A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 104: RICHARD

Chapter 104: RICHARD

It’s alarming how a decision, or words spoken just seconds ago, can be regretted the next second.

Perhaps ’regret’ is too nice of a word for it. I think ’aversion’ is the right word.

What was I thinking? What the hell did I just get myself entangled in? Who knew, this might be her plan all along, lure me with her false vulnerability, and then make me vulnerable as well?

I couldn’t be sure, but were it all false, I would give it to her, the girl deserves an Oscar.

Had I been too blinded by trust that I didn’t see that she could be fooling me? She may appear innocent and all, but this was the same girl who had challenged and wagged her tongue at me, just a few days ago.

She couldn’t have changed in such a little amount of time. It was impossible, people like her can never change.

This had to be a ploy and I think I’m right at the center of her web. Too caught to ever retract my steps or save myself.

"Well?" She said, startling me out of my reverie.

It was clear in her face, I have to be right, or else would she be too eager for what I have to say?

But I couldn’t give her the satisfaction of thinking that anything was amiss, or that I suspected a damn thing. It might actually be my only shot at surviving whatever this was.

"Ever impatient, I see" I mused, steepling my hands on the desk.

The only stupid thing I didn’t account for in agreeing to go through with this thing I had begun by myself, was that I actually had to tell her about the selection.

Shifting in my chair, I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn’t say it. I just couldn’t.

I have once fired employees for knowing what they shouldn’t know, and now here I was about to tell a girl I barely know, one of the most important developments in my life.

She suddenly reclined in her seat, perhaps she knew that she had me exactly where she wanted, and that pushing too hard might cause her to lose everything. Or maybe she suspects, which was way worse.

Taking charge of her attempt at comfort,

I said, moving ahead with the plan against my best wishes,

"Now that you’ve made yourself feel at home, there has to be some sort of exchange if what I’m to propose will work"

"An exchange?" She cut in, as soon as I took a pause.

By God, I hated it when she did that, it was so infuriating. But I tried not to let it show, as I went on,

"Right, an exchange. It’s simple really, all you have to do is tell me what it was that happened in your life to leave you choiceless and I will tell you mine"

I sat back, hoping she would take the bait.

Most people would say that I was overreacting. Some might even say that I was afraid of Sofia. But they don’t understand, I wasn’t afraid of her and the thought of such a scenario is indeed laughable. I fear a situation of unknown outcomes.

I fear that I might’ve instigated this, but at my own peril. I fear being bested. I fear not having all the answers, not having complete control, and this situation was really slippery.

"Wait, you are serious" she said, taking the bait and for once giving me a modicum of control.

"Yeah of course, I’m serious, did you think I was joking?"

"But you can’t be serious, why would you expect me to tell you anything about my life when I barely know you." she pointed out, rousing from her pose of comfort.

I was once again gaining a hand, this

might be what she had planned or wanted, but I sure wasn’t making it easy for her.

"And that’s the thing with people like you, I gave you my word that I will do the same, so why make it personal as if I won’t reciprocate?" I feigned exasperation.

"One, I don’t trust you." she began, counting with her fingers as emphasis, "Two, people like you, your words rarely mean shit. Three, if you really wanted me to believe that you will keep your word then why not start first. And four, even if I agree to share my own side of the story, how am I supposed to know that what will come afterwards will be worth the share of such intimate details"

"You really don’t trust people, do you?" I teased, my lips curling to a smile.

I was regaining my confidence and was

beginning to realize that she might not actually be smart enough to have engineered this, or... perhaps she was too good of an actress.

Anyways, I wasn’t going to underestimate her again. I will play along, but there’s no way she’s going to checkmate me.

"Fine," I said, raising my hands in mock surrender, "I will start. So, um..."

"Actually," she said, interrupting me, "there’s a fifth. How do I know you will tell the truth without formulating a wackass fiction from the Billionaire Classics?"

Whatever form of progress, I thought I had made over the last few minutes, evaporated as she once again demeaned my authority. Once again, leading me to think, she might still be in charge. Careful not to reveal my hand, no matter how angry I was at her interruption, I continued,

"Like I said earlier, I’m a man of my word, besides fiction has never been one of my talents. Some people say I’m a bad liar in fact, though I’m working on that"

Even my attempt at a joke was lost to her, and people always laughed at my jokes. So what was happening?

