CHLOE. Everywhere was quite dark, there was only a little window where the ray of light could touch the floor of the dungeon I stayed in. I hated this place with every part of me. It irritated the shit out of me. Made me feel like a scum. This place was also dirty, I didn't imagine that I would be sitting on the floor of a dirty place in my life. Tears grew in my eyes and they were almost spilling but I pushed them back. I wouldn't be crying again. There was no way I would let myself sober or feel pity for myself. I stayed quiet, thinking a lot to myself. A few months ago, I wouldn't have thought that this was going to be my life now. The kind of life I am living now, I wouldn't have thought that it would be my present. The sound of the gate opening was what brought me back to consciousness. The room had more light seeping in, the condition of it was worse than I imagined. I had spent my night in a prison cell for going out without telling my master. Chills ran down my spi
ETHAN. Chloe had bent and taken care of my injury. That act took me by surprise. Chloe Hathaway wasn't a good person and she had never been one. Why did she go and grab the first aid kit and take care of my wound? Was it a plan? I didn't understand because I was well aware that she was the most self-centered person I had ever seen in my life. She only knew about herself so I could only think that she was pretending. There was a way to find out though, whether she was genuine or she was trying to melt my heart with that act. It wasn't working anyway. While I was in the car, she came out of the house so we could go to the place that I had said. I was going with her because she had insight when it came to things like this. Although Chloe had been subjected to her worst nightmare, she hadn't ceased to be Chloe. She wore the latest designer dresses and her skin was always clean. Her hair was almost always in a ponytail now yet she looked so good. Her black hair was naturally shiny. Sh
CHLOE Ethan yelled at me, his voice resonating within me. I flinched when he held my wrist thinking he was going to hit me. “Why are you inconsiderate and wicked? You have no human feelings. They are little kids yet you pushed them off like that. I knew you were never going to change, you are still the same heartless Chloe Hathaway!” He spat in my face. His eyes were red with anger and he looked at me with anger. “I’m not inconsiderate. You are the one who is not considering me and my feelings. You know I was born with a silver spoon yet you brought me here!” I winced as his fingers dug into my skin. Every part of me trembled with pain, sizzling me like I was being fried in oil. “You are no longer the girl born with a silver spoon, you are my toy now. My slave. I can deal with you the way I want!” He shouted in my face, holding my orbs with his disdainful gaze. “Why do you hate me so much?” I whispered. “Because you are a disgusting and selfish girl who only knows herself.
CHLOE. I didn't want to do as Ethan had predicted. Stooping low to ask these children for help was one thing that I did not want to do. Rather than ask them for help, I summoned the courage to walk out of the corner. Perhaps getting to the street, I would find a decent person to ask for help. These people looked like they were enjoying the way they were. They looked like they loved poverty very much and relished in it. How could one be happy living in a slum? They looked like they enjoyed it anyway. Walking further, I realized that this vicinity was the same. There were a lot of homeless people who stunk. It was very obvious that they hadn't had their bath. Their homelessness was reeking of them. I’d rather walk until I find a cab than speak to any of them who obviously hadn't had their bath or brushed their teeth. Luckily for me, not lucky because I had to walk like a mad woman. I found a cab that was able to take me to the city. I didn't have any money with him so I paid h
KATHERINE. The guard informed me that Ethan would like to see me. I was very happy because he hadn't asked to see me in a long time. It had always been that girl called Chloe. She was always with him and getting all the attention that was meant for me. I was the only girl that could satisfy him sexually. Although sometimes he got a girlfriend none of them had ever been enough for him. I was the only one who could give him the outlet to let it all go. His demons which had been trapped could have a platform to be free for the few minutes his manhood was working on the inside of me. I grabbed the tablets the doctor had given to me at the hospital for fertility. I had been on birth control for the past years because I wasn't allowed to have his children. However, I wanted him to be mine alone. Getting pregnant and having his baby would make him mine alone. I wanted him so I changed my drugs. I would just tell him a mistake was made in the hospital or something. As long as I was pr
KATHERINE. I tried over and over again to lift Chloe but I couldn't. My hand ached and my back cracked multiple times. Eventually, Ethan’s voice sounded behind me, a ragged voice that made me flinch slightly. “Stop! Leave,” he commanded without looking a me. I couldn't help but wonder why he wanted her to sleep on his bed. It couldn't be that he was beginning to have a crush on her and liked her presence. That couldn't be. Ethan hated her more than anything. “Should I call the guard, he should be able to carry her to her room,” I suggested, turning to him and expecting an answer. He stopped typing for a second before shaking his head. “Those guards might touch her in mannerless ways, leave her alone. Remember she is my property.” He responded which only got me pissed. I was more pissed because he had said those words in an authoritarian language. She was his property but why did it sound more romantic than an abuse? I would love him to call me his property too. I bowed my
