Chapter 170: BRING IT ON
Astrid’s eyes lit up as she picked up Rowan’s call. "Hey, Rowan," she said, her voice filled with fake excitent, all in the na of wanting to make Julian angry.
"I am outside your villa," Rowan replied, grinding seeing how she had responded to him.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah, the Chairman is having a eting and I am invited there, I am pretty sure you are too so I thought of dropping you off," he explained and she nodded her head at his thought.
"That is a great idea, hold on, I am on my way to the door," she exclaid and quickly stood up from the dining table.
Julian grabbed her hands imdiately, holding her back.
"Where are you going?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly, hearing the na of Rowan first thing in the morning already ruined his mood.
Astrid snatched her hands from Julian’s grasp. "You don’t have to know," she said, her voice firm.
She walked off, leaving Julian behind. As she opened the door, she saw Rowan standing outside with a small smile on his face.
"Hey, Astrid," Rowan said, greeting her.
Astrid smiled back, "Hi... you ca at the right ti," she let out then Rowan saw Julian standing behind Astrid.
He then pulled Astrid into an embrace. Astrid eyes widened at this since she wasn’t expecting that.
"I am excited I will be taking you there," he let out and she could only nod her head.
Astrid hesitated for a mont but didn’t want to embarrass Rowan, so she accepted the hug.
Julian’s face darkened with anger, he was about to pull Astrid from him when Miles grabbed his hands.
"Hey, you should stay here so as not to annoy her more," he shook his head.
"Oh, Hi... how are you doing? I never see you there," Rowan let out pretending to have just noticed the others as he disengaged from the embrace.
"Oh... hi.." Only Maren responded while Julian and Miles remained silent.
"So can we leave now?" Rowan asked and Astrid nodded at her, she was about to go with him when she recalled she wasn’t with her bag.
"Hold on, my bag."She quickly ran back inside to grab her bag and then kissed Maren’s forehead. "Help
look after my house, okay?"
Maren bid her goodbye with a smile, saying, "I have got it, " her eyes t with Julian, and just rolled her eyes walking away hand in hand with Rowan.
As Astrid left the house with Rowan, Julian glanced at Maren with a an look, "I thought you said this would work. Why is she now leaving with him?"
Maren shrugged, her expression nonchalant. "It’s not my fault she’s mad at you, Julian. You should have thought of that before you pushed her away. And now, she is moving on with Rowan. You shouldn’t be shocked," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Julian’s face darkened with irritation, and he took a step closer to Maren. She scoffed and mimicked his words.
"You.." he bit his lip struggling not to lose it.
"I am not going to give up on her, Maren. I only divorced her so we could start fresh, start over. I want to make things right between us, not always making her feel guilty." he said, his voice low and urgent.
"Then you need to have the patient, you did a lot of crazy stuff in front of her rember, it wouldn’t be easy to get her back. Besides, she is grieving so you can’t just give yourself to her."
"Maren," he called annoyed.
"What?" she retorted, "I am not the cause of your issues so stop trying to make it look like it is." she fired back at him.
Julian was about to storm toward her but before Julian could take another step closer.
Miles stepped forward, his eyes flashing with warning. "Don’t touch her, Julian. She is my girl now, and I won’t let you hurt her," Miles said, his voice protective.
Julian’s eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched in frustration.
Maren stuck her tongue out as Julian irritated him more, "The fuck! Now you are going to defend her even after she is annoying ?" Julian asked shocked and Miles just laughed.
Julian’s face only darkened further, his eyes burning ."I won’t give up on Astrid, Maren. I will do whatever it takes to win her back,"
He said, his voice nacing at the sa ti fruition etched on them while Msren only teased him more about it.
********
As Astrid stepped out of the car, Rowan’s voice echoed through the air,
"Astrid, wait! Let
help you out." But she was already halfway out of the vehicle, her legs unfolding from the sleek, black car.
