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VICTOR's POV

The breakfast I had on the way to work wasn't a good idea. My head was pounding, and I was sure I would throw up at any moment now. Unexpectedly, it wasn't because I was hungover.

Yesterday, when my meeting with Oliver finally finished, leaving me in a sour mood, I couldn't fall asleep. I ended up wandering around the city until early morning, angry at everyone and no one in particular. I couldn't believe I agreed to the ridiculous conditions Oliver came up with. I couldn't believe I sat through two hours of our discussion with the smug bastard sitting right next to him, throwing arrogant stares my way from the moment they arrived. He was showing off. He was marking his territory in front of me. And it drove me crazy.

My mind was full of these nonsense thoughts swirling around, and I couldn't possibly fall asleep even if I wanted to. Thus, I ended up here, at work, with a terrible headache and black bags under my eyes that had to be visible from miles away. And as if it wasn't enough, I was swamped with work that would take hours to finish. With the speed the employees here were going through all of the necessary contracts and invoices, I wasn't surprised our Boston office was going through rough times.

"Mr. McNemara," a soft voice of the secretary woke me up from a daze. Just thinking about all the work in front of me made my head spin twice as much. To top it off, my father was supposed to stop by because he had some business to discuss with me. He was seriously an expert in choosing the worst time for his visits. Not that any of his visits were desired, but there were more suitable times than today. That much was for sure.

"Yes?"

"Your ten o'clock is waiting in the conference room," she said, looking at me with sympathetic eyes, disappearing when I nodded at her after a second of confused silence.

I completely forgot I had to deal with one of our business partners this morning, and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. It was one of the most annoying women I had ever met. Almost as ruthless as me when it came to business, Teresa Millan was a nightmare for every businessman out there. And the pest she always dragged with her, her younger brother Anthony, wasn't any better.

Grabbing the folder with materials prepared for our discussion, I went right to the wolf's den. This day was going to be way longer than I had ever imagined.

***

I was exhausted. It was already nine in the evening, and I was finally back home from work. At times like this, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to work somewhere else, where I didn't have so many responsibilities, and where I had regular working hours. I wouldn't have the money I had now, so it was out of the question, but I couldn't help the thoughts. The what-if situations haunted me too often to my liking.

Sitting down in an armchair, l leaned back and closed my eyes for a second. I was still in the hotel room, not really having enough courage to move into the big house on my own. Especially now when I felt like any hope to get Oliver back was slipping right through my fingers.

Our conversation from the previous day kept on repeating in my mind, and I couldn't get rid of the picture of Oliver and his boyfriend leaving the café, hand in hand. I hated the feelings swirling inside of me whenever I thought about them together. The way they looked at each other, the way Oliver smiled at the bastard. He never looked at me like that, not even in the past, when everything was still okay between us.

Getting him back suddenly seemed like a dream that was as unrealistic as walking on water. But I had to keep trying. From the moment I found out I had a son, I couldn't stop thinking about the family I could've had if I wasn't such an idiot. It would be perfect. Oliver, Matt and I, living in a family house with a big garden and happiness surrounding us all around. There was nothing I wanted more at the moment, but the bastard living with Ollie was in the way, and I found myself wondering about the best way to destroy him.

Since the moment I discovered Oliver had a boyfriend, I made sure to check him out. I was unpleasantly surprised there wasn't anything even remotely bad that could actually endanger their relationship. He was the typical goody-two-shoes who lived by rules and never caused any real trouble. The only thing I found, which was ruining his clean record, was a fight he got into when he was still in high school and a drunk escapade in his first year of college. Apparently, he was so out of it he had to stay in a drunk tank for the night. Otherwise, though, there was nothing. He was a boring guy. There was nothing exciting about him and I couldn't, for the love of God, understand what was so great about him that made Oliver love him.

The only information I could work with right now was the fact his boyfriend traveled a lot and spent a lot of time on business trips and left Oliver back at their house, all alone. It was actually pretty sad to see all the bastard did while traveling was, in fact, dealing with clients on a business level. At first, I thought there was a possibility he was enjoying his freedom whenever he left, but based on the investigation the private detective did, he was seriously only working. That being said, if your man was willing to leave you for more than a few days all alone, it wasn't exactly something praiseworthy. I still saw fragments of hope thanks to that.

