In Campbell hospital, Arthur enters into the elevator alone, making sure the doors close before Charles can get on, Daisy just keeps her head down, not wanting to say anything to anyone and John stands a ways off form her, too ashamed to come too close.Inside the ICU, Bethany holds Quinn’s bruised hands and massages it gently, hoping to get the girl to sleep.As soon as the elevator pings open, Arthur stalks out of it, his fists so clenched that his knuckles are completely white.Daisy senses it first and looks up, seeing the look in his eyes, the eyes that are specifically trained on where John is standing. Down the hall, the staircase door opens and Charles bursts in, panting heavily.“Dad! Run!” he yells.John snaps into attention while Daisy jumps out to hold Arthur back.“Artur, don’t do this! Don’t make a scene here.”“You knew he cheated on you, you know he has a child outside, because the child herself called you. And here you are trying to protect him?”Daisy dives into the
The next morning meets John Worth slumped behind his medium large desk at Worth Construction. The office is quiet, weirdly so, and the usual hustle and bustle of staff has disappeared.The window blinds are drawn shut, casting long and dim shadows across the room, and the stale smell of coffee lingers in the air. His shirt is wrinkled, his shirts cuffs loosened, and his eyes are bloodshot, an obvious sign that he hasn’t left the office since the day before and did not have a good sleep or rest all through the night.He had barely slept.Not that he could anyway, with everything collapsing into shambles all around him.The papers sit untouched on his desk, the ones he is going to fill and have submitted to the company commission, filing for bankruptcy, their presence looming like a black cloud over his future.Campbell Hospital, the last lifeline of his company, had cheated them out of the project at the worst possible moment. No new contracts, no ongoing projects, nothing. And now, ba
Just as Gabriel leaves the office, closing the door behind him with a quiet click and then the call of doom, John slumps back in his chair.“The siblings played me. She certainly used Mason to do this to me. She used it to take revenge for her supposed hurt while with Charles. If she has some grudged against Charles, it is only mature to go after him, why did she use him to target me?” He keeps rambling on to himself, angry at everything including himself for not finding out about the duo’s relationship sooner.Before he can gather his thoughts, the phone on his desk rings again, startling him. Frowning, he picks it up, expecting another reminder about the bankruptcy proceedings. "Worth Construction…" He says flatly.“Mr. Worth, I presume?” A smooth voice replies on the other end.“Yes. Who’s this?” he asks, his interest piqued since it’s not a voice he has heard before.“Let’s just say I’m someone who can help you with your current situation,.” The man says, his tone slow and calm.J
The next morning, the Worth household is anything but peaceful.Arthur stands by the window, looking out at the scene unfolding outside. Reporters are swarming the front gate, the grounds, cameras flashing at even the most mundane things, some of them giving live interviews from the front of the mansion, all their voices rising in one annoying mix of questions, accusations, news and lies.Behind them all, a group of angry fans gathers not far from them, some holding up signs with frustrating slogans such as…"Justice for Millicent!""Bethany, Homewrecker!"“Arthur, Come to your senses!”Arthur clenches his jaw.This is way worse than he had expected. He thought he would have the day to do something before it all gets out of hand like this. After watching the whole interview himself the night before after Bethany had slept, he was furious to say the least.It’s not the fault of the people who are advocating for the wrong thing, at least they had no idea that the person they are doing s
Some thirty minutes later, Arthur steps into the quiet restaurant downtown, scanning the room quickly before heading toward the private booths at the back.The dim lighting and soft atmosphere offer a level of privacy he needs for this meeting.Millicent had insisted on a booth, keeping her profile low, and for once, Arthur agreed. The last thing they need is more public attention, especially with the scandal she’s already stirred up. They cannot afford to have more wrong presumptions with the one on ground causing a lot of issues already.If they are caught together, he won’t be surprised to wake up and see on the news as top news and headlines that the couple had met and planned to get back together or something like they have reinstated their marriage, bye bye to Bethany or corny headlines just like that.It will be infuriating for him but it will be heartbreaking to see and watch Bethany listen to that bull crap.As he approaches the booth, Millicent is already seated, sunglasses
Sienna paces in her small apartment, disturbed by the silence pressing down on her.A whole day and a couple of hours have passed since she last heard from Charles. She thought revealing herself to him or at least Daisy would stir things up, force some kind of reaction from the family.But nothing has come.No calls, no messages, nothing.She feels like a ghost, haunting the edges of their lives while being completely ignored. And being ignored is not what she has been looking forward to being. She wants to be seen and recognized as the one who reveals what kind of a monster John is but now his family is paying her no heed.Her phone sits on the table, taunting her, just like it had the day before. She stares at it, her mind racing. She can’t just wait around anymore. If she’s going to get what she wants, she has to act.Taking a deep breath, Sienna picks up her phone and dials Daisy’s number. It rings once, twice… but there’s no answer. She frowns, biting her lip in frustration.Is D
