Chapter 11

Amara's POV:

“Uh, who’s Mr. Fischer?” I asked, looking at the people in the room. They all seemed to really care about this Mr. Fischer guy. I wasn’t exactly from their world, so I didn’t know all the businesspeople they dealt with and such.

“How does she not know these things?” Carolyn said, letting out a stressed sigh, her shoulders dropping down as she did so.

“Maybe because her interests are different from yours,” Charlotte replied, frowning as she looked at her twin sister, who then rolled her eyes at her.

“Mr. Fischer is exactly what the company needs. We can hopefully strike a deal with him and do other better things,” Arlo then told me, leading the way to the couch for us all to sit down. I could tell this would be an interesting conversation.

“And how does this involve me?” I asked, taking a seat on the cream-colored couch. It was much more comfortable than it looked.

“Oh, dear. How do we explain this without upsetting you…” Charlotte mumbled, looking over at me. She bit down on her lip as she got lost in her trail of thoughts. These people were acting like I was in a hospital and waiting to see whether a loved one would survive.

“Mr. Fischer is a family guy. I’m talking about a happy family man. He’s extremely rich, and his collaborations are all successful. However, he’s very picky about who he works with,” Zavier blurted out, luckily killing the awkward silence.

“The last time there was a solid collaboration happening, it was with Whitly’s; however, things fell through the moment two ladies came forth who were pregnant with Whitly’s children. He had abandoned one and was still with the other,” Arlo explained, and I slowly nodded in response. I was still a little confused as to why this would involve me.

“And this involves me how, exactly?” I asked, raising a brow at Zavier, wanting an answer from him.

“He doesn’t do business with ‘broken’ families,” Carolyn replied, making me look in her direction.

“And with the news release, he’ll probably think I abandoned you or something like that,” Zavier said. I nodded, already understanding where this would be heading. Mr. Fischer would probably wonder why Sebastian hadn’t been heard of before.

“Why does he care so much?” I asked curiously.

“His father was a cheater and, at some point, left him, his mother, and siblings with nothing. He built everything up from the very bottom,” Tiffany explained. I could tell everything she felt towards me was eating her from the inside. She was still speaking with such spite.

“Amara, I know you won’t like this, but could you lie for me?” Zavier asked quietly, giving me a sincere look.

“Excuse me? Why?” I frowned. There was no way I’d do this for them.

“This deal would allow us to give our employees a raise, open several new stores, and accomplish several more good things for the company,” Charlotte explained, surprisingly okay with this.

“So, I have to lie because you billionaires aren’t happy with the money you have?” I shook my head, finding it unbelievable.

“Amara, this isn’t just about me.” Zavier sighed and got up.

“One little lie is all we’re asking for. We’ll give you whatever you want,” Tiffany said, trying to look less annoyed with me as she spoke.

“What do you want me to lie about?”

“The situation between us. If he sees things are actually good, he won’t pull out of the deal,” Zavier said, resting his hands on his hips. I hesitated. The answer would obviously be no. However, before I could tell him that, he spoke.

“Can we go talk in private?” he asked, and I sighed and nodded, getting up to follow him. He opened the big dark oak door to one of the offices. He closed the door behind me and walked to the desk, pointing to the comfortable seat in front of it as he sat on the end of the desk.

“You really want this, don’t you?” I raised a brow at him. Now that we were all alone, I felt I could better ask him things. His family made things a little…intense.

“If it were just about me, I wouldn’t be trying this hard. But this is mostly for my family’s advantage.” Zavier leaned back a little, resting his weight on the palms of his hands as he looked down at me.

“How so?” I frowned, leaning back into my chair, wanting to get comfortable too.

I could tell he was hesitant to tell his story at first, but he gave in.

“Years ago, I got kicked out of the company’s board by my father after we had a disagreement. That’s when I started my own company using the real estate my grandmother left me,” Zavier started to explain.

“So, the shoe company—you built it up yourself?” I asked, surprised. I always thought he was given everything by his parents and worked it up further.

