Steven causally reached out, the smirk still Implanted on his face as he grabbed the contract and read through.
He was so engrossed carefully reading the contract that he barely noticed Ariana staring intensely at him. She was yet to adjust to the fact that someone could be the complete carbon copy of her late husband.
Not much people would notice the similarities because Unlike Ariana, they hadn't spent much time with Henry like she had. And as he had been such a powerful, influential man, he rarely came out publicly.
The only time he took the risk, he was killed.
Her eyes finally trailed to his hand holding up the paper and her brows slightly furrowed seeing the bandages wrapped around the knuckles.
However, just as Steven slowly adjusted the paper to the side so he could also look at her each time he saw something ridiculous on the contract, she quickly grabbed her cup of coffee and sipped It, glancing down so as not to meet his eyes.
Steven glanced back at the contract again. It did clearly state that he was to be her body guard for three years. He knew this was another ploy to get him killed. She had probably thought- why kill him when he can get killed trying to protect me?
After all, a woman like her probably had guards with her 24/7 due to having enemies scattered all over the earth. A bodyguard now would be like a suicide mission on his part.
Truth be told, not many people liked Ariana. She barely even had friends due to her sour mood, dark humor and pride. And he was supposed to stay by her side 24/7? It obviously meant he was going to live with her then?
The side of his lips lifted into a sneer as he lowered the contract to stare at her like she was crazy.
The problem was the rules now.
Half the things she wrote down there was Impossible and the rest were just completely absurd.
"Rule 24." He read out loud with the sneer still etched on his face. "We're are not allowed physical contact with each other?"
Ariana almost choked on her coffee, but she composed herself and slowly dropped her cup of coffee beside her elbow as she folded her arms and stayed still and unmoved.
"Yes. Is it really necessary? You're protecting me. The only people you should put your hands on are the people who probably want to hurt me or kill me." She ignorantly said and he just blinked at her.
"Wow."
She furrowed her brows into a frown. "What?"
His eyes moved back to the contract. "So everyone's right about the famous Ariana Torres. You're a selfish, Ignorant, proud brute. And you're just as stupid as I've always thought. How did you say you've been holding up this empire for years now?"
She was thrown back by his words such that her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, but the moment she realized it, she quickly snapped her mouth shut and her eyes turned deadly as she glared at him.
"Mr. Hallman, are you signing the contract or not? I have better things to do which includes not having to see your face."
"Why? Because It reminds you of the man you killed?" He retorted.
"Why would you think I... " She bore a look of surprise, but after rethinking her next words, she just grabbed a pen and slapped It down in front of him. "Sign."
"Are you sure you didn't scribble this In your sleep or while you were drunk?" Steven said as he grabbed the pen only for the purpose of pointing to a particular rule with the tip of the pen.
"Rule 32. I can't be armed? I'm going to be fighting against bad guys probably 4 times a week or even more. Not just bad guys, evil scheming, armed brutes. And I have to fight them all bare handed?"
"For security reasons. What's the problem?" She sounded so indifferent that it irked him. He just wanted to reach for her neck across the table and ...
"You showed just how capable you were last night," She didn't bother hiding the scorn and mirth in her eyes and voice. "And being armed includes not putting on a bullet proof vest."
Steven finally laughed, rendering Araian speechless. For a whole minute, he just laughed. It was livid and satanic in every way possible such that anyone around would be rendered frozen hearing his laughter.
When he was done, he finally grabbed the pen and signed it before shoving it towards Ariana who had not recovered from hearing him laugh, thus It took him throwing the pen right infront of her to snap her back to reality.
"Sign." He mocked her as he said It in the same way she had.
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the pen and signed.
"Very well then," She finally found her voice. "I'll send you a copy of the contract. In the meantime, say your goodbyes to your... family and get packing."
She's really serious about me moving in with her huh? She's not scared of getting strangled in her sleep? Or smitten with a pillow over her head? Or stabbed repeatedly ivee the face with a dagger?
However, her next words was in contradictory to what he was thinking.
"I have to attend a wedding in Canada, and my sister in law have my flight already booked, and after some thinking last night, I decided to tell her to reserve two seats in the private plane coming to pick us up. So be here by 7am tomorrow and we'll leave together." Saying, that, she slapped down a business card which contained her address.
He stared at the card for a while before he reached up and grabbed it.
"You can leave." She coldly ordered before moving to her laptop to type In something, Ignoring him now as she focused all her attention on her work.
"Okay Boss." Her fingers paused over the keyboard as she grinded her teeth with closed eyes, noting the mockery as he acknowledged her.
He shut the door on his way out, and once he was outside, his smirk dropped, replaced by a cold dead pan expression.
The employees in the hallways didn't need a soothsayer to tell them to part and make way for him to go by as they saw his face.
Once he got outside, he hopped into his car and drove off. He was still seething in anger as he thought of how she had treated him like he was lowly. However, what irked him was the fact that he couldn't do anything because for the meanwhile he was under her control.
He suddenly called Noah. It took a few rings before he finally picked up.
"Bro, you just left and never came back after yesterday. That wasn't cool." Noah didn't bother to hide the disappointment in his voice. "I tried calling and you didn't even bother to call me after? Your mother was so worried."
"Noah, this is important right now. You can rant at me later, but I'm coming over. We have to talk."
"Are you sure about that? Natasha's around and... you know how she is."
"Then let's meet up somewhere then." Steven suggested Immediately.
"*Sigh* That's thing. She went downstairs to get some snacks, but I've been in room with her for a while now helping her study."
"What is she? 5?"
"No. But she's my sister. You have a sister too. You understand how hard it is to turn down their request especially when you know how girls can be if they aren't given what they want."
Hearing his words, Steven's heart hardened thinking about Amanda, and at the same time, Memories of when he always gave her the last bite of the chocolate they shared after school flashed in his mind. He loved chocolate, more than anyone in the world, and there was something special and more delicious about having the last scrumptious bite, but he always gave It to her when she requested.
However, when he remembered her words last night, his grip on the wheel tightened and he realized Noah was still on the phone.
"I'm coming over then, but I swear to God Noah, If she hovers around me, I'll make you an only child."