"Did you guys hear that Zoe's grandmother is dead?" Audrey broke the silence at the dining table during breakfast. "Who cares that the sickly woman is finally gone anyway?" Ivy replied to her with heavy sarcasm, wondering why Audrey was suddenly choosing to talk about Zoe. For many days, they had not talked about anything particular at the dining table, except having the most chaotic arguments Ivy and Isla usually had. Everyone had pretty much gone back to their lives, even if it had not remained the same as the past. "It is a pity how unfortunate she is. She has no one by her side, and has always been so unlucky. Only her attended the burial. Even her supposed grandfather didn't," Audrey told them again, not minding if they were not interested in replying to her. She had been so interested in everything about Zoe and had been watching the way she acted, so that the crazy wheel of misfortune would not end up stopping at her name again. "Are you stalking her enough to know such a
Zoe had it the same at the office the next day, except with a little change that her afternoon had brought more peace than she ever thought she would find while working. Her secretary, Zara, seemed to have a new joke to tell her which was more fun than the previous ones, and she wanted her to try a new vegetable drink that she learned online too. Though there was barely enough time to make all that happen because of Zoe's busy schedule, she was grateful that someone truly made an effort to make her happy. Towards evening, Zoe soon realized that she would be encumbered with her job at the office till late hours, and called Martin to apologize for her plan to cancel their plans to meet. However, he told her that she could finish whenever she liked and that he would wait for her. Pressured to meet as soon as possible and not waste so much of his time, she had to give up the plan to work through the night and go on with the dinner date. 'It was probably the first time someone had invi
"You should find what makes you happy, Zoe. You deserve that as someone carrying a lot of responsibilities with her," Martin finally said softly, hoping that his words would get to her. "Why are you nice to me, Martin? It is obvious from our meetings that I am a boring person, and I don't have much to offer. Well, except my money," Zoe responded. "That is not all to you, you know. You have your own charms, and I want to be your friend. I'm pretty much a boring man myself too." "I don't think you are," she defended. "Yes, I am. But I am outspoken whenever I am around people I like being with," Martin replied, with his eyes fixated on her. "So, you like being around me?" Zoe speculated with a little doubt in her voice, as cold shivers ran down her spine. The dress she had on was designed with a small sleeve, and cold seemed to be crawling up on her skin and shooting tiny swells. "Are you cold?" Martin asked, observing that she was struggling not to fold her arms around her body. "
"Grandfather! How could you ask me to do something like that?!" Zoe demanded viciously from the rigid man that was standing before her, almost choking on her words. Francis' words, which sounded like a cruel joke, hit her like a ton of bricks, and sent shockwaves of pain and disbelief through her entire being. She could not believe what he had just said. She couldn't comprehend the absurdity. "Are you being serious now, or are you just trying to pull my strings?" She asked him, her voice quivering with a mix of pain and disbelief as she gazed at the resolute expression of her grandfather. "It is best for you, and you know it. Swallow your pride and get back with him for great good, since it seems like he wants the same too. You wanted to attain unprecedented power, right? Then you sometimes have to hold hands with your enemies for a greater achievement. That is a compromise. That is how the business world works!" Francis spoke briskly with an impassive impression visibly etched
Three weeks later…… As the lady on the bed slowly blinked her eyes open, the world around her came into focus in a haze of confusion. The sterile white ceiling of the hospital room loomed overhead and flashed at her eyes, as the sounds of machines beeped endlessly in her ears, reminding her that she was still awake. A sense of disorientation washed over her as she tried hard to process what was going on, but a blockage continued to obscure her thoughts and memories, making it hard to figure out anything. As she tried to sit up, a wave of dizziness and weakness forced her back down onto the bed instantly. "Ms Zoe. You are awake," she heard someone say to her, as the figure approached her bedside with a kind smile and gentle eyes. With a confused glint dancing in her eyes which narrowed at the lady talking to her, and she wondered what the lady was talking about. But firstly, 'Who was she?' "Who are you, please?" She asked the nurse in confusion, trying to understand what was goin
It was still so bright on the morning of the weekend at the Meyers mansion, and things were rowdy and noisier than usual, which drew the attention of every member of the family. The workers were busy with their clinking and clanking as they set to work on the meticulous renovations that would transform the mansion, while other servants seemed to be scurrying about, carrying trunks and boxes as directed by Edward. All the boxes that were brought in were being moved to Malcolm's room as directed, making everyone in the mansion puzzled about what was going on. Especially the main members of the family that have not been informed about anything. "What is going on? Who is moving out or in?" Ivy, who was coming down from the side of her stairs, yawned tiredly as she came down to meet Audrey, looking around meticulously. "I said what is happening?" Ivy questioned again as she whispered into Audrey's ears from behind where she stood, making her jump in fear as the cold words blew into her
