The CEO’s Substitute Lover

“Uncle Drye, you are telling me the same thing today, I have always said I would marry the one, the girl who accompanied me abroad and took care of me, I am not breaking my word or promise. It was only the Drye family’s lies from the beginning that misled me and those around me. That girl and Lilian are both the same age, but their temperaments are very different.”

Grimm wondered why Tredan Davi was suddenly talking about it, and how he knew so much about it. If this story ever comes out, Grimm won’t have the upper hand today!

“What the hell are you trying to say? What’s all this nonsense?” Grimm tried to cover it up.Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.

“Grimm, don’t be anxious, don’t be angry, I’ll make sure my ungrateful son fulfills his promise to Lilian and give you peace of mind!” Floyd’s hanging heart was finally settling down.

“Uncle Drye, this is a copy of the passport record book for entry and exit twenty years ago, the person I left the country with was a girl called Octavia Gills. There seemed to be a mistake in the name there so I deliberately got a copy of Lilian’s picture as a child and compared it to the photo on this passport, and obviously, they are two different people. I clearly remember the young lady’s face, and it is not the face of Lilian as a young girl.” Tredan Davi put the information he had researched in front of Grimm, “Uncle Drye, will you look at this and see if there are any mistakes? If not, can you tell me why she was put in Lilian’s place?”

“She took my Lilian’s place!” was Grimm’s quick-witted answer before he realized that this was a trap set by Tredan Davi, and with this answer, Grimm was confirming that he had lied to Floyd twenty years ago and that the Drye Family had lied to them. Grimm almost slapped himself in the mouth.

“Uncle Drye, I still respect you in my heart, it’s just that relationships are something that can’t be forced, putting together people who are right for each other can make them miserable, it’s not Lilian who I love, and if I marry her feeling that way, will she live the rest of her life as happily as you want her to. I’m sorry, Uncle Drye!”

Tredan Davi got up, apologized to Grimm doing a deep bow of respect, and went out! This was not the situation expected by Grimm.

After listening to the conversations between Grimm and his son, Floyd, though Tredan had managed to pull it off, still approved of the political union between the Davi and Drye families.

“Grimm, what’s done is done, the boy is still young, he’s just being difficult, our political marriage is not a joke, we must be careful, you go back and comfort Lilian, I won’t let my boy do anything to mess up our plans when I’ve straightened this out, I’ll talk to the boy! See, how’s that?”

Grimm walked helplessly out of Group Davi, what was going on and why did Lilian, the child, never mention Tredan Davi’s change of heart? The more Grimm thought about it, the more he realized that something was wrong and he needed to get to the bottom of it.

“Tell President Davi to come to my office!”

The marriage of Tredan Davi to Lilian Drye is necessary to keep the family business afloat, and Floyd knows that Tredan Davi’s absence from the engagement party is a bad sign. It had to go the way he wanted.

“Chairman, what is it that you want from me?” Tredan Davi knew what Floyd was up to and knew that if he resisted, his father would use strong measures and tactics. Tredan Davi prayed silently in his heart that he would just leave Octavia Gills out of it!

“There are no outsiders around; you can call me Dad!”

Although Tredan Davi was a dark horse in the business world that Floyd had personally groomed to be fast, accurate, and smart; their relationship as father and son has always been detached. Tredan has never been pampered by Floyd, even the word ‘Daddy’ has been called out less and less as he got older, and he hasn’t even heard the word ‘Daddy’ come out of his mouth in the past six months!

“What are your plans for your marriage to Lilian?” Floyd asked straightforwardly, not liking to beat around the bush.

“I have no intention of getting engaged to Lilian, let alone the marry her.” Tredan Davi didn’t look at Floyd to say that, but at the view from the clear glass window of Floyd’s office.

“Tredan, do you think you’re three years old? Can you do things like that? Why are you doing this to Lilian? How many years has she been with you, how can she just say no? Besides, we’ll need Group Drye’s assistance for many things in the future! Please deal with this maturely!” This stubborn streak of Tredan Davi is particularly like him.

“So what is right? What is wrong? I don’t have as much emotion and experience in this world of relationships as you, Chairman. I just know that if you are in love, you will want to marry that person, but if you are not in love, marriage is not something you should get into or you can lead a miserable life, and worse, maybe harm your child by giving him an unhealthy and dysfunctional home.” Tredan Davi hated his father for treating his mother so badly and for bringing Ottilie home to live with them, and he hated seeing this woman flaunting around with all her glory. He should have known better than to put Tredan in this difficult situation by bringing that woman and her son to their home!

