IVAN~•~ "Bring the car around." "Yes sir." The line went dead. I stood in front of my mirror and adjusted the collar of my red tuxedo and my red inner shirt. I could not remember the last time I was forced to step foot outside the comfort of my walls, but today's meeting was necessary. I had barely gotten any sleep last night. Ian's arrival and Antonio's message bothered me more than I cared to admit. After calling nine out of ten other members of my board, I knew there was only one person I could reply on.One person who would never say no to me. I headed straight towards my black Tesla and settled into the backseat. The drive to her house would have taken less than an hour, but I had to stop at the flower shop. The way to her heart was a bouquet of roses. So, I made sure to get that for her, and a box of chocolates to spice it. For the sole reason that she was going to break the oath of the board for my sake, she deserved it. My valet parked the car in front of her mansion.
AUTHOR ~•~ Ian watched as his brother stepped out of the kitchen, the beautiful woman followed him behind. He watched closely as her hips swayed while she walked. He had mistaken the girl to be a cook, only to find out she was his brother's…well, fling. Antonio stared at the young man in front of him with an arched brow. When Mister Ivan and the strange female doctor were both out of sight, Antonio cleared his throat. Ian jerked up and turned to the elderly man. He looked Antonio over, before he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me there was a fine ass woman in this house? I would have known how to approach her." Ian feigned his frown, but the glare Antonio threw at him was real. The elderly butler sighed and moved past Ian. He walked towards the kitchen counter and picked up the glass the doctor had used. He refilled the bottle of water from the dispenser and tucked it into the fridge, before he turned around to land his eyes on Ian again. "I didn't know Ivan's personal life was par
CAMILLA~•~ "You good for nothing infidel!" Ivan thundered in response. His angry growl filled the room, while he picked thee man by his collar and flung him towards the ground. He did so without effort, as do he were tossing a piece of paper to the floor. My heart began to pound against my chest. I wished the man would just stop talking, he needed to stop speaking if I was going to save his life. Ivan corked the gun and pointed it towards the man's head. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I could not tell why. "You can say and call me whatever you want, but you know I'll always be the better man." A bitter chuckle escaped Ivan's throat. His lips spread out into a thin smile. I did not like that smile. "Father didn't think so." "But your wife begged to differ." Ian spat out. I could see all the muscles in Ivan's body grow tense. His jaw hardened and he clenched his teeth, hard. "He is going to pull that trigger if you don't do something." Antonio's voice rang in my ears. It
CAMILLA~•~ I led him to his room door and watched him take slow strides to his bed. I didn't look at anything else, I couldn't - not when his legs continued to shake in the way that they did.Once he had safely tucked himself in, I leaned away from his door frame and closed his door behind me. I pressed my back to the metal door coated with black paint. My heartbeat had not yet steadied and I could still feel my arms vibrate by my side. Today's episode of healing mister Holloway was the scariest I had ever encountered in all my life. Face to face with what could have turned to homicide. I wiped my sweat from my forehead with the back of my palm and headed back to the kitchen. Water, I needed water. I slipped into the kitchen, grateful for the silence of the house. I was sure Ian's brother had left already. No matter what he had done or did not do, it would be foolish to remain in the house of someone who was seconds close to pulling the trigger on you, no matter your relationship
IVAN~•~ I had tried to sleep, but despite the throbbing in my head and the resounding echo of pain in my chest, I could not bring myself to close my eyes to sleep, neither could I silence the thoughts in my head. I frowned as I tossed and turned in my bed. Only the creator could have saved Ian from my claws. I was already prepared to put an end to his sorry excuse of a life. The government of Italy would have been grateful to me for getting rid of one of their biggest drug chain links. It was strange how he did not look like it, but my brother was the epitome of the word "dangerous" and that was because he did not look it! At all! At first glance, anyone would think I was the monster between the both of us. I could not tell if that mattered, but it had always bothered me. And today? Once again he had ended up making me look like that monster. I was the one who had a gun pressed to a man's head and he was the victim. No one, neither Camilla nor Antonio knew the gravity of what he
IVAN~•~ The weekend came and left faster than I had expected, but by Monday morning, I was ready to take the world by storm. I was ready to take back that which Ian had dared to steal from me. The audacity amused me, even till now. I packed my briefcase myself and slipped my phone into my pocket. My favourite Armani three piece suit was the best clothing for this occasion. My leather Rolex on my wrist, and Tom Ford on my feet. I felt powerful in my designers, I was and forever would be powerful. I picked up my briefcase from my bed and stepped outside my room. Antonio was in front of my door with a cup of coffee in his hands. He called it the "welcome back to life" coffee. For the first time in months, I was going to be outside, making an appearance at the office. My personal assistant, O'Bryan James, squealed, and I'm not exaggerating, over the phone when I told him I would be coming to work. "Finally! Now I know I didn't lose my job!" I had heard him mutter under his breath
