Chapter Fifty eight

Ariana's POV;

I rolled my shoulders and my neck to ease the aches. I had spent a large part of my day bent over my desk, sorting through several files.

I was home now but I was so tired. I still had to sort through some files and make some calculations on my laptop, my work load had significantly increased over the last few weeks and I could understand why. Finances are a major part of any business and financial records could not be toyed with.

I put my laptop aside and decided it was time to rest. I laid down on my bed and shut my eyes and it was just at that moment that a knock came through.

"Come in!" I managed to holler. Slowly, the door pushed open and Tracy walked in. I sat up, surprised that she was the one. She stood by the door and her ocean blue eyes met my pitch black ones before she looked down.

"Hi." She said, barely above a whisper.

"Hi." I said back, clearing my throat awkwardly.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the soup, it helped a lot with my nausea." She said. I did not expect her to thank me at all.

"Uhm it's okay. How are you feeling now?" I asked.

"Much better. The doctor says this is all part of the first trimester struggles and I should not be worried, he did prescribe some supplements to help me out though." She explained nicely and I nodded, trying to hide my surprise.

"I know you're wondering why I'm acting different." She took the words right out of my mouth.

"Well, yeah. I did not expect to ever hear you speak politely to me." I said truthfully.

She shrugged.

"There's no point in being mean to you because it makes no differenceand even if I tell everyone the truth about you and Damien it would not change anything."

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she trying to play mind games with me?

"Are you trying to make me say something so that you can have a recording to send to the media?" I questioned suspiciously. She chuckled.

"You're smart." She said, nodding impressively and I frowned deeply.

"But, no. As you know," She patted her belly a little bit, indicating her unobvious pregnancy.

"I have more pressing things to worry about than the nature of my brother's relationship with you. But I must say, you should watch out because there's someone out there who would stop at nothing to get you out of here even before your contract expires." She warned.

"And, who's this person?" I asked, slightly worried about what she had said because of all I had seen in movies and stories regarding situations like these. I did not want to get kidnapped or killed because I got married to a billionaire!

"Don't freak out, I can see you that you're panicking already." She pointed out, watching me closely.

"You'll be fine in the end, I can tell because Damien would stop at nothing to keep you happy, fake wife or not." She said and stood up. She stretched her palm towards me and I took it in a handshake.

"Truce?" She said.

"Truce." I stated and she smiled.

"See you around, Ariana." She said dismissively and left me to my thoughts.

Oh well, at least I did not have to deal with anymore hostility in this house. Phew!

I tried not to dwell on the thoughts of what she had just said but being an over thinker, I just could not help it. What if someone came and kidnapped me then locked me in a room and set it ablaze? That would be crazy but it was actually very possible.

"No negative thoughts Ariana." I warned myself before shutting my eyes to sleep.

***

I woke up with a scream and my heart beated so fast like it wanted to jump out of my chest. I was panting heavily like I had just run for such a long time.

I reached for my phone and checked the time, it was just a few minutes past three in the morning.

My door came open all of a sudden and I shrieked even louder. Whoever had come in, put on the lights and I shut my eyes reflexively. I tried opening them slowly, in a bid to adjust to the sudden brightness.

I eventually opened them fully and saw that Damien was looking at me with concern written all over his features.

Wait. Damien?!

I must be dreaming or worse, hallucinating, I thought.

"Damien?" I called out to be sure I was not going crazy.

"Yeah, it's me." He said slowly.

"I didn't know you were back." I managed to get out. My throat had gone parched.

"I just came in." He said. It was then I eyed his outfit. He was in a white shirt, folded at its sleeves with grey suit pants. I nodded.

"I heard you scream, are you alright?" His eyes searched my face as he asked.

"I had a nightmare and it was so scary." I said quickly while I shuddered as I remembered what it entailed.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked but I shook my head, I just wanted to sleep.

"No, I really just want to sleep. I have work in the morning." I said to him and he nodded slowly.

He lifted me off the bed unexpectedly and I yelped in surprise.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"You'll continue your sleep in my bed." He said, looking ahead as he made his way out of my room with me in his arms like a child. I did not protest cause sleeping all alone in my room was the last thing on my mind.

He slowly placed me on the bed when we got in, then he placed the duvet over me before heading into the bathroom to freshen up.

I was half asleep when I felt him slide into the bed. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him with my back touching his chest.

I slept off soon after.

****

I woke up pretty late, it was about half past seven when I opened my eyes. I turned and found that Damien was not next to me, I sighed and got out of bed quickly. I had to go get ready for work.

