From Desk to Altar: The CEO's Irresistible Bargain

"Go see him."

After he hung up, Daniel looked panicked and started to leave, but then he stopped and turned back to Charlotte, a serious look on his face. "He might listen if you're there." "What do you mean?" Charlotte was confused.

Daniel explained, a bit annoyed, "The car crash really messed him up - his shoulder and insides took the worst of it. Doctors said he got all banged up from the impact, and he hasn't really healed right."

He shot Charlotte a glare and went on, "Mr. Parker's been carrying a ton of guilt, blaming himself for Charlotte's death. He's been slacking on his treatments and now it's come back to bite him."

"The doc says the blood coughing is from stress. Serena, what did you even say to him?"

Charlotte didn't say anything more.

Just laid out some cold, hard facts.

She had no plans to visit Liam. His pain, his blood, he brought it on himself.

But Daniel wouldn't let it go. "You're the spitting image of Charlotte. If you talk to him, he'll probably follow through with his treatment. Look, I know you're not keen, but how about this, We'll cut a better deal with Parker Blackwood, just for you to talk to him..."

"If I go, Liam might just end up worse."

"You!" Daniel was fuming, "You're not Charlotte. She'd never want to see Liam hurt."

"A person's died and come back, and you still want her to give everything to Liam? That's pretty selfish of you."

"Mr. Parker's already done so much for you!" Daniel was there to talk this out. "He moved Chloe secretly, and she'll be sent away, never coming back. You get what that means."

It means no one would know if Chloe died.

It means Liam gave up his own child for the sake of Charlotte.

In Daniel's eyes, Liam had done enough. "Don't be too tough on him. He's had it rough."

He saw the pain Liam went through after Charlotte died. He knew how Liam had been living like a ghost.

"We can't live in the past forever. You're hurt, I get it, but with Chloe out of the picture now, Charlotte, give him a break. Drop the grudge."

"Drop the grudge?"

What?

Was it her choice to die in that accident?

Was she trying to cause Liam pain?

Wasn't she the biggest victim?

"I'm not stuck in the past. I'm moving forward."

And her future didn't include Liam.

"I won't go see him. Forget about it."

She dismissed Daniel's request outright and headed upstairs to where Vincent and Ethan were playing.

"Did Daniel come to talk about how he's handled things?" Vincent asked, out of Ethan's earshot.

She nodded, "Chloe's been taken away quietly. Doesn't look good for her."

"Good for you, and for me. We got what we wanted," Vincent said, his voice even.

Years of hatred, they should be feeling something - anger, relief.

But both Vincent and Charlotte were eerily calm.

Their hate for Chloe couldn't control them anymore.

When dinner rolled around, Daniel barged in uninvited, looking like he was ready to blow a fuse. He made a beeline for Charlotte and tried to haul her out. Vincent stepped in, blocking his path. "What's the big idea?"

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"Back off, Vincent! This isn't about you!" Daniel barked.

"What do you think you're doing with my wife?!" Vincent wasn't budging an inch.

Daniel scoffed, "Your wife? Come on, we both know who she really is and who she truly belongs to."

"She's my wife, that's what the whole world knows," Vincent shot back, throwing Daniel for a loop.

That got Daniel thinking for once.

Charlotte, strutting back into the country under the fake ID 'Serena' and becoming part of the Blackwood clan, was common knowledge.

That meant, any advances Mr. Parker made toward Charlotte were out of line and would get him nothing but flak.

Did Charlotte plan from the start to keep Mr. Parker out of her life completely?

Daniel didn't like where his thoughts were going but said firmly, "Liam's in a bad way, high fever, won't take his medicine. You should see him."

"I'm not going." Charlotte cut him off sharply. "What do I care if he lives or dies?"

"Charlotte!" Daniel was in disbelief. "This isn't like you!"

"How was I before then? Always ready to risk life and limb for Liam, is that it?"

Daniel was at a loss for words. Deep down, he believed that.

The person who'd die before seeing Liam hurt, how could she just switch off her feelings after all these years?

Daniel refused to believe that Charlotte had no love left for Liam.

"Look, there's something Liam's been keeping secret-the reason his shoulder isn't healing is that he's up all night, haunted by the crash. He's tearing himself up with guilt, punishing himself for not saving you." Daniel's voice was raw, "He's eaten up with guilt for not saving you, tearing his wound open over and over like he's punishing himself."

"He's barely holding it together, just like you."

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"Just go see him, will you?"

"Fine, I'm about to stand there and watch him in agony," Charlotte responded, her expression icy.

She seized the moment to demand a whole list of unreasonable things, all related to a business deal between their families.

She seized the moment to demand a whole list of unreasonable things, all related to a business deal between their families. "With terms that good, I'd be a fool not to," said Charlotte.

She and Vincent climbed into the car and headed for the hospital.

On the way, Vincent, full of concern, said, "Don't lose yourself in this revenge game."

Charlotte gave no clear response.

She despised Chloe.

But more than the outright villainy of Chloe, she loathed that her beloved stood against her.

Not empathizing with her pain, but actually becoming that pain.

What she truly detested was Liam's indifference.

When they reached the hospital, they were greeted by the sight of handfuls of bloody bandages being carted out.

At that, Daniel cringed, "Parker's refusing treatment, bleeding out until he passes out. Seems like that's the only thing that gives him peace."

Peering through the window, Charlotte saw Liam, a shell of a man on the hospital bed. The medical staff were tiptoeing around him, not daring to intervene, just watching the blood from his shoulder pool and drip onto the floor. "Liam," she called softly through the door.

It wasn't loud, but it reached Liam. He turned his head, and on seeing it was really her, the storm in his eyes calmed, then filled with sadness and regret.

"Get over there and fix him up!" Daniel barked at the medics, seeing Liam's reaction.

Charlotte held up her hand.

"Wait."