Chapter 5 04

Nicole

I was at the wedding hall a few minutes ago and now all of a sudden, I've found myself seated in the back seat of a black Mercedes-Benz SUV, with an unfamiliar man seated right next to me.

"You better have a reasonable explanation for bringing me here or else I won't hesitate to report you to the authorities for dragging me away, against my will, and forcefully making me sit in your car. In case you don't know what that means, allow me to simplify," stated.

"I'll have you arrested for kidnapping me," I explained, watching the man in front of me with curious eyes.

The car was parked in a space with dim lightning, so I couldn't make out his face at first, but after a few more seconds of staring at him, I started to make out his facial features a lot better, and I was slightly startled at first by how good-looking he was.

'Snap out of it, Nicole! He's a kidnapper.' I reminded myself, still wondering why I was in this car with this strange man and why in the world he had brought me here.

He had a small smile tugging on his lips, and I didn't need anyone to tell me what that smile meant; it couldn't be anything else but confidence and top-notch cockiness.

"I sincerely apologize if I startled you but please - relax and be rest assured that I'm not kidnapping you. I just wanted to have a private conversation with you and that is why I had to send one of my men to escort you out to meet me here so that we can speak privately without any sort of interruptions," he explained, and I'm confused.

"What exactly do we need to talk about in private? Do you even know who I am? Have we ever met before, because I don't remember ever meeting someone like you, and I'm certainly not interested in having a private conversation with somebody that I don't know," I retorted.

I was taken aback when he suddenly mentioned that he wanted to have a private conversation with me because I was pretty certain that I did a good job hiding since nobody in the hall recognized me. It was weird to me that he wanted to have a conversation with me, even when half of my face had been covered the whole day.

"I just want to speak to you for a short while and I promise that I'm not going to take up too much of your time," he responded, and I scoffed.

"If you wanted to speak to me, you should have used the right means, instead of kidnapping me and forcing me here. You didn't make a good impression, so I'm not interested in speaking to you," I told him sternly.

I was carefully watching the expression on his face, waiting to see if he would look in any way aggressive at any point, just in case he was a dangerous person, but surprisingly, the expression on his face remained the same and I got the feeling that this man wasn't someone ordinary at all.

"Once again, I'm deeply apologetic for bringing you here without your permission and leaving a bad first impression. The truth is, I've wanted to speak to you for a while now, and I was planning to pay you a visit much later but after seeing you here, I decided it would be best to just speak to you now that I have the chance," he explained, worsening my confusion.

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"Yes. Nicole Hendricks, isn't it?" he replied, and I'm startled.

"How did you recognise me? Was it that obvious that I was the one behind the scarf?" I asked, horrified at the thought that everyone else had recognized me, and I was only fooling myself by thinking I was slick enough.

"Oh, no, no, don't worry, Miss Hendricks, you weren't obvious at all. The only reason I recognized you was because I had seen you earlier without the scarf when you arrived," he answered, and I let out a relieved sigh that I didn't know I was holding.

My dignity was already so fragile, and it would have been completely shattered if it turned out that everybody in there knew who I was and that they were only watching me trying to hide while mocking how much I'd hit rock bottom.

"So, if you know who I am, what is it you want with me? I would have assumed you were a reporter looking to use my sad story for an interesting exclusive, but judging by how expensive this car is and how you look in general, I'm pretty sure you're not a reporter, or am I wrong?" I asked, staring at him from head to toe.

He didn't look to be like a reporter to me because he had this classy and expensive aura around him that just screamed that he was a rich prick.

He chuckled. "Your story is sad, isn't it?" he responded, taking me aback with his remark.

"I know that I mentioned that my story was sad, but I certainly didn't need you to repeat it to me," I hissed sharply, feeling slightly embarrassed by his remark.

I never really spoke to anyone, except Kayla, about what happened with Elena and Martin because it was an embarrassing story for me and the fact that he just threw it back in my face that my story was sad, made me feel embarrassed and annoyed.

"I apologize if how I said it offended you, Miss but well, your story is one of the reasons I'm here today, but before I explain anything else, allow me to introduce myself. You may or may not have heard of me but, my name's Ian Millers, and I am the CEO of Mills Construction," he introduced himself and I deadpanned.

For the first few seconds, after he introduced himself, I couldn't say anything because I was in complete shock after hearing who he was.

I may not have recognized the face, but I don't think there's anybody in the country that wouldn't recognize that name. Ian Millers of Mills Construction is a very famous man, known for his anonymous nature and his business ethics. I formerly worked as a project manager for an advertisement company, and that was when I was first introduced to the name.

I was later introduced to the name again after I married Martin because Mill's Construction was like the powerhouse construction company in the country, putting Martin's company in second place and Ian Miller was Martin's worst nightmare.

"If you're really Ian Millers, that's all the more reason for me not to want to talk to you. I mean, why would you of all people want to have a conversation with me? What business do we have with each other?" I asked, genuinely confused.

He chuckled. "I know you don't think we have anything to say to each other, but contrary to what you're thinking, we do have something in common currently and I have a proposal for you that you might be genuinely interested in," he answered.

"A proposal? What do you mean?" I questioned, not sure if it was a good idea to keep asking questions.

I should be refusing to say anything else to him instead of questioning him, but for some reason, I couldn't help my curiosity.

"It's simple, Nicole. I want us to use each other. That is, I'll use you for my plans, and you'll use me for your revenge. How does that sound?" he responded, and just when I thought I couldn't be more confused, he proved me wrong.