PRETENSE, LOVE AND BLOOD

Chapter 4

REMI

I steeled myself, shut out every other voice and focused on the fact that the man who'd just ruined one of the most important days of my life, was running up the stairs. About to walk into the room any moment from now.

"I'm going to show you a little idea of who I am," Maverick's father whispered.

I had no choice to respond as the door had already opened, and a man stepped in.

Now Maverick, by far, was on the hottest males in the city. His chin was cut out like knife edges. The small stubble on his neck was such that each dot was like the delicate stroke of a painter's brush.

His eyes were deeply set under full but trimmed brows. His nose was long and pointy.

He had this habit of biting down on his teeth, causing his jaws to pulsate, ripping the ability to breathe properly from any woman.

Standing at six and a half feet tall and shoulders as broad and wide as a bodybuilder's, Maverick was the ideal man.

When he spoke, his voice was like the sound of a bass cello, causing enchanting ripples in the waves that floated to the ears.

But watching him now, I felt nothing but disgust.

When he saw me, he stopped too. As though he didn't expect me to be here, didn't expect me to honor his invitation.

"Remi," he whispered, way before he acknowledged his dad and tossed him a greeting.

He looked around him and then at me. He had blue eyes which held more things that he could ever say.

And that made it very hard to read his emotions. To get to know what Maverick was thinking, the face was the least place to start with.

His father didn't allow a moment to pass. "Maverick, is this the girl you said you were gonna marry?"

At first, it seemed Maverick was lost for words. He was drastically distracted by my presence and my mom's. Guilt tugged at his flesh. The phone call incident didn't help matters, either.

"Yes, dad," he said, then he straightened up when his eyes met his father's. "But the wedding hasn't been held, yeah."

I exploded immediately. "Because you didn't find it worth your time to attend your own wedding!"

"You fool!" his father barked and almost struck me. "You still haven't learnt your lesson, aye?"

Maverick turned to me. "Did I or did I not tell you the reason I was absent?" he asked calmly.

"Lily suddenly got an asthmatic attack that only you could solve, huh?" I said, tears gathering in my eyes at how lowly Maverick and his family regarded me.

"And you think that wasn't worth it?" he asked again, his voice hardening.

I was shaking my head, ready to pour out all the anger I had locked up. "You still don't get the point, Maverick. Please imagine the odds yourself. First of all, I still don't understand what you'd be doing with Lily at that very moment, when all on your mind should be our wedding. Second, sir, why would she have an asthmatic attack just at that moment?"

I palmed my face. "See how incredulous that sounds? Didn't you consider that Lily was faking it all along just to —?"

The words choked up by throat. "And then the phone call—"

Maverick shifted uncomfortably. "I have a duty to safeguard the lives of everyone around me, Remi," he grunted, his eyes getting colder. "Lily's isn't excepted."

His father told me to let his son be. "If you do not have the common sense to realise you're being done a favor here, then fuck off and never return."

"Father..." Maverick tried to stop his dad.

The old man did the exact opposite. "I still don't get how a miserable girl from a home where my least maid would rather die than hail from, would have so much arrogance and entitlement."

He shook his head, anger appearing and filling up the wrinkles in his face. "Your father's a pauper with nothing to show for in life but a sickbed and a long list of unpaid hospital bills. I used to know him. He was a riffraff, a nonentity. C'mon, you all know I'm not bluffing."

The atmosphere was getting more and more uncomfortable. The sweat peeled out of me, soaking my dress. The knot in my throat didn't go away, either.

"He then gave birth to a no-better girl who suddenly thinks that because my son likes her, she's become Beyonce or something."

He turned to his son, pointing. "I might consider disowning you, Maverick, if you end up with this fool for a wife. Now you know when I mean it. I reject her and whatever she stands for. Thank you."

And with that, he picked his way upstairs.

We were silent for a full minute before Maverick came forward, and to my surprise, tried to hold me. "Remi..."

I snatched off my hand, stopping him. "There's nothing to say anymore, Maverick. You and your family have made your point clear. In fact, it's been glaring clear a long time ago. I was just to blind to acknowledge it."

"Lily wasn't faking it, Remi," he tried again. "She indeed is asthmatic."

"And the attack lasted for over four hours? Make it make sense."

He couldn't find a defence against this. He stood straight, staring down at me.

Once again, I wondered what he was coming after. Why was he pretending he cared about me?

"The hell, you couldn't even call," I said, fighting hard to keep the tears from falling. "You sent a hurried text and all sorts of things. Maverick, it's just clear we can't work out. All these years with you were a charade, a lie we all told ourselves."

"Remi..." It was my mother this time. I knew she was suddenly afraid. She knew what was coming.

"I'm breaking up with you, Maverick," I finally said it.

The billionaire stopped. "You what?"