Five years ago. "Anything else ma'am?" The waitress asks. I shake my head, "Am okay." She tucks her pen behind her ear and walks away. She is pretty, brown wavy hair and cat eyes I silently watch her walk to the table that hosts my target. She halts and poses uncomfortably. The three boys break into laughter. Quinn's hand moves up the waitress uniform and pinches her ass. Am disgusted! She is too disgusted by him. Quinn and the other guy exchange words and he smirks as the waitress takes a step back. The quiet guy in the group looks up to the waitress and says something to her and her poise eases. By following Quinn around, I assume he is his best friend. They spend a lot of time together. Andre confirmed his name is Ryan, the only thing that makes Quinn look good. To the waitress relieve she manages to get away from the awful privilege creatures that think they can have anything or anyone and the world revolves around them. I hate them! I despise them and everything they re
Quinn povI kick the sofa as hard as I can the moment the elevator closes. How could I have been a fool? She was playing me the whole time. She was good. No, almost good. Because I fucking caught her."Quinn..." Theo calls out my name. I must have woken him up. Fuck it! I rub my temples before I look down at him. Those eyes, his mother's eyes. Damn it! Why are all women in my life treacherous? They are scheming and manipulative."Where is Cara?" He innocently asks.In hell, I hope."She is gone. Go back to bed." I place my hand on his shoulders."Is she coming back?" He doesn't move.If she does, God knows what I will do to her."No." I shake my head."Why?"I start to get irritated and grit my teeth together. I have to breath severally to not lose it in front of Theo. He is a sensitive kid and he is always quick to pick all sorts of emotions. He notes my almost irk.His diverts his gaze from me, "Will you come tuck me in?" His voice is almost a whisper. I hate myself when I see the r
The irony is delicious.A Nickel is going to save a Cooper. Though it is my fault I put her in a dangerous position. She still has a role in it, she sketched her way into my life, all along with her fake innocence. I wonder if she faked her virginity just to make her look more pure. I can't think or see straight my head is conflicted with all this thoughts.A small part wants to leave her suffer for all the lies and manipulation. The other part wants to save her and see her just for the last time. She is a beautiful twisted fortune cookie.Peter's call comes again as soon as I hit the road. I press loud speaker and wait for his empty threats."You think this is a game?" He asks. "You have no idea what am capable of." He tries to sound intimidating and I roll my eyes.I decide not to give him the joy of knowing he won the minute he kidnapped... Just thinking of her name makes me mad all over again. I clench and unclench my jaw. I hate lies. Most importantly, I hate the person who speaks
We are back to Cara's POVI am never going to win this war, that should have been clear from the start. The Nickel won a long time ago. Quinn should been the one tied on such a chair, by me. I am the one that should be torturing him, not the other way round. I am bearing all his sins. Just like how my father went to jail because of his father's wrongs, and he died because of him.Peter emerges from a small opening that leads to unknown secret place. He is talking on the phone."You underestimated your importance to Quinn." Peter says after he ends the call.I roll my eyes with little interest."Lucky me." I say sarcastically. I am surprised he is actually going to save me. For a second, I imagine he is going to come and join Peter in torturing me. I shake the thought away, it is his fault am here."You are quite the snack." He threads filthy hands onto my hair. I am both terrified and disgusted by his touch and closeness. He moves further to caress my cheek, his thick coarse thumb rou
It is not long before I feel Quinn's arm on my shoulder."It is over." He assures.I am yet to understand what happened. Everything happened so fast. One minute I was thinking this how I die, how Quinn dies but in a blink everything changed. What just happened? Is this some sort of Stan Lee superhero stuff?I look around waiting for something terrible to happen, waiting for the rest of the gang to appear gun blazing at us. I shut my eyes and open them. Nothing. Absolutely nothing happens. Nothing makes sense. Quinn has no weapon but who shot Peter?I sink deeper into his embrace, my heart rushing and my mind loud with confusion. Just then I see a group of three men walking towards us, all of them with guns. Not just ordinary guns but sniper.I clear my throat, "There are three men heading towards us." I whisper to him as fear start to sip in.He turns to face them and a smile forms on his lips. I feel my body slowly relax as the men halt in front of us. Everything slowly starts to mak
The concrete floor beneath my feet feels heavy, like I am the one bearing its weight. I wish for the distance to Oliver's apartment to triple. I look behind me after I have entered the building. Quinn is still watching me. He should have drove off but he is still here, watching me.I square my shoulders. No matter how badly I try to look okay. I can't fake it. My clothes are tattered, my skin has several bruises and dry blood. I breath out and walk towards the elevator. I stand for a while before it opens. I am conflicted, I decide to take the stairs. I am just not ready to face Oliver. I can picture the devastation that he will wear. He should never bear any of my sins.The trip doesn't last long as I desire it to be. I find myself knocking on Oliver's door. I expect him to be asleep. However am wrong when he opens the door. He is dressed up like he has been awake for hours. He takes in my appearance and gulps. His expression changes from shock to anger."Jesus christ!" He exclaims.
