Entangled With The CEO Brothers

“Cameron, I …”

I lick my dry lips.

There was a growing clarity of promise in his gaze.

I’ll go with you …

The words keep playing on my lips.

I hold his hand tightly, still interlocking my fingers like before. We looked at each other in silence, a thousand words melting into the meeting of our eyes.

“Cameron, I …” When I finally got up the courage to say yes to him, my cell phone rang at that exact moment.

As soon as I answered the phone it was Willow’s voice with a sobbing tone.

“Ms. Laura, my dad is not doing well …”

My heart snapped up.

“What’s wrong? Take your time, don’t rush.”

“Wound infection.” She obviously suppressed her sobs, “Because the infection has started a high fever again, he is now in the first aid … The doctor said that he probably won’t be able to keep this arm … Even if he does, he will still be disabled in the future.”

My knees went weak and I almost fell on the ground.

“Ms. Laura …,” Willow called me softly, “are you listening?”

“Uh, I’m in.”

“I’m outside the emergency room, I’m so scared right now …”

“Don’t be scared.” I settled down, “I’m on my way!”

I hung up the phone and turned around.

Cameron yells behind me, I turn around and see his bleak face.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

My heart throbbed hard.

The rain was coming down faster and faster, and the sky was overcast like a dull gray curtain.

Perhaps my future with Cameron is like this sky, cloudy and never seeing the rainbow after the rain.

I swallowed back my tears, not daring to look into his eyes. “Cameron, I’m sorry … now I have to go and guard Rafael.”

He looked at me, half-heartedly, and laughed softly.

The laugh seemed to be self-deprecating.

“Go.” The temperature in his gaze receded, “Laura, from now on, we have nothing more to do with each other!”

I stood in stunned silence with a loud bang in my ears.

He turned away before I did. I will always remember his black trench coat that day, his whole body was wrapped in black, leaving alone in the cemetery in the rain. His back disappeared in the rain, disappearing in my blurred vision.

I bit my lip.

Cameron, goodbye.

I said softly in my heart.

It’s never going to happen again.

Rafael’s surgery on his left shoulder took a full five hours, and the best surgical specialists in the country came to Jerez State to consult with him and come up with an impeccable plan. The surgery was a success and he saved his left arm, but his left hand would never be the same.

The day he was discharged from the hospital I packed up his things while the doctor was giving him a final checkup.

“Reach forward with both hands and raise them up.” The doctor instructed.

Rafael did as he was told and I could see that his left arm was noticeably shorter than his right.

“Okay, take your time and bob up and down to see.”

Rafael continued to do this, his left arm moving with apparent slowness.

“Congratulations, Mr. Rafael.” The doctor smiles, “It’s a blessing to be back like this!”

“It’s not as flexible as it used to be, but it doesn’t affect your daily work. Doing more rehab exercises, coming in for follow-ups once a month, and taking your medication on time, it’s good to be able to maintain the status quo.”

“Thanks.” Rafael smiled softly.

Willow chimed in, “Dad, if you really amputate your arm this time, you’ll look like the one-armed warrior on TV!”

“What are you talking about, you brainless girl?”

“I’m saying …,” Willow pushed me towards Rafael with a cheeky grin, “Even if you lose your left arm, your Laura won’t mind you! ”

My face heats up slightly.

Rafael turns his gaze to me and smiles softly, as if with an apology in his eyes.

Willow ran toward the door, “Okay, okay, I don’t want to be a light bulb for you guys, I’m going to go get discharged … you guys have a good time for two!”

“This girl!” Rafael snorted lightly and looked at me, “Don’t bother with her.”

“Which I can.” I laughed, “Willow is adorable, she and I have been good friends for a long time.”

“Laura,” Rafael was silent for a long moment, “You’ll really marry me?”

I avoided his eyes and nodded softly.

“Cameron is not your brother.” He said softly, “That I already know. In that case … you are free to make your choice and I will honor it.”

“I made my choice a long time ago, Rafael,” I took his hand in mine, “From the moment you took that bullet for me, I made my choice.”

“If you’re blaming yourself because of guilt, then you don’t have to …”

“No.” I say the words with difficulty, “I was willing to follow you because you protected me with your life. I’m comfortable leaving the rest of my life’s happiness in your hands.”

Rafael looks at me and smiles softly.

