Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

Two weeks later

Everything was almost back to the way they used to be, but the only thing that remained unchanged was the fact that Connor couldn’t still get over his family cutting him and his brother off completely. Although he has been trying to act like everything was fine with him, it was unfortunately obvious that he wasn’t fine.

Chase started working in his company as a part-time model and they have since been going to the company together. What about me? Well, I’ve started working as his assistant, and so far, it has been exhausting, but thinking about the pay I would get at the end of the month has been my only motivation, so I was going to keep pushing harder no matter how difficult it seemed to be. I mean, working and earning fifteen thousand dollars a month was fair enough, right? Well, Connor Empire is the only company I know that pays their workers such high salaries. Other companies range from six to ten thousand dollars monthly. I should count myself lucky for being able to work with them.

Just like every other day, I got ready for work and left home with Connor as usual. Chase already left for the company earlier.

“What’s my schedule today?” Connor asked me as the driver drove us to the company. We were sitting together in the backseat.

“Lunch with Mr. Wright by noon, an appointment with Mr. Knight from Knight’s Empire, and a meeting with Rosey Lee from Rosey’s foundation,” I read out his schedule, and heard him sigh.

“Cancel everything. We have an appointment in Texas tomorrow morning, so we will be leaving tonight after the shooting at the company,” He replied to me sarcastically, and I rolled my eyes.

“Alright,” We soon arrived at the company, and as usual, I went to open the door for him. Well, you won’t blame me for acting like his bodyguard, right? We all know I love money, and since we agreed he would pay me extra, then anything for it.

“Get me coffee from the cafe shop next street,” He said as we walked toward the elevator.

“But Sir…” He paused and turned to face me.

“Is there a problem?” He turned and asked me, but I quickly shook my head, realizing that I shouldn’t be complaining because I was doing my job.

“No, Sir. I will go get it for you,” I bowed, and he walked inside the elevator wordlessly. I watched the elevator roll close, and I sighed. He has become extra grumpy after the death of his brother, and no matter how I tried to look at it, it still didn’t feel right.

“Ugh! A new day to get frustrated,” I mumbled under my breath and turned to go carry out the errands.

I took a cab to the cafe shop and got the coffee.

“Thanks for your patronage,” The waiter said to me and I smiled at her before I left, and just before I stepped out of the cafe, I collided with someone and the coffee spilled all over my body.

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath, cleaning the mess from my white short gown that was already stained.

“I’m so sorry, miss. I’m so sor…” I quickly recognized the voice and when I raised my gaze, I confirmed it. The person I had just collided with is Claire. Connor’s sister.

“Janice?” She called me in shock…

*****

“I didn’t know we would run into each other here. It’s nice to see you. It has been a while,” she said to me as we sat across from each other minutes after I cleaned my dress.

“Hmm. It has been a while,” I nodded affirmatively.

“How have you been? How is Chase and Connor?” She asked me, her eyes laced with sadness. I knew she wasn’t happy being there, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.

“I’m good, and they are fine. How about Mom and Dad? Are they good too? What about you?” I asked her curiously, and she nodded her head.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“We’ve been good. Uhm… I need to go. Please don’t tell Connor that we bumped into each other here. I hope we run into each other some other time again,” She said then stood up and left hurriedly.

“That was…” I paused and breathed out, shaking my head unbelievably. I finally took a cab back to the company and took the elevator to the fourth floor where his office is located.

I pushed the door open and was stunned when I didn’t find Khan there. He was always the first to get to the company before any other person, so where the heck was he? I asked myself, but it wasn’t something to make a fuss about, so I proceeded to the door to Connor’s office.

I wanted to push it open, but strangely, it was locked from the inside.

“Why did he lock himself inside?” I mumbled and twisted the knob again but still got no response. Shortly, I heard strange noises from the office which I could swear on my life that it was a woman’s voice. A moan, rather.

“What’s that?” I mumbled while trying to figure out what could be going on behind the closed door. I placed my ear close to the door, and yes, the noises were audible enough for me to hear now. I heard moans and groans from there, and the sound of a desk creaking following suit. My jaw dropped unbelievably as the realization dawned on me what the fuck was going on behind the closed door.

“Is he kidding me?” I mumbled and scoffed because this was crazy and ridiculous. I didn’t have any reason to be angry knowing we were going to divorce anyway and knowing that we never loved each other, but still, I didn’t understand this heart-throbing pain in my chest. Slowly, I clenched my fingers tightly around the coffee I was holding, spilling it on myself. I felt enraged, unable to hold back my anger, so I banged on the door hard that if I was strong enough, it would have come off the frame. Another five minutes passed before the door finally opened, and there was the bastard that sent me to go get him coffee.

“You are back?” He raised his eyebrows, but I emptied the coffee on his face and threw the cup on his body before I pushed him off the way, forcing my way into his office, and there was the bitch he was fucking. I stopped and huffed unbelievably, slowly clenching my fingers beside me. I didn’t know why I was so angry or how I was supposed to react to this, so I just turned and glared hard at Connor, storming out of his office and slamming the door hard behind me…