Miriam’s POV
I tilted my head, processing what Lily had just said.
Only Victor could have done this.
Only Victor could have actually stopped people from seeing Williams.
But why was he doing that?
Prior to what happened in the restroom, he must still want to deal with that pervert himself.
On one hand, I was happy with this- it meant he was protecting me, taking action against someone who had tried to assault me.
But on the other hand, it was bothering me.
It meant Victor was capable of controlling access to people, of wielding power in ways that went beyond business.
It meant he had connections, resources, and a willingness to use them without hesitation.
“Hello, are you going to explain yourself already?” Lily’s voice demanded angrily from the phone.
I chuckled, unable to help myself.
The audacity of her- calling me and demanding explanations as if she had any right to my time or my information.
“I guess you did not know what your boyfriend did, right? If not, you wouldn’t want to see him, Lily,” I said gently, my voice dripping with false sweetness.
She laughed- a sharp, bitter sound.
“I did not call to receive pleasantries from you…”
“Same here,” I cut in firmly.
“I did not answer this call to be nice to a betrayer.”
She chuckled again, that irritating sound that made my skin crawl.
“I see you are bold now, seeing the little achievements. I am not here to talk about your ill achievement. All I want is for you to let me go in and see Williams and order these men to let us go in.”
I looked at Ariel.
She was on a call herself, not visibly focusing on me, giving me privacy for this conversation.
“This is just the beginning, Lily. I hope you figure that out yourself,” I said, my voice calm but edged with something darker.
“What do you mean?” she asked, confusion creeping into her tone.
I hung up immediately without another word.
I stared at the phone as if expecting it to tell me I did well.
At this point, with everything I had gotten to, I had done well.
I had stood up to her.
I had not let her manipulate me.
I gently touched my little bump- the growing evidence of the secret I was carrying.
Footsteps came nearer, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Oh thank God, finally,” Ariel said, appearing beside me.
I looked up as Victor with his assistant Karen came to us.
Victor’s mouth was moving as he gestured with his hands, explaining something with intensity.
Karen was nodding, writing things down on her tablet, documenting whatever instructions he was giving her.
The group of men they had been talking with had suddenly disappeared without a trace.
I just ignored it even though something inside me was telling me that this was not right.
There was something sinister about how easily people disappeared from Victor’s presence, how seamlessly he commanded control over situations.
“Hello, Mrs. Miriam,” Karen said with a tone of respect that felt almost ceremonial.
“Hello, Karen,” I replied to her professionally.
“Guys, I need to leave now. There is something urgent I need to attend to,” Ariel said, and I could hear a hint of urgency in her voice that suggested this was not a casual departure.
“Ohh, I hope it’s nothing serious,” I asked, genuinely worried about her.
“Don’t worry about her. She handles anything serious with ease,” Victor chipped in, not taking her seriousness as seriously as he should have.
“You jerk. It’s nothing serious,” she paused as she checked her wristwatch.
“I need to leave right now. I will give you a call later.”
She turned immediately and bolted out in hurried steps, leaving Victor and me with Karen in the gradually emptying venue.
“Mrs. Miriam, these are lists of assistants I would like you to go through,” Karen said, handing over a tablet into my hands.
I scrolled through it carefully.
There were lists of faces with credentials, but I could not just choose based on images and brief descriptions. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“I will choose them myself by Monday,” I ordered, clearly impressed with how professionally I was handling this.
“And please, I will be needing Ashford Industries email connected to mine. I want all business messages dropping there, not on my personal phone.”
“Yes, ma. Understood,” Karen said, bowing slightly before leaving to handle other matters.
I turned my head at Victor, who had been silent this whole time.
A grin was on his face, the kind of smile that suggested he was proud of me.
“What is wrong?” I asked, curious about his expression.
“Your smooth talk just now,” he said simply.
“You sounded like a CEO. A real one.”
I shook my head with a smile.
“Should we inform your mom that we are leaving? I am absolutely tired already,” I said, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with me- the trauma in the restroom, the shock of the award, the confrontation with Lily, all of it weighing on me like a physical burden.
He then held my hand.
His firm, big hands enveloped mine completely.
I looked at where our hands conjoined, at how naturally his hand seemed to fit with mine.
“There are still cameras around us. We should look lovable,” he whispered in my ear, his breath hot against my skin.
I flinched gently at the unexpected intimacy of the gesture.
“Don’t worry. I already informed Mom. You don’t need to bother. Today must have been really stressful for you,” he said, his voice soft with genuine concern.
I nodded, grateful that he had already handled this detail without me having to ask.
“Let’s get us home then,” he said with a smile that made my heart flutter.
Going home with him after being officially known as his wife was something I wanted not to end so quickly.
We drove out of the curb, leaving behind people who were still hanging around, discussing the events of the evening.
