IRIS’ P.O.V Ten days left until the wedding day, and I am a ball of nerves. So much so that I had begun to feel nauseous, especially as I sat in the living room and watched Massimo's older sister, Catalina, take over the wedding preparations with her daughter, Andrea.I watched them choose color palettes, table cloths, and decide on every other thing without even looking my way. Not that I was bothered anyway, it wasn’t as if getting married to a ruthless mafia Don, three times my age, would be the best day of my life, so they might as well carry on.My phone suddenly buzzed on the coffee table, and I was so quick to grab it that Catalina and Andrea looked at me. Ignoring them, I checked my phone to see a message from Les. “Hi Beautiful.” Instantly, my smile grew into a grin. Again, I found the women watching me, so I dimmed my smile.“Hi Beastie.” I texted back, biting down my smirk.“Wow. Touché. A Beauty and the Beast reference, I see.” “Exactly. Lol. How did you know?”“I read
IRIS'S P.O.V I rushed out of the bed, scared out of my mind. “What are you doing here, Catalina?” I asked, my voice shaking. “You have no right to be here.”“Oh,” she raised an eyebrow, faking a regretful look. “I could leave right now, straight to my brother's office, and tell him his little bride is not so pure after all.” She turned around and began to walk towards the door.“Wait!” I yelled. Catalina dramatically turned around, “Yes?” She grinned.I hated her already. “Please don't tell him. Massimo will kill me and my family, if he finds out.”Catalina walks back into the room, on heels, that clicked and clacked on the wooden, polished floor of my bedroom. “I am curious about something.” She said, approaching me. “When you eventually got married to my brother, what did you expect will happen?” It dawned on me that I had no plan for that. I had simply hoped my father would find the shipment on time. “I see you didn’t plan to marry my brother.” I could stare back in despair.
LES' P.O.V“You missed the reading.” My brother said, as I drove through town on a phone call. “You should have been here.”“I had no intention of attending in the first place.” I replied.“The lawyer didn't want to read Father's will until you were present, so I had to resort to being very persuasive.”A smile formed on my face. “How did that turn out?”“Good for me but not good for him. He was not happy that you still didn't turn up after postponing the reading for weeks.”“Why? Did Father leave me something?” I joked.“Actually, yes.” My brother said, and I could sense a bit of bitterness in his tone. “Father left you almost everything.”Not being able to focus while driving, I slowed down and found somewhere to park on the side of the road. I couldn't believe my ears. After almost a decade of not speaking to each other and practically hating each other's guts, my father left me an inheritance?“But why?” I asked. “You're the loyal son who stayed. I was expecting he would leave eve
IRIS’ P.O.V.Two days into my deadline, Hilda gave me a sleeping pill which I was able to manage to slip into Massimo's drink. One, after he passed out, I slipped out the office key, wrapped it in a handkerchief which I gave to Robert who in turn helped me give Hilda outside the gate. After several nerve wracking hours, Robert returned with the same handkerchief. When I opened I saw two keys inside. I returned the original to Massimo’s bunch and kept the cloned key. On the third day, Massimo had a large dinner with his friends and family. As usual, I was seated at the bottom of the seating arrangement. I didn’t mind. I simply focused on his wine glass. The doorbell rang when Massimo yelled the name of a servant to get it but didn't get any response, so I volunteered to get it. Dressed in a red mini gown with my blonde hair straightened to perfection, I strutted on six inch heels to the door. When I opened it, I froze. Standing before me was Les but at the same time, it wasn't, b
IRIS' P.O.V I immediately looked around for a place to hide but couldn't find one in time. The door opened and I froze like a deer in headlights. The man who came in turned out to be Les and I didn’t know whether I should feel relieved or very afraid. He looked from me to the wine glass and back, but I could tell he wasn't surprised to see me. “What did you take from Massimo’s safe and why?” My eyes almost bulged out of my head as I stared at him. “What?” I asked, confused. “How?”Les raised his hand and showed me a phone. In it, I saw myself peering into a phone held by Les and that's when it dawned on me that I was watching a video footage of us in real time. “I knew there was something up with you. At dinner you drank nothing but water and then suddenly asked to bring your wine. The moment you left, I hacked into the cameras to watch you and I saw everything. So I'm going to ask again, Sweetness,” he closed the distance between us, “what did you take from the safe and why?
LES’ P.O.V My brother was already waiting in the driver seat of my sports car when I left my uncle's house. Knowing him to be a stubborn mule, I didn't bother arguing with him about switching positions. Once he says he wants to drive, there's no stopping him. I simply smiled to myself as I entered the passenger side. “You should consider buying your own sports car, brother.”“Nah, I like covet things I don't have.” He replied, causing me to chuckle. “And how was it?” James asked and my brows lowered in confusion. “How was what?” I asked, as he put the car in ignition and reversed out of the compound. “Your session with Iris.” He said as if he were asking about the weather. My amusement fades.“Dude, were you spying on us?” “You're not the only one who can hack cameras.”Annoyance flashed through me, making my bones tighten. “Tell me you didn't watch.”“What do you take me for, a perv?” He answered, “The moment I saw things getting interesting, I logged out.” When James noticed th
IRIS’ P.O.V “The funeral is in three days, Iris.” Hilda informed me via phone call. Shit!“So is my wedding.” I told her. “Shit. Any news?” “The B-guy told me they're close.” B-guy. That was the code name for Billionaire Guy a.k.a Les Scavo, ever since the incident with Catalina, I didn't want to be careless anymore. “I'm really praying for you.” Hilda said, “or else I'll have to stage your kidnapping because there's no way you're marrying that fool.”A sigh escaped me. “I really hope it doesn't come to that. I just want to be out of this mess. I had no idea what freedom meant until now. Living with Massimo is like living in a prison.”“You can say that again. Oh, lest I forget, did you go take the P-thing.”I sighed again and rolled my eyes. Hilda was talking about the pregnancy test kit she got me. Thinking about it gave me a headache. “I haven't yet. This whole Catalina issue had me on edge.”“Thank God, that is solved.” Hilda said, “I just hope she doesn't come back trying
LES’ P.O.V Twelve Years Ago.I curled my hands into fists until my knuckles turned white. My feet barely made a sound as I stormed down the hallway to my father's office. I had trained my feet to barely make sounds especially when I needed to sneak up on someone and kill them. And right now, I felt like killing my father. If only I could…I didn't bother knocking before I threw open the doors to his office and marched in. When I came in, I found him sitting behind his great oak table, puffing on a cuban cigar, while having a conversation with two men.The moment he saw me, his eyes darkened and his face morphed into a scowl. Standing beside him was my younger brother who didn't look too happy. I looked at the two Russian men sitting opposite my father, and my anger intensified. “Get out.” I said, quietly. They exchanged glances before rising to their feet and scurrying out of the office without so much as a glance at my father. “What is this?!” My father queried in his thick Sicil