"It is nice Emily," Bella said winking her eyes secretly at Emily. So her brother was a romantic? She wasn't one to see Leonard kissing his love interest publicly not that he wouldn't do it as he was a shameless man but it was a rare sight or maybe it had just been a while since she last saw him in something serious but were they like official, she had forgotten to ask Emily probably after dinner she would."It reminds me of your mother's cooking," Cam said to Bella but Bella only nodded her head and smiled, she couldn't remember the last time her mother entered the kitchen and even if she did she couldn't quite remember how it tasted like to now compare it to Emily's."How was work today?" Bella asked Emily, she heard she resumed."It was alright, I am taking online classes as going to school and working doesn't sit well with Leonard," Emily confessed."Why? Is he worried some fine boy would sweep you off your feet," Cam teased. He was with Bella going back to school but because of h
Emily got to work a bit late as she had wasted time making sure Leonard took his medication and was resting. She also informed Bella to keep an eye on him if she wasn't leaving so soon, and Bella was shocked to hear that Leonard ate crayfish. If she had been observant, she could have warned Emily against giving Leonard crayfish, but she had spent the whole time talking about Cam."I apologize for being late," Emily said as she stepped into Mark's office. They just finished a meeting, and she missed it."Emily, I understand that you have found favor in Leonard's eye, but you need to understand that this is an organization people are watching.""I am so sorry," Emily said. She knew very well that punctuality was key, and every time Mark let her off, rumors were flying.Mark didn't mean to scold her, but it was important that Emily knew what it meant to do her job."Ariel's plan was selected as I was unable to get yours during the meeting," Mark announced."I totally understand." If she
"Mark said that the client will be here very soon," Emily said, taking her seat."Yeah, has he assigned you with what will you do?""You can tell me what to do," Emily suggested as Ariel twirled in her chair."Well, you don't need to do much, since you are not working under my project, you can follow me around and learn.""Of course." This was really going to be fun. Was she out of her mind to be placing orders here and there? Emily thought, shaking her head in disbelief.* * *In an orphanage, a lady walks in wearing a dark shade and a face cap, if one didn't look closely, they would have missed that it was Chloe Riverstone. She walked through the reception like she had been here more than once and was familiar with the environment as she entered an office without knocking. She stared at the two ladies, who seemed to be busy talking in a low voice about God knows what. One dressed as a nun, while the other a cleaner.She removed her glasses and face cap immediately and sat down in
"Well, I was just thinking about some ideas in my head, but I have not decided on the angle. I would love it to play out," Ariel said, collecting the sketch from the client to briefly go through it, but even if she did, she wasn't sure she would be able to get anything out of it."I think what she means is that the light colors would be some form of illusion on the dress, if you can see here," Emily said, drawing the client to one of the mannequins in the studio with a white under-done gown on it. "This is all white, but let's imagine it was black, and then in the dark it glows white. Just picture dancing with your husband in the reception and the lights goes out for a moment and your gown begins to glow.""Wow!" The client was stunned by the idea. "Is that possible?""It is very possible, ma, we just need to work with people who are into illusions to find out how to go about it, so you see, ma, your cloth will be the first ever illusion wedding dress in this part of town," Emily smil
Prime Stone Hotel"I feel you should pick up his call, Emily," Chloe said, dressing Nathan up while Emily busied herself typing on her laptop on the bed.Leonard had been calling her phone as well as Cam. At this rate, Chloe was sure Leonard would appear here soon, plus Emily was a mess, even though she was claiming to be fine. It has been five days now, and none of them have stepped out of the hotel. For Nathan, he seemed pleased to sleep and wake up next to Emily every day, but for Chloe, she felt she would die very soon if she didn't go outside to at least feel the sun on her face.She had been trying to convince Emily since last night to go see Leonard. She didn't know how far gone their relationship was, but she knew that Leonard cared about Emily and he would definitely accommodate all of them, but Emily was Thana, and Thana and ego went hand in hand. She hoped Leonard would be the one to break it."I will.""Same thing you said yesterday," Chloe replied. "Tell Mama to pick up
"A child," Leonard repeated, staring at her. He knew she also lodged in with someone else apart from Chloe, but he couldn't tell as the receptionist said she claimed the person was sick, and that was why the person had to be on shades and a nose mask, but it was definitely a dwarf, but now it wasn't a dwarf but a child."I was scared, I know it's too much for me to be Thana and you not fully being able to process all that to me now having a child, and only God knows what more I am not telling you," Emily blurted out, looking at his intertwined hands. She couldn't dare look him in the eyes. She felt his hands leave hers slowly as he opened them for her to hug him.Was he not mad at her? Emily thought, raising her head to look at him as she slowly entered his warm embrace."This is a child, Emily, if anyone should be scared, it is whoever you plan to make the father of this child," Leonard said, touching her hair. "There is nothing about you that can scare me except losing you."Emily l
