Filed to story: The Hidden Queen: My Husband’s Mistress Ruined My Empire (Serena & Christian) Book PDF Free
I glanced at my personal assistant. “Perhaps, if my grandfather has anything to say about it, he’ll be pushing for them to become engaged in order to do damage control.”
I knew my grandfather well and how the mechanisms of his mind worked. I was unperturbed but Timothy pressed on regardless “But Sir the company will be given to Lexi if she’s successful in getting married before you,” he said as I stiffened.
Ah, yes, the terms of Grandfather’s will. Even if he was still alive, he continued to pull the strings. It was why I used my mother’s maiden name as a lawyer rather than the infamous Vance name.
I glanced at my personal assistant. “The company passes to the person who marries and provides the first living heir” I corrected him in a dangerous tone “so the company will not automatically pass to Lexi just because she marries.”
“But you know she’s had her sights on the company from the very beginning,” Timothy said outraged “Are you really going to let her win? After everything she and her mother have put you through?”
I stared at my personal assistant who seemed indignant on my behalf. “Timothy, you should calm yourself,” I said smoothly “I have no intentions of allowing Lexi to get her greedy little hands on the company. She and that spiteful mother of hers will only ruin it or run it into the ground. The lives of too many people will be affected if she was to become the sole owner and CEO.”
Timothy visibly relaxed, slumping in the chair. I eyed my personal assistant, slightly amused at how protective he was of me. We had been friends for years, and I had taken him in when he was but a client, one of my first, offering him a job when he had nothing and he had been loyal to me ever since. Now I had a flourishing law firm that only took jobs that helped those in need, rather than defended those whose morals and ethics were questionable and nobody knew I was a Vance, which suited me just fine. I didn’t need the Vance name to be successful, I was successful in my own right.
“Then what are you going to do Sir?” he asked nervously.
I tapped my chin, mulling it over, and then gave a careless shrug. “It looks as though I need to get married,” I said blithely as my assistant gaped at me.
“To whom?” he said puzzled “You can’t just pull somebody off the street. Unless you plan on paying someone” he added suspiciously.
“I wasn’t planning on pulling just anybody off the street,” I said with a mischievous glint in my eyes “Give me some credit Timothy” I added.
The poor man looked as though he was about to have an apoplexy or explode. “Then what are you saying?” he said, beads of sweat on his forehead.
“Well you just said that the woman in this photo and the man my sister’s been having an affair with are going to get divorced” I pointed out as Timothy nodded slowly, not comprehending where my mind was going “So that means the woman is going to be free to marry again,” I said patiently.
His jaw dropped open “You’re telling me that you want to marry the woman that slapped your sister in public” he practically yelled, leaping to his feet and staring at me as though I had gone insane.
I perused the article while Timothy floundered, tapping my finger on the woman’s name. “Serena Thorne, aka soon-to-be Serena Summers once more,” I said, pausing at her name. “Timothy,” I said icily and my assistant gulped, “find out everything you can about this woman. I want her background checked, all of her medical history, everything you possibly can. I want all the information, on my desk, by the close of today, do you understand me?” I leveled a gaze at my assistant who was practically choking himself with his tie.
“I understand sir” he stammered “but what makes you think this woman is going to be amenable to marrying you if she’s getting divorced?”
I chuckled, “Put it this way. If your husband had an affair with a spoilt heiress and you had the option to marry into her family, in order to get your own personal revenge, wouldn’t you take the opportunity to do so?”
Timothy was silent. “I don’t know whether to commend you on your brilliance or to be frightened at your cunning” he admitted.
“Both Timothy,” I said glancing back down at my files on the desk “Now leave. I want to get ready for Miss Claudette’s appointment. Make sure there are no interruptions” I advised him “and inform me when you have all the information ready. I’m quite interested in this woman’s background.”
Frankly, I was more interested in why her fool of a husband had chosen to let her go. He’d be regretting his mistake soon enough, but by the time he came to his senses and saw Lexi for the manipulative b***h she really was, it would be far too late and Serena would already be mine.
Serena POV
I entered the family mansion, accustomed to the glitz and glamor, my heels clinking against the hard tiled floor, the maid directing me to the living room, where my brother and my father were impatiently waiting for my arrival. I gave a tight smile, pausing in the doorway as I took in my father, clad in an expensive business suit, his hair immaculately groomed. He might be in his mid-forties, but he was still a handsome man, and Ian was seated on the couch, raising a sympathetic brow as he saw me standing there, debating whether to walk over and give my father a hug or wait until he saw fit to acknowledge me, his back turned as he finished up an important business call.
My father turned, and I saw his eyes soften as they greedily drank me in. I hadn’t been home in over three years and the last time I had seen him, it had been because we had an argument over marrying Christian.
Flashback.
“Serena if you insist on marrying that man, don’t even think of entering this house again, let alone relying on the Grant name to save you. This man is no good for you. He’s not worthy of your love or your time. He’s using you.”
“Father I love him. He loves me. He doesn’t know I’m a Grant. I’ll show you that he wants me without using the Grant name. If you want to disown me, so be it, we’ll make it without you.”
“If you walk through that door, don’t bother coming back. That will be the end of you.”
I stared at my father, my chest heaving. I had thought he would be happy when I came to tell him I was engaged to Christian, but instead, he had been enraged. I knew he hadn’t liked the man, but I thought he would swallow his pride and be happy for me. I thought he would support my decision, even though we were both young and a little reckless. My father had been the opposite. He had argued against the marriage.
“That man will leave you the second he thinks something better has come along” he roared as I turned my back and prepared to leave, my eyes narrowed in defiance “You’re making a big mistake Serena. If you want to get married we can find somebody better suited for you.”
I turned around and glared at my father, indignant that he would make such a suggestion to me. I was loyal to Christian. How could my father even suggest that I get married to someone else, someone that I didn’t love? Christian was the only one for me.
“I would never betray Christian like that. You don’t know what it’s like to love somebody so much you would die for them” I shot back with a hiss “I’m sorry Father, I love you and I love my brothers, but I won’t give up this man because you won’t accept somebody who is a commoner. I never wanted this life, I never asked for it. I deserve to be happy and that’s with the man who has loved me for the last year. I’m going to marry him. It’s up to you if you decide to come to the wedding” I choked out, feeling tears trail down my cheeks.
Silence. I clenched my hands into fists, feeling despair sweep over me. Ian had been there, unable to say anything to dissuade me from the path I’d chosen. I’d turned my back and I’d walked slowly, resolutely out the door, my dress billowing around my ankles. I had half expected them to run after me, to apologize. But we were all prideful and the door had closed behind me, with an ominous creak and a sense of finality. I had walked away from my family home, with the sense I would never see it again.
End of flashback.
My father was the first to make a move. I tensed and then felt his large arms around me, holding me tight. “My Serena” he murmured as my throat tightened “My beautiful daughter,” he said in a whisper, pulling away to look at me “You look more and more like your mother every day.”
