Sia breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the reporters left her in peace.
She knew that she desperately needed their help in portraying her in a good light, for the publicity of Magenta Fashion, but she couldn’t help but be on edge.Reporters had a way of adding hidden meanings to questions that appear innocent on the surface, eliciting answers from people and twisting them so they’ll mean something else. To the careless, answering any or all of their questions could mean the demise of their careers.
After the interview had been over, she grudgingly asked around for Julian once again and her excited secretary, Millan, had informed her that he, along with Leo and a “hot” friend of Julian’s were waiting for her near her makeup van.
So, she didn’t wait for the after-party and instead started for her van after talking to the security detail who was working under Julian.
“I’ll escort you,” was the man&rs
Sia woke with a start and, after much difficulty, opened her heavy-lidded eyes.Everything was black at first, and her mind was completely unfocused, throbbing from a terrible headache. Where was she? And why did she feel so groggy? The last thing she remembered was getting out of the auditorium after the press conference and seeing her makeup van. And then . . .She brought her hand up to her head and staggered as the events finally came back in a rush.She had been kidnapped.Sitting up so fast that it gave her almost a whiplash, she looked around as her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.Cardboard boxes filled her vision. They were piled up, one on top of another, forming neat piles all around the small room. The only source of illumination in the room came from a tiny light bulb hanging from the ceiling. She lay on the cold hard floor which was covered with dust and dirt and the torn remains of boxes. She recognized some of the lab
His white blond hair could very well be all grey by now, it was impossible to tell. But Sia could read his eyes, and they were now grey with rage and lust. He was wearing a dark blue uniform that she’d seen on one of the cleaners, and it hung loose around his shoulders. He had lost weight (a lot of it) but he also seemed to have gained a few muscles. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his skin was so pale from the lack of exposure to sunlight.Sia had now her back up against the wall with nowhere else to run. Her clothes and hair were covered in dust and straw. She had tried to escape twice. She slapped him once and tried throwing the heavy supply boxes at him, but it only added to the mess in the room which only blocked her exit and a purple bruise on her cheek. She had made the mistake of underestimating his strength just because he had shrunk in bulk.“You were such a good girl before, Sia . . .” Arthur Stone clicked his tongue in disappr
Julian was still trying to calm down a good ten minutes after the call. The sight that had greeted him as he broke down the door would keep on reminding him of his failure for a very, very long time. With every whimper he heard from behind him, his heart shattered piece by piece. He mustered all the courage he had and finally turned around to look at Sia.Sia was still lying in the same position, her back against the wall and her arms and legs limp by her side. Her dress was ripped in several places and lay in shreds all over the floor, revealing more than just bits of her creamcolored skin. Her hair was tangled and a huge mess, her makeup all over her tear-stained face. There were several cuts all over her body, and blood trickled down from some of them. But what almost made Julian take a step back was the emptiness in her eyes.Sia’s eyes always had a certain shine to it, a glow that came from within and made his days a lot brighter. But that light had dimmed d
“Mother? Why are we here?” the four-year old dark-haired, blue-eyed boy asked his mother as she led him to a dingy warehouse in the redlight district of the town.“I have to work! Now shut up, brat!” the brunette woman, who had the same eyes as her son, snapped at him.The child stayed quiet. He never liked coming to work with his mother. These people made her wear weird clothes and walk on a stage. Then some big, mean-looking man would go up on the stage and touch her, taking her clothes off and doing things to her. Sometimes they even made him watch.But what he felt most disturbed with was the fact that these people now looked at him uncomfortably.At four years old, he didn’t know exactly what those people were doing to her, but even at that age, it disgusted him.That day too, he watched them do the same to his mother and then as the man kept pushing himself into her, he wa
Sia moved into his touch as Julian untangled one of his hands from her hair and moved it gently down her spine. It gave him relief that Sia wasn’t just doing this to get Arthur off her mind; she was reacting to him. He would love nothing more than to erase him from Sia’s consciousness, to make sure that she would never remember him again.This wasn’t how Julian had planned their first night together to be like. Yes, he’d wanted her to come to him of her own free will—and she had—but she had done so with shadows in her eyes and Julian’s guilty conscience weighing down heavily on his mind. He wanted their first time to be perfect, perfect for her. Julian wanted to give Sia the world and more. He wanted her to experience all the joys and pleasures that she had missed out on.Tonight, he decided, was going to be all about her.His palm met the smoothness of her waist, her skin warm and delicate under his calloused o
