«ETHAN»I woke up on a comfortable bed in a blue lit room. Everything flooded back immediately.I struggled to sit up. I must have fainted.... But as it happened, I didn't have the time for that.A cloth fell off my head as I propped my self up with my left elbow. “Argh!” A stabbing pain in my shoulders pushed me back down. I had nearly forgotten about that.My head throbbed in pain as my whole body was set on fire.It took only a moment to realise that my upper body was bandaged as well as my left arm. Even I hadn't realised it was that bad.The door opened and Nicole came in. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing I had woken up and went behind me raising the blinds.Warm light flooded in illuminating most of the room. I observed her quietly as far as my line of sight would allow.
Nicole's POVI looked at Ethan, trying to wonder what was going on in his head. Was he really going to give it to me, were we actually doing this?I was not sure how this was going to go, but the mere thought of it got me very excited. But it there was a chance that this was going to make our relationship a lot more stronger, them I was totally in. After all, I liked him very much in the first place."You seem to be carried away." he said in a deep voice that made my back arch."Um, uh?" I managed to mutter in response."So you were carried away." He confirmed and put his fingers in my hair. "I'll bring you back quite nicely then," he finished and ran a finger down my back, as his other arm pulled me closer to him.The action made me twice as much aroused as he looked me in the eyes. "We were at the part where ili asked you to dare me." he said and ran his fingers deeper, tactically. From my back to my front, delving into my shirt and touching my breasts. He knew what he was doing to
«LAYLA» “Oh God...” I prayed to no one in particular. I was trapped all alone in a room filled with nothing but cameras. What was I going to do now. I nearly kicked my self for sending the audio to the wrong person. Nicole! How could I? Every move I made was more foolish than the last. What would it have taken to send it straight to Ethan or even Jonas? Why was nature so cruel! Who knew what the little devil would do with that kind of information. Now I could only hope that she was still obsessed with him enough to go and save him herself. I laughed bitterly. Here I was praying that my devilish nemesis of a sister was obsessed with my husband. “Pathetic,” I knew that was what Ethan would say in his cold straight to the point voice. I closed my eyes giving up. Well he was right wasn't he? Even though it wasn't exactly my fault then who was to blame. The thought hit me like a dagger that Ethan might actually be gone before the end of the day. I sighed. Was this really the end?
«NICOLE»I was now Ethan personal assistant. Who would have thought that the lie I casually blurted out would at the very next moment become a reality.It was Friday evening and I was already getting ready for the meet in greet at the hotel. I didn't want to upset my parents by keeping up the stubborn attitude and besides, I had already gotten what I wanted. Well nearly....I applued the last touches of make up to my cheeks, with just the right amount of blush.Slipping into the newly ordered heels, I grabbed my small black bag and prepared to leave. Of course not without checking my reflection in the mirror once more.I was more than perfect.The blue slay queen sleeveless gown that was striped at the back. I would pick up Loveth on the way. She would be my back up or distraction... What ever you wanted to call it because I didn't exactly fancy spending all night engaging in needless conversations with overbearing three star CEOs.I picked up my phone and dialed her number. “Hey Love
«LAYLA»I couldn't contact Ethan the day if the incident and since that day, I couldn't help but notice that something had changed. The relationship that we seemed to have been forging dissipated completely.Everything was like a dream and we were back to square one. At least now we could have completely silent breakfasts together.I felt saddened everytime I thought of it. He would have been dead if it wasn't for me. Didn't he know that?Of course he didn't, Nicole had taking all the glory for herself. She didn't sieze to use the fact that she was his personal assistant to oppress me during work at every chance she got.It was sad but I was too scared to tell Ethan the truth. Even if he did believe me, that piece of information was better off dead with me because Violet might investigate into the matter any time any day.Her previous threats still rung in my head.It was all for the best that Nicole continued to run around propagating the tale of how she miraculously happened to be w
«Layla»“how many more hours till lunch break?“ I wondered aloud hitting the files I'd just finished sorting on the desk. I reached out and clicked my phone on. Shoot! two hours, I thought, pinching the bridge of my nose. I needed a break, I'd been running around since the crack of dawn today. Two hours, you can do this girl, I encouraged myself getting up. I immediately felt like sitting back down. The queasiness I'd felt in the pit of my stomach since the meet in greet night hadn't gone. And still remained a week after. I was starting to wonder if it was something I ate. “Everything okay?“ Ross's voice came to me as he shifted more files my way. I gave him a tight smile “all good. Do I have to sort those out too?“ I eyed the bundles of paper He shook his head. “Just take these ones to Bob. He'll know what to do.“I nodded gathering them up in both hands and making my way to the door. Bob was in charge of the tech department and that was all the way at the top floors. This do