Daisy sits beside Quinn’s hospital bed, her heart heavy with worry and every other apprehensive emotion. The mixture of everything that’s going on is unhealthy for a forty year old woman. She holds her daughter’s limp hand, gently stroking it as if her touch alone could heal the wounds life has dealt them.The rhythmic beeping of the machines fills the room, but all Daisy can focus on is the phone in her lap because of the number that had called her earlier.Her thumb hovers over the screen, debating whether to call back. She had tried to push it aside, to ignore the questions clawing at her mind, but something about that call gnaws at her.She needs to know the truth. She needs answers. She claims to be John’s daughter after all, she needs to know if it’s true enough to know what the next step is.The bed had been cold all night.She glances down at Quinn, her voice soft and filled with regret. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’ve failed you in so many ways. I’ve failed everyone.”Quinn d
The emergency responders move quickly, but their grim expressions don’t need to tell Daisy everything she already knows.Sienna lies still on the cold apartment floor, her blood soaking into the tiles. One of the paramedics turns to Daisy, who now stands nearby, trembling, her mind in a fog. Someone had wrapped a blanket around her since she had been trembling heavily just before.“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The paramedic says gently, but his words still hit Daisy like a punch to the chest. “She’s gone.”And yet something still lingered. Isn’t it just a little bit fishy that the day she reveals herself as his daughter, she turns up dead? And the same man supposedly killed her mum, because why will a dying person lie about something as grave as a murder? If he killed the mother, he could have killed the daughter too, right?Daisy swallows hard, her mind spinning. Everything around her feels distant, muffled, as if she’s trapped in a nightmare. She can’t make sense of anything. Sienna is dead.
Bethany pushes herself off the floor, letting her gaze fall to the black clothes she has on, now with very visible specks of dust around it. She wipes it off with her hands but they don’t do much.“Millicent, why did you shove me like that?”Millicent takes one step backwards, her face turning red as she glances around into the cameras around her, all of them clicking and recording away.“Give me your phone. You can’t record our conversation without my permission.”“What recording? Why are you blaming me because I married Arthur? He is my husband and I love him so much, I don’t have any recordings on my phone. Stop yelling at me.”“Tell them to stop recording and tell the truth.”Bethany looks around at the crowd but she turns back to Millicent, feigning a gasp. “Millicent, what did I do to you? Just because you called your fans puppets, you are taking that anger out on me now?”The people in the restaurant all gasp collectively, some of them turning to their partners to gossip and wh
“I’ll be back in a little bit.” She calls out as she grabs her bag off the couch.“Come on, let me drop you off.”Bethany chuckles. She is out to get him a surprise, so no. “Not this time, please…”“Fine. Be back in time for dinner?”“Promise. I won’t have a bite of food there and be on my way home as soon as I am done over there.”“I love you.” He calls out, blowing her a soft kiss.“Love you too.”Without taking a driver, she decides to drive herself, it has been quite a while since she just let the wind whip through her hair, scattering it.. but as much as she would love to do that now, she would rather stay poised so that woman will see no flaw to pick at… will see nothing to make her think she is inferior to her.After the little over twenty minutes’ drive, she stops the car right in front of Paradise block of apartment, high rise with its penthouse inhabited by our former wife, she walks out the lobby, her heels clicking loudly on the marbled floor.Bethany rolls her eyes, thank
The next morning starts as a peaceful one.It’s end?Maybe not.Bethany rises from the bed, pushing her legs to the ground. After getting freshened up, she goes downstairs and has breakfast with her husband.Being a Saturday makes it all better since she can spend the entire day inside with her husband but she has something to do.Returning upstairs, she sits on their bed and dials a number.It rings for a full twenty seconds plus before anyone picks it up.“Good afternoon, my name is Bethany, I am hoping to speak to Millicent Atkinson?”There is a pause at the other end before a cheery sounding lady responds. “Oh hi ma’am, my name is Tina and I am Millicent’s manager. Can you please call back in about two minutes from now? I’ll go hand the phone to her now.”“Oh, I can wait online while you go ahead, thank you.”She will give them no chance to weasel out of it. It won’t be surprising if she hangs up, calls back in the said two minutes and they refuse to pick.She has to talk to Milli
