Chapter 30 Monterra’s most mysterious heiress
THIRD PERSON’S POV.
The following morning, Trisha woke up with her head pressed against Oscar’s bare chest. She had spent most of the night reassuring him, reminding him that everything would be fine, that Damian still had options. She’d spoken calmly, carefully, explaining that a marriage into one of Monterra’s notable families could shift public perception, give the company a clean narrative without forcing Damian to step down as CEO.
Oscar’s phone began to ring violently on the bedside table, snapping him awake.
“Yes, Damian,” he said groggily, rubbing his eyes as he lifted the phone to his ear.
“My goodness, I didn’t even realize when I slept off,” he added, gently lifting Trisha’s arm from his chest as he swung his legs off the bed. “I’ll be with you in ten minutes.”
“Where are you going?” Trisha asked, watching him pull on his clothes.
“I am supposed to be having a meeting with Damian and I completely forgot.”
“But it’s two in the morning,” she said, concern creeping into her voice.
“I know.” He crossed back to the bed, his expression tight. “I wish I could stay, but I and Damian need to work together to solve this problem. I have to go.”
She nodded slowly. “I understand. Just don’t forget what I told you last night.”
Oscar leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I remember,” he said. “I’ll tell Damian. Marriage might be the only thing that saves us.”
Moments later, he was out the door.
Trisha smiled to herself, reached for her phone, and typed a quick message.
TRISH: OSCAR JUST LEFT MY HOUSE. HE’S GOING TO MAKE SURE DAMIAN KNOWS HOW IMPORTANT A MARRIAGE WOULD BE FOR HIS IMAGE.
Damian didn’t like to wait, especially not when his entire future was hanging by a thread, and definitely not after the call he just had with his mother.
She was furious, it took everything in him to be able to stop her from flying down to Monterra.
He had to fix this problem, immediately.”
The moment Oscar stepped into the office, Damian hurled loud curses at him.
“Our company is under siege,” he snapped, “and you’re out having sex?”
“I wasn’t having sex,” Oscar replied calmly. “I was finding a solution.”
“In the arms of a woman?”
“Not just any woman,” Oscar said. “A very wise woman. She already gave me a way out of this mess.”
Damian exhaled sharply, lowering himself at the edge of his desk. “Okay. Before you tell me what this wise woman” he did air quotes around the words, “said, "I have updates.”
Oscar straightened. “What is it?”
“We got our hands on the full article,” Damian said, picking up the magazine laying on the table. “And in it, the girl stated the exact day this supposed rape happened.”
“And?”
“On that day,” Damian said, tapping the paper, “I have an alibi.”
Oscar shot to his feet. “Are you sure? Cause that would be fantastic.”
“It would be,” Damian added slowly, “if only the person I was with agrees to come forward. She hates scandals and she hates being in the spotlight.”
Oscar snapped his fingers, “Spotlight, I’m glad we all understand the importance of spotlight here.” He sat back down, “continue.” He said waving a hand.
Damian looked at him oddly and slowly continued, “So like, I was saying?The person I was with on the night of the incident may not want to come forward.”
“She has to,” Oscar said quickly again. “We’ll pay her if we need to.”
“She doesn’t need money. Her family has that.”
Oscar’s eyes lit up. “ So she's from a wealthy family? That’s even better.”
“How is that better?” Damian asked.
“First, tell me” he walked towards Damian, “Is the reason she can’t come forward because you were both having sex at the time?”
Damian stood up, the fury hot in his eyes, “Do not cross your limit Oscar.” His voice was stern. "Why’s any of this information important?”
“It’s important because if we are ever going to get back the trust and support of the people we are going to need the public perception of us to change, we need it to focus on a positive image of us,” Oscar said.
Damian started to pour two glasses of whiskey, “So how do we switch public opinion back to our favor?
Oscar snapped a finger and pointed excitedly, “I’m glad you asked me that.” He picked one of the whiskey glasses and sipped some of the brown liquor. Then continued,
“You have to get married.” He paused for a beat to watch the vein on Damian’s forehead disappear and reappear.
Then he added quickly, “And not just to anyone, to someone with an already spotless public image.”
Damian shook his head immediately. “I’m not getting married. And I’m definitely not marrying this person.”
“Why not? Is she already married?” Oscar asked.
“No Oscar,The person I was with that night is Serena.” He cleared his throat, “Serena Gregory.”
Oscar looked around in confusion. He faced Damian again, “ You realize this is perfect right? Serena is perfect for this and now we don’t even have to look for a girl to cook up a fake love story with.”
“Hello, did you not hear me?” Damian waved a hand in Oscar’s face. “Did you not hear me say that I cannot marry this person?”
“I don’t get it,why can’t you marry Serena, didn’t you just say you two were together on the night you’ve been accused of rape by another woman?”
First of all, "When I said we were together,I never said it was intimately. And most importantly, have you forgotten what happened the last time I tried to propose to her?” Damian said flatly, “She hated the idea so much she threatened to run off to Africa.”
Oscar blinked hard then immediately burst out laughing, loud and unrestrained.
“Oh shit, I remember that,” he said between laughs. “She acted like marrying you was the worst thing on earth.”
“Yeah,” Damian muttered, “I’m glad my pain is entertaining. But that’s exactly why I can’t propose to Serena talk less of marrying her.”
Oscar sobered. “Look, there’s a reason I am the best fixer in the country, I know exactly what people need to get a clean image and right now, what you need to do is Marry.Serena.Gregory.”
“You think I don’t want to fix this mess with the media as much as you do? But Serena hates me. She will never agree to marry me.”
“If she hates you so much then why the hell were you two together in the middle of the night.”
Damian waves a hand dismissively, “That doesn’t matter, she’s been acting weird lately, but I’m not new to her tricks. I know she will never want to marry me” Damian said, there was a hint of pain behind his voice.
Oscar was unyielding, “ she was younger back then and she had her grandfather to lead her. Now she’s alone and she is older so she knows she'll need a proper man to survive in this city.”
“That’s not why she rejected me,” Damian said bitterly. “She rejected me because she hates me.”
“Damian,” Oscar took a long breath, calming himself, “I don’t care if you got your heart broken by Serena when you were younger, you better put your big boy pants on and propose to her because that may be the only way to save this company that you’ve worked so hard to build.” His voice was loud.
Too loud.
Damian was his best friend but he was still his boss.
So he added quickly, “I’m saying this respectfully as your friend and also as your Public Relations Manager.”
Damian thought for a moment, then got up slowly, “You’re right, her family name and image can help this thing blow over. The media loved her grandfather and as for her.”
He paused and walked over to the window, “She’s always been Monterra’s most mysterious heiress. There will be an earthquake on the internet when they hear I’m engaged to her.”
He turned to Oscar, his expression blank “I can get her to accept the proposal this time. I just need to make her need me as much as I need her.”
Oscar frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s time to call my private investigator,” Damian replied.