THREE DAYS AFTER THE WEDDING
TUESDAY MORNING
“Honey” Ophelia sat by the side of the bed shaking Cade; his eyes opened slowly as he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her in.
“Good morning, darling,” he said and pouted, waiting for a kiss. She closed her eyes and bent down to kiss his lips. “That was so short,” he said, his eyes opening wider. “Something is wrong; what is wrong?” he asked, his eyes catching a glimpse of the frown on her face. “What happened?” he asked, sitting in bed quickly.
“You might want to see this,” she said, taking her phone and giving it to him. He took the phone from her hand and sat up straight. He read through the screen as his eyes widened with each statement he came across.
“What is this?”
“The number one trending news in the city this morning.”
“From what source?”
“Apparently it started as a rumour from a blog but when the reporters reached out to Abigail yesterday evening for an interview, she did not confirm or deny it so they are just carrying the news and running with it.”
“And the…” he trailed off as he raised his hand in the air. “Why am I asking you all of these questions when you are not my assistant?” Cade stretched to his phone and stared at the screen. He did not know, but for some reason, he had put his phone on silent mode before going to bed last night, and the screen was filled with missed calls from Sue.
Harper had not shown up to work after the date experience, and Cade saw that as an opportunity to get back his efficient assistant. He did not hear anything from her, and it was as if he had fallen off the grid. He did not want to upset Ophelia, so he did not bring it up; even though it was strange for her to act like that, he had told himself that she was a big girl and could take care of herself.
“Mr Vale, I have been trying to reach you all morning.”
“I can see that; you have been trying since four am.” Sue had seen the article when she was working on a report and had begun to call him on the phone. Usually, whenever she called Cade, he picked up almost immediately but now it seemed to be different.
“I am sorry, sir, for calling so late, but the news…”
“I have seen it; can you find out how this happened and why it happened?” Cade commanded.
“I already looked into that, and I can give you a brief as soon as I get to your house,” Sue explained.
“Okay, then see you soon,” Cade said, and the call dropped. He crawled out of bed and stood by the edge of the bed. Ophelia turned her eyes to him with a worried expression on her face.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked, standing up and going to stand beside him.
“I do not know how this happened, but I can assure you that I will try my best to fix it so it does not affect you in any way,” he said, stretching his hand to hold hers.
“Affect me? Why would it affect me when you are the one who is going to be affected the most?” she asked, closing the gap between them.
“I am sorry this is happening,” he said, taking a deep breath and smiling at her.
“Don’t smile as if all is well when it isn’t,” she said, a tear dropping from her eye.
“Ophelia? Are you crying?” He said, bending his head to see her face.
“No,” she said, puffing up her face and looking away.
“Why would you cry? This is no big deal, okay?” he said, and she raised her head to him. “Trust me,” he murmured, and she shook her head.
“This is a big deal,” she said, going in and holding him by the waist. “I am sorry that I can’t do anything about it,” she whispered into his chest.
“This is more than enough for me. I mean, if all you can do is hug me all day, then I am going to do just fine,” he said. She liked the sound of it, but she knew how unrealistic it was. She knew that one hug from her was not going to fix a tiny thing, but she smiled in his chest.
“I promise you that I will get this fixed before evening, so let us have dinner then,” he said, brushing down her hair with his hand before kissing it.
“Are you sure?” she said, leaning back her head as her hands still wrapped around his waist.
“A hundred percent,” he said, leaning in and planting a kiss on her lips. She knew this was not the time for it, but she wanted to kiss him more.
She closed her eyes and nodded. She was into the affected one, and she would be selfish to cry about it like she was truly being affected by this. “I will get you some toast and coffee for breakfast,” she announced as her hands fell to the side. She turned without another word and walked to the door.
“Ophelia?” he called when her hand touched the door. She turned to him with her hand still on the knob and a forced smile on her face. “You have to take care of me if I go broke from this.”
“Of course I do,” she said, nodding with a smile on her face. “That is my sole responsibility now.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” she said, blowing a kiss at him. She turned back to the door, took a deep breath, and went downstairs. As soon as she was downstairs, she called up her assistant. She was not going to allow him to suffer because she knew what a bad rumour could do to them, and they had chosen just the right time to do this. The board meeting was just tomorrow, and now this happened. This was a strategy to get him off, and she was not going to sit on her hands and let that happen to him.
“Hello, ma’am?”
“There is a rumour about my husband; I need to know where it started.”
“I will get on that now.”