A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 124: RICHARD

Chapter 124: RICHARD

It felt stupid just standing there in front of the Blake Mansion.

I didn’t dare look around at the street, anyone could recognize me even with my dark shades. I couldn’t take that risk, so I lasered my gaze on the oak doors Lanke had knocked on, twenty seconds ago.

Twenty seconds that felt like twenty minutes. "What was taking them this long?" I thought, my legs bouncing slightly in uneasiness.

I hated being made to wait and worse, by the door under the influence of so many eyes. I could feel it, like needles pricking at my back, the eyes of passers-by.

"Knock again" I gritted to Lanke. As he turned to look at me, I added, "louder"

He obeyed. Jamming the brass knocker hard over and over again. He must be just as comfortable as I was standing outside. At least, it reflected in the way he knocked.

Ten seconds later, a stout man a few years older than Lanke, appeared from the slightly opened door. He was dressed as a butler, with a simple cut dark suit.

"Burn me!" The man exclaimed, as realization dawned. He knew who I was. Which wasn’t a surprise, I was famous.

"Um... what... How come? " He stuttered, still reeling from the shock of me in front of him.

Then as if the last few minutes didn’t happen, he said, his expression cooled to neutrality and stoicism, typical of people in his position.

"Good evening, Sir. I’m Felix, the valet of this household, what can we do for you?"

"Good evening, Felix. I’m Lanke. My boss here, would like to speak with your Mistress, if she’s available" Lanke intoned in that weird accent of his, once again reminding me that I needed a personal assistant and I was just a dpor away from securing one for myself.

Felix muttered, "I’ll right back" and disappeared back inside, still leaving me outside.

Another ten seconds later, he returned ushering us in while muttering baseless apologies. The man was lucky I was not his boss, I would have fired his ass. But then again, he was only doing his job. The real person to be blamed was his mistress, the woman I was about to meet. Alicia Blake, the dowager.

I’ve heard about her. Being in the fashion industry herself and making grounds, or was making grounds especially with her ’Fruits & Flowers’ collection. That headwear collection had put her name among the elites of the fashion world.

But the woman didn’t know her place. Alicia may have been popular before, being the daughter of a Congressman and getting married to the once Real Estate Millionaire, Francis Blake. This was until the man gambled and drank away his wealth.

The scandal had ruined the entire household. I don’t think Sofia had joined then. According to what I read on the net, she joined after her father, the late Mr Blake passed away.

Some say she never met her father. It was only after the man’s death did the news of his illegitimate child surface. Something to do with no more payments for child support.

But that was another thing about the girl, Sofia, I mean. There was no mention of her mom. Sources left it at,

"... the unfortunate illegitimate child of the late Mr Blake, who the dowager, Alicia Blake had in kindness decided to take in, seems to have had it rough in her early days. No recollection of a mom and a dad that never stayed with her. It seems the mother was just another unfortunate victim who never planned on having a baby. It’s to be believed that she had kept it on Mr Blake’s orders, only to desert the poor child after birth.

Thank God for kind souls like Alicia who give us hope that the good ones still walk amongst us. At least now, the poor thing would know a family."

That was an excerpt from ’Threads’, a news and gossip blog. I had read that on the drive over here. I thought I knew Sofia Blake, but in my research on her stepmom, it turns out I didn’t know her as much as I claimed.

It’s not like I spent time browsing her or going through her Insta posts. The details she left on her application file seemed enough when I was to employ her for the position of a clerk. With this new position, I had to of course, scrolled through her social media posts.

I got then that she was an Aries. A fashion enthusiast and apparently an incredible designer, she had interned at Bogue and during her internship had come up with a woman’s shirt design that had fetched her a lot of accolades from fashion industries. Not the top tiers, because I certainly never heard of her before the interview. But still it was a big accomplishment, at least to someone of her class.

She also had a good eye for styling. Her wardrobe recommendations were excellent. She once complimented a celebrity’s outfit to the TAG gala, Camille Andreas, and after making a few recommendations on which jewelry and hairdo would have been perfect for the artist’s attire. Unknown to her, the designer of that dress tried her recommendations and the change was indeed perfect. Other designers, top designers after reading her posts, liked and commented on the agreement.

At least now I know how she did it, she had to have read Camille, that must have been it.

Whoever wrote those words on ’Threads’ didn’t really know Alicia. From the little I have heard from Sofia, the dowager was anything but kind. Who would leave a girl with no choice, but marriage and call herself kind?

She might’ve saved Sofia’s poor unfortunate soul by accepting her into the family, that’s if Sofia was really as unfortunate as they wrote, after all if they could make a mistake concerning Alicia, surely Sofia wouldn’t be far off. But one thing was clear, the girl was not considered a part of the family.

As I was saying, the millionaire to almost broke scandal of Mr Blake had erased every scrap of success and popularity the daughter of a former Congressman had amassed. Her social rankings dropped so drastically that she was lost among those in the bottom.

That’s the thing with this life. The life of popularity and fame, I mean. It’s not really guaranteed, change could happen at just about any moment. A bottom bencher could rise up to the top tier suddenly or a top tier could drop to the bottom just as suddenly.

With the eyes of many on you and their ears eager to hear about your life, the pressure is real. And a scandal is one of the predominant ladders in living this life. A scandal can raise you or end you, it all depends on how you react to it. How good you manage it or in my case, how good your Social Media managers are.

Alicia could have gained the world’s sympathy and love if she had openly denied knowledge of her late husband’s gambling and drinking fits, but her silence then made her a consociate.

Taking in his bastard after his death was a step towards regaining what was lost. That deed alone, as fake as it was, pushed her out of the bottom. But then she launched her ’Fruits and Flowers’ hat collection and rose instantly among the elites.

That sudden rise can be overwhelming, heady in fact. In the case of Alicia Blake, she was wrong to assume that she was now in league with those of us who had been elites so long that it was almost impossible to fall beneath.

She applied for a mid partnership with Wellington after her ’F &F’ collection. While it was true that her collection could collaborate with our own collection, granting her that opportunity could make her think she was above all. It could give her the wrong impression.

To stay in power, one had to check those who could possibly be a threat if allowed a dose. And Alicia Blake was one of those persons and apparently, Wellington wasn’t just the only company to think so, others like the Dame Dynasty also turned down her request even though accepting it could have been a score against us.

I guess that’s another thing about power, there comes a time when those in the same level or close to each other in power proximity. They band together to make sure they remain on top by keeping those who should be below... below, even if they have to set aside their differences to actualize this.

That’s why I’ve tried to be as discreet as I could about coming here. If my visit dared appear in any news platforms or blog, I might just have gifted the dowager the power denied her years ago. And worst, her daughters been potential prospects for the selection could give the other 13, the wrong idea.

As a foolproof against any of that happening, I decided to be the meanest I could be. Like myself at 100%. Treat the woman exactly as what she was, a lesser. Show her that that will be all she could ever be, and hope that teaches her not to reach above her status. Cower her with my power and hope she remains down. After all, I had other reasons, keeping me waiting outside her door was one of them.