Generous Offer

Kimberly had different thoughts running through her mind as Melanie's driver, who had driven her to the club, drove her back to the mansion.

Kimberly rested her head against the window as she thought about Melvin's harsh rejection.

She couldn't for the life of her understand why he was still so mad at her despite the fact that she had apologized to him back then after they had cleared the misunderstanding.

Why was he so set on not forgiving her? It wasn't like their relationship had been a real one in the first place, and she had broken his heart.

And if he knew he wasn't going to forgive her or let her back into his life, why had he kept leading the media on these past three years and making them believe they were still in a relationship? What exactly did he want from her?

She shook her head when it occurred to her that she was asking herself the wrong questions. Her question right now ought to be: what could she do about her mess now?

How was she going to get the money for the settlement of the lawsuit against her Blog?

Never in a million years would she have thought she would find herself in a situation where she would be this desperately in need of anyone's help or be at Melvin's mercy.

If only she had the gift of foresight, three years ago, when Melanie, Melvin's late mom, had offered her and her sister some of the company's shares as compensation for what happened to their late father, she would have accepted it, then and saved herself the embarrassment of having to deal with Melvin again.

But then again, how would she have ever known that three years down the line, she would make the mistake of hiring an idiot who lacked basic ethics of journalism and would accept money from anonymous sources to publish unverified rumors?

What was more annoying was that she was the one facing the lawsuit and not her stupid employee who had run off the moment they were served the papers from the court.

If only Melvin's mother, Melanie, was still alive. If only she had not died some weeks ago, Kimberly thought sadly.

She knew that if Melanie were still alive, she would not have had to ask Melvin for help in the first place.

As a matter of fact, she had not even thought of asking Melvin for help initially.

It was just so unfortunate that the very day she had thought to reach out to Melanie had been the same day she received the call from Melanie's lawyer, informing her that Melanie was dead and telling her that she had to be present at Melanie's funeral as her presence was required for the reading of Melanie's Will.

Who would have thought that Melanie would die just some months after her last visit to her? Melanie had been so full of life six months ago.

Thinking about it again, Kimberly decided that it was possible that she could have been pretending to be healthy and fine.

It was very possible that she had known that she didn't have much time left; hence, she had sent her that invitation to come spend some time with her and talk about her and Melvin's strained relationship.

It also made sense that Melanie must have adjusted her Will after her last visit to her.

It didn't take a genius to know that Melanie had included her in the Will because she wanted to give her and Melvin a chance to resolve things.

She knew that Melvin knew it too, and that was probably why he was even more mad at her now.

How else could they explain the reason Melanie had Willed her mansion worth over millions of dollars to her and Melvin with the clause that they both spend a year living together in the mansion or lose it to charity?

Or how did it make sense that she had also left a clause in her Will stating that if Melvin wasn't married by the end of the year, the reins of the company should be handed over to someone else?

"We are here now," Melanie's chauffeur announced before going to open Kimberly's door.

"I told you you don't have to do this," Kimberly said as she got out of the car.

She couldn't help feeling uncomfortable with the way he was treating her.

"The late madam requested that we serve you like we served her," he said politely, and Kimberly sighed.

She knew that every one of them in the mansion was hoping that she and Melvin would be able to retain the mansion since losing it would mean they would also lose their source of livelihood if the place was to be given away to charity.

Perhaps she could talk to Melvin using that approach? Maybe he would feel sorry for them and agree to stay in the mansion with her if she reminded him that his refusal to honor his mother's wish of living with her in the mansion would make the innocent household staff lose their only means of livelihood.

Kimberly scowled when she remembered what he said about not getting married to her even if she was the last female on earth.

What did he mean by that? Did he think he was such a great catch himself? He should know she was also doing him a favor by offering to marry him in the first place.

She hadn't requested that they get married because she was head over heels in love with him. She had only done that because that way, they would get to live together under the same roof for a year, and he would fulfill his mother's condition of getting married within the year as well.

After their one year of living together was completed, and they sold the mansion or, he decided to pay her off so he would keep the mansion, she had planned to divorce him after getting her half of the money since he would have taken over the company by then.

She was being really generous with the marriage offer if he asked her since he had more to gain than she did. The only difference was that she was more desperate at the moment.