Seraphina
I opened my mouth to speak a few times but no sound came out. I felt so flustered that it was hard to even hold his gaze, because doing that was making all the memories from two nights ago rush right into my mind and I'd rather not think about how good his touch had felt.
He let out a low rumbling sound which pulled me back to the present right before he spoke again. "Would you like some water?"
His voice was smooth, as smooth as I remembered it being two nights ago. He looked so collected right now, unlike how I felt on the inside, and I hated it. Why was I the only one feeling the urge to flee right now? I never could have expected that this same man from the club would be the same man I was about to offer a marriage proposal to. I had even assumed I'd never run into him again and I had made peace with that… until this very moment.
I shook my head fast and willed my cheeks to stop burning just as I spoke, my voice weak to my own ears. "Oh, no. I- I don't need water, but thank you."
The side of his lips twitched as he kept wordlessly staring at me and my cheeks burned again when he spoke. "Are you sure?"
He sounded a little amused, and that made me a little irritated, like he was laughing at me right now and there's nothing I hate as much as that. Which was why I sat straighter in the next moment and cleared my throat, then I held his gaze unflinchingly.
"Yeah, I am." I breathed out, feeling weirdly breathlessly from just having his gaze on me. I cleared my throat again before resuming.
"And yes, I do have a proposal for you." I added and he hummed before leaning forward in his seat.
"Let's hear it then,"
"Let's get married, Mr. Hemsworth." I announced before I could stop myself, still holding his gaze.
He blinked once, then the seconds stretched out between us. He didn't start laughing like I expected, instead, he just continued to regard me until I squirmed a little in my seat, his head tilted a little.
"You're not joking." He finally stated and I exhaled slowly as I shook my head, shifting in my seat a little again.
"No, I'm not." I confirmed.
This time, he laughed softly as he leaned back in his seat, his head thrown back. My eyes caught the sight of his glistening Adam Apple before I quickly averted my gaze, then I tried not to scowl at his laughing form, still finding it hard to believe that such a coincidence could ever happen to me.
"Now, why would you make such a proposal to me?" He asked once he finally stopped laughing, then he reached for the files in front of him and flicked through it.
"Oh, so… your name is Seraphina?" He drawled as he kept flicking through the files. "How cute."
The sound of my name on his tongue made my stomach clench tightly. The fact that we didn't exchange names when we fucked two nights ago made me feel so embarrassed right now that I wished I could disappear into thin air right now.
I nodded stiffly, determined to not look away no matter how flustered I feel.
"Yes, it is. And you are?" I asked and he looked up from the file so our eyes locked, then he responded. "Alec."
I swallowed emptily as I nodded. "So, Alec… Can I ask why your existence is off social media? Not even your name is out there." I breathed out.
I've been curious as hell about this since I began to look into Zen. It was also very unusual for people running a successful company like Zen to choose to completely avoid social media.
"Hm. Can we come back to that later?" Alec said in response just as he closed the files, then he resumed speaking before I could say anything.
"Now, back to your proposal… I want to hear everything right from your mouth and not in these damn files." He announced and I swallowed emptily again, then after exhaling once, I began to speak.
"Well… it's actually simple. I want us to get married, and in exchange, I'll make Zen become the best selling game in the country."
Alec frowned, his head tilted again in clear confusion. "You'll make Zen number one in the company? Yeah, right. That's basically impossible with Varden still standing."
He laughed this time as he continued. "I've hired a dozen game developers with years of experience and none of them have managed to reclaim the no.1 spot, so what makes you think you can do that? Are you even a game developer? Or is this a joke?"
"It is very possible, Mr. Hemsworth, and this is definitely not a joke." I breathed out in a steady voice, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Just, who are you? It should be impossible for a random person to be able to schedule a meeting with me this fast, this definitely means you have some really good connections. Tell me, are you connected to any top families in the country?" He asked, eyes watching me closely right now.
I exhaled slowly this time before speaking. "You must surely know who Alina Beckham is, right?" I asked and he frowned once before nodding slowly.
