Ten years later"Brother Liam! What are you doing out there?!" I tore my gaze away from the light fluttering of snowflakes and glanced back at our house curiously. A fiery little girl came flying out the back door with a flurry of blankets.And before I even knew what had happened, I was bombarded with a pile of soft wool and pulled down to her height by the blanket hooked over my head. A familiar head of warm hazelnut curls and bright silver eyes popped up into my view with a big pout gracing her lips. Not caring for the fact that I was a full ten years older than her, she harshly scolded, "It's too cold out here! Are you trying to make Mom and Dad worry?" I chuckled softly at her antics. Though she was a tad overprotective, I had to admit that it was getting a bit too cold for me to handle, but I honestly liked the snow too much to give it all up. After all, it was my favorite season. It was the time of year when all the best things in my life happened. Getting saved by Mom
"So, I was talking to Mellisa the other day, and she was telling me about how her daughter had just graduated from college. Apparently, her daughter studied finance at university and landed a job nearby."I hummed mindlessly, not paying much attention to my mother's usual chatter as I sliced my steak. It was nothing out of the norm for my weekly dinners with my family, so I didn't think much of it."And we were thinking. Wouldn't it be nice if you took her out to dinner sometime? Maybe get to know each other a bit."I paused mid-bite and looked up from my plate.My father and younger brother quickly diverted their eyes, not wanting to get caught up in what they figured would end up as another big argument.My mother continued, "Her daughter is new to the city, so it would be nice if she had someone to show her around. And—""I'm not interested."She furrowed her eyebrows. "But you haven't even met the girl yet. I'm sure you'll like her if you just—""I don't need you to set me up on
I rubbed my small towel against my forehead, wiping off all the sweat accumulated from my morning workout. Panting as I tried to catch my breath, I glanced at the clock above my gym.6:30 AMHmm, I still have an hour left before I need to start heading to work.I scrolled through my calendar on my phone, double-checking my schedule. From what I remembered, I should've already finished all the paperwork that needed my attention this week, and I didn't seem to have many meetings for today. Joseph, my PA of 5 years, must've cleared today's schedule for Ms. Belcalis's arrival.I tossed my towel into a laundry bin and walked over to my bathroom to take a quick shower. After all, this entire floor was my residence.I lived in the penthouse of one of the luxury apartment buildings I owned. I was one of the few permanent residents in this building since it was usually only rented out to business directors, usually only people that worked for me, for a few months at a time as they traveled bet
I felt like my words were biting me in the ass at the moment.That little lady, Ms. Belcalis, worked so efficiently and diligently that I now had a brand new stack of paperwork to go through at the end of the day despite the fact that I had come in this morning with a completely empty to-do list.We visited 7 potential sites for building the new headquarters, met up with 4 different architectural firms, and spoke with 5 different construction firms for quotas within the last 12 hours. With all the driving between different sites and negotiations with the heads of each firm, we ended up skipping lunch and barely even had a chance to sit down.Her options were so well researched that I had no qualms and had no trouble narrowing down on a single location for my new building, along with an architectural and construction firm to lead the project for me, even though it had only been the very first day on the project.To add on, she managed to go through the entire day without exchanging a s
I stared incredulously at the little white bag in my hand.I couldn't believe that I, the notoriously cold head of Cordova Industries, woke up early this morning and sent away my driver to personally go to a bakery near my apartment before work to pick out a few pastries for a woman.For a woman that I barely even knew.To add on, I ended up staring at the enormous array of sweets in confusion for so long that one of the employees had to walk up to me and offer to help me. It must've looked utterly ridiculous to see such a large figure hunch over the display, fretting over these tiny pastries.I sighed when the elevator chimed, signifying that it had reached my office's floor. When I stepped out of the elevator, I was met with the usual greetings from all my employees as I made my way to the back of my floor.To no one's surprise, I found Ms. Belcalis already sitting in her glass office and typing away at her desk even though it was still far earlier than her actual start time.I knoc
The meeting passed in a whiz as soon as Ms. Belcalis rejoined us.Although I had the final say in all the decisions, she helped guide the architects toward the type of sketches that I was looking for by pointing out all the little things in the previous designs that were suitable for the idea I had in mind.She was so good at her job that I momentarily considered stealing her from Benedict's company, but I was sure I'd never hear the end of it from him if I actually did that.We managed to wrap up the meeting half an hour early after giving the architectural team a good idea of what I wanted and sending it off on their way to draft a final blueprint in the next few days.Remembering how poorly Ms. Belcalis reacted to being in a car with me, I called Joseph on the way down the elevator to come to pick her up.She started to fret almost immediately when she heard me mention her name on the phone to Joseph. It was almost adorable how round her eyes could become as she waved her hands ar
