Free Web NovelChapter 29: Bigger problem
The old woman’s eyes fluttered open. She looked confused and weak. "Lyvana... child..."
"I’m here, Grandma. I’m right here."
Her grandmother smiled and drifted back into a fragile sleep. The rhythmic beep of the monitor was the only sound in the room.
She slowly stood up and turned to face Mark. He stood there playing the role of the devoted grandson-in-law to perfection.
"Thank you," Lyvana said. "Thank you for saving her life."
Mark gave a solemn nod.
"Of course, Liv. She’s important to me too," he replied smoothly.
He checked his watch and then looked back at her.
"We need to talk. But not here. Let’s go down to the cafeteria."
The cafeteria was quiet. Mark sat down and put two coffees on the table.
Lyvana did not touch hers. She folded her hands and waited.
Mark sighed. He looked at her like she was a difficult child. "This jealousy must stop, Liv," he said. "Clarisse is just my assistant. I have told you this many times."
Lyvana didn’t answer.
Mark leaned forward. "Last night showed me the truth," he said. "All this waiting is not helping matters, so I have decided to fix it."
"What do you mean?" Lyvana asked.
"We are moving the wedding up," Mark said. "We will get married in six months. That is plenty of time to plan."
Lyvana looked him surprised. "I won’t marry you," she said quietly.
Mark’s face turned red and his jaw tightened. "Your grandmother almost died, Lyvana," he snapped. "Do you really want to hurt her? Do you want to give her another shock?"
"You are using her against me now?" Lyvana asked.
"I am being realistic," Mark replied. He didn’t look sorry at all. "We are engaged. We have spent too much time and effort to let your feelings ruin everything now."
Lyvana’s phone began to vibrate in her hand. She looked down and saw a private number flashing on the screen.
Julian?
Her heart skipped a beat. Mark noticed the slight change in her expression.
"Is that him?" he asked casually. "The mysterious investor?"
Lyvana lifted her eyes to him.
"I will think about your proposal, Mark."
Mark relaxed immediately, as if he had won something. He leaned back in his chair.
"That’s all I’m asking," he said. "Think. Calmly. Like an adult."
Before he could say more, the phone vibrated again. Insistent this time.
Mark’s eyes hardened. "You’re not answering that?"
Lyvana swiped the call.
"Yes?" she said.
Bertha’s voice came through.
"Ms. Lyvana, am so sorry to bother you so early. But Clarisse is here. At your private office."
Lyvana’s grip on the phone tightened. "What the hell is she doing there?"
"She says Mr. Vaughn sent her to handle some urgent paperwork," Bertha whispered. "She’s already sitting at your desk."
"I will call you back." Lyvana hung up and glared at Mark. "What the hell did you send Clarisse to do at my office?"
Mark looked taken aback, his coffee cup stopping halfway to his mouth.
"What do you mean by that?" Mark asked, sounding annoyed. "She’s just doing her job, Lyvana." freewebnovel.cσ๓
"Which is what, exactly."
"She’s working on the Quarterly Performance Reviews," he said, his voice flat. "I told her to go pick up the Client Summary folders and the Budget Binders so I can work on it in my office. It’s the same routine we do every month, Lyvana."
Mark shook his head.
"Are you cutting me off now, Lyvana?" he asked. "Because last I checked, I am still the CEO. I have every right to access the company’s files to do my job." He let out a harsh, dry laugh. "Or do you want me to quit? Because I will walk away if that will make you happy."
Everything was spiraling out of control. Somehow, by trying to change her future and stand up for herself, she had triggered a nightmare.
Her grandmother was in a hospital bed because of her "rebellion," and her distant wedding, once a safe two years away, had suddenly been dragged forward to a terrifying six-month deadline.
She looked at Mark’s face. If she sacked him now, the company would destabilize.
The consequences of her freedom were starting to look like a pile of wreckage. She should have just stuck to the plan she had formed with Julian.
"No," she said firmly. "I’m not cutting you off. Am just... I just... I can’t do this right now, Mark," she said, standing up abruptly. Her coffee sat cold and untouched between them. "My grandmother is the only thing that matters today. I want to be with her. Can we just talk later?"
"Of course, Liv," he said smoothly.
Lyvana took out her phone and called Bertha as she walked out.
"Yes, Ms. Lyvana," Bertha whispered. "She’s going through the mahogany cabinet now."
"Listen to me carefully," Lyvana said as she reached the elevator. "She takes the summary folders and the binders. Nothing else. Get Alex and Sarah and stay in that office with her. Do not leave her alone for a single second."
She hung up as the doors hissed shut. Leaning her head against the cool, vibrating metal, she closed her eyes. She needed to breathe. She needed to remember. What had happened today in the life she lived before?
Her eyes snapped open. A wave of ice-cold dread washed over her.
She checked the calendar on her phone, her hands shaking so hard she nearly dropped it. The date was exactly two weeks before the birthday gala, the night her reputation had been burned to the ground.
In her previous life, today was the day her father had his first major stroke.
She gripped the handrail as the elevator descended, her knees feeling weak. She wasn’t winning. She wasn’t fixing her life. She was only moving the pieces around.
The tragedy was still coming. It was just changing its shape. Her grandmother was in a hospital bed instead of her father. Her wedding, once safely two years away, was now a six-month death sentence.
Even the kidnapping had tried to repeat itself. If Julian hadn’t stepped in, the rumors of her being with a gang would have ruined her name just like before.
She stared at her reflection in the polished elevator doors.
Julian.
He was the only variable that wasn’t there last time. He was the only thing that had actually changed the outcome of the night before.
Could Julian be the glitch in the system? The only person who could help her break the cycle?
She realized then that she couldn’t fight this fate alone. If she kept playing by the old rules, she would end up in the same grave. To change the future, she had to stop hiding from Julian and bring him into the center of her plans.
But... would he believe her?
