CHAPTER 14
George held Rachel’s hand tightly as they strolled around the wide expanse of land surrounding the villa. Early this morning, she had voiced out how she would love to take a walk with him, so here they were, doing just that.
As they walked hand in hand, Rachel’s mind drifted to her recent conversation with her father. The one about George liking her for a long time and keeping his promise by marrying her. She felt the warm heat rush to her cheeks as a smile graced her lips.
“What’s making you smile?” George asked. Could taking a simple walk make someone so happy?
Rachel halted her steps and moved to stand in front of him, with a playful smirk on her face “So…you’ve liked me for a long time, huh? Since we were teenagers?”
George blinked hard. Where did she hear that from? Did his mother tell her? “Who told you that?”
“My father.” Rachel laughed, getting ready to tease him “From his words, you were drowning in a sea of love and affection, waiting for me to give you a kiss and save your life”
George rolled his eyes playfully and chuckled “Drowning? Ugh! come on. That sounds too serious and dramatic, like I was about to die”
“Let’s just assume you were actually drowning, shall we?” Rachel edged closer to him and raised her two hands to touch his face. After daydreaming about kissing him for days, she wanted it for real this time. She rubbed the sides of his face with her thumb, before moving to wrap her arms around his neck.
“What are you about to do?” George held his breath when she moved her body very close to his, almost touching. He was already having a hard time trying to keep his hands off her, until she was finally ready. He wasn’t yet sure what she wanted from him, what she felt for him.
“Let’s assume you’re drowning in a sea of unspoken love, and I’m here to save your life with a kiss” Before he could pull back, Rachel leaned up on her toes and aimed for his lips.
Breath mixed with breath as their lips met. A spark of pleasure and need raced through George’s spine, causing his dick to twitch as it came to life. Rachel pushed her tongue into his mouth and he groaned before quickly pulling back, breaking the kiss.
Realizing what he had done, Rachel pouted, her lips still glistening from the short kiss. “Why did you pull back?”
“Would you like me to strip you naked in this open place?”
“Oh..” Looking around, She had forgotten where they were for a moment. “But are you sure that’s the only reason? Since that day in the library, you’ve never tried to kiss or touch me. Do you actually wa-want me?”
George glanced at her, trying his best to control himself as the ‘hard guy’ between his legs refused to go down, urging him to take their kiss to the next and final level. “Yes, I want you. I can’t tell you how much I want your breasts in my mouth again, my tongue between your legs and every other thing in between”
Rachel gasped, the depth between her legs clenching hard at his words “So why aren’t you doing anything?”
“It’s not yet time…” George whispered. He was confused. He wanted her, yet, he was trying to be reasonable. He had a feeling she only planned to stay married to him for one year. After that, she would leave when her father gets released from prison due to the newly found evidence. George was afraid of getting too close to her when she would be gone soon, he wasn’t sure he could handle the heartbreak. He had to be sure she was willing to give him a chance for a future together. “… when the time comes, I won’t hold back”
Rachel nodded and turned away, not really happy with his answer. What did he mean by it’s not yet time? She decided to just change the topic and move on. “I noticed your father has never come around to see you. Not even once. Is something wrong? Is it because of me?”
“Not at all” George checked the time on his wristwatch. He had a meeting in an hour time. “That’s how it has been since I can remember. He doesn’t like my mom, so his hatred is transferred to me too”
“Really?” Rachel asked, wide-eyed in surprise. “Why doesn’t he like he-oh, never mind, that’s a personal question”
George chuckled and reached for her hand, holding it tightly just like before. “It’s alright. You’re part of this family now. About that, I’m not exactly sure. I know it has something to do with their past before they got married, but I don’t really know the details” George tilted his head to the side, trying to recollect some memories “If I remember clearly, I think my dad used to work for my mom’s parents. That’s the only thing my mom ever told me”
“I see..” Rachel muttered “… are you trying to say your mother was from a rich family?”
“Rich is a bad way of saying it” George grinned, he was also amazed at the amount of wealth his mother came from “Extremely wealthy. That’s the word. She is from an extremely wealthy family”
“Wow…” Rachel face was filled with wonder “… and here I was, thinking your father was the one born into wealth because of how he acts”
George laughed, ” That’s what I used to think too.”
