AMANI “…no apology, no wedding!” Beside me, despite the uncomfortable tension in the room, Zuri guffaws. She loves dramatic moments like these. “Mrs. Alice, you look utterly delicious this morning. May I say something, please?” Zuri requests, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear and lifting her chin like a queen. Grandma Alice smiles. She loves Zuri; “of course, darling.” “Thank you.” The moment she focuses her attention on Bhyron, I already know she’s bringing the heat; “Mr. Macaulay, seeing that I passed out last night and you gave your best friend the permission to manhandle me however he liked, I believe you should render two apologies before us today. The first one to my best friend whose feelings you hurt and whom you also manhandled last night, and the second, to me.” Sharon gives Zuri a cold-eyed stare and I shake my head, stifling a sigh. She shouldn’t have done that. Just as I expected, Zuri’s ever sharp eyes notices the glare. She forgets about Bhyron com
My dear, beautiful readers;I’m deliberately keeping the chapters short to make it more affordable for all of you. Please bear with me.Also, all grammatical and spelling errors in the previous chapter has been corrected.Thank you for reading. I don’t take any of you for granted.***AMANILook, we all know I would never be able to reject Bhyron’s apology. The wedding between us will definitely hold because Aunt Ophelia and I are currently paupers who cannot boast of ten thousand dollars, talk more of repaying twenty million dollars. Big girls with empty bank accounts. Shameful, I know. But what can we do?The hosts of Angels have finally decided to smile upon this wonderful daughter of theirs and I’ll seize this opportunity to make sure Bhyron Macaulay suffers before the wedding.I can proudly say that the one thing I’ve learnt from Zuri is the extreme art of pettiness. And I’m about to display all my petty skills. I get to my feet, smooth down the fabric of my Chanel dress and g
AMANII assumed everyone at this table knew I didn't really want any of the things I just listed.I mean, what the hell would I do with a diamond as big as my entire head?But I don’t think Bhyron gets the gist. His shoulders are stiff and tense, his hands are firmly clasped in front of him, his eyes are dark and narrowed to slits and he’s currently giving off a very poisonous “touch-me-and-die” vibe.Okay. This isn’t going according to plan. At all.I open my mouth to clarify that I was joking but as usual, Bhyron is quicker than I am. He calmly gets to his feet and turns to Grandpa, totally dismissing me. “Please excuse me, grandpa. I’ve got an important matter to attend to.”My heart crashes and burns with jealousy as he turns to Sharon and gives her his hand. Ever eager to touch him, she places her hand in his and gets to her feet, her lips stretched in a coy, sensual smile.Sheila rises as well.“Grandma, grandpa, excuse us.” Says Bhyron, his tone cold and clipped.I sit there,
AMANI“I hate him, Zuri. I hate him.” I sob heartbrokenly against her chest. “How could he say something like that? It h-hurts.”Zuri pats my back soothingly, over and over again. “I’m so sorry, baby. I should’ve come with you.”I never knew I could outrun Bhyron, but I managed to make it to Zuri’s room and slam the door in his face before he could catch up with me. It’s been an hour and I’m still a wet, sobbing mess. It suddenly hits me that I’m not only crying because of Bhyron’s hurtful words. I’m crying because I miss my son terribly. I’ve held myself back from thinking about him for days, but all the memories slammed into me today with the force of a sledgehammer.My heart hurts. I want to hold him one last time. I miss my baby.After another twenty minutes of endless crying, Zuri becomes impatient. She pulls me away from her chest with a heavy frown and quickly wipes my face.“Did you kill your son?” She asks fiercely.I frown, my face crumpling in a fresh round of tears; “n-n
AMANII make sure to keep my voice cool and calm as I look over at Bhyron and ask;“Will that be all, Mr. Macaulay?”He takes another step in my direction and I have to bite my lower lip to force myself to stand my ground. I’m not scared of this man. He will never, ever take advantage of my emotions again.I lift a hand, stopping him in his tracks; “And where the hell do you think you’re going?”His hooded eyes search my face. It almost feels like he’s trying to figure me out. “I wrote you a note and you threw it into the fountain.” He says in a matter-of-fact tone, as if unable to believe my audacity.Surprised, I flick a glance at the fountain and sure enough, a white envelope floats amongst the petals. He really did write a note.Although I’m itching to know what he wrote, I force myself to appear unperturbed. I shrug;“A pity. Not that it concerns me.” I take a deep breath and instantly regret it as the intoxicating scent of his cologne filters into my nostrils, sending skitter
AMANI“Amani! Oh my god, what did he do to you?” Zuri runs forward and pulls me into a tight hug the second I walk into the dressing room.I’m still in a daze so I remain stiff and unmoving in her arms until she notices and releases me. “Hey, is something wrong? Did that bastard do something to you?” I look her in the eyes when I say this, hoping she can understand my confusion;“Zuri, he called a doctor to check on me.”My best friend blinks in shock.“Wait, what?”The dressmakers are still trying to set up the different dresses that I’ll get to choose from, so I have time to pace the room and just freak out.“I became a little light headed at his office earlier and almost fainted. He called a doctor… because I swooned a little bit.”There’s that painful feeling in my chest again. I press my hand against my heart and massage gently, hoping to ease the stinging pain.“I swear the man blows hot and cold like a bloody dead fuse. I cannot seem to understand him.”Zuri grabs my arm and