"What the heck is going on in this house? I think I am about to go crazy!" Ivy yelled frenziedly, as she held her head like her head tightly like her life depended on it, while trying to comprehend what they had just been told by Malcolm's secretary as his message. "Edward said that Malcolm is getting married to Zoe again, and that she's going through a medical situation that has wiped off the memories of people that had caused her trauma in her life, which includes us," Audrey repeated, just in case they didn't grasp it fully, just like she did. Rather than feeling crazily perplexed like the rest of the family, she was just intrigued by what was going on. She didn't even know how to express her emotions, amidst the craziness that everyone was displaying. "Did I say that I was too dumb to hear?!" Ivy lashed angrily at her. "And do you really want to believe the explanation they are giving for this absurdity?! And the part where she agreed to get married to him again, because it
"Who prepared this?!" Those words came flying at the dining table, and every activity was brought to a halt in an instant at the vicious questioning from the dignified lady that had come to join breakfast, making everyone terribly uncomfortable with her presence. "It is I, ma'am," the chef, who had prepared breakfast that morning, came running. "How did you prepare the lasgna?" Zoe questioned him sternly, her beautiful eyes staring at him intently with curiosity. Though the chef had not seen the lady who was questioning him before, he knew that she was someone not to be disrespected by even from her aura alone. "I added shrimps, beef, mozzarella …….""It doesn't suit my taste buds, and I hate the taste of the garlic that was used. Do you have farfalle or rotelle?" She asked him, as her eyes were raised to meet the chef's in query. "Eat whatever you are given and stop whining," Ivy's voice interjected into her discussion with irritation lacing her voice, as she cast upon Zoe a l
What?” his eyes widened in surprise. “You ruined me,” she repeated, her voice breaking the more it felt like someone had physically ripped her heart out, “You don’t even know what you’ve done. You…” She couldn’t finish, the sobs wracking her body too powerful as she fell to her knees again, the sound of her sobs cutting through the stillness of the late evening. “Do you know I can never be happy no matter how hard I try?” She continued, as she shook violently as if her soul had split open.Malcolm's face became frozen with pity and anguish as he watched Zoe break down before him, in a way he had not seen in a very long time. His heart ached so much when he watched her so broken, as he instantly squatted beside her. “What is wrong?” His voice trembled with pain, as he reached out to her tentatively, his hands fearing that she might not like that he touched her, “Please, Zo,” he beckoned, “Talk to me.”Suddenly, as if compelled by those few words, Zoe raised her face to meet his eyes
Zoe returned the same day after the most traumatic news from Emily hit her, and was barely in her mind when she boarded the plane back to California. Instead of calling Zara to meet her at the airport on arrival with a chauffeur as planned, she boarded a cab instead and arrived at the estate very late that evening. As soon as it dropped her off in front of her house and turned back to leave, she stood for a few minutes, her mind blank about what to do or where to go, with those haunting words echoing in her mind. “I am so sorry. I never should have taken you. You do not deserve all of this.” The pain and grief of being told the darkest truth of her life was too much for her to bear. It shattered her heart so much. ‘Goodness! How could… How could this even happen to her? How?’ Zoe couldn't stop thinking about how miserable she had been her entire life. She wondered how things would have turned out if had gone to her real mother and father. Then she would have been showered with so
The rain had just begun as a soft drizzle in the evening, and Malcolm was there when it did. He was sitting on a chair in the balcony of the rooftop room in his house where he hadn't been for the longest time since he moved in, and realized how beautiful the entire estate from that view was. He also realized how palpable the amplified loneliness and unusual serenity of the place was, just from staring at the entire view from where he sat, but couldn't dwell in it as usual because his heart was burdened by the thought of someone. Her. The person he had worried even more about ever since his encounter with Andre. He wished he could call and talk to her. He really wished he could. But at the same time, he wanted to respect what she wanted too. However, it was hard doing that. What Andre had said couldn't evade his heart. He knew he might stop at nothing to get to her just to get back at him. As the drizzle turned to an increased droplet of rain, Malcolm's eyes continued to fix on the
