Chapter 14

*Kiara*

It's been a few days since i went to Lucas' office to give him the contract and to say he was surprised about my fast move would be an understatement, he was shocked. He never thought i would play a fast one on him especially since i hadn't given him a single clue as to what i was going to do. I was silent in all of my dealings, preferring to deal with people when they least expected and that was exactly what i wanted to do when it came to me and Lucas ' marriage. I wasn't going to be ruled by whatever plans he had. I had my own plans and i was going to go with it whether he liked it or not. It was one thing to get married willingly but when you're forced into it by a stupid contract your father put up, that was another ballgame entirely.

"Miss Barclay, would there be anything else? It's closing time." Amy said through the intercom.

"No, there wouldn't be anything else. Thank you for your help so far, enjoy your evening." I said.

"Thank you ma'am and you too." she said before cutting off the receiver.

A quick glance at my wall clock told me that it was almost six p.m. We had even overworked when normally, the closing time ought to have been four p.m. It wasn't any of our fault though as I tried to clean up my father's mess. He had made a lot of it and i knew that I'd still keep cleaning until everything was back to normalcy and that's if it was really back to it. The way things were going now, i didn't even know what the future held for all of us. It just seems like i was going into another chapter of my life, one I had no clue about. It was even more painful to think that my father wasn't here to help me through it and he had left me in this financial mess to sort out.

"Oh Dad, how could you?" i mummured.

I didn't really know where exactly it had gone wrong but what i did know was that it had gone wrong and I had a feeling that it was due to the fact that my father had made some really bad financial decisions which just had me wondering why he didn't just seek help. I mean, there were several people ranging from his close friends to his lawyers who would provide a lot of advise without him spending a dime. So, why didn't he go through that means? I didn't understand it, didn't understand it at all. It was very stressful thinking about it and in that moment, I just wanted to scream and rant and just hit something so that all of these feelings would go away. It was now dark, almost heading to seven p.m but somehow i didn't want to go home. I didn't want to go back to a home that was depressing and sad when no one was there to cheer me up. Once long ago, i had dreamt of a beautiful life, one in which i would spend it with my husband and my children but now, the possibility of having that was very slim and especially not with a man like Lucas who hated me.

I didn't know Lucas, never met him before so i had no freaking clue why he seemed to hate me this much. As far as i was concerned, i had never met him before and i was so sure that our paths had never crossed before so why was he acting like a deranged man.

Just then, my phone gave a small beep, indicating i had a call. Glancing at the caller ID, i realized it was my driver calling. Oh damn, i should have told him to leave. Now, i had to apologize to him knowing that I wouldn't like it if it were done to me.

"Ma'am, are you still busy" he asked respectfully.

"Oh, so sorry. I should have called. I didn't know i would stay this long. I'm not ready to leave now but you can go. Just leave the keys with the night security, so sorry for delaying. Not to worry, I'll add something on your paycheck next month." i smiled.

If i knew him well, i knew he'd be smiling now. There was nothing like an added bonus on one's paycheck by the end of the month. He had been driving my father for many years just until he died and i knew he missed him just as much as i did. I saw the pain in his eyes when he got the news and i knew for a long time, he would always remember that moment, it was hard to forget.

"Alright ma'am, thank you." he said before cutting the call.

Now alone except with the darkness and the night security downstairs, i could properly think about what i was about to do. I was going into three years of marriage with someone who didn't give two fucks about me. We were going to be committed with each other and the only thing we couldn't do was to have sex and also with another person. It was completely off the books but one thing I wanted to know was whether Lucas would keep his end of the bargain. I had searched and dugged a little about him but there was really no incriminating story or evidence that would paint him as s bad boy. I just couldn't believe how that was possible as every billionaire i ever had something to do with had always been entangled with bad things. It was either they lied or even did worse things. But with Lucas, the story was different. There was nothing that i could use to pin him and it left me uncomfortable.

"Let's just see what kind of mess you have up your sleeves Mr Bell." i mummured into the night.

No matter what it was, I was ready to uncover it to find out the truth about him and all of his activities.