CHAPTER 22: Clara was standing in front of her coaching center. She received a call earlier from Elena who informed her that she was coming to see her.Clara called her many days after her disappearance and requested an audience with her so they decided to meet up on a Saturday when Elena wouldn't be affected academically.She had been receiving an adequate lecture from the school-like place and she didn't know how Ethan worked it, she was going to be permitted to write her exams in her former school from where she was. She didn't ask him how, she just appreciated him and followed what was needed to be.While waiting for Elena, someone came up from behind and frightened her. "Hey." He whispered and Clara reflexively hit her hand against his face causing him to yelp. "Ouch, watch it!" He half yelled. "Desmond? What were you planning to do?" Clara asked suspiciously. The young boy about Clara's age and height smirked as he recovered from the unplanned pain. "What do you th
CHAPTER 23: "Hey, guys." Ben cried out happily as she walked into the mansion. Ethan was pressing his laptop and he looked unbothered by what was going on. Ben came from behind and yelled into his ear, earning him a fast-forward punch to his face. "Ouch! You beast!" Ben growled. "It seems Lucille's arrival has turned your brain upside down." "Well, I can't help it." Ben grinned and sat in front of him. "Where is Clara?" He asked. Ethan raised his head and glared at Ben. "What? I was just asking after her." Ben said. "Which has been getting too much." Ethan retorted. "Oh, my. Wait, don't tell me you are jealous?" Ben chuckled and bent to his knees, he was trying to look into Ethan's eyes since the latter had gone back to staring at his screen. "Ben, your salary must be very important," Ethan said coldly. "Now, that's the Ethan I know," Ben mumbled.Lucille's laughter could be heard as she walked in fully into the mansion. She got closer to the boys. It's
CHAPTER 24: Ben and Lucille finally left for their home which was out of the mansion. A room was allocated to them inside the mansion but they wanted a private moment with themselves so they left. "Uhm…goodnight," Clara said and ran up the stairs without waiting for Ethan's reply. The latter just stared at her until she was totally out of sight.Clara shut the door immediately after she got into her room. She took a deep breath and walked slowly towards her bed before falling flat on it. She tried to calm her racing heart before rolling to the other side to face the ceiling.Memories of earlier flashed through her eyes and she shut them. She shut her eyes when she heard a knock on her door. She sat up instantly, wondering who it could be. She stood up and approached the door, opening it only to see Ethan standing in front of her with his hands inside his pockets. He was looking down at her. Clara then realized how short she was compared to him. Her gaze went somewhere else. "U
CHAPTER 25: CLARA'S POV.I woke up the next morning after landing my butt on the floor. "Ouch," I mumbled before rolling onto the cold floor. I forced my eyes open only to be welcomed by the bright morning greeting me literally. My eyes widened immediately and I popped myself. "Damn, I am late…I am freaking late." I said as I dashed into the room. I ran out again to pick up my towel before rushing back into the bathroom. I showered quickly and wore something casual. I had no time for make-up or whatever it was.I grabbed my phone and sprayed my perfume before running out, slamming the door against the empty room. I ran downstairs and was greeted by one of the maids who handed over to me my breakfast pack. "Oh, thank you." "You're welcome. Master Ethan requested that we dish it for you." She replied and went back. I stared at the food pack and smiled when I remembered last night. It was kinda fun. With this thought in my head, I headed to the entrance only to see people g
"I can assure you, Officer, that we had no hand in this. We have always been law-abiding citizens. Even though we could be rich, you can check our records." Ben replied truthfully in front of the officer who was looking at him sternly.Early this morning, a call was made to the cops that two dead bodies were found in front of the gate of the mansion and this call got the cops running over.On getting there, it was true. There were two corpses brutally injured and left naked. So they had to call out those who were inside as it had become a murder case. "I understand you, Mr. Ben but I need you to know that this can't be easy anyway. Anyway, we will try our best."Ethan walked in hurriedly and pulled a chair out to sit. "Officer, what's the lead?" He asked him. "I have spoken with your friend here and he already made me understand that you had no hands in this because there is no way a killer leaves its trace at a possible place where he could be caught but as is the natu
Clara and Ethan walked down the street wearing a coat as the weather was cold and it was quite lonely but the streetlights were on. They were not talking to each other but would occasionally glance at themselves before looking away. [FLASHBACK EARLIER] "Ethan has been going through a lot for the past few days with the attacks coming in and now this. So you should be there for him." Lucille advised. "I wasn't even aware of this and he didn't wish to tell me. Is it because he doesn't consider me as someone worth speaking to?" Clara asked worriedly. "It's not because of that. That's just mainly his personality. We have to know what is going on around us to catch up with whatever he is thinking or about to do most times so we are not the only ones finding it difficult to do. We all are. He could be mysterious sometimes but he is kind, I can assure you.For the last few years, he has been working hard to show how capable he can be and everyone trusts him for that so you have to
