Another special thanks to Anitta Ross, Estela, Penny Angeles-Tan, and Lindeni George for your precious gems. They all mean so much to me, and I hope you are well. Thank you to all my readers. I do hope to hear your thoughts as well soon enough! I hope you are enjoying the story as much as I am enjoying writing it. I won't lie to you, it's difficult since I am in the middle of planning a big project for my community. I still appreciate the constant support, though. Thank you Your favourite Author (inserts wink emoji) Zera
NIRELLEI have to make Lucien know that I was serious about sitting out meals with him, so when I know he is down at the table for breakfast, I walk over with a tray I had literally wrestled for with the staff and pack up some things and put them on it. His eyes watch me silently, but I don't mind, as this is my way of making him know I won't sit back and do nothing while he tries to box me again.'This is supposed to be my salvation, my escape, and not another prison. I was not going to allow that at all.' Once I am satisfied with everything I have put on my tray, I walk out and stop by the door. Turning to him, I say, "Good morning, Mr. Vexley," as if this is the first time I am seeing him.I watch his eyes widen in shock and his jaws tighten, but I flash a forced smile at him and walk off. I stopped one of the staff and ensured that I spoke loudly so he could hear me."I am seeing a friend today, so please get the car ready for me," I say, hoping that Lucien next door had heard me.
LUCIEN"Don't you think you are being too mean to her?"I scoff and turn to Theo, who pushes a fork into his mouth and begins to chew so loudly without turning his face away from me. He knows how passionate I am about etiquette, especially at the table. "You think this is my fault?""Whose fault is it then? Mine?" Theo asked with a head tilt. "I was not the one she called a jerk," he said and then pushed another forkful into his mouth, chewing loudly.I want to ignore him, but I know he would keep talking about it until dinner was over. "Wait, I believe the word she used is 'difficult jerk,'" he adds and then lets out a loud laugh. "You've been living together for only four days, and you've managed to show her how much of a jerk you are. Women are different, and that means you need to handle them differently.""I am not a jerk, and you know it," I respond, feeling my jaws square tightly."I don't know, Nirelle seems pretty solid at knowing when someone is being a jerk." I drop my cutl
NIRELLEI angrily step into the room, my eyes darting around the place as if I am searching for something when I am just trying to calm down. I couldn't put my finger on why I had been so triggered by whatever it was that he was doing. I remember what he said about my family being in the news and needing consolation. Maybe this was a good idea for me to get my mind off whatever I was feeling.I take my iPad and begin scrolling through the news, and my mouth drops in shock. It had been revealed that Cory might have to go to jail for embezzlement. I wonder what Enoch would be thinking of his perfect child now. What on earth did Lucien do? How did he know what was going on in the company? Did he have more insider knowledge than the owner of the company?I quickly checked to see if Enoch was trying to restore the image of his son and family, but it seemed like nothing was popping up. Was he not trying, or was his effort getting drowned?I took the paper that he had given me earlier and st
NIRELLEThe first movie is cut short by an urgent call. I look at him as he stands up and walks to the far corner of the room to take the call. I try to act as if sitting alone was not crippling me with fear. He comes back a bit later with a sorry expression on his face."You can keep watching it; I have to leave for something important," he says, sounding vague, but he does not owe me an explanation on what he does with his time, so I nod, trying to understand. "You can stay here and watch the movie still," he adds, and I shake my head, stumbling to my feet almost immediately.I know I was acting weird, but there was no way I was going to stay down here alone. Who knows what could happen if I did? I was not willing to take the risk at all. "We can pick up another tome," I say.I am enjoying the movie, but being down here makes me think that somehow I am going to return to the past and see that all of this was a dream, and I was still stuck in the basement of the Thamore mansion."Are
NIRELLEI had expected that we would go out for the movies, but then I knew it was a shaky bet. It would take a lot of work to make Lucien even agree to step out of the gates with me."I don't even know why I am shocked that there is a state-of-the-art movie theatre in the basement of your home," I say as we walk down the stairs.I am trying to be brave. I have been locked so many times in the basement that claiming down there was giving me jitters, but I did not want to show it. I didn't want him to see how scared I was. It feels like I have been here only a few days, and everything I have ever known was exposed to this husband of mine.He walks to the kitchen, and I follow his lead, and I can see the change of things in the atmosphere almost immediately. "We will have our lunch now," he announced, and as if he had triggered a button, I could see everyone scrambling to get things done. How much fear has this man instilled in these people to make them react this way? "Also, make some
NIRELLEI knew it was no use trying to figure out what I had done to Lucien last night that was so evil, so I just ignored it and decided to carry on with my day. I was yet to decide if drinking alcohol was something I was going to do again, but my list still had plenty of things on it that I was yet to do as well, so maybe I'll put off drinking until there is no option but to do it again.I look down at my phone and notice it is almost time for lunch. Lucien had graciously allowed me to skip breakfast because of how hungover I was; I doubt he would let me skip lunch and dinner. I sit by the mirror and begin to use the powder brush to dust my face, as I had seen the staff do the other day.Why was I suddenly interested and concerned about what I look like? There was a time in my life when I wanted to look even a tiny bit like a monster so that Enoch and Cory would no longer look my way, but then I soon learnt that they were not attracted to my beauty; they were just monsters, terrible