I took a quick bath and picked up one of my several corporate dresses and paired it with nude heels. I decided to go barefaced, not like I had the time for make up anyway. I pulled up all of my hair and tied it at the back of my head in a simple style.

With my handbag on my left wrist, I walked out quickly, fully aware of how late I was going to be.

I stepped out and asked for Miguel only to hear that he was not in as well as my designated driver. Now, this was strange.

"Both of them were given a day off?" I asked the huge bodyguard while looking up at him.

"Yes ma'am." He said with his deep intimidating voice resonating through my ears.

"How on earth am I supposed to get to work? I'm running late." I scowled almost stomping my feet like a petulant child.

"That's where I come in. I'll be driving you to work today." Damien's voice came through from behind, startling me.

"I thought you had left for work already." I said to him as he pulled me to him and dropped a kiss on my lips.

"Good morning babe." He said with a smirk and I blushed.

"Good morning." I said back.

"Get me the Ferrari." He said to the guard who nodded quickly and scurried off to do as he had been instructed. I turned to Damien immediately.

"You gave them the day off, didn't you?" I questioned.

"Yeah I did." He answered.

"Why?" I prodded. He said nothing and just before I could ask further, our ride was parked in front of us.

He led me into the sleek white Ferrari 458 spider and shut the door before walking to the other side. I marveled at the plush interiors of the car with wide eyes but composed myself when he got in through the other side.

"You like?" He asked smugly.

"It's nice." I said acting like I was not screaming on the inside.

"Just nice?" He questioned, most probably disappointed at my reaction. I inwardly snickered.

"Hmmm." I hummed, distracted by my phone.

"I still don't understand why you're the one driving me to work today." I voiced out my confusion.

"Is there anything wrong with me taking my wife to her workplace?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he gave me a cursory glance before facing the road. This was my first time seeing him drive and dare I say, he looked so sexy as he drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other changing gears. It was a drool worthy sight.

"I've never seen you drive before." I said before I could stop myself.

"I know and I'm sure you see I'm good at it." He said cockily and I scoffed. Men be doing the most.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Someone's jelly." He teased with a smirk.

"Just because I can't drive, doesn't mean I'm jealous, you know." I retorted.

"You can't drive?" He asked, apparently surprised.

I blushed. It was an embarrassing fact about me, I cannot even begin to explain why I never learnt to drive. I was almost twenty four and I still had no idea what driving entailed.

"I never got to learn." I said with a shrug.

"I'll teach you." He said and I looked up at him quickly.

"That's if you want to learn though." He added like he was seeking my permission.

"Of course, thank you." I said biting back an excited grin. He nodded, eyes still on the road.

We continued the ride in comfortable silence until we got to the company. He drove into the premises and parked.

I got out and thanked him for bringing me to the office. He nodded but what surprised me was the face that he was following me inside.

"Damien, are you here to see Aiden?" I asked when he held my hand and had me walking beside him.

"No." He said, confusing me even further. So much confusion, all in one morning.

Since he was well known, his presence brought attention to us, something I did not want at all.

He followed me inside the elevator and I kept looking up at him in further perplexion. What was this man up to? No one else was in there with us, the people in there had stepped out quickly the moment they saw him. How he intimidated people without doing or saying anything never ceased to baffle me.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked feigning cluelessness.

"What's this about Damien? What exactly are you doing?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips as I glared at him questioningly.

"I just want to know where exactly my wife works." I said casually.

The elevator dinged, indicating that we had arrived at my floor. The doors came open and I stepped out with him following me closely.

Everyone had their eyes on us and I looked down in embarrassment. I walked into my office and said a quick hello to Stephanie as I usually did. She did not reply. I looked up from my desk.

"Stephanie?" I called out. She looked like she was stuck on one spot staring at Damien with her mouth agape.

I looked at him who, by the way, was seated in front of me and quirked my eyebrow. He shrugged with an amused look on his face and I shook my head in disbelief.

"Stephanie!" I exclaimed as I rocked her by her shoulders and snapped my fingers in her face. My actions brought her back to her senses luckily and she jolted back to reality.

"Ariana? I must be going crazy, I just imagined Damien Kingston being in my office, how impossible is that!" She snorted as she palmed her face.

"I must be coming down with something." She said dismissively as she walked over to my table.

"He's right beside you actually." I stated plainly. She turned abruptly and screamed so loud, Damien and I had to shut our ear with both fingers. Her scream brought even more attention to us.

I narrowed my eyes at him after seeing the scene his presence was creating but he looked like he was enjoying this.

"Oh brother." I muttered under my breath. This was going to be a long day.