Up in Arthur’s office after the short conference that is safe to say had left all of the reporters with even more questions than the answers that they have come for, Bethany sips some orange juice, laughing at something that Arthur had said.“You know, you are like the regular kind of CEO but you are a money grubber too. I can’t believe you said it out loud that you will get only richer with the lawsuits, come on.” Bethany comments, while laughing.“Well, if there is one thing I know people hate in our society, it is the rich getting richer… and yet, they are not helping themselves either. So I know that if I make that statement that I will use their money to get even richer, they will stop, or at least, it will reduce.Bethany bursts into another round of laughter.“Why were you at the hospital anyway?” Arthur asks, coming to sit on the same couch as she is.Bethany’s face lights up and then dies down. “I learnt quite a lot of things there today. I’ll start with Quinn. She told me th
The press conference hall buzzed with anticipation.Every seat is filled with bloggers, reporters, tabloids, newspapers, and even people with online news channels and cameras were positioned in every corner, and journalists from various media outlets had gathered to hear the truth from the couple who had been dominating the news lately, first, secod and third ost searched news were about them.The hushed voices amd comemnys in the air was thick and full of gossip, and all eyes were fixed on the stage, waiting for the moment when Arthur will make his appearance and the conference will start.They have their questions down and written already, also, they are immensely curious as to why Millicent and Arthur had divorced anyway so that is the main reason for their presence…As the lights dimmed slightly, signaling the start of the conference, Arthur stepped forward.His demeanor was calm, collected, and resolute, most especially since his wife now knows everything that happened in his pas
John Worth sits at his desk, a complete mess, his head buried in his hands.His office, once the center of his confidence and power, now feels like a prison. He has nowhere to go and rest his head and worse, no one to go to for comfort. The weight of everything, the scandal with Sienna being his child, and the suffocating guilt of having an affair with her for years and now, she is dead, presses down on him, making it hard to breathe.But the worst part is the uncertainty, the part that he does not know.Had he been the one to kill her? He couldn’t remember.His mind is a fog of confusion, and the last few hours of that day with Sienna were nothing but a blur. He recalls the anger, the confrontation, but after that... it was all darkness.A shrill ring from his phone startled him, pulling him out of his confusing thoughts.John blinks, his hands shaking as he reaches for the device. He doesn’t recognize the number, but something inside him tells him to answer it.“Hello?” His voice cr
The lights in Unique Auditing company flicker once, then slowly began to fade floor by floor, casting the building into darkness. Each level’s lights went off in sequence staring from the grund floor, leaving only the top floor illuminated, the faint glow cutting through the night surrounding the tall building.Up on that top floor, a figure sits motionless and unmoving in the CEO’s chair, waiting patiently.As the final lights went out, the entire building was plunged into silence and darkness.The figure rose slowly, pulling off a black mask that had been obscuring their face for the whole day. They rubbed their sore jaw, letting out a quiet sigh of relief as they stretched their stiff muscles. Sitting the whole day just to keep an identity hidden is a lot of work but the rewards make it entirely worth it.Reaching for the phone on the desk, they hesitate before turning on the flashlight.The beam of light was kept low, barely enough to illuminate the room but just perfect for what
“Wonder why she went to go get groceries herself when I offered to help.” Arthur mutters to himself as he paces around his study.He had resorted to working from home as soon as Millicent’s pregnancy clocked four months, choosing to stay at home with her so she is not bored. And even though she has not been saying much lately, he still tries to make her laugh, which she does sometimes, and today, he has something planned for her.If it works out, she’ll have something to think back to and smile even till their Azalea actually becomes a living human baby.“Ugh… Waiting around is killing me. I should stroll over to her or something.” Impatient, Artur dons a casual white tee shirt and some denim pants, choosing to walk over there instead, to clear his head and get his thoughts in order.The baby’s coming has taken most of the toll on Millicent but he has also made some sacrifices, even having to turn billions worth of contracts away because he can’t leave his wife at the doctor’s and lea
Two years into the wedding, still the picture perfect billionaire couple, the duo attended all functions with their spouses, they did picnics, had fun like a couple should, then came that day.Millicent bursts into the house with a sheet of paper in her hands, her breathing coming in short, loud gasps.Arthur descends the staircase of their Beverly Hills house in Los Angeles. “Hon, welcome back. You look pale? Did something happen?”Millicent is too speechless to say a anything and just hands him the piece of paper, which turns out to be a pregnancy test.“I am four weeks gone. A month. I thought I just had a simple cold, nausea, of course sometimes we get nauseated and shit. But pregnancy? There is a baby growing inside me?” Millicent mutters to no one in particular.Arthur, on the other hand, is happy for the news. Their family will now be complete after all. He picks her up from the ground in a hug and twirls her around. His joy for the pregnancy overshadowing hers by miles. “This