CHAPTER 46: CRUSHING ON MY WIFE

Dante was in his office at Sovereign Global. He had built the company slowly and discreetly as a teenager until it blew up.

A lot of politicians like his father believed he was going to follow in his father’s footsteps one day by campaigning for a seat and ruling alongside him.

It was expected since he was still his father’s first son, but Dante had no business doing such a thing.

His face was grim as he glared at the papers on his desk awaiting his signature. He read a line once, but the words didn’t make sense. He tried reading them again, but the same thing happened.

His mind kept going back to the night he’d kissed Alisha. True, he was drunk, but not that drunk to make a move on her especially since there was no audience for them to impress. And worst, her reaction made it known that he’d done the wrong thing.

Earlier that morning, he’d woken up to apologize but found out she’d already left. He’d sent her a text, something he’d never done before since they see each other every day, but she didn’t reply, not once.

His grip tightened so hard his knuckles turned out, wondering what he was going to do to appease her.

"Dante!!" Someone yelled as they walked into his room. Rico immediately paused when Dante glared into his soul. "Why do you look like you’re after my soul?" He asked, completely petrified.

Dante realized and quickly fixed his expression while Rico gently closed the door and snuck towards the couch instead of the seat opposite Dante.

"Is something troubling you?" He asked, very cautiously.

Dante sighed, rubbed his head in frustration before speaking.

"I kissed her."

A grin stretched on Rico’s lips so fast one would think he was the devil. He quickly stood up and took the seat opposite Dante.

"But you don’t look so happy," he said, crossing his legs. "Let me guess, she didn’t like it? Aren’t you a good kisser, Dante?"

Something churned in Dante’s stomach at the question. He’d completely forgotten to ask himself that question.

What if he wasn’t a good kisser and that was why she’d pushed him away? But then again, the kiss wasn’t supposed to happen.

Dante took a deep breath and exhaled.

"But what a second, you kissed her so does that mean you love her?" Rico asked but Dante didn’t reply. "You? In love? Or are you just after her body?"

Now Dante felt irritated with Rico’s question. But he knew he still needed to think about it.

Everything was on contract. Every interaction was specifically to convince the audience.

But being after her body was simply ridiculous. Dante was a well-sought-after bachelor in Lexora. Influential men threw their daughters at him daily and if he wanted, he could have them and dispose of them later. But that wasn’t what he wanted.

Sure, Alisha had a beautiful body, a dazzling face but was sex all he wanted from her, or did he want something even more delicate, like her heart?

Dante grunted when he couldn’t decide on an answer.

"I’m not after her body," he responded through gritted teeth, but Rico wasn’t convinced.

"I hear you. So let’s say you have a crush on your wife then," he responded. "Or you just need to get laid. Come to think of it, when was the last time you had sex, Dante?"

Dante glared at Rico, but the curiosity didn’t die in the latter’s eyes.

"Are you going to help me or not? I think she’s ignoring me. I sent her a text but she hasn’t responded."

Rico grunted. "I don’t get paid enough to solve all your problems, Dante, especially when the answer is right in front of you." Dante scowled. "What do you do when your wife is ignoring you? You buy her flowers, take her on a date, or visit her workplace. She’s the newest brand ambassador for Nix right? Did you congratulate her?"

Dante shook his head, feeling a little regretful.

Rico facepalmed himself, feeling embarrassed on behalf of his friend.

"You’re so old." Then he went on to reiterate his suggestion but in more detail. When he was done, Dante’s face was gloomy.

"I have to do all of that?"

"It seems to me you’re forgetting that you need her more than she needs you," Rico said as he walked towards the mini fridge in the office and found a soda to quench his dry throat after all the talking he had to do. "If you do something she doesn’t like, she can decide to terminate the contract. Her adoptive father is powerful and I’m sure he’s also aiding her in her search for her sister. And then what, you have to find another woman to convince the public about your sexuality?"

Dante rubbed his head in frustration, but he had to admit, it was worth a try.

He’d never visited Alisha in any of her photoshoots except at the fashion show the previous day and he loved seeing her perform.

Someone knocked on the door, cutting their conversation short. After confirming the person, the door opened, revealing a man who was in his late twenties, dressed in a perfect suit and tie, looking all professional. A bag was in his hands as he bowed in respect to the two men.

"Take a seat, Mr. Leonardo," said Dante. The man took a seat. "Do you have it?" He asked.

"Certainly sir," Mr. Leonardo said as he brought out files from his bag.

Rico stared at the two men with curiosity laced in his gaze.

"These are all the contracts the Cross Corporations have signed in the past month," he handed Dante the file. "From the looks of things, their company is gaining traction every day, but there has been a rumor that Nathan underpays his employees but forces a heavy workload on them."

Dante’s eyes squinted when he heard that information.

He didn’t want to investigate anything about Nathan since he didn’t want anything to do with him. The latter had tried coming to him for a collaboration but he’d made sure to pass his message several times indicating he wasn’t interested, but Nathan gave both deaf ears and blind eyes to them.

Since he was once acquainted with Eva in the past, especially after seeing him speak to her with so much aggression at the fashion show.

He’d seen the way he was also staring at her like someone who’d been possessed. It made anger surge through his bones.

So, in case Nathan tried anything silly, he would have something in his favor he could use against him.

"I also tried to dig deeper into the company and found out that Nathan had been borrowing money from other companies after his father had passed the title of the CEO down to him," said Mr. Leonardo and Dante’s frown only deepened even more.

He closed the file, handing it back to him.

"You outdid yourself considering I called you last night and now you already have something to report," he said and the man gave a curt nod to appreciate the compliment. "Continue with the investigation and report everything to me, everything you discover."

"Of course, Mr. De Rossi," Mr. Leonardo said and left.

He’d run a background check on Nathan, and things had been clean, at least clean enough to suspect that someone was behind it, especially since his father was always the one who cleaned up after his mess. Especially scandals that arose after he’d engaged Katherine a year after Eva’s disappearance.

Somewhere else,

Katherine’s heels clicked on the clean marble floor, her hands linked with her husband’s as they entered the Cross’s family mansion.

Nathan had contacted her back when she was still at the penthouse with Mason, enjoying her time. It turned out his parents wanted to see her to discuss the scandal.

"I’m glad both of you could make it tonight," Mr. Cross, Nathan’s father said as he sipped from his wine. "Go on, have a seat," he gestured towards the seats.

Katherine had a feeling something terrible was going to occur at the family dinner, especially since Nathan’s father didn’t like her very much.

Unlike his mother who praised her nonstop, he on the other hand always gave her backhanded compliments, sneaking comments about how she was a gold digger.

Those words made her blood boil but there was nothing she could do about them.

Nathan and Katherine both took their seats and their meals were served immediately.

"So Katherine, I heard that you’re cheating on my son, is that right?" He didn’t waste any time as he cut to the chase, catching the couple completely off guard.

"Father..." Nathan paused when his father raised his hands forward.

"Come on, Nathan. Let your wife speak," he said, his face gentle. "I’ve always warned you about this woman and finally, her true colors are starting to show. So Katherine, are you cheating on my son?" He asked.