A Blind Marriage On Paper

Chapter 14

After the meeting, Ingo asks everyone to leave except Doug. Ingo walks over to the sofa and sits down, and points at a chair across from him. Doug is looking at him, confused.

“The other day at lunch. When I mention who my wife is, you get strangled. Is there something wrong with Jurnee that I’m not aware of?” Ingo looks at him, concerned.

“No, hell no, Jurnee is a good person. She always has been, that is, until you get on her bad side. If that ever happens, man, all I can say is watch out. That woman doesn't play around.” Doug points at him.

Ingo is rubbing his chin and looking confused now.

Doug laughs. “Oh, I see. To be honest, I was shocked as hell when you said she was your wife. Jurnee got engaged when we were in high school. I thought she would be living in Saudi Arabia by now full-time. That’s all. I’ll give you your props. Man, I don’t know what you did to win her from Prince Salman. But my hat goes off to you.”

“What do you mean by living in Saudi Arabia full-time now?” Ingo folds his arms.

“She and the Prince visit each other a lot. He would come here, and she would go there. s**t, they couldn't get enough of one another. We would be in school, and a limo and four SUVs would come out of nowhere. Big ass bodyguards would step out of the SUV. Then the Prince would get out. Jurnee would run and jump into his arms. s**t, those two would kiss so damn long before coming up for air. He would attend her classes with her as if he were a student there. Man, you should ask your wife about that. I might have talked too much already.” Doug stood up to leave.

“Thanks.” Ingo's jaw was tense, and his eyebrows scrunch together thinking about her making love to Salman. "Last night, it seems my wife forgot to mention his ass and their relationship."

"Surprise," his mother and father walked into his office. "We came to meet our daughter-in-law, but we missed her by a few minutes."

Ingo didn’t know that she had left the building since they rode to work together. He's wondering where she went.

“We’ll meet her soon. We came to discuss Brynn Ackles with you, but it appears that a few things have changed.” His father sits down.

"Tell us about Jurnee." his mother sits beside him and hands him the bouquet of roses she had cut from her garden.

Ingo tells them she moved in but is sleeping in the guest room. He frowned when he said the guest room. She's a wonderful singer and dancer. He must say that he was surprised that she cooked a rack of lamb, which is his favorite. Ingo tells them about the incident in the gym and the two guards this morning.

His parents look at their son’s nostrils flaring.

****

Jurnee and Cisley walk into the office of Bobby Grieg. He looks to be in his early forties and wearing a wrinkled shirt and pants. She introduces Cisley and then herself as Jurnee DePaiva. CEO of DePaiva Enterprise. Jurnee didn't want him to know that she was married to Ingo. At least not yet.

Bobby held his hand out for the money. But only got an angry stare looking at him. “I'm sure you really didn't believe I would pay you for printing lies. Bobby, you’re going to give me the information that I want. If not, you’re looking at one nasty ass civil lawsuit. Even if I lose, I would appeal it and let it drag out for years. Nor is the cost any concern to me. I can afford it. Can you say the same? Since your name will be in the news and in the papers. A more reliable newspaper, of course. You would never get another job as a reporter again." She looks around his office and then at him.

He chuckles. “Yeah, I've been threatened before. Tell me something new.”

Jurnee chuckles. "A person like you, I'm sure you have been threatened hundreds, maybe thousands of times. But not by me."

“Damn, you just f**k up,” Cisley mumbles.

“Let’s see. Now you're married to Lori Darrow. She's the daughter of an attorney at Waits and Hodges. Washington Darrow is her father, if I'm not mistaken. How would your father-in-law react if you were the reason the firm he works for loses its biggest client?” Since I know his employers, they would more than likely fire Washington." Jurnee crosses her legs and unwraps a piece of gum. But is looking at him.

He narrows his eyes, looking at her. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“The article regarding Ingo Vaughan is marrying Brynn Ackles. Who gave you that lie?” Jurnee is looking at him, waiting for an answer. He seems to be hesitating. “Looks as if I’ll be making that call.” She reaches into her purse for her phone.

“No, wait. It was Brynn Ackles. She sent me the pictures and paid me two thousand dollars. She said it was a joke.” He laughs.

Jurnee frowns. “Well, I’m not laughing. I don’t see anything funny about looking at your husband on the front page of this crap you all print. I also want a retraction in tomorrow's paper. If not, your father-in-law will be out of a job before noon. If this happens again, I’ll buy this dirtbag place and fire your ass. By the way, make sure you spell my name correctly when you write the retraction. It's spelled Jurnee Vaughan. That’s J, U, R, N, E, E."

"Yes, ma'am, I got it." He's writing her name on a notepad.

Jurnee is walking to the door. "Bobby, don't ever print anything about my husband again. Next time, I won't be talking. If you get my drift?” She pats her purse and doesn't look at him.

