CHAPTER 9: You’ll Never Have Him

Aria’s POV

We walked back into the main hall, his hand still holding mine, and I could already feel everyone staring again.

We stopped near the center of the hall, people immediately coming up to him again, shaking his hand, congratulating him, talking business as usual.

I stood by his side just nodding and smiling when someone looked my way. Ugh, this was so exhausting. I was so tired of pretending.

An older couple walked up to us and exchanged pleasantries with Nathan and me.

“Your wife is extremely beautiful,” the man said, and his wife was staring daggers at me. How was that my fault?

Nathan’s grip tightened on me.

“Excuse us,” he said shortly, guiding me away before the conversation could drag on.

That was weird.

Once we were out of the main hall, I pulled my hand away.

“Relax,” I said. “I can handle a little flirting.”

“That wasn’t about him flirting with you.”

“Oh?” I raised a brow. “Then what was it about?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, his eyes flicked toward the other side of the room, and I followed his gaze.

Sophia.

Of course it’s her. She was watching, as always, with this intense stare that made it seem like she wanted to attack me.

“God, doesn’t she have anything better to do?” This is becoming embarrassing, Jesus.” I sighed, rubbing my fingers on my temple.

She was really stressing me out.

“Had no idea becoming your wife came with a whole army of obsessed fan girls with Sophia as their queen,” I sneered.

“Stop that. She’s not obsessed with me. She’s merely protective, or rather territorial,” Nathan scratched the back of his head.

“It’s either you’re really oblivious to her stupid love for you, or you’re in denial”

“God, she’s still looking?” I sighed, frustrated. I wanted to walk over there and give her a piece of my mind.

“Let her,” Nathan said.

“Easy for you to say. You’re the one they cornered and blamed for your sister's disappearance”

“She said that to you?” Nathan looked shocked.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it”

“I’m really sorry about that. I’ll talk to her, okay?” He replied, shaking his head.

We moved back into the main hall, and everyone was gathered close to the podium.

Thankfully, the event was coming to an end. God, I was so tired.

I stood to the side as Nathan got up on the podium and gave a speech.

Damn, he’s hot. Something about the way he spoke did something to me. I’d never admit that to his face tho.

“He’s not yours,” a voice said. I turned my head to see Sophia standing next to me.

What the fuck is her problem?

“Oh Lord, give me strength,” I murmured.

“What do you want?” I sighed, looking at Sophia.

“Just so you know, you might be married to him now, but you’ll never win his heart. Who knows, maybe you won’t stick around for long.” She tilted her head to the side and walked away.

I stood there confused by what the fuck just happened. Was she threatening me?

I looked up at the podium, and my eyes met Nathan's, and for a moment we just stood watching each other. He fumbled over his words and looked away while I blushed hard.

Stupid Aria.

At one point, I wasn’t even listening anymore. I was tired mentally and physically, too.

I wanted nothing more than to go home, take these heels off, and sleep.

Once everything was done, people started leaving, and Nathan came by my side.

“Ready?” He said, taking my hand.

“More than ready, I’m so exhausted,” I groaned.

“My feet are killing me,” I added.

We made our way out, and I finally let out a long breath.

“Finally”

Nathan loosened his tie. “It wasn’t that bad, now was it?”

“Trust me, it was”

“Delightful, we have many more to attend, dearest wife,” Nathan said.

One day I’ll strangle him in his sleep.

He opened the car door for me, and I got in, then walked over to the driver's side.

I took off my heels in the car, finally relaxing a bit, and I let out a small sigh of relief.

“Don’t do that,” He said, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Do what?”

“Take off your shoes in the car”

“I’m tired, Nathan. I really don’t have time for this right now,” I groaned.

He was starting to get on my nerves.

“I’m also tired, and you don’t see me taking off my shoes”

“Hm, do my feet bother you, oh darling husband?” I cringed at saying those last two words.

Seeing he didn’t respond, I continued, “Oh my, does the high and mighty CEO have a feet fetish?” I said in a sickly sweet baby voice.

Nathan gave me a side eye and scoffed, “Feet fetish my ass”

“Who knows, maybe seeing my feet turns you on,” I teased.

“No, shut up and let me drive”

I pouted, “Oh, so my feet look bad. Sorry about that. I’ll put my heels on now”

“Hey, hey. I didn’t mean it like that. You have beautiful feet. Wait, why are we talking about feet?” He looked genuinely confused, and I burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, you do like feet!” I laughed.

The look of pure irritation on his face made me ecstatic.

“I’m done with this.” He sighed, palming his face.

I ended up sleeping and felt the car come to a halt

My eyes fluttered open, and Nathan stepped out and walked over to my side, opening the door.

He took my hand mid sleep and helped me out of the car.

I lost my balance and tripped on my other foot, twisting my ankle.

“Shit,” I groaned.

I tried steadying myself, but pain shot through me, and I fell back down.

“Easy there.” Nathan held me by my waist and hoisted me onto the hood of the car.

He knelt and took off my heels. I bit my lip when his fingers came in contact with my skin.

It felt very intimate, and I felt breathless.

After taking off my heels, he softly grabbed me by my waist and lifted me bridal style.

This was the second time he was carrying me like this.

“Put me down,” I whispered, trying to wiggle myself free.

“You can barely walk right now. I suggest you just calm down and let me carry you”

I tried to relax, but my body was on fire. His grip on my waist was firm, and I couldn’t help but feel bothered by the way he was touching me.

He carried me through the mansion and into our bedroom.

Laying me down softly, he says, “I’ll have someone come check your foot tomorrow.”

“Hmm,” I hummed.

He slowly started unbuckling his shirt, and I tried to look away, trust me, I really did, but I did sneak some glances at him.

“You can look. I won’t charge you for it.” He shrugged.

I felt so embarrassed, “I’m not looking”

“You’re a bad liar. Go ahead and change. I’ll be back.” With that, he tossed a nightgown at me and walked out.

After he left, I sat up straight on the bed and tried undoing the zipper, but I couldn’t.

Oh god, I’m really gonna regret what I’m about to do.

“Erm, Nathan?” I called out, and a knock sounded at the door, and it opened.

“Need help?”

“Yeah, a bit”

Once again, he lifted me like I weighed nothing and set me on the vanity table.

With my back facing him and slowly undid my zipper.

His fingers on my back felt so good. I was beginning to get irritated with how much I was enjoying this.

Nathan finally unzipped it all the way down. “How do you manage to zip it up but can’t zip it down”

“I don’t know, excuse me please”

He carried me back to the bed and left the room.

I changed out of the dress into the nightgown and got into bed, but a while later I heard Nathan come into the room so i pretended to be asleep.

That asshole was talking to someone on the phone again, his voice low enough that I couldn’t make out everything he was saying.

But I heard one thing clearly.

“I don’t want my wife to know about this.”

My eyes stayed shut the whole time.

What the fuck are you hiding from me, Nathan Cross?

What could possibly be so important that I couldn’t know about it?

I lay there pretending to sleep while he continued talking, my mind racing with a million fucking questions.

Eventually, I drifted off of to sleep with the thought still on my mind.

But little did I know, I wouldn’t have to wonder for much longer, I would find the answers to all my questions in a rather strange and unsettling way.

And when I did find the answers….

I would wish with everything in me that I hadn’t.