I yanked frustratingly at the collar of my shirt, forcing one of the buttons to pop open. "Tell me once again why you dragging me out here again." Benedict gave a hearty laugh from behind his menu. "Why must there be a reason? Can't I just drag my friend out because I missed seeing him and figured that he was coop himself indoors for the weekend if he had it his way?" I narrowed my eyes at him, making him shiver in his seat. He nervously diverted his eyes and raised his menu— a ridiculously pink and flowery menu— a bit higher as he mumbled, "Ok, so maybe I just want to try out a new popular dessert shop and figured that the fastest way to get in was to bring the Cordova name." That sounded more like the truth. I sighed as I rolled up my sleeves. "And why did you stuff me in this get-up? Couldn't I have just worn one of my own shirts?" He had arrived bright and early at my apartment this morning with a loud and sudden announcement that he was taking me for some 'Sunday morning f
I nervously glanced down at the pair of vintage white gold decorative bobby pins sitting on the box of sweets. The pins had an intricate design of flower design at the end, with only a single crystal in the center of each flower. I wanted to get Ms. Belcalis something a bit more than a bunch of pastries to show her my appreciation properly. The pins had caught my eye from outside an antique store on my way home yesterday. It was simple yet elegant, something that I thought might fit her well. But was it too much?I still wasn't sure how I felt about Ms. Belcalis, i.e., whether or not I actually liked her in the sense of infatuation. I couldn't tell if I was just misinterpreting my feelings from finally meeting a female whose company I didn't mind or if I actually wanted to spend time with in ways other than as friends. I frustratingly ran my fingers through my hair. I'm thinking way too much about this. I should just give her the pins. It could be taken as a friendly gift or somet
Ten years later"Brother Liam! What are you doing out there?!" I tore my gaze away from the light fluttering of snowflakes and glanced back at our house curiously. A fiery little girl came flying out the back door with a flurry of blankets.And before I even knew what had happened, I was bombarded with a pile of soft wool and pulled down to her height by the blanket hooked over my head. A familiar head of warm hazelnut curls and bright silver eyes popped up into my view with a big pout gracing her lips. Not caring for the fact that I was a full ten years older than her, she harshly scolded, "It's too cold out here! Are you trying to make Mom and Dad worry?" I chuckled softly at her antics. Though she was a tad overprotective, I had to admit that it was getting a bit too cold for me to handle, but I honestly liked the snow too much to give it all up. After all, it was my favorite season. It was the time of year when all the best things in my life happened. Getting saved by Mom
"Now, now, Mellisa... Don't you think you are rushing things a bit too much?" I tensed up as a tall, lanky brunette walked up to our table. He was dressed messily, with his buttons done in every which way, similar to his wild hair. But the thing that caught my eyes more was the gun that he was haphazardly twirling in his hand. Ms. Mellisa's expression dropped at the appearance of this man, making no indications of releasing Liam. She unamusedly replied, "Stop acting so condescending, Albert. I'm the one holding what you need. Personally, I would've preferred getting rid of this annoying child from my sight, but you and Margarett still need him for your plans, don't you?" The atmosphere dropped 10 degrees colder as the man stalked closer to the pair. Stopping abruptly in front of Ms. Mellisa, he lowly questioned, "Who do you think you are to threaten me?" Roughly pushing her aside, he grabbed hold of my son. Liam's eyes grew two times wider as he took in the sight of the man before
"Danary, are you ready to go?" I perked up in recognition of Haraya's voice and the familiar clamoring of the visitors entering through the front door. It must've been why Achilles darted out the backdoor in such a hurry. He truly was such an antisocial man when it came to anyone besides Liam or myself, but it was still something I found quite adorable in my giant of a husband. I helped Liam down from the island top and walked out in hand with him to greet our visitors. Even though it was still only morning, Mrs. Cordova was already spiritedly chatting away with her friend, pointing out all the details and ornaments along the walls as Ms. Mellisa stared at the interior of our house in awe. I guess it was the first time Ms. Mellisa had visited our home due to Achilles's overprotectiveness, but I figured that Ms. Mellisa was a safe person. She had apparently been friends with the Mrs. Cordova for decades, even before Mrs. Cordova married Achilles's father, and generally acted as a g
