Chapter 4 Money, The Genesis Of Bullshit

• TALIA
• I was in the dressing room with the dress and make-up experts when the house butler walked in to warn those who were working on me to Jayden's best taste that their time was limited.
• "Mr Cross says we have five more minutes."
• He announced professionally and stepped out of the room, and I couldn't help, but scoff at the order and the pace at which everyone seemed to double up their efforts on just the one word of that man, who was my husband.
• He just gave orders however he liked, with no regards whatsoever to whom it may concern. Not even if it were his own wife.
• I mean, I was having a nap peacefully in my bedroom, when one of the workers had walked in on me, waking me, interrupting my sleep to tell me that we had barely thirty minutes as my husband wanted me to come with him for an impromptu interview at the headquarters of his firm - basically, it was something about promoting his latest design for his company. Of course, as his woman and popularly known to the world, as his beloved wife, I had to be there to 'support' him, and with no questions asked.
• I had barely a minute or so to adjust to my wake, before I was being surrounded by a multitude of workers who were desperately trying to get enough work done on me within the thirty minutes that that inconsiderate man, Jayden Cross, had demanded that they get me ready and dressed for the occasion.
• "Bullshit." I cursed under my breath, and didn't mind if the workers heard me or not. After all, I was his wife. I had the right to grumble and groan at least when circumstances did not favour me. They didn't. It is what it is.
• "You're all set, Mrs Cross," One of the women had said after her last touch ups, and as part of procedure, one of them had stepped up to me to aid me to 'walk down the aisle' to present myself to my waiting husband.
• "I am not crippled." I snapped at her as soon as the tips of her fingers grazed my skin, and without a second look back at her, I took control of myself by myself and started to bring myself downstairs to meet Jayden Cross.
• Of course, not a single one of them followed me after it was clear that I didn't want them to.
• They wouldn't bring themselves to have such audacity.
• And with my head held high, I strode out of the room, and around the large mansion that seemed to have no ends, took the elevator, and was soon downstairs where Jayden was allegedly sitting in the limo, waiting for me.
• Another man on uniform, who stood guard by the poles that barricaded the entrance of the large mansion, and a second one who rushed up to me from the side of the large fountain in the center of the mansion space - as though he was asked to look after the statue of Jayden Cross that stood the middle of the overflowing body of water that rushed into the clear, blue water - rushed up to me, immediately, to walk by my side as though I was a queen that needed entourage.
• This was beyond unnecessary. But what could I do? If I sent them away, they would stand at the dire risk of losing their jobs forever.
• So, I let them, on the condition that they walked with my pace - Fast and efficient, and clearly with a goal to get this nonsense over with as soon as possible.
• And they had stopped when they got to the Limo and one out of the dozens of bodyguards that surrounded Jayden's million dollar ride, helped to open the door for me, while one of the two men behind me proceeded to take my hand and lead me into the limo.
• Dear Mr Jayden Cross clearly made sure they overdid everything over here.
• But, I mean, who could fault him? He made that much money, so I guess he chose to spend it however he wanted to, right? Asshole.
• "The time says 1:31pm."
• That was the first thing that came out of his mouth as soon as I got into the car, and I was in the process of settling in properly so I pretended that I did not hear what he just said.
• "They were late by a minute," He carried on nonetheless and I fought the urge to scoff at him. "Simply, they will have to suffer the consequences of their actions and there are no two ways about it. Right, Talia?"
• He expected me to answer.
• I didn't.
• "Mrs Cross." He called me.
• His deep voice was stern and had the slightest edge to it.
• "When I speak to you, you show me some respect by looking at my face and politely responding." He ordered in a hard, demanding voice.
• I bit upon my lower lip, and fixed myself to hold back an explosion of irrational words at him.
• "Am I understood?" He said to me.
• I sighed in exasperation and forced myself to turn and look at the stern, handsome face of Jayden Cross as I mouthed audibly to his hearing and satisfaction, two words, "Yes, sir."
• "Good." He sounded just as satisfied as I expected him to.
