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 made Margaux jerk from her seat. She turned in the direction of the operating room and saw the doctor walking towards her. She immediately cleared her throat and sat straight. "How is he?"
"He's safe." The doctor smiled in a comforting way. Mistaking her exhaustion for worry, the doctor felt compelled to assure her. "He is one tough guy, you know? He could have died if the bullets had hit him a little higher. You did a good job giving first aid to your man—"
Oh, you got it wrong. He is not with me." She dismissively evaded the doctor's stare. Although she admitted that the man was quite a stunner, she was sure that staying close to him would bring her more trouble.
With that in mind, Margaux gazed at her watch and made an excuse. "I'm leaving since everything's okay. I still have someone important to meet, and…" her voice faded before she looked at the lady doctor again. She sarcastically chuckled. "Stop watching too many movies. I don't even know the man. He’s a complete a stranger."
The doctor's mouth opened and closed. She never expected that the angelic-looking lady would be a spitfire. She nodded after a while and said, "Okay. I will have the nurses look at his things later to see who he is then."
"Where is he?" That was when an authoritative voice boomed through the hall.
Margaux's eyes widened as she made a sharp turn. The voice sounded very familiar to her—so much so that her mind screamed, 'Papa?'
"Is this the room?" Alejandro looked regal as he strode through the lobby. His steps were fast, and yet he displayed superiority. He had four guards following him—all of them were wearing black business suits, with only the old man wearing a Figaro hat on his head. He was undeniably an elite when he passed her and the doctor as if he didn't see them.
"This is the room, señor," one of the guards informed. Alejandro went straight to the door where his guard pointed and, without any warning, grabbed the knob to open it.
Alarmed, the doctor jumped onto the scene and grabbed Alejandro's sleeve. "I'm sorry, sir. You can't just come into the operating room. We have a procedure going on, and that's against this hospital's protocol—"
"Hands off." One of the four men immediately pulled a gun from his coat and pushed its nozzle against the doctor's forehead. The poor doctor, visibly turning pale, let go of the old man at once.
Alejandro, however, just looked at the doctor. Then, as if he didn't hear her, he pushed the door open and marched into the operating room. In less than a minute, a group of terrified nurses came running out of the room as if they had seen hell.
‘What’s going on?' Margaux wanted to ask, but her mouth felt too dry to talk. She just stood there idly, watching all the commotion around her.
Soon enough, the operating room's door swung open, and Alejandro stepped out of it casually. He had a white towel in his hand, wiping his bloody palm. He then threw a cold glance at the doctor and ordered, "Let the doctor finish what she was doing, then take the doctor with him. We'll leave this place as soon as she's done."
"Papa!" Finally, Margaux found the guts to call him out.
Alejandro turned to her, and she saw how his eyebrows instantly furrowed upon seeing her. In less than a second, the recognition on his face had turned to confusion. "Margaux?"
"Y-yes." She smiled. Her questioning eyes fell on Alejandro's bloody hand and then back on his face.
As if frustrated, the old man let out a sigh. It was evident that he wasn't happy to see her there. He gritted his teeth while thinking of what to do next, then looked at one of his guards. "Take her too."
Without any more words, the Don turned and started for the elevator. Margaux wanted to run after him, but her confusion paralyzed her feet.
"Papa! Where are we going?"
"Silence!" Alejandro's roaring command tore through the air. He then walked into the elevator with two of his men, leaving the other two guards with her. Then, just before the elevator closed, he turned to Margaux one last time and commanded...
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
IT WAS ALREADY PAST EIGHT IN THE EVENING when Margaux stepped out of their villa. She had been grumpy the whole day. Her phone was missing, and she couldn't find it no matter how hard she looked.To be honest, losing the phone was nothing. She could always ask Alberta or any of their guards to get her a replacement whenever she wanted.However, she was waiting for a critical phone call. What if Alejandro suddenly remembered that he had a daughter who was waiting for him to explain everything he was up to?'Dream on!' She rolled her eyes.Soon enough, she reached the hilltop where her treehouse was. She was still frowning when she dropped her bag on the ground and gave the whole place a slow once-over. She wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be anyone present when she vented her frustrations.She then knelt in front of her bag and pulled out a bottle of chardonnay. She opened it and drank straight from the bottle, like a superb drunkard.Getting her fill, she slipped the wine back