Reject My Alpha President (Iris and Arthur) novel Chapter 5

Arthur POV

I woke up in my office lounge, my neck stuck to the leather and my whole body cold. My mouth tasted like stale champagne and way too much small talk.

A gentle knock on my office door got me sitting up on the couch. “Come,” I said.

My assistant, a solid beta named Jose, entered my office and smiled. “Congratulations, sir. The news is buzzing about your engagement to Selina Willford. You’re being called the perfect couple!”

I smiled and thanked him, all the while silently cursing Selina for deciding on her own to tell the world about us. She’d kept the news of our betrothal to herself for years, but she couldn’t have waited a couple days so I could break the news to Iris?

“I’ll bring you some coffee,” Jose said before turning to walk out.

I was going to tell him to bring a pot when he suddenly came back, holding my personal phone.

“Sir, I rejected Iris’s call earlier, like usual, but I think you need to take a look at this….”

I always had Jose filter my personal calls when I was working. If he thought it was important, it must be.

I started to feel a little uneasy. What had happened with Iris?

I grabbed the phone from him, and my heart sank as I saw the message from Iris: Let’s break up now.

“What the hell?” I growled, hackles raising. Was this some sort of joke? Break up?

I quickly called her back, but the phone went to voicemail. What was Iris thinking? What was she doing?

I ended up grabbing a cup of coffee from Jose’s hand as I rushed out of the office. “Get my car!” I called back to him.

I made it outside and waited for the car to be pulled around. Standing there, I dialed Iris again and again ended up with voicemail.

“Iris,” I said into the phone, “call me back immediately. I’m on my way home now.”

The car arrived, and I got behind the wheel with a low growl. I couldn’t drive in a panic. It was bad enough I was being seen in a formal shirt and tuxedo pants in public in the morning. I looked like I was taking a walk of shame.

No, I told myself, there was no way Iris really wanted to break up. I wasn’t going to marry her, true, but I was still rich and powerful, and she needed someone to help with that baby she was insisting on having.

No, she would be there at home waiting for me, and when I got there we would talk. I would make her see reason, offer her more money, and everything would be find.

I said it aloud in the car: “Everything will be fine. I’ll explain, and it will all be fine.”

Money. I knew that was the key. Iris had many wonderful qualities, and she was by some cosmic joke my fated mate, but I knew money was her top priority.

We’d met at a restaurant when she’d come to my table and asked if I wanted something to drink to get lunch started. I’d looked up and known, and she’d done pretty much the same. Fortunately, I’d been dining alone.

In those early days when we were getting to know each other, I’d come to the restaurant often enough to become a “regular,” often getting kidded by other servers about my relationship with Iris, who had told me she was an art student.

About two weeks in, I’d been sitting at my usual table waiting for her when I heard her talking in the passage between the kitchen and the dining area. She hadn’t known I was there yet, and they were all congratulating her on “landing” such a catch. Many of them had artistic careers, mostly actors, and they were talking about how I could support her.