07: Babe

•Odette•

Everything was sealed and done with. After signing the contract, Draven explained to me how the next few weeks would play out.

I would submit a formal resignation letter to my family’s company with the excuse of taking time for myself and giving Silver complete allowance to do more for the company.

Father wouldn’t think too much about me resigning at this point. Mother might be bothered but she would realize she wouldn’t be able to change my mind eventually.

After that, Draven and I would take our ‘relationship’ public. In order for his grandfather to believe that he wasn’t just pretending to settle down, we’d have to perfect the act of being in love.

Draven said we’d have to choose popular sites for our dates; places where people would see us and surely talk. When the foundation was built, we’d hold a wedding at the back of his family’s house, inviting our family members and the press.

It was all stated in the elaborate 4-week plan PowerPoint he emailed to me after the contract was finalized.

The man was really thorough. It all felt surreal to me. I would be getting married to Draven Lockwood. We’d be staying in the same house. And eventually, we’d have to sleep together in order for me to get pregnant.

I was still skeptical about that part of the contract. I tried swaying his mind towards the idea of a surrogate or literally anything else, but he was adamant about me being the one to bear his child.

Like it was my grand destiny or something like that.

It was almost dark by the time we finished discussing everything and we separated outside the café. I refused all his advances to take me home and practically ran into a taxi to avoid further interaction.

Now that I was in my building, about to step into my house, far far away from that tyrant of a man, my thoughts were getting clearer.

I just signed a devil’s contract with Draven.

After using my key card on the door and stepping into my apartment, my phone dinged. I kicked off my shoes, and dug into my purse to fetch the phone.

[D: Hope you got home safely, babe. (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥]

“What the fuck?”

Babe? Babe?? Babe???

Who the fuck was his babe? And that damned emoticon!

I ignored the text, not finding any reason to respond to it. As I walked deeper into my home, I shedded off pieces of clothing. From my bag to my coat to my jewellery.

And by the time I reached the room, I was already in my underwear. I was about to walk into the bathroom when my phone dinged multiple times.

Expecting it to be Draven, I picked up the phone with a frown.

[T: Hey, Odette. I haven’t heard from you in a while.]

[T: I’m sorry about what happened. It wasn’t really my intention. I still like you.]

[T: It’s my mother who wants me to be with Silvia. I don’t care about her.]

[T: Can you please respond to me? I know you’re reading my texts.]

[T: Please, Odette. Please.]

“Yeah, right. Blame it on your mother.” I said without thinking after reading Tristen’s messages.

I’ve known Tristen since forever. I couldn’t remember a particular time in my life when he wasn’t there. Even though we were engaged, we’d never gone past holding hands and the occasional pecking.

Not because we weren’t pleased with each other. We’d never really shared a deep connection and only related romantically on a superficial level.

I’d always believed that he was a suitable person and that I was going to marry him and please my family. We’d always been honest with each other. I could say that we were friends.

Of course I would feel hurt after finding out that he was fine with throwing away all of our years together to hook up with Silver because I wasn’t my father’s real daughter.

There was this strong urge I had in me to respond to his texts with a bold “fuck you” in capital letters. But I restrained myself from doing such. Ignoring him would be more appropriate.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

My phone’s ringtone blasted in my ears and without thinking, I tapped on the green button. Fuck.

“Hello? Odette?” Tristen’s posh accent filtered into my ears.

The deed was already done. I sighed and placed the device against my right ear.

“Hello, Tristen.” I spoke with a formal and distant tone, making it clear for him to realize that I was unhappy talking to him.

“Odette, allow me to explain. I—”

“You don’t need to explain anything. I understand. Your family wants you to be with the real Valmont heiress. That’s not me.” I said sharply.

“No. That’s not it.”

“That’s exactly it. That is literally what my father said on my birthday to everyone. And you stood there while he said it with a feigned guilty expression, hiding behind your mother like you had no say for yourself.”

By the time I finished speaking, I was breathing heavily. The more the memory refreshed in my head, the angrier I got.

“I’m sorry, Odette.” Tristen said after a while of silence.

“Sorry for what?”

I waited for him to say something. I gave him time to realize why I was angry. But he couldn’t. So I hung up and threw my phone on the bed.

I’d wanted him to apologize for leaving me out of the loop. For knowing that I was going to face the biggest humiliation of my life and not giving me a heads-up.

My family had kept me in the dark. He was supposed to be the one to tell me. At least I wouldn’t have been so choked and out of place if I had an inkling of what was to come.

“Haaa…” I let out a heavy sigh, placing my hands on my waist, trying to compose myself.

But it wasn’t entirely Tristen’s fault. He was like me. If his parents wanted him to do something, he would do so without question.

I could admit that I vented to him because there was no one else I could lose my temper with.

When my breathing became steady, I went into the bathroom and took a cold shower. By the time I stepped out, all I wanted to do was rest after the kind of day that I’ve had.

However, the day wasn’t done with me yet. Checking my phone before I got ready for bed, I saw a text from Draven that had been delivered five minutes ago.

[D: Caesar’s Place. The day after tomorrow. 7 PM.]