Just Before He Said 'I DO'

Chapter 7

In the grand top-floor office of Montgomery'Co, Edgar sat on his swiveling chair talking angrily to someone over the phone. His back was turned to Rosalind, who quietly sat on the simple contemporary sofa, meekly reading the Insider magazine with her legs crossed over each other.

Now and then, her gaze would leave the booklet in her hand and travel to the impressive glass wall, longingly staring at the busy, noisy, street beyond Montgomery'Co.

Wistfully wishing to be in the autumn sun, frolicking in the park, or attending to a rowdy customer.

“A single file… No, that can't be! I made sure of that myself.” Edgar snapped irritably into the phone.

“f**k off!” He suddenly snapped, causing Rosalind to jump out of her daydream in shock.

He slammed the phone on the table and sucked in cold breaths, running his hand across his face furiously.

“Are…are you okay?” Rosalind asked worriedly.

He didn't reply as he tried to calm his erratic breathing while swearing profusely in his mind. The deal hadn't gone well, and he would have to seek some other alternative for a backup plan.

“Edgar.” Carlos greeted as he entered the room. His sharp eyes noted the evident hurt on Rosalind's face and the fuming Edgar.

The fuming Edgar raised his head and regarded Carlos with shrewd eyes as he snapped at him.

“What is it?”

Carlos stared at him snobbishly as he dropped a report on the table. “That’s for you. Get Julian to work on that and f**k yourself out of such a horrible mood.” He snapped back at him and turned slightly to the side, his cold, obsidian eyes found Rosalind's already on him. She momentarily regarded him guardedly with a cold gaze as she quickly turned back to the lingerie section of her magazine.

Carlos’s brows furrowed curiously at the strange attitude and turned to the moody CEO with his poker face.

“I am leaving.” He announced and strolled to the door with big strides, not a second glance at Rosalind.

Edgar noticed his out-of-character announcement but chose to ignore it as he gritted his teeth in anger.

He turned towards Rosalind with red-rimmed eyes and regarded her for a while, she looked so gracefully calm, and he longed to be in her arms. She noticed him staring and looked up, making his heart skip a beat when her green eyes made contact with his.

“Are you alright?” She asked softly again.

He shook his head and pitifully motioned for her to come to him. He knew the only place he could find solace, was in the arms of his beautiful queen, her smile and big heart were his only redemption in his chaotic world.

She stood up and slowly walked over to him, worry etched on her face. She bent over to his face level and worriedly looked into his eyes, the action making his heart skip another beat. He pulled her onto his lap and buried his face into her shoulder, sighing deeply. ‘Why didn't I meet you earlier?’ He thought as the painful memories of his reckless past life surfaced.

Rosalind was a bit surprised by his actions but chose to ignore it as she softly patted his head.

Her heart contracted angrily as she studied his face, but she took care not to let the pain show on her face as she tried to calm her quickened breaths.

.....

Carlos turned his head slightly, his cold eyes trained on the only door in the short, dark hallway. One hand went to his jaw as he clicked his tongue disdainfully at the blurry display of affection showing through the blurred-out glass on the door.

He turned and stoically walked into the hall filled with quiet workers, moving purposefully towards a section of the opposite wall pushed against an inconspicuous part of it and stood back.

The wall beeped like the one in Edgar's office did and slid open to reveal another entire block of busy staff with screens all over the place showing every activity ongoing in and around Montgomery'Co.

The lack of response from the working, quiet staff as he nonchalantly stepped into the block, was evidence of their knowledge about the secret block.

“Boss.” A man with a playful smile greeted him as though he had foreseen his entrance, as the door hissed back to its place.

“Get me the cameras to Edgar's office.” He ordered coldly as he went through a revolving door that led to a private room with fewer screens and no staff.

“That important?” The man asked curiously as he did as he was told, Carlos’s cold attitude not freaking him out in the least.

Videos of Rosalind sitting on Edgar's lap surfaced on the main screen.

“Ooh. You wanna watch the boss having it hot, eh? Real-time porn attracts, huh?” The man nudged the glaring Carlos playfully, laughing boisterously.

“f**k off, Armani.”

“Sure thing. But make sure not to jerk off on the keyboard, those are the new fancy prototypes brought in by team B.” Armani chuckled and walked out.

Carlos sat on the chair and studied the couple's actions for some time.

….

“I have to get to a meeting, Rosa,” Edgar said tiredly.

Rosalind pouted resentfully at him and stood up from his lap.

“I will be back in approximately five minutes.” He said and pushed his forehead against hers fondly.

She nodded and watched him leave after picking up some files.

Rosalind carefully looked around the well-organized room and smiled. She was still trying to process how hectic the last few days had been.

Edgar has been nice to her, treating her like a queen and all, trying to make up for the pain she had suffered during her abduction. Making her stay at home jobless, or come with him to his boring office.

She sighed at the realization that being jobless was going to have its consequences later. The office, which was brightly lit by the daylight emanating from the glass wall section, suddenly felt very stuffy. “I need to get a job.” She muttered to herself and set to work organizing the scattered table, while stylishly looking through the files.