“When are you moving in with me?” He asked in a low voice, “Or … we’ll buy another new house.”

“No, your house is fine.” I said, “But I don’t want to live together until we get married. I’m still living in my old apartment.”

He frowned, “The door to that apartment … Cameron can be opened too, right?”

“What do you mean by that? You’re doubting me?” I got a little down, “Rafael, since I chose you, there’s no way I’m going to stay in a relationship with another man!”

“Laura, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“You just don’t trust me!”

I turned my back, the string of events that had occurred over the past few days had frayed my nerves beyond belief.

It was as if I was a traveler with a heavy load, but I was deep in a quagmire, with more and more pressure on me, but I couldn’t get out of it.

“Laura,” a hand rested on my shoulder.

His tone softened, “It’s not that I don’t trust you … I admit, I’m a little jealous of Cameron. You’re my woman from now on, but between you and him …”

“You know everything between me and him, and there’s a child between me and him!”

“I’m not bothered about the past with you.” He sighed, “Laura, I just want you to be honest with me. We’re getting married after all, and we’re going to spend our lives together in the future, and I don’t want you to live with me with a knot in your heart.”

“I cherish you and I cherish this relationship …,” he said, “and I hope you do too.”

I take a deep breath.

Rafael says these things in an unassuming manner, with a little bit of doting indulgence, but without overindulging, and retaining a little bit of majesty, so that people don’t dare to cross that line.

For such a man I am very convinced.

He has a good sense of tension and relaxation, and uses both kindness and authority to keep everything under control.

In contrast, Cameron is much simpler, love is love, hate is hate, black and white …

I brought my thoughts back, trying my best to control myself from thinking about the name Cameron.

“Laura,” Rafael said softly, “still mad at me?”

I turned my face to look at him and went along with the step, “I’m not mad at you … but I must explain to you that I’ve decided to marry you, and there’s no more possibility with Cameron. He’s just my daughter’s father to me, nothing more.”

“I understand.” He pressed his forehead against mine, “I’m sorry for being tongue-tied earlier.”

I suddenly felt tired.

Two people are so careful even to say a word, they have to apologize for saying the wrong thing, so what should it be like to get along after marriage?

“You can live wherever you want until we get married, I won’t force it.” He said, “Even if Cameron goes to see Sunny, it’s still appropriate.”

“But … when are you going to bring Sunny to my place as well and we’ll have dinner together as a family? I want to cultivate a relationship with her too.”

I agreed, “No problem, just this weekend!”

“Good.”

Rafael sat up straight, still holding my hand lightly, and looked at me with a slight smile.

“What do you think about the wedding?”

I was stunned and answered truthfully, “I haven’t thought about a wedding, I want to keep it simple.”

“Keep it simple …”

He narrowed his eyes and mumbled repeating those four words. I couldn’t tell from his face whether he was happy or unhappy, the deep look made me feel strange inside.

“Fine, just do what you want.” He smiled faintly, “Laura, actually I would love to give you a grand wedding and let you marry me in style. But since you want to keep it simple, you have your own reasons, and I respect your wishes.”

I nodded and gave him a grateful smile.

I wanted to keep it simple, I just didn’t want to make it hard for Cameron.

“What about your career?” Rafael asked again, “Still want to continue?”

“Uh-huh.” I said, “I don’t want to be a housewife, I’m a man of leisure.”

He looked at me, “I guess being a star wasn’t enough.”

“I just think it’s good for a woman to have a career of her own, it’s kind of a spiritual support to slow down the aging process.”

He cracked a smile.

In his impression, women probably have long hair and short eyes, and looks are most important. Otherwise he wouldn’t have married a movie queen, then a Fryday, and finally found me.

And I think that serving a man with color will not last long.

Keeping this career is not only a spiritual support for myself, it’s also my financial source. More and more, I’m getting the feeling that I’m earning money to buy my own flowers, and that’s a good feeling.

Besides, I don’t want to rely on Rafael too much. Dependence would turn into dependence, and then he would control me, and I would never be able to get ahead.

After Rafael was released from the hospital, I returned to work.

I didn’t realize that he had asked George to arrange the best resources for me. Talk shows, variety shows, advertisements, movie and TV series contracts, all of them flew towards me like snowflakes.

And they were all high quality and big productions.

