Travis and Alison stood across from each other. There was silence in the room, and Alison's heart was beating fast as she thought of what he wanted to talk to her about.“Alison,” he began, and she answered, looking at him.“You have been pushing yourself too hard. I have seen the hours you have put into this case. The late work hours, the skipped meals... it is not healthy for a woman like you.”Alison folded her arms across her chest. How did he know she skipped meals and worked late?Was he stalking her?She asked, "How do you know I work late and skip meals?"He shrugged as if the questions were not necessary. He replied, "The security said you are always the last person to leave the building. And of course, your office is close to mine, and I am certain that you don't leave the office during lunchtime, nor does anyone bring in your lunch." She nodded, and said, “Is this your way of telling me I’m not good enough, Travis? Because if it is, you might as well save your breath than
Travis could not focus. He was still thinking of Alison's words, and even though he wanted to give her space, he needed to understand what was going on.He remembered the first time they met. She had mentioned something about a letter.Could it be what he was thinking?In order to satisfy his curiosity, he made his way out to her office.He knocked slightly, and and when he heard her say, "Come in", he pushed the door open.He cleared his throat, refusing to beat around the bush.“What did you mean?” Travis asked, his brows furrowing a little, as he shut the door.She looked at him, wondering what he was talking about."What did I mean? I don't understand, what are you talking about?" "I mean.. you mentioned something the first time we met. And then—" Alison let out a deep breath, cutting him shut as if she just wanted to let it out. “I was talking about the breakup letter, Travis. The one you sent me.”His eyes widened in disbelief. So, he did not hear wrongly. She really did mean
“So... it really was your mother,” she said lowly, as if she was finding it difficult to believe that it was really his mother who was the mastermind of all of this.Travis nodded, his jaw clenched. “It all makes sense now. The letters, the trip..everything that happened between us, she was behind it.”Alison exhaled deeply, her fingers running through her hair. “I just... I don’t understand why she hated me so much. I was never disrespectful to her, Travis. I didn’t even get the chance to prove myself to her.”“It was not about you, Alison,” Travis replied, trying to keep his cool. “It was about my mother. My mother has always believed she knows what is best for me. And in her eyes, you didn’t fit the image she had for my future. I guess that was the reason she did this. Only that, I did not think she would go this far.”Alison shook her head. “So, was she right to break us apart without our knowledge? Manipulating us to thinking we were both at fault."“No, it wasn't,” Travis said,
Alison reached the car park, and took out her car key. Just as she was about to enter the car, she sighted Travis heading her way.He was glued to his phone, and Oscar was nowhere to be found. It seemed like he had gone on another of Travis' errands."Travis, hey," she said, stepping in front of him.“Alison?” he said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”“I need to talk to you,” she said, crossing her hands over her chest.He raised an eyebrow, and asked, "what do you want to talk about?" "This," she said, holding up the gold invitation card from earlier.Travis frowned, recognizing the card immediately. He wondered how she got a hold of it, but he pretended not to know anything about it.“What is that?”“You tell me,” Alison shot back. “It is an invitation to an event hosted by the so-called ‘Elite Men.’ And don’t tell me you don’t know anything about it, Travis. The name alone speaks of your world.”He stepped closer, feigning to be confused. “I’ve never seen that before in my li
Travis was mad at his mother for what she did. He could not get it off his mind that his mother had ruined his relationship with Alison. For years, he thought Alison left him. He lived with the fact that Alison dumped him, and even though he had vowed to forget about her, he just couldn't. Not after seeing her that day. The car came to a halt. He stepped on the pedal with full force that, sent him moving forward. He was not at peace. He had not vented enough. He needed to let his mother know that what she did had really hurt him. It felt like he had not said enough. He turned the car around, heading back to the mansion. As he arrived, he stormed into the house.The first person he sighted was his mother. She looked at him, a bit surprised that he came back.She had thought, initially, that he was back to his senses and finally remembered that they had dinner, but then, her assumptions were wrong.She said, "Travis dear. Have you finally come back to your senses? Do you now rememb
**FLASHBACK** Delaney arranged her hair and smoothened her dress. This was one of the many blind dates her parents had arranged for her. This time, she was meeting with Travis Rodrigo. She stood in front of the cafe, which her parents had instructed her driver to take her to. She sighed, shaking her head. The cafe was an exquisite one. Although, today, there were not many people in the cafe. As she stepped in, Delaney spotted Travis immediately. He looked tall from the way he sat. He was calm and full of powerful aura. She sighed once again and walked over to the table. “Delaney, right?” Travis stood as she approached, his voice calm. He had been sent to the cafe by his mother, who was pressurizing him to get married. His parents and Delaney's parents were business partners, and if the two of them were to get married, their business partnership bond would be strengthened. “Yes,” she replied, extending her hand. “You must be Travis.” “Guilty as charged.” He chuckled, pulling
Travis stared at his desk. Reports, charts, and files were neatly arranged in front of him, but his focus was not steady.The image of Delaney..her confession, her voice, her betrayal haunted him for days, but now, it felt like he was already getting over her. He had buried himself in work, determined to prove to himself, and everyone else, that he was more than his setbacks and mistakes.He was ready to prove to his mother and even to Delaney that he could be successful.“Mr. Rodrigo,” his assistant’s voice broke his thoughts, “the quarterly report meeting is about to start.”“I will be there, soon,” Travis replied, his tone calm.The meeting started off with a different atmosphere, but after Travis made his presentation, they all nodded in approval. Their faces were full of smiles, as they applauded him. His recent strategies had led to an unexpected rise in stock prices, causing his name to be on everyone's lips.As the meeting ended, one of the senior executives approached him.
