Raymond kept his word and showed up early for Lisa’s mother’s birthday party. Lisa had returned home that evening and was quite surprised to see him home, sitting comfortably in the sitting room. Perhaps, because she was used to having the big mansion all to herself.
“You’re back.” He greeted and she hummed in reply, caught off guard by his gentlemanly attitude.
“Don’t stare at me like you have seen a ghost. I promised to come, didn’t I? Well, I am here.” He turned to the maid nearby. “Quick. Take madam’s things to her room and set the table for two.” His gaze returned to her, “We’ll be having dinner together.”
Lisa looked at him in surprise. Well, that was Raymond North. One minute, he was the guy who slept around with nearly all the ladies in town, and the next, he is back to acting all loving like the best husband ever. She chuckled dryly when the maid left to carry out his bidding. “Are you okay?”
The smug smile on his face irked her. “What? Isn’t it what you wanted?”
“You don’t have to be so extreme with your acting. All I ask is that you keep your ‘thing’ between your legs and don’t embarrass me tonight.”
Her words didn’t seem to irk him one bit. “You are getting viler with your insults. Should I praise you?”
She rolled her eyes and walked to the dining to take her seat. She had informed Sonia to be light with the food so she would not be bloated. Raymond joined her minutes later and they managed to have their meal in peace with both of them engrossed in their phones and personal life.
She had never loved him. Right from when she married him, it had only been a marriage of convenience for both their companies and whatever single admiration she held in her heart for him died when she caught him buried deep inside her stylist just a few minutes before their wedding. Not like he cared about what she thought or felt about him.
Lisa stepped into the bathroom; the scent of lavender wafted into her nose. She closed her eyes and entered the bath filled with water, a moan escaping her lips as the warm water kissed her skin. It brought relief and unknotted the bundle of nerves in her stomach. Somehow, she wished she could spend the rest of the evening relaxing in the bath. She sighed at the thought. If only she didn’t have to show up at her mother’s party.
The Stylist arrived just after she got off the bathroom. About an hour later, she reappeared down the stairs. Her fiery red dress complimented her porcelain skin just perfectly, trailing behind her as she walked. The stylist and her team trailed behind her showering their praises.
“You look beautiful, Madam.” It was Sonia who commented.
“Thank you so much, Sonia.” She replied with a big grin plastered on her face. When she entered the living room, Raymond was already standing there, looking all handsome in a black suit with a fiery red tie to match.
“You are not looking bad.” He said carelessly with a shrug.
Lisa rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she was expecting him to say something nice. Her eyes scanned through his outfit. “You are not looking bad either.”
Her eyes finally stopped at his face just in time to witness him shamelessly flirting with her stylist. She scoffed. “Have some respect for yourself, Mr. North.” She no longer bothered to call him by his first name.
However, his eyes didn’t leave his prey even for a second. “I am just admiring God’s handiwork in his creature. I can’t be wrong doing that, am I?”
Lisa scoffed and turned to dismiss the stylist who quickly scurried away with her team to avoid further trouble with her client. She then returned her gaze to her husband. “Have some shame, Raymond North. I asked you to behave tonight. You agreed, remember?”
He smirked. A smirk that told her he would get her after tonight. She would be surprised if he didn’t.
The venue for the event was Lisa’s family home. Of course, because her father was well known in business and because of Raymond and his father, the event was filled with important people from different countries. As she and Raymond walked in, she slid her arm into his, giving off a charming smile for the camera. She could feel the sea of eyes following them as she weaved her way into the mini crowd to look for her mother; and she found her, dressed in a piece of customed dress that made her look far younger than her age.
“Mother.” She called softly; her signature smile still plastered on her cheek.
“You both are finally here. I was beginning to think you would not make it.” Mary, her mother, said, her smile widening at the sight of the two.
“I wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything in the world.” She replied, plunging into her mother’s arms.
“Happy birthday mum.” Raymond’s baritone voice sounded from behind her.
“Come here, son.” She hugged him for a bit. “I am glad you both are doing well. It is all that matters to me.”
Lisa smiled, ignoring her inner demon that was pushing to shout and tell her mother they were not doing as well as she thought. Soon, she was pulled into the crowd to entertain the guests with her mother.
“Lisa!”
Lisa froze instinctively, wishing she could just disappear into the crowd without turning to see who it was. Well, she couldn’t. it was too late now. She turned, putting on her best smile. “Belinda!”
The blonde, busty lady before her was no other than Belinda; heiress to a big oil company and top socialite. Lisa took sneaky glances at her small group of gossip sitting right behind her. She prayed silently to be able to escape from them but…
“Come over here and join us, will you?” Belinda invited.
