Tears pulled at Knox's eyes. She remembered him. She didn't forget her new life. He was grateful that he hadn't yet again lost a daughter. Everything would be as it were. He would be her father and she would be his daughter.Tony on the other hand was thankful that his practice would not not be affected. He didn't deny the fact that what he had helped his friend do was illegal and he feared the consequences.DJ was happy that he wouldn’t again be a part of her forgotten memories and he wouldn't be starting all over again in winning her trust.Only Bruce had a neutral expression. He was only glad that such a beautiful girl didn't lose her life.Tony smiled at Ashley. “That's good.” He commended her. Tony turned to the nurse. “Have you given her the injection?” The nurse nodded in response.“You should get some rest now.” Tony told Ashley. “You’ll need to regain your strength.”“When do I get discharged?” Ashley asked. “I want to go home.” Dr Tony was taken aback by her question, but
It had been a week since Ashley was discharged and she was beginning to feel better. She had rested, regained strength and strategized. Fueled by her need to get revenge, she couldn't wait until she was fully up to par to begin executing her plans.She looked at the diary of Ashley she had been reading before dozing off the previous night. She had learnt so much about the dead Ashley from those pages.It was vital for her to understand the pattern of things in the Knox's household. For her plans to be any successful, she needed to get power and money, lots of it.And the one way to achieve that quickly was through her father, Mr Knox. Ashley smiled at the thought.Her diary had stated just how much Knox wanted his daughter to take over his company but for her stubbornness and grievance at the old man, she had refused. Stupid girl.That was the old Ashley. This new one would work her way to the top of the business. She had to make Mr Knox know of her interest.There was a soft knock on
Paul squinted at her. He was well aware of how daring and mischievous Ashley could be, but he couldn't understand what her intentions with joining the business was about. Ashley and the family business were two worlds apart that could never liaise.“Who are you?” He blurted out.Ashley, who had returned her attention to her meal, without raising her head, lifted her eyes and looked at him.For a moment, her stare caused the hairs on Paul's neck to rise. He thought she was behaving strangely, like a possessed being.“Ashley?” He called as though testing if she would answer the call.“Paul.” She returned as she forked the last piece of her meal into her mouth.She picked up her napkin and wiped at the corners of her mouth, watching him while he stared at her in wonderment.“Can we start now?” She raised her brows in question at him.“Start what?” “You have to brief me on how the company works, remember?” She said. She was unfazed by the way he was looking at her.He stood up from his s
Ashley and Paul were jolted by the knock on the door. Ashley eyed Paul as she fixed herself and tried to put on a normal expression. “We are far from done. We'll talk about this later.” Paul said, rounding her to get to the door. “Yes? What is it?” He spoke in an irate tone to the maid who had interrupted them. The maid bowed her head. She was frightened by his tone. In a low voice she responded to his question. “Mr Dax is here to see ma'am Ashley.” She announced. Paul's facial expression notched up in annoyance. “She's not around.” He said dismissively to her. “I'm here!” She yelled from behind him. She poked her head over his shoulder so that the maid could see her. “Tell him I'll be with him shortly.” The maid nodded and excused herself. Ashley tried to wiggled her way past Paul's huge frame blocking the path of the door. “We are not done talking.” His tone was hard and commanding. “I think we are. And there's nothing more for us to discuss. As it is, I'll ask dad to ass
Ashley's face was flushed by the time DJ freed her from the kiss. Her lips were big, swollen and tingled deliciously. As much as she had other motives, she couldn't deny the fact that she had enjoyed the kiss and had not wanted him to stop.Never had she been kissed with such fiery passion. Never. Not ever by Bruce who she had loved with everything she had at some time in her life. But she didn't need this now. Romance was not a part of her mission.DJ was very distracting. A distraction she shouldn't allow move her away from the course of her plans. She needed to still her heart to him even though he was proving to be so easy to fall for. It made her wonder why the old Ashley never fell in love with him.She smiled sweetly at him. “Sorry I kept you waiting.”“If you apologize like that every time, then I'll always forgive you.” He told her, returning her smile. It was obvious he had not been expecting Ashley to welcome him with a kiss. He had always been the one to initiate a kiss ev
It was undeniable that DJ was pudding in Ashley's hold. She could make him thick or soften him as she pleased.A triumphant smile tugged at the corner of her lips as DJ put a call through to his family to schedule dinner with them.Ashley was convinced that it would be different this time. There would be no headaches, no fainting and no weaknesses. She didn't know who she was the last time, but now she did and that was her greatest strength.They finished their meal and sat there in the restaurant lightly conversing. It was only until late in the evening that DJ brought Ashley back home.“Thank you for the outing. It was lovely.” She thanked and kissed DJ as they stood on the front porch of their house.The sun was at the early stage of disappearing into its horizon and it cast its bright orange hue over them, making Ashley's white skin glow against the light and DJ thought she looked ever beautiful.He swelled with pride and a sense of accomplishment resonated within him. He was gett
