Chapter 4 -

Emma's POV

The words sounded so venomous to me. Like they were filled with hate and spite.

Is this man okay? I thought to myself, trying to comprehend why he was having such an attitude with me. We've never spoken before for Christ's sake. So why on earth was he talking to me like we were fighting? Like I was a slave and he's my master.

There wasn't anything that didn't go through my head for the next couple of seconds as I tried to gather words to explain why I was late.

Yes, I acknowledged the fact that I was late. But he should have acknowledged and appreciated the fact that I showed up.

"Sit down," he gestures towards the chair I was sitting on before for me to take a seat again.

He walks past me to take a seat opposite me and watches me as I sit down. I don't look at him, but I feel his eyes on me, watching my every move.

"Hello, Liam," I say to him, finally meeting his eyes. Of course, his gaze was already fixated on me.

"Hello, Emma. You look lovely today," he replied to me with a slight smirk plastered on his lips. There was a brief twinkle in his eyes that screamed mischief, but it was wiped out in a second.

"As you already know, we're getting married," he continues with a serious look on his face. "Now the reason I called you here this morning is to discuss the terms of this marriage".

"Terms?" I asked with a brow raised.

"Yes, the terms," he replies while shuffling through some papers on his desk before eventually pulling out two papers that were stapled together.

"In the spirit of trying to maintain some normality in all this for you, I've refrained from having my lawyer in this room with us right now. However, if you decide to act up, I'll have no choice but to get him involved," he says while crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back in his seat.

Wow. This guy is full of himself.

The first encounter I had with him was about five years ago or so when I followed my dad to his dad's office. They had some kind of meeting and I had to wait for my dad there. I saw Liam talking to some staff at the office that day and he sounded so rude and disrespectful but I decided to not think much about it because I couldn't have known what caused him to speak to them that way at that time.

But now? Now I see that's how he is. He's arrogant and self-absorbed. His character was honestly appalling and I was not doing a great job at hiding my irritation on my face, hence his next words.

"Fix your face," he tells me, sitting back up straight.

This man is unreal.

"Excuse me?" I asked with a raised voice.

"Kindly lower your tone," he says sternly.

Okay, so he's commanding.

"I won't have you talk to me like that in my office. I won't take such disrespect from you or anyone for that matter," he continues with a deep voice that commands respect.

"Sorry," I muttered. I don't know why I apologized but I just found myself apologizing.

My cheeks were flushed and I felt embarrassed for some reason.

"Now, as I was saying," he holds up the paper to read its contents. "The wedding is going to take place at my family estate in two months. Saturday the 11th to be precise. It's not going to be too big, but expect the press to be there. We're going to be married for three years, and considering we're going to be living together, having partners from outside would not be welcomed in our home".

He paused to look at me. "Am I going too fast?" he asked.

I simply shook my head to signify a no and imply he should continue.

He nods. "Per my last statement, you're allowed to have relations with whoever you want, but keep it out of my house, and I'll do the same. Also, make sure to keep whatever you do out of the sight of the press. I'm not interested in them carrying out news of a cheating scandal. You won't like the consequences of that, trust me".

"Is that a threat?" I interrupt him with my question.

"It's not a threat. I'm just stating facts," he replies, looking me dead in the eye.

"What else is there?" I asked still maintaining eye contact with him.

"The last thing on here is to expect a lot of parties. I'm part of several high-class societies and that means we'll be hosting several lunch and dinner parties, so, be prepared for all that," he places the paper down. "Any questions?" he leans back into his seat again.

It was at that moment I began to take in his facial features and got to see how his face was shaped. With the way he backed the sun, it cast a shadow that gave off a perfect outline of his sharply chiseled jaw. He had beautiful, silky black, hair and gorgeous blue eyes that had a hint of green to them. His cheekbones weren't well defined but they had an outline and his lips were the prettiest shade of pink I had ever seen on a man

I noticed he had a small scar on the left side of his chin and was wondering how that got there, but I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts when Liam called my name.

"Emma," he raised a brow in amusement.

"Yes," I said a bit startled

"I said, do you have any questions?" I see a smirk appear on his face yet again but this one stays on longer and I know it's because he could tell I was gawking at him.

Shit.

I look down in embarrassment and try to hide how red my cheeks have gotten but it doesn't work because I hear him let out a small laugh.

My God, his laugh was heavenly.

"Alright then. That's all there is to discuss for now," he says while rearranging the stack of papers on his desk.

I simply nod and stand up, heading to the door as fast as possible.

"Emma," he stops me in my tracks as I'm about to wrap my fingers on the door handle.

"Yes," I turn around.

"I'll have my assistant reach out to you on any more updates," he still has that smirk plastered on his face.

He's enjoying this. He's enjoying making me feel this way.

"Okay," I say and leave hastily.

What just happened? I think to myself as I rush out of the building.