My mother told me to come home for an arranged marriage alliance. I was nearly thirty, she said, and I couldn't keep being stubborn.
I swore Felix Henson would marry me. Her answer came fast.
“Bea, if he wanted to marry you, he would have done it by now!”
“The whole reason I had you hide your identity was so he wouldn't marry you just for our family's money!”
“I'm giving you three more months. After that, you come home and accept the arrangement.”
I went to find Felix with my heart in my throat, and what I found was him holding hands with his assistant, Vera Gilbert.
“Felix, are you ever going to make things clear with that old woman Beulah?”
“She's already thirty. How much longer are you going to keep dragging things out with her?”
Vera's words pinned me where I stood.
“Vera, I'm ready. I'm going to make things clear with Beulah.”
“You know as well as I do, the company wouldn't be where it is without her help all these years.”
“I'm planning to wait until the Dickerson Group deal is locked down, then break up with her.”
I stood there, frozen for a long moment. Then a dry, bitter laugh escaped me.
……
The love I thought was real had been nothing but a con.
I turned and walked out of the office. Then I called my mother.
“Mom, I'm ready to come home and accept the arrangement.”
“Just give me one more week.”
I told her.
Felix wanted a Dickerson Group contract?
He had no idea that Dickerson Group was my family's company.
And his entire business had been built on my support from the very start.
When I first met Felix, he was broke. I was the one beside him through every step of his startup, the one who helped him land deal after deal.
That was how the company grew, one contract at a time.
And every time I brought up marriage, he'd tell me the same thing: once the company was more stable, he'd marry me.
I believed him. I worked to grow that company from a small operation with a handful of people into a business valued at over a hundred million.
But now I knew. That company didn't belong to me. It only belonged to Felix Henson.
Fine. Then I could destroy it just as easily as I'd built it.
Back in my office, I called the managers on my side of the partnership.
I told them the cooperation with Felix would continue—but the contract terms needed revising. I sent over the new agreement.
They didn't ask questions. They just agreed.
I had just hung up when Felix pushed open my office door.
He looked at me and got straight to it：“Beulah, how's the Dickerson Group contract coming?”
“No issues on their end.”
I kept my expression perfectly composed as I looked at him：“All that's left is to go sign it.”
Relief washed over his face.
Then he said：“Beulah, since this isn't that big a deal, why don't we let Vera represent the company for the signing?”
There was a hint of something unnatural in his expression as he said it.
I stared at him. Sending a secretary to sign on behalf of the company. What was he thinking?
“Beulah, I think it's time to give Vera some hands-on experience.”
He said it quickly, like he'd rehearsed the excuse.
I just smiled：“Sure.”
If that was the game he wanted to play, then from here on, I wouldn't hold back either.
