She leaned close to his ear and whispered, " Never cheek me again, do you understand?" She threatened.
"Uh hmm." He nodded obediently.She let go of him and stood on her feet."I know that your secretary got into an unfortunate situation and can't continue working with you," she spoke confidently as she strolled towards the other side of the room."I'll be replacing her, and you can't fire me." She paused and turned to face him briefly.He was hurryingly trying to put on his boxers, but his eyes were fixated on her… how she swayed her hips provocatively."And yes, speaking about auditions and introductions, I have already passed the interview and…" she paused as she carefully placed her phone in her purse and zipped it.He was fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, but stopped in horror at what she said; 'she is going to be his new secretary?' He asked himself again."... I came here to introduce myself and make sure you understand that the seat you are occupying belongs to my father,"she looked back at him, scanning his face as his emotions switched rapidly__ from confused, to worried, to awe, to bamboozlement, then fright and finally realization.She smiled at him. He was just too stunned to utter a word. He knew exactly what she meant."I will stop at nothing until I get it back." She warned."Now, it's either you stay out of my way or I'll have to get you out one way or the other.""You are boldly telling me that you want to oust me, do you think I'll be calm and let you prevail, as if I'm some coward?" He finally asked."Hmm! See you on Monday, I hate tardiness." She ignored his question.Before he could jump down from the bed, she was out of the door.He had many things to ask her, so he decided to follow her, but when he poked his head through the door, the hallway was clear. He looked around in confusion, at the same time, he couldn't deny the fact that she was beautiful and scary."Come Monday then." He said aloud with a smile.He knew a bit about how the company's ownership transferred to him, but there were a lot of loopholes in the story.He and Mila used to be childhood friends, mostly because of their fathers friendship. All that shattered the day the news came that the whole Rivers family died in a fire accident in their suburban vacation house.It's been more than 20 years, why did she show up today?*************Present day At the office."Randy?" Brant said through the intercom."Yes Sir !""I need you to find everything about Mila Rivers." Brant ordered."On it, sir."Randolph was Brantley's right hand man. His father served the white family and now the son. Randy was always available at Brant's bick and call, willing to get his hands dirty if need be.When Mila had told him that she'll be working for him, he did not take her seriously. For a moment, he consoled himself that she was just an imposter trying to play over his intelligence.He was damn tempted to do a background check on her immediately after she disappeared from the hotel that night, but he was a man of suspense. He wanted to meet her face to face again before confirming that she was for real.After having taken a close look at her face today, his curiosity sprang up full swing and he so badly wanted to know what happened on the day of the accident."Sir?" Randy said over the intercom."What did you get?" Brant asked anxiously."Mila Rivers, she was the last daughter of the Rivers family," Randy started."She was just 6 years old when she died in a domestic fire accident alongside her entire family." He reported. "The authorities confirmed two months later that the fire was caused by a leakage in the gas pipes.""Hmm." Brant stayed silent for a while, only fidgeting with the pen in his hand.There was a knock on the door.It was Mila, she did not wait for him to give her permission to walk in. She marched in boldly, with a couple of files in her hand."Sir," she called politely, "I was instructed to deliver this to you," She gently placed the files on his mahogany desk. "And here is the run down of your day's activities," she said, "I printed this out, but I have still got a soft copy, in case you prefer that." She added.He just nodded and watched her walk out of the office.He could not believe that it was the same woman who threatened to kill him, or the same woman who welcomed him with insults this morning. One minute, she's sexy, the next minute, she's dark….killer bitch, then she's rude and in a split second, she's all calm, polite and professional. Oh not to forget that most of the time, she's cheeky."How could one person possess so many personalities?" Brant asked out loud."Who?" Randy asked in confusion, bringing Brant back from his dream world."What, were you still around?" Brant asked."Yes Sir,""Oh, Rand?" Brant called out of a sudden."Yes sir !""Do you remember Mila in person?" He asked."Yes Sir, the one with the long curly black hair?" Randy asked."Yes."Even if Randy was not familiar with her as Brant was, he still got to meet her a few times Brant's Mom got to pick up both sisters and babysit them until their parents came for them."What about her Sir?" Randy asked."Would you recognize her, if you met her today?""I think so, Sir."Brant was silent and in deep thought again."If I may ask, Sir, why are you interested in the Rivers right now.""Hmm, what is the name of my secretary?" Brant asked instead."Fabiola McDarryl." Randolph answered almost immediately.Brant nodded to himself, 'now it makes sense why no one remembers you' he thought to himself. 