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CHAPTER 59
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A vow of hate CHAPTER 60
CHRISTIANHazel was acting strange and being so suspicious. Something smelt very fishy.No… something actually smelt fishy. I meant that in the literal sense. Something did smell fishy. I turned to the right of me, sniffing the air with my nose like a dog, and came face to face with a pimply faced paparazzi hiding in the corner with an open can of tuna in his hand, fork frozen mid air with his mouth open as he realized he’d been caught. I threw him a filthy look and walked away, all the way to the other side of the room. There was all this expensive food and drinks here and he was eating a can of tuna in the corner? This night just kept getting better and better.My hands rested in my pockets and my eyes found Hazel. She was still by the bar, all alone this time. I watched her knock back a half full glass of tequila, and frowned as she said something to the bartender who nodded politely at her. A few seconds later, a wooden holder holding six shot glasses was placed in front of her.
A vow of hate CHAPTER 61
HAZELThud! Thud! Thud!The sound of tiny feet bouncing on the bed woke me up from the deep slumber that I was in. I slowly opened my eyes, only to immediately regret the action. The room was flooded in light, and my eyes took a moment before they adjusted to the harsh glare. I let out a moan as I stretched, loosening all the knots in my body before I turned to look at the culprit who had woken me up.Valerie had stopped jumping and she was now sitting next to me on the bed, smiling at me with those big beautiful eyes. “Yay, you’re up!” She exclaimed, clapping excitedly.I flinched and inwardly groaned at the volume of her voice. A sharp pain sliced through my head like an ax, and I held my head in my hands, internally cursing. I didn’t feel good at all. It felt like someone had tied me up and tucked me into a car tyre, only to roll me around the entire city over and over again, or like I had been run over by a bulldozer. And it wasn’t just that— my throat felt dry and raw at the same
A vow of hate CHAPTER 62
If there was one thing I hated about living in Seattle, it was how unpredictable the weather could be at times. It was currently 5pm and a storm was quickly rolling in. Valerie and I sat in the living room, playing a game on her iPad when the power went out and everything went back. An ear piercing shrill sound escaped Valerie and she immediately jumped into my lap. I cradled the little girl as she buried her face in my bosom and cried while using my free hand to pay the couch and find my phone. Once the phone was in my hand, I turned on the flashlight and Valerie finally raised her head to look at me.“Haze, Valerie scared,” she whimpered, referring to herself in third person.I smiled at the little girl and kissed her tear stained cheek wincing as I tasted the salt. “I know baby, but there’s nothing to be scared of.”A loud crack of thunder rumbled immediately after what was supposed to be a reassuring statement, and Valerie screamed again, clutching my shirt with her tiny hands. Sh
A vow of hate CHAPTER 63
It was 6pm, and I’d spent the entire day with mom and Olivia at the hospital, so I was pretty tired. I had just stepped into the entryway of the house when I heard someone humming a tune from the kitchen. Frowning, I took off my shoes and headed in the direction of the kitchen. Tina was off today, so that couldn’t be her. And the voice sounded way too light and feminine to be Christian or the chef. Besides that, I recognized the song that was being hummed, it was from a horror movie, and it didn’t sound like something anyone in the house would want to sing.There was a woman in the kitchen— a woman I didn’t recognize. She had her hair in a tight bun, a bun so perfect that not a strand of hair was out of place. She had dark red lipstick on and she was dressed in a simple straight long dress. She had her phone in hand and looked like she was flipping through pictures or something. The marble countertops were clean and everything looked to be in order. Valerie was in her high chair in fr
A vow of hate CHAPTER 64
“A tutor?” I looked at Olivia’s confused face as she sat across from me at The Lark, drinking her coffee and happily munching on biscuits.“Yeah, it’s crazy right?” I exclaimed, thankful that I wasn’t the only one who thought this tutor business was totally weird and unreasonable. Well, that was until Olivia shrugged and popped another biscuit in her mouth.“I mean, I guess it’s not all that shocking.”“What? What do you mean?” I asked, appalled.“Well, your husband is unbelievably rich, and you know how these rich people are. They want their kids to engage in a thousand activities at a young age… something about being well rounded and all that.” She shrugged.“But she’s three!” I exclaimed again. Why wasn’t anybody seeing things from my perspective? Was I being unreasonable? I knew I wasn’t. Everyone else was though.Olivia placed a palm over mine on the table. “Her father is Christian Walker.” She said, like that alone explained everything.I sighed, feeling my mood dampen. “Okay,
A vow of hate CHAPTER 65
CHRISTIANThe sterile hum of the fluorescent lights above mocked my already churning stomach. I scrolled through the news article on my phone, re-reading the headline for the tenth time: "Medical tech CEO, Christian Walker, Accused of Harassment by Former Employee." My reflection stared back from the phone screen, a pale, haunted version of the man I used to be. The man I was ten minutes ago.The accusation itself felt like a punch to the gut. Grace, my ex-assistant, a woman I barely remembered beyond her constant need for coffee refills. We'd never… no, the thought was ludicrous. Yet, here it was, splashed across every news outlet, a digital scarlet letter branding me a predator. Anger, hot and primal, rose in my chest. This was a smear campaign, a desperate attempt to extort money. Grace had been let go some months ago for incompetence, not some fabricated harassment story. But the seed of doubt, planted by the sheer audacity of the accusation, burrowed deeper. Did I ever say somet
A vow of hate CHAPTER 66
CHRISTIANThe pristine white walls of Tim’s office felt just like a prison cell. Outside, the city buzzed with its usual frenetic energy, oblivious to the storm brewing within me. People were going on with their lives, the sun rose and set as usual, people married, had birthdays, went on dates and laughed as usual. The world was moving on, there was no waiting for me to sort out my mess. A week had passed since the accusations exploded, a week of frantic legal consultations, media inquiries deflected with practiced PR speak, and a deafening silence between me and Hazel—I barely left my room when I was home, and I tried to spend as little time as possible there. The couch in my office had become sort of like a temporary bed. The company had taken a hit, stock prices were lowering, different news anchors waited outside the building day after day, and they didn’t leave even when it was nighttime. Grandfather had called yesterday, and I wondered why he had taken so long. I expected all he
A vow of hate CHAPTER 67
HAZELWhen I first saw the news about Christian, I was in my mother’s hospital room, laughing and reminiscing about old memories. The first emotion I felt was shock–my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and it felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest. Fear came soon after– what did this mean and what was going to happen? My hands started to shake and my breathing became labored. Soon enough, my entire body was trembling. I dashed out of the hospital to my car and drove home in silence, no music or anything— the noise in my head was loud enough. I found myself wondering if he was okay, if he needed some sort of comfort in that moment and if I would be able to render it to him. I wondered if he was home and if I would give him a hug when I saw him– would it make things awkward? Would it make him feel better? Was he okay?It wasn’t until I pulled up in the winding driveway that I realized that not once since I first saw the news at the hospital did I even consider the possibilit
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