Sia untangled herself from Julian carefully and got down from the bed, careful not to wake him. He was sleeping peacefully next to her, one of his arms out which Sia had been using as a pillow, while the other rested on his stomach. He looked beautiful and utterly exhausted.She wanted to feel guilty, but she found she couldn’t. She knew this wasn’t about Arthur. Tonight had been the result of all the sexual tension that had been building up between her and Julian from the first time they met. The previous night’s events with Arthur had just made her decision that much easier.She was in love with Julian.She’d denied it long enough. At first, she had thought that her attraction towards Julian had been a result of all the attention he had been giving her. But Julian was kind and caring and protective by nature. Yes, he was a bit of a flirt, but he’d made it clear plenty of times that the only one he wanted was her. It’s as if
Sia stared at the woman in front of her for a good five minutes, trying to assess as much as she could from the latter’s physical appearance. She had long blonde hair which she tied back in a fishtail braid. Her stunning blue eyes were framed with dark glasses and were looking at Sia with interest. Her facial features were sharp and yet, she had a delicate aura to her emanated by her soft plump lips and hourglass figure. She wore a light pink jacket and pencil skirt with a white shirt underneath. Overall, she looked gorgeous and totally the kind of woman Julian would be interested in.“I . . . um . . . I’m Sia Milton?” Sia said when the girl raised an eyebrow, but it came out more like a question than an answer.“Ah!” A spark of realization ignited in her eyes. “Of course, you’re Miss. Milton. Julian brought you here last night, didn’t he? Oh, how sil
Sia started in panic.“Leo! Julian! Leo, my son, he . . . Oh God!” She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Last night with Julian felt like it had only been a dream from a long time ago and reality had finally set in and thrown her roughly down from her cloud nine. What kind of a mother was she to not think of her son’s safety first?Julian engulfed her in his arms, trying to calm her down. “Sia, calm down! Leo’s fine. One of my colleagues, Abhay, is staying at your house. He’ll keep Leo safe. You have to calm down, panicking won’t help.”Finally, after listening to Julian and taking a few deep breaths, Sia felt herself calm down.“Is she okay?”A new voice sounded from the doorway.Sia turned to look at the man in the doorway and tried her best to suppress a gasp of horror. The man smiled at her knowingly. This has to be Christian, Sia thought. The man, Christian, was
CHRISTIAN AND VANESSA’SDINNER DATEBonus ChapterBodyguardChristian looked into the mirror, once again debating the rationality of he was about to do.“You’ve lived in the shadows your entire life. It’s time to let people know what an amazing person you are.”Sia had told him that, a sister’s concern for a person she had so readily accepted as her older brother.Even so, the world wasn’t ready for him. Not yet. And he had his doubts if it’ll ever be ready.“The world is ready, big brother. It’s you who has to be prepared to accept yourself. And I think it’s time. People will talk. They always do. But you don’t have to let them get under your skin.”He’d always been the optimistic one, that Julian. He was scarred in an entirely different way than him. Julian’s scars had been internal, while his were
Abhay and Selena’s One Shot:“Hurry up, geek!” Selena snapped in a hushed tone.“Well sorry, genius, if you can do this any faster, then by all means, be my guest,”came Abhay’s sour reply from his crouched position in front of the main circuit board.“Fucking the motherboard is your speciality.” Selena blew a stray lock of her hair off of her face as she checked her watch for the hundredth time.“Hey! Always respect the motherboard!” Abhay snapped at her. “It’s the heart of the computer.”“Jeez, look at you getting all emotional over a damn machine heart.” Selena shook her head at Abhay’s obsession with electronics. But she had to admit, the guy was a fantastic hacker.“Well, the government is paying us a handsome bill just so I can flirt with this ‘damn machine heart’ all I want,” Abhay reminded her. &ldqu
Sia was running late . . . again.“No, Millan! I told you I can’t be there today. I have family coming over!” she repeated for literally the hundredth time today. Why was it that the new clients had to show up on the exact date as her anniversary?“Yes. Okay, I’ll check them tomorrow. For sure,” she answered Millan’s questions with her phone lodged between her ear and shoulder while her hands were busy with a ladle and a saucepan.“Food’s about to burn,” Martha warned as she passed Sia on the way to the dining table, a pot of boiling hot chicken soup in her hand.“Millan, I’ll call you back later.” Sia cut her off and hung up, before tossing the phone over her shoulder in no particular direction.Just before it hit the ground, Leo reached out his hand and caught it in time. “Careful, Mom!” he told her in a mock berating tone at the close call.
