Grandmother Stark's birthday should have been declared a national holiday.There was a pre-birthday celebration held at the temple with only her children and grandchildren present. It was held the previous day.Dignitaries and business associates from different parts of the world sent their birthday wishes, and pictures of the old woman graced billboards.Huge donations were made in grandmother's name to various organizations.Then the birthday celebration itself was held at the most expensive hotel in New York. All of grandmothers' children and grandchildren arrived with their families in luxurious cars, dressed in custom made designers.It was like a runway.Eve wore an emerald dinner dress with simple designed diamond accessories, her hair pulled up in complicated braids.Even baby Zoe who was in the same colour of dress as her had her hair made.Alessandro carried the sleeping toddler, his custom made designers' black Armani suit fitting him perfectly.The front of the hall was
"What's wrong with her?" "Has she gone crazy? Trying to stand up to grandmother?" "She will destroy her in a heartbeat." Eve listened to the so-called in-laws who didn't even attempt to be discreet. "Ava, let me take care of this." Alessandro said beside her, attempting again to hold her hand. But no, she wasn't going to be manipulated anymore and she was sick and tired of those games that never seemed to end. And so she sucked in a deep breath and glanced at her husband briefly, "I'll handle it." Before Alessandro could speak again, Eve turned to Grandmother Fiona who was regarding her with those wiggly eyes. "How dare you interrupt my birthday party? I will not take this from you...." She had barely finished speaking before Eve interrupted her. "Party? You call this a celebration? My apologies grandmother, but this is a sham, just like every other thing about this family!" Gasps tore from the mouths of different people in the room, their lips thrown open. "Ava, don't
Eve woke up with a hangover. The banging headache prevented her from opening her eyes at first, coupled with the bright sun forcing its way into the curtains.Curtains?The thought of the unfamiliarity of her environment had Eve opening her eyes, and her eyes darted to the giant wall clock and the paintings on the wall.It was past eight o'clock in the morning, and she was in a hotel."Fuck..." Eve muttered beneath her breath and quickly threw put the duvet.A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she discovered that she was still very much clothed.But did that guarantee anything? She forced herself to sit upwards despite the headache and blindly reached for her phone on the nightstand.But her hand made contact with some pills and a glass of water.She opened her eyes fully to a familiar writing on a paper.'You can take the day off, I'll take care of your meetings today, Leo.' Right. The hazy memory of Leo carrying her into the hotel room flooded her brain.Along with the stark r
"What? You hate me, you never wanted to be married in the first place!" Eve was mortified, so much that she didn't care anymore about being heard as she raised her voice.Alessandro took in a deep breath and stared at her with those annoyingly beautiful golden eyes."I may have hated being forced to marry you, but being married to you has been good." What the hell was he doing?Eve was frustrated. "Do you even hear yourself? Now you will have the freedom to be with your sweetheart, so sign the damn papers and stop this drama! I won't take anything of yours, I signed a prenup remember?" Alessandro Stark took a step towards her, clouding her senses with that damn good cologne of his.She couldn't wait to be out of his hair so she wouldn't have to be confused so much by fickle feelings.But when he replied, in a calmer voice, Eve was even more confused."I ended things with Lydia a long time ago." For a full minute, she believe she had misheard him. Eve searched his eyes for any for
In the midst of the dilemma of getting Alessandro to sign the papers, Eve received a text from her manager,Wendy: Guess what? The reality show is back!"Oh shit! Hell no!" Eve's piercing scream reverberated through the room, carrying with it a weight that threw the atmosphere in heavy silence.Till a throat was cleared beside her, "Uhm, chairwoman, is there any problem with the presentation?" The familiar voice of the chairman of the board had Eve lifting her eyes to the sea of gazes staring at her.Right, she had forgotten that she was in a meeting!Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, and she adjusted herself in the seat, clearing her throat. "Sorry, please continue." A confused Vegas who had been giving the presentation went on, and Eve tried to concentrate for the rest of the meeting.But she merely succeeded, for as soon as she stepped into her office, she pulled out her phone and dialed the manager."Hey Wendy, I don't understand, the show is over..."The overly excited manager
A marriage probation?That wasn't what Eve had bargained for when she stormed into the Stark Corporation, and she thought about it all the way back to her office.What could be the intention behind suddenly not wanting a divorce?What was the real motive?She bit her nails softly and thought long and hard, but she came up empty.She even went through the marriage contract severally when she got to her office, and stared out of the window which had the best view of New York.But she couldn't find any loophole that would perhaps affect him if they had a divorce. By the time evening struck, Eve was frustrated for some reason. She hadn't gotten any work done that day and she still had to go home to return to sharing a bed with Alessandro."Shit!" She cursed again as she drove into the mansion and parked in the garage.Other unfamiliar cars were also parked there. Seemed they had visitors, interesting.Eve sucked in a deep breath and grabbed her purse and the snacks she had bought on her
He took in the stubborn upturn of her soft beautiful lips, that fire in her eyes that burned him raw, washed aglow in the bright lights.And he knew, she wasn't about to declare her undying love for him."So what? I am to forget all your insults and manipulations and the way your family has treated me for what? Because you suddenly had a change of heart which is so fickle that I cannot trust it? Bugger it." Her tone was sharp as the daggers she was shooting from her eyes, and he took a step towards her, aware that he must thread carefully."I want to get to know you better, I am interested to knowing you, Ava, not the misinformation and misconceptions I've had in my head." When she didn't say a word, but kept staring at him with that delicate head raised upwards to meet his stare, he continued in a calm soothing tone,"For instance, when you are pissed, your accent is British, and your fingers twitch."Bloody hell, Eve had forgotten to mask the accent which had become a part of her
"Perfect! And...cut!" Eve breathed a sigh of relief at last and stepped back from Sean who was obviously still grabbing hold of her waist."And scene thirty cut ten is a wrap!"Right, she repeated that kiss scene ten times because for some reason, Sean Lancaster who was renowned for his acting skills was suddenly being clumsy and making mistakes.She didn't buy any of that shit.But she had to be professional of course, and therefore didn't scream out loud as she wanted to or use any of the curse words at the tip of her tongue.Because it was so fucking obvious why Sean Lancaster made it a point of duty to grope and stick his tongue into her mouth when...Yuck, now Eve wasn't flattered by his attention anymore, it was beyond creepy and weird and she still tasted that extremely strong mint in his tongue.It came on too strong, just like he did, nothing like a certain golden eyed man with freckles of multiple colours which made a play in his eyes with the reflections of the light...Ok