Marrying my high school bully

Dexter.

She gently sank onto her chair, knowing that she was ignorantly giving herself away. How could I have been blind to not see through the innocent facade?

“What are we still talking about, Dexter? I want to go home and rest.” She whined, but I wasn’t going to give in to her demand.

I made her uncomfortable and I liked that she was reacting the way I wanted. “Don’t you want to know how it happened?” I asked almost quietly and she nodded with hesitation.

“I… I think I deserve to know what happened to him.” She shrugged, her eyes fixed on the table.

“According to what I was told by the inspector, he was stabbed to death probably by the last woman who came to visit him. She was caught on camera, about the same height as you. Unfortunately, her face was hidden and she wasn’t blonde so I’m forced to believe that it was someone else.” I stated calmly and she sighed in relief.

“Oh, so you know that and you keep accusing me of murder? I might be crazy but not enough to take someone’s life and if we are done with the conversation, I’d like to go home.” She sneered.

I leaned on the backrest of my chair and massaged my chin. “Why are you in a rush to leave? I thought you always wanted to be in my company, why is today different?”

Unlike Emilia who would try to seduce me or implore me to take her home with me, she was very eager to be on her way.

“You have insulted me by accusing me of what we both know that I didn’t do. If you were in my shoes, how would that make you feel?”

“First of all, I will never be in your shoes because I’m not the one keeping secrets.” I got up, as the conversation was beginning to stretch more than I wanted. At least I’d ascertained that she was keeping a secret that Liam knew about from me, and I couldn’t stop wondering what it was all about. “Emilia…” I drawled, my voice taking a dangerously low tone. “I just hope that I don’t have to find out that secret from someone else. Because if I do, being Lilly’s mother won’t count.”

She gulped and blinked hard, her previous confident gait shaken.

**********

My eyes were glued to the screen of my computer, but I’ll be damned if I said I was concentrating on what was before me.

Suddenly, work became boring as the desire to be with Melissa clouded my mind. It hurt more because she was so busy with work and didn’t have any time for me.

How could a pregnant woman be that busy?

If I’d stepped up my game and allowed her to stay with me, then I’d have convinced her to work from home while I took care of her. Even though I didn’t like that she could be obstinate sometimes, her stubbornness still fascinated me.

I liked a woman who could hold her own.

The telephone rang, invading my thoughts in a way I didn’t quite appreciate. My secretary’s voice came on and as usual, she asked me if I was fine.

Not wanting to transfer my grumpy attitude to someone who genuinely cared, I gave her a flat response and told her that I was fine. “What’s the matter?” I went ahead to ask.

“A certain ‘Mr Williams Rogers’ wants to see you. I’ve informed him that it would be difficult to get a session with you since you don’t have any appointment with him, but he said he won’t leave unless you agree to see him.” I could sense that she was in a dilemma, and since I wasn’t really busy there was no need to keep a visitor waiting.All content is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

“Send him in.”

The door was pushed open and a good-looking middle-aged man walked in. I passed a cursory glance at him and realized that he was no ordinary man.

He wore a designer suit which spoke volumes of how wealthy he was. An average man couldn’t afford something as expensive as that.

“Good day, Mr Hemmingway.” He greeted me coldly.

I quickly stretched my hand for a handshake and he gripped my hand firmly. “Mr Rogers, is it? Your name rings a bell.”

We broke off the handshake and he brought his hands together. “If Melissa talks about me all the time, then you should probably know who I am.” He said as his eyes smothered me with a disapproving stare.

I returned the gaze, silently telling him that he couldn’t come to my office and try to intimidate me, except he was…

He said he was William Rogers, and Melissa’s last name was Rogers. Oh shit!

“Are you Melissa’s father?” I asked carefully and he flashed me a guarded smile.

“I’m glad you figured that out. I’ll be brief about the reason I’m here.” He informed in a tone that showed that he wasn’t one to beat around the bush.

Little wonder Melissa was always straight to the point. Her father’s meticulous attitude had rubbed off on her.

“Go ahead, Mr Rogers and please have a seat.” I offered him the chair opposite him and he slowly lowered himself onto it.

“I’m aware that you got my daughter pregnant, and I’m really happy because we have both lost hope of her ever conceiving. But I came here because I wanted to be sure of what you want from her.” He fell silent immediately and I took it as my cue to reply.

“I like your daughter a lot, and if she allows it, I’d like to get into a relationship with her.”

He crossed his thigh over the other and propped his arm under his jaw in a business-like manner. “So you like her, but you don’t love her.” He noted as if he was trying to take points for a debate. “You are still married and your wife is nowhere to be found. Don’t you think you should stay away from my daughter until you can settle things with your wife?”

I nearly groaned as the limitations of being married to Lorraine hit me hard. Why couldn’t she just show herself and let me be?

“I think that decision is mine to take and you shouldn’t be bothered with the affair of two grown adults.” I hoped that I sounded polite because the man was grating on my nerves.

He shrugged and cast a glance at Lorraine’s picture on the wall. “I would have minded my business if I didn’t remember how you treated Lorraine poorly. Have you ever conducted a thorough investigation on her whereabouts?” He fired at me.

“I’ve tried to find her but she has decided not to be found,” I replied flatly and he hissed.

“Nonsense! Dexter. That woman called me on the night she was kidnapped and said that she was trying to reach you…”

“Wait, what? Lorraine was kidnapped?” I interrupted him as my heart stopped beating for a moment. “I never got any call from her.”

“I don’t know about that, Dexter, but what I’m trying to say is that, if you didn’t fight for your wife and love her enough to stay single until she was found, what makes you think that you’ll be able to take care of Melissa?”

He rose to his feet as his words slashed my heart like a whip. The only thing that kept resonating in my mind was that Lorraine was kidnapped and there might have been a setup.

What if Melissa and Wyatt were right? What if someone framed Lorraine?

As I kept pondering on those thoughts, he leaned closer to me, his eyes unreadable and void of emotions. “Stay away from my daughter, you don’t deserve her.” He said and stormed out of the office, leaving me alone with my troubled thoughts.