Chapter 12 Childlike Smile

At five forty, Liam texted Caroline, “get ready, I’ll be

there in ten minutes, we’re going out to eat.” Caroline agreed and packed her

stuff, she did not want to get on his bad side twice on the same day. Liam

arrived at the entrance of the company and Caroline was just going out of the

building, she was right on time. She got on the white Mercedes and Liam asked

her, “where do you want to eat?” Caroline skipped lunch because she had a lot

of work to do, she was starving, “L'Entrecôte!” Caroline answered with content,

she had been craving the food from there since noon. Liam spoke, “let’s go

there then.” Her enthusiasm and content lighted up his mood.

They arrived at the restaurant and

Liam got off the car first. Then he opened Caroline’s door for her and extended

out his hand to her out of the car. They went inside the restaurant and people

were astonished by the sight of this beautiful couple. The waitress guided them

to a table and gave them the wine menu. “We don’t need it, we already know what

we’d like… we’ll have the Bourgogne –

Pinot Noir,” Caroline politely spoke. The waitress grabbed

the menu and left to get their wine. “How many times have you come to this

place?”

“Way too many, my mom loves France,

when she comes here to visit, we always have to this restaurant. Even though

she prefers the one in France, we still come here every time. I also prefer the

one in France,” Caroline answered. “We should go there sometime then,” Liam proposed.

The waitress walked back to their table back with two wine glasses and the

bottle of wine.

As they were enjoying their food

Caroline spoke, “well, it seems that I won’t be getting rid of you any time

soon, so let’s get to know each other.” Liam agreed, “sounds good to me.”

“I’ll start. What do you plan to do

after the year passes and we divorce?” Liam placed down his fork and spoke, “I

plan to continue on with my life. And pretend like nothing happened. I’m

assuming you will do the same?” Caroline paused for a second then responded,

“that’s right… I have another question, why a year? Why get married just to get

divorced later?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to

get divorced?”

“That is not what I meant. I want

to know what made you agree to this. I want to know why you went to such

lengths like blackmailing me in order to get married. What’s in it for you?

You’re a businessman after all, I know full well that no one does anything in

this world if they don’t have something to gain.”

“What if I told you that I wanted

to get married to a beautiful woman?”

“I’d say that you are lying. I know

that you are after something. Or maybe it’s not you but your father. He is the

one that came up with the marriage after all.”

“I cannot deny that my father was

the one that came up with this, but I can assure you that there is no other

intent than a merge between families. Maybe my father just wanted this marriage

to happen to do more business with your father.”

“Well, I guess you’re right.” They

continued to enjoy the delicious food in silence then Caroline broke the

silence again. “Liam, can I ask you a question?”

“That depends… what is it?”

“How old are you? You seem kind of

young to be in the position you are in.”

“Are you suggesting that all CEOs of

successful companies are old? I believe you should know better than anyone that

that is just a misconception... to answer your question, I am twenty-five.”

“You are four years older than me.”

Liam nodded. They continued to make small conversation until they finished

their meal. When they finished eating, the waitress picked up the plates and

asked if they wanted dessert, Caroline’s eyes lit up, she loves sweets.

Caroline wore a childlike smile as asked for les tartelettes aux framboises. Liam looked at the happy Caroline in front of him and thought, “she looks so

cute when she acts childlike.”

The waitress brought the dessert and

Liam wondered, “how can such a small woman eat so much? She literally ate an

entire plate of salad, an entire plate of stake with french-fries, half of a

bottle of wine, and she still wants dessert?” Caroline was happily enjoying

her dessert and decided to give some to Liam. He said he did not want any

sweets, but she just wanted to share her happiness. She took a little spoon full

of the raspberry tart and said, “Liam try this, you will love it.” Liam opened

his mouth and let Caroline feed him. “It’s good,” Liam said. When Caroline

finished eating, Liam payed the bill and they left to his penthouse.

