Tristan's POV

I leaned my back into my chair, slowly massaging my neck. I had another busy week and so far, everything has been hectic. All everyone has managed to do is give excuses and I can't deal with incompetence.

My mind returned to the girl from two nights ago. What happened that night remains a mystery to me. I don't know why I can't remember anything from that night, surely, I would have remembered her. She was hard to miss, simply irresistible.

I needed to get her out of my thoughts, all she was after was my money and she failed at it.

Luke knocked on my door before entering.

"Sir, your mother called. She said it's time for you to your up your end of the deal, you have to bring a girl home." He spoke.

I rolled up my eyes.

"Tell her I'm busy," I spoke. "And also remind the architects that I want to see their ideas for the renovations immediately."

"Sir, they still have another week to work on that project," Luke spoke.

"Well, tell them I want to see it before the end of the day," I spoke.

"One last thing, Maddison is waiting. I've tried to get her to leave in the last hour, but I think it's best if you deal with this yourself." He spoke. "Besides, she is starting to annoy a lot of people."

I sighed, another problem.

The last time she came to my penthouse I had to lie that I had a doctor's appointment.

Usually, I'm a lot better at getting women off my back but her family has been doing business with mine for a while. Messing with them would just ruin any further business deals for me. This is why I was just hoping that she would get a hint and leave me alone.

Luke stepped out of my office as Maddison walked in.

"Well, since you weren't feeling well yesterday, I brought you some soup. It would still be warm if your assistant wasn't so rude and annoying." She rumbled.

She placed the lunchbox on my table.

"How was the doctor's appointment?" She asked.

I sighed.

"It's really bad, the doctor said I'm terminally ill. I don't know how long I have left." I touched my chest pretending to be sick. "In fact, he said I needed to rest, and I was just about to do that." I continued.

I was hoping she would get the hint. Instead, she pulled out a chair to sit on.

"Poor baby, you work too hard." She spoke. "You never got back to me about what you thought of my idea, I think you and I will really work well together." She winked.

I really doubt it.

"Well, if I manage to live that long it would be a great project," I whispered trying to fake a headache.

I can't believe any of what she said, all I remember is trying to get away from her.

"Maybe we should have dinner together one of these days. Maybe it just might help you feel better." She spoke.

"Sure," I answered.

My phone vibrated; it was another message from mom. I only had to look at the exclamations at the end of her sentence to know what it was about. I needed to bring someone for dinner.

"You know sugar, if you ever need anything from me at all, you can call me anytime." She continued.

"Well, too much sugar can give you diabetes," I answered.

"I'll leave you to rest." She spoke.

She finally got up to leave.

My phone vibrated again, another text from home.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea, after all, to invite her over for dinner. It would surely work in keeping mom off my back for a while.

"How about diner tonight," I spoke stopping her in her tracks.

My words took her by surprise.

"With my parents, I'm sure they'd be happy to see you." I continued.

"Sure thing, I'd love to." She answered.

"Eight o'clock at my parent's house, I'll have my driver pick you up," I spoke.

She nodded before stepping out of my office.

Luke walked in minutes later.

"Why did she look so happy, don't tell me you haven't turned her down yet," he spoke.

"Luke, can you tell my mom that I'll be bringing someone home tonight," I asked.

It took him a while to register.

"What, it's not like you are bringing Maddison to your mother right," He chuckled.

I remained serious.

"You can't be serious," Luke spoke. "You know that your mother will eat the poor woman alive."

"That's the whole point, that she can stop planning my wedding at least for a few more years," I answered.

"I don't like Maddison but I'm starting to feel bad for her," Luke spoke.

*****

Usually, I never show up to places on time, but this just happened to be a worthwhile investment of my time.

I was already at my parent's house. We were all gathered up in the living room, with both my parents, my grandma and Lucy who pretty much raised me when my parents weren't around. She wasn't like the other maids; she was pretty much a part of our family.

"I'm still surprised you decided to bring someone over," Dad spoke.

"As in a real woman?" Mom questioned. "Tristan, I've always felt you had a creative imagination growing up, you could be imagining some woman."

"Yes mother, it's a real woman," I answered.

I was going to need a strong drink to get through this night.

"So, you aren't going to dress up your assistant so he can pretend to be a woman? You two are always together." My nana spoke.

"No grandma, she is real." I insisted.

She had to be real right? Underneath all that silicon breast and the lip injects and there has to be a real person there somewhere.

"Don't tell me you are one of those rich men who pay women to be with them?" Lucy joked.

"I don't know why you continue to doubt our son, he has my good looks," Dad spoke. "I remember when I was his age, those were the days. All the different women I..."

Mom glared at him, stopping him from completing his thought.

"I'm still surprised he decided to show up," Mom changed the subject, crossing her legs. I knew where this was heading.

"You are never going to get over it, are you?" I spoke.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Mom sighed. "This is not about you being born, this is about me spending sixteen hours in labour, giving birth to your ungrateful ass. The least you could have done is show up." She continued.

