Strings Attached

CHAPTER FOUR

There was nothing I could do to influence the ridiculous wedding arrangements that were taking place behind my back, but I was not about to sit around and wallow in self pity. Instead, I buried myself in my obligations and work, refusing to think about this Rosemont girl who had intruded in my life in such a shameless way. And though I wasn't certain of anything anymore, I was certain of one thing; I hated her guts. It didn't matter I had yet to meet her and I didn't give a fuck about how beautiful she was. Her actions spoke volumes about her character and it was enough to make me disgusted.

The change in my demeanor became visible to everyone in The Goliath and I could tell they did their best not to cross paths with me. One of the rules I had always followed without exception was to never let personal issues influence how I conducted myself at work, but the black mood that possessed me was unbreakable and it only grew as the time of the dinner at my parent's house approached. Though most of the people were lucky to escape the worst of my animosity, the young intern who was supposed to fix his project wasn't so lucky. He came to ask for more time and I fired him at the spot, refusing to hear his excuses. Even Emily—who had never interfered into my affairs or second-guessed my decisions—asked me if everything was alright after witnessing my outburst of anger. I demanded to know why she would ask me such a thing and she seemed uncertain, but said that I seemed to have been under a lot of stress. Even though I had never been snappy or rude to her before, I had not one ounce of patience left and I told her to mind her own business.

When Thursday arrived, I immersed myself in work, not bothering to check the time. I had asked Emily to prepare monthly reports for my father who was not involved with business as much anymore and had a status of an advisor, but still preferred to have an insight into the performance of the company. By the time we were finished with everything, it was clear that I was running very late, but I didn't give a damn. Punctuality was something I valued more than anything, but this could wait.

Taking hold of the reports, I greeted Emily and went to the car. In any other situation, I would speed and try to get there as soon as possible, but I was in no hurry to meet this girl. I was probably an hour late when I arrived at my parent's house and Frederic was already waiting for me with a nervous expression on his face.

"Sir, everyone is waiting—" he started addressing me when he saw I was walking in the opposite direction from the dining room, but I wasn't about to start taking orders from a butler.

"I'm aware that I'm late, Frederic," I bit out. "You can tell them I'm coming."

I left the files on my father's desk and headed for the dining room. A surge of sheer anger ran through my system as I walked towards that door, but I pushed it back. I was about to meet my worst enemy and showing emotions was a weakness that would work in my disadvantage.

The moment I entered, my eyes instantly fell on the odd one out—the girl in the purple dress. A pair of wide brown eyes met my hard gaze and then looked away and lowered to the table. I remained staring at her intently, assessing every detail of my opponent and storing it in my memory.

"It's nice that you decided to join us, son. We were starting to worry." Father reprimanded me for being late with his usual dry sarcasm. I didn't give a fuck.

"I had some business I needed to take care of at the company. No need to worry, Father," I said without looking away from the girl.

He snickered and from the corner of my eyes, I saw him motion to her. "This is Isabelle."

She stood up, but her gaze was still directed at the floor. There was no way for me to know what to expect, but the shy act left me unimpressed. It was the oldest trick in the book to get a man's attention. Did she think I was stupid enough to buy it? I approached her and waited for her to cut the act. When she realized her unimaginative attempt to catch my interest left me cold, she slowly lifted her head and met my gaze, looking at me with a meek expression. No chance, baby girl! I wouldn't budge and I still waited like I had all the time in this world, intent not to make this easy for her. Exhaling, she offered me her hand in that same uncertain way and when I squeezed it hard, her eyes widened and her face grimaced. Ridiculous!