Martin's eyes took a haunted look, as he stood unblinkingly trying to process what he had just heard, before turning to stare at her with shock, “Your fiancé?” Blood drained from his face at that unexpected revelation, “Zoe are you serious?” there was urgency in the way he spoke. “She nodded, her gaze steady, “Yes, Martin. I truly am.”Martin shook his head as his stomach contracted into a tight ball, “But...how?” His voice failed him miserably, as he couldn't mask the deep disappointment he felt at that moment. He was suddenly confused. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how Malcolm Meyer of all men would be her fiancé.‘Where did they meet? How? Since when have they been together? And why was it even a man like him? How was that even possible?!’ Martin's mind was stormed with different questions, his brain battling to process the numerous rhetorical questions one after another. He truly hoped it would not be true. He wanted to ask if she was sure he was truly her fiancé,
After Zoe left the golf course, she couldn’t bring herself to go home because of how she was feeling, and the surfeit amount of thoughts that were running through her mind. Instead, she drove to a faraway beach to clear her head, parked her car miles away, and walked down to the edge of the ocean where water could sweep her feet. She stood on that spot for a few minutes, her mind racing through many conflicting thoughts and emotions, before she finally turned back and sat down, wrapping her arms around her knees as she gazed out at the relentless waves from a distance while lost in thoughts. The disturbing revelation Martin had told her earlier made her so worried, as she slipped her phone out of her inner coat, and swiped across the screen to her gallery where the picture of the card she took was. It was an innocuous-looking card, plain blue, embossed with simple red lettering. If not for her curiosity about everything that was in Irina's safe, there was no reason for her to both
Zoe threw her phone back into her pocket, her hands trembling with rage as she got on her feet, straightened the rumples on her clothes, and stormed to where her car was parked. The drive to the six-star restaurant was almost at the speed of light, as she gripped the steering wheel so tightly, and floored on the accelerator so keenly with her eyes fully on the road, while navigating through the city’s evening traffic. The memory of Marcel, arrogant, disrespectful Casanova, who had asked to see her burned in her mind, and she knew she would not let unwelcome reappearance go unanswered in the right way. As she pulled up to the opulent restaurant, the valet took her keys with a nod after her orders, as she strode purposefully through the lavish lobby, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floor. She was on her way to see him on the very last floor that was said to have been reserved for just the both of them, to resolve their differences.‘Ah,’ her lips twisted into a wicked
The information that Zoe had been on a blind date set by her grandfather when he was out of town, and the one she had been asked to go to again that day, drove Malcolm crazy when he heard that he lost every sense of reasoning at that point as soon as he dropped the call. He had not bothered to change his clothes, and just stormed out of his room, picked up a car by himself, and drove out without employing the help of a chauffeur. His hands gripped the steering wheel as he floored hard on the accelerator, his anger fueled by thoughts of betrayal from Francis Sinclair. The imagination of Zoe going on a blind date arranged by her grandfather and meeting another man played repeatedly in his head, with each version of his mind scene inciting the flames of his rage.‘Just why would he do that?! Why?!’ Malcolm was so enraged. His fingers trembled with fury as he dialed Zoe's incessantly, without any sign of response. “Fuck it!” His jaws clenched hard as he threw the phone onto the passeng
Malcolm drove out of Francis Sinclair's mansion still in anger, while trying Zoe's phone unsuccessfully with no one to pick it up. Though unfazed by Zoe's grandfather's words before he left, his mind could not help but drown with concerns about what the old man could be planning to do. “You will not be able to say this once she regains her memories,” those words flashed through his mind repeatedly, and overwhelmed him with some kind of unsolicited fear.He knew the kind of person that Francis Sinclair was, and could never say he trusted what he was capable of beyond business terms. In fact, he preferred not to know what he could do. The only person he was interested in was Zoe. Roaming through his head and mind, he thought of the perfect place that she could be even if she had gone on a blind date, and hoped that he would really be right, so he confirmed that she wasn't home either. Even if he knew he was supposed to be respecting her space by not arousing suspicions between the tw
Zoe didn't return home with Malcolm that night, and told him strictly that she had some unfinished business at work and had to go back to it. He succumbed and took her back after he stopped by a Michelin-star restaurant and made her eat. He knew that there was no way she would have eaten something all day. And about an hour after he dropped her back at the office, she drove her car to one of her private villas to go and spend the night there. It was the perfect way to find her thoughts. The next morning, she returned to work looking even better than the previous day, as she made her way into her office with Zara following behind her from her office. She was so excited that she had been delegated almost all of her duties as Zoe's secretary that morning, and was eager to start working as efficiently as possible. “I trust you had a great night?” She sounded happy and enthusiastic as she spoke to Zoe. “I think I did,” an awkward smile curved Zoe's lips, as she took her seat, knowing t