“He seems to treat your stepmother and stepbrother differently”
“Yea. He has made it clear through the years that he prefers James to me, just like he prefers Judith to my mom.” George whispered with a smile on his face
“Why are you smiling? There’s nothing funny about having a father that dislikes you”
“I know. I’m used to everything by now”
Rachel narrowed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “I might be wrong. But I feel like there’s something more behind your father and mother’s marriage. I know I’ve only been here for a few months, but that’s what I feel whenever I see the both of them” Rachel said.
“Really? I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve never thought that far.” George glanced at his wristwatch “um…I have a meeting in about thirty minutes. We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Alright” Rachel nodded and waved her hands at him.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Rachel pulled the curtains down to cover the windows and glanced at the clock. 7:00pm. George would soon be back. As she turned to sit on a sofa chair, her phone rang and the screen showed ‘Sophia’. She hurriedly answered it, excited to hear everything about the evidence from her detective friend.
“Hey, hey. I’m sure you’ve been holding your breath waiting for my call” Sophia laughed
“You have no idea. This was the longest week of my life so far” Rachel replied excitedly “So, tell me everything. Every single thing about the evidence you found”
“Of course, I will. Sit tight and grab your Popcorn” Sophia cleared her throat “I tried hacking into the database of Imperial Hub Limited. You know, where they keep all those special details of the company’s growth. I wasn’t actually expecting to find anything except files about increasing the company’s revenue or releasing a new skincare product. You get what I mean, right?”
“Sure, go on,” Rachel whispered calmly.
“You know I’ve handled a lot of cases, so I don’t look at things normally…” Sophia continued “… but after sifting through the files, one in particular caught my eyes. I wasn’t expecting to see anything like that there. So I downloaded it and hacked into it. Wait, are you breathing right now?”
Rachel laughed “What’s wrong with you? Of course, I’m breathing. I’m just so nervous about what you are about to say”
“Well, i don’t have the perfect ending you’re looking for yet concerning the evidence”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Rachel muttered, her anxiety at its peak.
“Calm down…” Sophia whispered through the phone, and flipped through some papers in the background “… the thing is my coding skill is limited. I mean, I thought I was an expert but I have a lot of work to do. In the file, there were two encrypted folders, after a while, I was able to hack into the first one.”
“What was there? Did you see anything?”
“Yea, but all it contained was the same printed document that was submitted to the police five years ago. You know, the normal file that we saw back then about your father being involved in the drug trafficking case. There was nothing special in the first folder.”
“Really?…” Rachel released a shaky breath, fresh tears clouding her eyes. Did she raise her hope high for nothing?
“Are you crying?” Sophia asked, concerned about her “There’s no need to. I tried hacking into the second file, but it’s been so hard, like so hard. And as a detective that has handled cases like this, I’ll tell you for free, the real evidence is in the second folder -”
“Are you for real?” Rachel’s sighed with relief
“Yes, it is so encrypted. Jeez, whoever is behind this must have a lot of money to buy those top machines for encrypting files…” Sophia flipped through another page in the background “… It seems like there’s a secret code to get access to what is within the second folder. There was a note below the file that listed what the file contains. Rachel, you won’t believe it”
“What is it?”
“The folder contains the name of the person behind everything. The person’s name should actually be the code to access the folder, that’s my guess. It also has the evidence of the real account that sent the slush fund to implicate your father as a drug trafficker.” Sophia sighed “I have access to top machines for hacking encrypted files as a detective. But you’ll have to give me some time, I’m handling some other cases and I have deadlines to meet. But I’ll do my best, okay? I’ll be coming over to see you soon, we’ll talk more by then”
“I understand. Thank you for your help concerning my father’s case, Sophia. I really appreciate it” Rachel whispered, the hope inside of her growing again.
“Oh, it’s nothing darling” Sophia laughed, making Rachel smile in response. “I’ve got to go. I have work to do. See ya later”
Rachel placed her phone on a table near her, trying to process what she just heard. After a few minutes, she stood up to get some snacks from the kitchen. When she turned around, her eyes widened in shock.
George was standing in front of the door, and by the look on his face, he knew what her phone call was about.
Now, he knows the only reason why she married him in the first place.