolt spirals over my body. 

“Why can't I just forget this?” I cry aloud in spirit. 

God, forgive me. I was going to deal with Edward in any way but not desiring his wife. 

This is the last thing I want to do. Coveting someone's wife. My brother's wife.

I notice a grin slightly breaking off her lips. The red on her cheeks. She knows what she's doing. 

I gulp. 

"Are we talking about this deal or not?” I ask when I see that this call isn't progressing.

She hesitates, focusing on her baby, pretending like she didn't hear. 

Eva sighs from her seat, shaking her head as her eyes lock with mine. Something like, ‘You got this on yourself.’

"Didn't I warn you of this?" She grumbles aloud after another minute passes and she isn't saying anything but still helping her baby suck like doing this stops her from replying to me. 

The best thing to do is cutting the call but then my fingers are so stiff. 

"Let me know if you're up for this or not, please.” I say, most likely for the last time but when she ignores me again, I know this is more than intentional. 

I yell at her. “I can relieve you of this job so you take better care of your baby."

I may have sounded serious but deep within me, I'm praying for her not to reject this deal. 

It's my only way to get back at Edward once and for all. 

“Even your husband isn't happy with this deal I'm giving you. I didn't know you just gave birth.” 

I sigh, drifting my fingers over to the red button when her face flips up with a tight squeeze. 

She hates that word. I note for the third time. 

"What's wrong?" I skeptically ask, if only she'll say it and stop wasting my time. 

She cowers, too nervous. 

Time gets slower. This sadness on her face is real. The only thing I feel she's not faking.

Something is definitely wrong somewhere and I want to know. 

“Are you accepting this deal to set me up or doing it for yourself? Your husband?” 

"Yes, I'm doing this for myself.” She stutters, trying to avoid my gaze. 

I watch her go from seductive to real miserable. 

"What do you mean?"

She goes mute, refusing to look at me. My mind tells me next that she's tearing up and wants to hide it. 

I remain still, waiting on her. 

Not longer after, she lifts her face up, cleaning her eyes with the back of her palm. 

"There's a woman here which Edward claimed to be his mom but today I just came to realize she's the woman he wants to marry. Not me.” 

I raise my hand up, halting her.

“Wait! Are you joking with me or?”  

She tilts her head, glaring at me with eyes tinted with severe disappointment. 

“Do I look like I'm joking?” 

Hmm. 

“So you mean he lied about his mom and you didn't know?” 

She nods. 

"He made me have a baby for him, then he suddenly turned harsh and negligent."

A humorless chuckle almost slips out. This feels like a punishment she's getting for joining hands with him to hate but then for the sake of the baby and the destabilizing confession, I can't laugh. 

What kind of a woman pretends to be Edward's mom and she believed all through these years?

I want to blame her too. But I can't. 

I want to say something but a second thought rushes into me. 

I refrain. 

"You know I came for business, I don't wanna involve myself in your family business." 

“I know…..” 

But I cut her short. “If I'll be honest with myself this has nothing to do with me. I'm pressured to take this stance the more I remember who I am. 

A billionaire CEO with groups of companies who are steadily climbing up the ladder of massive success. 

What I want to avoid now is scandal. 

But her eyes scream ‘help.’ 

If it's a prank, I hope she hears this and quits. If it's not, she can go to court. 

Her eyes get redder and her face more pitiful as the seconds passes. From blaming her, I turn to blame myself wondering why I can't just exercise my strict attitude over her. 

Why is she the only exception? 

Eva has been trying this on me for a year now but I don't yield. 

Why not her? 

I grumble bitterly the moment I see I might not be able to walk away from her case anytime soon. 

"Don't you have a lawyer? A lawyer has a better deal on this than me?" I advise seeing that this is the best I can do. 

"I do," she mutters.

“Then why involve me?”

It isn't clear at all. 

She says nothing. Three minutes passes, yet she keeps staring into her screen, pretty dull. 

“This is damn serious!" I shrug. 

In desperate hope to escape her, I'm now asking her boldly. 

"What do you want me to do for you now?"

Her brows edge higher, a bit of joy occupies where the paleness in her eyes had been. Thinking I'm going to help her. 

