Your terms
Ugo kissed her mother on the forehead. “I love you mummy, tell Papa Bear I love him too. And it’s okay if he doesn’t want to come to the wedding. But I need him to know that this is not about him, It’s about me. I’m fine, I’m okay. Hollis is taking care of me and this whole arrangement is temporary.” She sobbed with her mother.
I couldn’t put a name to what I was feeling. A picture of my mother lying over my almost lifeless body years ago, kept replaying in my head as I watched Ugo and her mother.
“My family is safe too, right?” Ugo asked, looking at me.
“A hundred percent.” I replied immediately.
“I will slit your throat while you sleep if any harm comes to them.” She told me, her voice was shaking, but it delivered the threat regardless and I liked that.
“Any wife of mine will be protected and will want for nothing,” I said, looking over at Ada Chike, “and so will her family. None of them will be harmed by anyone. Ugo is making the right decision, Mrs. Chike.” I added, looking over at my supposed mother-in-law to be.
“Ugo, you’re sure about this? If no, you can stop it,” Ada insisted as she looked at her daughter.
“Mom,” Ugo called, drawing her mother’s attention. “I. am. fine. You have absolutely nothing to be worried about. And I will definitely pay you and Papa a visit. Right?” She asked, looking at me with a slice of desperation in her gaze.
To that, I shrugged. “There’s a possibility in that.”
“Then it’s settled,” she said, surprising even me.
I smiled and moved over to the kitchen to prepare a meal for my soon to be mother-in-law.
*********
UGO
“Cordelia will bring my wedding dress this evening. Do you have a matching tie to compliment my dress? Navy blue preferably.” I asked, settling on one of the lounging chairs in the bedroom.
“It wasn’t part of the numerous shopping bags you came home with the other day?”
“You gave me your credit card, what did you expect?”
“That you spend all my money” He replied casually.
“And how did I do?”
“Bad.” He shrugged. I eyed him and ignored.
He must be joking. One time I had became worried at the Mall when I made a mental calculation of the items in my cart. But Nana and Cordelia kept adding more, like the credit card was rooted in endless ocean of dollar bills.
“Do you have the tie?” I asked.
“Yes.” He replied.
“Where? I checked your tie compartment, and I didn’t see any.”
“You went through my stuff?” He asked, turning away from his laptop.
I shrugged. “Just curious. Sorry for the intrusion.”
“No, it’s fine.” He smiled briefly. “But it’s right there,” He insisted. Setting his laptop aside, he stood up and moved into the closet.
I followed him. “Where? Is there another compartment where you keep your ties?” I asked, tone dry.
I got a glance from him, but I couldn’t read what I found in his eyes. “She must have put them in there,” he grumbled, storming past me, taking a moment to check his underwater compartment.
“She?” I asked, watching as he turned to face me, handing me a box of navy blue ties.
“The help.”
“You have a female help? I thought it was the job of two of your men and Alessia to keep the home tidy?”
“It became their work only recently.” He answered plainly.
“So, why would your help forget to put your box of ties at the right place? She doesn’t know her job?” I asked.
My voice sounded strange even to my own ears. Yet I didn’t care. We had just two more days before this godforsaken wedding and even a blind man would see that I’ve been trying my best to be good.
Wake up in the morning, have breakfast, burn some calories at the Dojo, avoid the guards, even though I desperately wanted to speak to Hugh. Read a book, watch TV and try to gather more information about the mafia from Alessia.
I was literally perfect. But none of that changed Hollis’s routine. He was still spending most of his free time outside his home, at this club of his, obviously. I found myself praying for the wedding to come. So that Maxine c hould take me to the infamous club.
“Maybe she was distracted,” he hummed, moving out of the closet.This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
There was something in his tone that pissed me off. “Distracted? What do you mean?” I pressed on, and regretted it when he turned on his heel, giving me a devilish smirk. “You fuck your help?” I asked, when realization hit me.
“I don’t owe you an explanation, Ugo. We’re not in any sort of relationship. So, I don’t owe you monogamy.” He said, shrugging. “But if you must know, I don’t fuck her. She just sucks me off. Sparingly.”
“Gross. Well news flash, that is not going to happen again,” I informed him, chin raised, hoping I could at least fake the strength I wasn’t feeling.
“Is that so?” He asked, watching me.
With my jaw not looking as trembly as it felt, I said, “I will not have you do that to me.”
“You want to tell me what to do?” He asked, stalking forward, towering over me, making me need to snap my head up and keep steady to maintain adequate eye contact with him. “You can’t.” He said with finality.
I wanted to shrink down, but I just knew that if I did that now, I would be backing down the entire time I’ll be with him.
“I can.” I challenged.
His stupid, foolish, annoying brow arched again.
“And who do you think you are?” I stepped closer to him, pushing my face up.
“Your wife!” I said, clenching my teeth to keep my lips from quivering.
His hand rose at my side and it took a lot of strength not to wince, to jerk away. But he wasn’t going to strike me. No. Instead, he grabbed me gently on the shoulder and smiled.
“That’s right Ugo,” he agreed, nodding . His hold was unmistakably possessive. “Which is why you need to check those ties and make a choice. We’re making it official in two days and after that, you tell me your terms.”