Location: Inside the private jet, in transit to Blackwood, Orion Caleb receives a phone call from his mom because she is part of his favorite contacts, which in turn means that she can bypass his DND, so he picks up the honey wondering why his mom is calling him because he always does the calling and she never calls him because she knows that he is always busy. "Caleb, it's Aunt Rachel," his aunt's voice trembles on the other end, and that makes him step away from Melanie, excusing himself to take the call. "Benjamin's in trouble. He's been kidnapped." His expression changes from calm to concerned as he listens and his grip on the phone tightens. His younger brother, Benjamin, is in his early twenties and he is about to graduate from university. "What do you mean by he’s been kidnapped?" Caleb demands. "We received a ransom demand an hour ago. They're asking for $5 million in exchange for Benjamin's safe return." Rachel’s voice cracks. "Does the police know?" Caleb's eyes n
Despite getting to the plane late because he couldn’t start his on-boarding -procedures late, he is able to get settled into his seat on the flight to Orion, his excitement growing with every passing minute because he can't wait to see Melanie and his mind is filled with thoughts of Melanie’s bright smile and sparkling eyes. As the plane takes off, Ryan can feel a sense of anticipation building within him so he has to force himself to sleep so that the six-hour torture all in the name of the flight to Orion. Finally, the fight lands and Ryan quickly grabs his belongings and makes his way through the airport, books his Uber, and gives the driver the address to Kalinin's house, where he is sure that Melanie will be waiting.As the Uber driver pulls up to the house, Ryan's heart skips a beat. He leaps out of the car and rushes to the door, ringing the bell eagerly. But when the door opens, it isn't Melanie's face that greets him, it is Kalinin and on brushing past Kalinin to check the h
Ryan finishes setting up the food tray and returns to the lounge to find Mel. But she is big there, so he enters his bedroom, carrying a snack tray laden with an assortment of treats: crunchy chips, juicy grapes, creamy cheese, crackers, rich chocolate-dipped strawberries, a wide variety of mini drinks like soda and yogurt, and even ice cream.When Ryan enters, he finds Melanie lying on his bed, her eyes fixed on her phone screen. The soft glow illuminates her face, and Ryan's heart swells."Hey, what's got you entertained?" Ryan asks, setting the snack tray beside her.Melanie looks up, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Just watching TikTok…I needed a distraction.""TikTok, huh? What's the most interesting thing you've seen so far?" Ryan chuckles, sitting beside her."Oh, just some funny cat videos and dance challenges... You know, the usual." Melanie giggles, scrolling through her feed."Sounds like my kind of entertainment." Ryan grins, picking up a grape and popping it into his mout
Ryan's eyes widen, his mind racing as he excused himself to the bathroom. He locks the door, taking deep breaths to calm his racing thoughts. "One night stand on my way to Pearl Coast." Melanie's words echo in his mind and it feels like he's been punched in the gut.Ryan's feelings for Melanie swirl, mixed with a dash of betrayal and confusion. Why didn't she tell him sooner? Did she still have feelings for Caleb? He thought they were growing closer, but now he felt like he is stuck in limbo.As Ryan splashes water on his face, he struggles to reconcile his emotions. He cares deeply for Melanie, but this revelation changes everything. Was their friendship tainted by her secret? Could he ever look at her the same way?In Melanie’s defense, her phone got broken on the night of the one-night stand and the day after she got shot, so it wasn’t exactly like she kept the secret away from him intentionally, the situation and circumstances surrounding it weren’t the best and he knows that and
“I gave Kalinin my word that I would get back to her once I heard anything from you and I should have reached out to her immediately Caleb told me that you were in my house waiting for me, but I guess my abandonment issues that stemmed from my daddy issues is a thing just like Brenda said“Who is Brenda?” Melanie questions“You have never mentioned her before,” she states raising an eyebrow at him.“That is because she is not in my life anymore and she is not important so there was no reason to mention her” he mentions“What exactly happened between you two?” Melanie questions, giving him a pointed look“I see what you are doing there Mel…you are trying to make me give you all the gist that you have missed since Sunday and way before you came into my life and I promise you, I will tell you everything that you need to know but I have something else in mind for us both, just let me get my car key from my mom’s room and also say hello to her fast…okay?” he tells Melanie and she nods.Rya
“Oh, my goodness, this has to be the best Suprise ever” Kalinin gushes. “Nobody told me that you were coming,” she says to Melanie, still trying to her sister and examining her because Caleb sent her a picture of what she looks like after she got out of surgery, connected to all those machines, and even do she is a doctor that daily, seeing her sister like that just broke her, and she turns Melanie around to get a good look at her sister while being careful with her right hand, “Babes…” allow them to come inside instead of making them wait outside for long” Martins calls out to Kalinin and she becomes self-aware. “My apologies, please come in” she apologizes. “I will get Mel's stuff down from the car and I will be on my way…I have things to prepare in advance” he tries to escape having to go inside so that he won’t be tempted. “That can wait...Melanie’s celebratory dinner can't wait” Martins says as he joins them outside. “Celebratory dinner?” Kalinin asks “Are we celebr
