«ETHAN»“I think we're done here!” I slammed my fist on the table with a dark look on my face.Every one in the room flinched back knowing fully well my mood went real fast from choleric to dead men all over the room.I loosened my tie walking out.Things were spiraling out of control. I've never had so much as a meeting with the board once in three months. While on 5he other hand, this was the second time we were meeting this month. I was annoyed!“Well Mr CEO,” A voice drawled behind me. “Rumours say your sister is taking over.”I turned back sharply and stared at thean coldly. “I seem to recall you are just a nameless representative young man.”He stepped back feeling the oppressive energy coming from me.“I advice you value the day's o
«Layla»“Nah uh babe, that dress is not giving” I stared at the pleated emerald green gown that had frills at the edges. It was cotton for goodness sake, very comfortable. I held up the off shoulder long sleeve and looked back at Annabeth “What's wrong with it?” I had to ask. Her perfectly made up face filled my screen as she peered closer at the dress“We need something that is boss level. Something that says I can squash you if you so much as blink at me. ” she leaned back and pointed with her eyeliner “and that is not it. ”I sighed and added it to the pile of clothes that were already forming on my bed. America will have a lot of work tonight. I had been surprised when Annabeth had called me saying that she wanted to help me lock out a dress for our reunion. It was a good three hours away, I told her not to worry that I got this but she looked so offended.“I am not having my best friend step into that hall looking like an American teen in a crop top and baggy jeans ” she had s
«NICOLE»Friday night.... My heart was beating fast.I sat in my room applying finishing touches to my make up, more surprised that I didn't smudge it all over my fave instead considering my shaking hands.The month was over. What made me all the more frightened was that Sader hadn't called me all day. As a matter of fact, he had gone silent right after I bargained more time by sacrificing my only loyal friend Lovett.His last words were, “Interesting...”That left me scared. What was going through the mind of a man as dangerous as him? But could I really do this? Lovett did nothing wrong. She deserved a life and I was going to hurt her right after she revealed a crucial secret of Layla to me.That was an inexcusable evil. I couldn't!“It's you or her,” My mind reminded me.I had to choose.I stood up picking the blue hand bag.“I hope you forgive me for this Lovett,” I muttered stepping into the hills and taking a glance at my pale blue off shoulder crop top partly covered on one sho
«NICOLE»“Go on, sit. ” Sedar watched me in amusement. I hated the smug look on his face but I knew he could whip out his gun at any moment and nothing was exactly stopping him from shooting out brains. It might have mooked like I was the one in charge but now, the situation became clear to me. I was the one under him. As long as our transaction remained incomplete, he controlled me. How had it gotten to this? I thought. If I recalled correctly, the pact we had was pellucid and simple, heck so stupid looking at it from his side that I literally had nothing to lose. That was then when I had been confident of winning this battle. But now, I saw his plan. His eyes revealed that much. Right now, he was going to show me how real he was. And if I tried to run, he would catch me alive and show me a hell worse than death itself. With all of this going through my mind, I sat docile awaiting his next command. This was nothing like the night with Ethan. Sedar was the complete opposite,
«Nicole»I woke up at the crack of dawn, the events of last night flooding back and threatening to drive me insane. I'd gotten home very late and still couldn't get a wink of sleep till much later. Who would after all that had happened?Still somehow I managed to wake up early. It was my routine after all.I pushed my distressing thoughts to the back of my mind, I had work to do today. One more week was all I'd bought with my best friend. I should check up on her, I was sure she would be alright. It's just a little trauma. Okay not a little, it was terrible but I'd had no choice, it happened to the best of us. I slipped into khaki pants and a red sweater. No need for makeup right, I asked myself perring into my reflection in the mirror. I settled on slight foundation, lip combo and eyeliner. Leave the extra stuff for work days. I was going undercover today anyway. “Nicole” my mother walked up to the couch I was sitting on eating a slice of pizza. I looked up at her. Oh great, she wa
«Loveth»Get a grip girl, I told myself walking through the revolving doors of the company. I must have stood outside for like ten minutes prepping myself up to get in and get on with life. Everything seemed normal, but why wouldn't it? I'd probably been the only one with a traumatizing experience last night. Left to me, I would have stayed in my bed soaking my pillow with tears but I had to come to work. I'd already called in sick once this week to enable me watch and follow Layla. I did not have a high rank to use to my advantage like Nicole did, so no pity party for me.Nicole. Thinking of her brought up a rage I hadn't known I could feel within me. I marched into the elevator, fueled by anger. How could she do something like that to me? Didn't being best friends count anymore? She was extreme on most days and I was used to that, maybe even a bit fond, but last night was way over the top. The things they made me do, the things they did to me. I shivered at the thought of what had
«Nicole»I stepped on the accelerator, forcing my eyes away from my phone screen. It wouldn't do to have an accident and dent my beautiful sports car. Also if I got injured on the way, how would I be there to comfort my poor friend?Sedar you beast, I thought in disgust. Not only had he forced us to play his twisted game, now he had sent it viral. What was his gain in doing this now?Nothing, I answered myself, just like there was no gain in playing his game. He was just reminding me that he was the real master here. You're next, his cold voice echoed iny ears. What would Loveth do when she finds this, I wondered. Sweet gullible loveth, she didn't deserve this level of shame. Just another testimony to how terribly I'd treated her. I should have kept her out of this. She would probably have a heart attack when she sees the post. I hoped she hadn't seen it yet, hoped that she was at home having a lazy day and crying on her bed. Anything that would stop her from seeing this.I doubted
«ETHAN»I stared at my phone with a mixed expression. It was lucas calling, telling me he was at my company.“You want me to meet you at my company?” My brows furrowed stressing the part that it was my company we were talking about. “How absurd.”He gave a short laugh. “Well last time you tried visiting the Empire building you nearly died alright,” He reminded me.I grunted. Just when I decided to take a break from everything today. For a change, my plan was to lie in bed all day like some depressed human and think long and hard about everything.Just yesterday, some henious slander went all over the net and then just today, there was a reported homicide on the news. Just my luck, the victim was from my company. I didn't need that kind of scandal for the Crawford cooperation. Of course I wasn't being paranoid but I had a bad feeling in my gut that it was all connected.But c'mon, that wasn't even possible. I didn't even know the name of the victim. There was no way it was connected.
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