~~Four years later~~ "Miss Hannah." "Yes Olly?" I answered softly, smiling at her in the process. She wrung her little fingers together. "I want to talk to you about something." "Okay. Have a seat." I patted a spot next to me on the bench I sat on right outside the church building. I helped her up. I scanned her pouty innocent face, "Is there something wrong?" "Yeah. My mummy isn't here yet and I want to go home." Her voice came through as sad. "What about your aunty?" I asked. "She's with Uncle Simon." She pointed at the building. "She still doesn't want to take a hint." I muttered. Olly happened to be Cindy's niece (her older sister's daughter) who still didn't like me by the way all because... "Olly!" "Oh here we go..." I held back the urge to roll my eyes at the dramatic woman who was stomping towards us in furious strides. "What are you doing here? How many times have I told you to not go near this woman?!" She blatantly yelled at her daughter, forcefully dragging her
"Mr Hawkins. This is your first time in public since your release from jail. Any words as to your sudden vindication?""Are the rumors true?""Did you kill Mr Evans on purpose?""Are you truly an assassin as the publications imply?""Did your parents pay your way out of jail?"I was bombarded with a series of questions as soon as I stepped out of the building that morning. My jaw clenched in aggravation as they threw one offensive question after the other my way."How did they find out I was here?" I turned to James and he gave me a helpless shrug.The flashes from the cameras around were blinding. Someone must have tipped the press off concerning my first ever public appearance since my release from jail.It was such a hassle to get away from them. My guards had such a hard time keeping the throng of journalists away from me. It gave me a headache.I leaned my head against the car window, inhaling and exhaling, hoping to be out of there before anything could happen to the car cause t
"All packed up?" "Yeah." I grunted, setting down the last of my luggage. "I'm going to miss you so bad." He held my hands and pulled me in for a hug and didn't want to let go. "I'll miss you too." I said over his shoulder. "Any idea when you're going to come back?" He asked, rubbing on my back while he kissed my exposed shoulder blade. "As soon as it's up and running, I'll be back here." I said and pulled away. "Why do you have to go?" he whined. I rolled my eyes, ready to explain for the umpteenth time that LA was the perfect place to set up another salon cause it would yield more income and I had to go there and supervise it myself to avoid mismanagement. "It's just for a few months Simon, I'll be back before you know it." I told him, sorting through my luggage once again. "Months?!" He exclaimed. "Yup." Honestly I was glad to have the perfect excuse to get away from Atlanta. I mean, the judgemental stares had become too much and I wanted to be off the church gossip charts f
"Hey baby, good morning." Marv's overexcited grin was the first thing I saw when I got into the dining room. She walked over and kissed me on the cheek just before I took my seat. Malia could not contain her eye roll. These two obviously did not get along. "Are you excited for your first day at work?" She hopped on the seat next to me. "Back to work it is." I groaned. "I really don't want to think about it right now." It worried me all night how my workers were going to react to me being back to running the place despite being an ex-convict. "I'm sure you'll do great. I packed some lunch for you. Malia, get the lunch pack so he won't forget it." Her saccharine sweet tone switched when speaking to Malia. "Go get it yourself." Came Malia's retort. I almost whistled. Okay this was going to be another altercation and I did not want to be caught in the middle of it. "Zach, didn't you hear how she just spoke to me? She's being rude to me. The woman of this house." Marv was up on her fee
I had a jolting flashback when my fingers brushed against that of the tall man whom I had almost bumped into at Starbucks after collecting my order. It was so strange but I didn't go back to look. I knew it wasn't possible for Zach to be there but what if that was him? I couldn't risk it . That afternoon, I was supervising the plumbers as they tried fixing the water supply to the various taps in the salon when Simon called. "Hey sweetie." I said to him with a little grin. "Hey beautiful. Where are you?" I switched to my back camera and whipped the phone around the room so he could see the obvious before flipping the camera back to the selfie mode. "Where else would I be, silly?" I rolled my eyes. "Well I was asking cause I've been searching for you." He said mimicking my eye roll. "What?" I was puzzled. "Come out." He gave me a cheeky grin. I ran out to the salon area, I didn't hang up just to be sure he wasn't pranking me. "Simon?" My feet came to an abrupt pause when I spot
"Do you have to go?" Marv whined in my ears."I asked you to join me," I responded, tying my shoe laces."You know I'm not the churchy type." She whined, pulling at the strings of my hoodie.And you expect me to marry you, I almost said as I shook my head. I didn't want any arguments stopping me from attending this event so I kept my thoughts to myself."Yeah whatever. Don't wait up for me." I told her and left before she could whine after me again.Once again, I was driving myself. It was an impromptu decision to attend this gospel concert or whatever it was termed but when I was told about it, I just decided when I felt a pull so strong to be there. I planned on breezing in and out since I needed some air outside the house that was being suffocated by Marv and her constant whining and nagging. I was held in traffic for a while on my way and I got in pretty late but I made it all the same and was lucky enough to secure a nice seat that gave me the perfect view of the big screen moun
"Yes, thank you so much." I was tired of repeating these words over and over. I dropped my phone on the kitchen island and held on to my mug of hot cocoa with both hands, blowing on it slowly to cool it off before it would burn my tongue off. I needed it to be in tact when more inevitable congratulatory calls would come in.The elevator doors came open just then. "Hey babe." He walked in with a wide grin hoisting the bags in his hands and dropping them right in front of me on the island as he pecked my lips."Hey. You stepped out really early," I unenthusiastically responded, not caring to look into the bags he had come in with. "Yeah I had to go get some stuff." He said, already typing on his phone. He paused and did a double take on my finger, "Where's your ring?"I stared down at my bare finger, void of the clean cut diamond ring he was asking of "In the bedroom, why?""I just thought you'd never want to take it off cause of how well it suits your beautiful finger." He joked but I
"Where's Simon?" Her question irked me. "He's gone back to Atlanta." I be grudgingly responded to my mother, placing the phone down so I could grab a pack of chips from the pantry. "Sounds like you two had a fight." I knew my mother too well, "He called you, didn't he? And that's why you called me." She sighed, "That's not it. Tell me what happened." "First of all his family does not like me." I stated, biting into a chip. "Why would you say that?" I angrily huffed and went on to narrate how awkward the night had been, with his snobby sisters not acknowledging my presence to his controlling mother who fixed a wedding date for me who's not even sure about being engaged yet. How dare she?! "Okay Poof, calm down." She told me, gesturing for me to take deep breaths. I did and felt a little bit of calmness. "Now tell me, what exactly is the problem?" Sh softly asked me. "Mama, I'm not ready to get married again. I'm not ready for any of this and Simon just blindsided me." I said,