Ethan got back into his room and went to take a shower first. His body needed it, and despite the cold weather, he opted for a cold shower. Well, seeing his body condition, it was rare for him to get a cold. He was warm himself. "Hey there." Something connected to him as the water sprinkled on his body with his eyes closed. It was no other than his wolf within. "It's been a while." His wolf continued speaking, not caring if Ethan was listening or not. "I can feel that things aren't going well on your side." "Shut up, Denice." Ethan scolded and Denice, his wolf, whimpered but was not ready to back out.Denice rarely spoke to him except if it was important and he didn't have any problem with Ethan's human and physical abilities being good enough to shield him from any overthinking but these days, his worries had provoked Denice'a arrival. "I am sorry, Ethan but I just want you to know that you need to calm down to figure this out. We need to make necessary plans ahead an
Clara was done with the morning class and feeling so bored, she decided to put a call through to Elena so they could talk. After dialing her number for the second time, Elena finally picked up with her face showing on the screen. "Yo, baby girl. How are you doing?" She asked and Clara raised one of her brows. "Why are you running?" She asked her. Elena stuttered and glanced at her back before facing the screen. The call wasn't stable because the phone was being shaken due to the race. "Can I call you back? Thanks." Elena ended the call. Clara was more than confused. She knew Elena to be a bit stubborn and repellant most times but running away from trouble wasn't something she was expecting especially on a phone call. Anyway, she had no choice but to wait for her call.A few minutes later, Elena's call came through as expected and Clara answered quickly. She saw trees and flying birds behind Elena in the call. "What are you up to?" She asked again.Elena sat down and trie
Ethan settled down as far as he could from Ophelia and he had as many abled people beside him to probably stop him from strangling her to death. There were Clara, Ben, Lucille, and some other abled men for this short mission.The elders were allowed to start talking while Ethan kept shut because it was more advisable to do so. He wasn't in the right state of mind. "We received a letter on your behalf from this young man…" a woman pointed at Jackson while speaking to Ophelia. *Who claimed to be your mate? How true is this?" She asked her.Ophelia blinked, her heart was still racing, all of a sudden this apparent situation of hers opened the door for more headaches, worries, high blood pressure, and whatever one could feel and think about at the point of death. "Yes…yes…he is my mate." "He is human," Lucille said and locked eyes with Ophelia meaningfully. "Yes." She answered with a whisper. "Do you really want to apologize or you just had him do that as a fake? You've
"What do you think is going to happen now? Will he accept it? It's been days." Ben asked as he put Sofia to sleep.Lucille was dusting off imaginary dirt off her clothes and then looked at her husband after he mentioned that. "You didn't know?" "Know what?" "Luna has already sent a letter back to them but I think the question now is will Ophelia come or not?" She answered.Ben sighed, "I just don't even know my stand in all of these. Will everything go well for our good? Ethan doesn't seem like he is in a good mood to want to welcome anybody. He has been yelling at everyone at the company." He rubbed his hair.Lucille sighed and put down the big bear toy that she was holding. She went to meet him and wrapped his arms around her waist making him place his head on her tummy. "I know how badly you want to help me. Everyone is as confused as you are so don't hurt yourself that much. The pain is gonna be there but that day, Ophelia did recognize her mistakes and was trying
"At least, you were able to spread positivity through your behavior," Ethan said as he walked into the mansion with the ladies. "And I am proud to have given her a mark that she won't forget in her whole lifetime. I also told her that I am watching her. I can't easily forget what she did. I went almost naked on national TV. If I had been totally naked, I would have been going through therapy now and her apologies wouldn't heal me." Agnes complained and flung herself across the chair.A wolf passed by them carrying Sofia on its back. "Anyway, it is all gone now and she has turned a new leaf. Try being friendly towards her." Clara said as she rubbed her tummy subconsciously. "I will try to but I won't hesitate to bring her down to her knees if she goes insane." She threatened. Her phone rang, popping up Brown's name on the screen. "Hey…yeah, we are back. Alright, I will be there. No, there is no need for that, I can come all by myself. Hmm…see you later." She ended the c
