chapter 5: Meeting him
Carlines pov Divorce papers. A hollow laugh bubbled up in my chest. “You’ve been waiting for this moment, haven’t you?” I spat, glaring at Amelda. “all the fake laughs and concern. Our friendship was just so that you could ruin my life and take everything from me.” Amelda stepped closer, lowering her voice to a whisper only I could hear. “You were already ruined, sweetheart. I just finished the job.” My hands trembled with rage. I wanted to retaliate, to scream, and most especially, I wanted to wipe that smug grin off her very painted face. If only I had known. I could not have thought or believed that my best friend would turn her back against me. And not just that, even helping to shove a divorce paper to my own face. “Ohh, well, just for you to know, I am already pregnant” Emelda snuggled even closer to Nathan. “What!” I could not help but scream out in shock, despite myself. “Take a look, you barren bitch” she flung a medical report to my face. And there was written a confirmed pregnancy I had thought that I would not feel anything. Or whatever Nathan and Emleda was having was just a fling, but seeing this. seeing that it was really, I was too scared to even think of what it could mean... For me. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes, but I forcefully shoved it inside. I turned to Nathan, who was just watching everything like it didn't concern him for even a bit. But before I could say anything, Nathan turned to the security guard and gave his final order. “Get her out of here. I don't want to see her face nor smell her around this company premises.” Nathan ordered before zooming off in his car, leaving me standing there with my mouth hangs open. I barely had time to react before rough hands grabbed my arms, dragging me away from the building, away from my only source of income, from everything I had worked for. “Go back to the prison you belonged to.” the security personnel snarled while dragging me away. “Stop!” someone shouted , stopping their action. I turned to see a well-dressed man in an immaculate black suit, with very dark glasses that covered his eyes. Giving him a mysterious and fierce look, He stood just at the company's entrance. “The master, request for the woman in his office” “That's bullshit. How could the master ever make such a request?” the security personnel scowled at the well-dressed man, still gripping my hands in a tight hold. “That's the masters wish…are you questioning orders” the well-dressed man questioned, his voice dangerously low as he peered at the security personnel with a daring look. “No..ooo, I wouldn't dare” “Good” he nodded before turning to me. I was still confused at what was happening. “Follow me” ****************** I followed the well-dressed man sheepishly. not in any way knowing what his plan was . From his actions and lack of making conversation, I took him to be a bodyguard. “Where are you taking me too?” I had to ask when I couldn’t hold my curiosity. But I only received a cold stare before he continued forward. not bordering on answering my question. “What the fuck...is happening ” “is that not the masters gaurd?, Why is the little fraudster together with him?” “I heard Manager Nathan had divorced her this morning for her infidelity...woo to her shamelessness” My face burned from the different critic's and voices murmuring in the background but I pretend to not hear anything. And if the silent bodyguard had heard, he didn't as much as make any expression. for a moment, I wondered in terror, if my little escapad last night had somehow been exposed. We reached a large wooden mahogany door. My mouth hangs open in shock as this was the place that was forbidden from the workers. Only the manager and high-ranking workers were allowed to enter inside it or know what it was for. even i, when i was still a secretary to my husband, i had no knowledge. The company I once worked in was one of the numerous companies owned by a very wealthy and powerful family. “The Johnsons” They were the number one family, and it was rumored before my arrest that the boss would be visiting our company for their annual general visit to every branch of their company in the country. “Go in,” the man said in a flat voice. I hesitated for a while, not knowing what this was all about, but I had come a long way to go back. Right now, I was on the topest floor of the five story building. Bracing myself, I pushed the unusual smooth door open, finding myself in a dim space. It took a while for my brain to process things. And when it did, I realised that I was rather standing in a ridiculous big office space. The size was almost like 10 parlors combined. But that was not all. I squinted my eyes at the rather large oak table. It was rather the largest table I had ever seen, with the gray binds that were still closed. Overall, the room or office screamed money, and I couldn’t help but swallow hard. “Have you had your fill, admiring?” a deep familiar voice suddenly said, snapping me off from my daydream. red immediately covered my face. That was when I saw him. Thanks for the dim lightin of the room I had not seen him before, but rather I had stupidly gnawed at his lavishly decorated office, but now… I saw the owner of the voice, and I had to wonder how I could have missed such a presence. I froze. My mouth suddenly became dry as my heartbeat increased. How could this happen? The owner of the voice. The man behind the ridiculous large expensive table was no other person but the stranger from last night. The one I had had a one night stand with. And not just that… He was the man I had signed my last savings to, threw it to his chest, and called it to his face his bed skills. In the moment, I felt the ground would open and swallow me. As embarrassment and shame filled me. As if that was not enough, the satisfied smug look on his ridiculous, well sculpted face said it all. He recognised me. After a long dragging awkward silence between the two of us. He finally opened his mouth, but a knock on the door interrupted him from saying