The Billionaire's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 55

Aidan's POV

Saying I am happy sounds like an understatement. I am over the moon and I feel fulfilled.

Even though I know my father will think I won because of him and Julian, I am going to prove them wrong. Their help didn't take me anywhere.

Justine prevailed. I won and Damien lost.

After presenting my speech and appreciation to the people who stood by me, I was given another standing ovation. I didn't mention my father and I did that on purpose. I only mentioned the one absent person but I was sure she was watching my success from home.

My mother! She stood by me, she sacrificed a lot for me to be where I am today.

Even without her legs, she supported me and gave me strength. When I want to give up, she is the one I always run to, she gives me a shoulder to lean on and she keeps telling me my success is close at hand.

Here I am, the richest billionaire in New York.

I wanted to acknowledge Annabelle too for telling me to believe in myself when I thought I was not going to be the winner. But my ego didn't want me to. After a while, I realized I needed to talk about her so people would acknowledge her as my bride, just like I wanted.

"Behind every successful man lies a woman, I appreciate my mother and one other woman", I start. I could see the curiosity on the faces of the people in the hall.

Those who saw us together were already staring at Anna whose face was devoid of emotions.

"To my bride-to-be, Annabelle Gomez, thank you for standing by me and for your support. Thank you for telling me to believe in myself. I love you."

There was an uproar as I left the table after taking my award. I walked towards Anna as she stood with a slightly open mouth and a shocked expression. When I am close by, I pull her into an embrace. She was stiff until I whispered into her ears for her to play along.

Anna keeps looking at me as we dance. Almost everyone with a woman is on the dance floor. I know she is an inquisitive being and she has a lot of questions to ask me.

"What?" I ask her, trying to keep my voice down.

I want to tell her not to get ahead of herself and think all I did earlier meant something to me. It meant nothing. I appreciate what she did but she is still my unwanted bride.

"Nothing", she smiles. "Congratulations, Aidan."

I ignore her and spin her around. We continue dancing in silence. "Aidan?"

"Uhm?"

"You know I am your number one fan, right?"

I am surprised she is asking me that question and I want to laugh. "Since when?" I am amused.

She smiles again. "Since the day we visited your mother."

The mention of my mother makes me stop dancing. I watch her face, wondering what she means by that. After a while, I feel she must have figured out something on her own and she wants us to talk about it but I am not interested.

"Shut up and let's dance", I scorn at her.

She glares at me coldly. "Are you bipolar?"

I didn't answer but continued with my dancing. She hisses and looks over my head.

We continue dancing in silence until I see father talking with Julian at the far end of the hall. They are looking towards Anna and me and I know they are talking about us. I haven't seen Tessa yet and I wonder where she is.

Father begins to approach us. I want to inform Anna but I decide against it. I want to see how good she is at acting.

"Congratulations, son", my father hits my shoulder and Anna disengages from my hold abruptly. She bows in greeting to my father and smiles.

"Anna, right?" He asks her.

"Yes, sir", she replies.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful lady, how have you been?"

"I've been good, sir. How about you?"

"I'm well, it's just that I am quite amazed that my son is dating his secretary", he pouts.

Anna laughs shortly.

"Actually, sir. I was never his secretary", Anna confesses and I scoff. She looks at me as I throw her a harsh glare.

"Really?" Father shifts his gaze to me.

"Aidan lied to you", she says again.

"Anna?" I call.

"Aidan, you tricked Julian and me? What about Tessa?"

"Tessa?" I laugh sarcastically. "You don't want to know what I found out about Tessa."

"What did you find out? What did you find out?" He asked with curiosity.

I can see a flash of guilt and fear on his face and I begin to think he has a thing with Tessa and he is scared that I have found that out.

"You want to know?" I smirk.

He keeps staring at me with an angry expression. I know he doesn't want Anna to know of anything concerning the issue with Tessa and Julian. He wants us to talk privately.

"See me in my car", he takes a step away from us. Anna is standing aside watching us.

I don't want to sit in his car. I want to talk to him too but not in his car.

"Let's meet in my car instead", I say, stopping him. He turns back to face me. He nods and saunters away.

"I'll be right back", I say to Anna, guiding her back to our table. I don't want to leave her because I don't want anything unpleasant to happen. I want to watch her and be sure she doesn't do anything wrong. I haven't seen Tessa too and I wonder why she isn't here.

"Alright, don't stay long", I nod.

I adjust my tie and begin to take long strides out of the hall. I want the conversation to go on in my car because of the dashboard recorder and camera in there.

I also have the gift Damien gave me intact in my car and that is the best place to show them the atrocities Tessa had committed. It was not only cheating, she was also associating with an enemy. That is enough to justify my actions.

I can't wait to go see my mother after the day's events. She brought this idea and it worked perfectly well just the way I wanted it. Mother will be glad and I am happy I didn't disobey her.

When I am outside, I see Julian coming out of his car. I pretend I did not see him as I walk over to my car which is behind him. I open the door of the back of the car before my driver can come out. I enter and sit heavily with a sigh. Father gets in beside me and Julian too.

"Drive to the next street, Hunter", I say to my driver. He nods and drives off.

I don't want us to cause a scene here. I don't want the media to get a clue of what is between us and what is happening. I really have nothing to lose now but I am not ready to expose father and Julian.

The car stops and Julian yanks my tie, strangling me. My eyes widen in shock. It is unexpected.

"Julian", my father tries to get his hand off me. Julian's eyes are blazing red in anger and he isn't letting me go. I try to push him away but his hold on me is strong.

"I helped you win, why did you do this? Why did you betray me?" His hand is around my neck, tightly. He is not willing to let go despite my father's protest.

He keeps staring at me, breathing heavily. He is deeply hurt but I don't care. He has no idea doing this is like saving him from falling into my father's trap.

"Get your filthy hands off me. Your daughter is nothing but a shut", I thunder in anger when I succeed in pushing him away from me. Tessa is not worth all this drama.

"What?!"

"Yes, and she is a conniving bitch. She slept with Damien." I announce, breathing heavily and coughing slightly.

When I raise my head, I see their eyes bulge out in shock and I begin to laugh sarcastically.