Her Substitute Groom

“Where the hell is that bastard?” I quickly recognized the voice to be Janice’s as she barged into my office, and I raised my eyebrows in shock.

“What are you doing here, Janice?” I asked her even though it was obvious why she was in my office looking so angry as if she was going to devour me soon. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that she was here because of Carl. There was a slim chance of her being here for something else.

“What the hell was that? How could you do that to your own brother? Were you trying to kill him, huh?” She yelled at the top of her voice not caring she was in my office.

“Hey! You are in my office, so you have to…”

“Screw you and your damn office, jerk! I don’t care what the fuck is between you and your brother, but doing that to him makes you nothing but a beast. You are nothing, but a monster!” She yelled at me with pure disgust written on her face, and I slowly clenched my fists angrily, glaring hard into space. I wanted to stay calm and not react no matter what she was going to say to me, but I couldn’t.

“Get out of my office, Janice. Get out, this minute,” I snapped at her, slamming my hands on the desk, but she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“And you think I will leave just because you are asking me to? Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? You think you can go around doing shit and expect nobody to talk? How could you do something so inhumane to your brother? How could…”

“Who the hell are you to judge me? The fact that you now bear the name Mrs. Hughes doesn’t give you the right to talk shit at me…”

“Cut that crap, Connor! You think I’m happy bearing that name? No, I’m not. With you in that family, then it is the most disgusting name anyone would ever want to bear!” That was the height of it all, and when I couldn’t control my anger anymore, I ended up slapping her.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Connor. No man slaps me. No man has ever done that before, and I won’t allow you to do that,” she spat at me before she sent two hot slaps across my cheeks, and my eyes slowly narrowed in shock. It was the first time a woman was going to slap me, and it felt so unreal. For the next few seconds, I stood frozen on the spot while trying to comprehend the heck just happened. I tried to convince myself that it was just my illusion, but it was obvious that it wasn’t. Janice really slapped me. She fucking slapped me.

“Janice…”

“You are so disgusting!” She spat at me one more time before she turned and stormed out of my office, slamming the door hard behind her, and my jaw dropped as I stared at the closed door.

I was still trying to pull out of a trance when the door opened and Khan walked in.

“What happened? Did you have a fight with your wife?” He asked me with curiosity written all over his face, but I ignored him and stormed out of the office.

I walked my way briskly to the elevator, but by the time I arrived there, I saw her heading to the exit door downstairs, so I quickly got into the elevator. I have so much to tell her, I needed to make her know that she can’t talk to me like that. Even though this was nothing but a fake marriage, I still deserve some respect from her.

By the time I got downstairs, she was already outside the gate and was about to hop inside the car she came in with. I guess she borrowed Chase’s car.

“Janice… Janice…” I called after as I finally caught up with her.

“What do you want? You want to hit me in the eyes like you did to your brother?” She snapped at me at the top of her voice, and the employees passing by threw glances at us.

“You can’t come to my workplace to do this shit. I am your husband, and I deserve some respect from you…”

“Coming from someone that doesn’t even know what respect means. If you know what that means, you wouldn’t have hurt your mom so badly by doing that to your brother,” Those words struck my heart like a thunderstorm, and I bit my bottom lip.

“Do you know the pain you have caused the poor woman? I understand you must’ve had your reason for being mad at Carl, but doing that to him was extreme. Doing that to him wasn’t going to hurt him alone but your mom too. If you respect and value her happiness, then you would’ve had a second thought about what you did…” She paused and sighed briefly, pulling the car door open.

“So, don’t talk to me about respect. Ever again,” and with that, she hopped inside the car and drove off, leaving me standing on the spot and staring at the car until it was out of my sight. Now that I thought of what she said, I could help but regret my action which shouldn’t have ever happened. I shouldn’t have given in to my anger, I should’ve controlled it even if he was trying to bring out the demon in me.

The sound of my ringing phone pulled my attention, and seeing that the call was from Dad, my heart dropped. He must’ve heard about what I did and who knows, maybe he was extremely disappointed in me. I couldn’t bring myself to answer his call, so I just ignored it and held on tightly to my phone.

Barely two minutes after the call ended, a message popped on the screen of my phone.

‘Come to the hospital right away. I’m waiting for you’ I sighed when I read the text, contemplating whether to go there or not. I wasn’t scared of being scolded by them, but the imagination of the look of disappointment that would be on Mom’s face was scaring the guts out of me. I shouldn’t have done that.

My phone beeped once again, and this time, it was a text from Chase.

‘Dad is extremely angry, bro. You should go to the penthouse and chill. Stay away from home for now until he calms down. As for Carl, he is in critical condition and is currently in the operating room. The doctors aren’t saying anything about him yet. I don’t know what’s going to happen’ My heart dropped and tears brimmed in my eyes when I read the messages. I wasn’t feeling bad because of Carl, but because of Mom, Dad, and my siblings. How will they look at me henceforth?

As much as I wanted to stay back for a while, that would only make me look like a coward and would probably get Dad angrier, so I headed back to my office where I picked up my car keys and stormed outside.

“Where are you headed? We still have a lot to cover today,” Khan asked me as he rose to his feet.

“Don’t wait for me. I have something to attend to, so I may not come back to the office today. Make sure you switch off the desktop before you leave,” I said to him hurriedly, storming out of the office afterward.

The drive to the hospital took pretty much time before I arrived, and as I stood in front of the hospital, I felt my heart hammering hard against my chest. Should I turn back from here?