• And with one hell of an ego and an attitude that reeked of pride and dominance at its most toxic state, Jayden Cross nodded at my submissiveness, turned his face away from me, and looked ahead, afar on, with a look of satisfaction and pride lingering there in those hazel eyes of his that I hated to admit were charming.
• Those eyes, especially, had half the women of this city, worshipping at his feet. That, and the fact that he had money that could feed over fifty generations to come.
• But sadly, a man like Jayden Cross was not looking for Love. He was looking for more money, more fame, and more slaves.
• I watched this man and wondered how comfortable he was making everyone around him be at his feet. I wondered how he prided in the joy that he was in control of people's lives, just because he worked for them. Or as in my case, just because, I made him look good. I made his business look good. He took from people, but gave nothing back.
• I absolutely hated him.
• I really did.
• But I had to tolerate him.
• "Where were you last night?" I asked the man and for a moment, it seemed like he did not hear my question.
• However, shortly seconds after, he turned to look at me, and there was the most intimidating arc in one of his thick, dark brows as he looked at me as though I was dirt.
• I almost regretted asking, and I wasn't sure why. I hated him. I didn't love him. But, there was something about Jordan going out to see other women that didn't sit right with me. It made me feel disrespected. Those women would think I was stupid. All because Jayden didn't care about how his private actions would make his wife look.
• We did agree on this, and there were terms and conditions in our contract that let us both see other people. However, since the day we got together, I hadn't been with any other man besides him. I didn't expect him to reciprocate as that was not our agreement, so I didn't understand why I was querying him for it.
• "Since when do I owe you an explanation for my whereabouts, Mrs Cross?" He asked me back, with a tone that almost hinted at amusement and a tad bit of offence in it.
• I didn't give an answer yet and he zeroed in his eyes at me and tilted his head to stare at me as he supposedly waited for me to give an answer.
• "Sorry," I apologized and didn't even understand why. "It was a stupid question to ask."
• "I agree." He calmly nodded to what I said and looked away on that note.
• All throughout the ride, there was a silence between us, and it was anything, but comfortable. However, I learned to cope with it. Jayden and I never talked in private. Unless he was trying to remind me of the terms of our marriage contract or reprimand me for behaving in a way I didn't like, then, he sure had a lot to say. Asides that, we were total strangers.
• Needless to say, as much as I always tried my best to convince myself that I had a reason for coping with his dirty and constant attitude, I often felt cheap. No matter how many reasons I gave as an excuse to myself for doing this, at the end of the day, I was still doing it for one thing and one thing alone.
• Money.
• It was all money.
• Money wasn't just the root of all evil. It was clearly also the genesis of bullshit.
• In a way no one would love to admit, it made a girl lose her self respect.
• In this case, I was that girl.
• We got to the Headquarters of Quinton - the company that my husband, Jayden Cross was known to be the owner and CEO of, and I didn't need anyone to tell me that indeed, today was a whole show, because the crowd here was overwhelming.
• The building of the Headquarters was very large and may have contained even more acres of land than Jayden's mansion, and it had its walls made of asphalt, steel and glass, and with a colour theme of white and blue that was evenly distributed to give the building a nice pleasant look. I had to admit that it was not too shabby.
• There was also so much going on. There were people who were bound behind crowd control stanchions, tugging at the ropes and trying to get in, while some guards who were nearby tried to keep the crowd in order. Around the building, and not unbound by the ropes, were well known faces that were recognized as part of Jayden's team, and as the guards had helped the both of us to step out, we were deafened by screams of excited fans and blinded with bright, sincerely fake smiles thrown at us from the members of Jayden's team that were predominantly men.
• "Hold my hand and pretend to everyone that you're happy." Jayden whispered an order to me, and I obliged without questions asked.
• He took my hand in his, and I let my lips spread out in a huge smile as I walked hand in hand, step by step with the man that I claimed to the public that I absolutely loved with all my heart.
• The guards were active all around us, trying to wade off the media who tried with all efforts to get in our faces as they belted out so many insane questions that hovered around Jayden's new design and our 'perfect' love life, and there were so many camera flashes all around me that I thought I would be blinded in a minute. It was madness. It was madness all around me....
• But the whole show was just beginning.