Rosalind came across an envelope that had a tiny sticker on it. She brought it towards her face and squinted trying to read the badly written scrawl etched on it, but it seemed to be in some sort of incorrigible language.

She tried opening it and realized that it was sealed, she pouted and dropped it, scanning the files scattered on the table.

“Where is it?” she thought curiously as she went through the pile of papers, taking care not to get stains on any of them.

A warning suddenly popped into her mind, making her quickly return the pile of papers, trying to arrange the table back to the way it was. She carefully looked around the room, her heart pounding in her ears. The room only had shelves and a cupboard of books, nothing that could cause her fear, but she remained nervous as she left the desk and moved to stand in front of the glass wall, lost in thought.

She didn't notice the dull, autumn sun smiling cheerfully down at the busy streets of London.

The beautiful view the glass wall offered didn't appeal to her anymore as she placed her hand on the glass, pondering the images forming in her head.

She closed her eyes and willed them away as she placed her hand on her chest. “Please not now!” She wheezed tearfully as more images formed in her head.

Edgar's face filtered into her thoughts along with the rest of the painful, haunting memories. “I love you!” she clenched her teeth angrily and doubled over, before flopping to the cold French tiles.

“Shut the f**k up!” She yelled hysterically and started weeping uncontrollably.

She struggled and succeeded in picking herself up from the ground to lean against the cold glass, panting hard as the tears spilled down her face.

“Go away!” one of the voices in her head yelled as she subconsciously lunged against the glass while screaming her lungs out.

“Rosalind!” A faraway voice called.

“What” Her lips moved as she tried to mouth the word. She couldn’t help herself anymore as she collapsed to the ground.

Laying there motionlessly with her straight hair spilled about her face, she didn't see Edgar trying to stop her fall.

Tears seeped out of her eyes, which were wide open, staring listlessly at the ceiling. The ground was cold, but she didn't feel it, neither did she feel Edgar shaking her hard while yelling her name in fear.

‘Is this what death feels like?’ She wondered as she slowly closed her eyes, succumbing to the open hands of sweet sleep.

….

Carlos watched the panicking Edgar who held an unconscious Rosalind in his embrace, while yelling for help, with a blank expression on his face.

Not in the least curious as to why she had gone from effectively ransacking Edgar's desk searching for something, to fainting in his arms, he typed some words into a private browser by his side.

Drumming his fingers impatiently against the dusty desk and not sparing Edgar and his theatrics a glance, he tried planning on what he would do if the results came out positive, but he couldn't come up with something reasonable.

The dull chime of the computer signaled the results as he turned to it.

His breath caught in his throat as his usual poker face moped into one of surprise at the results. ‘This can't be!’ He slowly lifted his gaze to the weeping Edgar and clicked his tongue against his teeth in annoyance. ‘What a fool.’ He zoomed in on the results and narrowed his eyes in annoyance, his face getting more twisted as he scrolled further across the page.

“Motherfucker.” he hissed through his teeth, the sound echoing in the dimly lit room as he wiped the search results and deleted his history.

“Armani!” he called hurriedly, standing up from the chair.

“You called?” Armani's head popped into the room before his body hurriedly followed, seeing the confused emotion on Carlos’s usually stoic face.

“Schedule a meeting with Miss Vivienne Renard.” He ordered and walked out coldly, not giving him a chance to reply.

Armani was stunned for a moment before he caught on to the unusual request. “What? I am not your PA!” he called after Carlos in an incredulous voice as he ran after the cold man.

“Consider that as a promotion and see me in my office by twelve after you have gotten the appointment,” Carlos said, without turning to acknowledge Armani, who was still shocked at the sudden promotion.

He slapped his face to make sure he wasn't dreaming, ‘Ouch.’ He thought of the stinging after-effect of the unwarranted slap. He increased his pace and got to Carlos, who was punching the buttons on the wall, emotionlessly.

“B…but that isn't my field of work!” He exclaimed incredulously.

The other workers turned towards them, wondering what was happening.

Carlos didn't reply as he punched the last button and turned slowly. ‘Such a fool.’ He thought irritatedly and glared at Armani, who was smiling sheepishly at him. The whole staff turned quiet, ignoring their work to get the latest gist.

“Tired of being a Comm officer, I see.” He snapped in an irritated, angry voice. The instant reaction to his hidden threat was comical, as shuffling of feet and crinkling of papers replaced the former silence.

He snorted and turned to the anxious Armani at his front. “You have much more use to me than that.” He scoffed and walked away, taking notes of his reaction with a hidden smile.

Armani stood rooted to the spot, his fearful gaze on Carlos's receding figure as numerous thoughts ran through his head. ‘I didn't mean to be fearless. He has taken a liking to me because of my indifference to his cold nature… I am so done for.’ He hung his head and stumbled back to the private room, with gazes of pity from the comm workers following him.

To be chosen by Carlos for work can only mean one thing, which is ‘confidentiality’, and working for him can only end up in two ways; either you go missing, or you relocate. They thought as they pitied the poor Armani, they turned back to their work in silence, with some secretly committing his beautiful, cheerful soul to his creator.