31 Richard’s Proposal
Richard watched as Carrie Wright carefully placed the cups of hot coffee on the glass coffee table before him with her trembling hands. he always found it
fascinating how his wife’s staff was so nervous around him.
His eyes moved over the interior of his wife’s office at the Emerald Hotel and only one thought lingered in his mind — she did care for this place. More than for anything else.
“This room looks drastically different from what she has at JFC. Is this her attempt to express herself then? It’s strange. I don’t feel comfortable here at all!
Once Amelie’s secretary finally left the room, Richard took the cup of steaming black coffee in his hand and asked in a matter–of–fact voice, “Are you not going to come back to the mansion at all?” It’s your home too, you know,
Amelie felt her body tensing again. He really had some nerve to ask her about that so nonchalantly as if he had no idea how it made her feel. Home? yes, maybe it
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used to be her home. Not anymore though.
And what hurt her the most was that without that mansion, she was practically homeless.
Richard observed her silent reaction, secretly hoping that she might finally grace him with a verbal response, but when it had become evident that she wouldn’t, he sighed, set his half–empty cup back on the table, and then rose to his feet, walked up to Amelie’s desk, and stood before her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“You should be careful around him, Lily.”
Hearing him call her by that name made Amelie’s insides shake and tingle at the same time. A wave of long–forgotten memories drowned her mind in painful nostalgia. It reminded her of the times he used to call her by that name when they were kids and it made her very sad.
Richard, however, seemed to be completely unbothered by his wife’s saddened expression. He shook his head ignorantly and continued, “Liam Bennett is a known womanizer, getting involved with him won’t do you any good, especially once all of it is
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over…”
He then looked straight into Amelie’s eyes and added, “You don’t want a scandal, do you?”
Amelie flinched and tightly gripped the pen in her hand. It truly angered her how he continued to warn her about getting into a scandal while he himself was having an open affair right in front of everyone’s eyes. It was annoyingly sickening. Richard was the biggest hypocrite she’d ever known.
“You are not the one to tell me about scandals,
Richard. If anything, you should take care of your own reputation first.”
Richard sighed and closed his eyes, small wrinkles forming at their corners as the clear shade of ire covered his entire face. He then brushed his dark
brown hair backward as if in an attempt to relieve his emotions and fixed his glaring eyes on his wife.
There were many things he wanted to say to her but he decided not to because he didn’t come here today
to argue.
With another sigh, he reached into the inner pocket of his black jacket and retrieved two plane tickets which
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he instantly placed on the desk before Amelie as if it
were her reward. As if he were proud of them.
“Let’s celebrate your birthday together, Lily, just you and I. Just the two of us.”
Amelie moved her eyes down to the desk and quickly scanned the contents of the tickets. It was the sea
resort which they both favored so much before that they even bought a villa there. They had spent many vacations there together in the past; not as a couple but as friends, and enjoyed every single day of it.
Now, however, the idea of going there together for whatever reason seemed utterly ridiculous. Amelie shifted her curious eyes back to her husband and he
tried to explain his motives,
“The shareholders were quite upset with this year’s benefit. I’m not blaming you for it, it was all just a big mess, but we need to fix our image in front of those who support JFC Group the most. Spending yet
another holiday there together seems like a good idea right now.“@
Amelie’s eyes narrowed with animosity. Her husband’s audacity was outstanding.
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“If you hadn’t invited your friend to such an important event, everything would have gone flawlessly. So yes, you are right not to blame me. It wasn’t my fault.”
“Lily…”
She clenched her fists under the table and turned her face away. The sound of her nickname veiled with his voice was unbearable. “Don’t… call me that.”
Richard flinched; he didn’t expect that reaction at all. Then, he massaged his throbbing forehead, thinking about what to say next while his wife continued instead,
“I don’t think we should be going anywhere, Richard. Not now, at least. We still have some important foreign guests with whom to discuss business. Book a VIP room at a restaurant and buy something pretty as a gift, make sure the press captures it all. You can use Lizzy’s contacts if needed. That should be enough to calm down the shareholders and the public.”
Mr. Clark stayed silent for quite a while, mulling over his wife’s words. Her answer was not his initial goal. Today, he had hoped to achieve some kind of an agreeable compromise; a truce that would turn the
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two of them back to the relationship they had once had.
Unfortunately, he was too delusional to see that there
Was
no more going back for them. They were at the point of no return.
“Fine, as you wish,” he fell into the chair across Amelie’s desk and leaned back, piercing his wife with his sharp glare. “I’ll take care of everything.”
Richard then took the tickets back into his large hands, and fidgeted with them for a short while before finally looking back at his wife again, “Speaking of the foreign guests… Have you talked to Mr. Ingvarsson after the benefit?”
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