Call It Business ( Book 3 of 'Call It' Series )

Chapter 41 | The Oddest Skills

He was annoying, evil, and calculating like that.

She defied his wicked scheme with an annoying maneuver by standing in front of a pile of presents on the side and not letting Bernard carry them into the car. When the villain protested, she fired him a tight smile and told him she planned to spend her time opening a few of them since she was bound to be prisoned there.

He did not like her accusation but didn't argue with her and went back to work. Still, half an hour later, he quit editing an article and rose from his seat. Firing a look of amused disdain down at her figure sitting crossed-leg on the soft carpet, he entertained her by joining her game and took a few presents from the pile.

Macy watched him unwrapping one with a lopsided smirk carving on her lips. However, it disappeared into a grimace a few presents later since the outcomes were hardly impressive.

Another vase.

Ugh.

"Do married people need this many vases, or is this some secret ritual of a secret cult?" Macy questioned, setting the porcelain aside and reaching for another package. Her black and gray nails fumbled over the flamboyant wrapping of the present to find a weak spot to rip it off as she flickered her eyes at the villain lounging at his desk, "What do you have there?"

The villain grimaced in a mixture of disapproval and confusion, twirling the glass object in his hand that looked like an abstract staircase, "I have no idea. It looks like –"

"A vase," Macy groaned, tipping her head back and dropping the rest of her body to the soft carpet, "We are officially into collecting vases! We are married and boring!" Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Foxy trying to deep dive in a ceramic one, "At least, Foxy loves them."

"It must be a safe option for a wedding gift," Gerard theorized, setting the abstract vase on his present-filled desk and turning to his laptop, "Given how suddenly we announced our marriage."

"You announced it," Macy deadpanned, "Next time, I will announce it and tell everyone that 'just got married, do not give us vases.'"

"Next time?" he inquired, a mocking smirk teasing the corner of his mouth.

"This one is clearly doomed," she groaned, directing her gaze to the tiny lights of the ceiling and closing her eyes. The colorful sparks floated into the darkness as she added, "We might have to do it again."

The villain hummed an approving sound, which was cynical enough to make her open her eyes and scramble on the spot to steal a quizzical glance at him.

"Are you planning to tell me that," Gerard paused, unwrapping another present and revealing another ominous decorative object, "You might or might not get a threatening note lately?"

What now? Did Eloise just go around and start to tell secrets, or was it Cameron -

Not even staring at her to read the direction of her alarm, Gerard absently set the gift aside. "Before you search your house for any bugs, allow me to say I got one too," he murmured, not particularly sounding worried about it. "That's how I guessed it."

Her eyebrows furrowing in puzzlement, Macy jolted up and straightened herself into a sitting position, "What did yours say?"

"It was quite polite and flattering," the villain mocked, his fingers finding the keyboard as he shifted his attention onto the screen. A tiny curl adorned the corner of his lips despite the gravity of the situation, "According to it, I have always been too clever to get involved in the family business and that I should take you and leave it before it exploded on us."