"I am glad to have finally seen you." Alison wanted to roll her eyes, but she kept her cool. "You asked to meet with me, Ms. Rodrigo. Is anything the matter?" Alison's tone was polite, but guarded, and for a moment he watched the older woman's mile drop, before she regained composure. "Pardon my manners Alison," Mrs. Rodrigo said, gesturing for Alison to sit down. "And yes, there's something I want to discuss with you." Alison sat down, her eyes fixed warily on the older woman. "I know we didn't exactly get off on the right foot in the past," the woman started. "But for the sake of Travis, please let's put everything behind us and move on " The air around them suddenly thickened, as Alison wondered where the conversation was headed. Of course, she was not a fool. A part of her knew that beneath the surface, Mrs. Rodrigo still harbored the same disdain towards her...and nothing changed over the years. "I didn't like you when you first started dating Travis. I mean...your backgr
The energy in the room was a radiation of coldness in its most toxic form. And although they were quite a number of people in the room, the silence was such that if a pin dropped to the floor, the sound would be loud and clear enough for everyone to hear.“Lord Castro… what do we do next?” A man finally asked, breaking the silence. “Raquel was supposed to take over this great clan once you're gone.”A much older man, dressed in all black, and holding a cigarette in his right hand shook his head, and the room tensed up in anticipation as they waited for him to speak. “And who says I'm leaving anytime soon?”“My lord, Marco is right, now that your only heiress is gone, what becomes of the Clan, and the ones responsible for her death?” Another man, dressed in all black as well, asked. “The lawyer, and her husband… you spent years avenging the deaths of your cartel members, and Raquel in question was your daughter and…”“That's enough!” Lord Castro yelled, hitting his palm against the ta
**FIVE YEARS LATER***Time flies, huh??Quite a popular yet true phrase…It has been five years since everything, yes… everything!Raquel was later confirmed dead, and buried almost immediately. Alison took a couple of months to heal completely, life moved on, and went back to normal.Travis Rodrigo got cleared off all the charges of his involvement with illegal drug trafficking, leveled against him.Alan Rodrigo successfully got a divorce from Delaney, giving her the opportunity to go back to the streets where she truly belonged…Or maybe not..And Karen, well… let's just say she opened her heart to Oscar, despite all the teasing and mock bullying, and that was probably the best decision she's ever made.Bruno Francisco already completed his jail term and was finally free to live his life, but where was he even going to start from? He lost Alison, his conglomerate, his son and his mum was still in jail, all because of one dumb decision.Despite the fact that everything seemed to have
Travis' hopeful gaze lingered on Alison as he waited for her to say something.What did she mean by she was ahead of him on this one? And the look she had in her eyes was one he took a lot of time to understand.Whenever she knew a secret or had a surprise planned out, that was the exact same expression.“It depends on you… what do you want to hear?” she shrugged and sat upright, so did he.“I want to hear everything Alison, the whole plan.” He insisted and she nodded.“We are going to be needing Uncle Carlos' help on this one.” She started. “I have been keeping tabs on Raquel, and I'm glad she is still here in Chicago. Apparently not yet aware that we know about all of her stupid deeds.”As She spoke, his gaze drifted off, picturing her words clearly. “And since she doesn't know that we are aware of her atrocities, I'm pretty sure she's out there living her normal life.”“Exactly, she doesn't even have any reason to suspect that anyone knows about her sins, since she was smart enough
Alison smiled widely settling onto a long couch, with Travis by her side, and her gaze darting around the room, to the happy faces of her guests - unexpected guests actually.Forgiveness felt exciting, it made her feel lighter, like a heavy weight just got lifted off her shoulder.“This has to be the most underrated pill.” She whispered, snuggling closer to Travis.“What's that?” He asked, staring in her eyes, with his arms wrapped around her.“Forgiveness.” She responded, and broke off their eye contact, allowing her gaze wander off. “You know, when I got Bruno arrested alongside his mother, and gained custody over my son… it did not feel this satisfying.”Oscar and Karen stopped their conversation and had their entire attention fixed on the couple, who were just starting to reinkindle their love.“I felt thirsty, like there was so much more I was missing out on.” She continued. “You know that feeling when you have already gotten everything you always wanted, and yet it was not as sa
