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CHAPTER 20
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A vow of hate CHAPTER 21
“What happened?” I asked immediately I reached the front desk and spotted my mother’s nurse, not even bothering to say hello to anyone. “Is my mother okay?”The nurse steps out from behind the desk and walks over to me. “Your mother developed an infection, but I’ll let the doctor tell you the rest.”“Why? Why can’t you tell me? Is she?” My eyes widened, “is she dead?” I asked, waiting for the ball to drop and change my life forever.“No, of course not. Your mother’s fine. It’s just standard procedure. We’ve been able to stabilize her, but she might still be a bit woozy.” The nurse informed me.I let out a whoosh of air, and finally breathed for the first time since we left the fundraiser. “Can I go in to see her?” I inquired.“Yes, you can.”I was sprinting to my mother’s room before the nurse could even finish talking. I met the doctor in front of the room door.“Your mother developed an infection, and honestly, nobody saw this coming. She passed out, and that was why you were calle
A vow of hate CHAPTER 22
It was a Saturday, and I had recently started working out in Christian’s home gym, and I was just rounding up a session. I took a big chug from my water bottle and went up the stairs with my sweat soaked towel in hand. My phone rang just as I closed the door to my room behind me. It was Olivia.“Hey.” I greeted.“Are you pregnant?”“Huh? Did you just ask if I’m pregnant?”“Yes. Are you?” She inquired again.“No, Olivia, I’m not pregnant. Now what is this about?” I asked, tiredly reaching to sit down on the floor.“You don’t know,” Olivia’s voice cracks. “You really have no idea.”I’m suddenly alert. “What’s going on Liv? What are you talking about?”“There’s… there’s stories coming out about you.”“Huh?”“Yeah, about you and Christian.”My stomach dropped to my feet, and now I knew that the shaking of my knees wasn’t just from the intense workout routine I had just done. “Send them to me.”“Hazel, I think it’s better if you don’t see them.” Olivia says slowly.Shit. I ignored her and
A vow of hate CHAPTER 23
CHRISTIANI had decided to take the day after the fundraising event off, much to the surprise of everyone at the office since I barely took any time off. And I should have known that was a mistake. I had decided to disconnect from the world and just relax in the house with Valerie, and somehow, two hours passed without me checking my phone. That single act came back to bite me in the ass.‘This is what happens when you take breaks’ I thought to myself.Someone had leaked a story to gossip magazines claiming that my marriage to Hazel was staged, and immediately, I knew it was the work of my father. It wasn’t rocket science, anyone could see that he was responsible for this damage.I had to give him credit. He was thorough, making sure to include a set of fake documents showing the agreement of a contract marriage, complete with forged signatures of Hazel and I. The whole thing was stupid, we weren’t even in a contract marriage, it didn’t make any sense. It portrayed me as the exact mon
A vow of hate CHAPTER 24
CHRISTIAN“You’re handing over the company to me?” I asked in bewilderment, taking the phone off my ear for a second to cross check the number again. But everything was as it should be. I really was talking to my grandfather and not an imposter.“I am.” “But why?” I asked again, still confused. “And in the midst of all this drama too. I expected you to pull everything out from under me.”“Exactly.” Grandfather’s gruff voice responded. “I’ve been disappointed one too many times. And if your father was the least bit dependable, the company might have been his ages ago. I’m getting too old to do this for much longer. This is your last chance, you're under probation. Fix this mess and make it disappear and you'll be inaugurated as chairman at the next board meeting.” “Aren’t you going to ask if any of it is true?” I asked him.There was a slight pause before he spoke, “does it matter? The only thing that matters is that you have a wife and a daughter now, and from what I’ve seen and hea
A vow of hate CHAPTER 25
HAZELI could feel my nerves grow stronger as we neared the hospital. I kept bouncing my knees up and down the whole way until Christian literally snapped at me to stop. I knew that he hated the fact that he had to do this with me, he never stopped reminding me that he’d rather do anything else in the world than have to endure my presence. I had half expected him to react a certain way when I punched his father, but he had done the exact opposite, and even though he obviously hated the fact that he was stuck here with me right now, at least he was doing it. That was all that mattered. When we got to the hospital, a nurse handed me a clipboard that needed to be filled with all my information, but I was struggling to hold the pen with my injured hand.“Give it here, I'll do it,” Christian offered, looking a bit annoyed.“No, it's fine. I’ve got it.” I protested.“This really isn’t the time to be stubborn, Hazel.” he grabbed both the pen and clipboard out of my hands. “Just tell me the a
A vow of hate CHAPTER 26
It was officially day one of our ‘rebrand’ mission, as I had so graciously named it. Christian and I were getting ready for our first real date, and just to put it out there, there was nothing normal about this. Aside from the obvious elephant in the room being that I was going on a date with a man that would waste no time lodging a knife in my neck if given the opportunity, I was also going on a date with a man who was super meticulous and obsessed over every tiny little detail. Which is why I was currently getting ready with the help of a team of hairstylists, makeup artists and a wardrobe stylist. I’d been on dates before, and I usually just picked out whatever decent looking dress I could find in my stuffy wardrobe, applied lipgloss and mascara, and I would be on my way. I wasn’t used to such insanity. But when I tried to protest, I was reminded that I was a Walker now, and nothing about being a Walker was ordinary. That shut me right up.They were finally done now, and I had to a
A vow of hate CHAPTER 27
Christian led me into the restaurant with his hand on the small of my back. My back which was completely bare by the way! The restaurant was Italian, it was over the top, and everyone was dressed like they had some high end fashion show to be at after dinner. The hostess ushered us in without checking for our names on their computer, and I had to admit, the restaurant was beautiful. It had tall arched windows adorned with flowing curtains which she knew would look absolutely gorgeous in the daytime with the sunlight streaming through. The ceiling soared overhead with intricate frescoes depicting scenes from Italian history and mythology, while chandeliers hung like jewels, casting a soft ambient light throughout the room. And the tables were draped in crisp white linens and set with gleaming silverware and sparkling crystal glassware. You just knew it was the kind of place that served miniature portions of food for thousands of dollars. We were led to the back of the room, which meant
A vow of hate CHAPTER 28
I stared at the phone in my hands, rereading the line of text like the words would miraculously morph into something else. My anxiety was getting worse by the second and I was this close to hyperventilating. It was a text from Mark, and it simply said ‘have brunch with me. 1pm, The Lark cafe. Be there.’ Of course I could simply ignore it, but if I knew Mark very well, which I did, I knew that the text message wasn’t an invitation, there was a threat embedded somewhere in those words, between the lines. Mark was good at doing that— manipulating and gaslighting you into thinking you had a choice, but in reality, you didn’t. I knew there was no getting out of this brunch with him.“Haze?” I jumped at the sound of Valerie’s voice, and dropped my phone, which only made me jump again when it made a clattering sound as it fell on the counter. Christian stopped chewing his food and looked at me, expressionless. I’d been so focused on the text message that I had completely forgotten where I w
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