"Speak." I tell him once the engine comes to life."My mom has been having these episodes, one minute she is okay, the next when she sees any woman or girl she turns into something else like she has seen a monster." Andre replies."Oh," Is all i can say as I finally understand why she was hostile towards me. I am glad there's no bad blood between us, and pray for her recovery."The doctor said she will be okay." He adds."I'm sorry if I triggered another episode." I apologize."You didn't know.""Yeah, and you shouldn't have been rough with me." I say."I'm sorry about that."The rest of the journey we talk and I don't tell him about my abduction or the fact that Quinn knows. Men are so oblivious, he doesn't even notice the bruises the make up failed to hide.We find a crowd at the school's parking lot. As we drive by I notice Quinn's Lamborghini. It is in a bad shape, on the ground there are broken glasses and other parts of the car. Andre finds an empty spot where he parks. Students
A day flies by, I spend the entire Tuesday looking for a job or paid internship. I am weeks away from graduating so I might as well get serious in finding employment. It is tough as most require experience which I lack. Also I desperately need an income to find my own apartment. Nimo, Oliver's girlfriend will return tomorrow and I don't need to be a third wheel in their apartment. And all of this is Quinn's fault that I'm homeless.Oliver's steps are silent I don't realize he has walked until I spot his shadow in front of me with a suit case and box. I recognize them. They are mine.He hangs his bag and his keys. He's always been more organized than me. There's nothing out of place or clothes lying around."How is the job search?" He asks."Frustrating. With the experience and age limit they put, it is like one should have started working in their mothers' womb." I breath."I'm sure you will find something.""Where did you get my stuff from?" I ask standing up.He wipes his face, "The
Elope with me.Those words hang around me. How can he ask me such a thing in the middle of my crisis? The ride back to his penthouse didn’t do any good. I couldn’t stop thinking about his proposal, in fact it rendered my other problems as nothing.I have never been a wedding girl, never attended one, never pictured myself as a bride. So his question was beyond me. We stayed the night at the pent house as usual he left us there to go be with his wife, the irony! The next day, Kelly orders an uber for us and I am glad to be back at my apartment. She leaves for work and I am left all alone. I sleep most of the morning and when I wake up I draft my resignation letter. I honestly don’t know what to do next but I want to hurt Andre and his mother as badly they have deceived me. I decide to read my mother’s diary. Most the entries are when she was a teenager. She seemed so in love with Wayne and Ryan’s mother didn’t lie. It is because of him that their Friendship ended the only Question I hav
Graduation day finally arrives.The day welcomes me with two open hands, it is a good day, a promising one. The ceremony is commencing. The sitting arrangement is based on honours classification and alphabetically based on the student's surname. I am on the front row because I am graduating with a first-class, and so is Quinn. He is a seat away from me.I can't bring myself to concentrate on what is being said ahead of me. I have my tablet pretending to be taking photos but I am chatting with Jack. I invited him for my graduation despite the terrible date we had the other day. He sends a GIF, it is so damn funny. I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing. Someone lets out an annoying cough, I turn to find Quinn giving me a wicked stare. I roll my eyes and concentrate back on my chat with Jack. I will not let him ruin my day like how his words ruined my date.What did he even mean with his words? Does he know something I don't? Shit, I am doing it again, letting Quinn wi
Cara's Pov"Psst...psst...psst." For a second I think I am imagining the annoying hissing sound until I feel a wet towel fall on my shoulder.I awkwardly smile at the family seated on the table I am currently cleaning. I put the dirty dishes on a tray. I turn with a grim face to find Kelly smiling at me. She signals at me to look at the entrance. I do.My favourite pair of couple walk in. Some of the customers turn to look at the newest couple in town. Instagram has turned them into couple goals. Their matching outfits, their live sessions on social media doing things together, working out together, they have even become marriage counsellors.I quickly carry my tray and hurry back to the kitchen."Should I go to their table and accidentally trip carrying hot, super hot pepper soup?" Kelly walks in after me."No, that is what they want. Drama." I throw the wet towel back to Kelly. It leaves a damp spot on my shoulder.I walk back to the door and peep to see where Quinn, Courtney, Roxan