"Fine, you can continue," she said, when I didn’t immediately continue.

"I... um, this is going to sound crazy and um, probably something spinned from what did you call it, Billionaire erm..."

"Classics" she supplied, her lips, quirked in a smile. She was enjoying this, but not for long.

I hadn’t faked that stutter, I was just in dread of telling her something of such significance, especially when I had no idea if it was the right thing to do. But it felt like the only thing left to do, since I wasn’t also lying about not being able to spin fiction or lie to the point of creating a story.

"Yeah, whatever, but um... Fuck, this is hard and to think I’m the one who suggested it. Anyways, my parents has me roped into a selection process that involves 15 ladies of which I must pick a wife from"

"No shit, for real?" She asked, bemused.

"Kinda regretting why I told you that, but it’s true and it’s highly confidential, only I, my parents, my best friends, Vera - over there, the girls involved and now, you, are aware of it and I would like for it to remain that way. Can’t deal with the press at the same time."

Her face creased with deep lines of

thoughts. Most people don’t know this, but the only way to outsmart a good liar and a con artist, was by overwhelming them with the truth.

"Why did you include me in the know, you don’t even know me that well. What makes you think, I won’t spill the second I leave this place?" She asked me.

Aware that I have sorta broken through her defenses, I answered,

"Because I’m not big on trust myself and we that rarely trust others, hardly break the trust confided in us. Secondly, I’m prepared for that contingency, with some sort of foolproof if I can call it that. But for the main reason, I will tell you after you tell me your own story"

She inclined her head, her curls bouncing to the side, while she stared at me in utmost disbelief. It was written all over her face, she was torn. And this time, it was too real to be a ploy, she hadn’t expected that answer and perhaps it was the fall of a domino which would subsequently lead to the fall of others.

"Why don’t you tell me the main reason now? Why wait after my own share, or is that just a contingency to make sure that I meet my own part of the deal?" She asked, leading me to think she was second guessing her plans.

More than ever, I found myself thinking that I might’ve gotten it all wrong. She might really be oblivious to all this, which would mean that I just slipped to her the selection for no reason, but paranoia. Schooling my face to mask the shame that ate at me, I stated,

"A contingency? I never saw it as that, but why does it matter, whether you share or not? It’s entirely up to you, but I know for certain that you will appreciate the main reason when I tell you of it"

She appeared to be more troubled now. Unknown to her, at least consciously, she bit on her lower lip as she seriously considered my words.

It was becoming rather abundantly cear that she might indeed be innocent of the assumptions I accused her of, this past few minutes.

"What if I deem this ’main reason’

unworthy and decide to leave? What

then?" She asked, the note of worry evident in her tone.

Of all things, I never actually considered that she might say no even before I finished finessing the offer. Perhaps my overconfidence and pushiness had scared her. I really should have toned it down.

But it was too late now, I had to trust my guts and finish what I started even though the win I expected was no longer as certain. Pointing to the glass door of my office, I said,

"As you can see, the door is unlocked. So, you can leave, if you don’t wish to hear the rest of what I have to say. But if you do want to stay, I’m afraid, you will have to share. It’s that simple."

It wasn’t part of the plan in any way, but I improvised. If I led her to believe that I didn’t need her and what I had shared with her didn’t bother me that much, she might come crawling.

So to that effect, I opened my laptop and clicked on the file containing the NDA I had drafted for her. I forced myself to re-read the words and check for loopholes, even when I ached to tell her that I was proposing for her to be my PA, a position I know she won’t turn

down, or even think about before jumping to say yes.

Over the light from the screen of the laptop, I saw her engaged in yet another round of deep thoughts.

Yes, I may have left her with choices, but what if at the end of the day, she picks wrong? What would I do then?

Perhaps conforming one to a fate of no choice is actually mercy, because there’s a chance he/she would have doomed his/her self with another choice other than that.

And more than anything, I found myself wishing I had conformed her to my choice, just as I did with Anna, using Harry’s job as insurance. Maybe then, I’ll not be scared of her walking out that door.