Chapter 122: Chapter 122

Chapter 122 [ALEX]

I watched Mia tuck Jennifer inside her bed in the hospital, kissing her forehead and holding her hand till the little child falls asleep.

She was a hellion. Jennifer. She lurched onto me any chance she got, hugging my legs like she was a clingy dog. I think she viewed me as a prince in shining armour who had saved her from eternal boredom and reunited her with Mia.

I pitied the child, I really did. Losing your family at seven and stuck in a hospital bed all your time isn’t an ideal life for anyone. But she was the reason Mia had lied to me.

She was Mia’s Sunday hospital visit.

I cursed myself for not pulling up the CCTV cameras sooner. This girl distracted me in the worst ways possible.

My temptress. My enchantress. My damnation. My fucking distraction.

“I’m going to place two guards outside Jennifer’s room like you asked,” Dominic pulls me out of my thoughts, and I nod stiffly. He reluctantly adds, “The Pakhan wants to see you.”

Uncle Damien. Fucksake. He wants to probably know why I called it off with Hannah, and why fucking Xander had to play knight and offer to marry her to stabilise the relation with the minister. Fucking Xander. He should consider it a fucking blessing that I let him live.

Mia comes out of Jennifer’s room with a glare and a pout that we both know I can fuck away in minutes, but her icy gaze sets on me. She crosses her hand in front of her chest, waiting for me to walk before her.

“After you, Mrs.”

“Don’t call me that again.” She hisses, and walks in front of me.

Always a fight. Always an argument. But again, my Mia wouldn’t be mine if she didn’t have that fire in her.

Dominic coughs behind us uncomfortably, and I ignore his existence just like I had begun ignoring the rest of the world when this girl was involved.

She gets into the car begrudgingly, and I could hear her muttering curse words under her breath every time she looked at me.

She stares out at the window when Dominic drives.

“The view isn’t that good, you know.” I comment when she doesn’t look away for the next three minutes.

“It would be, if your guards‘ cars wouldn’t be blocking us from left and right,” she quipped. “Oh look, there’s a car in the front and back too. Joy.”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, Mia.” I reply to her without looking up from the iPad.

“Can’t do anything about it, can we? You’re marrying me. You’re stuck with it till you decide to divorce me.”

¡ freeze, eyes snapping to her, trying to keep the anger concealed. “There will be no divorce.”

16:35 Mon, 8 Jul G Chapter 122 Her eyes bulge. “You mean to say I’m stuck with you for the rest of my life?!”

“Right as fuck you are.” There was an unknown satisfaction in that. “And I plan to ruin you. So that if you ever manage to get away, if you as much as talk to another man, all you’re going to think about is how it feels when I’m buried deep inside you and you’re screaming my fucking name.”

Heat rushes to her cheeks, and the redness spreads even though she tries her best to hide it. “Alex!” She scolds, her eyes flickering to Dominic who was driving us.

“I don’t pay them to listen, cupcake.”

“It’s a human thing,” she grumps, “You would know if you were actually human.”

Lignore her, and she goes back to staring out of the window, acknowledging me again only when the car stops and she realises it isn’t my house.

“Where are we?” Curiosity peaks underneath her nonchalance.

I don’t reply to her, and she frowns.

Dominic looks back at us. “We’re clear.”

I nod at him before looking at Mia. “Let’s go.”

She shakes her head, following me out nonetheless. Guards were in front of us and some behind us, and she seems intimated by it in a way she wasn’t when I took her out for dinner. I think it was the realisation that this wasn’t for one date, it was the rest of her life.

I was going to tie her down to me if I had to, by whatever means possible.

“A jeweller?” She mutters under her breath, following me inside nonetheless.

“Sir,” The manager stands up. “We’ve been expecting you all morning.”

I nod at him, sitting on the couch in the inside room where he leads me, indicating Mia to do the same. She glares, but sits.

“Engagement rings.” I demand, and then the girl next to me breaks out into coughs.

“Engagement rings?” She asks me a in a whisper as soon as the manager is out of hearing shot. “You brought me here to pick out my own engagement ring?!”

“Would you rather I pick it out for you?” I cock an eyebrow.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, because it’s not going to be a real marriage any way.” She flips her hair, looking away till my hand fists her chin to force her back to me.

“It’s going to be a real marriage in every way that counts, cupcake. The sooner you accept that, the fucking better. Are we clear?”

She stared at me without blinking till water fills in her eyes.

“Are. We. Clear?” I repeat slowly, dangerously, and she nods.

I let her go when the manager brings out a whole tray of rings.

16:35 Mon, 8 Jul G Chapter 122 “They’re so big,” Mia mumbles in a hushed whisper, her eyes flickering to each one.

“Too small.” I tell the manager. Her jaw drops. “I need bigger.”

29%

Mia’s hands tremble a bit as she forwards it to pluck one out of the tray, a seven diamond ring. One huge in the centre and six around it in the form of petals forming one huge flower on a rose gold band engraved with tinier diamonds.

“May I?” I ask her for it and she places it in my palms.

I grab her hand, slipping it into her second last one.

It sparkles in her thin hands, complimenting her soft fair skin.

“Dominic?” I call out loud to my second–in–command, who was standing a good eight feet away.

“I can see it,” he confirms.

“Good.” I nod before turning to Mia. “You like it?”

She nods without taking her hand off it.

“We’ll take this,” I confirm to the manager before asking him the price and cutting a cheque.

Mia stays quiet through the process till he hands us the bag with the empty box, and then she follows me to my car.

She gets in the passenger seat a lot more quietly this time, not seeing as angry anymore. Her gaze was fixated at the diamonds sparkling in her ring finger before she wiggles it to remove the ring from her finger, and I stare at her. “What’re you doing?”

“Removing it?” She replies in an obvious voice. “I should put it back in its box, right?”

“Don’t.” I place my hand on hers to stop her from removing it, and her movement freezes under my touch. “It’s right where it’s supposed to be.”

I don’t think she notices that I never let go of her hand, interlacing her fingers in mine for the rest of the ride.