His Unwanted Bride ~Editing~

Chapter Fifty Five: Alex

The weeks went by and life in the manor was wonderful. Each day was spent with my girls. Clarissa started her new school and she loved every moment of it. She had even made a few new friends.

Tabitha had started doing some research on opening her own bakery, and we would be looking into properties soon. 

Work grew more stressful though. My father (while retired) kept making decisions affecting the company and forcing new deals on us. My work grew more and more tiring.

One of the men my father had been working with for years had reached out  to us. He requested to enter intona contract with my father on behalf of the company and he quickly obliged. After looking into the company further, I had found that he was involved in smuggling illegal goods.

Now I had to find a way to breach our contract amicably because of my father's blind trust. If he was caught, we couldn't be involved in the fallout. This was just one of many issues my father had caused since his retirement. He wasn't as sharp as he used to be and he was far too trusting.

My father sat across from me as I prepared to say the things I'd been holding in for so long. I wish Tabitha were here to calm my nerves but this was something I needed to do for myself.

"Father, I called you here because I need to speak with you," I spoke.

"What is on your mind, my son?" he asked tiredly.

"When this deal was made, father, I had no say in it. I have done everything you asked, made the proper arrangements, taken care if the family. But this, adding so much to the deal, forcing something which causes so much sacrifice is wrong," I blurted out.

"Are you not happy with our arrangement? It seemed you were handling things so well," he replied.

"How can you say that? You claim to be doing what is best and yet still you force these things on me. This deal should have never happened. None of this should have. I'm beginning to think taking this on was one of the worst decisions of my life," I yelled back.

"Son."

"Let me finish! My whole adult life is defined by your decisions, and spent cleaning up your mistakes, I need you to step back and let me do what I need to do," I added, my chest heaving.

"You are absolutely right, son," my father replied calmly.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," I called out.

"I apologize for the intrusion sir. Your wife was here, but she dropped this as she ran back toward the elevators. She looked rather upset," my assistant spoke.

She held a small gift bag. I took it from her. A little note that read "my love" was scribbled on the tag.

I removed the tissue paper and saw two tiny little shoes sitting in the bottom of the bag.