"It is you, right," the guy smiled and said to her, and she strode past him like she didn't even hear him say anything. 'Geez! Who was he anyway and what was he doing there? It would not do her any good if he recognized her as the heiress from the party,' Zoe wondered furiously, as she tried not to roll her eyes disdainfully. "Hi, it is me. Remember me from the party?" He asked her again with a bubbly and bright smile, as he turned and followed after her instantly so as to get her attention. "I don't know you," she murmured under her breath and gritted her teeth, while thinking of possible ways to get him off her neck as she continued to walk away. Even the sweet scent of his cologne made it hard to get angry effectively because it smelled so soothing. "Hunhhh. Your face tells me that you remember me," he smiled at her again and walked beside her so elegantly, looking like they were perfectly matched to one another. Her mind remembered the same thing she had seen rich people do, w
The past days over the weekend were hectic for Zoe, as her late nights and early mornings blurred together in an unwavering dedication to studying everything that was acquainted with the nuances of her role. Considering her level of experience and knowledge, she didn't find it quite easy because of how complex the ANCLAIR corporation was. It was known as the top conglomerate in the city which could never falter from its position. Though it was intended by Francis to lay her off indirectly if she was not able to land them the company buyout project, she had done better than he had expected her to ever be able to do, and was willing to do more regardless. She didn't care whatever his initial intentions were, concerning the skepticism of entrusting his company into her hands, because she had many plans in mind to execute. And to carry them out, she needed power. By Monday of the next week, the stocks of ANCLAIR conglomerate corporation had risen even more than they had done in the past
"You look nervous, Ivy. Do you want to ruin this recital?" Isla muttered irritatedly as she strode into the dressing room, where Ivy was sitting with her head hung down. She was dressed in a beautiful, moonlit white silk dress, which was adorned with intricate laces, embroidery and shiny pearls, which shimmered under the bright light in the room. She looked like a broken celestial being in her seated position, as she raised her eyes, which mirrored deep sadness. "Why wouldn't I be, Isla? You know that I shouldn't be sitting here. I shouldn't! I am not ready for this!" Ivy clamoured angrily to her sister, even when she knew that there was nothing that she could do about it. "Since when have you not been ready?! Since you spent more than one year lazing around while your mates were climbing at the peak of their music careers?!" Ivy glared contemptuously at her with no words to say to her, because she would not have come there in the first place if their mother had not asked her to c
Things had gone crazy just one day after Ivy had been exposed, and was arrested after her recital for fraudulent charges involved in her career. Though she was released in less than two hours after her arrest because of her family's favor, her image had taken the worst turn on the internet as people tore her to pieces with their words. To make everything worse and unbearable, Malcolm and his assistant, who usually took care of messes like that effortlessly, were on a business trip. It made things even worse than they were supposed to be. The incident also caused a lot of losses for them because they had to refund everyone that paid the expensive ticket prices, the hall that was rented for hundreds, and the fine that was paid to bail her out and settle everything. Still, her image had taken a tank on social media, as she became a face for frustrated people to lash at. Especially those that didn't know her before, but heard she was part of a multi-billionaire conglomerate family. "
A stunning young lady alighted from the luxurious white car which pulled in front of the tall, majestic, imposing six-star hotel, with her every move exuding grace and authority. Dressed in a tailored designer suit that accentuated her figure and elegance, Zoe made her way into the building casually, with Gary close to her. No one in the hotel was informed of her presence as wished, and she made her way inside without drawing too much attention to her arrival. As she walked through the hotel's grand lobby, she could not help but draw attention to herself, regardlessly, even if many didn't realize who she was. Zoe took her time to examine and observe everything that was going on in the hotel, as she and Gary took the elevator together, while he explained everything that she needed to know about the hotel as one of their newest subsidiary companies. He showed her everything from the presidential suites, to the fine dining restaurants, spa, gym, private beach and golf course club cent
Zoe tiredly made her way home after a long and hectic day she spent at the hotel, observing every account statement of Pheng Hotel for the past months. It turned out that there was some mismatch of transaction numbers when she singlehandedly did the calculations herself, and the director, Mr. Mark was given an ultimatum of three days to fix everything that had gone wrong in the records. Failure to do that would land him in jail.With all the strength in her, she entered her room and kicked off her heels with a heavy sigh, while rubbing her temples with a circular and gentle motion. It was to seek relief from the persistent ache that throbbed in her eyes and head. Barely stepping out of her dress, she slumped onto the softness of her bed as it made a light dip from her weightless body, and craved the solace of rest beckoning to her weary body. Her mind moved in a daze, which was dulled by the persistent fatigue that clung to her relentlessly, and her mind wandered back to the thoughts
