Handling
Bethany sat in Mr. Anders office.Dumb struck as she felt guilty as she held a letter from her lawyer with a packet she had to fill out . She remembered that Regina had to prove her and gregory's child's perternity . The order was to put in place a mandatory suit to claim the Zehetii residence and company now the grace period for Regina to comply was over.
Bethany understood Regina was Gregory's widow she had a small child and hesitated to file the paperwork. She held the pen mid air considering just letting it go but the order had to be signed in order to confirm she received the order . Bethany felt bad this was happening to Regina even though she did take Gregory from her ,but even after that she harbored no ill intent towards the woman she never really met face to face. She felt for the innocent child that would be close to two years old now.
There was nothing she could do other than sign the agreement that she received the notice of Regina's perternity suit in pending to determine her child's inheritance. With a heavy heart she placed her signature on the line presented. Mr. Anders nodded at her discomfort.
" Mrs. Jing. I know this is hard for you,but it has to be done. I know you don't want to hurt Gregory's widow and their child but a grace period was put into place for a reason. Are hands are tied at this point . All we can do is obey the wills terms and conditions and the law behind it ." Gently said Mr. Anders.
" I know. It's just the child. Whether he is or isn't Gregory's biological son he isn't responsible for his parents. This child will be directly impacted for the choices of his parents. It seem unfair to the one who had no choice in this situation." Said Bethany concerned with mixed feelings.
Meanwhile Regina stood frozen in front of the Zehetii mansion as she held the mail in her hand. Her face grew white as she saw the Zehetii were requiring her to submit a perturnity test for one Alexander Gregory Zehetii. Regina stood there frozen as he eyes grew in anger from the summons on the paperwork as she let out a loud angry scream.
Cynthia Watson came outside to find Mrs. Zehetii screaming hysterically. She knew not to touch or sooth her because Regina was unpredictable in her reactions. She went inside and called Roger to come over since she assumed he was still their family lawyer but wasn't so sure after his and Mr . Gregory's scuffle that resulted in his death. The two men didn't realize she was only in the kitchen and went behind the door when she saw the gun to keep herself safe,but right now Roger was safer to handle Regina instead of her a old woman who didn't have a fight in her anymore after the disaperence of her only daughter Liliana to that monster James Barry.
Her family had generations of working for the zehetti's. Her grandmother even bore a son with one of the young masters so their blood was tainted with the zehetti's. Loyalty mattered to them they treated their servants and employees like family. But Regina was a new breed . Cynthia didn't like her the moment she met her.
Regina was always either demanding, or fake smiles and cheers for everyone. She didn't like sneaky people who had their own agenda. She knew that baby was not her late Mr. Gregory's by the eyes. Cynthia wasn't stupid she knew what Zehetii babies looked liked she raised two of them. They always took after the Zehetii side with the dark hair and green eyes. But Alexander was blonde hair and grey eyes .
Roger's phone rang then an abrupt picke up." What the hell do you want now? He hissed as answered. Cynthia looked at the phone as she felt that was a rude way to answer a random call. Then she realized it probably came up as Gregory zehetii thinking it was Regina calling .
" Mr. Evenburg this is Cynthia the Zehetii head of house . You might need to come over. Mrs. Zehetii is having a breakdown in the front courtyard. She is being rather dramatic about it if you ask me ." Said Cynthia as she used to think Mrs. Zehetii was always over doing it. She remembered when she broke all the crystal that was in the Zehetii family for generations over her parents uninvited visit.
" Are you sure she needs my help? Perhaps she should pitch her little fit and get it out of her system." Sighed Roger not wanting to see Regina since she threw a paperweight through his office glass wall.
" She got a letter sir. A certified document from Mr. Zehetii's former lawyer. She is really flipping out . I don't want her to wake Alexander. He has been a harder to put down for a nap. Mrs. Victoria isn't here she is on vacation this week ." Explained Cynthia as she stood by Alexander's door listening if he woke up. And right on cue Alexander let out an angry sleepy wail.
" Please come Mr. Evenburg. Mr. Alexander has just been woken up by that woman's harpy screams. I swear she has no consideration of a sleeping child." Fussed Cynthia opening the door to Alexander's room .
" Did you call her a harpy?" Laughed Roger. " Okay okay I'm heading that way. Make that child stop crying." He said amused and annoyed at the same time as Cynthia heard the phone click.