The moment he sighted Alison walk out of the room looking like a ghost, better still, a frame of her former self, Travis' eyes widened in shock, so did his mouth. There was not any way he would have believe that his Alison would lose so much weight and life in just a matter of twenty one days. Her collar bones were glaring, deep enough to hold water in them. Her eyes were red, and so was her face… a testament to the tears she had to shed and the pain she'd gone through.Alison on the other hand, kept staring at him, although at first she didn't want to admit it, he was looking so haggard and unkept, his hair was messy and his moustache was starting to grow wild.Only twenty-one days apart did this to the couple, who would have thought so.Still standing apart, the couple kept staring at each other, with so many words running through their minds, yet no one was uttering any words.Who would?Travis who was articulating his thoughts and thinking of the perfect way to get Alison's for
After so much hesitation, Travis finally planted a soft knock, on the door of Megan's apartment.“Who is it? How can I help you?” He heard Megan's soft voice ring from inside, and moved back slightly.As sounds of footsteps approached and grew louder, so did Travis’ heartbeats. What if she sends him away rudely?Alison must have told her about everything that happened, so how was he going to face her now?“Who is it, yo …” Megan's voice stopped halfway as she sighted Travis standing by the door, looking pale.“Y..you're here,” she said, obviously shocked. “I never thought you'd stop by.”“I'm sorry, I swear, I'm really sorry.” He said and Megan folded her arms under her chest.“What do you want? Why are you here?” “Aunt Megan, please… I need your help, don't say no, I beg of you.” He pleaded. “A lot happened, and I really need to speak with Alison.”“Well… sorry to disappoint you, but Alison is not here.” Megan shrugged and turned to go in, but Travis held onto her hand, with guilt
Travis tried to trail Raquel, but she was nowhere to be found, apparently she had already gone too far.“Fuck!!” He groaned in annoyance, punching his steering and screaming his lungs out. “I've lost everything!”Before he could stop himself, tears began slipping down his eyes. He got to the side of the road and parked.“Why did I let it get to this point?” He asked himself, ruffling his hair in frustration and crying out. “Now she has gotten what she wanted and is nowhere to be found.”He tried to calm himself down but it just was not working out.‘why not just head home, hopefully you would meet her and explain everything.’ His subconscious mind suggested and Travis shook his head.“I fucked up already, what explanation is going to make sense to her?” He muttered, his eyes already red from crying and his fists bruised.Eventually, he decided to drive home, not knowing exactly what to expect, but hoping for the best nevertheless.The drive was rough, with Travis growing more emotiona
“What the hell is going on here?” Alison yelled in shock, and Raquel got off Travis thighs, deciding to play the victim.“Sweetheart, what is she still doing here? I thought you said you were no longer with her?” Raquel asked Travis, pointing at Alison and crying. “I should never have trusted you again in the first place.”“Alison, I swear I can explain.” Travis whispered getting off the couch and swiftly going over to hold Alison.“Don't touch me!” She snapped, slapping his hands off her. “I should have known that this is what you were up to when you suddenly woke up and created the idea that you were going to work from home.”“Cupcake, it's not what you think.” He said going on his knees. “I promise you, I was actually working from home.”“It can even be what I think, but what I saw Travis… this bitch was straddling you and you didn't even push her off, what is she even doing here? And what does she mean by you said we'd broken up?” Alison asked, feeling her feet grow cold then she
The notion that ‘time flies’ had never made more sense to Alison. Just like yesterday, she was fighting to get her son back, then she lost him, and now three months had passed already. She had finally embraced the fact that her Theo was gone and she was never going to see him again. Deep down, she was grateful to Travis, who had always been her knight in shining armor, walking her through every single stage of grief. She finally opened her heart to Karen, Megan and Carlos, letting them comfort her. Although Alison never believed the saying that ‘time heals’ she'd a testament to that. “You're awake?” Travis muttered with a small smile as Alison tried to sit upright. “How was your night?” “It was good, I mean… I slept well,” she replied and smiled back at him. Her gaze caught the time on her clock and she gasped. “It's 8am, already? I have to get to the office.” She said and swiftly got out of bed. “Wait, you're resuming, already? You sure you are ready?” Travis asked, with