«Layla»I stopped in my tracks taking in the woman sitting in the manager's seat. She spun around in the swivel chair to face me, her hot pink leather jacket and gold chain necklaces glinting in the sunlight from the window. She smiled slowly, tilting her head to one side. I caught a glimpse of a streak of tinted blue hair on the left side. That wasn't there the last time we spoke.“Violet” I said, more out of shock than anything else. I had to fight the urge to retrace my steps and slam the door. Pretend I never came here. “What a pleasant surprise.“ She put the cigarette in her hand in the ashtray and dusted her hands. Then she paused in the motion, sizing me up” or is it not?““Um…I want to see the manager” I was definitely not expecting her to be here. Why was she even here“Well as you can see, he's not here. Hope it's nothing urgent though, he might be out for quite a while.“ She swung her chair from side to side, with an expression I couldn't read. I didn't even want to know w
«Nicole»I stomped away from Layla extremely annoyed. How dare she hit me with being Ethan's wife? That was old boring news, and not a very good one apparently. I was probably getting better benefits from Ethan than she was anyway. But then, why did it sting so badly when she made that statement? Ugh, she always found a way to get on my nerves. The worst part was that I wasn't even sure who I was to Ethan anyway, definitely not his mistress yet though. I was sure that was not what I wanted to be anyway but how could I resist him when I had no intention to? I needed to spend more time with him, and if being his mistress was how that was going to happen, I would gladly do it but at some point I would have to define our relationship. I wondered how long it would take for him to realize I was far better than Layla and then decide to divorce her. I hoped that would happen soon though, my one month ultimatum was coming to an end and I was only a measly step closer to my goal. I needed to
Ethan's POV Layla held Aria's hand as they walked through the toys section of the mall, happily grabbing everything that caught Aria's eyes. It was good to be free again, to not be watching over our backs. It had been two months since Sedar was finally caught and even know it still felt unreal. He was such a nuisance for so long it was weird with him gone. All the drama we went through because of him. I remember Layla suggesting we go to Nicole out of desperation and frustration and to be honest I was about to give in but I knew good would come of exchanging oke devil for another. We decided to not go that far and I was grateful we didn't, unfortunately even if we wanted to it was too late. Layla got a call from a family about two weeks later that Nicole had ended her own life. The warden said she was constantly screaming to be let out and that someone should call me or Layla but they didn't because that was unreasonable. A while after she hung herself. Layla was frozen to t
Layal's POV"Okay." Annabeth's weak response came from the other side of the phone. Thank heavens maybe my little speech had knocked some sense into her."Okay? so you'll come stay here right?" "Not yet, I'll stay with a friend for a while. I want to stay with you guys but I can't risk messing up your lives even more." she sounded tired and I decided to let this matter rest for now. "Which friend?, where's Derek?", he had taken her home but he never called back so I guessed he was still with her."He left a while ago."He left?! Could he be any more of an asshole. He comes, drops a bomb like that leaves the two of us in a mess and then just drops her at home to be by herself. What was all the love talk about if this was all he could do. "He left you like this?" I was really starting to direct the anger i fel towards Derek, which obviously wouldn't end well. "It's not like that, i asked him to leave me alone. He kept apologizing when he wasn't at fault and I knew letting him see me
Layla's POV Watching Annabeth leave felt like my world came crashing down on me. I couldn't believe my eyes when Derek showed me that picture, immediately my mind clicked and made the connection it was like my brain just went into autopilot. It felt like the cinema all over again, realizing that Sedar had been so close to me again, I had been so close to death. I was thankful for Ethan who caught me before I fell, God knows him being there was what helped me calm myself down. Then Annabeth had started her meltdown, I had expected a shocked reaction but not something of that intensity, she looked like we just told her, her entire life was a lie. "Annabeth wait." When I had tried to grab her when she dashed upstairs she basically pushed me away and snatched Cho. My reaction to that was slow, what had I done wrong? I was in as much shock and disorientation she was feeling so why was I the one getting this reaction from her. To be honest I was disappointed that Ethan just stood ther
