*AURORA*After presenting my gift to Mrs Dumont, Lucien and I walked to where our table was located.No one was seated yet do we had to wait on the sidelines.His cellphone rang out.“I have to take this.”He said to me.I nodded and watched him walked away.I knew it was Carla calling.It didn’t bother me.I had genuinely lost all interest in being with him.I kept myself entertained by admiring the antiques inside the banquet hall.A blue and white porcelain, probably from the 80s was a jaw-dropping sight.At that moment, a young lady walked up to me.“You’re Mrs Sullivan, right?”I nodded.”How may I help you?”“I’m Allegra Montes, the daughter of the Montes family, as you know, we own the biggest perfume company in the country, I heard you make unique fragrances, I’d like to buy some from you. Name your price.”I smiled, politely at her.”I only enjoy formulating different fragrances for now. I’ve not monetized it yet but if I have time, I could teach you how I make my perfumes. Sinc
*AURORA*I was still frozen in place until I started to hear some older women’s voices around me.“If I wasn’t married, I’d have loved to be owned by him.”“You wish. I don’t think you’d stand a chance, Mrs Gordon.”“You can say that again, I mean, look at how magnificent he is, I wonder if the ladies still have the nerves to chase after him. A man like this would be surely hard to please. He would surely want a lady as great as he is.”“Any woman who has ever succeeded in even having a few minutes alone with him, breathing the same air as him is so lucky.”I zoned out on the conversation and chose to focus on the crisis I had going on right now.No!It can’t be him.I didn’t want it to be him because how on earth was I supposed to face him?I stared at his face again, he had a powerful and icy aura around him.The man I met last night didn’t had this much aura.Granted, it was dark and I felt he was just an ordinary man at a bar, plus his dark hair had fallen messily on his face but
Everyone’s attention fell on Aurora.They were alarmed and at the same time very curious to know what Aurora had done to the great Mr Dumont.Aurora was a very beautiful woman. People knew and acknowledged that fact.She had the kind of beauty that could turn heads instantly when she walked into any room full of people.Could it be that she had an affair with Mr Dumont?Lucien stared at Aurora, questioningly.“Aurora, care to explain what this is about?”He questioned, coldly.It felt as if someone had poured ice on his body.How could Aurora know or even offend someone like Mr Dumont?Could there be something between them?He recalled when she told him she had a lover.No.That can’t be possible.Even if he had told her that their marriage was an open one, he always believed that she could never get involved with another man.She could never have anything to do with another man, talk more of a man like Mr Dumont who was definitely out of her league.Aurora stepped forward and spoke, c
*AURORA*Was it because people worshipped the ground he walked on?That man was so arrogant!I took a deep breath, I’d have to ignore his arrogance because I really needed to secure this project for the Sullivans.I was still fuming when I suddenly got splashed with red wine.I gasped in shock then looked up to see Isobel.“Oh, I’m so sorry, Aurora. I just wanted to go make a toast to Mrs Dumont but I tripped when I was passing by this table.”Who was she kidding?She did it on purpose!Isobel always wanted to humiliate and hurt me whenever she gets the chance.I looked around, seeing people’s attention was already getting drawn to us.I glared at Isobel, as I tried not to lose my temper.My mom, or rather, Hannah, Isobel’s mother walked up to her.“Mom, I…I didn’t mean to. Oh God, her dress has gotten messed up because of me.”Hannah slung me an unbothered look.“Don’t feel so bad, Isobel. It was a honest mistake. I mean, Aurora has enjoyed everything you were supposed to enjoy since
*AURORA*“Why are you undressing in my bedroom?”I blinked.”Your…your bedroom?”“Yes.”I looked around the room which was painted in black, well, it suited him.“I didn’t know. I got splashed with wine and Janelle brought me here to change. She said this room was unoccupied.”He raised his eyebrow, slightly.”She’s not wrong. This used to be my room. I don’t live here anymore. I just wanted to come up to relax for a while, it’s not easy putting up with a lot of people.”He replied.I almost sensed arrogance in that statement but when I thought about it, it must be exhausting for him having people after people, wanting to talk to him, to curry favor from him.I saw a door, guessing it was the bathroom, I tried to open it but it was locked.I turned back to face him, still securing my dress around my body.“If it’s not too much to ask, can you go out please?”“Are you sending me out of my own room?”He asked.I needed him to have a conscience right now.The dress had come with an inbuilt b
