LAYLA’S POV“Milady,” The guard directed me towards a red sports ferrari. He showed me the keys. “Would you wait for your driver or should I drive you myself?” He asked opening the back seat for me. He might as well drive, I shrugged entering the car. “Would you mind introducing yourself.” “My apologies Milady,” He bowed closing the door. “I'm Jonas Kent.”“Right,” I nodded. He entered the front seat and the garage gate raised open. The sports car zoomed past and within minutes, we were halfway across the city. He didn't stop for anything and arrived in front of huge brass gates. Maybe being married to a billionaire was not as bad as I thought. I began to think. The gates opened and our car drove in, parking soundlessly in the parking lot. Drake opened the doors for me and led me into the main building. I reasoned he must have been familiar with the people here because none of the security men bothered us. There was an open hallway with a receptionist dest at the front. People
«ETHAN CRAWFORD»I had my reservations concerning one, Layla Wales. She struck me as nothing exceptional. I was drugged, and there, a random lady bumped into me with dressing loose enough to turn me on. Goodness, it could have been any other girl! only to discover that she was the same woman my father had requested me to get married to. I wasn't ready for any relationship. Anyone close enough to me knew that. As a result, I had reason to believe that little Miss Layla Wales had it all planned. I told my father to postpone the agreement and have me focus on my work for now, and what happens next? The very girl I'm avoiding comes around and brings the whole wedding more than a month closer. I sighed, rubbing my temples. “How frustrating.”Entering a black sports car, I told the driver to take me to the company. I had a meeting with the board of directors. Taking out my cell phone, I called the manager. “Has Layla Wales arrived?” I asked coldly. “No, boss.”When she does, “I want y
«Nicole Wales»I stared at the face in front of me in astonishment. The dashing man tilted his head go one side, regarding me quietly. He was on one kneel gathering the remaining of the files.“You stare at me,” He noted cooly with an expression that was difficult to read.I quickly diverted my gaze feeling the red that crept up my cheeks. I wonder what he thought of me... Nothing bad I hoped.He stood up and offered me a hand. “Be careful next time, do you know who I am.”He said it more like a fact than a question. “Mr Ceo I....” I stuttered. He raised an eyebrow. “It's fine, I wasn't going to announce my presence anyway.”He brushed past my shoulders and walked into the elevators. “Well?”“Of course,” Hurrying to compose myself, I shuffled the files under one arm and made my way away. Forward, I thought wobbling slightly on my heels.Glancing back sharply, I caught the slightest hints of a smile in his eyes as the doors of the elevator slided shut.My stomach felt queasy. I had j
«Layla»It was my first day of work, I was already trying to be in ten places at the same time. Was there really that much vacancy at Ethan's company? And if so, half the city would die to work here. Why was he giving all the job to one person?Somehow, I didn't think it was as simple as that. Once I introduced myself as Layla Wales, the manager smiled at me and began typing on his laptop. I offered him my credentials and he just swept his eyes through them really quick and announced,“You got the job.” Then went back behind his laptop.Now, seated in a large hall where fifty of the workers worked, I looked through the slip of paper that he had given me. My working schedule. God it was choked!Mondays to Fridays I took a morning shift at the lab, afternoons, I went for a brief break then joined the archaeological research department. Saturday
«LAYLA»Finally, I was done for today... Or more like for now since I would still have to conclude the rest of the day's work once I returned to the mansion. I took the elevator down and phoned Jonas to pick me up.I walked past the front desk and outside the building. The red ferrari was already parked. Jonas leaned against the car waiting for me. Either the black camo outfit and dark shades was part of the uniform or he just enjoyed the in-between look of an underground gangster and a black belt ninja.“Milady,” He straightened and bowed as I approached.I acknowledged him with a nod. He opened the back seat for me.“Your driver is here.”True enough, I sighted a stranger at the wheels. His well ironed navy blue suit glinted in the sunlight. “My credentials,” He said offering me his license. Gloves, I noted. As well as a British accent. I glanced at the card and shrugged sitting down. I wasn't the fucking sherif anyway. Jonas closed the door and walked around the car, sitting at
«ETHAN»I sat in on the chair with my feet crossed on the study table. Glancing at the laptop, through the cameras I saw Layla seated at the dining table.Good I thought. The phone was also on the table along with some files neatly arranged to one side.“Layla or Nicole,” I muttered absently.Truth be told, I wanted neither of the sisters but if it boiled down to a situation where 8 had to choose, who would I pick?I toyed with the idea for a while then found the whole thing pointless. How could I picked when my father had already made the decision for me. It was out of the matter.I bit into the bar of chocolate in my right hand and opened the drawers, reaching out for a tiny jotter.“So here was what we were going to do Ethan,” I began softly.I spun the pen in my hand twice then paused hearing a knock on the door. I glanced at the camera.“You can come in Jonas.”“My Lord, I drove her back as requested.”I nodded slipping the jotter into the compartment inside my suit. They all see
«NICOLE» “Mom I'm home,” I called entering the house. I walked up the front porch where she sat enjoying the view and the cool evening breeze. “You usually come home at noon,” She noted without looking up from the sweater that she was knitting. It was a habit she couldn't get rid of even after dad bought her a machine she could use, she always preferred to keep her hands busy the hard way. She was still young and pretty compared to her college friends. In my terms, she should have been dressing up to going out to parties and drinks with friends. Not sitting here like a woman from the 90s, pretending to knit while secretly monitoring my movements. “I had some matters to attend to.” I waved my hands signalling it was nothing worth looking into. “There's red wine fragrance on you.” She pointed out. “That's because I had some drinks before I came. Any thing else detective Victoria?” I rolled my eyes entering the manor. I still hadn't forgiven her concerning Layla's wedding to the m
«NICOLE»The feel of the morning sun on my face never felt better. I sat up stretching, the events of yesterday flooding back.I yawned getting up, determined not to start this day with another wave of self pity. However, if my parents made this house impossible to bear, I would look up apartments on the net and find one to rent until the month ended.I spent some minutes freshening up then slipped into an office button down long sleeve and dark the blue blouse which matched my navy suit perfectly.Since I had work to do at the Crawford Company Company, it was only natural that I dressed coporate.After spending an hour or so applying my makeup and choosing high heels and handbags, I snuck down the stairs not wanting to awaken anyone, neither of my parents especially.I foot into my car and called Loveth, asking if we could go to an eatery for breakfast.———“It would be difficult to get close to your sister,” Loveth began when we had placed our orders.“Stepsister,” I corrected. If L
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