Ethan's POVI watched silent as Annabeth took a pause from her episode took a breathe and look at us, she seemed more composed but still rattled up. "I've got to leave." She said I shot off up the stairs"Why? Where are you going?" Layla called after her and follow her up.I turned to Derek, in less than a minute he'd wreak absolutely havoc on us all. This is why I didn't involve Layla in my conversation with Lucas, I didn't see her as weak, no but I also knew that certain matters are delicate so they should be handled delicately. "When did you figure it out?" "Last night. I was going to tell you guys first but..." I raised a hand to cut him off, it didn't matter if he wanted to tell us earlier or not what did matter was that we had found Sedar and he was awfully closer than we thought, this entire time."Wait, just wait." The sound of a door shutting and hurried steps called out attention. Annabeth was basically running down the steps with Cho is her arms, she was leaving with h
Ethan's POVI could hear the noise increasing slowly from downstairs, I had warned Layla this would happen. I tried to ignore it at first but then they had to be shouting for me to be hearing them this clearly. I put my laptop aside, stretched my limbs and walked downstairs. I got there to find Layla, Derek and Annabeth sitting round the dinner table, Layla's eyes were already in my direction by the time I reached them. She had most likely heard me coming. The discomfort they were putting her through was very evident on her face. I was already pretty much irritated, trying to work and being disturb by meaningless quarrel was very annoying. "I warned you." I said in my head as I looked at Layla, I was definitely going to rub this in her face later."You two know you're in another man's house right? A man who's trying to get work done and who has kids upstairs." They both shut and sat frozen with their eyes fixed on me. Personally I would have just kicked them out there and then. I
Layla's POV"It's nothing really, I just felt like maybe he was right" she waved her hand dismissively."Who?" "Derek", shit what had he said again"What did he say again?" I felt my fist instinctively clench, I was starting to feel like Annabeth was actually right in this. "Again, nah he said it when he brought you over to my place. That you had issues too and I was acting like my man drama was the center of the world." She looked to the side, it was obvious she was hurt by it.That was too much, this had gotten way too much. "Give me a second." I grabbed my phone and marched upstairs."Where are you going?" "I'll be right back." I barged into the room and Ethan looked at me confused."What's gotten into you?" "I'm going to interfere. I'm calling Derek to come over right now so I can settle whatever this is that they have going on." His eyes widened in shock and he shook his head, "Don't Layla. You sure you want to be in the cross hairs of whatever it is they have going on?"
Layla's POVThe house had been on lockdown for the past two days, yes, because of Sedar and also because Ethan was an overly protective person. Did I like being locked up in here all day? No. Could I do anything about it? Also no. All that could be done was wait it out and pray it needed soon. Ethan also worked from home to keep me company and lessen the agony of my situation. I told him numerous times that he could go to work and I'd just ask Annabeth to come over but I guess he saw through that lie. I was just looking for a way to get him out of the house so I could sneak out. His maid, America brought us all of the groceries and supplies we needed so there was no way to use needing to go shopping as an excuse. It was nice to be cared for but this was pretty much the same feeling that made me move out in the first place, unfortunately this time that wasn't an option."What is on your mind?" Ethan asked, this question snapped me back into the reality, I looked around, yep still stu
Ethan's POVI watched her step into Derek's car and drive off, I didn't exactly like the idea of her being out in the open after seeing Sedar stalking us but there was no winning an argument with Layla, the best I could do was give her a curfew to be back home. I called Lucas when she left, she was right about us needing to find the leak in our whereabouts that Sedar was tracking is with. "Didn't we just get off the phone?" He said sarcastically."I'm calling about Sedar. Again." "Did he show up again?" "No, but you remember how we talked about finding out how he knew where we were. Well Layla has a theory about it, she thinks it has something to do with Annabeth. Apparently all the times Sedar has showed up unexpectedly were when she went to places she'd already told Annabeth she was going to." "Was Annabeth the only one she told? That's a pretty wild assumption." He sounded skeptical, which was reasonable. Even I thought it was a shaky suspicion."No but she's the only common p
Layla's POV "What do you want me to say. Oh hey don't date whoever that creep is. I love you. Is that it?" I just stared at him, what the heck was that? So what he loved her now?. He stared back at me like a moron and then his expression softened and I took as a sign he realized he'd just lashed out at the wrong person."I am sorry." He did his puppy dog eyes look."I'd love to say it's fine but it's nothing, you two really need to take a minute and sit down to talk." The rest of the ride was absolutely silence, he walked me to the door and kept apologizing for the way he acted but all I did was nod. "What happened between you two?" Ethan saw the look on my face when I stepped in."More like what the heck is happening between two of them" I threw my bag on the couch and fell into his arms "Who are we talking about right now?" "Derek and Annabeth." "Oh, those two. Wait, they're still at it? I thought it would be over by now. Aren't they taken it a bit too far?" Even Ethan notice