Faux Vows, True Desires

Chapter 383

Cecilia would call him, either Mr. Malicious or Shameless Owen. At her politest, she'd refer to him as Mr. Martinez or she'd use his full name, but she never just called him by his first name.

Yet, she would call that guy by his first name!

Was she falling for Avery? Was she even willing to join forces with her own mother to force him into agreeing to a divorce?

Once single, she could be with Avery.

Once a person's mind started to wander, they could read too much into anything. They could see signs in the most mundane happenings.

He was the one who fell in love first.

The first one to fall in love already lost the game.

While he was courting Cecilia, she never avoided him. She gave him the opportunity to pursue her. But Cecilia hadn't accepted his advances yet, nor had she agreed to be his girlfriend or to marry him.

So, Owen's heart was always in a state of unease.

Seeing his expression change, Cecilia blinked, saying, "His name is Avery. What else should I call him?"

With a darkened face, Owen growled, "You could call him Mr. Cooper, or even Buffalo, but you cannot call him Avery!"

"Mr. Martinez, my name isn’t Buffalo!"

Avery didn't understand why Owen would give him a nickname like "Buffalo".

"I'll call him whatever I want. It's none of your business. Avery, pay no mind to him."

Cecilia was too lazy to deal with him, and quickly grabbed Avery's hand to leave.

She was calling Avery by his first name, and Owen was already feeling jealous. Yet, she was taking Avery away right in front of him.

Owen felt even more jealous, wishing he could chop off Avery's hand.

He was thinking it and was acting on it. He quickly stepped forward, forcefully separated Cecilia's hand away from Avery's, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her away. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Cecilia didn't want to go with him.

"If you don't want to affect the business in your cafe, you'll come with me."

With that one statement, Cecilia gave up on resisting, obediently following him outside to see what tricks he had up his sleeve.

Once they were outside the place, Cecilia immediately shook off his hand.

"Owen Martinez, have you had enough?"

"Call me Owen! You can call Avery by his first name. Why can't you call me by mine?"

"His name is easier to say; your name sounds, um, unpleasant."

Owen's face darkened.

He grabbed her hand again, lifted it, lowered his head, and randomly started kissing it.

Cecilia was stunned and instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but he held onto it tightly, determined to cover her hand with kisses before saying, "You are not allowed to have physical contact with Avery!"

"Mr. Martinez, have you not figured out the situation yet? I have no connections with you. You have no right to demand anything from me."

Snapping her hand away from him once again, Cecilia was becoming annoyed. She said, "You've seen it. Your mother doesn't like me, and she's willing to pay me to leave. She'd prefer Ruby as her daughter-in-law. They both deal with me in the same way."

Both of them like to use money to get rid of her.

"Maybe, we're really not good for each other."

When Cecilia said this, her expression was slightly gloomy, but it was only for a moment. If one weren't looking closely, they wouldn't have noticed her mood change.

A relationship faced with opposition from both families was truly difficult to maintain, and many people couldn’t make it to the end.

Cecilia believed that she and Owen were equals, but in other people's eyes, they were not a good match. That was a hard fact.

"How do you know we're not good for each other if you don't try? Cecilia, give me some time, I'll convince my mom. In our family, it's just my mother who doesn't accept you. Everyone else likes you, especially my grandfather."

Owen held onto Cecilia's shoulders, looking at her seriously, "Don't say we're not good for each other anymore, okay? I was just being jealous today, seeing you so close with Avery made me incredibly jealous. Didn't you see it?"

"Cecilia, because I care about you, I'm jealous, I truly love you! I'm courting you with the intention of marriage, and I'm willing to devote my affection to you for the rest of my life."

Realizing that quite a few people were watching, Cecilia removed his hands, and said lightly, "You should go back to work, and I have to go back too. We can talk about this later."

With that, she turned around and went into the cafe.

Owen stood at the entrance for a moment before following her in.

He didn't bother Cecilia again, giving her some time to calm down. He came in to forcibly take Avery out. He couldn't let Avery get the upper hand while he wasn't there.

After driving Avery away, Owen finally left, surrounded by his bodyguards.

But he didn't go back to the company. He went to Ascend Global instead.

The two companies were arch-enemies, constantly battling each other in the business world.

Stefan never set foot in the Ikella group, and Owen rarely ventured into Ascend Global.

So when he showed up at Ascend Global, asking to see Stefan, everyone was curious about Mr. Martinez's intentions.

Stefan was discussing some business with Edgar when he heard that Owen had arrived and insisted on seeing him.

Stefan said to Edgar, "Edgar, do you want to bet?"

Edgar asked cautiously, "Bet on what?"

Had the boss already planned on winning back the wages he'd just paid them?

"Owen's here. Why do you think he's here? Business or personal? I bet he's here for personal reasons. He definitely needs something."

"Boss, you're too smart. If you say so, it must be true. I think I’ll pass. I'm not lucky when it comes to gambling. I always lose. I just got paid yesterday. Please show mercy, boss, let me enjoy this moment of having money around."

Stefan laughed wryly, "Have I ever fleeced you?"

"We once made a bet, right after payday. I lost and my hard-earned dollars ended up back in your pocket."

Stefan pondered for a moment, then said, "Did we? I don't recall."

Feeling speechless, Edgar then asked, "So are you going to meet Owen?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll make time even if I'm swamped. It's not everyday I see him make a fool of himself."

"Mr. Martinez should be honored!"

Edgar stood up, "I should head back to work."

"Hold on."

Stefan stopped Edgar and pulled out a pile of invitations from his drawer. He split them into two, handing one stack to Edgar, and said, "Take these and bring Ms. Howard along. You might score some freebies."

"I can afford to buy my own. I don't need to take any advantage."

Stefan laughed, "Well then, why don't you buy some for Ms. Howard?"