“Very much so, yes. All I used from my father were his contacts, you could say.” Zavier looked at the blank notepad on the desk and fidgeted with it.

“I see…so why do you want to do so much for the company you have no shares in?” I raised a brow at him. I wasn’t the smartest person, but I knew there surely must be something in it for him.

“After my father passed away, we merged under my mother’s request, and she changed the shares to be equally split between her and her kids.” He shrugged.

“I see,” I hummed, looking around the room. There were a ton of bookshelves and plants but not a single framed photo or painting. It was a dull office to me.

“Amara, the real reason I want this is so he can consider starting a business with just me in the future.” Zavier took my hand in his and looked into my eyes as he spoke. “I know it’s a lot of me to ask you to lie, but I think I have a deal you won’t be able to reject.”

“Zavier—” I pulled away and let out a sigh. I didn’t like being bought like that.

“Just listen. The profit made on my side from this deal I’ll put into a bank account for Sebastian. Every single penny earned,” he offered, already writing down the offer on the notepad.

I had to admit; he convinced me he truly wasn’t in for it for his own profit. It all seemed like he wanted that private deal. The offer seemed promising and had me intrigued, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to be bought like that. “What would be the condition?”

“I’m thinking we twist the truth with a little lie. We’ve been together since the night we had sex, and you then found out you were pregnant. Neither of us wanted our life to be in the media, so we kept it all a secret, along with our child.” He got up and paced around the room as he spoke, my eyes following him until he stopped to face me.

“Won’t he wonder why we’re not ‘together together’?” I wondered, wanting to be clear about the rules.

“Hmm, we’re taking things slow. We don’t want to rush into marriage?” Zavier asked, raising a brow, just as unsure as I was.

“Um, okay. What about our living situation?” I then asked, watching as he froze for a moment and squinted his eyes, something he often did when he got lost in thought.

“We could move to my house where the dinner for Mr. and Mrs. Fischer will be hosted,” was the solution he came up with, making me laugh before I realized he was being serious.

“How long do I have to think about this?” I asked, pressing my lips together. If I did this, it would be for my boy.

“Less than a day? He’ll most likely call the moment he sees the news,” Zavier said, letting out a sigh too as he walked to the desk again.

“Oh—” I frowned and got cut off by his phone ringing. Zavier looked down at the contact’s name then back up at me before answering.

“Good evening, Mr. Fischer. I mean, not really, but I hope you’re doing better than I am,” he answered, letting out a nervous chuckle. “I knew you’d see it. The situation between the mother and I?” he mumbled, trailing off, and Zavier looked over at me, seeking an answer to give the man. I could tell how badly he wanted this, and I, too, wanted this. Sebastian’s college funds would probably be taken care of if I accepted his deal. I gave Zavier a nod, letting him know I was going along with his plan. He then put the phone on speaker so that I could hear.

“The situation between the mother and me? Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Zavier said confidently, looking over at me.

“Good evening, Mr. Fischer,” I greeted a little nervously.

“Oh—hello there, Miss?” he replied, surprised.

“You can call me Amara, please,” I replied, trying to be as friendly as possible.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Amara,” he replied in a kind tone.

“Likewise, sir,” I mumbled.

“How are things between you and Zavier? How is your child? We never heard anything about the two of you,” he asked, reminding me of the nosy people who would always keep asking private questions with no shame.

“Sebastian is happy. Zavier and I were hoping to keep this hidden for as long as possible, but that didn’t last long,” I answered, looking up at Zavier, who just gave me a slight nod and smile.

“I’m sorry to hear the media caught up to you,” Mr. Fischer said, making me sigh.

“We are too.”

“Listen, that dinner we were talking about—I’ll have my assistant send you a list of possible nights I’m free. I'm sure we'd like to get to know each other better before going into business,” Mr. Fischer offered, and Zavier’s face lit up immediately.

“Of course, Mr. Fischer. We shall stay in contact, then,” he replied with a grin and ended the call.