Jackson stood to look at his mother who seemed to be arranging something in front of the house. He was squeezing his fingers nervously as he watched her. He was totally fidgeting.He didn't know how he was supposed to approach her because her actions were always unexpected. Rihanna sighed for the third time. Living a lonely life was hell and her husband was not around.Was he even worth being called a husband? Her present family was nothing but trash. There was no peace…no love, just her alone. There was nothing to gain as it was an absolute waste of time.She turned around and saw Jackson standing there, staring back at her. She eyed him without much reaction. One was expecting the other to tell him to come but staying off was probably better because anything dangerous could happen. Rihanna spread her hands open suddenly for him and Jackson's eyes widened. There was that rise of hope in his eyes as he looked from his mother to her hands that were opened in front of him. Rihanna ur
Jackson left the house after taking a day off from the restaurant. He was inside a cab heading to Lydia's father's house for a meeting. According to the plan that Ophelia had devised yesternight, he was to go to her father's place before she did anything dangerous while she promised to work on his mother instead.He didn't know what she was going to say to her but he hoped for the best. As he was going, he felt nervous because he didn't know what else he was going to face on his side.What if he didn't like him anymore and decided to punish him? What if things wouldn't go the way that they planned? He was sure of one thing and that was, Lydia was going to get mad at him. But he was ready to do whatever it took for himself to regain his freedom.The cab dropped him off at the gate and he paid the money before entering. The security man cross-checked diligently as he was supposed to do before letting him in while someone else brought him to the garden where the man was sitting.He was
"Why can't just people face what they are doing, huh? Why must they be concerned about other people's affairs?" Agnes said with frustration.Lucille came into the sitting room carrying a plate of fruit for Clara to taste. "What happened?" She asked. "Someone went ahead to spread pictures of Luna and Mr. Henry, claiming that the both of them are dating." She answered. "That's absurd," Lucille answered and collected the phone from her hand. She took a look at the contents and rolled her eyes afterward before taking a seat. "Well, to be able to sell, they need to provide enough false news. And telling the tales of Billionaires seems to work just fine for them, I guess." Lucille replied.Clara didn't even mind and only focused on eating her fruits. "I hope the Alpha won't get worried and over-jealous after seeing this. The pictures are quite intimate." Agnes showed Clara. "If he doesn't get jealous, that only proves he doesn't love me. If he considers this to be fake j
Jackson came back with a glass of drink for her and sat beside Ophelia who was sobbing. By now, she was trying hard to stop herself from crying and eventually started hiccuping so Jackson had to attend to her. "Here. Have some water." He gave her the water and she collected it with trembling hands. "Thank you."Jackson nodded and watched her drink all of it. What could be the problem? Who offended and made her cry? Why was she crying? She had always been that strong face woman that he knew so why was she crying?After a few minutes, she was done drinking the water and gently put down the cup. "May I ask why exactly you are crying?" Jackson asked her again worriedly. Ophelia bit her lips and fumbled with her fingers. Maybe she shouldn't have come here directly but she wasn't in the right state of mind to want to be alone. "I…I"Jackson sighed, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. At least, you came to me when you are unhappy and that's enough to keep me glad bec
Ethan drove out of the ice cream store that evening, feeling a bit pressured. Beside him was Ben who was going through the things that he had bought for the hundredth time in a row. "Alpha, the flavors are complete and I can assure you that she will love them." He said. "You are not here so how can you say that on her behalf?" Ethan raised his brows and Ben just scoffed. "I can't believe that you are behaving like this now. What happened to the strong Ethan I know? Come to think of it, during my time, you didn't consider me serious. You would mock me all the time and whenever I called to cry out to you for help, you just ignored me and reported me to Lucille for more suffering. Don't you think that it's my time to repay the deeds?" He smiled at Ethan like a maniac and Ethan successfully pulled out the leadership card against him "As your Alpha, you shall obey me." He ordered and Ben's smile slowly dried up as the corner of his lips went downwards. He was displeased at the
"Remember that you have to put on a good smile and act accordingly to the plan, do you understand?" Lydia instructed through gritted teeth to Jackson. The latter was dressed in a fine suit and his hair was well made so it could give him a more beautiful and innocent look.Currently, they were in Lydia's father's house for an introduction and Jackson felt more nervous than ever because he had not been in such a situation before.His pupils kept moving from one side to the other because of his anxiousness.Then suddenly, they both heard the sound of footsteps coming from the inner part. Unlike any other house with a staircase in sight whenever someone came in, Jackson concluded that they must be in the waiting room because there was no staircase in sight for him even though it was a big building that ought to have one.An aged man then appeared with a lot of electronic gadgets. Some were his phones. He seemed to be in his seventies as most of his hair had turned white. He was wearing