The Arrogant Husband

Chapter 4

"Um," Mrs. Helen cleared her throat and said, "I finally found a wife for you to marry, Richmond."

"What!" Richmond gasped and laughed, echoing Jerry. They resembled their father closely.

"You must be joking, Mom! Haha!" He laughed again, but Mrs. Helen smiled, serious.

"Why would I joke, Richmond? I found a beautiful, decent girl from our village for you to marry, and she is very lovely, too," she added, noticing her first son's face harden.

"I cannot marry a village woman, Mom. How can you stoop so low as to look for a village woman for me to marry? Hell no! Mom, I cannot accept her, and you shouldn't speak to me about such nonsense marriage again!" Richmond wanted to walk out, but his father stopped him.

"Richmond, Do not disrespect your mother in my presence. Before you were born and raised, I knew the difficulties she went through to have a child like you, so you will do as she says," Mr. Steven intervened. He was also tired of Richmond's lifestyle.

Due to Richmond's fallout with Mila George, Mr. Steven had broken off relations with his best friend, Patrick George.

"Father, I cannot marry a village woman if that's what you're insinuating," Richmond insisted, and his father ordered, "Sit down first and hear your mother out. You don't just walk away from her like that."

"Hmm," Richmond took a deep breath and moved back to sit on the couch. Jerry smiled and went to the bar to grab a drink while their mother sighed.

She settled back on the couch beside her husband and said, "Richmond, I understand that you might not like this girl, but she's very beautiful and well-mannered. I've already spoken to her family and told them that you will come to marry her this Saturday."

"What?" Richmond looked at his mother in disbelief, finding it hard to accept what she said.

"Mom, if this is a joke, stop it. I cannot marry a village woman. Don't you get it? What will my friends say? What about our business partners?" Richmond asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

"Calm down, Richmond. I am also a village woman. Your father married me from the village, and we are still together. She will make a good wife for you, I promise," Mrs. Helen pleaded with her son, but Richmond shook his head arrogantly.

"No, Mom. I do not want her, and it's not too late to cancel the arrangement. Just tell them that you cannot return to the village and that I already have someone in my life," Richmond said, and his mother broke down in tears.

"No, Richmond. You cannot marry the women you're associating with here. They will ruin you, and they're not the kind of wives I want for you," she said. But Richmond shook his head and replied, "I am the one getting married, not you, Mom. You have Dad. You married him because you liked and loved him. Don't think I will marry a random woman or a local champion. No way. I am out of here."

"Richmond!" His father's voice boomed once more.

"You shouldn't dare cross that door or step out of this residence. You will marry and prepare to accompany your mother to the village to bring your wife here."

"No, Dad," Richmond spun around to look at his father. "This is a joke, right?"

"No jokes. You caused a rift between me and the George family because of your wayward lifestyle, cheating on their only daughter. You have ruined my hard-earned reputation, and now you want to destroy all the respect we have left. Listen to your mother. Otherwise, do you want me to disown you and hand over your wealth to Jerry?" Mr. Steven Kingston said, and Jerry, who was enjoying himself at the family bar, smiled.

"That's great, Father. You can bring the wife for me. I will marry her and accept Richmond's wealth too," Jerry replied, but Richmond glared at him.

"Hmm," Richmond exhaled sharply and looked away toward the door.

"I cannot marry a village woman, Father. You can go ahead and disown me," Richmond said as he walked away, and his father called after him, "Come back here, Richmond! Richmond!"

"It's okay, honey. You don't have to disown him. I will travel with Jerry to represent him and bring her for him," Mrs. Helen said, since Jerry agreed to accompany her.

"No, that's not right. What if the young woman thinks that Jerry is her husband? Richmond should be the one to go and marry her and perform all the necessary marriage rites," Mr. Steven strongly disagreed, but Jerry intervened, "Do not worry, Father. It's just to represent Richmond and minimize village gossip. I will tell her I am not her husband, and she will understand."

