Chapter Six

A week later

Sande inquired of Eds, who she was working alongside in the convenience store's storage room, "Aren't you going to call Mr. Santillan?"

"No," Eds replied.

"Why not?" Sande asked, surprised. "Give me one good reason."

"He's out of my league. I don't belong in his world," She listed off her reasons on her fingers. "I lied about my identity, and I have kids."

"His world isn't vastly different from ours, you know." Sande countered. "It's just more glamorous, filled with wealthy people and stuff. Did you know it was because of him that his family became wealthy again?"

"What do you mean?" Eds frowned.

"His grandfather squandered their wealth gambling, and they became poor. Sinjin Santillan was a high school genius; he created a game called Warlords of Chaos, which he sold for a million dollars. Then, he developed unhackable software, which he used to start his company.” 

“Now, he's the richest man in the world," Sande explained with a hint of pride in her voice. "I read somewhere that one of the tech giants offered him an executive position in their company, but he declined their offer."

"Seriously?" Eds was shocked. Eds had heard of Sinjin Santillan's brilliance; he graduated from high school at fourteen, right after creating and selling his game, and received numerous scholarship offers from universities. Eds lamented that his girlfriend of ten years hadn't appreciated him. 

But someone else would, because that man was almost perfect. No one was perfect, but Sinjin Santillan was quite close to being perfect, and she'd only known him for a few hours.

"Now, he's involved in countless ventures. Let me tell you, the woman who marries that man will want for nothing," Sande said. 

"See?" Eds threw her a pointed look. "I'm not that woman."

"Never say never, girl." Sande clicked her tongue. "You can change your destiny and the only way to do that is to call the man."

"He probably wants to use me to get over his ex-girlfriend." Eds grumbled.

"So? It doesn't matter. You can show her that she missed out on a great man." Sande stated, and sighed. "Oh God, if only."

"You're free to leave Lex for him." Eds shrugged.

"Anyway, that aside... Have you seen Taron yet?" Sande queried.

"Not yet." Eds sighed.

"Why not?" Sande frowned. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'll meet him tomorrow." She said. She couldn't fathom why she was stalling, but she had a hunch that Taron would try to exploit the fact that she had injured him during their last encounter and demand more compensation. He was that heartless.

The bell jingled as the convenience store door opened, prompting Eds to rush out of the storage room to assist the customer. However, she halted abruptly upon seeing that it was Taron and Diggle. Swallowing nervously, she made her way to the counter, silently praying that Sande would stay in the storage room and not come out until they had left.

"Figured I'd find you here," Taron smirked, leaning one arm on the counter. "Been a while since I saw your face."

"Are you here to buy anything?" She asked.

"I'm here to see you," Taron replied. "Where's my money?"

"I have 250 grand," Eds said. "I was going to see you tomorrow to give you the money."

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Taron feigned innocence.

"Tell me what?" Eds' brows furrowed in confusion.

"You owe me a million dollars now," Taron smiled.

"What?! Are you mad?" Eds blurted out angrily.

"Watch yourself," Taron warned.

"I mean..." She sighed in frustration. "Why are you doing this to me, Taron? Why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you, sweetheart. I'm just not mixing business with pleasure here. Do you not remember how you connived with your boyfriend to beat us up?" He reminded her. "Dagger lost two of his teeth that night, and his nose will never look the same again."

"He wasn't my boyfriend. I don't even know him," Eds protested.

"I beg to differ," Taron clicked his tongue. "Dagger saw you looking all sweet last week for the rich guy. I should have known that bastard looked familiar." 

"What are you talking about?" She inquired.

"Mr Tai chi is the billionaire who got dumped by his actress girlfriend two weeks ago. He was the one Dagger saw you with last week." Taron explained. "You got yourself a great catch, sweetheart."

"I was doing a job." Eds informed him. "Nothing more."

"How much did he pay you?" Taron demanded. "Surely, he couldn't have paid you 250 grand."

"That was exactly what he paid me." Eds lied. She'd thought she couldn't lie to save herself, but she was obviously a pro at it.

"Really?" Taron arched a skeptical brow.

"Yes." Eds nodded. "I swear to you." 

Taron stared intently at her face for a long time, and she forced herself to hold his gaze while holding her breath at the same time. She silently exhaled when he nodded, as if satisfied with whatever he saw on her face, and rocked on the balls of his feet.

"I won't take the money from you," He said, shoving his hands in his front pockets.

"Why?" She questioned, surprised.

