IN LOVE WITH THE FRENCH BEAUTY

Chapter 18

~*~Chapter 18~*~

Arabelle figured that something bad had happened when she called Dahveed multiple times with no answer, and then text him a million times with no reply either. She was a mess the next morning as she went to work. The first surprise was that Dahveed was running late. Not thirty minutes late either, more like two-to-three-hours late.

Arabelle couldn’t do anything since all she did was, organize his schedule. So when he showed up out of the blue looking like hell, she giggled. She figured he was going to explain why he hadn’t been picking up his phone or why he hadn’t returned any of her texts. So she stood up with a playful smile, one that froze before it totally disappeared off her face as he passed her desk into his office without even a smile.

“Ok. What is going on?” she demanded herself.

Not allowing that to faze her, she picked up his mail and a coffee before going to his office. She knocked once and then strode in the room. But before she could say a word, Dahveed surprised her—once again.

“Did you go to acting school?” he asked. He wasn’t smiling at all. In fact, if Arabelle was a gambler, she’d bet that he looked harder than when they first met all those months ago.

“Uh, no,” she said with a smile. “The morning meeting was canceled, obviously since you weren’t here, but there is another one in fifteen minutes, and then a conference call from LA after that. Miss…”

“You’re a great actress, impressive even. I’m wondering why you waste your time slaving for me while you could be featuring in blockbusters.” Dahveed interrupted her once again.

Arabelle’s brows furrowed and she turned her head on the side in thoughts. “Is something the matter?” she asked.

“Indeed, there is!” he replied in an oddly cold voice, while getting out of his chair and stalking where she stood. “You see I’m an impeccably good judge of character. But how you managed to slip through my fingers is beyond my understanding.”

“Look, I’m not sure why you’re saying all of this but I have no idea unless you explain it to me. I only understand that something is a problem concerning me. So go ahead and elaborate. Otherwise, you’re going to be late on your meeting!” she said exasperated. She’d expected and explanation but here she was being investigated.

“I owe you no explanation Miss Faraja, and I’m the boss here. So whether I’m late or not isn’t any of your concern!” He boomed and it gave her a sense of déjà vu. The first day she walked into his precious office and he literally kicked her out. He’s also never called her by her last name—she’d always been Miss Arabelle.

“Look sir, I would be more than happy to explain, but I still don’t understand.” She said cautiously now. The Dahveed she knew, the one she’d fallen in love with, was nowhere to be seen.

“Stop the drama right now!” he roared at her. “You learned me very well, but I also studied you. No one is as good as you in anyway and I applaud you, but enough with the drama.”

“Drama? What drama? For all I know, you’re the one doing the drama.” Not many things scared Arabelle, but this line of talk was beginning to scare her—a little.

“You had the whole thing planned didn’t you? Get me to fall in love with you, weaken me, and then take over the whole package. I wondered why such an “innocent” person like you would have such an outrageous debt on your name, but it never made any sense. But now, it all makes perfect sense.” He said circling her like a lion preparing to pounce on its prey.

“How did I get here? Yesterday, I was getting a promise that everything was going to be fine after Dahveed talked to his father. And now, it feels like he’s accusing me of being a gold-digger.” She silently mused. “What can I say?” she asked. There was nothing left for her to say. All she could do was, listen to him and hope to understand what she’d done wrong.