"She is permanent, unlike you who is temporary" Esther snapped at Sierra. Sierra smiled at her words. But deep down, she felt as if she couldn't breathe. 'She is his only female friend? So she is important to him. What am I to him? Am I not important enough? Then will I become another good friend in the future? Or worse, will I be discarded?' she thought feeling insecure. She felt suffocated. Compared to Renee, she is not anyone special. But she pushed down her insecurities when she remembered how much Xavier cares for her. "I don't want to offend anyone. This lady here offered me money, so I am making sure that I am not being cheated upon. How can I trust the words of a woman who doesn't work and live upon her father's money?" Sierra replied innocently. Renee became so angry, that her face turned red. "You, who do you think you are? Do you think Xavier will support you just because you saved him? Snap out of your delusional world. Let me show you whom Xavier will support now. I
In the NS group, Derek delivered another bidding file, but it's not the same as the file he stole from the Woods group. The bidding quote is the same, but not the categorisation of which item is quoted for which price. Everything is messed up, and it's not hard for anyone to notice it too. First, Nash Noticed it, and soon he personally sent the file to his brother's cabin. "Brother, We received another copy of the bidding file from the Franklin group. But, something is different this time. Here, take a look" Nash informed his brother. Sanders is already suspicious, especially after his little chit chat with Xavier. So he was eager to review the file once again. He accepted the file and started to look into the details of the file. It didn't take him more than a few seconds to notice the difference. This is not the same file they reviewed and selected. "Why does the details in this file look so different?" Sanders inquired of his brother. Nash settled down in a chair opposite the
"Are you insane? How can you raise your hand at her like this? She is of your mother's age. Atleast respect her age" Sierra scolded Renee. Esther walked up to them and stood beside Renee. "What? You are comparing this mere low life with my mother? You are all the same. You come from nowhere and when you see riches and rich people, you will try to leech upon us. You will try to take as much as you can. No wonder one low life is supporting the other one" Renee insulted Sierra. Sierra had enough of her nastiness. "You know what? You are not welcome here anymore. Please leave" Sierra decided that she had enough. Esther and Renee gasped with outrage. "How dare you? Who do you think you are to kick us out? Xavier allowed you to stay here, that doesn't mean you are the mistress of his house. Not me, but you have to leave. Get out of here before I throw you out" Renee spoke arrogantly. Sierra stood her ground. She sized up Renee from head to toe. "I don't know why you think you
"I didn't, until recently. But after she came, she changed my perspective of many things" Xavier replied honestly. Renee felt like she was looking at a different person altogether. He is not the same person whom she left two years ago. The Xavier she knows would never look at a woman the way he is looking at Sierra. His love for her is very evident in his gaze. And everyone who has a pair of eyes can see it. "You changed" Renee said. It came out as an accusation. But neither Xavier nor Sierra seemed to care about her opinion. They looked like they were lost in each other's eyes. That only made Renee feel bitter. 'When I finally managed to convince my father for my marriage with Xavier, he fell in love with someone else' she thought feeling angry. "I came here to personally invite you to a party which is hosted by my father" she placed the invitation on the tea table between them. Despite being separated by just a table, she is feeling like he is much farther from her than that.