'But how on earth did you survive and where have you been all these years?'"I want you to find out everything about her." Brant ordered."I have her file sir, should I send it to you immediately?" Randolph asked."No Rand, I do not want her file, I want you to get me everything about her that is not on that file and I want to know everything about the Rivers accident." Brant ordered."Do not tell me What the investigations said, tell me what they did not say."Randolph was used to his boss' abstract demands… Well, it was his job to satisfy his boss.The rest of the day was calm, he had no clash again with Mila or rather Fabiola. But on his path, he could not concentrate on anything the entire day. His mind kept on drifting back and forth, trying to understand what was happening.She said that she was here to get back what belonged to her father, was she insinuating getting back her father's shares? But it was just her right, why did she have to kick him out to get in, or why did she come in as his secretary under a disguise?All those things just did not make any sense to him.He walked absentmindedly to his car, got in and closed the door behind him."Drive!" A cold feminine voice said behind him.It was already dark when he left the office. Today was an extremely exhausting day… mostly emotional and mentally exhausting.He spent the day mostly doing nothing except trying to solve a mystery with no facts.He walked absentmindedly to his car, got in and shut the door close.He leaned back in the car seat and relaxed, taking in a deep breath before reaching out to ignite the engine.That was when he felt a presence in the car. The hand that was about to reach for the key froze. He slowly retracted his hand and sat upright.The person behind him stayed silent, but the perfume was familiar.He slowly raised his head to spy through the rear view mirror.His eyes locked with hers. "Drive!" She ordered coldly.She had changed from her slaying office classic suit to a head to too black out fit___ leather pants, a black turtleneck sweater and she crowned it all with an expensive biking black blazer."Just when I thought the day was peaceful." Brant grumbled audibly."What do you want t
"Let's just say that I am unburnable." She said unenthusiastically."Huh?" His eyes bulged. "Uhm… is that a word, unburnable?"She shrugged her shoulders, "who cares, all is that you get the message." She leaned on the car again."Oh!" He nodded."If that is all, then, you can go home." She said when he did not utter a word after a few seconds."No, no... I've got more." He quickly said. "Why do you hate me? I mean, we used to get along pretty well as kids, but now…""We are no longer kids Brant." She cut in aggressively."Oh, ok." Her words pierced through his heart, but he tried not to show his pain. "But you do hate me right? Why?" "If I hated you, you'd be dead already." She said coldly and began walking away from the car towards the dirt road. "I kill the people I hate." She said it indolently as if killing someone was her night routine…. Or maybe it was.Brant shivered. He could not believe what she just said."Oh! where are you heading to? The car is here." He called behind her
"Which should I start with?" Brant asked. "The hectic part or the interesting part?" He added."The interesting part"His parents answered in unison.He raised his head and stared at his parents."Mila Rivers is alive."Mr White was about to pick up the glass in front of him, but his hand froze in mid air. The angel of silence made a solid stand in the room.All the heads at the table turned to face their father. Surprised or fright, or both was discernible on his face.Mrs White and Brant interpreted his look to a it-is-hard-to-believe-that-my-best-friend's-family-member-is-alive look.The girls were nonchalant about what was happening and they went back to digging into their meals.The twins were just babies when the accident occurred while Brenda was not even an idea at that time."How is that possible?" Mrs White was the first to recover from the shocking revelation. She looked from her husband to her son."I saw her." Brant said."Where? It can not be, I saw the bodies." Mr Whi