George even arranged for a specialized voice and dance teacher to teach me singing and dancing three times a week, in preparation for my future multi-disciplinary development.

However, at my advanced age of twenty-eight, I was really struggling to learn all this. So I asked my agent to help me put off these lessons.

Rumors started to spread around the company, “Laura is really something, she doesn’t even take the lessons that President George arranged for her!”

“She’s had big backers since she started! First it was Cameron, and now it’s Mr. Rafael … The looks aren’t exactly heavenly, but the level is really high!”

“That’s right, how can Fryday compete with her? In the future, I’m afraid Fryday will be reduced to carrying her shoes!”

I laughed at these rumors.

What’s the use of arguing? Instead of wasting time on these catty little things, I should concentrate on making myself stronger.

Rafael called to ask me to join him for dinner.

It was still at his private penthouse clubhouse, where the space was relatively private, and before I arrived, he’d ordered a tight security detail to make sure no surreptitious reporters would bother.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the old days when I was a reporter myself when I saw this array.

He saw me laughing lightly and asked in a low voice, “What’s so happy?”

I shook my head, “I just think it’s not easy for reporters, remembering when I used to be a reporter, the ones who chased after me weren’t celebrities, but they were all big shots, and for a piece of news, they also had to guard outside day and night like this, rain or shine.”

He did not respond, a moment, he reached out his left hand, gently holding my hand.

His left hand was still not dexterous, and the strength of his grip on me was also much smaller than before.

“In the future, I won’t let you suffer this kind of aggravation again.”

His voice was low, with a steady strength.

I was surprised, this is supposed to be reassuring, but why just now for a moment, a feeling of uneasiness flooded the bottom of my heart?

I saw the fixed brace still in place on his left shoulder after he took off his suit, and soon that uneasiness was buried by guilt.

“Does it still hurt?” I asked him.

He smiled and shook his head.

“I’m lucky I didn’t hurt my right hand. I usually use my right hand more, and this injury didn’t affect my daily life.”

“But after all, it is …” I paused and whispered, “falling into a lifelong disability.”

“You dislike me as a disabled person?”

“How!”

I raised my eyes and met his staring eyes.

My heart couldn’t help but flutter slightly.

He smiled and lowered his head to place a gentle kiss on the back of my hand. “Laura, from now on, I’ll be counting on you to take care of this handicapped person of mine.”

I pursed my lips and told him very solemnly, “Don’t worry.”

However, these two words were like a thousand-pound boulder pressing on my chest.

One by one, the waiters served the food, all of which were my usual favorites; Rafael was a meticulous man, and his subtlety was all in the smallest of details.

“I’ve heard some rumors.” He said.

I was stunned for a moment, “Are a lot of people saying that not only did I steal Fryday’s man, but that I’ll replace her in her career?”

“Heh,” he smirked, “You didn’t steal her man, she and I broke off our engagement first. But I wonder … if you’ll have any hard feelings toward me over Fryday?”

“How do you mean?”

He fell silent for a long moment and said softly, “I don’t want you to replace her in your career. She has her benefits.”

I froze, not knowing what he meant or what to feel inside at this moment.

“We’re about to become husband and wife, and there are some things I don’t want to keep from you.” He said, “I approached George privately and asked him to more or less lift up Fryday as well.”

“Oh.” I responded faintly.

Rafael looks at me cautiously, “Not mad, are you?”

“What am I mad about.” I smiled at him, “Don’t think of me as being so careful. I know you still have old feelings for Fryday and I can understand if you do.”

“It’s not old feelings, Laura …”

“No need to explain, I understand.” I put down my knife and fork and looked at him seriously, “You’re doing the right thing. Rafael, I also don’t want people to think that because I’m married to you, I have to stomp on your ex hard. If Fryday’s career does go down the drain, people who are looking at it will surely blame me for it, and I won’t be able to live with myself then.”

“So I agree with you.” I said, “It shows that you’re not only affectionate towards Fryday, but that you’ll look out for me. And I know that your feelings for Fryday right now are just out of concern for an old friend, right?”

Rafael surveys me for a long time, his gaze complex, moving his lips but saying nothing.

Finally he hooked the corners of his mouth in a smile that had some bitterness in it.

“Laura,” he said, “you’re very understanding and sociable. But if today, in Cameron’s place, you did this, would you still be so understanding and generous?”