*AURORA*“Yes, I can have any woman I want. And I’ll make sure you regret treating me like this.”Oh God.Did I treat him too bad?I just said I wasn’t interested in him!Why can’t he humbly accept that?I had a bad feeling about this.He headed for the door and left.I released a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.I walked out of the room and met Lucien outside the hall, he was already sitting inside the car waiting for me.He didn’t ask how I got splashed with wine and I didn’t see any need of explaining to him either.I got into the car and the driver drove off.Getting to the busy road, the car suddenly pulled up at the side of the road.“Get down. I have something important to attend to tonight. Take a taxi home.”I didn’t argue with him, I got out of the car and it sped off.Sighing, I knew where he was headed.He could have at least had the decency to drop me home.I hailed down a taxi and headed home.********When I walked into the house, Alma was at the living room, sh
*AURORA*A week rolled by.I didn’t see or hear from Damon after that phone…sex.He didn’t call me and I tried to convince myself that it was for the best.Getting involved with him wouldn’t be healthy for me, anyway.I didn’t also hear from Lucien either.He didn’t come home since that night.I wasn’t bothered but his family was, especially his mother who kept trying to reach him but he wouldn’t pick her calls.He finally came home one night and Alma was furious at him.We were having dinner when he walked in.“You really want to be disowned, don’t you?!”She thundered.“Shouldn’t you ask me why I haven’t been home first before threatening me?!”He shot at her.“I should ask you why? Everyone knows why! You were with that…”“I was at the company. I’ve been working overtime, do you think it’s easy adapting? I have no prior experience and if I let this family down, you all would still be the ones to berate my ass. I have to get familiar with the company’s business.”Jorge then spoke.”Oh,
*AURORA*“Please send an invite to the Sullivans.”I pleaded, ignoring how his touch made me feel.“And if I don’t?”“If you do, I’ll not be participate much in the project. Lucien is majorly in charge of it anyway and so I’ll make sure you rarely see me.”“You think that’s going to help?”He moved his face closer to mine and pressed his lips against mine.My entire body instantly went up in flames.Hot sparks of fire sizzled across my skin at the first brush on his mouth against mine.I heard myself moaned, opening my mouth to his searching tongue.I stroked my tongue against his, tangling it with his, sliding it into his mouth to taste him.I moaned again when I tasted the heady sweetness of his mouth.Oh the taste of him, the feel of him, everything about him was like a magnetic pull.I lifted my arms to tangle my hands in his hair, holding him even closer to me.I deepened the kiss, ravaging his mouth with my own as I drew his tongue further into my mouth and nipped, gently.He gro
*AURORA*I laid naked on his bed, placing my hands on his back as Damon kissed me over and over again.He was naked, on top of me.He pulled his face back a bit and whispered how beautiful I was.“Do you know how many times you’ve called me beautiful tonight?”I asked him.He grinned.”Well, I think I might need to find words greater than beautiful. I need you to know how beautiful you are every single minute, every hour, everyday.”Should I ban him from saying such sweet words to me, it literally gave me butterflies.I’m not supposed to feel butterflies with him but I liked it when he praises me like this.Maybe it was okay to feel butterflies.He makes me feel beautiful.Damon’s lips brushed across mine, so soft and tender. A tiny kiss at the corner of my mouth, then back to my lips and then my cheek, light like a feather tickling against it.He kissed me on the chi
*AURORA*“You said you spent seven years abroad, when did you come back?”“About six years ago.”I mentally calculated his age from what he had said so far.“So you’re thirty-one.”He grinned.”And you’re almost twenty-five.”I laughed.”You definitely know everything.”“I do.”“Since you got back, do you always cook for yourself?”“Rarely.”“I thought it was a routine you’re used to because of last night and now, you cooked a lot.”“To impress you, I guess. Also, I had a feeling you would be leaving him tonight. I made a feast so we could celebrate.”He then poured us two glasses of wine.He lifted up his glass.”To you, Aurora for…I can’t exactly call that a marriage, so let’s say for leaving the darkness.”I laughed as I
Deep down, Lucien knew that when they were little, Aurora never did anything to put him in a bad spot on purpose.He knew she joined most of those competition because she loved following him around but right now, he just couldn’t describe exactly he felt, he had this hatred for her that he couldn’t explain and that was why he found faults in everything she did, even finding faults in what happened when they were literally kids.But at the same time, he felt she could never leave him. Even if he talked about leaving her all the time, even if he told Carla that he was definitely getting a divorce, he felt that he’d have to put up a huge fight again for Aurora to finally let him go.Her letting go of him this way felt unreal.He lowkey enjoyed having her all over him.She had a smile on her face as she moved closer to him.“You think I was making a scene back there?”She asked.He quickly thought of what to a
