Mr. Chairman’s Devious Wife

Lawrence’s laughter echoed inside the room. The manic glint returned to Lawrence’s eyes, replacing the twisted amusement that had played there moments before. A cruel chuckle escaped his lips. “Kill your mother? Sofia, darling, where on earth did you get that idea?” He shook his head, the movement theatrical.

“Eunice, bless her heart, knew the truth all along. She knew about my past, about the darkness that stained our family history. She knew that I was her brother.”

Sofia blinked, unable to believe what she just heard.

What?

What did he just say?

Eunice knew about him?

“Then why?” she asked. What was the point of everything? If her mother knew about Lawrence then… why would he harm her?

“Because your mother is weak…” Lawrence shrugged. “I cannot be with a weak woman. Unfortunately, even love is not enough to change someone like that.”

Sofia pursed her lips. Lawrence’s revelation was something that she never expected. “You are lying…” she said. “My mother would never….”

Before she could finish her words, Lawrence suddenly took something out of his pockets. It was a black rectangular object; a recorder.

He played it and almost immediately, Eunice’s voice filled the room.

“I can’t do this…” Eunice said.

“What do you mean?” Lawrence’s voice responded.

“She is my mother. I know you and I are blood–related siblings and I love you but she… she is still my mother.”

There was silence for a few seconds before Lawrence let out a sigh. “I’m sorry if I put you through a difficult situation,” he said, his voice mellowed. “But Eulanda would probably not agree that you give your fortune to me. It’s impossible. She would rather die.”

“You are a Lockhart. You deserve everything that you will get once I die.”

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“Can you not talk about dying?” Lawrence said, his voice lower.

Eunice only snorted in response. “Sofia adores you. Please don’t let her know the truth”

“Why protect her from the harshness of this world?” he asked. He chuckled. “Eventually, she needed to know the truth or Eulanda would probably cook up

something making her hate you, hate us?”

Lawrence pressed another button, and the recording stopped.

“You” Sofia’s lips quivered.

“Your mother knew about me. She wanted to give him half of her inheritance which Eulanda would never allow. I mean… why wouldn’t she give me what was rightfully mine?” Lawrence gave a nonchalant shrug. “That greedy woman.”

“Was it true that your father- the one who raised you- killed my grandfather?” Sofia asked. This was what Eulanda told her.

“It was self–defense,” Lawrence said. “My father raised me… he treated me like his own. Yet that grandfather of yours wanted us away. I mean… the only good thing about it was the fact that your grandfather ended up dying. So…”

The world spun around Sofia, the plush carpeting beneath her suddenly a precarious tightrope threatening to send her tumbling into oblivion. Lawrence’s words slammed into her with the force of a tidal wave, each revelation a crushing blow that knocked the wind out of her lungs.

Sofia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut out the sound, the image of her mother wrestling with a truth too monstrous to face.

“Why?” she whispered, her voice hoarse, barely a thread. “Why did you…” The question trailed off, choked by the storm of emotions churning within her.

Lawrence’s dismissive shrug only served to fuel her growing rage and confusion.

He spoke of inheritance, of a birthright stolen, yet his actions – the slow, insidious poisoning of her mother – screamed of something far more sinister.

A flicker of doubt, a single ember of hope, sparked within her. “My grandmother wouldn’t have let you take everything,” she rasped. “She wouldn’t have allowed it.”

Eulanda, the ever–controlling matriarch, wouldn’t have stood idly by. She would have fought, tooth and nail, to protect her legacy.

Lawrence’s smile, however, remained cold and calculating. “Oh, she tried. But look at where she is now?” he conceded, his voice dripping with amusement. “Even the great Eulanda Lockhart couldn’t fight the inevitable. Besides,” he leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “she wasn’t the only one who knew.

Sofia’s breath hitched. “What… what do you mean?” she stammered, a dread so profound stealing the air from her lungs.

“Your precious Alexander,” Lawrence purred, his eyes gleaming with a malicious satisfaction. “He knew the truth too. He and Eulanda have been business partners for so long… he knew about her schemes. He knew about your mother and me, a long time before your marriage.”