"You said you hate him so much and I believe you still do. Possibly that's why you came to me with this deal.” 

I shiver. 

Girl, how did you know my mind? 

“I know you'd do anything to seek revenge for the ill allegations he's been giving to you? Right?"

My composure is gone yet I don't want to say that's what it is. 

"What! Why are you mentioning these all of a sudden?”  

She sucks in a deep breath, breathing slowly. 

My blood goes from warm to hot while waiting for her to say it.  

“I overheard them making wedding plans for themselves but I'm now pretending like I know nothing.” 

“Okay?” 

“I just want a secret revenge. One that will take them by surprise.” She says, so serious. 

“Are you sure you heard well? Can I see the picture of the woman you're talking about?” I ask. 

At last, I'm the one to decide whether the whole of this is true. 

“Okay, a minute.” She says and leaves right away. 

The call is paused and I'm turning over to the motionless Eva, resting on the couch, disappointed this whole thing is going this far. 

She pauses the call but a few seconds later, a photo notification pops up on the top of the screen. I click on it.. 

A woman's picture. The one in question. 

Upon viewing it, I rush back to resume the call. 

“This isn't his mom.” I frown. “How was he able to fool you for so long and you didn't even get to realize….even for a day?” 

Ridiculous! 

She must have loved him so much. 

“You see the kind of man I got in with?”   

A smile warms up my lips remembering how it began. “You didn't want anything to do with his family.” I mock. “Least this won't be happening.” 

Nothing feels so good than now. 

“I just didn't know. I was so much in love and naive as well.” 

“Hmm.” 

My heart is pounding again, desperate to single myself out of this. The same thing Eva is trying to tell me with that sideward look. 

“Can you assist me to take this revenge on him? On them both?"

The life on my face vanishes. “Urgh? What do I do here?”  

“This is definitely getting out of hand.” I whisper to myself. 

“Will you marry me?” 

“Urgh? Come again. You say?”  

She swallows a lump, saying it all over again. “Just three years. I'll give you whatever you wish besides money. I know you already have that.” 

“Why should I marry you in the first place?” I look at her, wondering if she has gone crazy. 

She needed revenge. How does marrying her sum up to it? Or she thinks Edward will give a fuck about her trying to make him jealous when he clearly doesn't likes her? 

I go next to concluding it's this naive attitude of hers which got her deceived by Edward. 

I shake my head vehemently. “I can't risk that. Sorry.”

It's here I call the quit. This is beyond. I was even expecting her to ask something like using my power, money, help her sue him or the likes. 

But marrying? 

Not even fake dating, if I would have agreed. But marry. 

Nah! 

“Please. It's not what you think. I know what I'm doing.” She pleads but it only makes me angrier. 

"What do you take me for?”  

She shivers with her baby. 

“What business do I have with your marriage? When you packed in to live with him, did you message any of his relatives to ask about him? Why need me now? Me, that you'd been joining with him to hate?”  

Till I'm yelling at her at the top of my voice, I can't tell. 

She claps her hands together in a plea, fidgeting. 

Do they just meet people and ask them for marriage? 

Not only is this pissing but amusing. 

She drops her face low, red in shame. Pity strikes me. What I never want. 

I squeeze my forehead into a frown as I look at her. Heavy breath escapes through her nostrils. 

"I'm really sorry. So sorry, I thought you'd hop in." 

Hop in? 

I chuckle all of a sudden. 

This woman is just weird and funny. The way she even pronounces it. So sure. So confident. 

So this is why she accepted my deal. 

I can't be less amused. I smirk, drawing in a long sigh. 

She drifts her fingers forward, towards the screen. Her baby in her arms, slightly tilting his head forward. Both of them looking so lonely and helpless. 

My heart halts. 

What if she's seeing me as the only one who can truly help? 

And I'm turning them away? 

What's going to happen after this? 

I then turn to Eva, my assistant, hoping she says something. Tell me, no or yes, being the only one I've been close to. 

Nothing. 

I race a look back to Luna. Her fingers are already on the screen, about to tap to end the call. 

Then the word slips out. 

"Wait!”