"I've waited long enough, don't you think?" He asked. "You have until the end of tomorrow to pay me my one million dollars, or else I'll send your boys to you in a box. A very small box."

"Where will I..." She began.

"Twenty-four hours, sweetheart," He cut her off. "That's your last chance." With that, he pivoted on his heel and walked out of the store.

After Taron left, Sande rushed out of the storage room and found Eds crouched down behind the counter, trying to catch her breath. She sighed and walked over to meet Eds, wrapping her arms around her friend. Sande had warned Eds not to borrow money from Taron after hearing stories from people who had borrowed from him and narrowly escaped with their lives.

Eds' son Troy fell sick late last year and required surgery. With no health insurance and no one else to turn to for the $150,000 needed for the operation, she sought help from Taron, who lent her the money. Fortunately, Troy recovered. 

Unfortunately, months later, her other son, Tristan, Troy's twin brother, was diagnosed with leukemia. Desperate for funds to cover his treatments, Eds returned to Taron for assistance, and the rest, as they say, is history.

"He wants me to pay him one million dollars," Eds' voice was barely audible. "Where will I get that kind of money from?"

"You know where, Eds," Sande said. "Isn't it better to owe Mr. Santillan than Taron?"

"What if he wants something I can't give him in return for payment?" Tears welled up in Eds' eyes as she looked up at Sande. "What then?"

"Don't assume that he's someone like that. Didn't you tell me that he was a really nice guy?" Sande queried. "Don't judge a book by its cover, Eds. Give him a try."

~~~~~~

Sinjin knew the beautiful Miss Archer wouldn't contact him, but he still held out hope that she'd call him. He still couldn't believe that a woman like her existed and hadn't been snapped up by a man. His words to his father about proposing to his date if he liked her came back to him, and he groaned.

His mother would probably prefer death over seeing him married to someone like Miss Archer. After being dumped by Mallucia, who wasn't even half as beautiful as Sande, he resolved not to marry any woman from his social circle. Making the decision to reach out to her first, he pressed the button on the intercom to summon Adella.

"Yes, sir? You wanted to see me?" Adella walked into his office and shut the door.

"Yes." He rose to his feet, skirted the desk and walked over to the sofa to take a seat. "Sit." He patted the space beside him.

Adella looked surprised, but she settled down on the sofa and crossed her legs. She wondered if her boss wanted to ask about Edselyn, who had posed as Sande, and she felt really guilty for lying to him. She was still smarting over the issue because Sande had lied to her, and it wasn't until she saw Eds at the party on Friday instead of Sande that she knew her friend had chosen Lex Parker.

She liked Lex. Everyone liked Lex Parker, the Chief Human Resources officer at Midas Corporation, but she would have preferred her friend to become her boss's new love interest, not Edselyn Moore. She hated Edselyn and had no idea why Sande chose to be friends with someone like her.

"Adella!" Sinjin snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"I'm sorry, sir. You were saying?" She blinked him into focus.

"What were you thinking about?" He frowned.

"Uh... Nothing, sir," She shook her head.

"I was saying that I would like to meet your friend again," Sinjin informed her. "If it's not too much to ask, I want you to give me her contact number."

"Um... That'll be kind of impossible, sir," Adella winced.

"Why? You don't want to give it to me?" He frowned.

"No, of course not! I mean, I don't have it," She replied in a small voice.

"What do you mean?" His brows furrowed in confusion. "Isn't she your friend anymore?" He asked.

Adella wondered if she should spill the truth to her boss. Since she didn't like Eds and couldn't stomach the fact that her boss wanted to see Eds again, maybe she'd just tell him the truth. If he knew who she really was, he wouldn't like Eds anymore.

"Sande Archer is my best friend, but... I'm sorry to spring this on you now, sir... The woman you were with last Friday wasn't Sande," She blurted out.

"What do you mean?" His brows furrowed in confusion. "You told me your best friend, Sande Archer, would be my date to the party, and now you're telling me she wasn't the woman who I was with last Friday?"

"My friend couldn't go, so she asked her friend to go in her place," Adella lowered her gaze to avoid seeing the fury in her boss's eyes. "I'm sorry, sir."

Sinjin rose to his feet and began to pace. "Why didn't you tell me?" He growled.

"I didn't know about it until I saw her at the party myself. I was really upset with my best friend when I got in touch with her the next day. I didn't know how to tell you, sir. I'm sorry," Adella apologized.

"So... Who's the woman I was with last Friday?" He demanded.

"Her name's Edselyn Moore, and she's a single mother." Adella responded.