“Everybody, meet Olivia… the social media manager that the photographer recommended for me” Kali introduces Olivia to everybody officially and she curtsies, making Kiki laugh.“I am the blide” She uses a TikTok sound to introduce herself and the people who got the joke like Mel and Kali laugh out loud while Ryan and Martins are left wondering what is funny.“Let's get down to business,” Olivia says as she starts dragging the content creation tools that she brought with her, so Ryan and Matins swoop in to help.“Take everything to Melanie’s room, and I will go pick up Kiki’s outfit,” she tells him as she starts to walk towards their room. “The boss has spoken,” Martins says as he urges Ryan to get up and he does. They pick up the box that contains the softbox, tripod, different sizes/types of light, with makeup folders and they start making their way to Melanie’s room.“Martin, I have a question for you,” Ryan asks once the ladies are out of earshot.“Shoot,” Martin says as he struggl
Location: No 123, Cedarwoods estate "Caleb, I need to go," Melanie said, her mind already made up. "But why? We just got here. I thought we could spend some time together," he pleaded. "I need to see Ryan. It's urgent," she replied, her tone firm. "Can't it wait?” he asked, trying to convince her. We didn’t get to spend much time together in Pearl Coast," he explained. “We didn’t go to Perl Coast to spend time together, we went there to find Shirley,” she said as a matter of fact, but Caleb’s face was a mixture of shock and utter disappointment. "You helped me find Shirley and I appreciate it but I really have to go now," she said, cutting the conversation short. “If you don’t want to drop me at his house, I can Uber there,” she said and that got him angry the more. “This issue is not even that deep, I will just drop you off since that is what you want” Caleb just had to offer to drop her off because even though he was angry, he couldn’t bear the thought of allowing her to
“I don’t understand why are being so stubborn and inconsiderate of my feelings, babe,” Caleb says, his eyes flashing with frustration. “I am not being stubborn Caleb, but what part of I don’t want to talk to right now so you do not understand?” Sophia’s eyes narrow. Just as it seems like the argument between Melanie and Caleb is about to escalate, Sophia clears her throat and drops her clutch on the antique glass table. Sophia is dressed to the nines in a sleek black pencil grown and red stilettos heels, her silky black hair cascading down her back. “Caleb, darling… since she doesn’t want to talk to you, I am here ready to talk to you, so let’s catch up because we have so much to talk about!” Sophia exclaims, her eyes lighting up as she sees Caleb’s attention on her, she rushes over to him, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug to mark her territory in front of Melanie. Caleb’s eyes meet Melanie’s over Sophia’s shoulder, and for a moment, they just stare at each other. Mela
As Alistair navigates the streets of Blackwood, he can’t help but feel a sense of unease. He does t know a lot of things about Melanie, but from what Caleb told him, she seems to be really close to her twin sister, for her to leave her comfort zone to come to stay with her, but her sudden refusal to go to her sister's house, sort of threw him off guard, and now Caleb is not saying anything concerning where they are supposed to go from here, and now he is left wondering where to take them.He glances at the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of his best friend's concerned expression and his babe's stony silence. It is clear that something that she isn’t willing to talk about is seriously bothering her. Alistair’s eyes flick back to the road ahead, his mind racing with possibilities. He contemplates between taking them to Caleb’s house and the hotel since Melanie doesn’t have a place to stay, but just dumping her at his father’s hotel may not be the best idea. Given the tension betwee
As Melanie steps out of the guest house, she can't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness because the day started well for her with that really thoughtful gesture from Caleb. However, Shirley's call sort of negatively altered her day. She has been trying not to let it get to her and just figure out a way to deal with her issue with her mom so that things will not get messy at all.She has also been looking forward to seeing Caleb all morning. For some reason, she wanted to speak to him about the latest development, because she didn’t want him to think that he was the problem, or he did something to her when she decided to go MIA like she always does because she can’t come up with a better option, and especially after the lovely breakfast that he had sent her way, she had even taken extra care to dress nicely after Alistair left her room, hoping to make a nice good impression.She has a yellow and black long off-shoulder sundress, with a slit that reaches all the way to the
