Dangerous Desire The CEO’s Hidden Woman

“Hey, Carlos, come on. Wake up! You’re usually so happy to wake mommy up bright and early, aren’t you? Come, let’s take a short swim together. What do you say?”

Carlos would usually wake up at 6 am– unprompted– and demand his first meal of the day from Scarlett. Today, however, he didn’t wake up until seven because he had gone to sleep quite late the night before. He was still not fully awake and stayed quiet in Scarlett’s arms, rubbing his eyes and resting his hands on her shoulders.

“Where is daddy?” Carlos murmured.

“Your daddy doesn’t like swimming, so let’s go to the pool quietly by ourselves, okay?” Scarlett said.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The swimming pool was half-hidden amongst the tall trees and was surrounded by smooth marble. Scarlett found a hot spring and walked into the water with Carlos.

She figured that all kids would love to play in the water. When Scarlett put an inflatable ring about Carlos, she imagined he would thrash around and enjoy himself even though he didn’t yet know how to swim.

“My baby. So, are you happy now?” She said as she took his small hand to lead him towards the center of the swimming pool.

Perhaps, Carlos was scared, so he held her hands tightly and frowned angrily.

“Don’t be afraid, mummy is protecting you! Don’t worry, my baby, I’m right here. Mommy is right here.” She tried to comfort him as she carefully swam to the middle.

Carlos quickly got used to the water and felt assured by the presence of his mother, Scarlett. He curiously looked around, observing the various trees and flowers around him. He began thrashing in the water with his little fat legs.

As they enjoyed swimming together, the sun came out. The sunshine filtered through the trees reflected on the surface of the peaceful swimming pool. They felt so comfortable– sunshine bathing them in warmth. “Why are you so quiet now?” Scarlett buried her head in Carlos’s neck to tickle him and smiled.

After a while, they felt kind of hungry, so Scarlett gave Carlos a quick bath, dressed up, and decided to head back to the house.

On their way back, they ran into Francis. Scarlett walked over to him with her son, and with a goofy smile on her face, she said, Hey, handsome, you single?” She winked at him, a grin spreading on her face.

Francis was wearing casual clothes instead of his usual business attire. He looked younger than he normally did.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m booked! I wouldn’t want to make my dear wife jealous now, would I?”

Scarlett handed Carlos to Grace. Then, she sauntered up to Francis and said, “Oh, really? Is that so? I’ve heard your wife is lovely– very beautiful and an absolute stunner. Do you really think she would get jealous? I doubt she’s that insecure….”

“But she has a bad temper and always gets angry with me!” He said as he walked up and lightly held on to her wrist.

“Oh… so…are you saying that you might be afraid of her?” She said, putting her hands on his shoulder, taking on a dominating stance.

“Of course I am! Who wouldn’t’? She’s a heartbreaker.” He frowned at her and said, “She fears nothing. She worries me, to be honest, with her reckless ways and feminine wiles… so I have no choice.”

Upon hearing that, Scarlett withdrew her hands. Francis’s meek answer had made her unhappy. “I hate you! Why do you always have to be so damn uncooperative? You can never just play along with me, can you?”

“Come on, are you angry with me again? Seriously, Scarlett? You can’t be real.” Francis said in shock.

After that, Scarlett suddenly raised her left hand towards the sunshine and said, “Don’t you think there is something missing on my fingers? Is there?”

“I don’t think so!” He plastered a sarcastic smile on his face and said.

“How do you always fail to get my point? You should buy me a wedding ring already, Francis! I shouldn’t have to explain this to you…” She said, in anger.

“That’s all you want?” He asked, doubtful.

She pouted and took a look at Carlos, who was still looking around, and said, “I have no choice! We already have a baby together… It’s not like he can go back into my womb. It’s not like we can reverse everything that’s happened in the past nine months, can we?”

Francis stopped and frowned, “Why do you make it sound like I forced you to marry me? I never did such a thing, did I? I didn’t force you into anything, Scarlett.”

“Of course not! I’m absolutely willing to marry you! In fact, I won’t let you not marry me. I insist on it.” Scarlett said, teasing him.

“Oh… well… then why don’t we have our wedding at the end of this year? What do you think?” He asked, his tone becoming earnest.

And then it was Scarlett’s turn to be speechless. She realized that she had fallen into the trap of her own making…

***

After lunch, Carlos lay in bed sleeping, while Scarlett was absorbed in a mystery novel. All at once, her little reading session was disturbed by shouting in the distance.

“Hey, stop trying to avoid talking about the wedding! Let’s discuss the details at the wedding! We need to! You can’t keep putting it off, Scarlett!” Francis said as he came and grabbed the book out of her hands.

“Do we have to do the wedding? I mean… is it really necessary?” Scarlett asked as she laid down flat on the bed.

“Scarlett, you’re the one who’s always jealous and suspicious. I would never cheat on you, I’ve told you that before, but you never seem to believe me! So, here it is now. I want us to take the next logical step and make our relationship public– let it be known to the world that we’re together. If we don’t have a wedding, people will get the message that each of us is still single. I want everyone to take note of the fact that you’re my wife. And the mother of my child.” Francis was still scarred from the time that Scarlett had interrogated him about his relationship with Mary.