In Paris, the city of love, Eve sat somewhere in an empty vacation house staring at the Eiffel tower from a distance.
She had imagined going there for her honeymoon with Seth, but the only proposal she had got from him was a revelation that he was gay but could still marry her if 'she insisted on it.'
As if she had lost all dignity.
For a whole year she had blamed herself for their lack of chemistry and felt like a cold fish in bed.
That relationship had ended a month before she left for her sister's wedding along with her dreams of finding the right one.
And now she was in an expensive house which came with luxurious installations like a pool, impersonating her sister. All alone with the baby, Sonia the nanny and housekeepers.
Alessandro had left immediately after alighting from the limo which had picked them up on arriving in the private jet.
Everything was luxurious and yet so lonely.
Eve didn't like anything in her sister's phone or any of the skimpy dresses that the housekeeper had unpacked as hers.
As she was shooting yet another text message to her parents, her phone started ringing.
It was Hannah, her mother's assistant.
"Good day, Mrs. Stark." The young woman had the guts to be amused.
Eve rolled her eyes mentally. "Don't call me that. What's happening? Why isn't my mum picking up or giving me any update?"
By now they should have found her sister with their connections so she would return to her life.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs.... Ms. Wilson, they are doing all they can, just think of it as a vacation and uhm, relax. It's France, you can shop and date..."
What the...
"Hannah, I'm serious right now. I can't do this for long, tell my mum that if she doesn't stop avoiding my calls, I will take action and tell Mr. Stark everything."
It was a bluff, but Hannah didn't know it, and surprisingly broke into tears the next second.
"Oh dear, your parents didn't want to tell you this, but your dad is...sick, Ms. Wilson. I... Your mum doesn't want him to die in disgrace and... He could use the money from the contract to get treated."
Now Eve knew that her parents were manipulative.
Especially her mother.
"Oh please, that lie doesn't get to me anymore." She told Hannah.
However, she received a couple of messages at that moment, and they were pictures of medical bills in her father's name.
They were dated as far back as last year.
"Have you seen them, Ms. Wilson? Please just endure for a while, Ava will be found soon. I will take care of getting you a leave from your workplace."
Eve was conflicted; she was both sad and in disbelief.
She stared at the medical bills again, millions of dollars had been spent already.
But most importantly, her father was... seriously sick and she hadn't been around or aware of it.
She slumped into a seat, tightening her hold on the phone.
"Is he...going to be fine?"
Hannah sniffed in the background. "He had gotten much better from the time he was diagnosed. But Mrs. Wilson is still scared because of his blood pressure."
Eve swallowed hard, biting into her cheeks. "It's okay, I will stay."
For her father, and most especially for that baby who had giggled and reached for her as soon as they arrived in Paris.
"Thanks erhm...Mrs. Stark. Sorry, but get used to it. I will send you everything you need to know about Ms. Ava, and her schedule."
"Schedule?"
Hannah replied immediately. "She's still signed under Mr. Stark's company as their global ambassador. I'll also send you her preference and every other thing."
She would endure, no matter how difficult it was.
"Okay, Hannah. I'll be waiting."
***
But Eve didn't know the extent of what she would have to put up with till the fake husband returned by ten in the night with a woman in his arm.
What?
She had stayed awake after putting Zoe to bed, with hopes of talking to him about their arrangement.
For instance, how long were they supposed to be in Paris?
But he returned with a red-haired in short dress and boobs threatening to spill from her deep V-neck blouse.
What the fuck was he doing with that doll on the night of their wedding?
Without knowing it, Eve felt betrayed by the man who had kissed her, and angry at his level of disrespect.
Luckily, the staff had retired for the night when she marched downstairs to meet them, her chest heaving in anger.
"What the fuck is the meaning of this, Alessandro?"
Mr. Stark had the guts to look angry, and the bimbo in his arm pouted with those lips covered in thick red lipstick.
"Xandro, why is this person shouting at us? She looks like your housekeeper." The woman muttered in French, giggling in a loud squeaky voice.
"Don't worry, baby. Just go upstairs to my room, I will handle it." He replied in the same language.
Alessandro let go of the woman who took a degrading look at Eve's long dress, the only thing she could make herself comfortable in, and started to go upstairs.
But Eve blocked her path, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Xandro baby, get this thing out of my face!" The skimpily dressed woman said again in French, flipping her blinding red hair.
But just when Alessandro made to reply, Eve tilted her chin, grateful then for her tall height.
Although she still looked petite standing next to Alessandro.
"Did you intentionally choose to look like a clown or was your fashion sense blocked along with your brain?" Eve started in that French language none of them knew she could understand, let alone speak.