The next morning, representatives from both the woods group and the Franklin group were requested to attend a meeting with the representatives of the NS group. Xavier, Carlos and a few high level managers attended the meeting from the Woods group. Benjamin, Derek and a few managers attended from Franklin group. "Mr. Sanders, may I know why you called upon this meeting so urgently?" Benjamin demanded. He looked impatient and did not like the fact that Xavier is sitting on the other side of the table opposite him. While Sanders is sitting near the head of the table with Nash beside him. Sanders pushed forward the Bidding file which the Franklin group submitted the second time. "Mr. Franklin, my apologies for the inconvenience. But there is something which I felt should be addressed immediately" Sanders explained. Derek frowned while looking at the file which Sanders pushed forward. He recognised the file. It's the same file which he submitted to the NS group the previous day. It
On the other hand, Nathan is surprised to see Cathy sitting inside his cabin when he enters. He is not very pleased to see her there. She is harmless, but the way she is behaving with him is not so much. "Cathy, what are you doing here?" he asked camly. She was sitting opposite his desk while playing with one of the paper weights there. When she heard him, she ignored the paper weights and turned to give him her full attention. A grin is playing on her lips, which looked cute, but he ignored it. She is way too young for him. "Good morning Nathan" she greeted, boldly using his given name. He sighed heavily and walked deeper inside his cabin. "Since when did we get on the first name basis?" he asked, letting her know that she should maintain her distance. She jumped down from the chair, revealing her cute babydoll pink dress and matching footwear. Cathy is a beautiful woman, and she is clearly wasting her time on him. She stumbled a little when she jumped down with her heel
Fiona found herself sitting alone inside her small apartment and grieving for her brother whom she lost. 'What did he do to deserve this fate? All our life, I only had him as my family. I raised him more like a mother than his sister. How did this happen? How did he end up like this?' she thought feeling very sad. Their mother left them quite early, and their father ignored them unless he needed money. It's only the two of them while growing up. Now, she lost her brother. Then, a loud banging on the door alerted her to someone outside the door. "Fiona, open the door" her father's slurred voice made her spine stiff. She always used to prefer to keep him out of their lives. But now, Seth is dead because of him. And she doesn't want to let him go so easily. She immediately texted Carlos that her father is at her place. So that he would come here and take her father away. She wiped her tears away and quickly opened the door for him. He stumbled inside and almost fell on his face,
After the meeting with the NS group ended, Derek was seen livid with anger. Benjamin and the others from the Franklin group were unable to understand why he was so angry. "Derek, like I said, you have to calm down. This is just a small bump on our success. Once we are through this, the contract will be ours" Benjamin spoke with a hint of frustration in his tone. He wanted his son to practice to be calm, but his son is anything but calm. His volatile and impulsive behaviour is not good for his image within and out of the Franklin group. But Derek refused to steer to his caution. Derek glared at his father. "Why did you even agree to their stupid proposal? We already won the bid. And why do we have to resubmit it again? Don't you think the NS group is being partial to Xavier?" Derek expressed his anger. Benjamin is not pleased with his son's tone, and so are the other executives who are present with them. "You are new to this. But I am not. It's not unheard of to request for ano
The next morning, as Sierra was blissfully asleep, Xavier and Carlos were not. "Here, this is the original pill which the doctor prescribed for Sierra. And this bottle, was replaced by the maid last night. I got them checked. The replaced pills will assist in aborting the baby in her Womb. Whoever it is that is trying to kill you, that person is targeting your baby now. If not for Fiona's intuition, we wouldn't have been able to escape such a big threat. We need to hurry now. No matter what, finding that hidden person should be our main moto. If this goes on, it's not good for the baby or Sierra" Carlos expressed his worry. Xavier clenched the duplicate bottle that he was holding in his palm. He is beyond angry. "Drag that maid to the basement. I need the details of the person whom she is working for" Xavier instructed Carlos. After a few minutes, when the maid entered the house as if nothing happened, Carlos grabbed her and dragged her to the basement after closing her mouth tigh
Fiona picked up the pill which rolled down towards her feet. "What are you doing here?" Carlos demanded the maid while looking at her with suspicion. The maid looked scared as if she got caught doing something which she shouldn't have been doing. "I..I.." the maid stuttered to explain what she was still doing there. Fiona chimed in at that moment. "You were supposed to bring these pills to Sierra. What are you still doing here. And look what you did. You soiled this pill. Just take that bottle as it is to Sierra. She will take the pill herself. You should not be touching any kind of pills with bare hands. Now go" she reprimanded the careless maid. The maid bobbed her head and immediately rushed out of the room. After the maid left, Fiona looked at the pill which she was holding. "What happened?" Carlos Inquired when he noticed how she was looking at the pill. Something niggled at the back of her mind. Something suspecious. "Did you notice how that maid was practically shiver
"Well, I hope you can find a girlfriend soon. Now if you excuse me" Cathy replied as if she is not literally dancing inside her head after his admission of being single. Cathy tried to open the door, but he was holding the door shut with his firm grip. Her nonchalant reaction bothered him more than he thought possible. The thought of her slowly slipping away from him made him feel heavy inside his heart. "What do you mean by that Cathy? Don't tell me that you moved on from me so quickly. Do you really wish for me to get a girlfriend?" he demanded. That thought alone is making him feel torturous. Cathy stiffened. No, she absolutely doesn't want him to find a girlfriend. She doesn't want him to love anyone but her. She didn't move on from him at all. It's absolutely impossible. But she is not going to admit that to him so soon. She wanted to see how far he was willing to go for her. "You should have thought about all this when you lied to me about having a girlfriend. You bruta