Lawrence’s words echoed inside Sofia’s ears like a tolling bell. A strangled laugh escaped Sofia’s lips, a humorless sound laced with disbelief. “Alexander? No. That’s impossible.” Denial, a desperate shield, rose to the surface, a flimsy barrier against the onslaught of revelations.

The very notion of Alexander, her confidante, her rock, harboring such a secret was ludicrous.

“No. Impossible,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be naive, Sofia,” Lawrence scoffed, his amusement morphing into something akin to pity. “He was probably using the information to his advantage all along. Think about it. How convenient was it that he swooped in and married you, the sole heir to

the Lockhart fortune?”

“I mean… I have always known that you are naive but, can’t you really see it?” Lawrence asked. “Can’t you see everything?”

His words somehow sparked a flicker of unease over her. Why would Alexander suddenly marry her?

He was the one who approached her and offered the deal. He told her they had been engaged since they were younger and she believed him without asking questions!

Was it really possible that he had something else in mind?

“Did you realize it now?” he chortled. “Alexander Beaumont was working with Eulanda all along! Eulanda wanted you to marry Alexander so he could help her secure the wealth of the Lockhart Family.”

Sofia frowned at that. Believing this man would be foolish.

However, just as Sofia was about to say another word, she heard a doorbell. Her expression immediately changed, her face paling.

Sofia flinched, a flicker of something akin to hope sparked in her eyes. Could it be help? Someone who might break her free from this nightmare?

Lawrence, however, seemed unfazed. A cruel smile twisted his lips. “Well, well,” he drawled, his voice dripping with amusement. “Looks like we have a visitor.”

Sofia’s heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the chilling silence

of the room.

“Now, listen to me and do exactly as I say or you will end up dead, do you hear me?” he

said. Sofia nodded.

“Slowly, get up… “ Lawrence gestured the gun. “Check the door,” he commanded, his voice a cold order. “And if you value that little friend of yours,” he gestured towards the

door with the gun, “You won’t breathe a word of what’s transpired here today.”

◌ོ་ཞན་འང་ཞང ་ོ� � ཁཿ ཞཎཌ དོ ཤ་ད་དཆ་ཆ ◌ོཆ་

Sofia’s breath hitched in her throat. “I— I know.” Slowly, she marched out of the room and walked towards the living room where she could see the security system. In fact, there is a way to check the CCTV in the bedroom, but Lawrence didn’t know that.

“It’s Miss Amores, my secretary.”

“Answer her…” Lawrence said.

“Miss Amores?” Sofia said after she pressed a button.

“Miss Lockhart, is everything alright?” Miss Amores was still wearing the clothing that she had worn earlier. Did she receive a call about Lawrence and rush back here?

“Oh… sorry, I was in the shower, I forgot to charge it,” Sófia said. She cannot falter now and involve someone innocent.

She stared at Miss Amores’s expression for a few seconds and wished that she would somehow leave now.

“Is- Is there anything else?” Sofia asked when she saw the hesitation in the woman’s

eyes.

“Well, Mr. Josef told me to check the whole flat. Would you mind opening the door? I really apologize but….”

Tue, ApI

Sofia immediately looked at Lawrence, whose expression had turned ugly. “No need,” Sofia said. “I am about to sleep. We both had a very long day. You should go home.” Sofia added.

“But-

+5)

Just as Sofia was about to tell her to leave, she felt the cold nuzzle of the gun at the back of her neck. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest.

“Let her in…” Lawrence whispered.

Sofia gritted her teeth. “She’s innocent,” she hissed.

“She knew something wasn’t right…” Lawrence said as he pushed the gun against her neck. “Let. Her. In.”

“Miss Lockhart?” Miss Amores called out. “Is everything alright?”

Sofia gritted her teeth as she met Lawrence’s gaze. “She’s innocent. Don’t-”

Before she could finish her words, Lawrence suddenly pressed a button that would open the main door.

There was a hiss, and the door opened.