Cynthia reached to sooth Alexander as he fought her and rubbed his red little eyes. She hated when she would put Alexander down and Regina would come in screaming at the top of her lungs . Alexander had a mighty temper like his mother. It took hours to calm him down.
Roger pulled up to see what Cynthia was talking about . He thought he should just reverse and say he tried later . Regina looked beyond pissed . The automatic gates opened with the magnet remote that was on his vizor that Gregory gave him for the gate. He thought shit I should have gave that damn thing back . The gate opened and a very angry Regina turned to see him as he was like damn it she saw me no hiding now. Regina stomped over to the Mercedes and banged on the driver's side window forcefully.
He rolled it down to prevent her from busting it out with her many rings on her fingers. " Hello to you too Regina." He said annoyed at her actions and he hadn't even gotten out of the car.
" Get inside now. This is all your fault!" Screamed Regina as she went to the other side and got in his car to prevent him from leaving.
" What the hell are you doing?get out of my car!" Yelled Roger.
" Either you go inside or I'll call the cops for a kidnapping . Because I'm not leaving this car until we talk." She demanded.
" What I'm wondering is how the hell is this my fault. I don't even know what I did." Protested Roger now confused.
Regina threw the paperwork at him as he pulled up to the house and parked the car. Roger looked over the paperwork as he let out a laugh at the irony of the documents.
" It's not funny . Why are you laughing. Is my misery so hilarious!" Screamed Regina upset.
" No but the pertanity is? Isn't that the reason you had your husband killed and now it's come back to bite you in the butt." Snarked Roger in amusement.
" You killed my husband . Now I'm being summoned to prove he is a zehetii. Roger you know I will lose everything if the paternity ever does come to the truth. " She cried realizing her comfortable life was on a thin line waiting to be cut. Regina began to hyperventilating as she made small heeps and gasp like she couldn't breathe at all the while glaring at Roger.
Roger carried her inside the mansion as Cynthia looked upset holding a crying Alexander . He ran to find a paper bag as he brought it out to Regina as she took deep breaths as she slowed down her breathing. She sat back in a daze and began to laugh.
" What's the matter with you now ?" Said Roger confused at her mood swings from panic to laughter.
" If I get thrown out of my home you owe me a husband. Who better husband than my child's actual father." She laughed as she made it sound like the best idea she had .
" What? Oh hell no. I am not marrying you. You are crazy as a bat." Protested Roger.
" You marry me or I'll tell someone what really happened to Gregory. It's me or prison." She said now calmer.
" I'll will gladlychoose prison ." Stated Roger.
" You will marry me or I will tell them all you were in on the marriage to extort money from the Zehetii and we were both in it together." She laughed as she looked like she lost her mind.
" If I go down . I will drag you with me.the paternity test will prove he is your son ." She said in a tiny reminding voice.
" Regina you are insane . Blackmail for sex is one thing but marriage that's on a whole entirely different level. Get away from me you have gone mad." He said moving away from her as Cynthia looked between the two trying to sooth Alexander. She had always suspected the relationship between the two but Alexander father was Roger .
" You will marry me . Do you hear me. To save me from what you've done by knocking me up and murdering my husband." She said sterner.
" Roger!" Screamed Regina coming towards him ." I will be Mrs. Evenburg by law if not by carnal knowledge. You did this to me you owe me this you bastard." She screamed as her face grew red.
Roger backed away knowing Regina was crazy now. He was headed out to go see Ryder as he needed another man to talk to about his crazy sister and her demands. He peeled out of the driveway as he drove to the Bruno estates. He rang the doorbell as Victoria opened the door.
Victoria realized the state of mind Roger was in and let him in as she got him a brandy . He sat there drinking it as he calmed down.
" Roger what happened?" Victoria asked cautiously.
" That crazy daughter of yours is demanding I marry her to replace the husband I took from her ." He said in between sips.
" Whoa ! Slow down. Tell me what happened?" She said taking the brandy from Roger now .
" She got a summons to prove the pertanity of Alexander for the inheritance from Gregory's lawyer. Regina wants me to marry her to save her from whatever it is she needs saving from. It's probably some grand scheme she pulled out of her but to finally have me as hers. She threatened me with prison and blackmailed me about Gregory's death. I told her I would gladly go to prison to avoid marrying her and now she said she going to tell them I made her marry Gregory to steal his fortune. She is crazier than a bag of cats." He said now breaking down in angry tears.