With anxiety and a sense of urgency, Zoe checked the phone number that sent the message to her phone and dialed it instantly. With her fingers trembling unnoticeably, she waited patiently for the person at the other side to pick up the call, while contemplating on what she would say to start the conversation. "I thought you would not call," she heard the obnoxious voice from the other side of the phone, and Zoe could swear that she felt her head spin dizzily at the words of the person she could never mistake for another. She didn't even need to ask how he got her phone number. "You bastard!" Her lips trembled as they shot out words of despise, as the veins of her neck stood out in livid ridges. She stood up from where she was sitting sharply like a controlled marionette, and began to walk to her living room where she could stare at her surroundings through her floor-to-ceiling window. She imagined tilting Malcolm from that point so high with his hands and legs tied, while watching
Ivy had not left the house for days ever since the scandal and all, because she could not risk being seen by any reporter that was still willing to get a direct news scoop from her. Though things had died down in just a few days, her career had taken a plunge, regardless of how hard her mother was trying to help her minimize the damages. The few big commercials that she had featured in through her mother's connection and help, had taken down her images and videos from their advertisement pages to minimize problems for their companies because of her scandal. She also had to pay for the damages for cancelation of contracts due to her misconduct. Following Audrey's call to the school was Aaron's withdrawal instead of expulsion to prevent the issue from escalating more than it had done, and for it not to tarnish the image of the Meyers more than it has been messed with in just a day. However, she didn't have it easy with Irina, who had heard of the news already.The air in the elegant
Audrey struggled for breath as she began to tap his hand, which was already restricting the airflow from her lungs, and it was as if his eyes burned with more anger because the veins of his hands popped out more visibly.Without thinking too much, she raised the pointed tip of the shoe she was wearing as she positioned her hands firmly, on the railings for support. With a force, while struggling hard to breathe, she sent a kick to the middle of his legs. The pain caused Andre to groan as he instantly snatched his hand from her neck and grabbed his crotch in pain, which made it easy for Audrey to instantly spring forward instead of falling over because of the force he had used to shove her against the railings. Immediately, she dialed Zoe's number as fast as she could on her escape, as she scurried away from where Andre almost choked the life out of her, her ragged breaths uneven, and her heart beating so fast. Momentarily lost for the right words to say as soon as Zoe picked up Aud
SIX MONTHS AGO. Audrey had worn a camel-colored dress that day on Irina's birthday to celebrate freedom, and her imminent moment of final escape from the Meyers. From her ruthless husband's family, her miserable life and family problems- the major reason why she was still stuck in the stupid marriage. Her room back in the mansion had been cleared to an extent of all the things she needed, and arranged perfectly in a way that it might take a while to suspect a thing from just a mede glance. Smuggling her luggage out had been the easiest. It had been tactically towed to a storage company earlier that day, in new garbage bags that didn't even make anyone question. She had executed the plan perfectly, during the busy hours of the day in the mansion, while everyone was trying to make Irina's birthday party a perfect one and were all distracted. She had withdrawn Aaron from school, hidden him in a safe place in the guise of school camp, and had planned everything perfectly. It was only
Andre barely slept a wink all night. He was so restless, and his mind roamed aimlessly. Nothing was working for him. Nothing. And yet, he just continued to fall into more problems and debts. Yes, debts. While he was busy faking his death in the country he was living while his mother sponsored his lifestyle, he spent most of his time gambling in a casino. Returning to California, he continued codely in high-end clubs for elites, and had lost his savings in just a few months after placing a costly bet during one of his usual gambling days. The slush funds that was secretly siphoned from the MEL-CO oil and gas was meant to help him get back on his feet, but Malcolm caught on fast and blocked it mercilessly. Since then, he had been pressed for money and was desperate. He didn't know what was going to work out at the moment, but he needed a large amount of money to settle the private loans he took. Selling his shares was not an option because he would lose everything. Asking his moth
