By the time I had returned to the penthouse, Liam had fallen asleep again.
And the person I hated the most was waiting for me.
Mrs Anderson invited me to have dinner with her , just the two of us . I really did not mind having Jewel annoying me today.
But she was absent today .
" The court case will be handled by our lawyers ," Mrs. Anderson informed me as soon as we were finished eating ," Your marriage will not be disclosed, since the bond signs between the families have been signed ."
" We don't know what father is going to do surely ," I pointed out ," He is an unpredictable man."
" Hmm ," she became silent for long enough to make me frustrated.
" I know that you want to talk about something else," I waved at the servants to make them leave is alone ," Please get to the point ."
She waited until we were alone and said ," I don't like you at all and I am never going to like you ."
I sighed ," If it is going to be like this , then have a great evening , I have better things to do ."
" No , wait ," she hesitated for a while and then said ," My share of company, I will write it under your name ."
What now ?
" I ask what you want from me ," I reminded her ," Put the price down after you tell me what to do ."
I took a sip on the water , just sitting there with my mother in law , was draining my energy away .
" Have a child with Liam ."
I coughed out the water . As the chairwoman watched silently have me suffer with the water in my airway .
Maybe that was her plan.
I stared at her expecting a twisted humor on his face. Maybe it was her way of having petty revenge on me.
" I am saying that after the lawsuit , you two can take a one month vacation to Hawai , I am willing to buy your Agency so you keep getting support in your career in the future ," she sounded serious ," I have talked with a fortune teller , 15 th October is a auspicious time to conceive a child ."
" I have an album coming ," I told her ," But wait , why are we even talking about this right now ?"
" You have my promise that your work will go on more smoothly. Even after getting pregnant you can probably work for first three months, then take another break . I will hire best teacher and dietitian for the baby so you two can concentrate on your career again ."
" Why - why- wait does Liam even know that you are doing this ?"
" He will know soon ," the chairwoman noded confidently ," I take it that he is stressed and frustrated enough since the beginning of the year . A time spending with just two of you will be great ."
" You are not thinking straight ," I shook my head .
" This... THIS ! this is why I hate you ," she hissed ," Why can't you just take the easy way that I am offering?"
" Threatening and undermining me will not work much ," I crossed my arms ," I take it that you want Liam to settle down as soon as possible."
" Isn't that what every mother wants ?,"she exclaimed," Once he has settled down , he will get those ideas off his head ."
" What idea ?," I asked .
Her gaze of hate towards me seemed mixed with fears and sadness .
She almost looked like a vulnerable old woman , not a cold , calculating chairwoman of the biggest corporation of our country.
" Mrs. Anderson, if this is something that concerns my husband, I need to know about it ," I urged her .
I needed the whole truth now .
I had a feeling for long that there were things that my husband was hiding from me . And if he was not going to answer , I needed to ask for them to someone else .
Chairwoman opened her bag that was sitting on the floor and threw some pictures on the table .
There was a girl in her twenties . She had blue eyes and blonde hair . She was sitting on a wheelchair .
" Who is she ?," I asked .
" This is Mira Palmer ," the chairwoman answered.
Impossible. I had seen the actress many times .
" But that's not -"
" No she is Mira Palmer. She is currently staying at a nursing home a west Asia ," Mrs. Anderson took a shaky breath ," As soon as I heard the dating scandal , I sent men to dig up on the Palmer family. Turns out the real daughter is hiding somewhere far and this one - this one is fake ."
" Who is she then ?," it felt like the world around me was crashing down ," Who is dating Liam then ?"
The chairwoman whimpered . She looked like she was in physical pain as she tried to answer my question," Last year , Rupert threw a grand party back at Pariri with some underground drug dealers . Turns out he had bribed his way out of the jail back then . He was still celebrating. Although it was mostly a gathering for gang members and illegal rings , many famous people were also invited ..when going through their network , this woman came out often ."
She threw more pictures on the table.
A bunch of them showed the Mira I knew walking arms in arms with Rupert Hunter and some international celebrities.
" Usually pictures are forbidden at such places but you know there will always be some people stupid enough to take few of them ," Mrs. Anderson sipped some water ," This one came from a vedio actor Zen took from eyeglass camera , the eyeglasses were confesticated but the files were transferred by bluetooth to an ipod down at the deck , owned by one of his sasaeng fans . You can clearly see her face here ."
" Who is she ?," the chill ran down her spine .
" There is no records of her from three years back but people at the boat called her Lady Lin ," she said ," There is a Lady Lin that used to be one of Rupert's friends and sponsors . But after Rupert was arrested, she disappeared into the thin air ."
This time she placed a photo of a much older woman . She looked like she was in her thirties and vastly different from the Mira I knew .
Nausea rolled in my stomach when I realised no matter how different they were , their eyes were the same .
I stared back at chairwoman, sharing the horror now ...
" Liam....," Mrs. Anderson broke down into tears ," My son needs your help ."