A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 61: His words echoed

"What do you plan to do with Benny and Tolu, sir?" Lazarus asked Curtis as they walked into the company.

It has been a week since Lara got released from the hospital, and Curtis had not had enough time to think about what to do with the people who planned to kill his wife.

He didn’t stop walking as he responded to Lazarus though.

"They’re still arrested and in jail, correct?" he asked.

His bodyguard nodded.

"Good. Keep them there," he stated and Lazarus nodded once again. He bowed to Curtis and took his leave.

Curtis walked into his office, but almost immediately after, someone knocked on his door.

It was as though whoever it was had been waiting for him.

"Come in," he said gruffly. The door opened, and Lara’s ex husband, Mike, stepped in.

Curtis stiffened immediately.

"Hello, Mr. Curtis," Mike said as a form of greeting, nodding his head in what was supposed to count as a respectful manner.

"How can I help you?" Curtis quipped. His expression had gone cold and hostile, and Mike did not miss the bite in his voice.

Curtis had a very strong urge to bash Mike’s cheating face into the wall, but he smothered the urge.

Mike was mildly terrified of the man standing before him. But he had been working on his poker face for a long time, and he was certain that none of the fear was evident on his face.

"Let Tolu go," Mike said firmly.

Curtis shrugged off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He took his seat and interlocked his fingers together before he even looked at Mike.

"And why should I do that, Mike?" Curtis asked. His voice was bland, and his words were said in a careless manner.

Mike’s hands started to form into fists.

"You can’t have her locked up in jail forever. And you don’t even have solid evidence that she was involved in the attempted murder. Let my wife go!" he said a little loudly this time.

Curtis didn’t even bat an eyelid.

"She directly alluded to it. She was involved in it and she’s not denying it. I know you’re aware of the fact that she was involved in it too, since the both of you are birds of the same feather," Curtis responded.

Then something occurred to him and he leaned forward, his glare pinning Mike in place.

"Now that I think about it, you are a suspect too. Should I have you arrested?"

Mike’s jaw tightened at the threat in Curtis words.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," he said through gritted teeth.

A smirk slipped across Curtis’s lips.

"You don’t? I think you do, Mike. After all, you worked with Tolu just to divorce Lara. You betrayed her. You stabbed her right where it hurt most. You slept with her best friend and rubbed it in her face. You took everything, every single thing, away from her. And yet you stand here and tell me that you don’t know what I am talking about?"

Curtis’s words were filled with a dangerous edge, and it cut into Mike’s skin like they were blades.

Mike’s hands curled into fists and his vision started to turn red from the wave of his rising anger.

"Don’t you dare. You have no right to talk to me about the history between Lara and I. You don’t know anything! So cut out the bullshit and stop pretending like you know me," he snapped.

Curtis’s smile grew, and he stood up.

"I know everything, Mike. I know that you drugged her for years, preventing her from getting pregnant. I know that seeing her happy and carrying another man’s babies is driving you crazy. I know that deep down, you don’t want her to be with me. You are jealous. Tolu doesn’t satisfy you anymore, and now your mind, your desire, is staring to wander back to Lara."

The words landed against Mike’s skin like stones, hitting him harder than he expected them to.

But Curtis wasn’t done yet.

He took a step away from his desk and stepped closer to Mike. And even though Mike was scared, he stood his ground.

Curtis leaned down to stare directly into his eyes.

"You come here under the guise of asking after Tolu, but you and I know that that is not why you are here. You are here because you want to see the man who managed to do what you failed to do. Listen to me very carefully, Mike.

Lara is mine. She is absolutely, totally and irrevocably mine. So rid yourself of all those fantasies in your head. You lost her once. You can’t have her again."

A mixture of anger and fear rose up in Mike. Both emotions fought each other for a while, but anger won.

His nose flared with rage. Deep, unfathomable rage.

How dare this man speak to him about Lara like that? Who the hell did he think he was?

He knew nothing, nothing about his marriage with her.

And even if he did, to Mike, it was none of Curtis’s business.

"Shut the fuck up, Curtis," Mike snarled.

The smirk fell off Curtis face.

"Or what? What are you going to go?" he snapped.

Mike found himself unable to speak.

"I feed you, Mike. Without my money, you are nothing. Now get the hell out of my office," Curtis growled.

Mike looked as though he had something else to say, but words eluded him.

He took a step back. And another.

And another.

Then he spoke.

"You don’t really love Lara. A man like you cannot be with someone like her. You are way out of her league and you know it. You’re just using her as a vessle, someone to birth children for you. You are not different from me, Curtis. No. You are exactly like me. Lara is nothing but a means to an end for you. How devastated do you think she will be, once she finds out about this?"

Mike didn’t stay to hear Curtis’s response before he walked out.

His words echoed in Curtis’s ears.

A man like you cannot be with someone like her.