As soon as Kali drops the call, Melanie’s mind reels. She wonders how she will deal with the situation when she finally gets to that bridge while stuffing all her things in the mini-traveling bag she brought with her.“In the next few hours, I should be out of here, but where do I go from here?” Melanie questions herself as she routinely stops forcing her unfolded clothes into the bag.“The only people I know here are Kali and her little family, but I can't even go back there because what if I get comfortable in my sister's house and my mom decides to pay her a surprise visit?” Melanie ponders, and she shakes her head, to dismiss the idea of going to Kalinin’s house because she knows that for her mom to wake up one morning, and decide to visit her, then she can also do the same to her other daughter and it won't be strange in her dictionary.“I also know Ryan, but that man wants nothing to do with me since he hasn’t left me a message since he left, nor has he tried to even call or rea
As soon as Melanie hangs up the call with Shirley, she puts a call through to Kalinin almost immediately. It tells her that the line is busy, but instead of just letting her sister call her back, she persists with the call until her sister picks up her call. “What the F is wrong with you?” Kalinin asks her angrily as soon as she picks up her call. “Shirley told me that Mom went to Pearl Coast, and I wanted us to agree on what you are going to tell her before you spoil things way beyond what I can salvage for her,” Melanie informs her sister. “What is that supposed to mean?” Kalinin asks pissed. “I figured that you may not be able to come up with something very fast, so I decided to call you immediately,” Melanie let’s get sister know. “You should know that I won’t tell our mother something that you haven’t told her, because I know how she likes to blow things out of proportion and also overreact,” Kalinin hisses as she says. “Whoosh!” Melanie exclaims. “I can’t believe that you
“Hey, I got the surprise delivery that you asked your best friend to deliver to my room, and I am grateful for that.” Melanie’s eyes sparkle with gratitude as she types the text that she wants to send to Caleb before she procrastinates and forgets to do so. As she types, she smiles to herself.She hit send, but the messages only ticked once; they didn’t double-tick, which can only mean one thing: his data is not on or he is not available.“Excuse me, Alistair, do you know where Caleb is? I tried texting him to thank him for the breakfast, but the message didn’t deliver,” Melanie says, frowning as she turns to Alistair.“I’m afraid Caleb is unavailable at the moment, and that is exactly why he sent me here to drop food off for you, so that you can know that you are still on his mind,” Alistair’s expression turns sympathetic.“Is he okay?” Melanie asks with furrowed brows.“He is perfectly fine, there are just a few things that he needs to sort out quickly, which is exactly why he is in
After sorting Caleb out, he goes to the side of the room where Caleb’s stuff is arranged to get an outfit change out of the duffel bag so that he can have a warm bath and change into something fresh. He then goes into the bathroom to take a quick bath because he starts feeling really uncomfortable.While he is busy drying his body, the landline in the room starts to beep, so he quickly gets the call so that it won't disturb Caleb.“Alistair Rolands from room 77B speaking,” He introduces as he picks up the call.“You placed an order for a breakfast platter to room 16B on the fifth floor right?” the caller confirms from him.“yes I did…is there any problem with delivering my order?” Alistair inquires, concerned because the other was placed way over 30 minutes ago.“We brought the delivery to her room door five minutes ago, and we have been knocking since then, but there has been no response from the person inside since then,” The person at the other end of the phone informs Alistair.“
Location: Silver Oaks Resorts, Maple Ridge, Orion.Alistair's eyes slowly flutter open to the soft glow of the morning light peeking through the curtains. He stretches, feeling refreshed and fully sober after a good night's sleep. He glances around the room, expecting to see Caleb asleep in the adjacent bed, but he is nowhere around.Alistair hisses, he throws off the covers and gets out of bed, thinking that Caleb ditched him to go and spend time with Melanie again while he is left lonely and sad in the room at a vacation that was told was going to be compensation for being away from the country for a whole week with a woman that he just met, without giving him a proper explanation, and just shoving all his duties down his throat.On getting into the bathroom, Alistair stands in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth with a rhythmic motion. As he scrubs, his mind begins to wander to the events of the previous night. Specifically, he isn’t able to shake off the feeling of ma
Location: Silver Oaks Resorts, Maple Ridge, Oakland.Melanie returns to her room, reeling in her good sorts because she didn’t expect to have such a nice time with Caleb. Still, him setting up such a surprise for her during the day, just because she insisted that she didn’t want to talk to him is something that she isn’t able to get over, and then the date wasn’t something out of the extraordinary. However, it was still perfect in its own way, exuding its own uniqueness.She isn’t the type to agree to go on a date easily with someone, but first, it was the dating site that she didn’t have a choice but to check out, then the first date with Caleb at his club where he left a sour taste in her mouth and she made up her mind not to have anything to do with him again, but then the man keeps following her everywhere like he wants more from her.In all honesty, Caleb Wellinton is a good-looking man who screams money even though Melanie doesn’t know his net worth, but after she did him dirty