"Oh sorry," she whispered, not in the mood to be in any romantic shit with him she had only accepted the embrace not to disconcert him and also to make Julian furious if that worked.
Rowan had no choice but to follow her, his eyes scanning the surrounding area as he trailed behind her.
"Hey, we should go together," he told her as he grabbed her hands but she snatched her hands from him gently.
"Let’s go this way, I don’t want anyone to get the wrong news about us," she stated.
Astrid’s heels clicked against the pavent as she walked towards the company building.
The employees and security personnel parted to let her through, their faces a mixture of respect.
Rowan caught up to her, his hand brushing against her elbow as he fell into step beside her.
As they entered the building, Astrid was greeted by the familiar sight of the company’s logo emblazoned on the wall.
She nodded to herself, her eyes scanning the room as she made her way towards the conference room.
The atmosphere was noticeably different from the previous day, with employees and executives alike casting respectful glances her way.
She already understands the reason why they are acting this way, and she feels satisfied with it. Guess her grandfather had issued a warning to everyone.
Donald, stood outside the conference room, a warm smile spreading across his face as he caught sight of her.
"Astrid, darling! It’s so wonderful to see you. I am glad you could make it to the eting."
Astrid’s eyes sparkled as she leaned in to exchange a brief hug with her grandfather.
"Grandfather, it’s great to see you too. I wouldn’t have missed this eting for the world." She let out, still excited at the fact that her grandfather decided to invite her even though she had nonimportance to the company.
"You look lovely today, Astrid. That young man you’re with, Rowan, he seems like a nice fellow. He fits you perfectly, you know."
Astrid’s cheeks flushed with pleasure as she glanced over at Rowan, who was watching their exchange with a warm smile. B
"Grandfather... don’t get your hopes high," she whispered. Just then Mattie ran toward them.
"Good morning Granddad," They heard Mattie’s voice and Donald glanced back to see Mattie striding toward them.
"I am not expecting you here... it’s nice to you here," Donald announced in shock, staring at Mattie.
He never invites her for etings since she gets bored with everything he decides to let her go.
"I am trying to get interested in your line since that makes you very happy," Donald smiled at this, so excited though confused at his granddaughter’s choice.
"Alright," he replied as he hugged her.
"The eting is going to comnce, let go now," Donald announced about going inside, Miles also appeared to greet his grandfather.
"Wow... you honored this eting. I am pleased with you and your sister," Donald announced, fully excited to have all his grandkids here.
"Let’s go in," he announced but
Mattie dragged Astrid back, "Astrid, wait!" Mattie called out, her voice sharp.
The three turned to her wondering what she was about and then Astrid smiled at them.
"You can go in, we will co in soon," she assured them, they had no choice but to walk inside.
Astrid turned to face her, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. But before she could respond, Mattie reached out and grasped her arm, pulling her back.
"I need to talk to you for a minute," Mattie said, her voice low and urgent.
Astrid’s eyes narrowed, She could sense the undercurrents of tension and hatred emanating from Mattie, and she steeled herself for what was to co.
"What is it, Mattie?" Astrid asked, her voice cool but a bit irritated.
Mattie’s smile was sugary sweet. "I just wanted to remind you that I am not going to let you walk all over , Astrid. I will fight for this company, even if it ans making my grandfather hate . And I always get what I want."
Astrid’s eyes flashed with anger, but she kept her cool, her smile glacial. "We will see about that, Mattie."
Astrid smirked at this, "You don’t have to remind
that every ti I don’t have the heart to take any company from you, if it’s going to be for yourself it would be." She added and got Mattie annoyed.
"You bitch! I will make sure to attend every eting onward and make sure this becos ours instead of yours," she warned Astrid.
"If that is what you want to say then, keep it, we need to stand in a eting and know what exactly is going on with the company before fighting for it."
As they entered the conference room, Astrid felt Mattie’s eyes on her, boring into her skin but didn’t give two folds about her.
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