Second Chance at Being Mrs. Sinclair
img img Second Chance at Being Mrs. Sinclair img Chapter 9 Nine
9
Chapter 10 Ten img
Chapter 11 Eleven img
Chapter 12 Twelve img
Chapter 13 Thirteen img
Chapter 14 Fourteen img
Chapter 15 Fifteen img
Chapter 16 Sixteen img
Chapter 17 Seventeen img
Chapter 18 Eighteen img
Chapter 19 Nineteen img
Chapter 20 Twenty img
Chapter 21 Twenty One img
Chapter 22 Twenty Two img
Chapter 23 Twenty Three img
Chapter 24 Twenty Four img
Chapter 25 Twenty Five img
Chapter 26 Twenty Six img
Chapter 27 Twenty Seven img
Chapter 28 Twenty Eight img
Chapter 29 Twenty Nine img
Chapter 30 Thirty img
Chapter 31 Thirty One img
Chapter 32 Thirty Two img
Chapter 33 Thirty Three img
Chapter 34 Thirty Four img
Chapter 35 Thirty Five img
Chapter 36 Thirty Six img
Chapter 37 Thirty Seven img
Chapter 38 Thirty Eight img
Chapter 39 Thirty Nine img
Chapter 40 Forty img
Chapter 41 Forty One img
Chapter 42 Forty Two img
Chapter 43 Forty Three img
Chapter 44 Forty Four img
Chapter 45 Forty Five img
Chapter 46 Forty Six img
Chapter 47 Forty Seven img
Chapter 48 Forty Eight img
Chapter 49 Forty Nine img
Chapter 50 Fifty img
Chapter 51 Ffity One img
Chapter 52 Fifty Two img
Chapter 53 Fifty Three img
Chapter 54 Fifty Four img
Chapter 55 Fifty Five img
Chapter 56 Fifty Six img
Chapter 57 Fifty Seven img
Chapter 58 Fifty Eight img
Chapter 59 Fifty Nine img
Chapter 60 Sixty img
Chapter 61 Sixty One img
Chapter 62 Sixty Two img
Chapter 63 Sixty Three img
Chapter 64 Sixty Four img
Chapter 65 Sixty Five img
Chapter 66 Sixty Six img
Chapter 67 Sixty Seven img
Chapter 68 Sixty Eight img
Chapter 69 Sixty Nine img
Chapter 70 Seventy img
Chapter 71 Seventy One img
Chapter 72 Seventy Two img
Chapter 73 Seventy Three img
Chapter 74 Seventy Four img
Chapter 75 Seventy Five img
Chapter 76 Seventy Six img
Chapter 77 Seventy Seven img
Chapter 78 Seventy Eight img
Chapter 79 Seventy Nine img
Chapter 80 Eighty img
Chapter 81 Eighty One img
Chapter 82 Eighty Two img
Chapter 83 Eighty Three img
Chapter 84 Eighty Four img
Chapter 85 Eighty Five img
Chapter 86 Eighty Six img
Chapter 87 Eighty Seven img
Chapter 88 Eighty Eight img
Chapter 89 Eighty Nine img
Chapter 90 Ninety img
Chapter 91 Ninety One img
Chapter 92 Ninety Two img
Chapter 93 Ninety Three img
Chapter 94 Ninety Four img
Chapter 95 Ninety Five img
Chapter 96 Ninety Six img
Chapter 97 Ninety Seven img
Chapter 98 Ninety Eight img
Chapter 99 Ninety Nine img
Chapter 100 One Hundred img
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Chapter 9 Nine

Kate took a glance at her best friend who seemed to have popped out of nowhere. The latter noticed her hard gaze on her but she made no move to meet her eyes. Kate took another sip of her wine and slowly placed it on the table.

"Are you going to tell me what you are doing in Ontario now?" she asked as Athaliah finally turned to her.

"You didn't say a word" Kate added and Athaliah sighed.

"I thought I would come and leave as quietly as possible" Athaliah replied and Kate felt irritated for some reason., "Come and leave quietly?" she scoffed, "I've asked you more than a hundred times for a visit, to come for my birthday party, to come for a night, but you refused every single time and now you are telling me that you wanted to come and leave quietly?" she asked and Athaliah adjusted her seating position on the chair.

"Kate, please, don't make this hard for me. At least I called you, I didn't go and lodge in some hotel instead" She tried to defend herself but somehow managed to fan the flames of anger and irritation in Kate.

