Rise Of The Disgraced Heir

"Oh close your mouths, the both of you might end up swallowing a fly!" Marie Mendiola scolded Ian and Camilla as she laughed at their expressions.

"How? What? Why?" Ian stuttered as Camilla pulled him towards the dining table and made him sit.

"At least one of you still managed to regain your senses." Marie teased as she watched the interaction between the pair.

"I did mention that it was complicated, right?" Marco asked as he looked at Ian and Camilla. 

"You did, you just didn't mention how complicated." Camilla said with a laugh as she nudged Ian.

Ian shook his head as he tried to recover from the news. In a way it wasn't impossible. Marco came from a rich family that had ties to the Chans. 

Add to that the fact that Marco and Marie must have worked with each other a lot, making them even closer. It wasn't impossible, it was just shocking to see.

"Okay, I think we at least owe them an explanation." Marie said with a laugh as she watched as Ian tried to figure out what was going on and how the relationship had happened.

"Why?" Marco said as he pulled Marie close to him and kissed her on the side of her head. "I find it quite entertaining to see these two chatty assistants at a loss for words." Marco said with a laugh as Ian shook his head.

"Stop being so cruel to them." Marie said as she pushed her fiance off of her. "You are stuck with these two whether they like it or not. And they are stuck with me because I'm a Reyes, let's at least enjoy the peace before my cousin returns."

"Fine." Marco grumbled. "So what do you two want to hear?" Marco asked.

Ian just stared at the couple as he was still trying to figure out how things fit together. It would have been incredibly complicated to have your fiance be your boss.

"Looks like you guys broke Ian." Camilla said with a laugh as she poked the other assistant on the shoulder.

"Oh, sorry, what?" Ian asked as he shook his head.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Ian." Marco teased as he waved the maids over to serve their dinner.

"So, go ask, we'll do our best to answer." Marie said as she encouraged them. "Just remember that our relationship is not as simple as it seems, it's very complicated."

"How long have the two of you been engaged?" Camilla finally asked.

"Around seven years." Marco said, shocking Ian and Camilla.

"Isn't that a bit too long for an engagement, shouldn't the two of you be married by now?" Ian asked as he looked at the couple in front of them. 

"As I said, our relationship is complicated." Marco said with a shrug.

"Is it complicated because of work?" Camilla asked Marco and Marie. "I mean technically Marie is your boss. Are the Reyeses against it or something?"

"No, my family fully supports our relationship." Marie said, shaking her head.

"So it's Marco's family that has an issue." Ian said as he thought of the situation. "Wait, that makes no sense at all! No one in their right mind would stop their child from marrying a member of the Reyes family. That would just be insane!"

Marco and Camilla both laughed at Ian's reaction. 

"It's possible for someone to not want their child to marry a Reyes, trust me, it's happened, but that's not the case for us." Marco said as he shook his head. 

"So what is the reason?" Ian asked as he leaned forward to listen closely to Marco's and Marie's story.

"As I said, it's complicated. At first my family didn't know that Marie was a Reyes so they opposed our relationship from the very beginning. You know how low key their family is, you don't know who is a Reyes and who is not." Marco said with a shrug.

"So they tried to break you apart?" Camilla asked.

"They tried to discourage me, but my auntie Amy, the madam of the Chan family, she encouraged my relationship with Marie. She told me to be with the person I love and I love Marie." Ian explained.

"So did you guys run away or something?" Ian asked.

"You could say that." Marie said with a laugh. "We ran away and were about to be married when Uncle Emilio decided to set the record straight. He personally drove over to Marco's ancestral home and told everyone that I was his niece."

"Then you should have been able to get married. What happened after?" Ian asked as he wondered what stopped the wedding.

"That's when my family turned cunning." Marco said as he shook his head. "They decided to take advantage of my relationship with Marie and get as much as they could from the Reyes Family."

"That's why he suddenly called off the wedding." Marie grumbled. "We were already outside of the church when he found out that his uncle, who was back then the head of the So family, tried to get my uncle to hand over some projects to them."

"How did you find out?" Camilla asked.

Marco and Marie then burst into laughter.

"We found out because Uncle Emilio had no idea where Marco kept all his files." Marie said as she tried and failed to control her laughter. "He had to call Marco and ask for the documents."

"Naturally, I was curious, so I asked why. That's when the boss told me about what my uncle said. I was furious and I called him and told him I would never marry Marie if all he was after were projects from the Reyes Group." Marco explained.

"Why did he wait for you to marry Marie, couldn't he have just asked you?" Ian said as he was confused by the situation.

"My family didn't know I was working for the Reyes Group." Marco said with a grin. "They thought I was a failure. They thought I was just some secretary in a small company. When they found out who I really worked for they were all stunned."

"Things got even more complicated when Marco's grandfather died." Marie said with a frown as Marco hugged her.

"My grandfather decided to complicate things in his will." Marco said with a sigh. "Everyone expected him to name my uncle as his heir, but a week before his death he secretly called his lawyer and had his will changed. He named me as his heir." 

"I'm sure your uncle did not take that well." Ian said with a frown. He knew too well how families like the Sos valued the succession from one head to the next.

"He did not take it well, in order to keep the peace, I decided to leave the So family and live on my own." Marco explained.

"Yeah, but now they still keep asking you to come back and help." Marie grumbled. 

"The properties and the companies are all in my name. Apparently I can't just give it back to my relatives. It's either I give it to my direct heir, or I die without an heir and it goes back to the family." Marco said with a frown.

"No." Camilla gasped.

"It doesn't matter to me." Marie said as she shook her head. "As long as I know he loves me and I love him, that's enough."

"Why don't you just take it from them?" Ian asked Marco.

"Because that's not the life I want." Marco said as he shook his head. "Marie and I never planned on having kids, so even if we are not married, as long as we are together, we are happy." Marco said as he looked into Marie's eyes and smiled.

Ian could sense the love between them, and it affected him in a negative way.

For some reason it made him question his relationship with Jas. Would she be willing to sacrifice the same thing for him? Would he also be able to sacrifice everything just to be with her.

Jas loved him, or at least at the moment she loved him, but she often changed her mind and with it her feelings.

"Let's eat before the food gets cold." Ian heard Marie say, pulling him back from his thoughts.

He simply nodded and smiled as he ate what had been placed in front of him.

"Are you alright?" Camilla asked as she glanced at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just some unnecessary worries." Ian said as he forced a smile.

"I'll be here if you need to talk.." Camilla said with a nod as she returned her attention to her meal.