Quinn's povI can't believe it is over a month since the wedding. Life has been crazy, what would have been or perceived as a honeymoon by the public was just a business vacation.Courtney spends her days shopping and the evenings posting what she shopped for. I spend my days in meetings one after another and my nights going through the reports from the meetings.Only occasionally I would steal a peek in the social media. I would click to a specific profile. She was dormant in social media but I was hoping she had posted something. Ryan had stated his intention so I stalked her to see if she agreed. Later I would log out and feel like the biggest scum on earth to be stalking another woman even when my wife was in the room. I would secretly send flowers to Courtney to ease my guilt.Our nights in bed we spend talking of old days and how our days were. Sometimes we fell asleep with our clothes on. I never initiated any intentions of sexual activity. Somehow I found myself relaxed and co
It has been almost two months, I find myself back at the University. We are to pick our gowns for the upcoming graduation in two days.My mind is focused on the building ahead of me. Kelly offered to escort me though she has decided to stay in the car. Over the time we have worked together we have grown closer. I feel I can trust her and with time she has proved that."Excuse me..." I barely hear the person trying to capture my attention."Excuse me..." The intruder taps my shoulder, I relentless remove my earphones.I turn to find a man staring back at me. His mouth is hanging slightly open and I am left to wonder what was his motive by disrupting me if he is just going to stare at me.He shakes his head from his thoughts. "Sorry, I don't mean to waste your time but it is my first time. Could you help me, I am lost. Which way is the psychology department?"My moment of anger dissipates when I realise he is not wasting my time. "I am heading that direction," I state."Just my luck." H
This is a filler chapter.Cara POVI wipe my forehead with the back of my hand. Today the hotel is filled to capacity. Everyone's eyes are fixed on the television, phone, laptop or anything that is streaming the Nickel's wedding of the century.I glance at the wall clock, my shift should be ending in a few. I just want to be out of here."You are going to miss the best part." Kelly, a coworker, says. I have known her for several days I have been working here."And Tony will fire your ass once he finds you watching that nonsense instead of working," I warn her as I load dishes into the dishwasher."So you aren't over the guy, look at you." She moves closer."I would have had to be into him to get over him." I staunchly declare.She rolls her eyes, "Sure honey, and my boobs are real." My eyes move to her chest where her plastic boobs are pushed up close to her chin. "Like what you see?" She shakes them in front of my face. I suppress a smile. I like Kelly, she is real and never sugarcoa
Quinn's povFive years ago"Another one please," I push my glass towards the mixologist that is trying to impress drunkards with his skills."Quiny..." I turn to find my sister, Meg together with my cousin, Leo. I groan. Ryan had convinced me that i wouldn't run into someone i know at this club."I had to find out from the papers that my brother was back. Where have you been hiding for those months?" She takes the stool beside me as Leo is left standing.We had a normal relationship, we barely hugged, kept in touch. I cared for her, just sucked at showing it. On the other hand, Meg, having spent most of her time away from home as punishment for her rebellious behavior. That did her more good than harm, she was never shy at expressing herself, she lived her life to the fullest and the influence of our toxic parents never affected her."I haven't been hiding. I have just been busy.""Heard Dad threatened to cut you off if you didn't come back and study business to take over the empire."
"Where do you see yourself in the next five years?" The Human resource guy implores.This isn't going how I expected. I thought it would be the C.E.O, my uncle, that will be interviewing me.I square my shoulders and confidently talk about how I predict my career will grow in the next five years and my contribution to the organization.The HR listens to me with indifference. I can hardly tell how this is going.After I have answered his questions he speaks."How soon can you start?" He asks."Tomorrow, " I answer."Okay. You are supposed to be here by five thirty the hotel opens at seven and everything ought to be ready. You will start out as a cleaner then from your performance we shall see how it goes."My head is turning, what is he talking about?"uh...i had applied for an assistant accountant trainee position." I remind him. What did he smoke?"Yes. You did. Did you not read the entire job description?" His tone is disapproving.No, I did not. But that is not a thing you tell you
The Dday finally arrives. We find ourselves; Oliver and I outside the deans office. We are early no one is yet to arrive. Not even the dean."What if he lied to Andre? Oliver is standing at the notice board. My attention is drawn when I see an announcement for those that meet the requirements can start on the graduation application. I am drawn back when Oliver speaks again."On the card you received it did indicate he was out to get back at us." Oliver says worried. I know how much being in this university means to him."Whatever happens we deal with it." I encourage him."Then you better be ready." A voice says. I look up to find Quinn's hard stare on us. He is alone.I stay tight-lipped. If I speak I will vex him and that will be bad for Oliver. Any day It would be my pleasure to argue with him. However Oliver has other plans..."If you think you can terrorize us like your father did to mine. You are wrong!" Oliver hisses at him."No one that is terrorizing you. And neither did my fa