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CHAPTER NINE
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Lucas's POV
She pecked my cheek and rushed away to the safety of her car leaving the papers in my hand. I lifted my hand to my cheek to feel whether what transpired was real or not. I could still feel the tingling sensation on my cheek.
I was feeling at the top of the world now, Andrea Mathews kissed me, that too, of her own volition. I still did not know that why she proposed to marry me, but I was just grateful. I also got back from the company.
Shit! That reminded me that I still needed to check the papers that she handed me. I would never sign a paper again without checking it first. I had got a teaching that I would remember my entire life.
I had driven myself here so I got into the driver's seat and speeded to home. As soon as I parked my car, I jumped out and dashed to my office, ignoring my mother's and my siblings' inquisitive looks.
I sat on my chair and immediately pulled out my papers and thoroughly checked them. She was not lying at all. She had handed over the company back to me along with any profits she earned in the past few days through Rivera Industries. I was about to sign my part when my mother barged into the room.
"What happened now? I cannot understand anything between you and Andrea? A few years ago, you threatened to marry her but she didn't. Then she came back for revenge and took over Rivera Industries. Now, in a few days, I'm hearing that you two are getting married in two weeks, that too from the news and not from my son. I never understand you, my child. But one thing you need to know, I should be the first one to be informed of the news."
"Mom, mom, calm down. Everything is sorted now. I will get freshened up now. I will come down in few minutes and explain you and Dad everything."
"I expect all the details, even the minor ones, or you be doing the dishes daily at night." With that, she closed the door and left the office.
When I reached down, everyone was sitting at the dining table waiting for me. "Good evening mom, dad, Echo. What's up brat?
He promptly flipped me the bird when mom was not looking. He always hated me calling him a brat. It was so fun to see him riled up.
The food was served in front of us. No one was speaking a word so I finally broke the silence. "So.." I drawled. "Am I the gossip of this family?"
"You are the only one whose life is full of drama." Lincoln snorted. I also saw mom and Echo trying to hide their laughter.
"Okay! I'll tell you what happened. The day when I was with my friends, Andrea called to meet up. She proposed to marry me then though she did not give me a reason as to why she wanted this. I told Auden to find out the reason and he will probably get me the information by tomorrow morning. Today, she called me again to talk about something. She said something about feeling guilty for taking over the company and so she wanted to return me the papers too. Then she kissed me on the cheek and left."
"That's not even a real kiss. Even I get more action than you, especially yesterday behind the bleachers with Ruby." Mom and Echo swatted him on the back of the head.
"We do not talk crudely on this table. You will do the dishes today." Mom said sternly. Doing the dishes was her favourite punishment, one she doled out frequently and all three of us hated it.
"Will you be moving out after your marriage?" Echo asked.
I had not thought much about this so I answered, "Most probably. I think to the penthouse."
My mom became emotional at this. "My baby is finally growing up. He is moving out with his future wife."
"Mom, he's a twenty-eight-year-old man still living with his parents. Most people move out much earlier."
After my mother's dramatic sob story, my father finally spoke, "You have our blessings for the marriage. Tell Andrea to bring her parents tomorrow for dinner if they are free."
"Yes, dad." Now I had to call Andrea to inform her about tomorrow's plans.
The rest of the dinner was passed normally with Linc's snide comments and mom threatening him with punishments.
After dinner, I walked to the balcony in my room and called Andrea. She picked up after a few rings.
"Hello, Lucas? What happened? Are you backing out?"
I heard some shuffling in the background and a few minutes, she again spoke.
"Are you going to cancel the marriage now that I have returned the papers? I guess I deserved that. Shit!"
"Hey hey hey! I'm still marrying you. Umm... I just called you because my parents want to meet your family for dinner tomorrow."
She sighed in relief, I wished she would accept the invitation.
"Yeah... ok. We'll be there at around seven. Do you want me to bring something along?"
"No, that's all. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight."
I was thinking about tomorrow when my phone started ringing. "Hey, Aiden, what's up? Are you in a prob with your missus?"
"No, but I found out why your future missus is marrying you."
"Why?"
"You have heard of Irina Volkov, right? Mikhail Volkov's wife?"
"Yeah, I've heard of them. Mikhail owns an entire empire there in Russia and his wife has a jewellery company. The only reason I don't have a deal with them is that they only do contracts with married people."
"Yeah, and that's why Andrea is marrying you. Irina offered them some sort of lucrative partnership."
To say that I wasn't bummed out would be a false statement. I was sad that she was marrying me for her gain but I was going to take what I could get with her.
"You there, bro?"
"Yeah, she also returned me the company today. Said that she felt guilty."
"Woah! Are you still going to marry her then?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm not going miss on the chance."
"Congrats bro! I'll tell everyone the good news." He started sniggering all of a sudden.
"What's so funny?"
"Claire's reaction when she finds out you're marrying Andrea. She's becoming a pain in the ass recently especially with her behaviour with Zoe. going to inform everyone, let's meet at my place tomorrow."
I groaned and hanged up the phone.
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Readers, how did you find the double update?
Please check out the dedications if you have not checked them yet. Also please message me if I missed your name.
I'm so happy that you all are supporting me and the book is going on great.
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