what he wanted to say. The door burst opened and stumbled in the only person I didn't want to see in my entire life.Shattering Realizations Xavier’s POV The hospital walls were too white, the familiar scent of the beeping machines and heavy detox scent hung heavily in the air. Around me was too silent, well, except the chaos that was running free inside me. Like a caged storm wanting to let go. I paced the cold floor outside the ICU, my hands clenched, and my mind wandered from one scenario to another of how everything was supposed to play out. I had pictured Elijah, denying the evidence. Hence, I brought and prepared contingency plans in case it goes south. I had envisioned Joeline's family trying to plead on her behalf, and I had five pages of the do and don't of my family crammed throughout the night. Pointing out her sins and making it difficult for even a god to save her. Security was placed at strategic places surrounding the secretariat. Even extending to the neighboring cities and towns. I wouldn't want the mistake of the last summits to repeat itself. I had even prepared for the var
poisonedXavier pov”This is slander!” Elijah snapped, standing now. “You are letting power blind you. You are going overboard”I didn’t blink nor engage him. “Is that so? Then maybe you’ll enjoy hearing for yourself.”I hit the remote in my hand.The speakers flared to life. It was faint at first, but then the voices became clear:> Elijah’s Voice: “She won’t be a problem. I made sure of that. By the time it’s over, she’ll either leave or break, and if not…”> Joeline’s Voice: “We need that test erased. You said you’d handle Jeff.”Heavy silence descended.Pure, deafening silence. The room filled with hundreds of elite citizens suddenly turned into a graveyard.Mother now had a burning rages now in her tired eyes, Few family heads turned sharply with looks of shock and surprise, followed by a few gasps and murmurs.Elijah tried to act confident and cocky. “That could be faked. It’s edited.”“Don’t insult our intelligence,” Josh, the head of intelligence growled from the back.“You h
Second summitXavier’s POVTwo weeks later,The letters had circulated, all the channels in the world boomed with one news headline. “The second world summit”It was the first ever recorded second summit, to have ever been called in the space of three months.The renovated secretariat hadn’t been this full from the last summits that have been held here.Gold chandeliers hung low, casting fractured reflections on the mirrored marble floor. Guards in black stood at attention at every corner of the room. The banners of all the twelve ruling families fluttered behind the obsidian podium, Moretti, Lennox, Gallaghers... and, of course, the most powerful and the rolling family, the Johnson crest hung above them all.Yet, despite the grandeur of the hall, and the tight packed security, the air was heavy.Suffocating.It was an emergency two week summon of all the families and important dignitaries in the world. an act unheard of. And this time it was not just a secret meeting like usual…th
The Crown of LiesXavier’s POVThe sound of my shoes continued to echo through the hallways as I marched angrily like a general on his way to the battlefield. The door to my mom's room loomed before me like an impenetrable fortress. I took a moment to let myself wander for a while at what the east wing had become. The hallways to my mothers private lounge were eerily silent, a former ghost of it bubbling sef. It's been a long time since I ever stepped foot here. But that was a long way before my father's death. I pushed the door open without any form of formalities. The number of people in the world that could do this could be counted on one hand. But as of this moment, I didn’t care.Because right now, I need answers.The doors slammed on the sparkling walls rattling the entire room. I almost vomited blood on seeing the woman that had caused it all, relaxed as of the my whole world have not collapsed.She lay there on her lounge recliner, wearing a red coloured silk robe, with two
raging stormCaroline’s POVIt's been a few days since Xavier had found my hidden place. The day my carefully mapped out life crumbled in ashes.I could hardly sleep a wink since that day, not out of fear,No, I have already come to terms with the fear that had settled deep in my bones long ago, but it was from the sheer confusion of all that had happened.He left.Just like that,The exchange continued to replay in my mind every passing minute. It was so easy, and without any form of fight or struggles, he had agreed for once to let me be.But not after accepting his condition,Because the next morning, the quiet little ghost town I had come to call home was no longer mine.Black SUVs had rolled in during the early hours, blending awkwardly into the rural and local surroundings of the town. Men in suits stationed could be found on various strategic points, all looking relaxed and trying to blend in with the locals, but it was so obvious that these were the men Xavier talked about.Bu
The Knife Between Us Caroline’s POV I could believe what my eyes were actually seeing. The silence that stretched after I whispered his name was so unbearable, more than I could bear. He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to because the pain and rage in his eyes said it all. “I…i what are you…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say at the moment. Xavier stood up from the only cushion in the small room. He stepped to the center of the room, his presence filling the tiny space like he owned the place, like the space had been waiting for him all along. His hawk eyes roamed around the room. I couldn’t help looking down in shame as Xavier took in the state of the room. A worn-out couch, old faded curtains I had purchased one time from the market, then the cracked filled walls. His gaze paused briefly at the tiny baby socks I had knitted in the morning. I saw his gaze harden the more as he continued to drink in the small room that was the cabin. It was just a run-down cabin that offere