KATHERINE. The more she opened her mouth and spoke, the more anger that I felt toward her. She kept talking like she owned this place as if she was still Chloe Hathway hence I had to remind her of where she was. “Shut up!” I smacked her face and it sent her cheeks an inch to the side. Her cheeks reddened immediately probably because her skin was quite sensitive. By the time she looked at me again, she had anger in her eyes. It didn't matter because there was nothing that she could do to me. “Who do you think you are?” I asked. “I should be asking you that question.” His voice resounded in my head. I turned and saw Ethan walking toward us. He wore a black tank top and a red shirt that barely covered his knees. Ethan's biceps were out and he looked extraordinarily hot. He had a deep frown on his face as well and he approached me. “What happened? Why did you hit her?” He asked, his voice sounded pissed off. “Actually…” “No, don't explain because I saw everything. Chloe, go
KATHERINE. Information got to me that Chloe had finished cooking and she was about to serve Ethan. This was my chance to go to her and pretend to apologize for hitting her. This way I could watch Ethan insult and humiliate her. I would even be there begging on her behalf and she would think I was on her side. Plus, Ethan would see me as a good person which was what I wanted. I needed him to hate her and love me. Ethan belongs to me and I was going to claim him for myself. I brushed my hair and applied brief makeup on my face. I still needed to be attractive during the entire thing. Hopefully, Ethan would ask to fuvk me after the entire thing. All of my plans would fall into place after today for sure. Getting to the dining room, I saw Chloe beside Ethan, a little bent to serve him the food. I smiled. This was the beginning of her misery. I was going to make sure that this place was her living hell. I walked over to her quickly. “Chloe,” I called gently and brushed my fingers
CHLOE. The shot had been so fast. I couldn’t even process it until I was nuzzling Ethan in my arms, his blood staining my hands. It was so bad that it felt like imagination. I couldn't bring myself to believe that he had been shot. How did this happen? And why? Who had shot the gun? Where did it come from? It happened so fast that I couldn't imagine it even though it was unfolding right in front of me. The glass wall had shattered all over the floor. Some had gotten into my skin as well. I just didn't mind because it didn't cause so much damage. I asked for help. Calling everyone around me. I begged them t help me and they did. The ambulance soon came and they look Ethan from me. Eli ran to my side after they had taken Ethan from me. “Are you his wife?” The nurse ahe asked me and I knew I had t say yes so that they woke allow me to be with him. Ethan had taken a bullet from me, I had to be with him. Sitting in the hospital hallway, the events kept replaying in my mind, over and ov
CHLOE. I couldnt help but wonder what I could do to her to make her feel the heat of me. To make her understand that I was back and I couldn't be meaaws with. I kept staring at her wondering where I could start from. She stood before me, her face pale and streaked with tears, her hands clasped tightly as she pleaded like a mourning mother. She looked sepressed. She wasn't as glmmes as she uses to be. She wore apurole dress which matched her hair like a monochrome. She was very bad with clothes, I changed her life back then. “Please, Chloe, show Grayson mercy. He has children, and I’m expecting another baby… him being in prison isn’t fair to them. Please…”I couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped my lips. It echoed through the room like a sharp blade. Although a part of me wa surprised that she was pregnant. She didn't look like she wa aacreying a baby. It could be one of her lies again but that didn't matter. I wouldn't have to hurt her again now that she had stated she was pr
CHLOE. The camera flashed on me over and over. I watched as my life came back to me. The person that I had always been. Chloe Hathway! “It took my family seven years to regain our wealth,” I said, my voice steady as I stood before the press, cameras still flashing and microphones poke toward me. “Getting justice for my family was the true battle. I had never in my entire life thought it was going to be so hard to get back what was mine. I was someone with the belief that whatever belonged to you could never be taken away from you!” I sighed, counting that mindset very stupid. Whatever belonged to you could be taken away countless times by people who couldn't even use it. One reporter stepped forward, her voice came clear. This time a reporter did not look at me with hatred. They were not mad at me like the rest of the world. “Miss Hathaway, we’ve heard that Mr. Grayson committed fraud and pinned it all on your father, using the company as a cover. Can you confirm this?” She asked
CHLOE. The proximity between us was nerve-breaking. I was sure that I would be able to control myself around him. But then I didn't want to give in again, yet the memories that we shared from the past kept plaguing my mind. I could only think about how he used to bang me against the bed. How he sucked my boobs the other day. I could only think about these things, faced with him like this. His breath was so close to my face. Every part of me thought of nothing but him. That I wanted him. He wasn't someone that I could have. Yeah, the reason for not wanting him or for thinking that I couldn't have him wasn't there anymore. Yet, it didn't mean I could have him. I wasn't sure that I could have him. “You brought your husband for what?” He ran his fingers up my waist. I was wearing a tank top with blazers and jeans, matched with heels. He was looking into my eyes, those burning gazes. He knew how to stare into a woman’s soul. He knew how to make her want him and he was using that on me.