" Wow that is a lot. Perhaps it is a scheme to tie you to her legally. After all she always had eyes for you. The only way to avoid her advances is be married to another before her paternity suit. If I remember bigomy is still an illegal thing to do." Said Victoria rubbing Rogers back as he stared at her as he digested the words he heard her say.
" You right. Go to the court house with me right now. We have some time. Bring your identification." Roger grabbed her hand suddenly.
" Me!" Yelped Victoria." Oh no. No. No. It was a suggestion not an offer." She said pulling her hand away .
" Suggestion noted. Think of it Victoria your more closer to my age. We work great together in holding off Regina for the past year . Let's make this arrangement a little more legal. We both know what it really is and we both using this for our own means." He said enthusiastically.
" Which are?" She asked moving away slowly.
" Me to get Regina off my back permanently and you to be tied to the Bruno and Grigori fortune by marrying me you inherited the center territory which controls the east and West empires. You will be a permanent family member not a mistress who bore a bastard." He explained.
She thought about securing Ryder in his home and keeping Regina away from Roger . Although her and Roger were plutonic she did think of him as her friend . She remembered how it hurt her that Antonio didn't marry her after she put in all the work to poison Rana to take her place in the house. After Rana . Antonio shut down . He wasn't the same person . He only wanted to be married to Rana.
" Perhaps your right." Victoria said softly as the got in the car to head to the courthouse to get married. Roger signed the documents and Victoria sighed the documents and a notary of public signed off and in thirty minutes they held the paper as man and wife.
Victoria and Roger walked out of the court room a married couple. A few of the officers recognized Roger as he was a well known lawyer. They nodded at his new wife knowing Roger was not one for words. Roger looked down at his watch as he looked at Victoria. " Thank you for helping me. I suppose I'm a married man . " He said as he acted like something that made his skin crawled. " Relax Roger. Your my friend. It is all going to work out. This was a simple business arrangement. You knew that our little pretences were only going to last for so long before she tried again. This way you can have me help you keep her off of you." She said as she looked awkward as well. " Married feels weird." Said Roger thinking he would never be married . Victoria was forty-one years old and still put together rather well. He had to admit she was well aged . Roger was only forty-three years old as he didn't look to shabby himself. They were a comfortable two years apart from each other but this age difference didn't bother him like it had bothered him with Avery . Avery he tried with her but old habits of their toxic relationship came back like a boomerang. Ryder was already grown so he didn't have to worry about the children part with him. He had always thought of Ryder sort of like a son or a kid brother because he was always willing to follow Roger into anything he cooked up. But now he was legally his stepfather. Ryder was Bethany's half brother and Bethany was his half niece . The lines of the bloodline did fad a bit from uncle to niece ,but this also made Regina his step daughter. He definitely made the need for Regina to see him as an option resolved in his new role as her step father instead of her former love interest now he had married her mother. The only screwed up part was Alexander. Which became his grandson now. Roger was desperate to get away from Regina and her demands to marry her like a plot she was waiting to add up. Now Roger had joined the family and he knew this would be very interesting indeed when it all came to light. He was truly make this takeover a family owned business. He was destined to make his name the top broker name. No more Grigori or Zehetii or toosley ,or Bruno. The top name and only name would be Evenburg. With Roger Evenburg as the head of the families as he had planned for so long. Who knew one marriage would place him where he wanted to be. Where he needed to be. " So does this mean we get to do the normal wedding night." Said Roger suggestively. As Victoria rose her eyebrows as she let out a small comical laugh at Rogers insinuation. " Aren't you afraid of the professional hooker?" She said as she tried to keep a straight face. " Quite the opposite . I'm actually intrigued. I've had many woman but they weren't well up to my speed. If you haven't noticed I have a certain appetite that is rarely satisfied. Perhaps you can see if you can satisfy it now that you are my wife." He said as he looked her up and down. " Christ Roger I would have never agreed to this is your going to be so springy about it." Sighed Victoria. Roger and Victoria knew each other for years . He remembered when Antonio was messing with her during Rana's sickness. Even then Victoria was trying to secure her spot in a household after Brian toosley sent her away for getting pregnant making her leave his daughter when she left . She came to him as an escort under contract and Brian took a liking to her. When he found out she was seventeen and not twenty-one as they said she was he had to get rid of her before Camilla figured out about his little mess up. He sent her to be looked after and as soon as the baby was born she was removed from her mother and paid for her silence. She went to Antonio because he needed a nanny for his daughter Bethany. When she became more she thought of she got rid of Rana he would take care of her if she