Thinking about all kinds of scenarios that could lead to us getting back together, my phone went off. My body jerking, my heart almost jumping out of my chest, I cursed. Whoever it was, was asking for trouble.

I sighed, getting up and going right for the minibar, ignoring the call. I needed to numb my senses and mind so I could fall asleep without thinking too much, and having a drink or two was the best solution for that. Although I was dead tired, my mind was too stressed to shut down and let me sleep. Another sleepless night was the last thing I needed right now.

Pouring myself a drink, I took a sip and went back to sit down, taking the bottle with me. I was lucky enough to avoid meeting my father as he was too occupied because of some unexpected issue he had to take care of immediately. But the work I had to finish didn't magically disappear, so I still had to stay behind and finish more paperwork if I wanted to sleep in the next day.

When the phone started to ring again, and again after I continued ignoring it, it beeped with a text message. I wasn't in the mood to deal with some persistent fucker who thought it was okay to disturb people after nine o'clock in the evening, but it seemed like a good way to distract my mind from thoughts of Oliver, so I made a mistake and read it.

- Pick up the damn phone, Victor.

It said, and I cursed myself for jinxing my luck. Of course, my father would find a way to talk to me even if our meeting was canceled. I should have expected his call.

Typing in a short message where I bluntly sent him to hell, I turned it off, knocked back the rest of the drink and went to take a hot shower. Going to sleep with a knowledge I pissed my father off was definitely good medicine for my restless mind.

***

As it seemed, I should have picked up the damn phone. That way, my morning wouldn't be as bad as it was now.

Having bad morning two days in a row was catastrophic.

Not only did I not manage to sleep in as I planned before, but my father arrived at six in the morning, banging on my door until I opened up. I was surprised no one from the surrounding rooms complained, but then again, all the rooms were most likely sound proof or something. The hotel was expensive enough for that.

"I don't have time for this, I have to go to work," I said, staring at him and waiting until he left. It wasn't as easy as that, though. He made his way inside my room, completely ignoring the fact he wasn't welcomed here.

"Nelson is going to fill in for you. He doesn't have a problem picking up his phone, unlike somebody." He looked at me, disapproval written all over his face.

I wasn't in the mood for this. Not only did he wake me up and invited himself in as if he lived here, but there was definitely something going on, and I was already irritated enough even without knowing what it was.

"What do you want?" I sighed, closing the door and going after him. As much as I wanted to oppose him, dealing with someone like this right after I woke up was beyond my strength.

"Alison and her parents are coming in an hour. The date of the ceremony is slowly approaching, and we have to start preparing for it. There is an interview planned for ten o'clock, and I arranged a meeting with a wedding planner." He sat down and took out his phone, not sparing me a glance.

"We are meeting Jasmine Mendes at eight o'clock. She is the best in this field. I had to offer a lot of money in order to get a meeting on such short notice, so don't even think about arguing with me. You have about forty minutes to get ready, so hurry up."

I was left speechless for a few minutes, replaying his words over and over in my mind, trying to figure out their meaning. He couldn't be serious. There was no way he said what I thought he had said. A wedding planner? An interview? This had to be a terrible nightmare.

"What are you standing there for? You need to make yourself presentable. Take a shower, shave, put on the best suit you have here. Hurry up," he said, his eyes finally turning my way.

"You can't be serious. What the hell's going on? You can't just plan all of this on your own without telling me anything," I spit out, clenching my fists. He crossed the line with this. I could deal with him controlling me at work as he was practically my boss. But this was my personal life. Who the hell did he think he was to do such a thing?

"If you picked up your phone yesterday, you would've known. Now, stop wasting time and get going. I don't need you embarrassing us in front of the whole country." He dismissed me by waving his hand and went back to whatever he was doing on his phone.

Standing there, trembling in anger, I didn't know what to say. This was too much even for him. But as much as I wanted to punch him and send him to hell, I couldn't. I did, after all, signed the contract regarding the marriage. Not to mention if he really arranged those meetings, and Alison and her parents were coming, I couldn't refuse. It would create a needless conflict and tension between our families, and considering our plans, it could possibly ruin our future relationship.

Turning on my heels, I started my way towards the bathroom when he spoke up again, throwing a bomb at me.

"Oh, I almost forgot. There's one more thing," he paused, a sinking feeling suddenly settling in my stomach.

"I need you to prepare an official statement for the press. About your son."

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I hope you are still willing to read this book even though the update schedule has been crazily unstable!