Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 120

Salma “He's uhm… he's…” but my body gave out before I could give her a definite answer. I found myself suddenly supported against the frame of Brandon's body. “Are you okay? Let's get a doctor in here,” he said, worry lines creasing his forehead. I stood upright, plopping my frame into the nearest chair I could find. “I'm alright,” I said, “I'm just…” but Leona was looking at me, and I did not want her to think that her sickness had caused my exhaustion, “I'm fine.” A nurse walked into the room and asked for Brandon. “That's me,” he said, following the nurse out of the room. Rita and I exchanged glances the second Brandon stepped out. But if it was Allison who asked, “You're keeping this a…” she allowed her voice to trail off as she looked at Leona. “Mommy?” Leona turned to look at me by her side, “You need to see a doctor.” I smiled warmly at her. “I really don't, sweetheart,” I told her, “I'm not leaving your side.” It did not matter how exhausted I was, my place was by Leo

Brandon The question threw me off for half a second. I was so lost in my lust that the question physically hurt me. I tore my gaze forcefully from her and replied, “Uhm… no.” She raised an eyebrow, “You don't have a guestroom? That's hard to believe.” “I do… I just,” I paused, “it's under renovation.” “Renovation?” she echoed, not quite believing me. “Yes,” I said, “I'm changing the colour… I was converting it for Leona.” The expression on her face turned blank, making it impossible to read her emotions. “That's sweet,” she said after several seconds of silence had passed between us. “You said… she likes monochrome colours, yeah?” Salma nodded, “Yes… Grey is her favourite.” “So no pink, huh?” “God, no!” Salma laughed, shaking her head, “She hates pink.” I laughed lightly and the thought of Leona dissolved whatever lust that charged my body. “I guess I'll have to tell the contractor to change the colour scheme all over,” I said, testing my luck further, I asked, “I know sh

Salma I remained by Leona's side for an hour after Brandon left. My grandmother and Josephine had gone to a hotel to freshen up and rest before changing shifts on who would stay with Leona. If it were left to me, I would spend every second by my daughter's bedside, but they would not let me. As I watched her sleep, I heard a soft knock on the door. “Come in,” I said, assuming at once that it was a nurse coming to check on Leona's drip or some such thing. Or it was Josephine or my grandmother who had come back. But when I looked up, I saw a face that had no business being here. “What the hell, John?” I looked at him with nothing but surprise. I had not reached out to him since he had spoken to me about investigating my father. I had to admit that for a brief period, I had been tempted to expose my father's past, especially if he had killed my mother but at the moment, I had much bigger things to worry about. “I just need a moment,” he pleaded. “How did you even know I was here?”

Salma I walked into the Ritz-Carlton lobby at 7:10 pm. Taking a quick sweep at the lobby, I saw Ariel standing there, looking around like she was frustrated waiting for someone—me. “You have five…” I said as I snuck up on her. “Jeez!” she jumped, then quickly adjusted her expression. “What did you do that for? And you made me wait for…” “You're the one who wishes to see me,” I reminded her, “if you do not have anything…” “Let's sit,” she said, lowering her voice and then walking deeper into the hotel. We entered a large waiting area with several comfortable luxurious sofas. “Father needs your kidney,” she stated the second we sat down. I remembered the DNA test, so I said, “I think this conversation requires alcohol.”“No,” she said, “you just want us to go to someplace that is too noisy so you can pretend like you are hearing nothing.” I swallowed. That was a pretty good darn reason too. “I am not giving him my kidney,” I told her, my voice firm as steel, “you know this al

Brandon I did not believe Elaine. That was the thought that settled on my mind as I drove across the city to the Ritz-Carlton. When Salma and I were still best friends in college, she had never felt comfortable talking about her father. But when she did, she told me about his several campaigns over the years that had strained their relationship. She would never get over her father using her mother's death to acquire sympathy votes only to marry another woman within a year of that happening. She hated the way he had justified his quick marriage to another woman as promoting family values.But I did not remember her hating him. She was only a girl who was starved of his attention since this new woman and her daughter had interrupted their lives abruptly. How had that same woman told her dying father that he could go to hell? How had she stood doing nothing as her father collapsed to the ground from a heart attack?Also, it was hard to reconcile the cold-hearted bitch Elaine had descri