Lisa did not want to be part of the group that did nothing but gossip about the guests while sipping wine like they were innocent. Her arm around Raymond’s tightened. “No, thank you. Ray and I still have to entertain the guest.”
Raymond smirked. “Actually, you can go ahead and join them. My friends are looking for me over there.”
Lisa turned to glare at him sharply. What was he trying to do?
“Come on, Lisa.” One of the ladies at the table summoned. “Don’t be a chicken.”
What?! Lisa felt so insulted and peeved. Plus, Raymond wasn’t helping matters. He was unresponsive no matter how much she dragged his arms to help her out of the situation.
He leaned over to her so dangerously close, his breath fanning her ears. “Take this as punishment for making me lose a beautiful whore tonight.” He whispered to her ears.
To others, it was a beautiful sight of public display of affection. Only she and Raymond knew it wasn’t what they were thinking. Lisa turned to glare at him, resisting the urge to punch him across the face. Of course, she knew he was talking about her stylist. Really? Was he expecting her to just ignore the both of them while he flirted in her presence? Or was she supposed to watch the both of them fuck in her presence? Now, she found reasons why she would rather be with a group of socialite gossip than spend the rest of the evening with him. She let go of his arm quickly and joined the girls at the table.
The rest of the party went uneventful for Lisa. Aside from a few businessmen who walked up to her and held a brief conversation, she sat like a piece of wood, sipping wine from a glass and refusing to join in their gossip. She knew if she didn’t find a way out of there sooner, she might end up drunk. She was already tipsy. Just as she was about to come up with an excuse to leave, one of the girls who had gone out before, returned to the table in a hurry, whispering something to the lady next to her.
Lisa couldn’t care less about what it was. She didn’t even want to hear about it. Whatever it was, she knew it was not going to be good news. Soon, nearly all the girls at the table had their heads turned in her direction. Despite that she wasn’t scared of them, Lisa couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Had they realized her plan to escape? Perhaps, they could make it easier for her by letting her go.
When the lady who had returned finally whispered into Belinda’s ears, a victorious smile appeared on her lips.
“Oh my God!” she yelled, just enough to draw attention to herself.
Lisa’s heart skipped a beat. Now, she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.
Lisa’s brows furrowed. Now, she was really curious about the gazes she got. Plus, Belinda’s naughty smirk irritated her. “Did something happen?”The other ladies exchanged known glances as if deliberating if to let the cat out of the bag. On Belinda’s face was a dirty smirk, like she was about to face an enemy. Now, Lisa had no doubt there was trouble. “Oh! It’s actually nothing. I just got an exciting piece of information. Would you like to hear it?”On a normal day, Lisa would have turned it down without a second thought. Belinda was no bearer of good news, but now, with nearly everybody’s gaze on her, she was indeed willing to hear whatever piece of information it was. She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.Belinda didn’t rush. She raised her glass to her lips to take a sip of wine, her face still carrying the dirty smirk. “Well apparently, your beloved husband was seen seconds ago fucking one of those girls on a black uniform; whoever they are.”Lisa froze. Of all the ex
Belinda watched Lisa leave hand in hand with Raymond, her face nearly tearing up in anger. How could she not tell! The bitch had done it just to infuriate her!Her glass fell from her hand, scattering into a million pieces as they hit the floor. Around her, the other ladies were dead silent, but it seemed like their every eye movement was intended to mock her. She hated this! Hated the feeling of being at the losing end. Hated to be mocked by these low-life socialites who were not even up to her level. “I’ll see who dares to leak a word of this to the public.” She threatened, her eyes glaring daggers at them. Maintaining her graceful poise at this point was hard for her but suddenly remembering that she might be watched by one of the nosy reporters, she quickly adjusted her expression and turned to the lady who had whispered into her ears earlier. “Are you sure of what you saw?”The lady stuttered. “I-I don’t know. The man looked so much like her husband.” Even if Lisa had proven
Lisa let out a tired smile. It was supposed to be her mother’s birthday! How the hell did it turn into some sort of meeting? She approached a tall table with a smile. She didn’t dare show the fatigue on her face. She reached out and grabbed a glass of wine from one of the waitresses. It reminded her of Belinda’s words earlier. The thought of receiving wine from the same whore who slept with her husband barely hours ago irked her. “There she is.”Lisa jerked out of her reverie, turning to see her mother approaching her. “Hey, mom.” “Lisa…”She rolled her eyes. “Did dad come complaining to you again?”She shrugged. “Maybe. He said you left without meeting all the people he wanted you to meet.”Lisa took a large gulp of wine before replying to the woman standing opposite her. “All the people literally meant ninety-nine percent of your guests. You should know dad by now.”She nodded with a smile. “What do you think? I knew he wouldn’t stop bugging me till I came here to talk to you.”