Ashley was humming to herself happily as she walked into the house. She felt DJ's eyes trail her until she closed the doors behind her. She couldn't refute the fact that she was loving the attention he gave her.The look in his eyes told her that she was everything to him. But again, she pushed the idea of romance to the recess of her mind.Romance had almost killed her and had brought her here assuming the identity of a different person, living the life of someone she may have never known in the entire span of her lifetime. She wouldn't let love sway her. Not anymore. But it wouldn't stop her from enjoying herself.“You look happy.” Ashley was startled by the voice. She hadn't been expecting anyone to meet her at the door. She raised her head to see Mr Knox, her father walking down to her.Her lips spread into a smile and Mr Knox enveloped her in a hug. He gently kissed her cheeks and she returned the gesture.“Any reason why you are so cheerful today?” He asked her.“You don't like
The day went by quickly. Ashley spent most of it in her room planning her grand comeback. Her new identity was her greatest strength. No one knew who she really was and she could shoot her targets without anyone ever knowing it was her. She decided to clad herself in a knee length, red lace evening dress, adorned with glittering silver sequin bordering the deep V neck line and the same design around the slim of her waist. The colour, chosen to reflect the vengeance in her heart. She had found the dress in the closet, no doubt belonging to the late occupant of this room. It was hers now. The room and everything else and the dress fit perfectly just like she fit into the late girl's life perfectly. Her outfit was a little too much for just dinner with family. She knew this, yet she chose it because she wanted to make a statement. She let her curly hair curtain her face and applied a swipe of mascara to define her long lashes, a dust of blush to her rosy cheeks and two swipes of v
TWO WEEKS AFTER THE EXHIBITION Ashley poked her head through the door to Pamela's office. Her brows knitted as she stepped inside.“Why are you doing that?” Ashley asked Pamela who was standing by the workstation in her office, head bent and intently focused on the mass of material, sweat beads sat over her forehead and temples as she worked on a delicate fabric of beads.It has been two weeks since the success of their fashion exhibition and they have been swamped with orders on the newly launched line. It was more work than ever, more success than ever and more money than ever.The fame of their brand had spread quickly all over London and everyone in the world of clothing and designing wanted to be associated with Ashley and ‘The Knox fashion world’.Pamela snatched her handkerchief from her pant pocket and swiped it unethically over her face. She raised her head to look at Ashley.“They've got their hands full at the atelier. Mrs Maxwell brought in a late request but she's one of
“The guests have begun to arrive.” Pamela said in a breathless tone. She peeked through the large curtains hiding them behind the stage.The past weeks have been so busy for everyone at the office.The fashion exhibition day was upon them and as Ashley had instructed; nothing was to go wrong. Being an evening event, Ashley had spent the whole day ensuring that the hall and everything else was in place.“Good! And the models?” Ashley asked Pamela. “Don't leave that there.” She instructed one of the handymen. “Put that by the side.” She turned just as Pamela responded to her question.“All ready. Just a few finishing touches… You should go get ready. Change your clothes.” Pamela advised Ashley who looked tired and was drenched in sweat. She looked at her friend with compassion. Ashley had barely sat the whole day.“Sure.” Ashley responded. Her eyes roved around one more time, checking to see if there was anything out of place. She didn't want anything to go wrong. “Go oversee the model
Ashley and Pamela exchanged looks. Fear filled their gaze. Had DJ heard them? Why did he call them out that way? “Who would pay?” DJ asked, walking into the kitchen to join them. He was still panting slightly from his run. Ashley's and Pamela’s hearts raced as they passed each other fearful looks. They were so engrossed in their fear of being caught that they missed the tease in DJ's voice. “Um…” Ashley fumbled. “If I had known you would come here to bother my fiance with work problems, I would have never told she was with me, Pam.” DJ said, walking to the freezer helped himself to a bottle of cold water. He paused, clinging onto the fridge handle, noticing the tension reeling from both women. “Is everything alright?” His eyes scanned them. “No. We were just talking about work. There are a couple of pending payments to be made.” Ashley explained. “Yes. I'll get the invoice for you to sign.” Pamela said, moving away to get her bag. “See what I mean? You don't give her any break