            In Liam’s

penthouse, Liam went to his study and Caroline went to her room. Caroline was

playing on her phone when it ran out of battery. She got bored and decide to go

to Liam’s study. Liam had taken off his tie, suit jacket and waistcoat. He unbuttoned

two buttons of his shirt and rolled up the cuffs. “Hey Liam, I’m bored, and my

phone died. Can I borrow your phone?” Liam unlocked his phone and handed it to

her. “Here. Don’t bother me. I’m busy.” Caroline grabbed the phone and sat on

the couch.

            Caroline

downloaded a game on the AppStore. As the game downloaded, she went to the

contact list on his phone and searched for her name. She could not find herself,

so she tried typing her phone number she found that Liam had saved her contact

as “Wife” Caroline looked at Liam and giggled. She took a picture with his

phone and set it as the contact photo. When Liam heard sound of the camera, he

raised his head to look at her. He just looked back at his computer with a smirk

on his face. Once the game downloaded, Caroline began to play.

When Caroline got bored, she walked

up Liam and decided to confront him. She had to speak her mind about something

that had been bugging her the whole day. “Liam! Why did you steal my

opportunity of going into book publishing?” Liam replied without looking away

from his computer, “because I wanted to.” Caroline rolled her eyes. “You are so

annoying! You already own a publishing company.” Still looking at the computer

screen he said, “yes, I know, but I just wanted to punish you for being so

friendly to other men.” Caroline snapped, “it’s called doing business, you

****!”

 Liam looked up from his computer and looked at

the angry woman in front of him. She looked kind of cute in his eyes. Caroline angrily

stared into Liam’s green eyes until he gave in. “Fine, I’ll give you Mr. Li

Fonti’s contact tomorrow.” Caroline’s anger went away. “Thank you. Good night.”

Liam sighed. “Good night.” Caroline left his study as she hopped of happiness.

Liam chuckled he leaned back on the chair as he wondered whether had a daughter

or wife. Caroline went to her bathroom took a shower and got ready for bed and

then went to sleep. She wore a black silk tank top and the matching black silk shorts

pajamas.

            When Liam

was finished with his work, he took a shower, he put on some pajama pants but

no shirt, and then went inside Caroline’s room. He found her sound asleep and

he decided to lie down next to her. In her sleep, Caroline felt cold and

searched for warmth. She moved closer to Liam for his warmth. She buried her

face on his muscular chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

At noon, Caroline’s alarm did not

ring since she forgot to charge her phone the night before. She woke up with a muscular

arm wrapped around her. She tried to get free from Liam’s grip, but he just cuddled

her more. “Liam let me go. I have to get ready for work.” Liam replied in a

sleepy voice, “five more minutes.” Liam sounded so tired, maybe it was because

he went to sleep at four forty-four in the morning.

Ten minutes later, Caroline tried to

get Liam to get up again, “Liam, it’s been ten minutes. I have to get ready.” Liam

hummed and change positions to be more comfortable. He rested his head on

Caroline’s chest and placed his arms around her. Caroline had no way of getting

free now. Caroline tried to push him away, but he was too heavy for her. “Liam,

seriously. I have to get ready.”

Liam ignored her and moved his

hands inside her shirt. His hot hands moving up her back, sent shivers down her

spine. “Liam it’s getting late!” Caroline tried to make him get up, but he

would not budge. She moved her hand to his head and started to play with his

hair. She softly massaged his head as she played with his hair. “Liam, it’s

time to get up,” she murmured.

Liam let out a small hum and got up

from the bed. Caroline’s cheeks were flushed. She got up from the bed put her

phone to charge and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, it was half

past twelve. Caroline ran to the bathroom to take a shower. She had to get to a

meeting at one. She finished her shower and got dressed.

When she finished getting dressed

for her meeting, she went down to the lobby of the building. She did not even

have time to put on some makeup nor eat. She still looked beautiful and elegant

without makeup. She hailed a taxi and went to her meeting.

