The Love Affair(Good Wife Better Mistress)

His Obsession

Conrad sits in his study and stares at the blue glow of his computer screen. A video of Nicole plays over and over: he watches her walking through the streets and getting into a Land Rover. A drone flies over the Land Rover, and he watches the black car pull up outside an elaborate metal gate. The car drives in, and a bodyguard looks up and points at the drone. The drone rises in the air and flies away, and the video goes black.

Conrad sighs and pours more amber liquid into his cup. He swirls it and inhales deeply—enjoying the spiced vanilla smell of the rum. He rubs his chest and feels the frantic beat of his heart. Even a video of Nicole has his heart rate out of control. If I get her , I'll never let go of her , he thinks.

A bodyguard knocks at the door and enters. The man looks confused, and he keeps looking down at his feet.

"Mr. Conrad, Mr. Romano sent a gift to you," the guard says. "If you look out the window, you'll be able to see it."

Conrad jumps to his feet and jerks the heavy curtains open. The dim evening light fills the room and cast strange shadows in the dark corners. Conrad looks out the window and sees a large metal cage. A black chimpanzee wraps her arms around the steel bars and bares her yellowed teeth. The animal looks up and locks eyes with Conrad, and then pouts her hairy lips into a kiss. She beats her chest and makes an obscene gesture with her hand.

Conrad smiles at the animal. He's not sure why Alex has sent him a chimp, but he's amused by the animal's strange behavior. I wonder if Alex trained her to act that way, Conrad thinks. Honestly, I wouldn't put that sort of trick past him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Conrad," the bodyguard says. "Mr. Romano also sent you an email."

Conrad grabs his phone and opens his emails. Immediately he sees a strange apelike face with his eyes in it. Alex has a captioned photo, "your baby." Conrad scrolls down and sees a picture of a cute smiling baby. The caption reads, "my baby."

conrad.laughs and tosses the phone to his bodyguard. "Send Mr. Romano a photo of Nicole's baby and me," he says.

"How about the chimpanzee?" the guard asks, "What should we do with it?"

Conrad shrugs. "Let it loose or send it to a zoo, whatever you think is best," he says. "Anyway, how's the forest reconstruction project going?"

"It will be finished in less than a week," the guard says.

Conrad has been carefully studying the forests and mountains surrounding Misty Mansion. He wants to make it even harder to get to, and he's devised a series of secret passages and traps. for when he has Nicole , Conrad's men have been out in the woods working to make the mansion a true fortress.

"What's my grandfather up to these days?" Conrad asks.

"He's currently in Monaco with Mr. Francis Romano," the guard says.

"Francis Romano?" Conrad groans, but he's not surprised.

His grandfather is a direct descendant of one of the country's founding fathers. The Meyer and Romano family go back a long way. In fact, the Meyers, Romano, and Newmans are considered to be the three most powerful and influential families.

Francis Romano is an ambitious man, and rumors suggest he wants to run for political office soon. If we want to succeed as a leader of the country, he'll need the support of the Newmans and Meyers. But if he manages to gain power, Alex will become even more unbeatable than he already is.

Mr. Oliver is Conrads' godfather. Many people seem to think that Mr. Oliver prefers Conrad to his own son—Jackson Meyer. According to the rumor mill, Mr. Oliver thinks that Jackson is too young and irresponsible to take over the family legacy.

A loud horn blares outside the window, and Conrad looks down. A beautiful woman sits in an open-topped red Jeep and leans on the horn. The chimpanzee goes crazy with the sound and jumps from side to side in her cage. The woman laughs.

"Conrad, good to see you," Chanel Ambrose says, waving up at the window.

"Who let her in?" Conrad asks, rubbing his temple.

"Your mother, sir," the guard replies. "She's really worried about your health, apparently."

Conrad pours himself another glass of rum and chugs it down. Chanel is always a headache. He hears her high heels clicking on the stairs, and he rubbed his temples.

"My dear  friend, why didn't you come down to welcome me?" Chanel asks.

"I don't feel well," Conrad says.

"Oh, I know, and it's just terrible," Conrad says. "But where are your servants? Why aren't they here caring for you right now? your Mom was right. You definitely should not be living out in this godforsaken forest, in this horrible gloomy house all by yourself. What will we do if something happens to you?"

Conrad shakes his head and reaches for the bottle of rum, but Chanel slaps his hands away.

"Sit down, Conrad" she says. "Let me look at your wound. I just took a course on all that, and I'm like an expert bandage now."

Chanel pulls Conrad to the sofa and forces him to sit down. He closes his eyes and silently curses his mother. How can I make her go away right now? He wonders. A servant rushes into the room with a medical kit, and Chanel rips his shirt open.

Conrad opens his eyes in time to see his doctor rushing in, but Chanel waves the middle-aged man away.

"I'll handle it," she says. "I know what I'm doing."

She carefully unwraps the gauze from his chest and looks at the surgical site.

"This really isn't healing the way it should be," she says.