Malcolm had parked in his Bugatti Centodieci in the underground parking lot of ANCLAIR the same way he did the previous night, and had texted her the same way, hoping she would reply to his message as she promised that she would, so that he would not have to go up again to convince her to come with him. As he sat patiently and awaited a reply, his fingers drummed anxiously on the steering wheel of his car, his mind filled with extremely disturbing thoughts and unsettling questions. The previous day’s conversation between them replayed incessantly in his head like a staccato of dilemma, his heart thumping in unrest at the slightest possibility of it being real. “I think my accident was not accidental but intentional, Malcolm,” Zoe had informed him with an impassive and soulless gaze. “Why.. why? What…do you mean?” He had stuttered confusedly when she surprised him with a strong allegation such as if she had a piece of solid evidence already. “I think someone was trying to kill me,
Malcolm's phone buzzed, jolting him from the thoughts that had engulfed him, as he glanced at the screen only to realize that Zoe had replied with three big angry words in capital letters, with numerous exclamation marks after them to lay emphasis. It made his lips curve into a broad grin as he read it again. ‘I AM BUSY!!!!!!’ ‘I will come up to meet you then,’ he texted her back immediately, waiting to see her reaction. ‘Then I will tell the security guards to tell anyone that I am not up, so you can't come in, Malcolm!!!’ She laid further emphasis and even added an angry emoji, but it only made him chuckle more. It was better than her not replying to his messages all day. ‘And I will wait till you come out and meet me,’ he typed back immediately, his fingers grazing his lips, his eyes fixed on his phone, his mind predicting what she would text next. ‘Then you can stay there. I don't give a damn,’ She responded again, and he snickered so much because he had already speculated
It was late in the night already, and Dylan was just driving Zoe back home. She sat in the back seat and slouched her back comfortably against the leather chair, with her neck hanging sideways against the closed window in the most elegant way ever. Somehow, she was trying not to think of it earlier. She was trying not to think of having to sit before Andre in her office, and talk so casually. It reminded her of Audrey. It reminded her of the woman whose dreams were stolen, and a woman whom somehow no one seemed to remember. It made her heart ache that even her husband seemed to have no ounce of sadness for her death. His expression turned even colder at the mention of her name. As much as Zoe tried to push the thoughts and triggering insinuations that kept creeping into her mind because of the silent investigations she had been doing, she couldn't help but remember what Audrey told her. That someone had threatened her after her encounter with Marcel, and sent an anonymous message
Despite the seeping feeling of cold air into the atmosphere in the office of the CEO of the RINASHONE art gallery, it did nothing to ease the storm that was brewing in Isla's heart, who sat slouched against her chair.Her eyes which had been narrowed by a disdainful glare stared again at the chart that was before her, and she could not help but scrunch up her face the more she read those numbers before her. ‘Ridiculous!’ She almost scoffed, ‘The gallery’s earnings for the month were barely enough. Barely enough!’ her eyes glanced through the pile of invoices again, and then glared at the final figure. “This is not good. Not nearly enough,” she muttered spitefully, the more she thought of her debts which loomed over her like a noose. The ones that had given her sleepless nights because somehow there was nowhere she could have pulled the funds from. Isla leaned back in her chair and gritted her teeth angrily, thinking of how the numbers were still low with the exhibition they held an
The bright lights of the city shone against the tinted windows of the car that drove through the highways of the city, but it didn't do anything to catch the attention of the man who sat back in the backseat of his luxurious car, while rubbing his temples absently with one another.As he remained mute without uttering anything all through the journey back home which was unlike his usual self, his mind momentarily flashed back to the event that happened earlier that day, as he steamed with the remnant of his frustration.It was the second time he had a face-to-face conversation with her. He had stormed into her mall straight from work with his pulse hammering with frustration without even thinking too much about it, the moment he realized that yet again, there was no reply. He was so pissed. For days, she had ignored his email. And when he was told that she asked him to be let inside at once, he was quite taken. He had expected that she would prove so difficult so that he would be ab
