Angela shut the door after her, she entered into Henry’s room. He had just left the house. He was going to travel for a couple of days. It was the perfect moment. She entered the code into his closet. Once it opened up, she set to work immediately, she picked up every single one of his jewellery replacing it with the fakes she had made. She didn’t have time on her hands anymore. She was counting the days until she left his life. She was a lone wolf working, she had blocked Mason on all social platforms and even his number. She was too pissed to talk to him and even though she loved him she wanted him to do right by her. She was doing so much for him. It was only a few days until she achieved her plans, she would rip him off of everything he had. Now she had her reasons, it wasn’t only that he had taken Mason’s spot and that had skyrocketed his career but he had dared cheat on her before her very own eyes. He had entertained his mistress in their house under the guise of a nanny. With

Leonard sat beside Ashley’s hospital bed and watched her silently. She was rushed in two days ago. He couldn’t recognise her at first sight neither could he recognise Henry when he brought her in. He was a far cry from the Henry Allen he knew. Yes, he still had on the designer suits and watches and still had on his expensive Italian shoes but he was without the composure that was typical of Henry Allen. His hair was ruffled, and he had tear stains on his face indicating that he had been crying. His always impeccably clean white shirt was stained with blood. Leonard would have taken a picture of him and sent it to the tabloids when he recognised him if he had not been worried about his friend who was dying. Even though he too had discarded his etiquette as a doctor, when he saw Ashley, instinctively he had reached for Henry and given him a hard blow, it was nothing serious but Henry was spotting a bruise. Leonard was hysterical after he had calmed down, his best friend was fighting for

Ashley heaved a deep sigh before knocking on the door. An uneasy feeling washed over her. It didn’t matter that she tried to convince herself over and over again that everything was fine. It was just her home where she grew up and nothing else. True she had been away for a long time but it couldn’t be that bad she tried to assure herself. She tried to convince herself that it didn’t matter that it was the longest she had been away from home. She heard the locks turn indicating that someone was on the other end. Dread enveloped her as the door opened up. Vera's head popped out, her heart gladdened at the sight of her daughter, she had longed to see her but she didn’t let it show on her face. Her face hardened when she remembered the last confrontation they had. “You shouldn’t have” Vera stated. Ashley crooked her neck to the side. “Why?” Vera outstretched her hand. “You could have sent it like you always do or mailed it. You shouldn’t have bothered with coming down here...” Ashley

Ashley got out of the bathroom, her towel wrapped around her chest, while she tried to dry off her hair with another towel oblivious of her surroundings. She felt a piercing gaze on her, she turned to see Henry staring at her, mouth open. She considered screaming down the whole cabin but that would be twice the embarrassment seeing as his family had returned. She had lost herself in the soothing waters of the hot tub and for a moment she had forgotten they shared a room. Her eyes wandered across the room and a bed too! How could she have missed that? Well, it wasn’t completely unbelievable that she had failed to notice. After they had shared the satisfying lunch. She had fallen asleep on the very large bed which she had imagined she was going to have all to herself. It didn’t help that when she woke up many hours later he was nowhere to be found. They had the first family dinner slated for 7 pm and it was already 5:30 pm. She rushed to take her shower, you could imagine her surprise

The revelation was met with utter silence. Sir Allen held Henry’s gaze, Mary on the other hand stared intently at Ashley, her thoughts wandering off. Arnold poured himself more wine. Eric folded his arms across his chest. “Bullshit!” Henry turned to look at Ashley, a smile crept up on his lips. “Yes, we are" he whispered, he turned to look at his family. "We are together”. Ashley tried desperately to appear normal and not blow up her cover but there was nothing normal about what she had just done, telling everyone she was in a relationship with her boss, out of the blue. It was a spontaneous response. The dinner with Henry’s family was a rollercoaster of emotions. He had made it known to her that he had issues with his family but she didn’t know the hatred they had for each other was deep-seated. She truly understood him when he said he needed to drink after every encounter with them. From all the banters she was picking up hints of abuse. Henry had been abused by his family, she co