CHLOE. I was so upset with Olivia that I lashed out at Ethan which I shouldn't have done. He had helped me so much and without him, I wouldn't be here. My father would have won the case. I shouldn't have spoken to him in that manner. Getting back to the house and after a shower, I realized that what I did was wrong. I was so stressed that I had lashed out at him. Maybe I was upset because he didn't look like he was on my side. Olivia had spoken to me so rudely that I had to make her feel the heat. I was back and better and she was going to rot in jail. “The way you spoke to him was rude!” Dad said when I entered the kitchen. He was preparing coffee. I was about to prepare mine when I realized he had made two cups. My dad and I were a coffee lover. This was one of the things that I loved about him, he was always preparing coffee for me. He knew the things that I loved. “I know dad, I thought about it and I am going to apologize to him,” I said, putting the tip of the cup in my mo
Ethan’s P.O.V.Hearing Chloe speak like that shook me to my core. Had she been pretending this whole time? Acting like she’d changed? I stood there, frozen, watching her as she walked back to her father. I could hear the sharp tone in his voice as he rebuked her for the way she spoke to me.I was too shaken to even speak. She didn't look like the Chloe who fell in my hands after she realized they had won the case. She was totally become the arrogant Chloe. It all looked like a joke to me but then it wasn't. Her next words made me realize that it wasn't a joke. “If it was about the help, we could ask for the bill and I will pay it.” She let the words out like they meant nothing. As though the money was water. I didn't care about the money. Money was nothing but she made him it seem more than that. “My music is paying very well,” she said, her voice dripping with arrogance. She didn't share a glance with me and her body movement was exceedingly conceit. “Plus, even if the company was
CHLOE. It suddenly seemed as though I was dreaming, like everything that had been said wasn't real. Maybe I was dreaming? I sat frozen in my seat, my breath caught in my throat. Did I hear correctly? Were my parents’ wealth and properties really being returned to us?Beside me, Ethan’s voice broke through my daze. “Yes, you heard correctly,” he said, his tone calm but with a hint of satisfaction. He seemed relieved, more relieved than I expected he would be. He was staring at me but all that went on in my head was the fact that all we had had been returned to us. The wealth that made me a Hathway was back. Before I could stop myself, I stood up, my chair scraping against the floor, and rushed to find my father. The moment I saw him, I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. He was praying and thanking God when I got to him. “Dad,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “We did it. It’s all coming back to us.”He hugged me back just as tightly, his voice cracking as he replied,
CHLOE. The final day of trial was here and I couldn't help but feel anxious. Back to the day it started. The day my dad was arrested and jailed. The day everything soiled. All that my father had worked was ruined on that day. And I became the daughter of a fraudster. I kind of had an unsettling feeling. If everything didn't work out today, we were doomed. Father would go back to the jail he just got released from and the rumor that had mostly been buried would shoot up. Today would determine everything. My hands felt clammy as I drove toward the courtroom. My father’s future depended on this, and I could barely breathe under the weight of it all.As I stepped out of the car and headed toward the courthouse, I spotted them—Grayson and Olivia. Of course, they’d show up today. I was expecting to see them. I had rehearsed all this drama in my head before today. “Well, well,” Grayson sneered, his voice dripping with venom. “Look who we have here. The runaway bride returns after all th
CHLOE.The table quickly became so weird. I wouldn't lie, I felt so suffocating, having all of them sit with each other. Especially Eli and his inquisitive mind. I hope he won't start asking questions that would make Ethan suspect something. The duo looked alike a lot and this had me scared. However, I felt a wave of relief when David, my friend, decided that it was time for him and Eli to leave. The tension building at the table was almost unbearable. I appreciated the gesture; after all, the longer Eli stayed near Ethan, the more likely he’d notice the uncanny similarities between them as I said earlier. But just as David was about to rise, Ethan leaned back in his chair and spoke, his voice smooth and commanding as always. “You should stay. Eli seems to like it here. Come, sit down. Order whatever you want.”David hesitated, looking at me for guidance, but Eli’s eyes lit up. His hopeful expression tore at my will to make him leave. It wasn’t often that he got to enjoy moment