"Oh really, that somehow excuses you right?" she asked, shaking her head and getting off the chair, "So what would you have done if you ran into me right when you were about to leave? What would you do if you ran into a relative or your parents in fact?" she asked. Athaliah swallowed quietly, not having a reply to Kate's question.

"You should have told me at least, not try to come and go," she added.

"I know that Ontario holds painful and unpleasant memories for you and I understand but I at least deserve to know when you came. You called me, something came up and while I'm glad you didn't leave and called me, that doesn't make me feel any better" She finished and Athaliah slowly got off the seat as well, closing the distance between the both of them.

"Kate, I'm sorry for how I have made you feel. It was selfish of me and I am sorry, I promise to do better" she apologized with sincere eyes and Kate sighed softly.

"It's alright actually" she replied pulling the both of them back to the sofa, "So why did you come? And what happened?" she asked and Athaliah took another sip of her wine swallowing quietly.

"I reached out to an investor for a project my company is working on, he agreed to see me and that's why I came" she replied plainly and Kate nodded her head, "So how was it? Did it pull through?" she asked and Athaliah shook her head.

"He tried to molest and sexually assault me in return for investing in the project" she revealed and Kate immediately jumped off the chair, "What?! How dare he!" she shouted in anger.

Of course, Athaliah was no fool, she was in the business world so she had a small inclination of what was going on, the things that could happen in the business world, the things that were happening, the kind of concessions and sacrifices businessmen and women were making, even the artists but she had made a promise to herself the day she decided to start her business that there were some concessions she was never going to make and one of them was selling her body or dignity in exchange for the prosperity of her business. She was never going to do that.

She had just never thought that she would almost be a victim of such an exchange, or that someone would ever ask her to sleep with them in exchange for investments.

She had grown so comfortable in the Sinclair family, that she could get whatever she asked, whatever she asked for, even the ones she didn't, she got them. And yet, reality had been smashed right in her face.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Kate asked cupping Athaliah's hands in the middle of hers and rubbing her hands softly.

"He wasn't able to do anything" Athaliah replied and Kate nodded her head with relief, "That's good" she replied softly and Athaliah pursed her lips.

"He saved me" she added and Kate raised her head to meet Athaliah's soft eyes, "Who? Someone saved you?" she asked and Athaliah nodded her head.

"Callum"

"Huh? What did you say?" Kate asked.

"Callum Sinclair, my ex-husband; he saved me" Athaliah announced, and Kate's rubbing paused as she stared at Athaliah in shock.

"You ran into Callum?" she asked and Athaliah nodded again.

"I did and it's a good thing I did, I don't know what would have happened to me today" she slowly admitted.

And it was true, Athaliah had run the scenario over and over again in her head and she knew that if Callum hadn't appeared, she would have gotten into hot soup. If she had even somehow escaped from Collins, he could have put a ban on other Presidents investing in her country, he could have made her barely stable company go bankrupt. Men like Collins hated their ego being bruised especially by women and they would go to any lengths to make the women come on their knees begging and offering themselves.

Her company would have gone to ruins, her employees jobless, and her dreams shattered. There was no way she would be able to come back from that. But Callum? He saved her, made sure Collins donated the money, and made sure that he kept his mouth shut, only Callum Sinclair who was obviously way younger than Collins could make something like that happen.

"Are you joking?" Kate asked and Athaliah shook her head, "I'm not" she replied removing her hands from Kate's grip and picking up her wine cup and refilling it.

"I did. And he helped me" she reaffirmed while Kate relaxed back on the chair, "Wow. I didn't see that coming" she confessed and Athaliah chuckled.

"Well he looks like someone who would rather watch you get molested than help you" Kate added.

"I doubt. His sense of responsibility wouldn't allow that to happen" Athaliah replied and Kate burst into laughter, "You are right" she agreed.

"And you wouldn't believe him, Kate, he called me his wife, twice" Athaliah revealed, meeting Kate's wide eyes.

"He called you his wife?" Kate asked in shock and Athaliah burst into laughter.

"Collins accused me of seducing him and Callum said his wife cannot seduce him" Athaliah replied and Kate burst into laughter.

"Are you sure that's your husband? Doesn't sound like him" Kate replied and they both burst into laughter again.

"I was surprised too," Athaliah revealed.