"Of course. Everyone does. Top model of the country and the key behind Varden gaming company immense success." His tone hardened at the other part of his sentence, proving to me that I had been right to come to someone who hates Varden and wants it to crumble.
"Well, I'm twin sister to that same Alina." I announced, and before he could start to doubt my claim, I pulled out a few pictures along with a bunch of other proof to confirm my claim. He looked shocked as he looked through the proof.
"But you're never on social media." He stated slowly and I shrugged slightly, a bitter feeling settling over my tongue which I quickly swallowed.
"It's a long story, but I'm her twin, and also the one actually behind the success of Varden's success." I added, and he looked more shocked.
"What? How can that be possible? The entire internet says it's Alina's doing." He pointed out and I quietly wacked myself over the head for being stupid enough to let all my credit go to Alina.
"That's just a lie to make Alina appear better in the spotlight. All the work was my doing, and that's exactly why I said that I can take Zen to the top."
Alec leaned back in his seat again, clearly deep in thoughts and as my heart pounded away, I began to hope that he'd not end up rejecting my proposal today. Because basically, he's literally my only hope right now.
"All of this is still so hard to believe, Seraphina. Especially the part of you actually running Varden this whole time." He finally spoke and I sat up fast.
"I can prove it to you. I have all the files containing proof of all my contributions to Varden in my usb drive." I breathed out and quickly pulled it out from my bag, then I held it out to him. When he accepted it, our fingers touched and I shivered.
We remained silent as he plugged it into his laptop, then his eyes widened in shock and I silently felt relieved that I still had that usb with me.
This time, when he glanced at me, he looked awed and was shaking his head, a disbelieving laugh leaving his mouth. "Wow, you're actually a genius."
I felt my cheeks heat up a little from the praise.
"But why did you let all the praises go to your twin this whole time? That was a stupid decision, honestly." He pointed out and I honestly couldn't agree more.
"That's not important right now. So, are you gonna accept the proposal?" I asked as I accepted the usb from him, our fingers brushing again.
"Not so fast. I feel like there's so many dots not connecting yet. If you're the daughter of Mr and Mrs Beckham that no one online knew existed, why are you choosing to get married to their enemy now? Because since you've been running Varden for years, it means you're aware we've been rivals for decades." He pointed out.
"Yes, I'm aware. And I'm doing this because my family has betrayed me. They've cut me off from the company and from all my money. Including my husband,"
"Oh wow, so you're married." He echoed and I shook my head.
"Was."
He hummed, seeming to understand the situation more. "So… this is basically revenge on them, yes?"
I nodded fast, feeling relieved that he was finally catching up.
"Yeah, that's exactly what this is. My family used me, then now they've cast me aside. Because of that, I want to make all of them pay." I gritted out, breathing hard and refraining from pointing out that my ex husband just threatened to kill me two days ago.
"Hm." Alec breathed and I tensed up, wondering what his decision was gonna be now.
"What are the exact things you'd want out of this… marriage?" He asked and I shrugged.
"I'd like it if you can help me ruin my family. I want them to fall from grace to grass. I want them to suffer, and I want them to grovel at my feet. I want them to regret discarding me." I revealed, my chest aching a little right now. It still hurts to dwell on the fact that I was discarded like a worthless thing.
"Why did they discard you though? Since you're the one behind their success, aren't they supposed to never wanna let you go?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.
"I guess because they believed I'd crawl back and beg to be accepted back into the family. Even I'm still shocked that I walked away." I muttered.
"They treated you that horribly?" He asked and I nodded.
"I think that's an understatement. They forced me to give my twin the credit for all my work. I didn't willingly choose to remain behind the scenes, they made me do that. My breaking point was when my twin and my husband got together. I was stupid to have remained this long in such treatments," I sighed out and Alec let out a shocked sound.
"Goddamn, I used to think my family was horrible, and Wait… Heathen is your ex-husband?" He asked and I frowned while nodding.
That made him bark out a laugh. "WOW! This just got interesting." He stated, lips twitching before he added. "How did you end up with an asshole like that?"
My cheeks flushed. "Do you know him personally?"
He nodded. "Of course. Heathen and I went to school together." He revealed while my mind reeled from shock.