<spanng="EN">Roger’s POV


    <spanng="EN">This has been a rxing week. Sasha has been happy buying clothes and bags, and we didn’t have to hide anymore. She was my wife, and we have christened each and every room in our suite several times over. I hadn’t once thought of thepany. I knew that Elizabeth would do her job, and Dixon was only too happy to supervise. I usually left her in charge, but I’m trying to slowly demote her. No one knows that she is a co–owner. They never will if I have anything to say over it.


    <spanng="EN">I had drawn up an agreement. Having her sign over her shares to me as a wedding present. Once she does that, she will be nothing but a regr designer. I’m not an idiot. We need her to keep her there working for us. As much as I love Sasha, she is not a capable designer. I knew what Sasha wanted: the title, but not the work. So Elizabeth will be the manager and report to Sasha. Saha will be happy because she cane in and bring the work to me.


    <spanng="EN">Elizabeth will understand. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve used her over the years. She was willing to do anything to keep me with her. She invested time and money. She was willing to work herself to the point of exhaustion, building our business. She bore the brunt of my mother and sister’s wrath for being my fiancée. She was always respectful and willing to keep the peace.


    <spanng="EN">Elizabeth wasn’t strong enough to be my equal or carry my family name. She dressed terribly, but that was on me. I didn’t want to see her body; it made me sick. I knew she had lost a little weighttely, as her face was slimmer than it used to be. She was now swimming in those dresses. But she could never be elegant enough or sophisticated enough to stand by my side. My mother never stopped reminding me of that.


    <spanng="EN">In her defense, Mom wasn’t aware that my business was sessful because of Elizabeth. I always downyed her involvement. I proposed because Elizabeth’s designs were the glue that held mypany together. Mom would have treated her better if she had known, but my mother had always wanted me to marry up. She wanted to establish the Cook name as one that was respected. I was handsome, but until my business took off, I wasn’t really wealthy.


    <spanng="EN">Dad did a little better than I did, but his hotel chain embarrassed the family. They were nothing to brag about. He’s been wanting to invest in mypany to earn money to make improvements to his hotel chain. He wanted them to be a mid–line hotel. Instead of ces that men take their mistresses. They know that the only people who use them are those who value no frills and low rates while traveling for business. Dad wants more, and I hope he gets there, but I’m not going to help him.


    <spanng="EN">Why? Because when I needed the start–up capital for my business, heughed at me. Well, whoseughing now, Dad? I scoffed as I got off the elevator. I went down to grab a meal while Sasha went out with her friends. I didn’t want to go, but each time she went out, I hemorrhaged money. I was going to have to talk with her once she returned.


    <spanng="EN">If she kept spending like this, she was going to have to work every day. I need her to contribute to thepany, not drain it dry. She was still pouting about the car she lost. She had asked me for it, but I’d already spent enough on her. She had gone behind my back and tried to get it on her own, but I refused to bend. She was still pouting about it.


    <spanng="EN">I had offered her a nice BMW, a 3 series like I had, but she t out rejected it. It was the first fight we’ve had. She insisted that she deserved the car that she wanted, but refused to use the money she had to pay for it. If that’s the case, she can just save up and get it herself after she works for a while. I already told her she would be riding to work with me. There was no need for her to even have a car at the moment. We will always be together, so I will take her where she wants to go.


    <spanng="EN">I’m not stupid, I know I’ll need to find a new ce to live sooner orter. That was why I had been especially frugaltely. Elizabeth might be kind and a bit of a pushover, but she isn’t going to stand for what I’ve done. I was going to y on her kindness to get her to allow Sasha to live with us for the next few months, as Sasha didn’t have a ce just yet. I’ll remind her that Sasha would need to save up for her new ce. As long as we kept everything under wraps, Elizabeth would never suspect anything.


    <spanng="EN">That gives me time to save up and pick a new home for me and Sasha, or buy it outright from Elizabeth. Sasha insists that she wants to live there and make it our own. I knew why, it’s because Elizabeth had spared no expense on our home. If I could love Elizabeth, I would. She clearly loves me, but the feelings aren’t there. She just doesn’t interest me at all.


    <spanng="EN">I do feel a little guilty for using her, but she’s only got herself to me for it. She allowed me to do it, so most of the me is on her. I had just gotten off the phone with Dixon for the second time that day, and I was so angry that my hands were shaking. He had called me this morning to ensure I was okay with him opening the letter from the attorney he received yesterday. He had signed for the legal–sized letter packet a little after four. He had been worried as it was a prettyrge package.


