Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 208: Angry

Chapter 208: Angry

After Liam and James left the room, Mia stared at the door wishing she hadn’t raised her voice at Neil, she didn’t like the fact that he’d walked out of the room in anger nor did she like that he was taking Rayne as an enemy. Rayne was her only loyal best friend since university, and she didn’t want anything to ever come between them, not even the banquet incident.

Noticing the look of longing in Mia’s expressive eyes as she stared at the door, Rayne walked towards the bed and said, "I’m sorry for being the cause of your argument, and I’m sorry for not being able to do anything at the banquet. I was_"

"It was not your fault, Rayne," Mia cut her off softly, "I saw what happened, your brother and Max were holding you back. I held no grudge against you, and I hope you stop looking remorseful and guilty." She assured with a smile, meaning every single word she said. She’d not blamed Rayne for anything that had happened that night, and if she were to hate someone for not interfering, it would be Max and Jason who’d held her back. And she was somehow thankful they’d held her back, if they hadn’t, she’d have ruined Rayne’s reputation as well.

"Really?" Rayne’s relief shone through tears and a smile, and upon Mia nodding and opening her arms, Rayne embraced her, shedding tears of both joy and relief. "Thank you, I was scared you would never forgive me," she expressed, then inquired, "What about Neil?"

"Don’t worry, I’ll make him come around. I’ll make him understand," Mia assured, stroking Rayne’s back.

After the heartfelt moment, Rayne handed her present to Mia. And then, they began to talk like nothing had happened. Lilly, who had left the bed and had not spoken a word as the two women were getting along, returned to the bed after she felt it was alright. She sat crossed leg on the bed, but this time, her attention was on Rayne.

"Can I touch your hair, Miss Rayne?" She asked, already reaching out to touch Rayne’s red hair before she could say yes.

Rayne laughed when her little hand curiously touched the strands of her hair and let them slide through her fingers. Her expression was like that of an adorable curious kitten, and Rayne couldn’t help to reach out to stroke her plump cheeks.

"I wish I had your hair, Miss Rayne." She whispered in awe, "It’s beautiful and soft, and smooth, and so red! I love it so much!"

Rayne exchanged a smiling look with Mia and then said, "Thanks. You don’t look bad yourself, Lilly. You are the most adorable kid I’ve seen in ages." She watched the girl smile in delight at her compliment, and Rayne’s spirit soared even higher. She couldn’t help but wonder how such an adorable kid could be related to that Casanova jerk known as Liam Thompson.

"I’ve always wanted to meet you in person to tell you something, Miss Rayne. And I’m so glad I met you here, uncle Liam didn’t want to bring me along at first and I had to cry to Uncle James before he brought me here." She said, adjusting her sitting position on the bed so she could face Rayne when she talked.

"What is it you want to tell me, Lilly?" Rayne smiled, unable to get enough of the girl’s cuteness and her manner of speaking.

Lilly sighed heavily like an adult having so much burden on their shoulders, then taking Rayne’s hands into her little ones, she said, "Weeks ago, I showed uncle Liam a photo of you and I asked him to marry you instead of Miss Linda the ghost face..." She began, causing Rayne’s eyes to widened in disbelief.

"He promised to make you the madam of his house if I don’t bother him with a bedtime story anymore, and I believed him and announced it to my friends at school that my favorite character, Merida is going to marry my uncle and be my aunt. Nobody believed me and laughed at me, and when I told Miss Linda about this the other day, she scolded me and said my uncle will only marry her and if I ever mention you to my uncle again, she’ll make sure I return to my stepfather’s house."

Rayne exchanged looks with Mia not knowing weather to feel honored that the girl wanted her to marry her uncle or feel terrible at the fact that she’d break her little bubbles by telling her the truth.

Liam must be out of his mind to lie to his niece, and he was most certainly insane to believe for a second that she’d spare him a look or consider to be another one of his play things, like that senseless Linda Tudor who had no brain whatsoever to see that Liam Thompson was just using her.

Lilly continued, "I don’t like Miss Linda and I made that clear to Uncle Liam, I want you and I like you for my uncle. You know why?" She said, beaming from ear to ear, and when Rayne shook her head, Lilly said, "Because I saw a photo of someone like you in my Uncle’s drawer when I was looking for a glue to fix the eyes of my favorite doll. The lady has red hair and braces, but she looks so much like you and along with the photo, I saw a letter, a love letter to my uncle! Since he somehow lost that lady who looks like you, I want you to replace her!"

