MARGAUX ALMOST KISSED THE FLOOR AFTER HER HIGH HEELS BROKE. Her mind began cursing from A to Z, regretting why she even chose to wear that pair. She kicked off her heels and watched them glide across the floor a few inches.
Getting to the Montenegro Group's offices had already been a nightmare: a late flight, a long commute, and adverse weather. She even thought God was drunk when he created Manila. Who, in his right mind, would build a civilization in a country with bipolar weather in the first place?Sweaty and exhausted, it took Margaux one more eye-roll to get over her shoes. With her lips tightly pressed together, she picked up the high heels again and let them dangle in her hand. She continued to drag her bags down the marble corridor, passing gigantic artworks one after the other.‘What the... Where’s everyone?’ she asked herself, realizing how hollow that floor was. Other than a single guard outside the building, it was odd that none of their employees were around at all. Shouldn’t their business be open until five?She shrugged her shoulders at the eerie observation. A few seconds later, she reached the grandest door on that floor. She took another deep breath to calm her nerves. Millions and gazillions of thoughts were suddenly rushing through her mind at once. It was just then that she realized how unconsciously she was wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans too. She was becoming anxious.‘Easy now. He is still your dad. You will be fine.' She deeply sighed before raising her hand to knock. However, her hand stopped midair upon noticing her shoes were still dangling from her hand. She dropped her heels and tried wearing them again. She struggled to balance her entire weight but still managed to stand up straight.It was only after those things that she decided to knock again. "This is Margaux. Can I come in?"She swallowed upon hearing her voice echo through the empty hall. She waited for the door to open, but nothing happened. She found that odd, but then, she just shrugged and knocked again—harder this time."Papa? Are you there? "Same silent result.Sensing that something was off, Margaux curiously leaned her ear against the door. She straightened up and balled her fist afterwards. She heard some rustling from inside the room. The sound was low, but enough for her to understand that someone was inside it.She readied herself to give the door the hardest knock she could muster. However, just a few inches before her hand touched the wood, the door in front of her suddenly creaked open, revealing the silhouette of a man behind the little gap.She immediately put her hand down and awkwardly smiled. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she cleared her throat and asked, "Hi. Can I speak with my papa? "She politely offered a handshake to him. Thinking that the man was new to the company and must be wondering who she was, she introduced herself, "I'm Margaux Montenegro. Alejandro's only child. "It was unfortunate that her pleasant introduction didn't fly with the stranger. Instead, he just continued to look down at her silently, without even welcoming her in.That made Margaux slowly pull her hand away. Disappointed with the treatment she was getting, she raised her chin and gave the man a scrutinizing stare from head to foot, then backward.He was wearing black shoes paired with jeans. He also had their company's uniform on, which screamed that he was one of their employees. He was tall. She could tell it by the way her neck strained a little when she looked up at his face. Although he was still mildly hidden behind the door, the way he stared back at her made her feel as if she were choking. His nose was aristocratic, his lips were thin, and he had the coldest pair of amber eyes she had ever seen in her entire life.‘Amber?’ Margaux blinked a couple of times to confirm what she saw. Amber may be a regular thing in other countries, but certainly not in that place."Sorry for bothering you, but could you at least tell my papa that I'm here?" She attempted to break the silence that engulfed them."I just came from a long flight and..." Then she shut her mouth upon noticing that the odd man wasn't listening to anything coming out of her mouth.Finally, reaching the end of her string, Margaux waved her hand dismissively and picked up her luggage again. She bet she would get more sense if she talked to a wall compared to the man.She was already about to step away when something suddenly grabbed her shoulder and, to her shock, stopped her from going anywhere.With her brows knotted, she glanced at what was firmly holding her and then saw a huge bloodied hand desperately trying to cling to her shoulder.'What the—' She was already panicking when she tried to wiggle the hand off. But then his grip on her just got tighter, clearly showing her that he had no plan to let go."Let go!" Let—Oh my God!"and then that was it. Just before she could even take a single step away, the amber-eyed man had already passed out behind her, knocking both of them to the floor as she screamed, "Help!"MARGAUX WAS SILENT AS SHE SIT IN THE LOBBY ALONE. She was too absorbed in her thoughts while playing footsie with her broken shoes. There were hundreds of questions inside her head, and the worst of them was about what happened just hours ago.Everything came in a rush. The bloody, amber-eyed man passed out, and then things went out of control.She was scared for her life at first, but that changed when she heard his faltering breath. In an instant, she knew that he was dying.She couldn't remember how she managed to push his weight off her before she ran down to the guardhouse. She was shaking when she undressed him inside the company's car. Especially when she checked on his wounds and attempted to stop them from bleeding. He was shot twice.‘Undress him...’ She shook her head when his half-naked image crossed her mind. She then reached down to her calves and began messaging them. She couldn’t just sit there and admire a dying man, right? That’s too awkward."Miss?"A woman's voice
