CHAPTER 194: DOESN’T ADD UP

"We need Christian to marry Morgan by the end of the month."

The living room fell silent, my father’s words dropping like a stone in still water. The rest of us stared at him, wide-eyed, unsure if we’d heard him correctly.

"The deal was that Christian would sign the partnership contract once he married Morgan. If we secure that partnership, none of these problems will matter," he said, as if reasoning with himself more than us.

Morgan stood up from her seat and looked at him with sparkling eyes. I could feel the excitement radiating off her body from where I was standing.

"Truly? Do you really mean that, Father?" she asked as she took a step towards him.

He looked over at her with a determined look. "Yes. Start preparing. I’m going to see if I can meet with him soon and convince him to tie the knot. It would be even better if you got pregnant."

Morgan’s face turned red, "But Father~" she said shyly yet expectantly. Even my mother turned to look at him with shock.

The words hit like a slap. My mother gasped.

"Dear, pregnancy before marriage— how would that look?" she asked, her voice tight with a mix of hesitation and shock.

"Right now, I don’t care how that would make us look!" he snapped. "You don’t understand the gravity of the situation we’re in right now. Getting Christian’s FULL support is our only way out of this. So if she needs to crawl into his bed and get pregnant to get it done, that’s exactly what she’s going to do!"

My mother went silent, but I could tell that she wasn’t happy about it.

Morgan, on the other hand, was already squirming in place. She seemed more than willing to jump into Christian’s bed right this instant with hopes of getting pregnant. "Father, I’ll do it! I’ll do whatever I can--"

"I’ll find a reason to invite Christian over and spend the night," he said, cutting her off. "Make sure you use this opportunity to make a move!"

He then turned to my mother, "And you make sure she has whatever she needs. Dresses, perfume, makeup, whatever it takes to make it happen!"

My mother quickly nodded her head. She remained quiet, but her hands trembled slightly.

Morgan did a little happy dance as she squealed with joy. Her ear-grating voice caused the rest of us to wince in discomfort.

"All of you leave!" he roared, massaging his temples. "I need to think".

No one argued. We scattered like roaches.

-

I don’t remember walking to my room, but somehow, I was there.

Door shut. Walls caving in.

I sank onto the edge of my bed, fingers digging into the covers as my mind continued to spin.

My entire body felt numb. I didn’t know how to feel. There were so many things wrong with what I just heard that it left me completely stunned.

Something about this situation we were in didn’t seem right. I never once remember a time when our family’s finances were strained. I was also the one in charge of doing all of the reports for the Sophia season launch event.

With my own eyes, I saw the cut our auction house received from the sales that night. The number was so absurd that it was difficult for me to imagine how we were struggling financially...

Also, the fact that my father actually suggested that Morgen get pregnant to secure this deal with Christian was a big shock to me. It was the first time he suggested something so immoral.

For a family that never missed a Sunday service, suggesting something like that was too much.

He must be very, very desperate. Something really bad is happening.

And finally, my thoughts stirred to the biggest topic. Christian’s wedding to Morgan.

Would he actually go through with it?

Will he sleep with her?

What if she actually got pregnant...

Just picturing Christian embracing Morgan made my stomach turn.

The thought twisted in my gut, slowly stirring inside of me. I stood too fast and stumbled toward the bathroom, needing the white noise of water. Something. Anything to drown out the thoughts screaming in my head.

I turned on the shower. Steam began to curl around the edges of the mirror, blurring my reflection.

I stared at it anyway.

My face looked hollow, unrecognizable.

Why did it hurt so much? Why couldn’t I move on and forget about him? Why did the idea of him touching her make my stomach knot to the point of wanting to throw up?

I closed my eyes and leaned against the counter, feeling the cool marble beneath my palms.

"Maybe I should talk to him," I whispered.

---

BONUS POV:

Earlier that day, Georgio POV

I lit a cigar with the gold lighter I always kept on my desk.

Karl stood by the window in my office. His arms were folded behind his back as he looked at me with a troubled expression.

"Spit it out."

Karl didn’t flinch; instead, he turned to look out the window. "They want more."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at him before lifting the cigar up to my lips. "Define ’more’."

"The officials. They’re saying that the usual hush payments aren’t enough. The recent attention to all of these court cases, along with new faces in the department, is making things difficult," said Karl. "They want double."

Double?

I remained quiet for a while, processing the information. We already paid them a hefty amount, so asking for double was more than I wanted to dish out. "Greedy Bastards."

"They are. But we don’t have much of a choice, do we?" asked Karl.

Anger flared up inside of me. "We’ve paid them millions of the years. How much more do they want?!"

Though this would be a big hit to my pockets, it was still doable.

"Fine. Just let them know that I’m not happy about it," I said, releasing a large puff of smoke.

"That’s not all..." said Karl, walking over to me.

I placed the cigar on the silver tray in front of me, exasperated. "What now?"

This time, Karl looked nervous. "The supplier. There’s been some restructuring, and the new people in charge are threatening to pull out."

"WHAT?"

This was something I didn’t expect. If we didn’t get a supply of people, there wouldn’t be anything to sell!

"What do they want?" I asked, unable to figure out what had happened for them to suddenly make such a threat. We we both profiting from our partnership.

"They said they want a demonstration of ’sincerity’. Specifically, a transfer. Nine figures... upfront."

I stood up, trembling. "They expect me to hand over billions just to keep our existing agreement?"

No. This was too much. It would drain us completely.

Karl looked me straight in the eyes. "Yes, and they gave us a deadline. End of the month. If we don’t comply, they’re cutting us off...permanently."