“You?”“Me!” Pamela grinned jovially and walked past Ashley into the house.Ashley's brows knotted with confusion and her eyes shone with surprise as she closed the door. She hadn't told anyone that she was at DJ's. Pamela didn't even know she met with DJ. “Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?” Pamela strode inside, making herself comfortable, settling on the sofa.Ashley grinned inwardly at the thought that Pamela wouldn't be so comfortable on that couch if she knew the things she and DJ had done there.“Ashley!”Ashley jolted. She shook her head bringing her mind back into the room. “How did you know I was here?” she asked, moving to join Ashley on the couch.“You didn't return after your meeting with Bruce. I got worried, so I texted DJ and he told me you were here.” Ashley furrowed her brows. “When was this? Have you seen him?” She was curious. She hadn't seen him since the morning and she didn't know where he was.Pamela's brows knitted. “Uh, I texted him last night and he
True to his words, Ashley barely got any sleep. DJ had woken her up in the middle of the night so they could move to his bedroom where he took her to intense pleasurable heights. Not once, but over and over again until they were both drained and spent.She fell asleep right after. By morning, she was pleasantly exhausted and was sleeping like a baby. A deep peaceful slumber that she hadn't noticed when DJ slipped out for his routine morning run.A distant ringing infiltrated her euphoric dream. The sound grew louder and closer with each passing moment, before Ashley realized it wasn't her dream but reality.She stirred, fluttering her eyes, blinking lazily and tiredly, the weight of sleep heavy in her eyes. She didn't want to wake up yet, but the ringing was not relenting.Who would ring so early in the morning?She groaned, irritated at the persistent disturbance. She exhaled, flipped her eyelid open and sleepily looked around her. This wasn't her room. Every corner of the room had
Ashley, nestled on top DJ, was enjoying the feel of the satiating aftermath of their heated passion. She placed head comfortably on his broad chest, idling tugging on the hair on his chest.“You're so hairy.” She commented.“You don't like it?”“I like it. It gives me something to play with.”“If you want something to play with,-”“I'm good with this, thank you.” Grasping his lewd tease, Ashley quickly cut him.DJ chuckled. “Spoil sport.”“Your mind is so dirty.” Ashley remarked with a smile.DJ's chuckle deepened. “Don't tell anyone my secret.” He said in pretend seriousness.Amused, she shook her head against his chest at his naughtiness and snuggled into him.DJ sighed with satisfaction as his finger trailed the hollow length of Ashley's spine.She sensed him smiling and she propped herself on her elbow to look at him.“What now?”“Nothing.” She lifted one brow. “Then why are you smiling like that?”DJ adjusted himself to accommodate her positioning. “I'm happy.” He responded wit
Ashley returned to her table to find DJ waiting for her. Sonia trailed behind her, her face an angry storm that no one seemed to notice.DJ's impatience was evident in his expression. “Are you done?” It was clear to Ashley that Bruce and DJ may have continued their brawling in the absence of both women.“Yes. She turned to Bruce. “I'll instruct Pamela to send you a mail regarding the presentation.”Bruce nodded. “I'll be seeing you soon.” His words carried an underlying meaning, aimed at irking DJ .“We should go.” DJ said through clenched teeth, already taking quick long strides away from them.Ashley packed her bag and briskly followed DJ.“I'll see you at home, DJ.” Sonia called after them and Ashley passed her a glare.“Slow down. I'm almost running after you.” Ashley was breathing heavily.DJ slowed down, then paused, and waited for her to catch up with him. Just when she stood beside him, panting, clutching her chest and trying to gulp more air, DJ scooped her into his arms an
“Bruce!” Sonia walked up to their table, smiling gingerly. “You're here!” she beamed.DJ begrudgingly followed behind Sonia. His reluctance was evident, he didn't want to have to deal with his brother.“Rachel.” Sonia greeted the lady who had her back to them before she could see the face.Ashley raised her head and smiled at Sonia. “I'm not Rachel.”Sonia's smile dropped. She passed a look between Bruce and Ashley, hoping to get an explanation.The questions in her mind could be clearly seen in her eyes. Why are these two all cozy together at a restaurant? Does Rachel know that her husband is here with Ashley?“Ashley?” DJ was stunned. He hadn't seen her before now.Like Sonia, he passed a look between Bruce and his fiancee, wanting an explanation.A self satisfied smirk sat on Bruce's lips. From DJ's expression, he could tell his brother had not known his fiancee was meeting with him. Bruce took it upon himself to massage his own ego and salten DJ's wound. “We have a lunch meeting.
Pamela told Ashley what she knew. Her revelation only compounded Ashley's problems. Helen had openly threatened to kill her ‘again’ if she needed to and now Pamela had identified Paul as Ashley's killer. But it was said that Ashley died in a car accident.Nothing added up. There was no link between all suspects and the stories. Ashley didn't sign up for this. She had no intention of becoming a detective burdened with the task of finding the real Ashley's killer.But she would have no choice than to get involved. If Ashley was indeed murdered, and they thought she was Ashley, then she would need to watch her back more closely.To do that, she needed to know who wanted her dead.It didn't help that Helen moved Paul to an unknown hospital. Ashley would have to wait till Paul came to her.She knew Paul. He would come to her. His obsession would let him stay away from her. Everyone had decided to tell Mr Knox nothing about the incident. It will blow the covers for Ashley, Helen and Paul