Take that, son of a bitch, she wasn't Ava and had no plan of eating his shit!
"What? I...look great!" That high-pitched voice was becoming more annoying.
Eve took a step towards the woman covered in cake make-up.
"Really? Your look is a recipe for disaster. Before you come up here to seduce my husband, look less... sexually unappealing. I could at least pretend you are a worthy competition."
The girl's face reddened in a second and she turned on her heels, pushing a stunned Alessandro as she stormed out of the house.
"Wha...since when do you speak French or care about what I do in my spare time?" Alessandro finally spoke in that deep sonorous voice that had her juices flowing.
But she couldn't forget that she was mad at him.
She turned to him.
"Since it's our honeymoon, arse! You were going to bring that bimbo to the roof our daughter sleeps in? What the fuck..."
"Oh save that pretence for the magazine interviews! You've fucked tons of men under my roof and you never once cared about Zoe. Need I remind you of the threesome you had two months after she was born, next to the nursery?"
Eve was stunned.
She was scared of what she would discover about her sister with each passing minute.
Alessandro raked his fingers through his hair, pacing the expansive living room.
"I fucking had to beg you not to abort her, you held her over my head even when you knew I was dating Lydia! You ruined my life, Ava, and now what? You... Fuck you, Ava."
Pain and sadness filled her heart.
This was a man who had been hurt and then hated her sister deeply.
For a moment, she was tempted to reveal that she was only standing in, that she wasn't the one who had hurt him this much and manipulated him.
"I... You can't constantly use my past against me. It's been a year!" Eve chose to argue uselessly, knowing she had to say something.
But it irked him even more, and he stepped into her space, his broad chest heaving in his open shirt, his Adam's apple moving as he swallowed hard.
She wanted to reach out and touch him, kiss him, gently.
"A year? You blackmailed me into marrying you two months ago, and still fucked my employee in my own house! I've had it with you, I'm never falling for that manipulative shit again! Stick to the contract, don't make me end your family company."
Then he was storming out of her presence, his heavy footsteps echoing as he climbed the stairs.
Her heart was heavy at the memory of the hatred, the coldness in his eyes.
Before she could stop it, a tear slid down her cheeks, and she slumped to the cold floor, crying.
What was she to do now?
The next day, she contacted Hannah again. "Send me the contract and every information on my sister."
Hours later, Eve received the documents, and made the most shocking discovery.
The new Mrs. Stark who alighted from the Stark private jet was a different person.She wasn't the dumb selfish model who had used a kid to marry Mr. Stark.But she was no longer the Ms. Goody Two Shoes who had never been acknowledged by her parents.Not since she learnt the full terms of the marriage contract! "What are you waiting for? Get in, I have a meeting..."Alessandro Stark started in that impatient tone, but was interrupted when his new wife raised her palm, halting his words.Then she adjusted her sunshades, her diamond ring shimmering on her finger. "I won't ride with you. I will take a cab if I have to." She had felt bad for Alessandro who had been manipulated into marriage, but he wasn't innocent in the scheme either!Besides, he had spent their honeymoon in the arms of different women and returned at night smelling like feminine cologne.He hadn't even cared about the headline he had made in a club, surrounded by women!He was going out of his way to disgrace her in t
Alessandro Stark was kissing her!The mysterious man she had struggled to keep off her mind,He hated her as much as she now despised him after the discovery she made,But it didn't make his lips any less explosive.Her stomach fluttered as her creamy cheeks flushed red, her eyes fluttered shut and a soft moan hummed beneath her breath. It was tender at first, seductive and teasing, but soon it was desperate and punishing.The same way she wanted him.Her palms were in his shoulders and he had her against the wall, the ridges of the hard wall of his muscles rubbing against her.Talk about being between walls."Hmm..." He muttered in a low growl, cradling that delicate face with high cheek bones as he suckled her plump pink lips.They were softer and she smelt of baby powder and a faint feminine perfume which was familiar and memorable.As realisation suddenly hit him, he tore his lips from hers, watching her lust-filled gaze as she came to terms with reality.Her beauty at that momen
The funeral was in a Buddhist temple; Eve's eyes were red at the end when her lovely grand aunt was cremated. But her children were at the other end of the temple, taking pictures and faking tears when the video camera got to them. How disrespectful to the great Aunt Rebecca! As soon as the ceremony was over, Eve dragged her weak body to the altar and made merit. Then she was about to leave when a familiar young man with sharp green eyes and crisply ironed suit blocked her path. "Ms. Wilson... I'm sorry, Mrs. Stark?" Oh, he obviously thought she was Ava. But he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "I know it's you, Eve. It's just me, Leonardo." Eve's eyes widened as recognition kicked in. "Wow, little Leonardo! You've grown! But how..." Well, he wasn't little anymore with trimmed beard and wide shoulders. He was handsome, but he didn't come close to Alessandro whom she needed to stop thinking about. "Erhm, Mrs. Johnson Rebecca talked to me before she died. I'm actu
