She watched his muscles flex as he moved about preparing the meals for brunch. He flipped the bacon in the pan and started preparing to bake cookies. He would refer to his phone for the recipe once in a while and she didn't find it odd. He was supposed to take care of her meals but clearly didn't even know the simplest recipes. Yet for some reason, she didn't have the slightest urge to reprimand or fire him.
She could get used to this kind of view. It was amazing that while he didn't know how to cook, he was doing his best to learn just so he would cook for her. It was a job that helped him pay the bills but his effort still made her smile. That woman he loved must have been blinded by the douche if she still couldn't tell what an amazing man Livian was. Well, her loss. If she had any idea that she was the very woman she had just cursed and scolded for being a fool, she might want to eat her words. "I'll help you with that." She walked over and toLivian stared at her for what felt like a lifetime but was probably only a few seconds. Meeting his gaze that was unwavering as he looked straight into her eyes, her mind started to fill with unease. Had she gone too far? They had known each other for such a short time, why would she blurt out something that could make him judge her?She chewed the inside of her lip. It was exactly because they didn't know each other that well and would go separate ways in six months that she shouldn't care what he thought of her after what she had just blurted. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to bear the thought of him shunning her."I…" He spoke at the same time and made her stop. "You don't strike me as a serial killer with actual skeletons in your closet. If you did something to him, he must have deserved it."A smile slowly formed on her lips. "Why would you be so certain that I didn't turn vengeful and torture him to his death for fun?"
She smiled and sent the pictures that they had selected back to Asher. She then looked up at him. "Do you want to keep the rest for your personal use? You can use them as your phone or laptop wallpaper as long as you don't post them on social media.""I'll take one." He chose one that had a clearer shot of his side profile from the lot that they had not selected for the ads. She sent it to him. The meeting was about to start so he left to deal with his own company matters. By the time he was done, it was already evening and he was yet to see a sign of her leaving her room. She was probably busy so he made her dinner and took it to her room."Come in." She said when she heard a knock and looked up to see him carry a tray in.He uncovered the lid. "I brought your dinner. Figured you'd be too busy to come downstairs but you shouldn't miss your meals."His thoughtfulness melted her heart. "Thank you. Though you should know that you don't have to conti
"Is there a good reason why you deceived my granddaughter?" She demanded, her expression stern. He knew that one wrong word was all it took for Gemma to be told everything and for him to be forced to divorce her."Well," Shit.Her lips twitched as she looked at him. "If I were you, I would not try to weasel out of this by lying."She was right. He would only be digging deeper into his own grave, and it wasn't like she couldn't investigate his exact identity if she wanted to.After checking to ensure that there was no one but them on the rooftop, he leaned against the railing slightly. "She would never believe that I love her if I told her who I am. Heck, she wouldn't even let me speak to her before kicking me out.""In other words, you lured her using an alias and managed to get her to say yes all without knowing who you really are." She sounded disappointed and if it was infuriating that he had hidden his identity from Gemma, it was even h
The following morning, Gemma was about to eat the French toast that Livian had brought for her breakfast when Cora delivered an awful piece of news. The detective had asked for her to call him back. Again. She almost groaned in frustration. The last time he had her return his call, he had called her over and asked a series of questions she didn't know had anything to do with the case. Despite her displeasure, she knew that he would make a living hell out of her life so she had no choice but to give him a call.Just as she guessed, he called her over to the police station to assist with investigation as he termed it, but she knew he must have just found more excuses to try and pin the crime on her.They sat opposite each other at the table. He stared at her as though he was trying to make sense of something but didn't look like he was about to say anything."Did you call me over just so you could look at me? You do know that there are photographs for
A knock on the door interrupted him just as he had gotten the first syllable out."Gemma, are you busy?" Cora's voice came. Gemma called her in.She was shocked when she saw him there, so she stood stunned for a while."You don't need to pretend around Livian. He will keep his mouth shut." She chortled. It was a subtle threat. Not that he was planning to talk about anything he shouldn't."I'll let you two talk first." Cora offered and turned to leave."Is it personal or business-related?" Gemma asked. When Cora said that it was related to what they had discussed earlier—which Livian knew had to do with him as Darrel's boss, Gemma told her to stay and asked him to return in about ten minutes.He took a deep breath once he was in his room. Why did it seem like things were happening to interrupt him every time he was ready to open up? Was this a sign that it was not the right time to tell her about it?Of course, he wanted
Although she had decided not to investigate the mysterious shareholder since he so badly wanted to remain a mystery, it still bugged her. What if he really was after her life or something and he was baiting her? But then again, if it was a bait, he would want to deliver it in person so she knew who she was dealing with, right?She couldn't seem to come up with a reasonable explanation even after several hours so she sighed in exhaustion. The reason was not certain but she knew for a fact that there was no such thing as free lunch.___"How did it go?" Livian asked Darrell when they met up at the company. It had been two days since he had him send the share transfer document to Gemma. Ever since then, she constantly had reasons why she could speak to him and he knew they were not excuses. When he took a look at her this morning as she spoke to Cora, he noticed the dark shadows under her eyes even though it was just a glimpse from a safe distance. 