Maybe she lost her memory, I mean, we should eat instead of turning this dinner into a puzzle solving showroom." Talkative Brenda said.It was Brenda's turn to draw everyone's attention."What?" She asked innocently. "I just want to enjoy my meal and stop talking about dead people." The kid said in a somewhat rude tone."Have some respect, Brenda!" Mrs White scolded."Dahh, aight." She agreed stubbornly and continued her meal."I'll head upstairs." Announced Brant as he stood up from his chair."Why honey, you have barely touched your food. Don't you like it? I can ask the cook to make something different for you." Mrs White asked with genuine concern."Nah momma, I'm just tired." He said. "I said earlier that I had a hectic day right?" "Ok, if you insist. Good night then." "Sweet dreams momma." He kissed her on her forehead and headed upstairs."Did you find her?" Brant asked Randy, over the phone as soon as he got into his room.Despite the fact that Mila made it clear that he sho
But her aim was not to kill him, not yet. She wanted to play with him for as long as she desired. The first thing she had to do to make that happen was to scare him.When Dom sent her a text about Randy following this boss' car, she was not alarmed, but decided to use it as a stepping stone against Brant.She wanted him to fear her, she wanted to break his morals and spirit as slowly but effective as possible. And she was gonna get there.Dom was waiting for her at the other side of the road, but there was a huge hedge of elephant stock grass separating both roads.She quickly disappeared into the thick bush, her black outfit made it easier for her to blend in with the darkness.She and Dom did not drive off immediately, they stuck around a little longer, she wanted to prove to Dom how dumb Brant was.Any smart person would have driven around the hedge easily, but he did not, and to make matters worse, he began screaming out her name.She face palmed herself over and over again before
"You are late again, I hope this is not an attitude that would continue to run through?" Brant said sternly as soon as Fabiola rushed into the office. He was leaning on her desk and immediately stood upright as she got in.She opened her mouth to say something, but decided to swallow her words, reading his countenance, she could presume that something was pressing."Grab the file on my desk and follow me." He said without looking at her.She nodded obediently and went ahead to get the file. She was kind of pissed that he went all 'serious mode' with her this morning. Meanwhile she was just about 15 minutes late, unlike yesterday where she was an hour late… plus, she was hurrying her balls just to meet up with the time, only for her to meet her boss acting as if he were on his period.She hurried her footsteps to catch up with his long strides."You are not allowed to say anything, your job is only to jot down notes." He said to her as they descended in the elevator."Yes Sir," she re
Linda McGraw was the only daughter of the McGraw family, one of the big five families. Just like Brant and Randy, Mila use to play with Linda back when they were kids, when everything was milk and honey, when innocence ruled.Now standing in front of her childhood best friend, she knew that she needed to act as if they never knew each other…. technically, they don't right now.Each woman had grown up to fit her own definition of womanhood.This is Fabiola, my girlfriend." Brant said. "Babe, this is Linda McGraw, she is the one I told you about last night." He wound his hand around Fabiola and lied smoothly, smiling down at Fabiola.Fabiola remained stiff as she stared at the familiar face before her."Is she Ok?" Linda leaned close to Brant and whispered with a disgusting look on her face.Fabiola heard her sound and clear. "I am ok. How do you do?" Fabiola tried to keep a straight face, ignoring the fact that Brant just said that they spent the night together.Well, since Linda ha
"Your laugh is very familiar, just like someone I knew a long time ago." Linda said in an unexpectedly soft voice, stunning the others."Well, do I look like that person?" Mila asked nonchalantly, aa she folded her arms and leaned forward on the table."Never mind." Linda said. The softness that flashed across her face disappeared almost immediately. She sipped her coffee once more, cleared her throat and straightened herself one more time. It was like there were two different people now, and a few seconds ago."You were gonna say something." Brant reminded Linda, seizing the opportunity to deviate from the topic."My company needs this deal just as much as yours does, so we need to find a way to please both our parents for the sake of the companies." Linda stated.Brant nodded, neither in agreement nor denial."I propose we go in for an open marriage, with no conjugality between us except for the title of husband and wife." Linda proposed boldly, ignoring Fabiola's presence."Wow, so