DAMIAN "Wait. You're the police?" I asked. "Yes sir," said the man on the other end of the phone. "I'm officer Harris..." The construction site! Had that scumbag, Noah, dared make another attempt to sabotage me after the warning I had given him? If he had, I would deal with him in a worse way than I had initially planned. Then Harry said Amelia's name and Noah was driven right out of my mind. "Say that again. Did you just say Amelia?" "Yes. You're her husband, Mr Donovan, right?" "Yes." "Right. She was attacked at the bakery. She called the police..." I didn't wait to hear the rest. I just snatched up my car keys lying on the table and left the house. It was when I was in my car, driving quickly to the bakery that I remembered all the questions I should have asked the police officer. Who had attacked Amelia? Why had she been attacked? And most importantly, was she safe? This last question preyed on my mind so much that I snatched up my phone from the passenger's se

AMELIA "We need to talk," I said glumly. "Sounds serious?" said Damian, arching his brow. I gestured impatiently for him to seat and sank into a chair myself. I had come home straight from the bakery. There had been no point in me staying there. I wasn't able to concentrate anyway. "What is going on?"he prompted. "It's my mother. She called." "Oh..." Even in this situation, I couldn't help but see the humour. Damian and I had never really talked about our respective families. He had told me just what was necessary to know about his family in case someone, maybe a reporter, started asking me questions about him that I was supposed know. The subject of my mother had never come up. All Damian knew about her was that she was alive. "And you're amused because..." I arranged my face into an expression of seriousness. I had not even realised I had been smiling a little. "Nothing," I said. "I've just been thinking about how we are going to handle this." "You seem to ha

AMELIA "I am asking you a question, Amelia," said my mother impatiently. "Explain these." She tossed a handful of the condoms on the sofa. I licked my lips nervously. I still couldn't think of what to say. Why had I even allowed her to do Damian's laundry in the first place? I should have known that if there was something dodgy to be found in his room, my mother would be the one to find it. I took a deep breath and tried again to speak. "Mom, I-" What could I say? That Damian probably still used the condoms to sleep with other women? That some of the condoms were given to him as a sample by someone? I probably would have gone with the later explanation, wild though it seemed, if not for the fact that Damian probably had a lifetime's supply of condoms in his drawer. "I know exactly what's going on here?" said my mother with a very disapproving look. My heart plummeted to somewhere in the region of my stomach. I felt beads of sweat pop out on my upper lip despite the fact

DOROTHY Who was it? I thought as I saw the figure flit out into the grounds. I leaned out the window to get a better look. The figure was suddenly illuminated by the headlamps of the car which had suddenly come on. Before the lights winked out, I saw Damian clearly. Something about his bowed head, his quick movement made me feel like he wanted to leave the house unnoticed. It was almost midnight! Where could be going off to? I stood there in front of bedroom window, undecided. The need to know what he was up to decided me. I hurried downstairs, grabbed a car key from the little tray on the dining table. Damian's car was almost at the gates by the time I got outside. I pressed the button on the keys until one of the cars beeped. I got into that one and going after him. Luck was on my side. There was still some traffic on the roads. It wasn't as deserted as I thought it would by by this hour. I was able to stay behind a black sedan all the way to the turning to a nearby buildi

DAMIAN I bit my lips to stifle a groan. My fingers unconsciously massaged my temples where I felt a headache building. The sound of rustling paper made me look up. My secretary had merely paused to turn over another page of the report she was reading. Beside her, two men, members of my staff were hanging on to her every word, making notes in the margin of the documents in front of them. My secretary saw me looking in some dismay at the remaining pages of the report she had yet to read. "Should I... go on, sir?" she asked after a moment's hesitation. "Yes. Please do," I replied. The men who had looked startled at the idea that I could abruptly call off the meeting that hadn't even lasted for up to twenty minutes, now looked expectantly at her as she once more began droning on about the project. I fought to keep my expression bright and alert, like everyone else, but I found myself spacing out once more. Damn! But I was so goddamn tired. Lately, I had been even under more