Rayne felt her heart skip a little bit as realization dawned on her. Red hair and braces, that was her teenage self. And a love letter, that must be one of the many ones she’d sent to him in the past. However, remembering all the rumors about him and how he’d once called her ugly as a teenager, she gritted her teeth in annoyance at the fact that he was misleading his little niece and lying to her. And she made a mental note to make certain she set him straight on some few things if they were to meet again.

****

In one of the VIP rooms at City Hospital, Neil had paid for a few minutes to meet with Liam and James. The atmosphere in the room was tense, heavy with Neil’s silent anger. He was furious that Mia had chosen to support her deceitful friend instead of understanding his concerns about the company she kept. In his rage, he had confronted a hospital staff member who was gossiping about Mia and speculating about her pregnancy and the rumors surrounding her. Neil’s rage had led him to act automatically, ensuring that the man would never speak ill of Mia again.

And now, Neil was still seething over the fact that Rayne Wallace was currently with Mia. He had never liked Rayne due to her brother, and now she had given him even more reason to despise her. He couldn’t shake the thought that Rayne might be working with Jason to harm Mia. He didn’t trust anyone of those siblings.

"What about the OSG company?" Neil asked, momentarily putting his worries aside to focus on the business at hand.

"We have gotten many investors back to the Galverra Enterprise, we’ve even had to turn down a lot more." James said after a long silence that followed Neil’s question about the OSG company, "Very soon the OSG will file for bankruptcy with how much their stocks and investors are falling. All that will be left is for you to show your face to the world as Xavier Galverra, many people are curious about the mysterious CEO who’s slowly rising back to power after five years of setbacks."

Neil heard that and a little of his rage began to fade. He wanted nothing more than to put Owen Sullivan back to his place. And no other way would be best than to make him go bankrupt. Neil’s dramatic escape from prison, his subsequent release, and now the world wanting to please him in everyway possible had combined to make him into an even bigger ’legend’ than he’d been before he went to prison. He didn’t need to watch the news to know he was now the hottest topic in the world, thus the moment he revealed his identity as Xavier, everything will fall into place.

And now beyond attending to his work and making sure everyone who had wronged him and Mia paid, the only other problem he’d needed to handle personally was the issue of Mia’s public image. Originally, when she had stood up for him in the press conference, she had been regarded by the world as a heroin who’d stood up for her past lover, but a few weeks later when fake videos of her began to trend online, she had been regarded as a treacherous bitch who’d betrayed not just him but that bastard, Owen Sullivan.

Neil planned to make everything right in the banquet he planned to host to reveal his identity as Xavier Galverra in a week. After that, if he were to hear a word of rumors about Mia, then they’d see the full force of his rage.

"I want the invitation to be sent to everyone, including Owen Sullivan. What about our investigation on Kelvin Rodrigo’s past life and family? Any update?" He asked James.

"Our investigators are still trying their best to dig deeper into his background, we haven’t found anything important that’s worth your time. All we know is that his only daughter, who has been away to who knows where has returned weeks ago."

"His daughter?" Neil looked taken aback as he’d not heard of anything about that cunning man having a daughter nor a wife.

"Yes, though our investigators are unable to take a proper look at her face or get any useful information about her. All we know is that she seemed to be wearing a mask wherever she goes, and it made us believe that she must be hiding some scars or something." James said, handing a few photos to Neil. "Those are the photos of her taken from the distance and in all of them she’s seen wearing a mask."

Neil only glanced at the photo once and dropped them on the table as they were unimportant to him when the lady’s face was masked. "Keep investigating about Kelvin, if you can, I’d like to see the photos of his wife, alive or dead." He needed to confirm something before he’d take his final actions on Kelvin. He knew Ella’s face, and if she were his wife, then everything would fall into place.

"Have you heard the news about your uncle?" Liam who’d been silent the whole time finally spoke, "General David has left the country the day your release was announced on the news. I guess the old man is indeed terrified," he chuckled.

Neil’s handsome features hardened. "Good for him." Was all he said, but deep down he wished the man had the balls to stay so Neil could unleash all his anger from all the years of pain and misery he’d endured in his hands.