The office had a sea-green carpet. It had one window, vertical, narrow, and fortified with chicken wire.
There was a leather sofa with a fur rug over the back, and an Indian blanket draped over the arm.
There was a dark walnut bookcase lining the entire wall. There were two antique clocks on the wall and a gruesome photo of Max.
In the middle of the office, there was a big messy desk and a chair behind it. Beside the desk, there were two chairs for guests.
On the desk, there was a small family portrait. To the extreme right of the room, there was a television, and right below it, there was a coffee maker.
Max looked up from his desktop machine, and his gaze shifted to the coffee cup beside him. He lifted up the cup to sip the contents, but it was empty, so he groaned in dissatisfaction.
He looked up at the wall clock and saw that there were still a few more hours left before lunch, so he decided take coffee during his short break.
He clumsily got up from his desk to the coffee maker, and as he waited for the coffee, he switched on the TV and started scrolling through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch for the ten minutes he had decided to take a break.
He skimmed through Atlanta TV to CBN before quickly pressing the remote back to Atlanta TV.
At first, he thought his eyes and ears were playing games on him, but it was there. As clear as sunlight and very loud for all with ears to hear.
Steph was on TV, dressed in an orange bodycon dress and gold high heels. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, and she had a no-makeup look.
Beside her on the right was Ivan, in all his handsome glory. They were holding hands and warmly smiling at each other.
Everyone could easily fall for their charade of being in love. On Steph's left was Victoria, smiling at the cameras from ear to ear.
Max felt his heart stop beating, and the air in his lungs get squeezed out.
'Why the hell are they with that scumbag of a family?' Max wondered. ' What the hell is going on?'
He rubbed his eyes and mock removed wax from his ears as he moved closer to the TV to read the footnotes below.
Sensing that the footnotes were for different news, he increased the volume on the TV.
"I would first like to thank you all for coming to this event. I know you're all anxious to know why but your questions will be answered soon," Noah Jackson, Ivan's father, said in a loud commanding voice with a soft chuckle.
He then kept quiet for a while to create more suspense or perhaps to let the words sink into the minds of the reporters.
"Ivan, the stage is yours," Noah said with pride as he gestured towards Ivan, who swallowed saliva hard and smiled before saying, "I'm introducing my girlfriend Stephanie Lee to the whole wide world. I want everyone to know how lucky I am to have her and that she's the only lady in my life,"
He then gave Steph a smile, and a thousand cameras clicked in their direction. There were cheers and murmurs from the crowd present, and after the cheers died down, the reporters were given a chance to ask questions.
"There are a lot of speculations that you're a ladies' man and that you can't settle with one lady. What can you say about all that?" One of the reporters asked, and Ivan smiled as he turned to look at Steph, then said in a very sweet voice, "This presser is to put all those allegations to rest. I only have one lady in my life, and as you all know, when you're the son of a celebrity father, many people try linking themselves to you."
"I only have one lady in my life," Max repeated Ivan's words and scoffed. "That will never happen, young man."
"Everything that has been said about me is a lie, and they have cost me my mental health, and that's why I can't take a back seat anymore," Ivan said as he looked at Steph, making her heart beat faster.
With an impassive face, she looked at him and silently wondered how he could lie so well.
Was it one of the perks of being the son of a celebrity father?
Had she made the right decision in accepting his request when he was yet to fully tell her what had compelled him to get into a relationship with her? The much she had deciphered was that it was Noah's command. She also couldn't ignore the fact that a part of her didn't want to know the truth. She only wanted the relationship for her family's gain and every other thing was secondary.
Was her sacrifice for her family worth it?
She could already tell it was his parents, but why would they do that?
Ivan and Steph posed for a few photos with their family members, and just when Max was about to switch off the TV in disgust and try to get back to work, the door to his office opened, and Adam walked in as if the office belonged to him.
He broke into a loud fit of laughter when he saw the news, and Max hurriedly switched off the TV.
His tear glands were getting wet, and his heart ached so much he thought it would stop beating.
Adam had made his office become even more unbearable to stay in. It felt like he had been dumped into a planet with no air and left to gasp for it.
"Wow! That is such great news. Why aren't you with them?" Adam asked in a mocking tone.
Max replied with a hostile glare.
"Don't act like you didn't want that. The Jacksons are the deal. You'll now be able to clear your debts," Adam went on.
"Will you, for once, shut up! Just shut the f*ck up!" Max thundered.
"She did it for you! She'll regret it, though," Adam said dismissively and walked out of the office, leaving a fuming Max throwing against the wall anything his hands could get on.