"Well, if someone ever calls me conceited, I'll tell them I got it from you," I muttered.

Luckily mom didn't hear that, those words were worth at least a shoe being thrown at me.

"Well in my day, when a man invited a woman to his parent's house, he at least had the decency to pick her up," Grandma spoke.

Dad shook his head at me in disapproval.

Just then the doorbell rang. Maddison had arrived.

At the sound of the door, mom's expression changed to a happier one.

I walked to the door to welcome Madison in, I was surprised that the rest of the family was following behind me.

I greeted Maddison. "It's good to have you here," I spoke.

"Everyone, meet Madison," I announced.

"We are glad to have you in our home," Dad spoke.

Mom's expression changed as she looked at Maddison. Maybe she knew her from somewhere.

"It's Madelyn, right?" Mom spoke faking a smile. "You remember me, right? Do you remember two years ago when I was in the bathroom stool at that Gala when you told your friends that my dress looked like something from a charity store?" Mom spoke.

"I'm sure you are confusing me for someone else," Madison spoke awkwardly.

The room was quickly met by silence.

"Why don't everyone move to the dining room so we can serve diner," Lucy suggested.

Dad nodded.

We walked to the dinner table.

I pulled out a chair for Maddison.

"I'm glad to see that you are doing better now," Maddison whispered to me.

"Well, it must have been your presence that healed me," I answered sarcastically.

Mom let out a small smile before looking back at her empty plate distastefully.

Lucy instructed the maids to serve dinner. They served my grandma first.

One of the maids happened to get on Maddison's wrong side, nearly slipping the soup on Maddison.

"Watch what you are doing," Maddison yelled. "I can't stand these clumsy poor people," Maddison snapped.

My grandmother dropped her fork inside her plate.

"Excuse me," grandma spoke. "You know, I worked as a maid too. That is how I managed to feed my children and send my daughter to school. "

"I didn't mean you, ma'am. It's just that they can be so stupid sometimes." Maddison spoke.

My father's jaw dropped. He knew my grandmother well enough that she was about to get an earful.

Maddison was not helping the situation right now. Well, it was time for me to add fuel to the fire. I needed a death blow that would ensure that my mother would never ask me to bring another girl home again.

"I think she is right nanna," I spoke. "Two days ago, I was at a restaurant, and they served their soup two degrees warmer than I had asked for. She then had the decency to put my wine glass on my left side, I lost my appetite." I spoke.

I reached my hand out and held Maddison's on the table.

"Tristan," Mom glared at me. That was her cue for me to shut up.

The rest of the dinner didn't go smoothly at all, my mom and grandma took turns to see who could throw the most insults. I was starting to feel bad for using her in my plan,

After dinner, we had some wine as we listened to my dad play on the piano.

"I think it's time for me to go home now," Maddison announced.

"I was starting to think you didn't have a house and had just decided to sleep here." Grandma faked a laugh.

Madison looked awkward and didn't know how to react.

"I think I should drop you home," I suggested.

I stood up from my couch.

"You should stay son; I have something important to tell you," Grandma spoke. "You can have one of the drivers take her home." She suggested.

I nodded.

I walked Maddison to the door.

"It was lovely having you here tonight." I kissed her hand.

I waited until she was safely inside the car. I waited in the cold breeze until the driver had driven out of the yard.

Walking back into the house, I knew I was about to receive an ear full.

"What were you thinking, the word Mad is literally in her name." Lucy slapped my shoulder.

"Well, she happens to be what I like," I answered.

"And I thought my son was a disappointment when he decided to drop out of medical school," Lucy spoke.

Lucy shook her head at me. She took grandma's hand who was on the verge of falling asleep and led her to her bedroom.

"Honey, can you please get my heart medication? Your son is trying to kill me." Mom spoke resting her back on the couch.

"You are not on my medication sweetheart," Dad reminded her.

Mom sat up straight.

"How could you do this to yourself? If you cared about anything but yourself, you would know that she is only trying to use you for your money. You are not the first person she has tried to target." Mom spoke.

"Where did you get that information, you can't trust everything you hear," I spoke.

Mom run her own club of 'real rich housewives of New York', because they had nothing better to do than to gossip, they pretty much knew everything about everyone in the elite society.

I was just going to take this one as a win, maybe this way she was going to leave me alone for a long time.

"This is all my fault; I should have found a wife for him like any normal mother." Mom continued.

My smile dropped. I honestly wouldn't put it past her.

"Why did I let you get me pregnant, now my son has bad taste just like you," Mom spoke.

"I bet grandpa said the same thing when dad married you," I joked.

Dad and I both laughed.

We were immediately silenced by her glare.

"I can't believe it, you are laughing while our son disrespects me," Mom sobbed.

I sighed sitting next to her. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to," I spoke.

"You have always been easy to fool," She looked up with a smile. "Don't worry, mama is going to find you a nice wife." She patted my arm.

Something told me I had just awakened a monster.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, please share your thoughts on the story and don't forget to vote.