Chapter 16: Magazines & Case

A few days had passed since the whole restaurant situation, Amoy and Darius had barely seen or spoken to each other as

Amoy buried herself in work and Darius stayed in his room for hours and hours. William and Xavier had run out of ideas because it was already a struggle to get the two to catch feelings for each other, but now they had to find out how to get both of them to talk to each other.

Both the men watched Darius as he ate his breakfast and read the newspaper catching up on the latest problems going on around the world, the biggest problem going on for him right now was trying to get Amoy out of his mind, but he couldn't. Her smile, her eyes, her smell, everything about her was stuck in his mind. "Darius, how are—" William didn't even get to finish his sentence before Amoy came storming downstairs, she placed a magazine in front of Darius. "Read it." That was all she said walking to the kitchen. He closed the newspaper he was reading and took up the magazine, eyes scanning the page.

It was the same picture of him and Emerald she had shown him at the restaurant, the caption was, 'Amoy Tyler's Husband has a mistress?' He sighed at how wrong everyone had the situation.

"This is not true, Emerald is just a friend." He told her for the 100th time as he watched her pour the orange juice she had taken from the fridge, into a glass cup.

"So you keep telling me, but that picture is telling a different story." She states William and Xavier moved over to Darius looking into the magazine curiously, wondering if that was the reason they hadn't been talking to each other. William's eyes met Xavier's as an idea sparked in his head, he pulled him to the side explaining his idea to him while Darius got out of his chair taking the magazine with him as he went to the kitchen where she stood, he handed her the magazine. "What can I do to convince you otherwise?" He asked her softly, she forced herself not to look into his eyes knowing how much they affected her and right now she needed to think straight.

"You don't need to convince me, my opinion doesn't matter. You need to convince everyone that the picture was a misunderstanding." He wanted to place his hand against her cheek so he could feel her soft skin against his palm but he thought against it.

"Then what can I do to convince them?" And you, he wanted to add but didn't bother. "My company wants us to do a photoshoot together, they want us to be the face of the company." He raised his eyebrow, utterly confused.

"Why do they want me to be the face of the company, you started?" It actually warmed her heart to hear him say that. She sighed, there he goes again making her feel things she didn't want to feel, Amoy thought bitterly.

"Some of our male clients are unhappy with working with me because I'm a woman." He rolled his eyes. "They aren't worth your time if they're more focused on her gender than your business." He states she wanted to groan in frustration how the hell could she stay mad at him when he was so sweet. Why was she even made in the first place?

"Thank you. So will you do it?" He nods looking down at her, he had realized she was avoiding his gaze at all cost. "I will." She closed the magazine not wanting to see the image of him with Emerald as she moved it aside.

"Good. Go get dressed, wear a suit. I have to get ready too." He watched as she left him alone in the kitchen.

"You have feelings for my daughter, don't you." William states, this was the idea he had thought of earlier even though it was easy, he had a feeling it would as Darius blushed slightly not needing to think about it, as 'yes' was the first thing that came into his mind but he pushed back that voice knowing better than to listen to it.

"No, she's just...." He trailed off not knowing what to call their relationship.

Amoy opened her room door letting in Xavier, "What did you need, Xavier?" She asked him going to her closet, he followed her inside, eyes scanning her clothes. "Do you like Darius?" Her hands froze turning towards him.

"Why do you ask?" He shrugs like he and William didn't have double agenda.

"I'm just curious, you seemed very upset about the picture with him and Emerald." She sighed continuing her search for an outfit for the shoot. "It's not a good look for me if my husband is cheating on me. Of course, I was upset I don't want people to cast me pity glances at every event I go to." She told him, trying to convince herself there wasn't another reason, that the feeling of irritation was just because he made her look like a fool in front of the public eye.

"If you say so, I'll let you get dressed." Xavier left the room disappointed but not surprised. He would be lying if he said he thought it was going to be easy to make Amoy fall in love with Darius, he knew she was closed off and kept her distance from everyone, but he thought Darius could break down her high walls, or at least climb over them.

Emerald sat in the Atwoods' office, feeling a heavy weight on her shoulders as she stared at the magazine in front of her.

"You're doing a good job, Emerald." Oscar praised her as if manipulating a marriage was something to be proud of.

"Can I go now?" Faith sent her a smile that made her frown. "Don't be such a downer, we're only just getting started." Emerald's frown grew deeper not liking this one bit. "Don't be so surprised, the minute you started dating my son is the minute you became our puppet."

"Who made you this way?" Emerald asked her softly, Faith shrugged. "Life, I didn't get anything for free, I had to take and if people get hurt in the process then too bad and if you don't have any more questions you can go." She stood from her chair sending the couple a look of hatred before leaving the room.

"Do you think she's gonna tell him?" Faith asked her husband pouring a bottle of whiskey in a glass as he shook his head,

"Emerald is a smart girl, she knows if she says anything, we'll bring down her and her family. What are you planning to do about the situation with Darius and Lin Tyler?" She took a sip of the whiskey before handing the rest to Oscar, he gladly drank it.

"I've sent Rogers to give our son what he needs to get back his job, I would have handled it personally, but I want to see if Darius has a mind of an Atwood." Oscar gave a gesture for her to explain. "Rogers left a package for him that has the information to bring down each member of the Tyler family. I'm curious to see what he does with them."

"He's an Atwood. He'll put them to good use." Her husband states, Faith nods.

They only could hope.

"Darius!" Xavier shouted from the living room, Darius immediately rushed downstairs worriedly, he was in a black suit, his tie undone and his hair a little messy. "Are you ok?" The butler nods getting up from the couch, taking a black case with him handing it to Darius.

"This came for you." This made him confused, but also curious who was it from? His parents hadn't contacted him since he left. "Who brought it here?" Xavier merely shrugged handing him a piece of paper that said. 'FOR DARIUS TYLER'

"It was just outside the back gate, the gardener saw it and brought it to me. The cameras didn't catch the person who left it." He explained, Darius looked up from the case sending him a soft smile.

"Oh ok, thank you." He went up to his room, ready to open the case but it had a combination, a sigh left him, knowing it would now be a struggle to open the case. He was ready to try every possible answer but the sound of Amoy's voice stopped him.

"Darius, we leave in 10 minutes." He placed the case under his bed responding with an 'Ok'

He guessed he had to try after the shoot since he didn't want to take up Amoy's time, knowing she was already stressed with this whole situation with him and Emerald.

End Of Chapter 16: Magazines & Case

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