In the tower, Renee was seen crying for her father who was still lying paralysed on the ground. She tried to move him to a couch or even a bed, but he was too heavy for her. Janine on the other hand is acting as if she just didn't paralyse her husband and threatened her younger daughter. She is taking care of Maddy. Just then, Janine's assistant came running. His clothes looked dirty and he was huffing and out of breath. "What's wrong with you?" Janine asked him with irritation. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Boss, Looks like Xavier Woods started to get suspicious of our involvement. His men found me when I was searching for that old man. I escaped from them with difficulty. I don't think I can hide for long. They might catch me sooner if not later" he shared with panic. Janine is not happy to hear this news. She is very upset. So far, her day has been going downhill from the moment Renee found out about her plan. "Idiot, didn't I tell you to be careful? How come you g
That evening, Cathy went to the president's building to see her mom. As their family of three planned to go out for dinner, Cathy's father suggested he pick them up from Dorothy's office. As the commute back home would be long at that hour, Cathy agreed. As Sierra looked tired, Josh offered to drop her. Claire and Fiona decided to accompany Sierra and take care of her until Xavier could come back from his work. Josh joined the four ladies at noon for lunch. He is funny, sweet and very down to earth. So it was not at all difficult to get along with him. Moreover, his company made their lunch filled with laughter. "There you go" Josh said after he parked his car in front of the president's building. "Do you want to join us for dinner, Josh?" Cathy asked him. He became a good friend and she is sure her parents would enjoy his company. He wrinkled his face and shook his head. "No meeting and greeting the parents. I will leave that part to your Nathan" he refused with a shudder. She s
Sierra found a wedding gown which looked so beautiful, that she immediately fell in love with it. The dress has full sleeves with an intricate pattern designed over the sheer shimmery fabric of her collar bone and down her sleeves till her elbows. The dress hugs her frame till her waist before flaring down into uneven layers down her hips. Sierra looked like an angel in that dress. Pure, and absolutely breathtaking. "This is the one" "I like it too" "So pretty" Claire, Cathy and Fiona liked the dress so much, and so did Sierra. While they felt a little awkward in the beginning, it vanished once they started talking about normal stuff. Carlos was observing their interaction with satisfaction. He felt relieved to see that Sierra was matured and understood a twisted situation well. She handled it better than many people double her age would have done. The fact that she detached herself from her emotions to understand this situation better was speaking volumes about the kind
Sierra was remembering the past few years where she had Fiona as her colleague. They had each other to rely on if they had to change their working shift. Fiona used to save some food for Sierra if she finished her work early, and vice versa. They used to be compatible and had each other's back at work. Neither of them were sharing types, so they just know some basic information about each other. Nothing else. Details of their family condition, family members, things like that. But one thing Sierra knows in her heart is that, Fiona was kind hearted. She had her own challenges, but she was tough enough to navigate through them, just like Sierra. Their bond formed because of their mutual troubles. They could understand what the other must be feeling. They could understand each other without the other having to tell anything. But they separated after Sierra stopped working after her mother's death. Now, they found eachother again, but under unimaginable circumstances. Back then, Sierra
Sierra was seen sitting on Carlos's couch, while Claire and Cathy looked ashen with shock. Fiona on the other hand was seen crying with pain. She just revealed the truth about what happened with her brother and her father's involvement in all of that. She didn't beat around the bush. She confessed everything like Carlos suggested her to do. While Sierra didn't utter a single word throughout, Cathy and Claire showed how shocked they were to hear this. "This was, unexpected" finally Claire muttered. Cathy had to agree with her words. Claire is putting things mildly. "This is fucked up" Cathy muttered. But Fiona is waiting for Sierra's reaction. When she learned the truth about whom her brother stabbed, it took her some time to come out of the shock too. And she cannot expect Sierra to digest and react to this situation instantly. All Fiona was expecting is forgiveness, but she is not sure if Sierra can forgive her. Sierra almost lost her life. And it's asking too much to forget su
"Your friend?" Carlos Inquired. Sierra frowned, noticing that he stressed the word 'Friend'. She didn't understand what was going on in his head, but she decided that it doesn't matter. "Yes, my friend. We used to work together before I quit. But we lost touch after I left the job. I want to know where she lives" Sierra explained. Carlos was thinking about what she said. He doesn't want her to misunderstand Fiona for something which she was never responsible for. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked, surprising her. Her frown deepened. The way their conversation is going is weird. "Ook" she replied, showing that his request surprised her. Carlos is making sure that Sierra understands that she cannot blame an innocent. "If you find out that someone from your 'Friends' family tried to hurt you? Will you blame your friend who was unaware of all that?" he asked her. Sierra didn't miss the way he stressed the word 'Friend', again. She immediately understood that he was talking a