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Sinking at the edge of her bed, her hand trembling with the phone she held in her hand, tears streamed down Audrey's cheeks, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she buried her face downward. It was two days after she had accompanied Irina and Ivy to the spa, and nothing had gotten better ever since that time. The transfer of aggression multiplied and got worse, which had the clueless maids gossiping about what was going on. Audrey had never felt so alone, and utterly desperate in her life as she sat in the melancholic darkness of her room, sobbing endlessly and uncontrollably. Her son had asked her what happened and why she was suddenly being treated in such a poor manner by his grandmother, but she was unable to give him answers. Every moment, she could hear the gossip of her flying around the mansion, as she had now become a laughingstock among them. She decided to make up her mind. ‘She would rather become a slave to someone else.’ Audrey stared at the screen of her phone
The silence in the room was heavy, almost suffocating as Audrey waited, her heart pounding with each passing second as her eyes continued to dart to the doors nonstop, while awaiting Zoe's arrival. She had practiced in her head over and over how she would act if Zoe came in, and the words she would put together to show how sorry she was for being so mean, and avoiding her like a plague for the past weeks. When the doors to the room finally opened, having waited for a long time, her breath hitched in trepidation, as her eyes caught a wind of Zoe stepping into the room so elegantly. Instantly, she sank to her knees, the pain of having to put up with so much hatred and pain in the Meyers home, driving her even more, “I am so sorry, Zoe,” she choked out, her voice trembling with emotion. Tears had begun to trickle down her cheeks as her vision blurred while looking at Zoe, who was still startled by her sudden breakdown, “I am sorry for everything I have ever done to you Zoe. Everythin
“Mrs. Hamilton! Mrs. Hamilton. Are you okay?” Were the voices that went off in the air as a group of maids began to run in one direction, their anxiety and fear amplifying by each second. Irina, who was pale and visibly in pain, was being carefully carried on the back out of her private quarters by one of the maids, while another one fanned her, trying to keep her calm.“Please hang on,” another muttered, as they ran as fast as they could, knowing nothing could go wrong on their duty. “There are rashes on her face, and it is increasing! What do we do?” The one fanning her cried in fear, as she pointed to the red, visible bumps beginning to swell on her skin. "Get the antihistamines! Now! And get a call across to Dr. Felix!” Cordelia, who got to the scene in less than three minutes from being informed of where she was coming from, barked out orders authoritatively, her voice laced with urgency. The other maids scattered instantly, some rushing to the medical cabinet, others fumblin
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Audrey, who had been singing while preparing to cook lunch, moved to the other side of the kitchen the moment Zoe entered. “No,” Zoe didn't turn to look at her, as she walked to the refrigerator to grab a life lobster, and casually placed it on the kitchen countertop. “Goodness. She must have changed the layout of her room, and hidden it somewhere else. Do you want to try again?” She walked casually to where the gas cooker was to place a pot on it, and turned on the fire. “I will just have to get in another time, and end this once and for all,” Zoe mumbled without moving her lips. “What?” Audrey didn't hear her properly. “Nothing,” she responded, “I probably don't need it again.” “What were you looking for though?” Audrey began to sprinkle diced onions into the already sizzling oil she had added to the pot, as she did a little dance. “Audrey?” Zoe suddenly called, her attention still on the lobster that she had begun to cut carefully
A stunned silence followed as Zoe's words hung heavily in the air, and Audrey’s face went pale, her mouth falling open as if to speak, but no words came out, her eyes filled with confusion and fear, “Lost your memories?” she finally managed to whisper, her voice trembling.“Yes,” Zoe's answer was firm, willing to take the risk of telling her, if it meant finding out the truth. With confusion spiraling in her mind, Audrey freed her collar from Zoe's grip and walked away from her, as she intentionally threw one of the bowls of peppers that she was using to cook on the floor. She got down behind the counters immediately with the aim of packing them, and whispered, “Wait for me in the garden. Someone will be looking at the cameras in the kitchen.”Overwhelmed by what she had just heard after Zoe left, Audrey let out a soft gasp as she continued to pick up the peppers, while trying to process her words again and again. She quivered with shock, her eyes darting around the room as if searc
“What is wrong, Audrey?!” Zoe tapped her as she jolted her out of her deep thoughts, the moment Zoe shook her by the shoulder. “Yes,” she breathed out. “You seem lost.” Taking a deep breath, Audrey began to speak, her voice low but urgent, “I know you don't remember much about your past, Zoe, but I will tell you the little I can right now,” She hesitated, as if gathering the courage to continue, “This family... they weren't always kind to you. In fact, they were downright cruel.” “What do you mean?” Zoe's voice was barely above a whisper. Audrey looked away for a moment as the muscles along her jawline clenched, before she turned back with a fierce and resolute expression, “Everyone has hidden a lot from you, Zoe. Everyone! And that is all of us, including Malcolm, and your grandfather,” she pursed her lips, as if under pressure. “The way they treated you... it was horrible, Zoe. They belittled you so much, made you feel like you weren't worthy of being here, blamed you for th
Audrey blinked in shock as she struggled with the tears that had pooled behind her eyelids and were struggling to spill, her heart pounding in her chest, a rapid, painful rhythm that seemed to echo in her ears. For a moment, she could only stare at Ivy, whose eyes blazed with anger, her eyes wide with disbelief and pain. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on her, as she struggled to find her voice, “Why did you slap me, Ivy?” “Utter another word and I will finally ruin your face!” Ivy threatened, glaring at her. “I... I don't understand. What is going on?” her voice trembled as she spoke, feeling utterly exposed, and vulnerable in a way she hadn't felt in years. The humiliation of the slap in the presence of a maid was the one that hurt more. “You vile, deceitful woman!” Ivy spat, her accusatory voice cutting through the air like venom, “What did you do to Mother? What did you put in her drink?! Are you trying to kill her?!” She raged viciously. Audrey's breath cease
Zoe stumbled into her bedroom, her head almost blowing from the devastating truth that she had just been told by Audrey, her legs and body failing her in swift mobility. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to process the information, which left her gasping for air and struggling to keep the tears that stung behind her eyelids from falling. She felt a lump form in her throat which made it hard to breathe, as her throat suffered a patch that made it hot and dry the more she thought of how everything she had thought in her head had been confirmed. ‘How could that happen? How could everyone deceive her like that? She understood that she and her grandfather never saw eye to eye about things, but still? How could he?’ Zoe's mind tumbled in so much pain and wretchedness, the more she tried to comprehend and grasp the affirmation of her truth. ‘So the room that was hers in his damn mansion was fake? The pictures and setup too? The schools they claimed she went to? The awards? The
Shattering the silence that filled the room in the early hours of the morning was the phone that rang from the brown bag that was placed on the dresser, causing Zoe, who was sleeping on the bed to suddenly jerk awake, her eyelids suddenly parting as a soft gasp escaped her. Her heart pounded softly in her heart as her eyes, which were wide open, caught sight of the white ceiling above her, before her head turned to the right to quickly observe where she was. ‘This isn't the living room?’ Zoe realized as her eyes instantly darted to the extravagant curtains in her room which were parted slightly, allowing the rats of sunlight to get in. Confusion held her still for an instant, and her body stiffened the moment she sensed something against her forehead which dropped on the bed as she turned her head, and she instantly rose from the bed and picked up the damp napkin that had rested lightly on her skin just minutes ago. ‘Why was this here?’ She wondered, as her eyes squinted for a fe
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