The Ceo’s Contract Lover

Knowing he could not win against his wife, Jayden surrendered.

Setting his priorities straight, he turned to Emma, apologetically. “I’m sorry my wife isn’t comfortable eating around strangers. Why don’t you join us next time?”

Emma frowned at his behavior.

She never expected him to blatantly chase her out. But now that he had, it would be unwise to linger behind.

“It’s alright,” she replied, her tone magnanimous, as if she were brushing off the situation.

Then, pretending as though Nina didn’t exist in the room, she offered a casual wave in Jayden’s direction. “See you around,” she added before leaving.

Jayden acknowledged her with a simple nod.

As the door closed behind Emma, the room fell into silence.

Jayden’s hand tugged at Nina’s, urging her to follow him inside his office. However, to his surprise, she stood her ground, refusing to budge. He turned to look at her, a hint of irritation flickering in his eyes.

“What now?”

Still annoyed, Nina struggled to keep her voice even. She took a deep breath before finally speaking. “She sat in your chair,” she pointed out, her voice filled with frustration.

Jayden raised an eyebrow, not quite comprehending her meaning. “So?” he responded, his tone nonchalant.

Seeing that he still didn’t get it, Nina closed her eyes briefly. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself she explained. “I didn’t know CEO Luxton casually invites women to sit in his chair.”

So that was it!

To Jayden, the situation seemed trivial, not even worthy of his attention so he could not understand why it affected Nina so much.

But when he detected a hint of jealousy in her tone, the corner of his lips subconsciously rose.

Letting out a sigh of resignation, he shook his head and pulled out his phone before dialing a number. “Throw this chair out and bring a new one for me,” he instructed.

Nina watched in silence as Bruce efficiently whisked the chair out of the office.

It was a swift process, taking only a few minutes before he returned, bearing a brand-new chair. With precision, he placed it beside Jayden’s desk, leaving the CEO’s office looking as it had before.

With the chair controversy, Jayden turned to Nina. “Anything else?”

Upon receiving no response from her, he concluded that the matter was now over.

Then he held out his hand for her to take. “Shall we continue with our lunch now, Mrs. Luxton?”

Though Nina had really lost her appetite, she knew she couldn’t continue to be unreasonable since he had already done so much.

She glanced at his outstretched palm and rolled her eyes.

Without a word, she walked past him and into the office, leaving Jayden bemused by her response.

—

Nina sat in her lit home office, her fingers moving across the iPad screen as she worked on her latest draft.

The world outside was quiet, and she relished the solitude that allowed her to focus on her sketches.

At that moment, her phone buzzed on the desk, interrupting her creative flow. With a pause, she glanced at the caller ID, which displayed an anonymous number.

She dismissed it, assuming it was just another spam call. But when the phone continued to ring insistently, she decided to answer it. “Hello?”

“Hello, Nina. Hope you’re doing well lately,” a voice, enough to cause one to shiver, spoke.

Nina paused, her fingers hovering over the stylus pen, and she stared at the phone in disbelief.

It couldn’t be.

“Madison?” she verified.

“It’s me,” Madison giggled, not expecting Nina to recognize her voice so easily.

Nina immediately became alert, suspicious of her sudden call. “What do you want?”

Hearing her cautious tone, Madison chuckled softly on the other end of the line. “Nothing. I just wanted to see how you’ve been doing?”

“Well, I’m doing fine,” Nina replied.

There was a pause before Madison responded, her tone more serious. “But… I’m not.”

“Do you know where I am right now? At the borders of Country Y.”

“After the company went bankrupt, they chased us out of the Spring City. We lost everything. Our homes, our savings, everything. Left with no choice, we had to seek refuge here.”

Madison continued, her voice trembling slightly, “This place is prone to wars and the security here is extremely poor. There’s a shortage of food and we have to constantly live in fear of being killed.”

It was a stark contrast to the life she had been accustomed to in Spring City.

Nina turned silent as she listened to Madison’s distressing words.

Other than their bankruptcy, she did not know what had happened to the Heaths.

Part of it was because she never liked to bother about other people’s business. And second, because she genuinely did not care.

“You reap what you sow,” Nina said, her words heavy with harshness.