*AURORA*“It’s not a threat.”I informed him.“You love me too much to leave.”He taunted.“You seem to really enjoy knowing that I loved you too much.”“I didn’t ask for you to be so obsessed with me.”I sighed, heavily regretting the fact that I really made it seem I couldn’t live without him.That really gave him the confidence to do whatever he wanted to me. I was never going to let my guard down for anyone again.I was never going to be that stupid.“I don’t care if you believe it or not, but I have no love left for you, Lucien. I want nothing to do with you anymore.” With that, I crouched down and packed up the rest of my stuff.“I’ll tell Grandpa and the others about our separation tonight. This is what we both need.”I said to him as I zipped up my luggage.Just then, the butler came to announce that dinner w
*AURORA*I went back to the TV station and as soon as I walked in, Vance ran up to me.“Aurora, you truly are a blessing to this TV station. The response to the interview was massive, several big advertisers have indicated that they want to invest in our newly opened column, the column’s advertisement space is being booked, rapidly. Several TV stations keep calling for advice. The CEO said there will be a great reward for you.”I smiled.”I’m glad everything turned out well for the TV station.”I replied, politely.A group of people surrounded me.“Aurora, you’re amazing. We’ve been getting calls nonstop from different high societal people. We didn’t even ask to interview them but they are the ones begging to be interviewed by us!”“This is massive!”“How did you convince Mr Dumont to accept the interview?”“I really need to start taki
*AURORA*I took my hand away from his again.Doesn’t he know if someone sees him holding me like that, it’d definitely be a big deal?Since I was hungry, I asked,”Where are we eating at?”“My lounge.”He replied.***************I was sitting on a sofa at his lounge, watching as Sergio placed a lot of dishes on the table that he had ordered.He nodded, respectfully at us after he was done.“Thank you.”I murmured and then he left the room.Damon was sitting beside me as we began to eat.“So, I told you earlier that I wanted more.”He began as he peeled a shrimp.I almost choked.Couldn’t he talk about sex later?“And I agreed to come over tonight.”“No, not that. More in the sense that, I want you to be my girlfriend.” He let out, sounding so serious.This time, I choked for real.He qui
*AURORA*I placed my hand on Damon’s arms which were wrapped around me, I tried to break free from him.I was barely trying though.“Mr Dumont, it’s way past the time of the interview and we need to get started now.” I murmured.“The interview starts whenever I want it to.”He replied and pressed his lips against my neck.I shut my eyes, and then recalled I couldn’t get a fresh new hickey right now.It had been hard trying to make the ones from last night less visible.“Damon, stop. We can’t.”I said, firmly this time.Not right now, I wouldn’t be able to focus.He finally let go of me and then turned me around to face him.“Can we at least talk about last night? Why you came to me?”I looked away from his face.“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, but let me inform you that there is no way I can s
*AURORA*Vance pressed on.”I’ll do anything you want, Aurora. Do you want an apology? I am deeply sorry for this.”Can’t he just go away?“No, no. An apology from me isn’t enough. Carla should also apologize to you since she’s the cause of all this.”I glanced at him.The thought of seeing Carla’s face right now sounded oddly pleasing.She must be so embarrassed after getting praised so much for securing that interview.Standing beside me, Vance gave her a call, ordering her to come over to the TV station right now.She arrived at the station in no time and walked up to Vance.He lashed out on her, immediately.“How could you make such a mess, Carla?! Do you know how much of a disgrace this is if Mr Dumont cancels this interview? How could you claim it was you who nailed the interview when you obviously knew who did?”“Director, I am so
*DAMON*People rarely crossed me.People rarely pissed me off. They always made sure to be on their best behavior when they were around me.On very rare occasions, when someone dares to even try and piss me off, I always put them in their places.I was never one to let things slide. I was always quick to think of ruthless ways to punish them.But with Aurora, I cannot think of getting back at her.When she pisses me off, I am only momentarily angry and then I was back to wanting her ten times more.So even if I felt mad this morning that she had used me, that anger faded just few minutes later and now I was looking forward to seeing her at the interview.Even if I told her I was going to think about it. I already knew that I couldn’t say no to her.This woman has me in the palm of her hands. And I do not know what to do about it.After my meeting that morning, I headed for the conference room, mentally prepa