After leaving Ben to his expert hacking to find the name of the person who identified Dominic’s body, Matthew returned to the living room with his wife, daughter, soon-to-be son-in-law, grandson, and newly adopted son Dylan.
The room seemed to have gone still; the only noticeable movement and sound was the crackling fireplace. He glanced around at everyone to see them all lost in their own thoughts. His daughter was feeding his grandchild with a blanket draped over one shoulder for privacy. She looked under the blanket at her newborn with both adoration and worry.
Isaac’s eyes were far off, almost seeming to be in another dimension with the lack of life in them. His wife’s eyes weren’t any more lively, though, and for a moment, Matthew regretted walking back in here without any good news. His heart skipped a beat once his wife turned her head to him, noticing him reappear in the corner of her eyes.
With the merriment of the day slipping away and the feeling of safety slowly withering, Isaac pitched the idea of heading to his mother’s house and spending the day there instead. With the lack of security detail on the Greene's mansion, no one protested leaving the place. After a phone call to Isabella, they each packed a bag and planned to spend the night over at her house. Stephanie, Isaac, and Micah would take Isaac's old room; Matthew and Emma would take the guest room, and Dylan so kindly offered to sleep on the couch. Isaac wasn’t too sure about this boy anymore. The devil’s spawn openly offers to sleep away from everyone else? Alone, on the ground level of the house? Since he became a father to Micah, whether biologically or not, he grew a new need to protect his family. It was more fierce than before. Before, he simply wanted to keep the people he loved safe; but now, it’s like a spark of fire in his veins that gets
Both Isabella and Eli looked at Isaac in shock with their mouths slightly agape at this revelation and blunt truth that just escaped his lips. They stood there like statues for a long moment before responding to him.“I, uh… you… you got another threat?” Isabella asked Stephanie to clarify.She nodded her head. “Yes. We have Ben right now looking for the name of the person who declared Dominic DOA after the crash to see who could have possibly done this.”“Well shit,” Eli mumbled.Isabella had her lips parted in astonishment and her eyes were slightly wider than usual. “Well, do you have any suspects?”Isaac peered over at the small eight-year-old that was near Matthew and Emma but remained silent. Stephanie shook her head as her mind was still in a baffled, hazy state. Emma thought of Louisa, and Mat
Whitney was put away after Ben found traces of her plotting with Dominic and Gwen, wanting to destroy Stephanie after she stole Isaac from her. Thanks to some good old fashion hacking of security footage that showed her purchasing the same green monster that was delivered to the Greene mansion, and some searching of phone records, she was arrested as an accessory and for conspiring.Eli and Isabella shared that they have secretly been an item for quite some time and are openly a couple now. It took Isaac a while to get comfortable with the idea, but he accepts their relationship and is enjoying seeing his mother so happy.He looked out at the rows of people and spotted them together, smiling at each other as Isabella adjusted his tie. There was an empty seat that separated them from Emma, who was speaking to Dylan, the ring bearer, about something before he was up. The Perry's were there as well; Emile and his parents Emmanuel an
“Ms. Greene! Ms. Greene!” The paparazzi hollered my name as I walked into my office building, my Jimmy Choo heels clicking on the ground with each step. Being the daughter of two successful designers has its perks, but you better believe that I worked my ass off to become who I am today: Stephanie Greene, CEO of Claudette Reed, one of the hottest brands that New York has ever seen. My dad, Matthew Greene, CEO of Greene Designs, spoiled me as I grew up. I was his little princess back then. I still am, but now I rather that he calls me “queen” instead. He said the only queen in his life is my mom, Emma. My mom told me that I needed to earn everything, that I wouldn’t get anywhere if I was handed everything on a silver spoon. Dad and mom bicker about it a lot, but I’m very much my mother’s daughter and decided to go to college and work for the position of CEO in the family company.  
“Look, aunty Iz, it was great seeing you, but I have a meeting to prepare for.” “Of course, of course,” she said with a smile as she stood from her chair, “I’ll leave you be. Hug for the road?” I smiled at her and walked over to hug her before we said our goodbyes and she left. I exhaled deeply and sat back down behind my desk. Isaac has been making moves on me since we were kids. He’s only a year older than me, and when we were 6 and 7, we had a “wedding" in my living room where I used a pillowcase as a veil and he wore a costume top hat. A teddy bear was the officiant. I chuckled remembering it. We had been through everything together, even college. While I studied business and design, Isaac studied machinery like his mother. My parents are his godparents, and Isabella is my father's best friend, so we spend holidays and birthdays together most
I stood at the window of my office and admired the city as I cooled down after my disaster of a progress meeting. I guess you can’t have a good progress meeting with your investors if your company hasn’t made any progress in months.I sighed and focused on my reflection in the glass window. I’m almost the spitting image of my mother with her brown hair and luscious curves, but I have my dad’s bright green eyes. Both of my parents are tall, so it makes sense that I’m naturally 5’9”. My heels can never be more than 3 inches high so that I don’t tower over men.Having a bold personality and confidence is one thing for a man to see you as powerful, but to physically look down at them would be overkill, so I keep my heels to a minimum.Today’s attire was a body-hugging, pink dress with matching lipstick and nude heels with a black strap and buckle ac
Our eyes hadn’t left each other for the entire conversation. I was refusing to show the slightest bit of weakness in front of this man.Dominic inhaled deeply, “You have the title of “Baddest Bitch in Fashion,” So why do you need me?”“It’s not that I need you, it’s that I want you.”“Oh, I like those words,” he teased with a sinister look and leaned forward, so I clarified myself,“I want your partnership.”“Oh,” he said with a dramatically disappointed tone and slight snarl on the corner of his lip as he leaned back in the chair, trying to be playful.Maybe I’m being too serious. I’m being too professional and I’m pushing too hard. Should I flirt? No, he would take it the wrong way and that’s the last thing I want.
Dominic POVShe was the most interesting thing I had ever come across. She seemed ruthless, and I could understand her nickname a bit more.Stephanie Greene was strong, confident, gorgeous, and I could tell that she was going to be a complete pain in my ass, and I was strangely excited to work with her.I didn’t care about meeting everyone or seeing her workspace, I was just curious how far she was willing to go to get my partnership.Her outburst when I mentioned wanting 60% of the profit was hilarious and I had to pinch my lips together to keep from laughing. The embarrassment that I saw then was the most humility that I had seen from her the entire time and I thought it was adorable.“Office, Reggie,” I told my driver as I got into the car.I wasn’t expecting to stay so long in the restaurant. I thought she wo