If only her father had remained honest, they wouldn’t be in this current mess. It was his greed and ambition that had set them on this treacherous path.

Madison thought their lives were tough, but did she ever think about those workers who lost their lives unjustly at the construction site?

Most of the workers were the sole breadwinner of their families.

Did she ever think about their children who would grow up without fathers? The wives who would have to bear the heavy burden of raising their families alone?

Her father’s shortcut to success had led to that tragic accident, claiming several lives and now they were paying the price.

Indeed, what goes around comes around.

“No!” Madison exclaimed, her eyes blazing with indignation. “It’s because of you. Tell me, Nina, do you feel better after separating me and LJ? Everything had been fine until you came into our lives. Why did you have to ruin everything for us?”

Not only had they lost Jayden’s unwavering support and love, but they had also ended up on the streets. While Nina, the culprit, lived a life of comfort and luxury in the manor.

After living under those harsh conditions, Madison seemed to have gone over the edge, driven to the brink of madness. Hence, Nina believed that it would be useless to reason with a mentally challenged person.

“If you’ve called me for this bullshit, then I’m hanging up.” She declared.

“Don’t,” Madison said urgently, imploring Nina to stay on the line.

After a brief pause that seemed to stretch for an eternity, Madison spoke. “I called you because I wanted to tell you a secret. Do you want to know why LJ married you?”

“No, I don’t,” Nina replied almost immediately. It was a contract marriage, what was there to know about it?

Madison’s chuckle, tinged with both sadness and resignation, came through the other end. “LJ married you because of your face,” she repeated, “Because your face resembles the woman he really loves the most.”

“Have you lost your mind? Why don’t-”

“Emilia Moore, ring any bells?” Madison cut her in.

Hearing the name, Nina’s heart skipped a beat and she fell silent.

If memory served her right, then the Emilia Moore, Madison talked about, should be Emma. The woman she had seen in Jayden’s office the other day.

A sinking feeling clawed its way up from the pit of her stomach as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.

“Emilia and LJ loved each other very much. They were even about to get married, but for some reason, Emma left the country.” she began.

“But, you know LJ’s character,”

“After she left, has been waiting patiently for her all these years .” Madison paused before continuing. “And that’s when you came into the picture,”

“Because of his obsession, he married you so that he could fill in the void left behind by Emma.”

After Madison finished speaking, the truth she had just revealed seemed to hang in the air, and there was nothing but silence at the other end of the line.

For a moment, Madison thought that Nina had hung up the call, dismissing her words. Just as she was about to check if the call had indeed ended, she heard Nina’s snicker.

“Interesting story, Madison. Why don’t you be a writer? Given your imagination, I’m sure it’s worthy of an Oscar.”

“Why would I make things up?” Madison asked. “Think for yourself, Nina. Other than your face, what merit do you have to make The Jayden Luxton spare a glance at you?”

“Do you know how many people are waiting in line to marry him? Celebrities, socialites, as well as the daughters of politicians and entrepreneurs. When LJ turned twenty-five, even the princess of Country X sent him a marriage proposal.

“In that case,” Madison pressed on, “tell me, Nina. Don’t you think it’s ironic that LJ did not marry anyone else but you? A smelly commoner who has neither a background nor any influence. Bet you might not even know who your biological father is.”

The words stung, and Nina’s face paled, feeling a pang of vulnerability she had long sought to hide herself from.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

But Madison did not relent, as she had yet to deliver her final blow.

“Oh, Nina! And here I thought I was the most pathetic one out there. Turned out, you have it worse. Eighteen months of marriage and you didn’t even know you were being treated as a mere substitute.”

“A cheap copy.”

“I heard Emilia has returned,” Madison stated, her words settling like a dark cloud over Nina.

“Count your days, Nina,” she warned, her voice filled with an ominous weight. “Your good days are coming to a close.”

“Also, don’t even think about resisting or putting up a fight with Emilia,” she cautioned. “Emma’s not someone you or I can win against.”

“Mark my words, one month and you’ll be out of LJ’s life.”

“And when that day comes, I’ll be the one to have a good laugh at you.”

“Good luck.”