Seducing The Billionaire (18+) (Billonaire Series #1) |✅

Chapter 12: "Trouble"

"Pardon me, Miss Vista. You are not allowed in here. It is a private room." They were trying to politely kick me out but I didn't back down.

"I apologize but I couldn't help but interrupt this. You are not making any sense at all. Not giving a man your hotel because of his marital status? That's very ignorant."

Mr. Hamilton nodded understanding my point. "Thank you Andrew, I will attend to you later. Please leave Miss Vista and I alone."

Andrew just nodded, closing the door behind him with a small thud.

"I might sound unreasonable... But please listen to me before you blame me for anything," he gestured for me to take a seat, I complied, willing to listen to him.

"Mr. Asher is a very capable man. In fact, I think he may be the best for handling this job but regarding his marital status matters..." he paused and took a deep breath."My hotel originally was supposed to go to my nephew. But things turned for the worse, and he was reckless. He is few years younger than Asher but he wasn't committed and used to spend all his money on clubs and women. In only half a year, he incurred half a billion loss for my company. It was hard for us to make up for that."

I pursed my lips. "Your nephew is not Mr. Asher. We are planning to get married within the year, rest assured."

I know this was wrong. And later, I will definitely regret this but I wasn't thinking straight. The only thing that was in my mind was Asher and his effort into getting this deal. I have seen him work day and night for this, telling Mr. Brandon how important the offer was to him. I just couldn't let him lose this.

"Then Mr. Asher has nothing to lose. The deal is yours. Congratulations Miss Vista, on both the company and the marriage!" He said, grinning.

I nodded, uneasy. I wonder if my boss will finally fire me or not.

"By the way Paul... I would prefer if you would keep this a secret between us. We haven't announced it publically yet. I don't even have the ring yet!"

"Of course." He waved a dismissive hand. "I am sorry I had to know like this."

"It's alright. We were planning to tell everyone soon anyways." I sheepishly smiled.

. . .

"Where have you been? I've been searching for you everywhere." Asher asked, his voice laced with concern.

"I was in the washroom. I kind of lost my way from there."

"At least you found your way back."

I bit my lip, nervously playing with my hands. "Asher, I need to tell you something."

"Go on."

I felt a knot of regret tightening at the bottom of my stomach. But Asher needed to know. "When I was returning back from the washroom, I came across-" Before I could complete what I wanted to say I was interrupted by Paul.

"Asher, I need to discuss something with you. In private."

"Yes sure. Armelle, will you excuse me..." I nodded, indicating him to go with him.

"Oh Armelle, you may join us as well."

I followed both of the men into the room, my heart beating so hard that I was dubious whether Asher could hear me or not.

"Armelle you okay? You look deathly pale..." he asked, with a worried expression plastered over his face.

"I'm fine." If only he knew what I had done.

We all entered the empty office room, taking a seat on the plush sofa at the corner of the room, facing the sea.

"Asher, you were great. We will contact you later about the verdict but I can tell it's a yes from me. The rest depends on the board, but.."

Asher gave a candid smile showing his dimples, making my heart melt. "Thanks Paul, it will be a pleasure doing business with you." They shook hands.

"You should thank your fiance too; I was almost on the verge of saying no." Paul said, laughing.

Asher looked perplexed, his green eyes lighting up in confusion. "What fiance? What do you mean?"

"Your fiance helped you get this deal. Cheers to your marriage!" Paul clarified, as if Asher didn't hear him the first time.

"But I don't-" Before Asher could say more, I interjected.

"Babe, Paul knows about us. I told him about the proposal."

"What proposal? What the hell are you talking about?"

"No need to play dumb anymore, Asher." he laughed airily. "In fact, if Armelle didn't tell me about the engagement, I wouldn't even have given you the contract. I wanted someone who was married and responsible enough to handle my business."

Asher scrunched his dark eyebrows in confusion. "You wouldn't have wanted me to get the contract if I was unattached?"

"You see, my irresponsible nephew once handed this contract and he... Well, I don't want another reckless bachelor damaging my business anymore." Paul explained.

"So I'm getting the contract solely based on the fact that I am getting engaged to Armelle?" Asher said calmly, his jaw tense.

"Yes and no. I am giving you this deal based on your profile and your capabilities but your marital status is just an advantage on your part," Paul sensed the edge in Asher' s voice.

"Then I would like to take your leave. Thank you for this opportunity."

Asher strided towards the door, roughly taking my hand in his. "Let's go. We need to celebrate," he said, not even looking at me. This doesn't look good, judging from his expression, he was trying his best to fake a smile and contain himself.

. . .

"I'm sorry, I didn't exactly have a choice!" I reasoned. He pressed on the accelerator harder, ignoring me, steering the car to the right. With a loud screech, my body flinged towards the left.

He has been driving at a rapidly climbing speed, constantly accelerating as he changed lanes. I had a bad feeling we were going to get a ticket soon.

"Asher, please slow down." I gripped on the seat belt.

Silence. He just kept on looking straight ahead and driving. I glanced at the dashboard. He was not slowing down.

The whole ride I just kept on praying that we don't get killed and after a long, dreadful time, we were finally at the hotel.

I unbuckled the seatbelt and ran out of the car. "Armelle wait!" He called out from behind me. Oh, now he cares to acknowledge me.

"Jesus Asher, do you have a fucking death wish?" I said through my gritted teeth, stomping through the lobby, into the elevator. Asher got in along with a middle aged man in sunglasses who seemed quite familiar but I decided to ignore him since I was too busy handling Asher.

The elevator closed. Asher faced me. "Armelle, babe, please listen-"

"Don't you 'babe' me! I know you were pissed. But you had no right to risk our life and drive like that, Asher. Besides I did all of these just for your own good. I knew how hard you worked for it. I am sorry I had to lie about-"

Before I could finish, Asher silenced me by pressing his lips against mine.

.........

Edited by unlady