"Your husband is still adamant on setting up a meeting with you, he came himself to the company!" Eve was feeling more accomplished these days as she listened to Leonardo's daily report. "Really? Tell him I've agreed to a meeting tomorrow." She replied the attorney who was also a childhood friend.And knowing her as much as he did, Leonardo was surprised. "You want to expose yourself now?" And Eve smiled mischievously. "In his dreams."She would derive so much joy standing him up.And she knew this already because her heart had been filled with a new kind of amusement each night she watched him pace the expansive hallway and make different calls.At least he didn't reek of feminine perfumes anymore."Oh you evil mince. I will have your assistant forward you more documents." "Okay, thanks, Leonardo." Then the green-eyed attorney hung up. With a smile of satisfaction, Eve sashayed out of her room and perched her waist against the wall, watching as her beloved husband made yet anoth
Eve's heart stopped for a whole second! "You would go all the way to f*ck this boy just to ruin my family?" She had mixed feelings, but her heartbeat had resumed, fast as her trembling fingers. But then she narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. Of course, the bastard Alessandro Stark would think she was having sex with the attorney. It would never occur to him that she was capable of being the owner of the company. Of all the arrogant! "Perhaps. Or maybe he was just too good in bed to ignore." Eve would wonder later, why she baited him with those words. But his golden irises darkened; challange and rage and desire filling his pupils. His fingers tightened around the phone, so tight she could see the veins of his long beautiful palms. "You would f*ck anything that can give you money anyway, Ava. For a moment, I seem to have forgotten that." Was that disappointment and betrayal in his voice? Taking one last hard look at her, Alessandro threw her phone on t
Alessandro Stark was enraged as he got down from the car. Ava Wilson-Stark had disgraced him in the worst way possible, Standing the CEO of Stark global Corporation up in public! "Sir, Mrs. Ava said to inform you that..." The security officer who ran towards him started as Alessandro drove madly into the expansive compound. In his rage, he had driven himself out of the gala venue! He'd had to contend with sleazy reporters repeatedly asking if he was already having troubles with his new wife! One had even dared bring up the pictures of him with other women which his PR had taken down within one hour of their publication. Was this her revenge for the way he had ignored her during the honeymoon, had she planned this stunt to gain pity from the public? He was in rage. "Hold it." "But sir..." Alessandro walked past the wide-eyed security man, taking two steps at a time with long strides into the mansion. His chest was heaving when he opened the door to the expansive living ro
One Week Later "Mr. Stark has cleaned her up and fed her already." Sonia gave the morning report on Zoe to Eve as she had been doing for the past one week. "Okay. I will shop for her Thanksgiving diner clothes then." "Oh, he got them yesterday. He must want you to rest, ma'am." Now Eve could only say one thing, Alessandro Stark was going through a transformation! Ever since the hospital incident, he had been returning early and leaving later than usual for work. Once she had even come into the nursery in the middle of the night to see him changing baby Zoe's diapers. And he had been singing to the tiny toddler while doing so! Eve didn't know what to make of her husband's new attitude. It both delighted and left her in shock. "O...kay. I'll uhm... Take Zoe to the doctor when he....my husband leaves for work." And Sonia the cheerful nanny sent her a broad smile, "He said he will come back in the afternoon for it. Oh! Maybe you can go with him!" Now Eve was impressed and also
It was exactly what it looked like, the CEO of Stark Global Corporation had just witnessed his wife bullying a fellow model who was also protected by his company laws.And everyone was waiting to see the decision he would take.All eyes were on Alessandro Stark as he adjusted his pristine suit, his orbs reflecting against the bright lights pouring into the room.Something in Eve kicked her guts, her heart pounding with each step her husband took."What happened?" He finally asked in a calm voice, and before Eve could speak, the willy-nilly manager of Bella had resumed her screams about how her agent had been treated badly."Is it because she's not the wife of the CEO? Doesn't she deserve some kind treatment as well?" Then she lifted Bella's shirt where Eve's heel had been, and gasped in exaggerated horror. "She may die!" Eve parted her lips to speak, but Alessandro met her eyes at that moment, his arresting her into immobility.She hated that he still affected her.Then he shook his