GENERAL POVOlivia sat on the balcony of her parent's house, lost in thoughts, as was typical of her these days. This was where she lived now. She had moved into the family house again a few days ago after she was sent out of her previous residence.Her former home in New Rochelle was provided by Harrington’s Group as an official residence. After she departed from the company, she was asked by the management to vacate the premises in 48 hours. She also realized that she could no longer withdraw from her bank accounts; every single one of them was placed on hold by the banks after the police interrogation of Kennedy, and the lab assistant revealed how much she gave him in exchange for the sample toothbrushes, money amounting to over five hundred thousand dollars.The Bursary and Finance department had in turn informed her that they would investigate her account, and if nothing fishy was detected, she would get it back. In her heart of hearts, she knew a lot of things were fishy, which
SOPHIE'S POVAunty Susan joined us in the rearrangements at the mansion.Even though it was only a few minutes to her departure now, she was busy helping the kids roll over their boxes into a corner neatly. She had arrived yesterday with tears streaming from both eyes. I was sobbing bitterly that she had only recently been informed about everything that had happened to me a few weeks ago. Her daughter had informed her after her arrival from her trip to Montgomery."Please forgive me, my dear daughter, and also my babies; please forgive Auntie." She said to the kids. She was embracing all of us at once when she arrived."You know how some of us old people are; we live in a different world entirely, with just a phone and hardly ever using the internet. How would I have known you were going through all that? You know me, I would have not thought twice about coming over to be with you all through that fight. I never knew you experienced all this suffering at the hands of people you call
GENERAL POVThe previous night was the longest night Isabella had ever had; she had woken up before her siblings the following morning, which was unusual. Her eyes were lazy, and her heart was anxious. She had spent most of her night thinking too much about the outing their dad had promised to take them on yesterday, willing the hands of time to run faster, afraid that their dad might pop out from the shadows anytime to announce a sudden change of plans.At some intervals, she would sigh impatiently and get up from the bed to stand at the center of their room and just stare vaguely at the wall clock. “Why are you so slow tonight?” she found herself whispering. She was acting this way probably because they had never gone on a family outing like this with their mom before, let alone doing it with both parents; this was the first of a kind for all of them.Before they even got to know who their dad was, it was something Isabella had always wished and daydreamed about secretly, particu
ELLIOT’S POVI stood, gazing into space with hands akimbo, after the call with Gerald."Fuck, so we lost the contract? Really? Not just to anyone, but to Xander, I can't believe it."I murmured in disbelief, feeling great disappointment at the administrative performance of those I left to just briefly take care of things in my absence, particularly at Hanks, who I initially thought was eligible enough to represent me."What a poor outing from a so-called senior executive board member—a department head, for that matter. Instead of giving his all to make a great first impression and earn my trust in his abilities, look at what he did. I'm never letting him handle such responsibility ever in the future."I took my hands off my waist and folded them as my mind continued to wander in thought. "Come to think of it, why should I even keep paying him when he can't do things properly? Why?"I blew out hot air from my mouth and wiped my forehead lightly; the wetness rubbed off on the back of m
SOPHIE’S POVThe first thing I noticed straight away as soon as Elliot pulled the door to our holiday home open was the eye-catching sight of flying balloons and ribbons that now adorned our sitting room. I threw Elliot a hasty glance to see if he was also as surprised as I was, but the smile on his face had no traces of surprise; if anything, it was complacent and satisfied, almost as though it was exactly what he had been waiting to see. I tried to ask him what was going on, but he had said nothing; all he did was keep his complacent smile plastered on.I directed my vision again to the front side to give everything a more settled look. That was when I noticed that my kids and our two domestic staff had been standing centrally with lifted placards all the while, lost in a dangling mesh of balloons.“Was I the only one at a loss here?” I thought, with my nerves already tumbling over themselves, that I struggled to make sense of the whole scene playing out without success. “Today is
SOPHIE’S POV I finally resumed work the next morning. It was refreshing to finally return to my office duties after the long, adventurous break. I felt a little wistful as I drove myself through the mechanized gates of the company, pulling up at the front yard in one of Elliot's whips, precisely the AMG CLA 45. I turned off the ignition and inhaled deeply to brace myself for my other colleagues' anticipated reception, which I couldn't exactly predict yet. I could still vividly remember the awkward situation of things the last time I was present here, and now I find myself imagining the unguarded surprise they would definitely show when they saw me again.I inhaled again, and when I finally thought I was stable enough, I picked up my phones, laminated files, and handbag before stepping out of the car and flipping the door closed.The unguarded surprise stares I initially imagined I was going to receive
SOPHIE’S POV I remained rigidly seated on Elliot's guest seat as we waited in hanging suspense for Gerald to show up at any moment. Mr. Hank's revelation had totally changed the atmosphere in the room, from just one of plain inquiry and supplication to one of bad omens and perhaps cautious distrust. The man himself has still not switched or changed his posture after making his claim; rather, he was still kneeling with his head bowed, whispering to himself as though he were making a silent prayer to God for vindication.Elliot, on the other hand, had assumed a bottled-up demeanor, expressing his anger and anxiety only by the continuous tapping of his thumb on the desk. As for me, I felt just as uneasy and worried. I kept folding and refolding my arms, staring from Elliot to Mr. Hanks in worry and subdued trepidation, wondering who could be playing such games at this time and hoping that the
Sophie’s POVIt was Saturday, and the time was about 7:30 a.m. I was almost set for the little outing I had planned for today.I had decided to seize the work-free day as an opportunity to finally meet with Elliot's family, taking the kids along with me.I woke up earlier to take my bath and brush my teeth a few hours ago, and right now I was sitting on the bed wearing a black and white polka-dot office gown while putting on some make-up. I needed to look as presentable as possible since this would be my first-ever visit to the family, so I knew that even with all that had happened, I still needed to make a great first impression. Elliot emerged from inside the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist with no shirt on; a part of his face, from his chin to his lower jaw, was completely wreathed in the white mask of aftershave. He was also preparing to meet with one of the company's investors later today, so technically we were all leaving the house this morning.When he saw me all dr