"Hmm," Mr. Steven frowned and picked up his telephone to contact his P.A.

"Daniel!" he yelled.

"Yes, sir," Daniel Austin replied.

"I want you to invite the family lawyer and bar Richmond from accessing the company or any of my properties, and his account should be frozen as well," Mr. Steven instructed, and Daniel replied, "Okay, sir."

The phone call ended, and Mrs. Helen frowned. "You don't have to do that, honey."

"No way! Allow me to deal with that stubborn boy. He will come back home begging me," Mr. Steven said, and his wife sighed heavily. "Alright."

"Mom, so what does this new woman look like?" Jerry asked, gradually becoming drunk.

"She's beautiful, but I did not choose her for you, so you shouldn't be concerned about her looks," Mrs. Helen replied, then went to the kitchen to ask the chef to prepare their dinner.

Jerry drunkenly went back to his room in the exquisite mansion to rest on the top floor.

****

Meanwhile, Richmond drove his car to a nearby kiosk and parked. [Access Denied!] the bank card read.

Richmond's brows furrowed upon discovering that his bank card wasn't working and it hadn't expired. He tried to make a transfer, but it failed.

"Damn it!" he cursed as he stood at the gasoline station, knowing his father was behind this. He quickly opened his car's safe box, retrieved some cash, and settled his bills before driving to the hotel where his ex-girlfriend had been calling him to meet up.

Mila George was a pretty, fair-skinned actress. She had a messy breakup with Richmond the previous month, but she was still in love with him and wanted him back.

Richmond didn't want anything to do with Mila, but she kept calling him and threatening to harm herself if he didn't respond.

"Hmm," Richmond arrived at the hotel and checked in.

Soon, he was with Mila in a private room.

"Why did you invite me here?" he asked her, his anger boiling as he stood in the room.

Richmond wasn't a committed man. He loved Mila before and wanted to marry her until he discovered she had cheated during a romance movie shoot. She begged him, blaming the devil, but he wasn't interested in her anymore. It was easy for him to dump women, but their fathers were friends, which complicated things.

Mila wore a seductive pink see-through nightdress. She smiled and approached Richmond, her breasts nearly revealed.

"I want you, Richmond. Let's do it, tonight, please. Do you not miss me?" Mila tried to remove his black coat, but he pushed her hands away.

"Get away! I told you we are done. We are over, Mila. Find another man to please you. I don't want anything to do with you again!" he said, his anger palpable.

"Why, Richmond?" Mila flared up. "Why are you so unforgiving? You also cheated on me. You slept with your secretary, and I found out but kept quiet and forgave you. Why can't you forgive me for just one mistake?" she asked, but he pushed her hands away from her second attempt to touch him, and he turned to leave the room.

"I cannot marry a cheating woman. You broke my trust when you let another man pleasure you. I don't share my woman. If we weren't in a relationship, I wouldn't be hurt. But we were committed, and you cheated. I can cheat because I'm a man; you should know your worth as a woman," he replied coldly.

"Richmond!" Mila rushed to stop him from leaving as he reached the door.

"Fine. I have forgiven you. Please, I want you. Our families want us to marry. I miss you, please," she pleaded desperately almost crying, but Richmond refused. "No way, Mila. My mood is ruined as my dad froze my assets. That's what I'm dealing with for now. Get a hold of yourself. I cannot be with you until we run tests to ensure that you're not infected or carrying any disease after you cheated on me. After that, I'll reach out to you to see if we can continue," he said, pulling the door open and leaving.

Mila bit her lower lip as she stood in the room.

"I am the only one who will marry you, Richmond, and no one else will," she vowed.

After leaving the hotel, Richmond called his best friend, David Howard, who had recently married his girlfriend of seven years, Anita Austin.

"Hello, David. Can we hang out tonight?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, man. My wife just gave birth, and I cannot leave her side," David replied, to which Richmond sighed. "That's alright; congratulations. What did she gave birth too?"

"A boy."

"Okay, I will come visiting."