“What the hell are you trying to say? You don’t need to be shady here, haven’t I compensated you enough after all these years? I know you want to blame me for putting your mother in a mental hospital. I was busy every day trying to make Group Davi successful, how could I have time to take care of your mother. Besides, she lives in a five-star luxury suite in the hospital, with two nursing staff taking turns to look after her 24 hours a day. Isn’t it enough that she is being provided with the best medical staff and treatment every day? What more do you want from me?”

Over the years, Floyd has been particularly conflicted, dreading the prospect of his wife’s mental illness getting better and him not knowing what to do with Ottilie and Eddison. However, he was also looking forward to his wife getting better to give Tredan a sound mother! To make Tredan hate him a little less.

A five-star mental hospital? Tredan’s repressed feelings of twenty years exploded as he hissed at Floyd, “A five-star luxury ward? What a great favor! Do you want me to thank you for providing that for my mother? Thank you for bringing that bitch home to lie in my mother’s bed, and then thank you for putting her in a five-star luxury mental hospital instead of kicking her out? How about getting my mother back and I’ll pay for the bitch you brought home to be sent to a six-star mental hospital, and I’ll hire four caregivers for her? Don’t you think it’s disgusting that you’re sleeping with the bitch where my mother should be when you should be busy with Group Davi being a matter of life and death? I’m disgusted that you’re even thinking about it!”

“Bastard!” Floyd was so angry that he slapped Tredan across his face with a maddening force. Seeing Tredan Davi’s indignant eyes looking at him, Floyd’s heart was agitated in a hundred different ways, his trembling lips looked pale as he used his hand to clutch at his heart which felt as if it was going to explode, using what was left of his sanity to tell himself to steady his emotions, he couldn’t collapse in front of his son.

“Nice shot, come on, try the other side of my face, hit me, hit me, hit me!” Tredan Davi hates it all, and this slap from Floyd is just the thing to remind him of reality, of his father!

“You… you… rebellious son! Are you trying to piss me off to make yourself feel better? Do you think your wings are strong now that you are taunting me with a bluff?” Floyd braced himself and slowly walked back to his chair and sat down, breathing deeply trying cool his temper.

“Tredan, I tell you; I made you what you are today, not your mother! I clothed you, I fed you, gave you all that you needed, and I took you under my wings and taught you everything since you were fifteen! Now you are older and able to spread your wings with my help, are you trying to prove something to me? I can’t believe it!” Floyd’s heart was aching, this family was in a mess, Ottilie had been telling him about the nominations for a while, not even caring about how reviled he felt, but she couldn’t let Eddison be called a bastard, Floyd felt guilty!

“And don’t you forget that the Group Davi today was built by Grandpa, and if you didn’t have that inheritance from Grandpa, you wouldn’t have the Group Davi you have today? Have you done right by my mother’s father?” With those words, Tredan Davi turned and walked out of the chairman’s office without a glance at Floyd. Not even out of the corner of his eye.

Drye Family

When Mrs. Drye saw that Grimm had arrived home earlier than expected, she asked him worriedly, “What are you doing back, what did the Davi family say, and did Tredan see you? ”

“Madam, come and see these, they’re from that brat Tredan! He checked out Octavia who accompanied him abroad twenty years ago to look after him. He already knows it’s not Lilian!”

“How… did this happen? Did he check this out for a good reason? Is he trying to use this to back out of his marriage to Lilian?” Mrs. Drye knew she shouldn’t have done this in the first place, but Tredan and Lilian had been together for over ten years, and there was always a bond between them, so how could this happen, why did it turn out this way? Mrs. Drye thought hard and was worried!

“Madam, go and get our daughter here! I have this feeling that Lilian has something to do with this. And Tredan, there is no mistake in saying that Lilian will not be happy if she marries a man who does not love her!”

“No, Dad, Tredan wouldn’t say that, he couldn’t possibly say that!” Lilian screamed outside the door hearing the conversation between her parent loud and clear.

“Lilian, take it easy, tell Dad everything you know, why is Tredan turning up that incident from twenty years ago?” Grimm felt he had to get to the bottom of this before he could solve this one!

“It’s Octavia, Dad, it’s Octavia. That bitch took advantage of my year abroad to hook up with Tredan, and deliberately bad-mouthed me in front of him, and when I came back from abroad, Tredan changed and became more and more indifferent to me!” Lilian Drye cried relentlessly in front of Mr. and Mrs. Drye.

“Octavia? You mean Elda’s daughter!” Lilian Drye nodded at Grimm in acquiescence.

“Eldwin, go get that Elda and tell her to come to my study!” Grimm hung up the phone without waiting for a reply from Eldwin.

Eldwin was just about to say that Elda had been fired by Ms. Lilian who had warned him not to report it to her parents, Eldwin let out a long sigh, the job was getting boring and he felt he was missing something since Elda left the Drye Family!