IVAN ~•~ The atmosphere was tense. My eyes caught sight of men adjusting their ties, drawing ties up and down, knotting and unknotting, constantly and repeatedly clearing their throats. In that moment, u was grateful to Elina for her gracious heads up. I was not sure I would have been able to keep my sanity in this moment if I did not know what was coming. The tension was so thick, I could reach out and touch it. Ian had a slight crease on his forehead. My brother continuously tapped the table with his fingers, a sign he was running out of patience. Elina settled back into her seat. A man I knew as Daniel Reece rose from his chair. I fought back the urge to scoff. Of course it would be him. This man, almost the same age as me, put himself in an unnecessary and unhealthy competition with me for everything, including my father's adoration. But everytime he rose against me, I beat him hands down. Between Ian and him, I could not tell who despised me more. He cleared his throat a
IVAN ~•~I sat on the rolling chair - my favorite furniture in my entire office - twirling a pen around my fingers. It gave me a pleasant wave of relief to be back here again. Now that I had so graciously put Ian in his place, I knew that I could not go MIA on the world again. I had to take up my responsibility, I had to begin to show up. I had silenced the rumours now, but it was only a matter of time until new tongues began to wag again. One after the other, the board members stepped into my office to congratulate me. In all, I leaned into my chair and said nothing, only giving them occasional smiles and nods when I needed to. It was only until Elina stepped into the glass walls of my office that I leaned out of my chair and dropped my pen on the table. I watched her stroll into my office and settle into the chair in front of me. Her brown skirt hugged the skin of her hips. For the first time in a long while, I found my eyes lingering there. "Congratulations mister Ivan. It is go
AUTHOR ~•~ Voices. He could hear them all around him, echoing from a distance. It surprised him how he could hear people speak despite the ringing in his ears. He did not know where he was, but the smell of bleach that stole its way into his nostrils told him he was in a hospital room. No other place in the world could reek of such a harsh disinfectant. "Is he going to be okay?" The female voice asked. Something in Ivan sparked up. He stretched his hand slowly, as though reaching out to grab the voice. "He suffered a major heart attack, which is very strange for someone as young as he is. But with his medical history and the situation he was in, there is nothing we can completely rule out now, is there?" The female doctor spoke. Camilla heaved a heavy sigh, adjusted her glasses on her face and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jean trousers."What about the baby? The two-year-old boy, would he be alright?" "Both of the kids are still…shaken. It's not everyday a child
AUTHOR~•~ Freddie pointed the gun at the back of the man's head. He turned to Camilla again, his eyes asked her if she was sure he was the one. Camilla frowned and nodded affirmatively. Her heart was already beginning to pound so loud, it was a miracle the man in the warehouse had not heard it. Immediately - and without hesitation - Freddie pulled the trigger and fired the gun. ~•~ 15 MINUTES EARLIER ~•~ Camilla and Freddie had followed the sound of the shooting, past the bushes, down to an old warehouse. They found two cars parked in front of it and Camilla recognized one of the cars as the one Antonio had driven. Freddie continued to watch his best friend lead the way to the side of the building. As they hid at the back of an old Honda truck, they peeked around the warehouse, just to make sure that there were no guards or anything of that sort around. "I really do not know why we have to do this, Camilla. How do we know he is in there?" Freddie spoke and Camilla did not hav
IVAN~•~ Sarah fell to the ground beside her father. I watched as blood oozed out from the back of her hair and formed a small puddle around her. Ian smiled and kissed his teeth as he looked down at me. "Two down, one to go." His voice echoed in my ears as he stepped forward. He trampled upon the dead bodies to get to me. When he stood in front of me, he lowered himself to stare me straight in the eyes. I did not know what I felt at that moment, I did not even know if I felt anything at all.All I wanted to do at that moment was to reach out to my daughter and hold her. The revelation that she was not really mine, to know that nobody had ever been on my side, all of that made me want to die here. Life was no longer worth it. How was I supposed to walk around knowing that everyone I had trusted the most turned out to be traitors in the end? Would I ever come out of this trauma with a clear mind and heart? How was I supposed to ever trust anyone again? Out of everything, what hurt
CAMILLA~•~ "What the fuck?!" Freddie screamed. In one swift move, he pulled me closer to himself as if he was going to shield me from something. I couldn't lie, the sound of the gun shot in the air was so loud that it had sent shivers up my spine. We had just gotten out of the car. We had followed Antonio behind, all the way to this very creepy and lonely road. Freddie did not want to keep going, but I had to continuously beg him. Freddie released me from his grip and rushed back to the car. I turned to him with a frown on my face. "Where are you going?" My heart was starting to beat faster. This was no longer a psychological rescue mission, it was a physical one. Freddie opened the door of his driver's seat before he looked up at me. "I do not know if you haven't noticed, Camilla. But we might just be walking straight into a gunfight." He replied, before putting his head into his car. My frown deepened, I could feel the creases on my forehead. "So you're just gonna leave?"