AMANI“Oh no, she didn’t!” “Oh, yes, she did.” I confirm.“That dehydrated, cross-eyed donkey!” Zuri sounds angry as hell. “I swear, I’ll show her back to the stables where she belongs!”She shoots to her feet and makes to leave the room but I grab her wrist just in time, pulling her back into the padded chair. She lands with an angry “huff!”“Why are you stopping me? I’m trying to teach that thirsty bitch a lesson.”I almost roll my eyes. “Zuri, I heard Bhyron and Grandpa invited a lot of important guests for this party. Please don’t go out there and ruin things. Sharon isn’t even worth it.”She stares at me incredulously. “Since when do you care about Bhyron and his guests?”I swallow thickly. Zuri is extremely observant. I don’t want her to know about my new feelings for Bhyron just yet. “I don’t care about him. I only care about Grandpa.” The makeup artist is finally done with my makeup and I get to my feet. “Besides, we don’t have any proof, and even if we did, Bhyron will alw
AMANI“…Bhy, Amani is very disobedient.” She says accusingly. “You choose the colours of the day yourself and she deliberately went against your wishes. She’s embarrassing you before all your guests…!”The room is as silent as a tomb. The only audible sounds are that of my heart pounding with rage.My eyes stray to Sharon’s arms that are firmly interlocked with Bhyron’s and the red in my eyes burn even brighter. I fist my fingers to tamp down on my temper and retain my composure.Sharon’s right after all. The colour for the bride-to-be was cream and Bhyron had already chosen a simple yet beautiful cream dress for me. I hate him but gotta admit, he’s got great taste.Anyways, I’m currently dressed in a floor length dress that’s completely bare at the back and extremely revealing in the bust area — the complete opposite of Bhyron’s dress which was very modest.The icing on the cake? The dress is blood red — Bhyron’s most hated colour — and so are my lips. I’m evil, I know.Bhyron’s eye
AMANII hear someone scream in the distance, a high pitched, bloodcurdling scream that has my toes curling with horror. It takes me three seconds to realize that the scream comes from me.“B-Bhyron…” I stutter, trying to draw his attention to the dead woman. “Bhyron, look…” My eyes are frozen on her beautiful, lifeless face. I cannot even bring myself to cry. “Are you okay…?” Bhyron turns around. The moment he stiffens above me, I know he’s seen her. The violent switch in his expression from worried to fearful is absolutely traumatizing to watch.“Grandma? Grandma!!”Bullets are still flying but he tries to crawl off me towards grandma Alice. Without thinking, I wrap my arms around him and hold him tight. “Let go! I need to check on grandma. Let go of me!” The pure, raw pain in his voice breaks the dam that holds my tears and they come flooding down my cheeks in torrents. I shake my head and hold on tighter, even when my arms and legs start to hurt from his violent struggling.“N
“Have you perhaps forgotten the terms of our deal?” I ask through gritted teeth exactly ten minutes later as Bhyron expertly spins me on the dance floor.He looks down at me, his eyes gleaming with disinterest as he asks; “what deal?”I’m a second away from bashing his head in, God help me.“This marriage is only supposed to last two years. It’s in the contract. You can’t go around saying stuff you don’t mean to grandma. It’ll be even harder for us to separate if you get her hopes up like this. The song suddenly changes and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” slowly filters through the speakers, making the entire atmosphere appear even more romantic.My heart tightens as Bhyron presses me harder against his chest, giving me the full impact of those bright blue orbs. He leans closer and I stiffen in awareness as his hot lips brush my ears. When he speaks, his warm breath flows down my neck and I tremble in his grasp.“You should know by now, Little Caramel, that I’m a man of my word.” His voice is
AMAYAEvery bride is always excited to see her groom on their wedding day. But the only emotion that flows through my veins right now is nervousness.Instead of staring at my groom with love in my eyes, I keep my gaze firmly trained on the guests as I walk down the semi-long aisle with grandpa by my side.While some of the men look back at me with genuine happiness and awe, I can’t say the same about the ladies. Most of them are young, about my age. The only people I recognize in the sea of faces are Sharon, her sister and Brielle. The rest are strangers. The ladies do not bother hiding their smirks and tiny frowns of jealousy and displeasure as I walk past. They’re all upset that New York City’s most gorgeous bachelor is going off the market… and I’m the reason for that.If only they knew the battle of confusion that currently brews in my heart. I would gladly exchange myself with any of these women in a heartbeat.“Remember, Amani,” grandpa whispers gruffly, snapping me to the pres