The van with our security team followed behind us at a discrete distance.
I opened my Instagram on my phone, and the picture I had uploaded earlier had generated so many likes and comments- the numbers were staggering.
My picture was suddenly in every media outlet.
Some pictures were capturing my dress and tagging it as belonging to one of the women who had gotten a limited version of CL Clothing and Accessories.
The coverage was extensive and immediate.
“Today’s event is trending everywhere,” I said, scrolling through the endless feed of posts and reels.
Victor huffed, concentrating on the road as he navigated through the late-evening traffic.
“Anytime my mom organizes an event, it pulls all sorts of trends, challenges, and gossip. With you in it, I guess it reached much larger audiences. The Ashford name carries weight.”
“It is absolutely breathtaking,” I said, continuing to scroll through the content, watching videos of my speech being replayed, my pictures being shared thousands of times over.
There was silence in the car, only the ambient sound of reels from today’s event playing softly between us.
It was a comfortable silence, the kind that didn’t demand conversation.
“I saw you earlier on a call. You looked angry,” Victor said suddenly, breaking the quiet.
“Was it Nadia? Your sister?”
I looked up from my phone, turning it down and chuckled.
“It’s just some unnecessary people,” I said vaguely.
“Who are they?” he asked firmly, his tone shifting to something more authoritative.
I turned to face him, and he held my eyes briefly before returning his attention back to the road.
His jaw was clenched slightly, and I could see the tension in his shoulders.
“Is it Lily- the lawyer?” he asked, and my blood ran cold.
How did he know?
Even their names.
I didn’t remember telling him the names of the two females in my life who had betrayed me.
How much had he been investigating?
“Well, since you know who called already, I should probably get to the point,” I said carefully.
“She called angrily saying that some men are actually preventing her from seeing Williams.”
“Yes, it was me,” he cut in immediately, confirming what I had suspected. Find the original chapter at g.com.
He glanced at me briefly, his eyes dark.
“Do you think I was going to let someone who had dared to have his way with my wife go scot-free? Who knows if he had been stalking you? Who knows if he knew you were at the gala and followed you into the restroom deliberately? I needed to have a conversation with him. Alone.”
He said it with all the energy and conviction that proved to me he was actually doing this for me.
It made my heart do its uncontrollable flutter again.
I stared at him, studying his side profile as he focused on the road.
He is so handsome.
I was not even listening to what he was saying anymore- I was just looking at him, at the sharp line of his jaw, at the way his hands gripped the steering wheel with quiet confidence.
“Miriam,” he called, jerking me back to reality.
“Remember in the beginning of this proposal, I said all you have to do is trust me? I know this is just an agreement, but you are still my wife for just a year,” he said, holding my eyes for a few seconds before turning back to the road.
“That hasn’t changed. You are protected. You are mine to protect.”
“Jeez, so cheesy,” he said after seconds of silence with a nervous smile.
“If Ariel was here, I know the stubborn head would have felt irritated with that line.”
I smiled nervously, turning my head away from him.
So cheesy?
A line?
He had called what had made me feel butterflies- cheesy.
Maybe I was hoping too much.
Maybe I was reading too much into his actions.
I pinched myself mentally and reminded myself of the truth- this was just an agreement.
He had called it out just now.
I am his wife for just a year, and anything he does is because it’s just a responsibility as a husband in a contract marriage.
I nodded my head, forcing my brain to accept this cold, hard fact, even as my heart protested.
We got to the penthouse as both cars parked in the spaces available.
The thought of me entering my room and having a cold shower and a much-needed nap rushed through my mind immediately, as if waiting any longer was going to kill me from exhaustion.
“Do you need me to carry you inside?” he asked, clearly teasing me.
Warm colors rushed to my cheeks immediately, and I felt a flutter of something in my chest.
“Why… why would you carry me?” I stuttered as I quickly got out of the car.
The hostess who had held my purse earlier in the day came forward to collect my heels that were dangling loosely in my hands.
“Thank you,” I muttered to her.
“You go in and take some rest,” Victor said.
“I have to be out immediately.”
I nodded, understanding that he needed to leave.
He must be going to see Williams.
Going to have that “conversation” he had mentioned.
He looks like he was about to say something when his phone suddenly rang.
I just smiled and turned towards the entrance of the tall glass house, my body screaming for rest.
But then I heard his voice clearly from behind me.
“Oh yeah, I was just about to call. It seems I will be needing one of the PUJAABS from you,” he said into the phone.
I stood completely still.
I turned immediately, but he was already entering the car.
The convertible roof was already rearranging itself back into its closed position.
I heard right.
He just said the PUJAABS.
What the hell?
Victor somehow knows about the THE PUJAAB??Who are they actually, what would be Miriam reaction, let’s find out in the next chapter.
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