Forbidden Heat R18
Chapter 228: Mayhem

Chapter 228: Mayhem

The sad part was that I felt obliged and was sort of responsible to sit through and watch as they unwrapped each gift. The biggest burden was to put on an excited look on my face every time the staff unveiled a newly unwrapped gift. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the gift, they were all wonderful and luxurious. Some so luxurious that I wasn’t sure when Edward and I would ever get around to using it...but ok...

After sitting through almost three hours of gift wrapping and watching poor old Ralph recording everything, I’ve had enough for the day. I was tired and I was out of my mind bored.

“I think that’s enough for today. Let’s continued this another day...or you guys can go on ahead without me,” I said as I slowly got up from the sofa that I had been sitting on and stretched.

“We’ll keep going then and I’ll show you the notes of all the presents that were sent. You should go rest, Miss Natalia,” Ralph said with a gentle smile.

“Thank you...” I replied, returning his smile.

Going through the presents made me remember the one and probably most important present that I have yet to open. I headed to my dressing room where I had stored away the small jewelry box that I received from Zak.

It wasn’t a rare occasion that I would receive presents from Zak and jewelry as a present was pretty common. However, a strange feeling in my gut told me that what was inside the jewelry box wasn’t jewelry. I mean, why would I need to wait until I’m alone to open a box containing jewelry?

I should quickly get this over with before Edward comes back from work. I felt a little guilty hiding something from my husband, but my curiosity was really taking over. Plus, if the content in the box required Edward to know then I would tell him.

I entered my dressing room and quickly found that small jewelry box that Zak had given me the day of my wedding. I sat down on the sofa and stared at the small box in my hand. I noticed that my hands were shaking and I felt anxious.

I think the last time I felt this nervous opening a box was when Lucien handed me that small safe that contained the black envelop from my father. My hands were sweaty, and I cursed myself for my irrational emotions.

I closed my eyes tight and quickly opened the box. Taking in a deep breath, I opened my eyes.

Well, this is a little bit of a letdown...

I blinked rapidly in surprise as I stared at the only content in the box: a small piece of white paper with Zak’s very familiar handwriting scrawled on it.

‘The Truth’ read the paper followed by a date that was approximately a month from now.

What...the hell?

...

“You need to stop watching these things and letting it get to your head,” Edward warned seriously as he turned off the television without a care.

“I know what they’re saying is not true but...” I mutter softly.

“Remember, we are the ones who manipulate the media and not the other way around,” Edward reminded me casually as he plopped down on the sofa next to me.

“I know...” I said in resignation. There was no point in explaining to him how emotionally draining it was to see the press try their best to dissect my family line and speculate about how I managed to “hook the other Rosenhall brother” after my mother had hooked one.

“We’ll let them run wild for a bit and then we’ll find some hot celebrity dating or cheating on each other news to cover it up. It’s not a big deal so don’t stress, it’s bad for the baby,” Edward said as he pulled me into his embrace.

“The Golddigger Duo” was the standard phrase that people used to refer to my mother and I nowadays on social media. We were becoming more famous than we ever dreamt we could be. I hated all this hatred aimed at me, but I couldn’t take the criticism raised against my mother.

My marriage to Edward seemed to have reminded the world once again of the union between my mother and Lucien. What had happened back then has repeated itself with twice as much intensity and on a much more widespread scale thanks to modern day technology and social media.

I could understand where they were coming from though. How often is it that your mother gets to marry a billionaire and then you get to marry his billionaire brother, I thought as I rolled my eyes before shutting them. I knew the backlashes would be severe, but I never thought that it would be this detrimental.

After that conversation with Edward, I have been staying away from any source of news and media including my phone, the television, the computer, and other sources of internet connectivity. This was because the not-so-positive news of our wedding was going viral everywhere.

The only times that I watched the television was when Lucien and Edward were forced to host press conferences to address the growing concern of the public and their investors. I have seen personal affairs of CEOs impacting their company’s stock price before but have never imagined that one day I would be involved in the fall of our company’s stock price.

I could only imagine how much Lucien would curse when he was told that he had to appear on television to answer questions regarding his stepdaughter’s marriage to his brother. I watched him answer ridiculous questions about my relationship with Edward as if it had anything to do with company’s business.

Although I tried my best to prevent these things from getting to my head, I found it difficult. Soon, I was finding it hard to sleep at night. I would always wake up in the middle of the night as if I was waking from a nightmare. Edward would always be there to comfort me and lure me back to sleep. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like without Edward by my side.

--To be continued...

Sneak peak to next Chapter...

Life went by as smoothly as it could be with paparazzi buzzing around trying to get a glimpse of you and your husband together. There was news if we were together and there were gossip if we weren’t seen together such as when Edward would go out on public events without me by his side. No matter what we did, the press and those random people had something to say about it.

I couldn’t leave the mansion to go anywhere without an army of bodyguards with me for the first two weeks after the news of our wedding leaked out. Edward considered moving me even further out from the city to get us further away from the reach of the paparazzi, but I had refused. The reason was simple, we did nothing wrong so why the earth did we have to run and hide?

I appreciated Edward’s presence by my side for the whole of the first week when he also decided to work from home to keep me company. I wasn’t sure if things had died down on the third week onwards or I had simply gotten used to all the unwanted attention.

“Natalia, why are you frowning again?” Edward asked as he pulled me into a warm hug.

I hugged him back as I rested my head on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat and it felt so comforting to know that he was here with me. I had gotten used to relying on Edward and living together seemed to be working well for both of us.

“I was just wondering when all of this will die down,” I replied honestly with a sigh.