A low, choked sob escaped Emily's lips and she struggled for breath, while tears began to spill down her wrinkled cheeks, as her eyes, watery and unfocused, locked onto the figure in front of her. “I… I am so sorry,” she whispered with a voice strained with pain, as her gaze trailed across Zoe's face as if searching for something. “I didn’t mean to do it, okay?” Emily blurted out again, as her voice trembled with misery, “I was jealous and was so stupid, so I ruined everything. I ruined our years of friendship, and ruined your happiness too. I made you miserable,” she reached out to Zoe with a trembling hand, as her hands cupped her cheeks. “Jasmine,” she choked out again, “I'm sorry for coming between you and Fred. I…..I.. tried to covet him for myself and I agree. But, it was because, I thought… I thought he was everything. And to be honest, he was. He was kind, he was rich, and he was changing your life. And I… I hated it,” she began to confess, her words raw and unfiltered
Her steps were heavy, slow, and hesitant as she walked through the hallway that led to the VIP ward that her mother had been transferred to, with her heart thumping erratically as if it would jump out of her chest anytime soon. “Make her tell you,” her grandfather's words echoed in her ears again, the more the sound of her heartbeat increased its volume in her ears. Zoe continued to move closer to the room, as she swallowed hard, the fear of what she might hear, suffocating her mind the more she continued to conjure thousands of scenarios in her mind. As soon as she got to the door and grabbed the handle, she paused for a moment and closed her eyes tightly, and drew small sips of breath. ‘Whatever she was going to hear, she just hoped and wished it wasn't going to be a cruel twist in her already shattered world.’Pushing the door open, Zoe's eyes caught the sight of Emily, who was sitting upright on the bed with her back facing the wall, with her thin frame swaddled in a hospital
Dressed in a stunning black, corseted lacy dress, that danced around her in a big umbrella of gathered flaring net, Zara stood beautifully at a corner of the party, while subduedly drinking from the flute of champagne she had in the grasp of her fingers. While basking in the beauty of the launching event and carefully observing all that was going on around her, her eyes barely left Zoe, who was on the other side of the open-roof room still holding conversations with people. However, Zara noticed that after she held a conversation with a man that seemed to break the conversation she was having with a group, she picked a glass of champagne and drank from it in a single gulp. ‘Strange. She hadn't been drinking all evening,’ Zara thought to herself, as she looked away, wondering if she was finally loosening up from being so uptight and restless since the day before. But, she could not ignore it when it seemed like she had counted three glasses already, and it seemed like Zoe wasn't go
Languidly, Malcolm made his way into his living room right after he arrived home, and left all the lights in the house off, the same way it usually was, whenever he was having the worst day ever. Today was one of them. He was able to find the stairs because of the dim lighting that hung on the walls in the living room, as he slowly climbed upstairs, and entered the first room on the left, slamming the door shut. Instantly casting away his coat, tie, and briefcase to where they should be, he pulled his suit, socks, and shoes, and walked into the bathroom to stand under the shower to wash the day's stress off him. He stepped out shortly and changed into clean clothes, before he immediately collapsed on his bed, his mind storming endlessly with worry. As Malcolm remained on the spot for a few minutes, his eyes deeply buried into the gold-colored ceilings that were above his face, because he couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Andre almost an hour ago! He couldn't stop
Unable to book a flight to where Emily was admitted, was the hardest thing for Zoe to do in the past few hours after she left her grandfather's place. There was just a day left until the launching of her newest jewelry collection, and she could not afford to miss the launching party. Not as the CEO. Curiosity had made it difficult for her to focus on work throughout the office the next day, because she just wanted to know the truth about her birth once and for all. The only hypothesis that was ringing in her head after putting so many pieces together as a possibility, was a reality that was enough to drive her insane just at the mere imagination of it. It was too heavy to even accommodate her thoughts. She had asked Zara to plan her entire schedule for the day and next, as well as book a flight for the night after the launching party for her. She planned to get to the root of her confusion once and for all. There were still many answers she had unanswered already. As Zoe che
Marcel struggled against her tight, feisty grip as he grabbed her hands and overpowered her, before jerking himself free from her grip, almost causing her to fall back. His breath came fast, his chest rising and falling with fury, “I have nothing to say to you,” he said calmly, as he began to straighten the creases that formed on his shirt because of the way she had grabbed him. “What?! You have nothing to say to me?!” Isla lashed out angrily, seeing that he was about to enter his room, as she dragged him back from leaving with every ounce of her power and might. “After what you did to me? After you betrayed me and joined forces with my enemy to take over my company?!” she spat with a fireball of fury, her eyes threatening to scorch him on the spot, “You, of all people, knew what that company meant to me. Why would you do it?! I had to travel miles just to come and see you in this rat hole you have pathetically hidden.”“Do what exactly?” he continued to speak with a low, enthusias