The bright lights in her room momentarily blinded her, and it took a while for Sia to adjust to the brightness, but there was no mistaking the voice she had just heard. That voice was etched in her mind, in her heart, and her soul. How could she ever forget his voice?Blinking rapidly, she squinted to see the person whose face was now partially visible in the dim lights. Not only was his sudden presence shocking but the deep scar that ran from his cheek to his chin and also the sling covering his arm were as well. Sia was dying to ask him what was wrong, why was he injured, how did he get injured, but she held herself back by sheer strength of will. He was the one who had left her and disappeared without a trace. She couldn’t give herself up now and show him just how desperate she had been to hear his voice or to even catch just a glimpse of him.“Why are you here?” She didn’t want to sound so rude, but she couldn’t help
Eight months later...“Millan, are the new batches of chiffon and silk here yet?” Sia asked with the phone lodged between her cheek and shoulders, one of her hands flipping through the catalogue while the other took out the designs that the materials would be transformed into.“Yes, Ma’am, they are being unloaded as we speak. It’ll take another three hours or so for them set up in the store room, according to their color schemes,” Millan’s tired voice came from across the line.Sia sighed audibly. “Millan, why don’t you take a small break? We’ll continue from here onwards half an hour later,” Sia told her and smiled at Millan’s eager reply then hung up.Sia sat back down on her chair, stretching her arms above her head, and heard the satisfying sound of her joints popping, but when she tried to lean further back, pain shot through her stomach, making her wince. She lowered he
Arthur dashed forward, trying to tackle Julian to the ground. But Julian skilfully moved to the side, removing Sia out of the way in the process.“Go! Get out!” he yelled at Sia while shoving her roughly toward the front door while trying to avoid Arthur’s punches at the same time.“No, Julia—” Sia began but was cut off when she saw Arthur landing a punch in Julian’s stomach.Julian hunched over in pain but quickly swallowed it up and stood, just in time to block another one of Arthur’s punches. He drew back his fist and landed a solid punch on Arthur’s face and heard the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking. Arthur fell to the floor, groaning and clutching his face in his hands. Julian staggered a little. The fight and his injuries were starting to wear him out.But Julian had to give him this much as the bastard didn’t stay down for long. He got up and ran towards Julian once again, taking ad
“You’ll be fine, Abhay. Just hold on for a few more minutes,” Julian told his friend, running a hand through his hair lightly.“I’ll help carry him.” Leo volunteered from behind him, hunkering down next to Julian as he waited for instructions.“In a minute,” Julian told the boy. “I’ll have to make sure that the coast is clear first.”Julian stood up from his crouched position and began walking towards the garage door, but he didn’t make it far as someone caught hold of his leg and toppled him over. Julian staggered back against the wall and the first man he attacked earlier, who had been lying unconscious on the ground, sprang up on his feet and launched at him with a wrench in his hand. He must have gained consciousness while Julian had been busy freeing Martha and Leo. But Julian quickly kicked him in the nuts and took the wrench away from his hand.Just as the man hit the floor, Ju
“What’s the matter, love? Why are you crying? I’m right here, aren’t I? Come to me, love. Come to me, and I’ll forget everything that happened in the past. I’ll forgive you for everything you’ve ever done,” Arthur spoke to Sia in a tone so loving that it almost made her gag.She hadn’t realized that she had been crying until Arthur said so. She had been kneeling down beside Julian’s unconscious form on the ground while taking a protective stance over him. She was watching helplessly as his life’s blood drained out through a gash on the back of his head. She wanted to stop the blood flow—to help him in any way she could—but she was afraid that if she much as moved an inch, the man behind her would try to harm Julian again. Which was why Arthur’s words didn’t register in her mind at first, but when it did, she felt her blood boil.“Forgive me? Forgive me! How dare
“Arthur.”“Why, hello, bodyguard of my wife. Put the phone on speaker,” came his hoarse reply. Julian gritted his teeth, but did as he said.“Sia, my love!”Oh, how Julian badly wished he could kill him. If only he hadn’t let him escape last night. Extremely embarrassed, he couldn’t look at Sia right now.“A-Arthur?” Sia asked hesitantly.“Sia. Why did you have to run away from me? Now look what you made me do . . .” He trailed off gruffly before chuckling. Everything seemed funny to him. Julian had made a mistake in thinking that Arthur would lay low like usual and wait to get back to his full strength before he struck again. Either Arthur had gotten desperate or his back was up against a wall. Arthur was now in Sia’s house with Sia’s family, and something must have gone immensely wrong if Abhay hadn’t called in yet.Dread settled in