"Achi?" "Yes, love?" "Um... W-Would it be alright if I went o-out today?" I paused mid-twirl, making her loose strand of hair slip out from between my fingers. With my head still propped up against my arm as I laid next to my little wife on the bed, I glanced down at her, noting her fiddling fingers. Looking up at me hopefully, Jane continued, "I-It's just I haven't left the estate for several weeks a-already a-and your mother invited Liam and me on an o-outing for today s-so I thought it would be nice to do something d-different for once..."I pursued, hesitating on agreeing outright. The people who wanted to kill her were still out there, and I didn't want to risk the possibility of losing her so soon after getting her back. Noting my hesitation, her face immediately fell. "I-I g-guess it's still too much to ask for right now... I-It's probably still too d-dangerous, and I know that you're still working very hard to find the people w-who tried to hurt me... I'll just tell them
I knocked on the doorframe, signaling my entrance as I walked into the main office of our private warehouse. It was pitch dark with not a single light on in the room. Only the bright glow of several monitors kept the room litReegan looked up from his computer with his usual sunken eye bags and tiredly asked, "Did you bring the goods?" I rolled my eyes at his poor attempt at a joke and placed the bag of his favorite take-out meal on the desk next to him. A large grin spread across his face as he eagerly tore into the bag, fishing out his usual order of extra spicy ramen with a cup of quadruple-shot espresso coffee. I leaned over his head, taking no mind of his messy habits as I glanced at his work. There was a jumble of numbers spread across the screen, with one of the panels seemingly tracking an IP address bouncing between several towers across the globe. I hummed softly in thought for a moment before noting, "I'm guessing you're having trouble pinning down the owner of the phon
After I had spent the rest of the evening with my family, thoroughly reminding my wife how much I loved her, I decided to take the next day off to explain to her what I had been doing these last couple of weeks. I had originally wanted to keep it hidden from her in fear of stressing her out more than necessary, but it seemed that my secretive nature only caused more harm than good. I told her I had been working with my father and brother to find the people who were targeting her. Explaining how we had found the woman who pushed her down the stairs the first time I ran out of the house in the rush. How we had been trying to get more information out of her ever since to find the other people supporting her from behind. To quell her worries, I had to tell her about the dark side of our family that I had tried so hard to hide. Although I didn't go into detail about it, I had to explain how we couldn't do everything to the book due to the number of enemies that came with holding one of t
My eyes widened in surprise at her outburst. A picture of me kissing another woman?Since when did I kiss someone else...Tears fell from the corner of Jane's eyes as she looked at me brokenly. She whispered lifelessly, "I saw the picture of you kissing Cassy... I knew she had feelings for you and never wanted to tell you for fear that you might someday realize she was better than me... But it seems like you finally realized it all by yourself..."Cassy?When did I...Oh god... That time she came into my office on the day of..."I knew that I should've expected it... She had devoted her entire life to you... There was no way someone as kind as Achilles could ever overlook such devotion... It's selfish of me to say this, but I was hoping you would overlook her efforts... That's why I never said anything..." She roughly yanked her hand out of my grasp and pulled her hands closed to her chest. Lowering her eyes, she muttered, "I knew that I was the outsider, but I couldn't bring myself
"Are you going to head back to the madam now, sir?"I handed my bloodied shirt to Watson and graciously accepted the clean towel from him. I nodded quietly in response as I carefully wiped the rest of the blood off of my body, making sure not the miss any of the specks littered around my collar or splatters dripping from my hands. I didn't want to freak Jane out by coming home covered in blood. She had no clue about the dark side of my world. She only knew of my clean image as the infamous head of the long-standing and powerful Cordova Industries, but there was no company in the world that could have stayed this strong for so many generations without any bloodshed. I had enemies lurking in every shadow of my life. I was greedy and brought her into my life even though I knew it would be dangerous. And she had gotten hurt because of me. It was something that I would never be able to forgive myself for, but I was much too selfish to let her go. I had already gotten a taste of how
"Achi, you know that I'm not going anywhere, right?" He nodded his head in acknowledgment but made no move to release me from his grasp. "You've been holding me since you came back last night... Are you sure you don't want to do something else?" He gave a soft shake of his head as he silently buried his face even further against my stomach. I sighed and set my book aside. He really wasn't budging in the slightest. I leaned back against the headboard of our shared bed and laced my fingers through his hair, gently taking my fingertips against his scalp. I tried to reassure him, "You know that I won't disappear if you let me go, right?" He pressed his lips into a thin line. Eyebrows furrowed in silent discontentment. Sighing again, I decided to continue stroking his head comfortingly in hopes of easing his nerves. Just like the night before, he ended up spending the entire morning lying in bed with his head nuzzled deeply in my abdomen, only lifting his head briefly to call his g