"He was different. Different in ways I couldn't place my fingers on. I tried to think about it, if he had ever addressed me as his wife while we were

married, I guess my memory is hazing out, I can't remember" she continued and Kate shook her head.

"He did before. At the Senator's party" Kate chipped in and Athaliah raised her head blinking in surprise as a memory washed over her.

FLASHBACK

Athaliah sighed softly rubbing her palms together, she should have thought twice before choosing her choice of wear. Silas had only told her that the party was for the wife of a senator who was friends with Callum. The evening wind was making her sneeze repeatedly and she hadn't even taken a shrug to cover her bare shoulders with.

She had arrived at the party with Callum but the moment he was seated, he had disappeared like the wind but she knew he couldn't hang around with her, they would have been more awkward, not that he would even choose to hang around with her.

"Ma'am" she heard a familiar voice call behind her and Athaliah heaved a sigh of relief as she turned to him.

"Errr. Silas, is there a way I can get a shrug or a jacket to cover my shoulders, I'm kinda cold here" she informed him and Silas nodded.

"Give me a minute ma'am" he replied walking away briskly.

Silas hadn't disappeared for two minutes when she saw Callum walking towards her with a frown on his face. She swallowed wondering what the issue was. Was she angry because Silas had told him she said she was cold?

"I thought Marie was going to add a shrug for you. I told her to do so" Callum informed her the moment he was in front of her and Athaliah stared at him dazed. He had told Maris, who had dressed her up for the party to add a shrug for her?. Her eyes widened a bit in shock when Callum relieved himself of his suit jacket, placing it safely around her shoulders.

"Callum, who is this?" a female voice asked and they both turned to see a smiling couple behind them.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have brought her to you immediately, this is Athaliah, my wife, Athaliah; this is Senator Allen and his wife, Jennifer" Callum introduced and Athaliah watched Jennifer's eyes sparkle with excitement, her surprise was spiraled further when Jennifer pulled her into her arms for a hug.

"It's so good to finally meet you Athaliah, I have no idea why Callum has been hiding you," she said, smirking at Callum who merely kept a straight face.

"Hi Allen, Hi Jennifer, Happy Birthday, it's a pleasure to meet you," Athaliah said softly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Allen said with a smile patting her shoulders lightly, the way her father and Callum's grandfather would do. It made her ease up and smile lightly.

'Oh please call me Jenny" Jennifer cooed, grabbing her arm and placing it in between hers, Callum would obviously leave you alone again, he ran all the way here the moment Silas told him you were cold. Let me get you a warm mug of tea and introduce you to everyone" Jennifer said and Athaliah turned to Callum in shock.

He ran?

"Are you asking him for permission?" Jennifer asked, seeing as Athaliah was staring at Callum, Athaliah immediately got into a coughing fit and Allen and Jennifer immediately burst into laughter.

"You can go with Jenny, it's fine," Callum said softly and Jenny shook her head.

"You two are so cute," she said and Athaliah chuckled lightly, not saying anything.

FLASHBACK OFF

"That was about a year into our marriage, that night, for a moment I thought there was something I didn't know about Callum. Jenny spoke so nicely about him, I kept wondering even till we divorced why I never saw that side of Callum" Athaliah said and Kate chuckled.

"I told you not to think too much about it" she chided and Athaliah chuckled.

"Even offered to invest in the project, I'm supposed to get back to him tonight" Athaliah revealed and Kate jumped off the seat again, "Damn! That's amazing!' she screeched happily.

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Callum stared at his computer, slowly rubbing his eyebrows, for some reason he couldn't bring himself to pen the new email that had gotten in while he was working. Not even once had he had to think before opening an email but this one was different, it was important to him and that was why he had taken a gamble. A gamble that he had taken but hadn't dared to bet on but he had taken it anyway, he had told himself that the result didn't matter but he knew he was lying to himself, the result mattered a lot to him, mattered whether he would try to take another gamble, a bigger gamble or not. With a move of his mouse, he clicked the email open and chuckled lightly; apparently, his gambling skills had deteriorated.

From: athaliahwells@stunners.com

To: caalumsincalir@sinccopr.com

TITLE: PROPOSAL TO INVEST

On behalf of Stunners Jewelry Company, we would like to extend our appreciation for considering investing in our upcoming project but after consideration and discussions with the board, we have decided not to push through with it. Hence we will be rejecting your offer to invest in our project.

Thank you.

Regards,

Athaliah Wells,

President Stunners.

                         

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