章節 43: CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
LAURENT'S POV
Laurent watched with a blank face as the hall divided into three. Cameras flashed in his direction, that of Rose, and that of her father simultaneously. It took about 20 minutes for there to be silence again.
He couldn't really be disappointed with Rose. He couldn't believe he had fallen for her trick he second time. Was he so desperate that the second she tried to seduce him, he fell for it like a bloated piece of bread? At least the smile on her face was holding firm, whether that little twitch would be interpreted as a smile, they wouldn't know until the vultures published their papers. He blamed himself though. As he'd been the one in charge of telling the media, he should have left it last minute so they didn't get wind of it.
Wendell Blackwell raised a hand up and the murmurings reduced even much more.
"This is my celebration," he said, locking eyes with everyone. "I'm in charge of this. And the next time someone makes a peep without cause, you'll get thrown out and blacklisted. Don't try me."
Laurent smirked. He couldn't believe this was the same man he'd been guarding against himself for the past few weeks. If he'd known disrespect was all he needed to grow a spine, … no, he still wouldn't do it. Who was he kidding? He preferred the previous version of he man to this one standing on stage.
Silence reigned and he nodded with a smile.
"Now, I'm sure you have questions and you'll be given time to tender them. I'll finish my announcement first. About a month ago, I had a sudden, unexpected medical emergency. It was then I made the decision to handover the company this early. Two years ago, I found Laurent Ricco after looking for him for years since his mother hid him from me. We had a beautiful re-union," he man sent him a smile of longing and it was a struggle to make sure his didn't transform into a sneer. He turned back to his captive audience.
"We talked about a lot of things, and when I found out how much like me he was, I began to groom him to take up the rule sometime in the future."
Laurent chanced a look at Rose beside him, and saw her fists fully clenched. With his eyes still firmly on the man and the cameras trained on him, he took her hand and forcefully opened it, his side eye catching the deep moons her nails had made on her palm. He couldn't see as far as whatever her face was showing though. He tuned back in to the man's animated voice.
"...my recovery was swift, but I'd made my decision. Ever since I started the company over 3 years ago, it has been my whole world. That is going to change soon. I'll be leaving the company to my children and going for a long-needed vacation."
His choice of words prompted the murmurs again and the journalist who had spoken earlier raised a hand up. Hands followed hers immediately, and Blackwell sighed theatrically.
"Fine," he pointed to an elderly man seated close to the front.
The man stood up immediately. "You mentioned the word 'children', sir. Does this mean you encourage incest among them?" The murmurs started up again until he raised a hand.
He turned to Rose, and Laurent ached in sympathy on her behalf.
"This is hardly public affair," he said with an awkward laughter, "but I can't tell it does need to be clarified. No, I don't encourage incest."
He was still holding Rose's hand so her felt the way she tensed. He didn't envy her in that moment.
Her father continued, but this time he averted his gaze and cleared his throat first. "I have only one heir, and it is Laurent. Rose is not my biological daughter.
Pandemonium.
ROSE'S POV
She shut down. Was that the story they were going with? How had her father agreed to it? No longer caring about the lenses on her, she jerked her hand from Laurent's hand.
He leaned closer, but the noise in her head didn't let her hear whatever it is he whispered into her ear.
It was precious moments before she was aware that her father was still talking. "The fact that Rose isn't mine isn't going to make any change in our relationship together," he was saying in response to someone's question.
'How?' she asked in her mind just as someone said it out loud, and her father held up his hand again.
She couldn't look away from him, even though his gaze was on everyone else but her. His hands didn't work this time and he motioned someone to his side. In another minute or so, ripped men in suits had forcibly escorted the worst offenders outside. She only spared them a glance, her eyes on the man that she could have called her support for the last 25 years of her life.
When the room was once again silent, the man who was not the father she'd known on her life continued in a solemn voice. "Rose and Laurent are both mine and are both going to own the company by means of their marriage. The wedding will be a private one, but our press unit would release the information when it is done. That's all. Do well to enjoy the meal and the drinks, thank you." then without sparing her a glance after dropping that bomb, he walked out the private door.
It would be a while after that moment before she realized that the news of the marriage had also caught Laurence off-guard. Back in the hotel room and trying and failing not to throw up her guts specifically 8 hours later, her horrified expression a mirror to her look in the newspaper, she could finally see the surprise in Laurent's face in the widening of those eyes and his slightly opened mouth.
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