IVAN ~•~ "Why, hello Ivan!" Sarah called out as she stood in front of me with a small smile on her face. My eyes drifted to the pistol in her right hand before it traveled to her face. To say I was confused and shaken would be a grave understatement.I needed to understand what was happening. I looked around the dimly lit room. There were two huge wooden doors at the front, the room was filled with iron barrels that reeked of petrol, sweat and dust. I found a lighter on top of one of the huge barrels and my eyes widened. Shock came before fear, fear was followed by confusion, and the confusion was accompanied by grave anger. I turned sharply to her, my eyes held a lot of questions, I knew I did not have to voice them out. Sarah shook her head and pulled her gun back into the right pocket of her black leather jacket. My wife had her blonde hair in a messy ponytail, her eyes held an expression I did not quite understand. "Sarah," I managed to speak. She turned her back towards me a
IVAN ~•~ My eyelids parted slowly, but with much effort. Darkness enveloped me almost immediately, the stale smell of sweat greeted my nostrils and I sneezed on reflex. My eyes stung, I needed to scratch them. Groaning in frustration, I fought to bring my hands to my eyes. I could not, my hands were tied behind my back, and the more I struggled, the more the thin rope dug deeper into my flesh. "Shit!" I cried out. Nothing made any sense, what was I doing here? How did I get here? What was this place? I struggled to find something, anything to give me a clue. Nothing.I saw nothing besides absolute darkness. No windows, that was certain. But I could not tell whether or not there was a door. I looked around once again as if looking over the room time and time again would bring something I had not seen before to sight. "Hello! Who's there?!" I screamed, my echoes thundered all over the room. Two things were certain; the room was empty and it was large. The struggle to free m
AUTHOR ~•~Elina Washington looked at her phone again for the umpteenth time. She had been expecting a call from a certain stranger, but nothing was coming forth. It had been impossible to get any sleep last night, not without thinking of the hundred possibilities, hundred different things that could have happened; one of them being that he had been caught! Elina shook her head as she rose from the stool in front of her grand piano. She covered her chest with the silk robe of her night dress and paced about the piano room.She had told the man not to call on one condition; that he had failed. But she knew his type of man. Whether he was successful or not, he would have asked for something, even if it was half of the original price. Yet, here she was, confused and scared because she had not heard a word from him.Ding dong. The sound of her doorbell echoed around her house. She turned in the direction of the metal door of her piano room. She had not been expecting anyone. The man
IVAN~•~ I opened my eyes to the sound of sirens blaring all around me. The first thing my gaze met was the sight of the roof of my car. I could feel my legs dangling from the edge of my car seat. I tilted my neck to look to my left, blood was splattered all over the leather of my car seat. I struggled to sit up, but the back of my head stung like hell. I could barely remember anything. I held on to the driver's seat while I fought hard to sit up, it was only then I took note of the situation.There were police cars all around me. I saw Sarah weeping terribly, a female officer continued to tap her shoulder. Sarah was clad in a black blanket, her hair and makeup were both in a mess. She was saying something, everyone around me had their mouths moving for one reason or the other. His face flashed through my mind.Johnny! I looked around for any signs of him. The only thing I saw was a body on a stretcher being lifted into an ambulance. Panic seized my chest immediately. What had ha
AUTHOR~•~She had watched from the terrace as the woman got into her husband's car and the driver drove her out of their driveway. She had seen the lady carry along with her a big suitcase. She had seen the look on the woman's face. The pain in her eyes made it evident that she wasn't returning. Sarah smiled to herself as she watched the car run off into a distance, away from her home, away from her family. She did not know what had happened while the woman and Ivan were away, but whatever it was, it had caused Ivan to return to his senses. Sarah turned around and found her father standing at the foot of the door. He had a tray of coffee and fresh toast in his hands. Sarah swallowed hard. She knew how her father could be when he caught her slacking. "What are you trying to do? Waste our time?" He growled. Sarah maintained her remorseful expression and bowed her head. "No, Papa. It's just…" "Parlami quando ho risolto i problemi, non sprecare il mio tempo mentre li risolvo. Don'