As soon as Jurnee and Cisley leave, he picks up the phone to call Brynn. But she doesn’t answer. “f**k this s**t. If Father or Lori gets wind of this bullshit. I’ll be out on the street." Bobby starts writing the retraction.

When they are in the car, Cisley looks at Jurnee. “Is his father-in-law firm really the company's attorney?”

“Nope, I never said it was. He assumed I was speaking about my father’s company." She put the gum in her mouth.

Cisley laughs. "Damn, you're good."

*****

Salman is standing in the middle of the court, thinking about the day he proposed to Jurnee in the middle of it. His mother was walking toward him, but stopped when she heard him whisper, “Juju, I love you.” Then his phone rang. Nazya knew who it was when he said Juju. He walked away, talking to Jurnee on the phone.

Nazya sits down, covers her face, and cries for the two young lovers who won’t ever be together. A few minutes later, Salman walks over to her and sees her crying. “Mother, don't cry for Juju and me. We have done enough of that ourselves. It’s amazing how she and I are still connected. Yes, I know that I will marry soon. I will never mistreat my wife or wives. “ He frowns. "I'm sure you will pick a nice young lady. Juju and I must go on and adjust to being with someone else. It hurts me when I think of another man who might end up touching her. But that's something that I have no control over.“ He looks at his mother. “Don’t worry. I'll fulfill my family obligations. It doesn’t mean that I will forgive my father and grandfather. I have something in store for them when I become king.” He walks away.

She wipes her tears. “Muhammad, why did you listen to your father? Sazin has always looked out for himself. When we were courting, you had your own ideas on the way to rule. But you ended up being your father.” Nazya takes a deep breath and looks at her son walking Abd(eternity) Jurnee’s Arabian horse he gave her last year on her birthday.

Sazin had witnessed everything, but he wasn't in hearing range. He's looking at the horse. "Maybe we should eliminate everything that reminds him of Jurnee." He waves two men over and whispers to them.

Both men nod their heads but look at each other with concern. They know how ruthless Sazin can be. But to turn against your Future King isn't setting while with them.

"I'm doing what is best for my country. Salman will thank me one day." Sazin mumbles, looking at his grandson. "Yes, you will. This is just a temporary anger that you have."

*****

Jurnee returns to her office, wipes the tears off her cheek, and checks her makeup. Ingo knocks on the door as he opens it and looks at her, concerned. Faun told him that she thought his wife was crying. “Are you okay?”

She looks up at him and puts her compact in her purse. “Yes, just allergies."

He’s still looking at her with concern as he walks over to her desk. “Do you need anything?’

“No, I’ll be fine.” She looks up at him.

Ingo could see that she had been crying. But he didn’t push it. “My parents came by to meet you, but you were out. My mother brought these for you. They're from her garden,” he said, handing her the roses.

She smelled the flowers. “They’re beautiful. I’ll call her or maybe have lunch with her to thank her. Yes, Cisley and I had to meet a man to set the record straight on a few things.” Jurnee opens up a file on the computer to read.

“Oh, okay. I was wondering if we had plans tonight. If not, Griffin wanted me to join him for a drink after work.” Ingo is looking around her office. He notices there aren’t any pictures of her with her mother.

She shook her head while still smelling the roses. “Have fun.”

“I’ll take an Uber home.” He’s laying the car key on her desk.

“Okay, but I don’t need the key to your car. Cisley and I might go out for a while, too.” She hands him the key.

Ingo is looking at her. He doesn’t like the idea of her going out without him. Not the way men are always desiring her. “I’ll be home by nine. Maybe you and I can have some delicious dessert you made last night.”

“That would be nice,” Jurnee smiles and opens a water bottle.

He walks out of her office. “Nini was definitely crying about something. I wonder who in the hell upset my wife.” He's thinking while walking to his office. Ingo doesn't realize that Griffin is behind until he's in his office.

"Man, we need to celebrate signing that contract with Doug for sure. That is, if you can come out to play,” Griffin smirks and tilts his head a little, looking at Ingo.

Ingo gives him a stern look’ Just what do you mean by that lame statement?”

“Well, you’re the one who had to be home for dinner last night because your wife told you to,” Griffin chuckles.

Ingo sits down. “Oh, I see. Because I went home to spend time with my wife, that makes me an asshole; I call it respecting my wife's wishes. Now, if you have a problem with that, that’s on you. If you still want to go out for a few drinks, I’m fine with that.”

"Damn, man, I was only joking," Griffin laughed.

"Well, don't be joking around about Nini." Ingo leaned back in his chair, wondering why she was crying.

"Nini? Damn, what is wrong with his ass?" Griffin is wondering and is confused as hell.