Dangerous Desire The CEO’s Hidden Woman

But Scarlett was too far away to hear their chattering. As she walked downstairs and kept yawning, the cold wind woke her right up, putting an end to her sleepiness in one fell swoop. And all of a sudden, she heard a voice saying,

“Excuse me! Do you know where Scarlett Morris is?”

Scarlett heard her own name mentioned, and she raised her head to see Claire in a red coat and black knee-high boots asking around about her.

She slowly walked over to her and asked, “Are you looking for me? What do you want from me?”

Claire smiled coyly, “It’s too cold here. Let’s go find a warm place to sit down and chat for a moment. What do you say?”

Scarlett nodded her assent, although she was unsure what Claire could possibly want to talk to her about.

At last, they came to a coffee shop and sat down opposite each other. Having known each other for more than ten years, it was the first time that they had sat down for a civil conversation. All their interactions in the past had been marked by deep hatred and animosity.

“What do you want to talk with me about?” Scarlett started first.

“How are you doing?” Claire asked with a forced smile on her face.

“I’m fine, a little better than you.” Scarlett frowned.

Claire seemed unbothered by Scarlett’s snide comment. She continued to smile and said, “I’ve admired you and Skyler since I was very little, Scarlett. You had such a happy family, your father was handsome and great, and your mother was gentle and kind. Until one day, your father became mine. That was a day filled with joy for me. I started believing that I could be like you guys, enjoying my parents’ love and living a good life.”

“Don’t you have that?” Scarlett sneered and went on, “Your mother is wonderful to you because she is willing to do anything for you… she’s even willing to steal someone’s husband to make up for your loss of father’s love.”

“Please don’t judge my mother like that. If she could have controlled her deep feelings for dad, she wouldn’t ever have become a home-wrecker and torn your family apart. You know it wasn’t that simple, Scarlett.” Claire explained, taking a sip of her latte.

“I don’t know what you’re implying, Claire, but one always has a choice. The choice to do the right thing. Nobody forced anything on your mother. I’m sure she knew exactly what she was doing and how it would affect my family.” Scarlett retorted, reluctant to entertain Claire’s excuses for her mother.

“We are so sorry about your mother’s death, but she died in a car accident, so her death had nothing to do with us. But you have blamed her death on my parents for so many years, do you think it’s fair to us?” She frowned.

Upon hearing that, Scarlett really didn’t want to continue the conversation with her; after all, she shared no common values with Claire, and they would never understand each other’s point of view. Scarlett knew they would never see eye to eye.

“Well, if you came here to justify whatever happened between them today, I’m done listening to you, and you can leave now.” She said and turned her head to look outside, not willing to rest her eyes on her for even one more second.

Claire closed her lips and didn’t leave, and then she changed the subject and asked, “You and Mr. Sandler, why haven’t you had a wedding ceremony yet?”

Scarlett was very surprised by her query and said, “What does it matter to you whether we have a wedding or not?”

Claire became flushed and said, “I know Mr. Sandler helped my mother this time. And you must be very angry about it, right?”

“It’s his choice what he decides to do when it comes to business. It doesn’t really matter what my opinion on it is.” She said sharply as she folded her arms across her chest.

Claire’s heart started beating very fast because she couldn’t really figure out why Francis would go against his wife’s will to help them; after all, they were his wife’s enemies, unless he liked her…

When Scarlett saw the look on Claire’s face, she knew what she was thinking and chuckled, “Do you think the reason Francis helped your mother is because he has a soft spot for you?”

“Not at all! How can it be? You are his wife!” Claire looked up in astonishment.

What a good actress she was! Scarlett couldn’t help but applaud her for her supreme acting skills.

“To be honest, whatever Francis has done for me. As for a reason, I don’t want to explain it to you.” Scarlett stood up and looked down on her, “You can continue to indulge in your fantasies, but you can’t blame me for not warning you. All of your fanciful dreams will be shattered one day.”

After that, Scarlett was about to leave. But she suddenly thought of something and turned back to say to her, “Seems like home-wrecking is a tradition in your family. But I want to warn you, Claire, I’m not easy to mess with. Don’t even try to meddle in my affairs. Got it?”

After that, Scarlett just walked away confidently. A gust of cold wind followed her.

***

As Scarlett walked away, Claire could do nothing but sit there. She was stunned. She couldn’t get thoughts of Francis out of her mind no matter how hard she tried. She had heard from an insider at the Sandler Company that Scarlett had gotten pregnant before marriage, and Francis hadn’t wanted it to get out that he had had a child out of wedlock. That was the whole reason that he had wanted to get married to Scarlett without any delays.

At first, she hadn’t believed what she had heard. In her mind, Francis was a cautious man who would take the necessary precautions to make sure that a girl he was dating wouldn’t become pregnant. He was a man of great discretion, she thought. But now, based on the fact that the couple still hadn’t had an official wedding ceremony, Claire figured that Francis didn’t love Scarlett at all.