The last thing she remembered was feeling extremely exhausted, she was trying to catch her breath and her head felt light. Her vision started to blur and slowly everything turned black.It felt like a deep sleep with fragments of consciousness struggling to figure out that there was something wrong. It took some time to grasp her surroundings when she came to until she can fully understand what happened. She fainted and then she woke up in a hospital bed with an IV stuck in her arm.The nurse was checking up on her when she opened her eyes, “Oh … you’re awake … you’re in a hospital … try and relax, you’re alright, the doctor will be with you shortly,” her voice was calming and her cold touch was soothing her skin.All her muscles felt dormant like they were too tired to function. Her body was heavy on the bed, she could hardly move. The doctor came in soon after to let her know she was okay.“Just a bit dehydrated from being under the sun too long with an empty stomach,” he said.She
“And then he stormed out of the room, he said he was going to take care of it … God! What the fuck do you think he means by that?” she was immediately on the phone with Perry. Perry thought for a moment, “I really don’t know … although, I didn’t expect him to actually think of marrying you, it seemed like a stand-up thing to do that he wants to take responsibility for it.” “He wants to take control of it, don’t get any ideas just yet, the way he threatened me … he wants the baby at all cost, he’s more worried of what trouble he might get into if he has an illegitimate child, he’s worried that I would extort him because of it, the easiest way to handle the problem is to marry me … and God knows what would happen to me after that?” she was skeptical. Perry was silent again, “You get that vibe out of him, and yet you slept with him just last night?” “Well … no … he wasn’t like that before … I don’t know, he’s unpredictable … I can’t read him, you know? One day he seemed so nice and w
After a lifetime learning of to be a businessman, he understood to not let his emotions get the better of him. He'll be more likely to succeed with a cool head even though his heart was burning. She’s having his baby. He didn’t realize how hard she had hit his soft spot until he heard the news. To think that she was still legally married to another man puts him on edge. The way that man forced himself on her made him want to choke the life out of him. “How’s your divorce coming, Ed?” he sat back in Eddie’s office. “It’s coming … I still have time, right?” he said with a sour expression. “Two more weeks, the tapes are safe with me.” Eddie looked annoyed, he took a deep breath, “Why should I believe that you won’t be using those tapes to blackmail me in the future?” Gabriel’s stare was cold, “Because I don’t want anything else from you, Ed … you’re just gonna have to take my word for it.” “Do you know how much money I’m losing over this stupid divorce?” “Roughly around 250 mill
She went downstairs the next morning, feeling more energized than she had been the past week. She wanted to try to dip her hands in the breakfast buffet and see if her appetite was getting better. And also, she was planning to sneak out to the conservation and have a day out in the sun. She grabbed a plate and got herself some salad and smoked salmon, she went to the egg station for some omelet, took a piece of sourdough, and spread it with cream cheese. It tasted good in her head. She chose the seat in the corner by the coffee and tea. Poured herself a cup of black coffee, sat down, and took the first bite. “Why are you here?” a deep soothing voice startled her. He stood towering next to the table, pulled a chair, and sat down in front of her. Her mouth was still open, the sourdough hadn’t even reached the tip of her tongue. “I’m having breakfast … keeping myself nourished, right?” she bit on her bread. He looked at the bowl of salad and her cup of coffee. “Salad and coffee? You
It became her new routine. Breakfast in the morning, Gabriel lurked around the area, pretending he was supervising his staff or having a breakfast meeting at the restaurant, sometimes he just pretended to have breakfast at the same time she was there. She would raise her cup of coffee from afar and not ask him to join her, she didn’t like the way he was spying on her. He would leave the room to work, and Melvin would come in. Melvin was a gem, she actually loved having him around. He dressed in a beach shirt and short pants now that he got permission from Gabriel. She made flower crowns from him, and flower necklaces. Even with a killer expression, she thought he looked like a big teddy bear. He always laughed at her jokes, was very helpful with heavy lifting, and she knew more about Melvin in one week than she ever did with Gabriel in two months. They would have lunch together at the local food stands, completely against Gabriel’s instructions. He wanted her to eat at The Peninsul
Barefoot, wrapped in the hotel bathrobe, they held hands and walked through the restaurant to the elevator. All eyes were on them, and the smiles on the employees' faces said many things. They didn’t care, they were quiet in the elevator, and water dripped from their hair. She unlocked the internal lift from inside her bedroom and studied how it worked. “I’ll be back,” he said entering the box. He was getting his clothes and to check on some messages he told his employees to leave in his room. He stumbled into a brown envelope on his desk. “Private and Confidential” the label read. There was a stamp from Eduard’s office on the corner of the envelope. He quickly opened it. It was a copy of the finalized divorce papers, it was done, and a USB fell out of the envelope. He considered it for a few seconds and fired up his laptop. “For your consideration” a note appeared on the screen when he opened the USB. He saw thumbnails of videos in the folder of what looked like naked people. He
Gabriel was nowhere in sight, like so many times before, he just disappeared. No one knew where he went. When he says, “I’ll take care of it,” he usually does, maybe that’s where he was off to. She knew better not to look for him and focus her energy on her project instead. There were no notes in her meals, she kind of missed them. No one lurked around the restaurant to spy on her. No one dismissed Melvin every sunset. He didn’t even text her or annoy her with his nosy questions about whether she was taking care of herself or not. Most of all, she missed the bottled-up intensity between them, not knowing if he was going to be super sweet or super irritating, or both. He was gone for two weeks, and still, no one heard anything from him. She was starting to worry. She wanted to call him but she didn’t know where his mind was since he saw that video of her and Eddie. She didn’t know how long he watched it, which part of it and she can only imagine how he must’ve felt about her after th
Gabriel invited them for dinner at his boat that night. As an effort to get to know the man who was going to be Jamie’s partner in raising his child. He knew everything about Perry, everything he could find from his background check, but not the person. They were relaxing on the upper deck dining table, enjoying the sunset over a fresh seafood dinner and a glass of wine. Not for Jamie, though, she stuck to her chamomile tea. Perry told them that he was there for an event at another beach on the East side of the island, but he wanted to spend a week with Jamie before the show. “We’re going clothes shopping tomorrow, Perry’s going to help me pick out my pregnant outfit,” Jamie said. Gabriel nodded, “Just put it on my tab, take my credit card, and get anything you want.” “That’s okay … I can buy my own clothes, it’s just a few essential things, it’s not that big yet,” she declined. “Doesn’t matter, just use my card anyway,” he insisted. “But I can afford it, you don’t have to pay f