Undesirable

Ch 9 - Way to keep her

I was shocked but again anger surged inside me and I wanted to bait her that if she stayed married to me she will be rich else she will become dirt poor hopefully the luxury she has here might have changed her opinion so I said "I don't know whether you are acting innocent or you are a fool. You, Evelyn, are the owner of 400 billion now that you have married me and once you divorce me you will lose all the money and it will be transferred on my name" This made me smirk like I knew she would take the bait.

"Well, then I think we can do it, Mr. Evans. I will sign the divorce and you become the owner of those billions. You get money and I get my freedom" she said smiling back.

For a moment it felt that she slapped me on my face by saying even if I am rich I am not worthy of her. But then a thought that she might be doing this to get my attention so I asked her irritated

"What game are you playing Evelyn? I know no one wants to be poor and if you think by saying that you will hand over the money to me you will convince me to sign the divorce papers and I am going to believe you, I don't think so? So please if your cry attention game is over can I go back to my work?

"Mr. Evans what do I have to do make you believe" she asked me as I made my way back to my table. This made me go stiff for a while and against my better judgment I said "Call your lawyer and I will talk to mine".

When she didn't go I thought might be she realized how big the money involved is or might be she feels it was a bad decision so I said "Now what is it? Have you changed your mind?"

She shook her head and said "Mr. Evans I don't know any lawyer can you appoint one for me".

I looked at her suspiciously and asked "If I appoint a lawyer for you Eve then you would blame me for biased decision. Also if later point you think you want money you can easily fight the case against me and get all the money on your name and I don't want that".

"Oh.. no Mr. Evans I thought if you would appoint a lawyer then it would be faster" She said and I could feel the sincerity in her voice "Sorry I didn't think of that. I will arrange a lawyer and will let you know when we can meet" and turned to leave when I could not resist myself from asking "Evelyn are you sure you want to do this?"

"More than anything Mr. Evans more than I am sure about my breathing," She said smiling. This confirmed all the doubts that I had that she fell for Steven and hard and I would witness one more woman falling to ruins because of my brother. 

I called my lawyer and made him aware of the situation. At that, he reminded me that we have to wait for 3 months for us to read the second half of my father's will. He told me that it would look bad on my reputation if I divorce my wife just in just 3 months and her being with my brother will cause another scandal, so I had to make her stay married to me for another 3 months he said "Sir as you are aware that  as per your contract you had to marry the daughter of one of your living partner, that being  Mr. Harrison having a daughter you married her. But what we don't know is what are the other conditions that we have to meet before you two can move your separate ways. So I would suggest you stay married for another 3 months with mutual understanding and not to bring the affair of your brother on media". I told him I will let him know what our decisions would be. 

Now I was in a dilemma whether to tell her to wait for 3 months but then as I got to know her the girl was either too innocent or she was too intelligent for her own good. Telling her might land me in a situation to part again with my fortune along with uncertainty whether she will stay loyal to me. I need to check on her financial history before I decide what I am going to do.

I called my secretary to get her account transaction details and she came back in half an hour and I was shocked to find that in all these 3 months, Evelyn has not spent even a cent of money on her personal use. She used my car on one occasion then she filled the fuel with her own money which she had earned before marriage. I was suspicious that she was using Steven for money but when I looked at Steven's account and found the gown and the diamond set a day before his and Mother 's homecoming party. That cleared my doubts about her that might be the girl is naive and doesn't know about the deal between me and her father. In this case, it is befitting that I act as if I have fallen for her. I will behave as if I want to work this marriage out. That way she doesn't have to act and I am sure I can work out things once six months are over.

Feeling accomplished with day's task I went to her room only to find it locked. I knocked but no response so thinking that Evelyn is sleeping I used the spare keys and opened only to find it dark without any lights confirming she indeed was sleeping. I switched on the lights only to find her missing on the couch when I entered the wardrobe thinking she might be there. I don't know why but I was concerned not seeing her at her usual place and then I made way to the bathroom thinking that would be locked but it was open and when I got frustrated I glanced in the balcony only to find it empty. Now I was getting concerned if she was not here then why the door was locked. Suddenly my eyes fell on a figure hunched in the corner on the further side of my bed and I made my way towards it.

Reaching near the corner I realized it was Evelyn but what made me wonder was why was she hiding and her body language screamed fear as if she was terrified of something or someone. I raised my hand to touch her when she shielded her face with her hands saying in her broken voice "Please don't hurt me. I am sorry. Please don't hurt me". She kept murmuring as if I was a devil standing on legs in front of her.

The broken words and her shivering body made me let my guards down and I pulled up her body by her forearms. I was worried and wanted to know what was wrong, I felt anger surge in me thinking someone dared harm her in my home. As if my touch escalated her state of hysteria started fighting and kicking, the only way to calm her down was to bring her out was to make her face reality. I held her chin to make her look at me and told her to calm down.  The sight in front of me was so much different than the times I threatened her, humiliated her and that even made me ashamed of myself. Her red puffy eyes held so much fear and her face once beautiful face had gone pale. She stared at me with that expression for a while and that made me stop breathing. As if a switch clicked in her brain that after seeing me she sighed a breath of relief but still her body was shivering as if she could still feel the presence of intruder who tried harming her. I was glad she was not afraid of me but I could not grasp what was going on when the door opened and I looked to see Steven blank face only to find her shaking and then she passed out in my arms.