MARGAUX WAS STILL CONFUSED when she turned her head to the car’s window. She could barely see the droplets of water hitting and rolling down the heavily tinted glass. They had been driving for hours, but she still didn’t know where they were headed.‘This day didn’t happen? What does he mean by that?' Exhausted, she let her back fall against the seat. She was hungry, dizzy, and tired, but she couldn’t complain a bit. Instead, she just looked down at her hands, which were resting on her knees.They were already a few miles outside of Manila when the guards received a phone call from her father. The next thing she could remember was how one of the guards dragged the doctor out of the car forcefully with a gun pressed against her head again.The doctor begged for her life, cried aloud, and tried to escape. She wanted to help the lady back then, but she couldn’t. The guard that was left with her was eyeing her closely. Terrified, she turned in the other direction and pretended not to witn
*****FROM: margaux.montenegro@gy.comTO: alejandro.montenegro@montcorp.comSUBJECT: Where are you?Dad, How are you? Why aren't you answering my calls? The guy you asked your guards to bring here is doing well. He was feverish last night and was babbling incoherently. Your guards get Doctor Liza here every night, but they couldn't last night. It was raining hard, and Julio called in, telling us that the bridge they had to pass through broke. You shouldn't be worrying too much, though, because the guy's fever went down at around three in the morning after I gave him a sponge bath.*****MARGAUX'S FINGERS FROZE from typing on her laptop. She blinked a couple of times as she reread the last seven words of her email. Then, as if something had woken her with a slap, her eyes widened, and she began banging on the keyboard's backspace key anxiously.She rewrote, 'After our maid, Alberta, gave him a sponge bath.' She then cunningly looked at the old woman, who was busy chopping salad greens
MARGAUX PURRED when something soft and warm traced her spine. Her consciousness began to drift in and out of sleep. It was like that until those lips found the dimple on her back and bit. "Mmm..." She unwittingly buried her face in her pillow when thousands of sensations peppered her skin. "Do you want more?" "Yes." As if that was the only cue the man behind her needed, his hand instantly found one of her breasts and squeezed. The heat that traveled from his palm to her flesh was heavenly. "Oh, yes!" "More?" "Please!" "As you wished." With one swift move, the man grabbed her shoulder and pinned her down. The bed they were on was soft, but the man next to her... was lean. The brute unceremoniously dove for one of her sore breasts, just in time for her nakedness to be exposed to him. Forcing a sweet moan from her, he tenderly bit the underside of her breast, playfully leaving a mark. He wetly kissed the same skin to relieve the pain. "You like it this way, huh?" "Yes," she sai
ROME GRUNTED LOW upon waking up. He forced himself to open his eyes, but doing so just made him feel worse. So he shut them again and gave himself another minute to rest.His head felt like it was cracking, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't because of a hangover. He owned a club. He would be ashamed if he died just because of Bacardi. Moreover, his whole body felt sore and stiff, as if he hadn't even moved for a month.'A month?' His body immediately sprung out of bed with that thought. However, a sharp pain surged from his side and made him groan. Shaking his head to dismiss the pain, he quickly moved to the side of the bed and tried to get out of it.He cussed between gritted teeth when his knees buckled under his weight. It was good that he could hold on to the bedside table just before his face hit the floor.Dizzily, he managed to drag his heavy feet to the nearest window. Then, with his body safely leaning on the wall next to it, he tugged hard on the curtain and ended up cu
THE DAYS DRAGGED SLOWLY for Margaux. Just like the other nights, she’d been twisting left and right for hours and still couldn’t sleep. Not knowing what to do anymore, she closed her eyes and stopped moving. But then, even pretending to sleep didn’t help—her mind remained restless and wide awake.Finally giving up, she grumpily sat on her bed and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She checked the time and instantly frowned upon seeing what was on the LCD. It was past three in the morning. Although it was still dark outside, the sun would eventually show up in more or less two hours.‘Good job for another sleepless night, Margaux! Four in a row. What are you trying to do? Get a Guinness Record for not sleeping?’Annoyed, she rolled her eyes before sliding out of her bed. She marched towards the mini-living room with her phone in her hand, then made a free fall onto her luxurious cream-colored couch. Soon enough, she was already checking her emails on her phone as if she hadn’t d
"OH..." MARGAUX’S MOAN SOUNDED THROATY upon waking up. Her head felt like it was breaking, and she surely knew why. Getting hangovers wasn’t foreign to her since she studied in New York City. In fact, there had been numerous times when she came home crawling from wild college nights.‘Argh! Did I really drink that much?’ she asked before yawning and pulling her quilt up. The soft mattress under her was heavenly against her aching back. Furthermore, it had this delightful scent, urging her to bury her face in the sheets more. It smelled like menthol shampoo — fresh.Wanting to sleep some more, Margaux tried to curl her body into her favorite fetal position. However, her back and chest immediately ached as soon as she rolled to her side. Thinking that the pain was just due to an upcoming monthly period, one of her hands unconsciously groped at her swollen breast."Good morning, cara mia.""Good morning too, caro— Shit!" Margaux’s back sprung abruptly out of bed. Her view immediately spu
WHAT DID SHE JUST CALL ME?’ Rome froze while staring at the door. He wasn’t the type to be easily surprised by anything. But then, Margaux has been proving herself exceptional at it since last night.Smirking, he shook his head bemusedly and laughed. ‘Crazy woman.’ He didn’t lie to her when he said that she was still a virgin. The truth is, she was still technically a virgin until now.Thinking about what happened between them, he rested his back on the couch and closed his eyes. Then he cursed her name over and over inside his head after everything came rushing back to him like a tidal wave.At thirty, Rome had already seen and bedded more than enough beautiful women. None of them ever made him as hungry for sex as Margaux did, though.Women were nothing but cheap, disposable items to him. He used them once, and then he trashed them. But Margaux was like an expensive wine that not many people could afford. She was the perfect mix of innocence and wildness.Her lips tasted divine. T