Ten years ago."I'm home!" Livian announced when he returned from work. The house was quiet with no sign of her, so he went to look for her in the garden. "Gem?"She peeked out from a hedge and ran over, bowing before him even though he had told her countless times that she didn't need to. "Sir!""You deserve to be punished." He growled jokingly.She looked up at him in shock and fear. "I'm sorry, sir. But I don't understand what I did wrong.""What did you just call me?" He pretended to be annoyed, and she realized that he wasn't really angry.Her face was flushed as she stuttered. "R-rock."He threw his head back and laughed. Her taste was quite unique. She had refused to call him Livian because it reminded her of his family and Maverick wasn't an option either because it was supposedly too long. When he suggested that she call him Rick, she settled for Rock. She was so cute.Observing her beautiful face,
Why under the sun would Noah turn himself in? The news was an unexpected shock. She paced her room as Cora watched her from her bed."Why is it a shock?" Cora asked. "If he did it, then it's only right that he turns himself in. Besides, doesn't this relieve you of the pressure of that stinky detective hovering around you and trying to uncover nonexistent evidence of you committing a crime you have nothing to do with?""Cora, he…" She stopped what she was going to say, frustration clear on her face."What is wrong with you? Shouldn't you be happy?" Cora couldn't make sense of this kind of reaction. While it was shocking, Gemma would be on the benefitting side no matter how one thought about it."This is Noah we are talking about Cora. Why would he do that without a reason? There has to be something that forced him to do so, something less tragic than him having to rot in prison for murder."Her worries were unfounded. Cora
Wendy had her eyes shut when he opened the bathroom door."What's the result?" He asked.She didn't intend to tell him without playing a guessing game with him, which he quickly found out. Luckily, it was only a two choice option."Is it positive?" He asked hopefully. She shook her head.His mood dimmed in the slightest but he still asked, "Is it negative?"She shook her head, and he was baffled. Was she going to make him have a gazillion options even though it was a question of yes or no?He tried again. "Were you unable to take the test?"She shook her head to that too, and he was about to ma
It had been several weeks since Mia learned the truth about the past but it was not in the slightest bit easier to bear. It was still hard to imagine that the woman she had hated all her life was also the one who had saved her life. She had not had the courage to tell Carlos about it. Maybe he already knew the truth but kept it to himself. It was probably one of the things that would become clear with time and she was not willing to pry into them before they naturally unfolded. It made her feel guiltier because they were growing closer by the day.They had agreed to be friends but spent a lot of time together, doing things that friends definitely wouldn't ever do—not that she was complaining.On Friday evening, she went to his office as soon as she clocked out. This was how it had been for weeks. He would either seek her or she would seek him, every day. They would either have dinner together or he would drop her off. On weekends—like today—they would coo
“What in the world…” Gemma was rendered speechless by the insanity she had just heard. “Why the hell would such a rule even exist?”The elderly lawyer had no definite answer to that, because it was not he who had written the will nor had he set the rules that his granddaughter was finding absurd. He could only hypothesize. “The old man didn't want his bloodline to go extinct. He had to set some rules, and you are lucky that he did not specify that you must have a son before inheriting his estate.”Gemma sighed when she imagined that such a thing was possible. She had not known her grandfather when he was alive, because her family was yet to find her when he passed away. From the tales she had heard about him from her parents and grandmother, she knew that setting such an absurd rule did sound like something he would do.Even so, it still made no sense when she thought about it. “But I'm a w
Mia translated the document and while she didn't think there was anything secretive about it that would make Carlos unable to give it to someone else, she got the work done within the deadline nonetheless. It was the only way to get him to stop seeking trouble. She hated having to do everything he asked of her but he was the boss and there was nothing she could do about it. At least not yet.He was still sitting at his desk when she returned."That took you half an hour,." He remarked when he saw her.She placed the folder on his desk. "I'm done." She muttered, wondering why he sounded like he was complaining when he had given her two hours. She had not even taken up half of the allocated time. Was he going to scold her for being too fast?"Thank you." He half whispered. It was the first time he was appreciating anything she did and she was baffled."You're welcome." She smiled. He was smiling back at her and for the first time as well. She not