was good to Bethany. Antonio didn't care she gave him a son. All he cared about was Rana. She was a mistress in waiting . She was nineteen when she gave birth to Ryder . When she met Roger he was also scorned as his mother was a former lover who was a maid in his father's household before he inherited the Grigori estates and printing press company from his father. Rogers mother Teresa was a lover of Hector Grigori. Hector Grigorii was a man larger than life. He was young and powerful and an only child. He not only inheritted his father's estates but an empire that was thriving worth millions . Roger remembered his father always spoiling Rana as soon as she was born. Rana's mother Josephine was an heiress from a diamond mine family. Teresa had held Hectors heart for so long until one summer when Josephine visited the home during Hectors annual birthday bash thrown in the Grigori mansion . He loved Josephine at first sight. She had auburn hair and hazel eyes and was like Aphrodite to him. Teresa was only a maid in his household when he was younger . An unmarried man . Teresa thought he would marry her ,But he met Josephine and married her within a year . Teresa raised Roger in the house in the servants living area. Roger grew up watching his younger sister Rana grow up right in front of him . She lived in the best part of her parents estates and he lived in the bottom servant dorms area. It always seemed unfair how he wasn't allowed to play with his own sister even though they were only two years apart. When Victoria came to be with Antonio as a live in au' pair the wheels in his head turned. He saw in her the life his mother should have had instead of watching sibblings grow up around each other without any contact with each other of recognition. He remembers stealing things from her to have something of hers near him. When Rana would pitch a fit over her missing toy that his mother tried so hard to provide for him and his father rarely acknowledged him only on birthdays for a few minutes than back to his precious rana. He lived like this his entire life. Watching his family from the sidelines and knowing his mother had to watch her lover be happy with another woman another child. He hated how his sister grew up entitled and his dad gave her everything and when she married the lawyer he made it to a point to put himself through law school to be able to keep an eye on his younger sister now she took everything his father had with her. He wanted his father's company back from her . You could say Roger felt bad for Victoria. He wanted her to have the life and opportunity his mother never had. When he decided to marry her to keep Regina off of him he didn't do it out of haste but respect from the memory of the life his mother should have had. His mother never married as she watched her lover marry and have legitimate children . " Victoria we know each other. We practically grew up the same. You were a teenage mother watching her son be raised away from his sister when they shared the same father in separate parts of the same house . I may not love you the way a husband supposed to love you, but I will honor you like one is supposed to ." Explained Roger serious now . " So does that mean you stop sleeping around and having one night stands. I honestly don't want anything I didn't have before ." She said cautiously. " Your asking alot from me ." He said as he realized monogamy was a word he never thought was possible for him . He saw his eternal bachelor days slipping by as he thought about what he said. " Mrs. Evenburg are you trying to make an honest man out of me?" He cracked an awkward joke at her . " Well honest might be too much for you to handle. Just don't give me anything I will have to go to the clinic to cure and we will be fine. This includes you using precautions to make sure I'm not meeting random children you make. Regina as a baby mama is enough to make you strap one on. Then you have Avery . I think the donation of sperm needs to be a bare minimum." She said as she smiled at his face as it twisted as she spoke. " Ok I think I might can manage that. So are we going to have a wedding night?" Roger raised his eyebrows playfully now . " I suppose we are married now and You've been so good not begging to have me even though you had me parade around in that trashy lingerie. You know you scarred Ryder for life. But I want a honey moon. I want to do all the cliche honey mooner things . If we are going to be married I want to feel married especially the wedding night. I missed out a lot when my father put me out and made me desperate enough to become an escort to survive . Give me a wedding night, Roger." She said looking away as she revealed her troubles to him not wanting to look at him knowing how he would look at her. She couldn't stand to see him pity her for her past and her need to be cliche . Roger listened as he now understood what Victoria went through. Jim and her suffered and she married him when he needed her help the most. She could have denied him and let him deal with Regina alone, but she was truly and sincerely always his partner even if he didn't realize it until now . " Okay Victoria . I will do as you ask . This is a thank you for being my friend the entire time we e known each other. I don't have many I call friends but you I do. " He said softly as he moved closer to her as she looked at him oddly as he stood close. " I never got to kiss my bride. May I Mrs. Evenburg?" Roger asked gently as he rubbed her cheek looking in her eyes for permission. " Only one kiss for now don't get any ideas you promised me a cliche wedding night and I won't oh mmhhh." Said Victoria as he pulled her in for their first kiss ever.