Lisa was fuming by the time she got to the office. Even her entire staff could feel it! Their boss wasn’t the usual smiling boss but they had never seen her this mad. “I demand an explanation!” She barked at Sonia. First, it was Raymond who had gone out right after dropping her home and didn’t return for the entire night. Not like it was the first time, but she had a hard time pushing the picture of him in the arms of another woman behind her. “I am so sorry, ma.” Sonia was frantic. She prayed she wouldn’t lose her job. “The driver only reached out to me this morning to take a leave. I have tried reaching him since but—” “I am two hours late for the meeting. I lost a contract worth billions of dollars. Will your excuse make up for that?” She growled at the quivering lady, ignoring the warnings of her heart to calm down. Her entire body was bursting with anger and she needed an outlet. Her chauffeur provided her with one when he didn’t show up at the usual time to pick her up to
Lisa leaned on the door of the car as it slowly drove down the highway. It had become like a little tradition for her to lean by the window each time she sat in it. Perhaps, it was Raymond’s senseless behavior that caused it. If he had been kind enough not to fill her schedule with his reckless act of ‘love making’.She sighed loudly, her eyes traveling to the rare-view mirror where she found her assistant staring at her. The minute she caught her eyes, the lady quickly turned her head and pretended to be busy on the phone. “You have something to say, Sonia?” Although Lisa could tell what the poor girl had in mind, she needed some kind of distraction to keep the sorrow that was threatening to swallow her whole every single time. “N-nothing ma.” Sonia swallowed hard, her every action showing how scared she was. It was not easy to forget how angry her boss had been barely hours ago.Lisa sighed. “You pity me, don’t you?”Sonia broke into a sudden fit of cough. It wasn’t exactly what
What now?! Lisa wasn’t sure she was ready for just another bad news when her assistant broke it to her. Lexi Conglomerate just got awarded the contract she was in a hurry to get. It wouldn’t have been painful if the CEO of Lexi Conglomerate wasn’t Mr. Thompson.Mr. Davis Thompson; her company’s biggest rival.The same man that was behind the downfall of her company many years ago when her father was still CEO. Up till that moment, she didn’t understand why he was after her company.Was it some sort of unsettled grudge between him and her father? Why didn’t any of them let her know about it?She shrugged, laughing wryly. “I guess that explains it.” The Cops appearing within seconds after the accident, the delay, arresting her driver because they knew she couldn’t drive.Gosh! Why didn’t she think of it from the start?Sonia swallowed, not knowing what to say. From their interrupted conversation in the car, her boss obviously hated being pitied. “Find a cab. We’ll have to head over t
Sonia arrived at the North’s mansion just in time to pick up her boss. Raymond had sent his driver to drive her to work. “How’s Old Brent doing?” Lisa asked her assistant. Old Brent was her chauffeur.Sonia shook her head. “We may have to start looking for someone else, Ma’am.”Lisa nodded. Poor Brent. “Make arrangements for that.” This was business and they needed not to waste time. Moreover, she wasn’t expecting Raymond to lend her his driver till Old Brent was back on his feet. “Are you ready?” Sonia asked. Although she and her boss didn’t share an entirely close relationship, there were some certain things she could speak to her about.Lisa smiled. Of course, she knew what Sonia meant. No doubt, a semi-large crowd of news mongers will be awaiting her arrival at the office. She had to face them anyway; not like she had a choice. Anything but speak up for him again. She nodded with a cheerful smile, “Of course. What makes you think I’m not?”Sonia shook her head before entering
Lisa was shocked; surprised. She never expected to see Raymond just outside her company with a Lamborgini she knew was new; she had never seen it among his collection of cars back home unless it belonged to one of his whores.But it didn’t. the large bouquet of red roses sitting in the back seat of the open roof car told her it was a gift for her. Her high heels rattled as she walked toward him with a frown. “What are you doing here?”He didn’t reply to her. He only went down on one knee with another large bouquet in his hands. “I love you, Lisa. Please, don’t let this one mistake come between us.” His face scrunched like someone in great sorrow. “I am a jerk for staying out late to attend that meeting. I am a jerk for becoming so drunk and ending up in another woman’s bed.”As he spoke, Lisa looked at him with a tinge of confusion. She wondered what his plan was this time. He had never admitted to sleeping with any of the girls caught in camera with him. Why was he doing this now? To