“You want to find out the truth too, don't you?” Zoe stared at the cryptic and blunt sentence that flashed in her eyes as soon as she slipped her phone out of her purse, when it sounded with a soft chime signaling the arrival of a new message. She had just stepped out of her car after they arrived at the underground parking lot of the mall, when she received the message that had her pausing on her tracks. Her heart skipped a beat and a cold shiver traveled down her spine immediately she read it, as her head turned sharply to the left and right, to see if the person who sent the message was somewhere around her. ‘Who could have sent this?’ She wondered, her eyebrows furrowing high in worry, as she tapped the screen on her phone, ready to reply to the message and ask who the person was. However, she restricted the urge to do that, cautioning herself that it was not the time for impulsiveness, as she slipped the phone back into her bag, straightened her blazer, and made her way t
Sitting slumped in his high-backed chair, with the city skyline stretching out beyond the window behind him, Andre’s hand rested heavily on the armrests of his chair, his chest rising and falling in shallow, controlled breaths, even if the storm that was brewing inside him was anything but calm.He had gotten yet another rejection. Another blow to his pride. He had poured days into crafting the new proposal, painstakingly aligning every detail with the vision he thought Malcolm wanted for their flagship company. And yet, the same words were delivered to him again. “It doesn’t fit our strategy.”The words rang in his ears, colder than the polished marble of the boardroom where they had been uttered, and he swore he almost punched Malcolm right at that moment in his face. He made him feel like a fool again! He effortlessly dismissed his proposal yet again. “You have to be very cautious. Though Malcolm is sitting back, he is watching you with his might! Do not make mistakes. Just wai
The door to the room slammed open with a crack like thunder, and Andre emerged from his room, his face a storm of furrowed brows and clenched jaws. The sound of his shoes clacked so hard as he strode down the hallway that led to Irina''s room, his breath coming out in uneven huffs, and his hands balling into fists at his sides. There was a wild urgency in his eyes amid a simmering frustration that seemed to radiate off him like heat, as he burst into his mother’s room without knocking. Irina, who was in her dressing room while getting ready to step out for an anniversary event, was visibly startled by the noise of the abrupt entrance in her room, as she rushed out instantly to see what the ruckus was all about. “Mother!” He called sharply, “Who else had been to that room?!” He demanded heavily, his voice heavy with anger and anxiety. “What do you mean?” Irina scrunched her eyebrows up in confusion, as she stared at him with questioning eyes, almost stumbling against the large s
Dressed in a white silk robe that blinked and waved smoothly in the direction of the wind, Irina Meyer lounged on the chaise longue in her private suite at Le AVARSON wellness resort, as she basked in the lights of the sun's rays that seeped in through the wide, floor-to-ceiling windows. On her right was a crystal glass filled with freshly pressed grapefruit juice on the side table, and right before her face was a fashion magazine which she buried her eyes in, as her right hand occasionally flipped to the next page. However, her mind was barely on what she was reading. It was deep in the thoughts of the confrontation with Andre earlier in her room that morning, and the words she hadn't expected that she would say to him. Though she felt a little guilty that she had smacked him hard with the bitter truth, her face scrunched up with the unwillingness to go and appease him as she continued to enjoy the peaceful repose of her environment. Irina was just beginning to let the peace of t
Malcolm Meyer sat on the plush leather armchair in the living room of his new home in a faraway estate from the city that whispered wealth in every detail, from the vaulted ceilings which held huge modern diamond five-tier chandelier whose lights art reflected on the ebony floors of the huge mansion, to the floor-to-ceiling windows and perfect walls that were lined with first editions arts and rare artifacts.For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he allowed himself to sink into the quiet of his living room right after he returned from work and took a warm bath, instead of retiring to his room as usual. As he swirled the colorless wine in the wine glass he was holding and took a slow sip at each unconsciously calculated rhythm, his thoughts could not help but drift to the one person he had seen by chance earlier that day at a conference meeting. And even though they didn't get the chance to talk, and he just got to watch her from afar, he was relieved that she had risen f
The air in Malcolm's office was filled with so much tension the moment he let his sister, who had come to momentarily disrupt his schedule, in. It had been days since they saw each other, ever since the unfortunate incident that almost cost her life. He had been expecting that she would come to see him after the information he had gotten about what she had been up to for the past few days, and unlike before, he didn't even give her the chance to speak first, before he lashed at her. “Do not come and shout in my office like you have been going around doing!” He warned gravely as soon as she stormed into his office, with all of her entirety quivering uncontrollably. “You know well that I should not keep calm at all!” She glared at him, “You of all people, know that I deserve to rant. At least if you treated me like trash, I should have one thing for myself!” “Why, in the name of everything sane, do you keep running back to fight with them?!” he demanded, his words seething with ange
The lonely roads that Dylan drove the car through, which were bordered by the scene of the beautiful sea around now seemed much more familiar now that Zoe was returning there again, than the first time she came there without her memories months ago.The town was covered with gentle hues of late autumn as they arrived at their destination, and the earthly scent of fallen peonies lingered in the air, giving her a nostalgic thrill of the childhood she spent there, living with her grandmother. The one she now remembered. As she stepped out of the car, her eyes caught the first sight of the huge oak tree she had sat beneath the day she came, and the same cobblestone streets she had walked on with confusion in her eyes. They were the moments she felt like a fool and was confused with no one to give her direction or a sense of belonging. The heartbreaking moments when everyone she had once known when she was young, denied remembering her grandmother or her when she asked them.The reason f
Nothing made sense even more after the curiosity that took Zoe back to her home led her to hear new information, and she had to confirm using whatever unnoticeable means she could to get information about the two legendary friends. Her mother, Emily, and her friend, Jasmine. ‘Was Jasmine really pregnant as rumored then?’ She wondered, ‘But the other aged people she asked said Jasmine returned to the countryside after the rumor and lived there for about three more years, but they saw no child with her? What then happened?’ She was restless in her thoughts. Dylan drove the car while she sat at the back, silent and still, her heart aching with even more confusion. She sat back against the car seat and stared blankly outside the car, unable to even think properly if she wanted to. More than anything, she felt so lonely. She felt like she had no family or anyone to turn to. As much as she thrived and was happy at her magnanimous success in the eyes of others, her heart felt no warm
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. “I
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