Chapter 11: Row Your Own Boat

ALEXANDER'S POV

What was he talking about?

What news?

My father's voice filled the entire hallway. He spoke like a man who wanted everyone to listen to him by all means.

He stood by the door with his shoes on and his face squeezed like he encountered a demon on his way down here.

Behind him, Vivian stood with folded arms, watching us.

“Father, what are you doing here at this hour?” I asked again

"Don't ask me that. Should I write a proposal before coming to see you?” he said, pushing past me without waiting for permission. “The right question is, have you seen what your wife has done?”

I paused. My wife? Vivian? What is he talking about??

Vivian stepped forward. “What did I do now?”

Richard did not look at her. He looked at me instead. He held out his phone, staring at it like there was something I needed to see.

I took it.

It was the Top Times Magazine. Their headline was usually too bold and too impossible to miss.

“ WIFE OF BILLIONAIRE ALEXANDER BLACKWOOD SPENDS NIGHT AT ADRIAN COLE APARTMENT WHILE HUSBAND WAITS AT HOME.”

Below it, a photo. Vivian gets into a black car outside Adrian’s building.

I couldn't just believe it. Someone actually saw them. Not just anyone but someone capable of leaking the photo to the press.

My hand tightened around the phone.

“Who took this?” I asked.

“Who cares who took it?” Richard said. “She went there. She gave them the liberty to even think of taking this. Do you understand what this does to Blackwood Global? To our name? To my name?” he said in a loud tone.

I was about to speak when Vivian interrupted from where she stood…..”It was a business meeting,” she started with a shaky voice ....”We were just talking about my clothes and getting potential buyers,” she added.

I wish I could say more but I was just complaining about the same thing even before my father came in so what more could I have done as at the time???

I watched Richard smirk all the way to her explanations, “Can you even hear yourself?? Business meeting???? Late at night?? in that dress, in another man's apartment???” He gave a short laugh after like he was mocking her response.

She sneezed….I saw her face turning red as she stared at Richard in the eyes….

‘Vivian…” I muttered but I doubt if I could really make any difference. The both of them had delved into the heat of the argument.

“It is my dress. It is my business and it is my life!!!” She blurted out angrily.

“Oh don't you tell me that!” He protested.

“It is my son’s name you are wearing,” Richard said. “That ring on your finger is Blackwood. That dress is Blackwood money. That car is Blackwood money. Do not tell me it is your life when you are spending my family’s life.”

That sounded like an insult.

“Father,” I said, stepping between them. “Enough.”

“No, Alexander. Not enough. I warned you about this girl from day one. I told you she is a gold-digger. I told you Catherine is the better wife. Did you listen? No. You married for a deal and now the deal is embarrassing us in public.”

He hissed. That was the first time I had heard him hiss like a woman. It was quite odd and surprising at the same time.

Vivian laughed. A bitter laugh. “A gold-digger? I have heard that before. From you. Many times.”

“Because it is damn true,” Richard said. “You married my son for money. You stay for money. And now you are using another rich man for money,” he lashed out.

“Dad…..that's okay already,” I said, stomping my feet on the ground but he just wouldn't stop.

It was as though he planned for this even before he came in here

“Oh no, Alexander…don’t interfere at all…Let him talk,”” Vivian said, cutting me off. “Let him finish. I want to hear it.”

“....I want to hear everything he has in mind against me.

I saw my father's eyes widened in surprise when Vivian spoke, “Really, you want to hear it?? You think this is a game or some activity you could perform and get away with??? You think you can just run around with men at night as you wish??

“......You think the Blackwood name will protect you forever?”

“How many times am I going to say it to you? I wasn't running around. I went for work, for a meeting!!!!”

“A meeting that ended at almost eleven at night? You must think you can play everyone's head the way you do with Alexander….”

"Do you even know what this looks like???” He pointed the phone at me then at her.

“Do you know what people are saying at my club?? At the foundation? At the elite gathering??? They are saying my son can't control his own wife!!”

“I am not something to be controlled,” Vivian said.

This was my ultimate problem with her. She was quick to speak, hasty to attack without even giving a second for things to.actually cool off.

My father, on the other hand, wasn't ready to back down so easily. He was just stubborn that way and I knew that about him..

“Stop flattering yourself, young woman.. You are something to be responsible for,” Richard said. “That is what a wife is. A wife does not embarrass her husband,” he uttered in a sharp tone, sharp enough that I felt the weight of his words piece through my ears back and forth.

“And a husband does not let his father come into his house at midnight to insult his wife,” Vivian shot back.

I banged my hand on my forehead.

Richard turned to me, “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”

“Uhn??” He bellowed.

I looked at Vivian. Then my father. My jaw was tight. My fist was burning again, but not at Adrian this time. At him.

“Father…can we not drag this any further and leave me to actually sort this out…. my own way!” I said without holding back.

He smirked and looked away.

“Vivian is my wife and if there is anyone to handle her or caution her. It should be me and in my own way. For God's sake, this is my house..Father..”

“Your house?” Richard laughed. So hard that it almost made me replay what I said if there was something off about it.

“..this is the family house. Everything you have, son, is because this family made it happen…I made it happen and now this woman, right here, is burning it!!” He spoke in a harsh tone with his eyes almost like they would pop out of their socket sooner or later.

No one said a word. Not me. Not Vivian.

It was then he turned and left.

But just before he walked out the door, he held onto Vivian’s wrist and mumbled some words into her ears.

For a minute, they were just there.

“What did he say to you??”