LOGINJoan's POV"His phone?" I squeezed my brows together, then quickly relaxed them.I had forgotten I was standing in front of Greg, the train personnel who had been given the responsibility of protecting the Caldwell family.I turned my phone face down against my thigh.He saw it. He noticed that. He knew there was something I was hiding.Thank God it was my phone.I turned and pointed to the lampstand where he had left it."There..."He smiled, walked over to it, and picked it up."Thanks..."He walked toward the door and left. I heard his shoes clicking against the floor until the sound disappeared beyond the doorway, like someone running away with a secret.Whatever Greg wanted to discuss with his boss wasn't my concern. My concern right now was making sure Special Agent Mark Collins didn't have any contact with Brent.I let out a little sigh, walked to the door, and locked it.I looked at the time on my phone.7:05 a.m. sharp.I dialed the office phone.It rang, and my PA picked it
Joan's POVCalm down, Joan... Just calm the fuck down... The thought crashed into me."Don't tell me that," I snapped, shoving the thought out of my brain like a vermin sucking my blood. Like two friends who had suddenly become foes due to unresolved differences. "Danger is lurking... You don't tell me that..."I gritted my teeth. My hand curled tightly into a fist. I walked around the room like my brain was about to blow the roof off the house. Brent had just left the room. He said he was having a meeting with some investors to raise another IPO for the company's next Asia-Pacific expansion.He had stepped out of the room with Greg, who had helped him with his suitcase as usual. Recently, things have not been rosy between us. I shouldn't have challenged him a few days earlier when he got back late; I wouldn't have asked him about his whereabouts after I myself had committed the same offense the previous day, though I had my reasons. I had to clear those two bastards, Agent Smith
Orlena's POV. I didn't want to touch the cash Mr. Chris gave me. I had hidden it under my small bed, so I could go and get it whenever I needed urgent money. The little space I had rented was safe. No one could break into my apartment here.I slipped my feet into my shoes, which had grown a bit tight now because my feet had started swelling. I was in my second trimester, and my body was changing in ways I was still learning to accept.I stepped out of the house. For the first time in a long time, I could feel something like freedom, fresh and clean, the kind that comes from finally slipping out of the grip of Joan and the Caldwell family.I walked down the road just like everyone else. Cars and small buses passed me by. This was a quiet town in Alaska, a place that fit my budget perfectly. After buying groceries, I wanted to look around. Maybe I could find something, a supermarket that needed an extra hand, a shop with an opening, some kind of vacancy nearby that I could start wit
Orlena's POV.I pushed the thin blanket apart and slowly sat up.The moment my feet touched the cold, cemented floor, a sharp pain squeezed through my head. I shut my eyes tight and pressed my finger against my temple.It felt like the skull was just too small for the tiny brain inside it.I let the sharp pain subside. Then I paused. I drew in a slow breath and looked around the room.This was a new life. This was new to me. Welcome to Alaska.A place I had never imagined living. Far away from the life of New York. With the buzzing street lights, the unceasing car horns, and the crowd rushing past each other.The only thing here is silence.My tired feet slapped against the floor, sending a strange shiver up my spine, one I couldn't explain. My hand rested over my baby bump.The room was barely big enough for a small reading table, a chair, and a small bed.Still, it was mine.I had worked hard to get it. I had counted every coin, and I had walked into three different landlords' offic
Greg's POVI stood in the car park, waiting for my boss to come down from the elevator.He had asked me and Dennis, one of my team members, to wait for him here after running back to get something from Ms. Joan's office.I stood very close to the car, holding his suitcase in my hand, my eyes scanning every corner of the parking lot. It was just a way of doing my job. Just a way of keeping him secure.Eight years. Eight solid years I had been doing this job. Eight years of keeping Mr. Brent Caldwell and his household safe.But the one thing that left a bitter taste in my mouth was the task he had given me a few moments back right in his office. It was like someone handing me a shovel and asking me to dig my own grave without making a mess of it. Without letting the earth soil his clothes.That was the situation Brent Caldwell had put me in. That was the trap my boss had laid for me.To make matters worse, he had told me to get some private investigators to look for where that lady was
Joan's POV"State Security Service?" The words crashed into me."Yes, ma'am." I paused on the phone, staring at the receiver like it was a wrong call."Allow him in."I settled back into my chair, and curiosity filled me.A few moments later, the handle turned, and a middle-aged man stepped in.Tall, lanky, with curly hair. Dressed in a black suit. Though decent, he smelled something wrong, something not good for my health. He stepped into the room, with a kind of breeze blowing in from outside which I couldn't explain.He paused, looking around the room for a minute like he had forgotten something.I sat there in my chair, looking at him for a moment. Anger simmered inside me.He turned, and our eyes met.He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat."Ahem... excuse...""Miss... Joan..." He drew out my name like someone trying to remember it... for evil. He stretched out his hand which I didn't take. That sent a signal, and I was glad he quickly grasped that. “My name is Inspector M
Orlena’s POV. “Little gift?” The word parted my lips, “I think you're mixing it up somewhere.” I let out a hard smile. The sound came out brittle, like I was crushing a dry leaf under my foot. “Was I?” “Yeah,” I replied, nodding. At this time, the smile had dissolved into something I coul
Orlena’s POVI had buried my father in my heart that morning, but painfully, the universe is asking me to stay and care for a child who wasn't mine and who would never be mine. Isn't that cruelty? The thought of that almost made me laugh. “Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?” I muttered the words repe
Orlena's POV My phone suddenly rang the moment I stepped into the parking lot, my fingers tightening slightly around my bag as I slowed down. Brent and Joan were already heading toward my car, their steps unhurried like they had all the time in the world.I paused, glancing down at the screen.It
Orlena's POV He would snap at any moment now, I could feel it coming, and my hand tightened at my side as I stood there, watching him.“Why is this here?”He finally looked up at me, his brows pulled together as he held the paper in his hand.“How is this here? You realize how important this is?”







