White Lies and Sweet Compromise( 𝐁𝐖𝐖𝐌💕)

Chapter 4

"My boy Deacon there is never a dull moment with you is there," Lionel said with a little chuckle as he walked further into the office and took a seat near the desk that was earlier offering a nice means of convenience.

He picked up a red stiletto that was lying by the foot of the chair he was now sitting on and handed it to his friend earning a deep scowl from the elder man who dismissed Elen and shut the office door with a resounding thud.

"How can you be so shameless?!" Deacon Ffrench Sr said between clenched teeth as he stared daggers at the younger version of himself.

Maturity, age, and a few grey hairs at the temples were what separated the two. Years down the line Deacon would be a replica of the one man who he loves and hates with the same fierceness.

"If you came for an argument Father am afraid we have had enough for the past six months to last me a lifetime and am all done out," Deacon said harshly before going to sit behind the desk that was his father before it became his.

"How is Kylie going to take this?!" he snapped getting further irritated by his son's lack of remorse. "For years she has been groomed to be your wife and at the vital moment when you should be putting your childish waywardness under wraps I and Kylie's brother come to find you in sexual pursuit of your office help."

"Wendy is not some mere office help!" He snaps despising the degrading way in which he spoke of her. "And if you should get your head out of your pompous ass you would realize Kylie and I don't want to be with each other."

"For years the Ffrench have married into families that have benefitted ---"

"Well father that tradition has long since died and I will not be unhappy with a woman who comes to my bed out of duty and then pretty soon we are both seeking our desires out of our matrimonial home," he barked. "Can't you see we no longer need to cement our heritage by binding ourselves to loveless marriages?"

"Are you telling me you're in love with your PA?"

He stared at his father and felt his composure slip a bit but he turned matching grey eyes on the older man and said. "What I have with Wendy is more than what half of our male generation ever had combined. I will not send Kylie to an early grave, or some psychiatric facility because she has become a wasted version of her true self."

Silence filled the room as truths too harsh to bear floated around like dust bunnies.

"I lost my mother at seven and where are the other wives you've taken up? I believe you would have known by now I will not easily break or conform. I am also tired of being lonely and I will not be a slave to tradition. I want Wendy, not Kylie and when we get back from her cousin's wedding I will announce formally my intention to make her my wife."

"You will regret this. This company has so much riding on your union with Kylie. If you wed it will be the biggest binding ever of companies ---"

"Save it, Father. I had asked Lionel to take you here to discuss a very vital matter however seeing...," he let his voice trail off then with a sigh said. "Listen to what Lionel has to tell you, I on the other hand need to go and check on Wendy."

He got up from behind the desk taking up Wendy's scattered hairpins and her stiletto and pausing long enough to say to his friend "Let me know how it all goes and tell Kylie I say all the best on her endeavours and I am sure she'll have a fulfilling life in Africa."

Lionel got up and they hugged before he ushered a very angry Deacon Ffrench Sr through the door. He stood there staring at the empty place where his father had stood a few seconds ago and he sighed.

This day was bound to come. It was years in the making. At thirty his father had expected him to jump in the saddle and gallop to the bitter life he had led with his mother and his two other wives, not to mention the many mistresses that had one day expected to be the next Mrs. D K Ffrench Sr. If only they knew the money did not offer a balm or solace to the bitter life that being a Mrs. Ffrench brought.

He had vowed never to be a part of that life and six months ago when his father had first brought to him his desire to make his betrothal to Kylie a reality of marriage knew it was time to prove that his father's one true love would not destroy him too.

He took Wendy's purse along with him to the lounge and thanked God for him being in the office when Wendy arrived or else he would not have had the tool to fight his father and rescue himself and Kylie.

He had loathed for Kylie to have to marry into a loveless marriage out of outdated obligations. She was made for more than just the binding of two companies; to suit a man who cared more for a company than he did anything or anyone else.

"Hey, I brought these," he said placing her shoe and hairpins on the glass top cylindrical centre table which she sat behind on a plush leather sofa with a matching recliner and too-small settees adding to the cosy interior.

She was staring out the ceiling-to-floor sliding window that took up one wall expanse of the room and that led out onto a balcony and made no effort to acknowledge the things he brought or him.

"Why don't you get yourself together in the powder room and then go back to work once you are through with the tasks that are on your planner for today you can go home. I have caused you enough worries," he told her as he finished losing his tie and going by the display table that held a variety of liquors that stood in stylish decanters of glass and crystals.

"Why did you tell your father I was your fiancé?" she asked softly as she watched him pour himself a glass from a crystal decanter with the liquor of burnt brown like his mussed-up hair. No doubt brandy. He added some ice cubes and gave the liquid a short twirl then in one gulped down the contents.

"Maybe because I am hoping that the old brute will realize I charter the own course of my life. It's not jumping and then I ask how high."

He turns to the table pours another drink and stretches it to her but she shakes her head in refusal.

She sighs then says, "To selfishly save ourselves has me stuck between a rock and a hard place. My family thinks we are lovers and your father thinks I am your fiancé. This has just gone from can't get any worse to surely getting more worse."

"Why is it so hard Wendy, why is it so hard to be my lover or my fiancé even?"

"Because you love no one but yourself and I know firsthand the hurt and the pain that comes with that."

"You think you're the only one who has been hurt or taken for granted?" The question was laced with such venom she was a bit taken aback.

"I am thirty and in all my life of entering in whatsoever, relationship with the opposite sex not one of those women made the effort to see the real me. I am just a means to a better life or the means to an end."

He placed the used glass on the table turned to her and said with a bitter smile. "You're probably the only woman who used me for the betterment of someone else's feelings and then felt like hell over it."

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. What could she say when she too found it in herself to use him to her advantage?

"Listen a dear friend of mine needs us to be together as long as it takes for her to get a few things in place and move to Africa to fulfil her dream, as soon as that's over we'll put an end to this charade," he informed then ask. "So when are we scheduled to leave for your cousin's nuptial?"

"Tomorrow evening. I told them I would head out after work."

"Ok am sure I can reschedule a few things."

"Ok," she said softly her heart beating wildly as she dreads what lay ahead.

𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷

Sup everyone 😊

Is D K Ffrench Sr going to be a broken spoke in his son's wheel that he wishes to use to propel himself on his journey?

Now that Wendy has gotten a glimpse of the man behind her self-centred womanizing boss it is clear that she is willing to go ahead and use this one stone to kill two birds, but will the boiling attraction they have for each other take things in a different direction?

Leave your comments and vote, please 😊