Her shortcomings. That had been her concern all afternoon. Not the great news Hepzy went back and forth about. Rather than the joy and excitement that usually came with it, she just felt relieved. Relieved that she was doing well. She wasn't happy about it. There was nothing to be joyful about. As she sat at her desk surrounded by neatly stacked reports and a laptop screen glowing with financial projections before her, the numbers stared back at her. Poor and unproductive in her dictionary. As much as it looked impossible, she had always aimed for every venture she had mapped out in the mall. It wasn't just a mall. It was an empire. The one that billions had been finished off on, and it would end up swallowing more if poured into it. Pulling off something that huge had taken so much willpower and mental strength even if every social psychology quotient of hers was always fluctuating. The ice skating rink and the luxury car exhibition space were doing the lowest. 8% returns was all
The faint aroma of herbal tea lingered in the air of the office, where Zoe sat uprightly behind her table, with her poised demeanor betraying no sign of the turmoil that had lingered over her for the past few days even till the night before.Across from her, Zara, who was holding a notepad clutched to her chest, continued to stare at her so overtly, while wondering what kind of woman she was. “You have been watching me like a hawk,” Zoe, whose gaze was fixated on what she was looking at on the tablet that was before her, “Spill it.”Zara hesitated before speaking, as she stared at her, with a concerned expression, “I don't want you to say I bother too much, but I really cannot help but be so worried. I mean you suddenly made me book a flight after the launching, and then left. You came back and told no one. You came in looking so sick and pale, and now you are doing so much work already. You are asking if things you've never……..”“Can you catch your breath, Zara?” Zoe cut her off ins
It was so dark in the night already, and barely anything could be heard around the estate anymore except the branches of trees moving in the movement of the wind, and the sound of crickets that buzzed amidst the gardens that were around. Malcolm was seen returning to Zoe's house after he had left many minutes ago, with big bags in his hands as he made his way to the front of her mansion. Slipping in through the front door now that he knew its password, he stepped in casually and locked the door behind it. Since he left the other inner door that led to the living room open without closing it when he left earlier, it was easier to just enter on tiptoe without disrupting her. Catching a sight of her still sleeping on the couch in her living room, he dropped the bag he was carrying on the cold, marbled floor, and walked over to her side to feel her temperature. He noticed that she was still burning with a fever. Carefully, Malcolm carried her the same way he had done the previous day,
Malcolm had stood by the window of his mansion all evening after returning from work, with his fingers tapping idly at the corners of it which he had never noticed before, but was as sparkly as ever because the cleaning services that usually cleaned his house were perfect at their job. His eyes had fixed on the road outside as he waited restlessly, with his thoughts sinking into a tangled mess of concern and yearning for the woman he had been bothered about more than ever all day because of the articles that were published. And just at the moment when his eyes caught the sight of a car which rolled into view and drove past his mansion, his heart skipped in relief, before he instantly turned away from the window and hurried out. ‘She was back.’He walked fast, and even almost ran, hoping that he would be able to still meet her outside before she entered her house. In the opposite direction, her car drove past him as he walked, and he didn't even mind anything apart from her. His ey
“Please can you listen to me first?” Zoe instantly stood up from her seat and stepped forward in desperation, as her fingers curled slightly the moment she stretched her hand in an attempt to reach her, but dared not touch. Upon hearing her voice laced with desperation and a hint of something she couldn't make out, Jasmine halted on her steps, before she turned her face sharply. A sharp, bitter laugh escaped her lips, as she stared at Zoe's face, with a surfeit amount of emotions rushing through her at once, causing her to almost stumble on words, “If you are here to ask me about us, then I have nothing to say,” her voice trembled, “Did she say anything about me? Did she ask you to meet me? Her eyes burned with so much pain.With a heavy heart, Zoe spoke, unable to meet her eyes, “I am more interested in your side of the story, not Emily's,” she clarified.“What?” Jasmine's brow jumped in a high arch of astonishment, as she tried to make out the meaning of what she was saying, “Wha
An unease settled in Malcolm Meyer’s chest as he leaned back in his office chair, with his left fingers idly tapping against the polished wood of his desk, while his right hand incessantly tugged at the collar of his shirt that continued to feel clammy against his skin. He had barely slept the night before because sleep evaded him, and as a result of anxiety which clung to the darkest corners of his mind that were entangled in the thoughts of her.When he arrived home the day before earlier than he usually did because he was bothered, and hoped that Zoe would be home by then already, he noticed that the lights to her mansion had been off. It was not the usual ‘one’ light on, and the rest ‘off’ he usually noticed whenever he was home before he even knew she lived there. This time, it was completely off. There was darkness everywhere around her mansion, and it was unlike her. ‘Had she even come home at all?’ He wondered endlessly in his heart, seriously bothered that he didn't see h