She thought he would ask to spend more days of the week with her or something along the lines but what he said surprised her."Promise me that you will sue Declan and that you will definitely go through with it no matter what happens."She frowned. "How is that paying you back? It's in my favor either way." She looked at him in confusion. Did he have a misunderstanding about the meaning of paying back?"It does pay me back. It's a win-win situation for both you and me."She thought hard about it and still couldn't understand how that was remotely possible."Is it because the man who hurt the woman you love will be behind bars and you will no longer have to see his face around? or, do you have personal grudges with him? Are you planning to use his term in prison as a way to end him?He smiled at her vivid imagination. "It's nothing of the sort. Well, those would be added benefits of putting him behind bars but the main reaso
"You are so beautiful." Livian ran his hand down her shoulder and kissed her cheek. She would have thought that he was just saying it to get on her good side but when she met his gaze, she had to believe that he truly meant it. His eyes were filled with adoration and if it was humanly possible, his attraction for her seemed to have intensified after what they had just done.She purred like a comfortable kitten when he kissed her cheek. She was lying against his chest with her body half sprawled against his. She pulled her knee up against his thigh and it drove him crazy. He groaned in pleasure."You are insatiable." She chuckled. They had done it twice in a row and she was beginning to realize that it didn't take much for him to be hard again.He wrapped his arms around her waist and chuckled against her neck. "Who am I to blame for that? If the wife is too sweet, is it the husband's fault that he got addicted to her sweetness?"She looked
Liam and Wendy had a shotgun wedding and it was baffling to everyone. The first thing they had to do was fulfill a part of the contract, which was for Wendy to make an appearance in the Dumont family as his wife.Their plan was to pass off as a real couple but they were shocked when they found out that Gemma was not falling for it."The two of you broke up two years ago, didn't you?" She questioned them."We reconciled and realized that we didn't want to risk losing each other again, so we decided to get married." Liam held her hand.Gemma chuckled. "Or, Liam had his assistant get him a suitable wife for hire so he would be able to access the trust fund from his great grandmother and since his assistant couldn't get a suitable woman, you decided that it would be more believable if it was you and him getting married." Gemma teased."That's not…" Wendy didn't know how to defend herself."It's okay. It's perfectly
She was certain that if she chose to agree to the contract marriage, the money she would earn would be enough to pay all her debts including her rent. Forget paying rent. Even if she wanted to purchase the entire estate and kick the landlady out of the apartment complex, she would have the power to do so.She was only in such a predicament because she had a falling out with her parents and decided to leave.It was impossible to count the number of bosses and managers who had tried to take advantage of their position to sexually harass her.Even so, she did not regret her decision, nor was she going to bend her will for that man. She shrugged. Many of her problems would be solved once she received her salary from the diner.After eating her snacks, she took a shower and prepared to go to bed.…It was already 7pm and the traffic couldn't get any crazier. Wendy was already an hour late for her evening shift and she kne
Evenings were the busiest time of the day at the diner and when Wendy was finally done with her work for the day, it was already 7pm. Even so, she couldn't leave until her replacement who would be working the night shift arrived since it was a 24 hour restaurant.She glanced at her pocket watch in irritation. Alma, that bitch, was late again. What irked her was the fact that she knew Alma disliked her and she was doing it on purpose like she always did whenever she had to take over the night shift from Wendy.Clara had already changed out of her work uniform and sent it to the laundry, so she was ready to go. She offered a smile at Wendy as she made her way towards the back door. "Want to go home together? My boyfriend will pick me up. We can give you a ride. Go on and change, I'll wait for you."Wendy looked up from the orders she was preparing for a couple and their daughter, returning the smile. "It's alright. I'll take the subway." She was gratef