Irina's mind had not known peace for the past few hours, and she hadn't slept a wink the entire night. Dressed in a gorgeous custom-made white suit, she sat stiff and frozen in the back seat of her car, as if she had forgotten how to move.Her driver glanced at her in the mirror once or twice, wondering what was wrong, because it was unlike her to look that dazed. The tension in the car was stifling as he drove, and it was almost suffocating for him. Her fingers continued to flutter nervously, with one hand on her lap, and the other biting at her already wounded nails. Her heart was beating erratically and restlessly, as her eyes remained dark and sunken in misery. She struggled to remain composed as her head pounded fiercely, because the terrible migraine from the previous night had not stopped stabbing into her eyes. But she barely cared. All she could think about was her daughter. Isla. ‘What does she know? What?! What was she talking about?!’ Her heart twisted with fear each ti
The bright lights from the chandelier in the room stirred Zoe awake as her eyes fluttered for a few seconds, before it parted. A gasp escaped her as soon as her eyes met the ceilings above, and her heart skipped immediately, as her eyes darted to the clock by the corner of the expansive room.8:30 AMZoe's hand flew to her temple, and her eyes widened, “No. No. shit!” she muttered, as she moved the bed covers around her body instantly and came down the bed. She was meant to rest for two hours, maybe three at most. Just enough to clear her head. Instead, she had passed out completely while sitting on the couch yesterday. She was wearing the same clothes from yesterday, with her phone off, her body tired, and not a single file prepped for the morning’s board briefing. ‘Malcolm must have brought her here when she fell asleep,’ she realized. Thinking about him, she noticed that the penthouse seemed quieter than usual, as she walked out of the bedroom straight to the dining room. There
“How did it feel to see her?” Malcolm, whose eyes were already shutting in weariness brightened at the mention of Zoe, saying she met her mother. “To be honest, I was so glad. I was exhilarated because it felt so surreal to know I still have a family,” a small smile graced her lips as she spoke of it, “She doesn't know yet, but I like seeing her every time. She is a gorgeous woman. Full of dreams, and beautiful. Fun fact, we have similar eyes,” she was so excited to talk about Jasmine to someone. Turning to look at her, Malcolm stared into her eyes with a smile, “Really?”“Yes. She is stunning,” her lips widened in a deeper grin. His heart, suddenly hurting at the thought of his mother again, Malcolm was curious, “You don't resent all the times you spent away from her? Or her?”“If I say I don't, I lie,” a soft sigh escaped Zoe, as she looked up at the beautiful chandelier that was sitting up on the ceiling of the living room, while staring at it dreamily like a new kind of attra
Ding dong! The shrill chime of the doorbell outside the door instantly cut through Jasmine's thoughts and her back to the present from her room. For a moment, she couldn’t move. Her body remained frozen as if her brain had paused, and her heart, hammered. It was when her phone which was by her side sounded with a loud notification, that she fully kicked out of the reset mode her mind had gone into. She grabbed the phone so languidly as if something was sucking life out of her. A message notification from Justine flashed through her face when she swiped the screen up, and it read, ‘I’m outside. Please come get me.’ Turning on the lights in the room, Jasmine rose to her feet and hurried out of her room with light steps, careful not to wake Raine up. When she opened the front door of the house, a silent gasp escaped her as soon as she saw her. Justine was looking like life had chewed her up and spit her out. Her eyes were red with weariness and swollen with tears, and her sho
The bedroom showed no sign of life because the lights there were off, but someone was sitting by the window side, staring out into her uninteresting compound, while lost in thoughts. She sat at the edge of her armchair with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular. The air around her felt so thick with tension, and it felt too heavy to pull into her lungs, because it was constricted with pain. It had been almost two hours since Zoe left, but Jasmine’s heart had not known rest because of what she said. The most shocking part of her life was all exposed in just one evening, and she was still trying so hard to process it. Her truths were wrapped in so much pain.She had been trying to keep up with the chaos inside her head, but it was as if Zoe's pain now lived in her lungs.‘She was married?’ Jasmine could not get her mind off that part, because that piece of information was not included in her public biography. There was no news about it. ‘If she was
Zoe adjusted the face cap she was wearing and bent her head, her eyes boring deep into the floor as she entered into the elevator with Malcolm. It was when they entered and the doors shut, that she thought to herself that it would have been better if he had gone up first. ‘What could be worse than the tip-off of where she was staying the night? Meeting up with Malcolm Meyer in his private penthouse? It would look too good on paper. The speculations would be terrifying and suffocating!’“You can remove the cap now,” Malcolm told her as soon as they reached the penthouse of the forty-five floored building, and stepped out of the elevator. “Okay,” she muttered, even if she didn't pull it off immediately. She was still a little bothered that someone might see them. The penthouse was quiet when Zoe stepped in after Malcolm opened the door, and it was the kind of stifling silence that made her heartbeat echo in her own ears. And maybe somehow, because she had seen what his house looked