            Surprisingly,

she arrived on time to her meeting. In the meeting room, everyone was seated

when Caroline went inside. “I must apologize for the delay. Shall we begin?” After

the meeting, Caroline went to the White Pearl. “Hey Rox,” greeted Caroline as

she went to hug Roxy. “Hey Care, how are you?” Caroline replied, “I’m good and

I’m starving.” Roxy giggled, “okay, let’s have a sit then.”

            They sat at

a table by the window. A waiter walked over to them and said, “Hello, what

would you like today?” Caroline answered, “I’ll have the usual.” Roxy added,

“I’ll have the same.” The waiter spoke with a smile, “okay, coming right up.” The

waiter served the water and left.

Caroline grabbed the glass of water

with her left-hand. Roxy opened her mouth in astonishment. “What’s up, Rox?” Caroline

asked after she took a sip of the water. “That ring, it’s so beautiful I’ve never

seen anything like it. And why are you wearing it on your ring finger? You

always wear your rings on your index on right hand.” Caroline placed the glass

down and explained, “well… the truth is…I got married.” Caroline was hesitant

to tell Roxy the news.

Roxy was shocked. “What? When? And

why didn’t you tell me? And who did you marry?” Caroline tried to help Roxy

calm down, “relax Rox, I got married last Friday.” Roxy was still shocked. “What?

How come you didn’t tell me? And where is Elizabeth? Did you tell her you were

getting married?” Caroline replied, “I haven’t talked to my mom yet. And I did

not tell you because I didn’t plan it. It just happened. I won’t be married for

long anyways.”

Roxy was bewildered, “what do you

mean?” Caroline explained, “it’s a contract marriage. I got married because Victor

arranged it. You know Mason is his favorite and Victor pretty much hates me.

That is why I got married. To save his company and so he can then hand it down

to Mason.” Roxy placed her hand on Caroline’s. “That is not true, Caroline.

Your dad does not hate you.”

Caroline moved her hand. “If he

didn’t hate me, why did he use me in gamble when I was only four years old.” Roxy

tried to reason with Caroline, “maybe he was just trying to get back at your

mom, wasn’t that the time they officially ended things?” Caroline acknowledged what

Roxy said, “but still, I was only four years old.”

Caroline kept blaming her father.

She refused to tell Roxy that Liam had blackmailed her. Roxy intended to change

the subject. She knew that once Caroline made up her mind, it would be hard for

her to change her opinion on something. “Who is the lucky guy?” Roxy curiously

asked. “Nobody of importance,” Caroline replied. After a pause Caroline added,

“you really don’t need to know who he is. I’m only going to be married to him

for a year.”

            After

having lunch with her cousin, Caroline was going to call her chauffeur. She

searched for her phone inside her Louis Vuitton handbag but was unable find it.

She left in such a rush that she forgot to grab her phone when she left Liam’s

penthouse. She hailed a taxi and went to her office. Caroline borrowed Joseph’s

phone to make a call. She called Liam. Good thing she memorized his phone

number. Liam did not pick up the phone. Caroline decided to call him later. She

looked over some files and then she got an email from Liam. “Here is Mr. Li

Fonti’s contact.”

He attached the information in the

email. Caroline replied, “thank you. Liam, I left my phone at the penthouse and

I still don’t have a key to the penthouse.” Liam received the email and

replied, “come to my office. My assistant will be waiting for you at the lobby.”

Caroline grabbed her handbag and went to Liam’s company. Caroline walked in the

company and Marcus walked up to her. “Hello Miss King, I am Marcus, Mr.

Sabatini’s assistant.”

Marcus guided Caroline to the top

floor of the building, past the secretary division. Marcus opened the door to

Liam’s office for Caroline.  Marcus being

Liam’s right hand, he is aware of their situation. He is also aware that their

relationship must remain secret. Actually, Marcus was the one who fabricated

their contract.

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