Chapter 39 Being Mrs. Royden
“You don’t want to?” Gigi Reece’s voice was shaking slightly as she tried to figure out what he was thinking. “Edgar, do you want to break up with me?”
She still remembered how it was like when Edgar Royden and Jean Eyer were getting married. It was a jaw-dropping affair filled with glamour and prestige. The dowry was brought over by multiple cars, and among them were expensive jewelry of priceless value.
But when it came to her, he didn’t want to have a wedding? At any rate, the child inside her was “his”!
Gigi Reece resented that but didn’t dare voice out. All she could do was mumble her grievance. “If you insist on not wanting a wedding then… I’ll go with your wishes.
Gigi Reece hung her head and pretended to wipe her tears away.
Edgar Royden was troubled by her sobbing. Since she was pregnant, his icy voice warmed up slightly. “After what happened at the last wedding, having another one won’t look good for both families. Furthermore, you’re pregnant. You shouldn’t tire yourself out.”
“Do you mean I can keep the child?” Moreover, Edgar Royden’s tone sounded like he still cared for her.
A smile swiftly reappeared on Gigi Reece’s face. She held on to Edgar Royden’s arm and said, “I knew you didn’t come back for Jean Eyer. She’s no longer important to you, right?”
Edgar Royden’s arm stiffened and he didn’t speak for a while.
Gigi Reece said flirtingly in a self-absorbed manner. “Let’s not have a wedding for the time being, but to compensate, you have to take a few days off and go with me to fashion week! This is the new itinerary the company planned for me and I want to go.”
“Didn’t you previously say that you’d leave the entertainment industry?” He asked in a low voice.
Gigi Reece replied coyly, “Please let me go, I want to go. I need to have my own career before I can be worthy of you! Likewise, the fashion week is especially important to me.”
His mind flashed back to the night before he and Jean Eyer got married.
She tucked away the letter she just received from the design school and laughed, “Since you like me staying home, I won’t further my studies. After getting married, I’ll let go of my affairs at the company to just become Mrs. Royden. Don’t worry too much about my dad, I’ll convince him.”
She really did it.
From the wedding preparations to leaving the workforce, everything Jean Eyer did was very efficient. Edgar Royden never had to say more which also made him look good in front of others.
This even made him think about how if the two families didn’t have such an intense feud, would they have been able to spend a lifetime together?
Every decision Jean Eyer made prioritized their marriage. With just a word from his mouth, she could let go of her dream opportunity to study abroad in order to plan a home that was their own.
Even if he neglected her for two years, the text messages and gifts she sent were full of warmth.
He wasn’t speaking but Gigi Reece was still going on. “Being pregnant at home is actually very boring. Do I really have to be a housewife?”
Edgar Royden didn’t respond.
Gigi Reece panicked. She was just testing him but the man shook her hand off. He got up suddenly to leave. “It’s your life. You decide.”
“Really? So, you agree to let me stay in the entertainment industry.” Gigi Reece was overjoyed.
She didn’t notice at all how Edgar Royden was acting differently.
The man just said, “Mm.”
The mirror reflected his chiseled side profile. The only person who he could control in the past was Jean Eyer. There would never be another one.
“Edgar, the sky isn’t bright yet. Do you want to stay here with me?” Gigi Reece made a move to take his hand. “Do you not want to stay with our child?”
Edgar Royden pulled his hand back and said flatly, “No.”
With just that one word, he left.
Memories were surging in his mind. The day Jean Eyer miscarried, he heard her cries in the hospital corridor.
That was his child, too.
He sat in the car and smoked one cigarette after another. What played on the radio was static from early morning broadcasts.
It was almost dawn when he turned the steering wheel and drove to the office.
A few minutes later, a car stopped at the elevator. Gigi Reece was wrapped in a windbreaker as she got in the car.
“Why did you just come!” She grumbled coyly as she shut the car door.
The car was dark, and the man who was driving moved the corner of his mouth. “I wanted to come earlier, but I would’ve bumped into Edgar Royden. Aren’t you afraid?”
Gigi Reece pouted her lips. “I didn’t know he was coming here. Are you jealous?”
The man laughed in a low voice, and his husky tone asked her coldly, “Send you home?”
When he was saying that, his hand was caressing Gigi Reece’s thigh.
Gigi Reece stopped his hand readily and laughed alluringly. She said, “Sure, there’s no one at home anyway.”
“You’re inviting a wolf in.”
He tossed his shades aside. As soon as he turned around, he pinned Gigi Reece onto the backseat.
“Ah!” Gigi Reece cried out. “Andy Shaw, you hurt me.”
The man’s actions showed no regret, and he kissed her hard. “Don’t you like playing like this, you little slut.”
“Oh, you’re so bad.”
The car was filled with the creaking noise of the car seat.
…
It was ten in the morning.
Jean Eyer left the hotel with Ben Ludwig. All was well last night. Ben Ludwig stood on the stairs and looked at Jean Eyer for a while.
He knew exactly what time she left, came back, and slept. How could he sleep with her in the same room?
He just didn’t want to make things awkward for her.
The cellphone in his pocket rang.
It was a text message from Mr. Coleman. “Mr. Ludwig, you must be sure to attend the cocktail party tonight. Otherwise, Mrs. Ludwig is really going to get angry.”
Ben Ludwig looked at his cellphone screen and didn’t say a word.
“I’m leaving. I’ll get in touch the next time there’s a competition.” Jean Eyer waved and left after she flagged down a cab.
Ben Ludwig stood where he was thoughtful. It seemed like there was no place for him in Jean Eyer’s heart.
At least, not for now.
Jean Eyer withdrew money from the bank. There was no problem with the amount.
She divided the newly received cash prize into two. One for rent, the other for the debt collection company.
She received a reply quickly.
“Ms. Eyer, you’re a woman of your word. It’s just that this sum isn’t enough to cover the interest. We hope you work harder, Ms. Eyer.”
Jean Eyer silently cursed as she held her cellphone.
Why was this company so annoying? And where did they get their employees from? The way they spoke was so irritating, but there wasn’t a single rude word. It bothered her for an inexplicable reason.
As she turned to leave the bank, a few young men caught up to her as soon as she took a few steps.
Jean Eyer felt that something was wrong and quickened her steps.
But she wasn’t familiar with that stretch, and she was trapped in an alley with them. “You’re Jean Eyer, right? When are you going to pay us back?”
“Pay you back? I don’t know you!”
Jean Eyer wrinkled her brow as her gaze traveled back, looking for an opportunity to escape.
The leader among them had yellow hair, and he reached out to grip her wrist. “Ms. Eyer, the precious daughter of the Eyer Group and the ex-wife of Mr. Royden. How could we have the wrong person? Your dad owes our boss more than three million. Tell us, when are you going to pay us back!”
