CHAPTER FOUR — IT'S TIME!

Chapter 04.

IT'S TIME!

Emily's POV.

“Took you long enough to decide.”

The words came as soon as I walked into the mansion with Nigel. I froze, and turned my head to the side. Sanding at the top of stairs with a staff in his grip was Ash. As we locked gazes, a smile curled up his lips. The kind of smile that said that I'd taken the right decision.

I wasn't sure if accepting his proposal was the right thing to do, but one thing was certain: I wanted to get back at Marcus and Abby. And just as Nigel had said, Ash could help me achieve that.

“But I'm glad you're here.” he smiled, descending the staircase.

I watched as he took his time, one foot forward, then the other, with a hand on the railing for support. He continued that way until he finally set both feet on the floor.

“It doesn't actually take this long for me to get down from the stairs,” he said, a bubble of laughter rising in his throat as he walked towards the sitting room. “I have just been feeling pains in my knees these past few days. But it's nothing to worry about.”

He settled on the couch, and kept his staff on the armrest of the couch.

“Come,” Nigel said, and led the way.

I didn't follow immediately. Instead, I stayed back, drew in a deep, calming breath. After doing that, I walk behind him. I swept my eyes all over the place. There was a shelf with books to the side.

In the meantime, I settled on the couch opposite Ash's.

“I heard you took care of me while I was still unconscious.” I said, rubbing my hands down my pants legs, and evading his gaze. “Thank you.”

“I did nothing, actually.” he said, with a brief smile. “If there's anyone who should be grateful here, then it's me. Thank you accepting my offer.”

“As long as it would make Marcus and Abby suffer for what they did to me, then I'm fine.” I said, but my voice shook, betraying my true feelings.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, looking me straight in the eyes.

“Honestly, I don't know.” I dropped my head, and glanced at my palms as though they'd the answers to the questions running through my mind at that time. “However, if my sister could do that to me without taking into consideration that I'm her sister, and if he could do that to me without thinking that I'm his wife, then I don't think I should take pity on either of them.”

“Now that's more like it.” he said, and took off his arm.

My heart shook. Wait… what? He was an amputee? One wouldn't even notice that his arm wasn't real. I turned to Nigel, hoping he would provide some explanation to me, but he just smiled as if it was nothing.

“I can see that you're surprised.” he said, his voice broke in on my thoughts. “Don't be. This is all Marcus's doing.”

“What?” I crinkled my face at the words.

“It is a story for another day.” he said. “But right now? We've to act fast. I've got a meeting with Golden Strings Holdings.”

“Wait… that's,” I paused, and turned to Nigel.

He responded with a nod.

“It is exactly as you've thought. It's Marcus's company. Well, for now.” Ash said. “However, he has no idea that I'm the founder of Phoenix Lab; he's always wanted to meet with me and partner with my company. But I'm not ready to meet with him yet. Not today.”

“Wait,” I closed my eyes, and tried to process his words in my head slowly. “You already accepted to meet with him? I mean, what if I didn't agree to do this? What would you have done?”

“I would have gotten someone else to do it.” he smiled. “But I knew that you would eventually agree.”

“You can't be so certain.” I shook my head.

“Of course, I am.” he said. “With all that rage, and pain inside of you? It could be a very good weapon to take down Marcus and make him suffer for what he did to you.”

“So what I do?”

“Nigel.” he turned to him, and nodded softly.

Nigel got up from the couch, and walked into a room. Before long, he stepped out with a briefcase which he dropped on the center table.

“Do I?” Nigel asked.

“Yea, please go ahead.” Ash said.

“Alright.” Nigel opened the briefcase, brought out some documents and handed it to me.

I read through for a moment, and lifted my face to him.

“This is a marriage?” I asked, making a face.

“A marriage of convenience, to say it better.” he said. “All you have to do is put your signature on it. Not to worry, you get to live your life the way you want to. This document doesn't stop you from living your life. However, you'll be the one to meet with him at the meeting today.”

As long as it wouldn't stop me from living my life, then I had no problems with signing the documents.

“Don't we need a lawyer for this?” I asked, picking up the pen on the document.

“You didn't tell her yet?” Ash asked, turning to face Nigel.

He dropped his head.

“Well, Nigel here is a lawyer.” Ash said. “I guess he forgot to tell you.”

“You hadn't regained consciousness then.” Nigel said, with an apologetic look in his eyes. “I am sorry, I should have told you earlier today.”

“It is no problem. Where do I sign?” I asked.

“Here,” Nigel pointed a finger.

I moved my hand in a zigzag manner on the spot which Nigel showed to me.

“Is that all?” I asked, darting my gaze back and forth as I glanced at them both.

“One more thing,” Ash said, and pushed a box across the table to me. “Now that we're legally married, you should put it on.”

I opened the box, and found a ring inside of it. I sighed. I didn't think for a moment that I would be wearing a ring given to me by another man, and certainly not Ash. If anything, I thought it was just going to be Marcus's ring on my finger till death do us part, as they say. But it's different now.

Besides, my mind was made up. For all the pain I suffered from Marcus, I was prepared to suffer him twice. I took out the ring from the box, and put it on my middle finger. A smile curled up my lips as I glanced at the diamond sparkling at the center.

“It is all done.” Ash said, putting his prosthetic arm back on. “When all this is done, there's a fifty million dollar reward for you. And lastly, going forward, your name is Ruby.”

“What?” I crinkled my face.

“Yes. You are supposed to be dead, remember?” he said, arching a brow. “So, your name is now Ruby. Keep that in mind. Nigel would give you the documents later on.”

He took hold of his staff, and righted himself from the couch.

“We shouldn't keep Marcus waiting. Nigel, drive her to the venue.” he added. “Oh, before I forget, there's a package in that room for you, Emily. Go in there and get changed.”

That said, he walked towards the stairs. I turned to Nigel, who cued for me to go in with a subtle nod of my head. I exhaled sharply, and walked to the room. As I got in, my jaw dropped. There were dresses of different designs you could ever imagine.

Without wasting time, I slipped into a white pant trousers, white spaghetti strap top, and a sky-blue knee-length blazer jacket. I put some lip gloss on, and smacked my lips. After that, I dressed my hair into a ponytail, and put on a dark sunshade.

Certain that I looked the exact way I imagined, I walked out of the room.

“Can we go now?” I asked, looking over the rims of my sunshades.

Nigel led the way out, and I followed behind. We got into a sleek, black car and he drove out. Before long, we arrived at the venue.

“Are you alright?” he asked, glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

“Yes, I am.” I drew in a deep, calming breath, and got down from the car.

Together, we walked in through the revolving door, and then he led me to the conference room where the meeting would be held. As we arrived in the room, he opened the door for me, and I walked in.

There he was, Marcus, sitting at the side of the U shaped desk. Upon seeing me, he formed his lips into an oval of surprise and righted himself from the chair. But I strode in, flinging my hair back with a toss of my head, and pretending not to see him.

In the meantime, I settled on the chair, and put my bag on the desk, but he was still standing, and looking at me in hard wonder.

I lowered my sunshades, and looked over the rims. “Is there a problem, Mr Marsh?”