A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 51: A word with Curtis

Lara found it hard to concentrate at work. Fear crawled up her spine in a steady trickle, and no matter how much she tried to suppress it, the fear kept rising.

She could not work. Her heart pounded violently against her chest. How did Tolu find out that she was pregnant for Curtis?

And what exactly had she meant by saying that her safe haven was going to crumble?

Knowing Tolu, Lara knew she was probably going to do something terrible about the information, but for the life of her, Lara could not think of a single thing that woman could do to her.

Curtis was powerful. He was rich. He had influence. He had bodyguards. There was no way Tolu could get past his defenses to harm her, right?

But still, Lara was worried. Her work rate was slow and sluggish, and by the time the sun slipped behind the clouds, she was exhausted.

Curtis instantly knew that something was wrong the moment he saw Lara’s expression. Her eyes were blank and tired, and her posture made it obvious that she was mentally as well as physically exhausted.

She managed to give him a small smile as she got into the car, but apart from that, she said nothing.

Curtis felt a slight thud in his chest.

"Lara. Are you okay? Is anything the issue?" he asked, his voice soft and calm.

She nodded to indicate that nothing was wrong, but Curtis had known her long enough to know that she was lying.

He turned to face her fully and reached out to take both of her hands in his.

"Talk to me, please. Did anything happen at work? Was it something somebody said? Do I need to fire anybody?" he asked again, and the concern in his voice was so deep that Lara had to smile to ease his increasing worry.

"No, no. You don’t have to fire anybody. It’s just... something did happen. But I feel stupid to bring it up before you. I feel like I might be overreacting, but what if I am not? The entire thing is so... exhausting," she said.

Curtis did not like the underlying tremor of fear in her words, nor did he like how small she sounded.

He squeezed her hands gently.

"You are not overreacting or overthinking anything. But even if you were, I will not judge you. Your feelings are very valid, and I support whatever it is you’re feeling at the moment. Now, please tell me what is going on. You’re scaring me, Lara."

The words slipped past Curtis lips and settled in around Lara. Something loosened in her chest at how honest, how raw and unashamed he was.

In that moment, Lara came to the realisation that Curtis truly cared about her. And the thought made her warm.

Her shoulders slumped with resignation, and she decided to tell him about her encounter with Mike and Tolu.

Curtis listened patiently to every word she said. She told him about the first encounter at the elevator and how disgusted she had felt when Mike held her hand and Tolu accused her of being a thief.

His anger started to rise as she explained that she had run into them earlier that morning and when she got to the part where Tolu called her a slut who slept with him just to land a job, Curtis’ anger crested and exploded.

His eyes blazed with unmasked anger and Lara narrowed her eyes at him when she noticed how enraged he was. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"This is why I was not planning to tell you anything. You get angry so easily," she said and there was a reprimand in her voice.

Curtis let go of her hands and leaned back on his car seat.

"How can I not be pissed, Lara? Those two idiots are overstepping their boundaries. If only you had listened to me before you started working, I would have fired both of them and none of this would have happened," he stated harshly.

Lara glared at him.

"You love firing people a lot, don’t you? You don’t have to sink to their level, Curtis. They don’t bother me that much," she shrugged.

Curtis snorted.

"Of course they bother you. Why else would you be acting like this?" he countered.

"I am not bothered by their presence in the company. I am bothered by Tolu’s sudden awareness of my private life and the comment where she said something about my safe haven crumbling. I have a feeling that she is going to do something terrible."

Curtis sighed. He reached out to pat her shoulders in a gentle manner.

"Don’t worry, Lara. You have nothing to be worried about. At least not now that I am aware of what is going on. I am going to deal with them both," he said firmly.

Lara raised her eyebrows at them.

"By firing them?" she asked with a hint of disapproval in her voice.

Curtis gave her a small, mysterious smile.

"Oh no. There are better ways to deal with them. You don’t have to worry yourself. I am here to take care of you, remember?"

Lara sighed and leaned her head on the headrest of her seat.

"Just... promise me that you will not do anything stupid. Or rash," she said.

"That depends on your definition of stupid, but fine. I will not."

"Good. Can we go home now? I am too tired and all I want is to sleep," she said.

Curtis started the car and started to drive out of the company’s garage.

The both of them had been too lost in their conversation to notice that there was someone else in the garage, who was lurking around their car.

What was worse was that the strange intruder had taken pictures of them, and had sent it to someone.

Curtis drove home with anger in his heart and resolve in his bones. He needed to find a way to stop that Tolu woman from causing Lara any stress.

But to do that, he would have to comprise on his promise to Lara not to do anything stupid.

It wasn’t a stupid decision, at least according to him. What he wanted to do was make sure Tolu learnt that there was consequences to messing with his wife.

And that those consequences were hard, brutal ones.