Sign Here for Vengeance

Chapter 26: I'm Going to be a Good Wife

OLIVIA

"Use me."

His head turned to me, "What?"

"Judah." I stood up from my seat, "You can do both if you use me. Since I'm gonna be your wife, I can continue those projects for Kingston, while you preserve its first-class reputation. All you have to do is... make it look like-"

"Like I'm crazy enough about you... that I give you anything you want." He slowly got up from his chair, "...and what you want would be-"

"To give to the people." I smiled in agreement, "I can be like... Kingston's saint or something. Whatever the people would name it."

He covered his mouth in shock and in thought, but then he beamed and grabbed my shoulders, "Yeah... yes! You can put on a goodwife act, be a hero-

"Heroine." I corrected. We live in a litigious society.

"-heroine to the people! A woman of common background, who loves helping others-"

"-who doesn't bother with branded bags or clothes, or anything first-class. Someone different from the women of high society. Just-"

"An angel." We said in unison.

We smiled at each other as we finished. Judah looked up the ceiling in pleasant disbelief, evidently excited with our conversation and idea, as if he made a scientific breakthrough.

"But, Judah..." I interrupted his inside celebration, "Although this sounds like a grand plan, are we sure this will sit well with the press? The clients? Kingston?"

"I'll make sure it will," he assured me. "I'm going to make this happen no matter what. We may need to adjust our stories a bit, and create some online information. People might get too suspicious if there is nothing about you."
He kept pacing back and forth as he thought and spoke at the same time. Then, he huffed one breath and grazed his fingers through his hair, "Damn, this is exhilarating. We have a lot of things to do. I'm going to make calls now."

I clutched my chest, trying to keep my heart from exploding. This was the first time someone's really listened to my idea. I was never allowed to participate in brainstorming sessions before at the Reagans and Harrisons. So, this is what it feels like to have your idea acknowledged. I love it! I truly love it.

"Judah?" I spoke as he got to the near table and took out a phone.

He turned to me, "Hmmm?"

"Thank you for listening to me."

His expression melted into a gentle smile. He shook his head, "No, thank you. You're really living up to your offer. Who knew I'd be this excited about marriage?"

I chuckled lightly, "Well, it comes with a lot of perks, so who wouldn't be? Anyway, we'll fix our marriage documents first, and then announce that you have been secretly married, and then comes my debut."

"Sounds about right." He put down the phone and sat back down along with me. He poured both of us another round and he raised his glass, "Here's to getting married."

I laughed, but I clinked glasses with him anyway, "Here's to getting married. Cheers." Then we both drank, but he stopped for a while to ask me a question.

"Is it weird that I made you toast to that? Since your marriage was a nightmare, like you said."

I let out a light giggle as I put down my glass, "No. It's fine. Besides, this is not just a marriage. It is the greatest collaboration ever made in the corporate world."

"Hear, hear," he grinned, raising his glass again and drinking one sip. "How was your first wedding by the way, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Wedding?"

"Yeah. To Clyde. No one ever heard about him getting married, and the press was dying to get at least a peek of the secret wedding. So? Was it in another country? Underground? Or a secret island?"

I tried not to laugh at the venues he's thought about. It's a good thing we're only getting married through papers.

"Well, while those are perfect wedding destinations"- he rolled his eyes at this and I snickered- "I would never know. I never had one."

His smile suddenly disappeared, "Wait. What?"

"I never had a wedding. My marriage to Clyde was just through civil documents," I shared. "Our families didn't want to make a big fuss about it because it was already arranged."

He looked at me in disbelief, "So, no gowns, cakes or all that? But isn't that every girl's dream? Surely you had some sort of dream wedding in mind."

I shrugged, "Well, not really. I always knew it would be through documents, so I never really planned for it. And I was kinda busy earning my parents' love so, yeah. I guess I just didn't really have the time to think about all that stuff."

"But if you had the time, would you?"

I was about to answer "no", but then my mind drifted off to those times I watched weddings on television, times I secretly attended our housemaids' humble and beautiful weddings, and the times I curiously went through wedding gown catalogues and imagined what I'd look like in those dresses.

Maybe I did want a wedding after all. But, it's too late for-

"That's it." Judah suddenly stood up from his seat and grabbed his phone again, "Change of plans."

"What?"

He clicked on his screen a few times, "It won't make sense anyway. Marrying you in secret and being crazy about you in public? No. If you are about to be Kingston's asset, we need to brag about it to the world. I'll take care of everything and-"

"Wait, Judah. What are you saying?"

He put down his phone and put on the most dangerous and heart-dropping smirk, as if my world was about to be shaken with his next words, "We're going to have the grandest wedding this world has ever seen."