BHYRONAmani left with grandpa a few minutes ago but I’m still seated behind my desk, staring at the CCTV footage on my computer and watching the bags I bought go up in smoke.My intention was to apologize to her. I guess that failed, woefully.I don’t give a shit about the amount of money I spent. I can make that back in seconds. What matters is the look of pure hatred I saw in Amani’s eyes. That will haunt me forever.I bury my face in my palms and take a deep breath. Amani looked angry. Enraged. How she knew I was watching her through the CCTV, I’d never know. But for a moment, it felt like she was looking straight into my eyes, like she knew I was there. I get to my feet and pace the room. My wedding is set to happen in the next thirty minutes. I’m already dressed up and waiting to be notified to come downstairs for the ceremony. My long term goal of marrying the one woman who has the power to set me ablaze with just one look is finally about to be fulfilled, but I’m restless.Dr
AMANIJay flinches at my harsh tone but stands his ground. “Miss Amani, I assure you that the boss does not consider you a whore. These are just wedding presents and he’d be pleased if you accept them.”I tilt my head to the side, struggling to rein in my temper. That’s the thing — I never, ever want to partake in any activity that pleases Bhyron Macaulay. I still regret my little mistake from a few hours ago.I wanted to please him and it backfired right in my face.I look up and my eyes coincidentally lands on the CCTV camera positioned high up on the west wall. My fingers twitch with annoyance as a devious thought suddenly crawls into my mind.“Your boss is watching us right now, isn’t he?” I ask Jay, not bothering to take my eyes off the camera.Jay follows my line of vision and lets out a small curse when he realizes I’ve seen the camera. His tone suddenly changes, becoming defensive;“Miss Amani, I…”I shoot him a look filled with annoyance and he clamps his mouth shut.“There’
AMANITHREE HOURS LATER…My wedding is set to hold in the next two hours and I’m an emotional wreck.I stare at my swollen eyes in the mirror, willing my mind to forget everything that happened in that room three hours ago.“Girl, we don’t have time for this. The makeup artist has been waiting for you for almost two hours. You haven’t even tried out your wedding dress. I’m not sure you’ve even taken a bath!” Zuri half-yells, pacing the room nervously.“At this pace, we’ll never be ready on time. Not that I want you to marry that sonofabitch, but grandpa will be upset…”I keep staring at the mirror, trying to figure out the hollow-eyed woman who stares back at me.Anger, bitterness and shame swirls in my guts when I remember the smugness in Bhyron’s eyes after he successfully fooled me. The bastard tricked me. Once again, he proved that I can never trust him.“…and you won't even tell me what happened! Where were you this morning? What happened to you?” Zuri babbles non stop, pacing r
BHYRONI don’t know how much longer I can keep this up and I think it’s high time I told myself the truth.Hurting Amani’s feelings is not as satisfying as I thought it would be. Taking my revenge does not fill my heart with joy like I thought it would.The hurt and confusion in her eyes breaks me every single time. This was supposed to be easy, goddamnit! I was never supposed to feel anything for her. My job would’ve been goddamn easier if those bright, chocolate eyes didn’t appeal to my dark soul every single time.My goal was to take revenge for all the pain that Amani and her family caused me, but I barely stopped myself from pulling her into my arms just five seconds ago. All I wanted to do was clean her up, hold her and make sure she got a few hours of sleep before the wedding. And that was not the bloody plan!I slam the door behind me and lean against it, trying to calm my pounding heart.Anger, raw and venomous stirs in my veins. I’m angry at myself for hurting her and furiou
AMANI“…suck my dick, Amani. If you’re able to make me cum, I’ll let you wear the dress.” Shock, mixed with violent arousal explodes in my belly, leaving me weak and temporarily unable to think properly.My arms around Bhyron’s neck slips but he catches me at the last minute, cupping my lower back and pulling me against his chest in a half-embrace. I’m completely enveloped in his intoxicating heat and my heart is a large, melted puddle of goo. If not for his support, I’d have fallen flat on my face a long time ago.I should slap his face and stomp out of the room, but my brain is already conjuring images of his thick, swollen cock deep inside the walls of my throat. I gulp helplessly.It’s settled. I’m fucked.“What’s it going to be, little caramel?” He whispers huskily, trailing his fingers across my heated cheeks. “Will you suck my cock or do you want to live without my forgiveness? I can already feel your wetness on my thigh. If I touch you down there, my fingers will come back d
AMANI“You can forget about the dress. It’s not for you. You don’t have to wear it…”I never wanted to wear Bhyron’s dress. I never wanted a dress that was made specially for some strange woman whom he’s obsessed with. But those harsh words coupled with his cold expression hits me like a goddamn punch in the gut.He’s clearly saying I’m not worthy enough to wear the same dress as the woman of his dreams. Jealousy burns like a fever in my throat. I’ve never wanted to beat up an imaginary woman so badly in my entire life. I’m almost ashamed of myself. Almost.I stiffen against him, holding his gaze while trying not to burst into stupid tears. I wouldn’t even know why I’m crying in the first place. So what if Bhyron is in love with some unnamed dancing bride? I don’t like him. I shouldn’t be bothered.The logical thing to do would be to step away from him and lick my wounds while I still can, but the last time Amani was logical, George Washington was still president.Instead of counting