    <spanng="EN">It had been thick, well over thirty pages, and he wanted to know if I had been expecting it. I hadn’t, but I recognized the name as being Elizabeth’s attorney. He was the one who always handled the contracts between her and thepany. I knew some of them were overdue. I had been sent the renewals, but I ignored them. I was waiting for our wedding. It might not be legal, but I was going to have her stop the silly contracts.


    <spanng="EN">I would remind her that we were married. What mine was hers, and vice versa.


    <spanng="EN">I didn’t want to have to use them anymore. We still produced them, but she never mentioned that she knew that the contracts had expired. She seemed like her regr self, except for thest few days. She gave one–word answer’s and frankly, it was a little annoying. I was used to her chasing after me. If you went back through our text chain, you’d see that she was always texting me three times to my one response. She always had to drag responses out of me. She doesn’t understand that sometimes I need a break from her incessant talking. Sasha was starting to get on my nerves now, too.


    <spanng="EN">Everything was perfect until this morning. When Dixon called me, he was talking so fast, I couldn’t understand him at first. Once I understood what he was saying, I was pissed. How dare she try this, knowing that I wasn’t there to deal with her? I’m not paying for the contracts to be renewed. I had already prepared the paperwork to transfer ownership to both me and thepany. It was the first big step in taking everything away from her.


    <spanng="EN">I told him to put her in her ce. He had told me in a text on Monday that she had beente. She has been there with me this whole time and has never once beente. Even when I was out of the country before, she was always there. She was honestly the best employee we had. She made money when the made money, just from the dividends. Now she’s clearly mad at me, and I’m too far away to do anything about it. I’m going to have to take her out to dinner, probably kiss her, and buy her something.


    <spanng="EN">I can’t believe that she’s suddenly grown a spine. I need to send Mom and Regina over to deal with her, but I have no idea where she lives. She hasn’t entered the vi for months. She only wanted to move in after she became Mrs. Roger Cook. Too bad for her that title has already been taken. The call I just got lets me know that she isn’t ying around. She’s basically quit and walked out of thepany. Dixon said that two men had suddenly shown up to talk to her. He didn’t know who they were, but he said one of them looked familiar.


    <spanng="EN">She refused to sign the write–up, and when he called me back, he said that she would sign it after she received at least a thousand hours of overtime. That isn’t like her, and I asked him if he had bullied her while I was gone. I had told him to leave her alone, and he swore he had, but something feels off. This is not how Elizabeth acts, far from it. It’s as if she is apletely different person, and I have no idea how to calm her down.


    <spanng="EN">I need to bring her around before I lose herpletely. I decided to text her, as I know she’s pissed. I know if she responds in anger, I will too, and that is thest thing I need to happen. It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to cajole her with a careful script.


    <spanng="EN">[Elizabeth, why did you have your attorney send those letters to the office? Are you angry with me? Since we’re getting married in two weeks, I thought the copyrights on them would belong to both of us. I already have the paperwork prepared that says we both own them. As the co–owners of thepany, we’re in this together. Are you upset because I’m recing you as Director? I was trying to protect you. You know you’re the only one in my heart, you could never be reced.]


    <spanng="EN">I waited for her response, but six hours passed, and she never replied. This is a much bigger problem now. She barely let six minutes pass before responding, let alone six hours. Sasha was starting to get irritated as kept ncing at my phone, waiting for a response.


    <spanng="EN">“I think we need to head back tomorrow, Sasha. Something’s going on at thepany,” I finally said. I didn’t want to tell her what the issue was. She is already jealous of Elizabeth. She hates that I admitted I wouldn’t be where I am today without her help.


    <spanng="EN">“We’re flying back on Saturday, Roger. We can go straight to the office when we arrive, if you want. It will be a hassle trying to get first–ss seats on the flight tomorrow. Let’s just enjoy ourst day in Paris and get ready to return. A nice leisurely day for the two of us,” Sasha replied, and I knew I couldn’t deny her.


    <spanng="EN">I agreed, but I had a really bad feeling about waiting. I felt like everything was spiraling out of my control. Something bad was about to happen. Sasha suggested where we would go tomorrow, and I agreed without actually hearing her. I knew that I needed to get back to work the instant we returned.