An hour later"Fucking hell!" Chloe screamed as the doctor slowly removed the bullet from the side of her belly. She drank the gin Jack gave her hurriedly to suppress the pain."You are very lucky," the doctor told her, placing the bullet on the table as he examined the injury carefully, he wondered why she wanted to be awake throughout the surgery.Leonard was also fond of staying awake during surgery and he didn't understand why one would prefer to feel every single stitch made."Are you sure about this?" He asked again, hoping she would change her mind this time around, but instead she signaled Jack to come closer."Ma'am," Jack said."Your tie," Chloe replied.Jack loosened the tie and handed it to her, not understanding what she was up to but anything to make the young miss happy as she seemed to be in a lot of pain. He watched her place it in her mouth as she held his hand tightly, then nodded her head to the doctor to begin.* * * Emily stared at Nathan lying peacefully on the
When Chloe woke up from her sleep, she found out from the maid that she had been bedridden for two days now.She wondered if it was because she was awake during the surgery or that the doctor had injected her with something to make sure she was well relaxed.She rolled out of bed, slowly holding on to the side of her stomach, as she entered the bathroom to look at herself properly.When she stepped in, she stared at the mirror and nearly screamed at the sight of Stone behind her."What the fuck?" She eventually yelled."Keep it down," he whispered."What the fuck are you doing here?""Language, Chloe," he whispered back, staring at her. He had heard what happened to her and took a bloody risk to come see her himself.At the sight of her, he knew he was definitely out of his mind, breaking into Klar's mansion and waiting in the toilet, where he knew there would be no camera or microphones."You are not my father," Chloe snapped as she groaned, holding her side. It seemed like shouting
Riverstone gritted his teeth as he stared at Emily, he had not expected Emily to slap him hard across the face, he was tempted to slap her right back but he refrained from doing it because he knew his actions would come with consequences as everyone in the room seemed to be looking at him in annoyance and disappointment.Well, what did they all expect? They carried on with their life like he didn't exist, like he wasn't part of the family or that he didn't contribute one bit to them being where they were right now. He had tried to get on with his life but by the time he was back things had changed, his house rent had expired and he was forced to live on the street for days, he tried to reach out to his wife Rose but each time she turned him down. Eventually, he had to look for an alternative, one that could give him money and take him back to his comfortable lifestyle."Alright young man, let's go inside and check on the new toy Dada bought for you," Chloe smiled at Nathan as she hel
"What the hell is he doing here?" Chloe barked staring at her mother in annoyance, she didn't even want to look at Riverstone again, the sight of him brought back memories into her head that she had started to forget about because she hadn't seen him or heard from him for a very long time.How could her mother do something like this? What was she thinking about bringing this man here? Emily was not aware of this, neither was Leonard because if Emily was, she would have had him kicked out the moment she set her eyes on him.After everything he had done to them, especially her mother, her mother was still able to bring him here."Calm down Chloe, I was going to discuss it with you and Emily, I just hadn't figured out how to put it to you both that me and your father are....""Don't call him my father," Chloe interrupted angrily. "After everything he has done to you...even if you wanted to see him so bad why did it have to be in this house... how did you even get him into this house?""Ch
Bella walked down the stairs to the dining as she noticed the dining was set with all sorts of delicacies Matilda and Cam were sited waiting for her to take a seat. Cam stood up when she was close by and helped her with her seat."Thank you," she appreciated him sitting down. She didn't know why but of late she was becoming selective about what she ate and the cooks just had to make different dishes and hope she at least picked one.It was so bad that the last time she told Matilda to make her rice and when the rice was eventually brought to her she refused to eat it.Sometimes she would cry for no reason at all, it was comforting to her that Cam was now with her and keeping a close eye on her and when he wasn't Matilda was there. She wanted to ask him what had happened to Gary or what was the nitwit's name but she decided not to bother about it as she didn't want to upset him more. He seemed angry at himself about the whole situation.She still couldn't believe her father would do s
"Hey, careful," Stone motioned Chloe slowly holding her as they stepped into the house. He stepped in staring at Emily and Cam discussing, it seemed they were aware he had stepped into the compound but decided to not leave what they were doing until they noticed Chloe was in serious pain.Emily rushed to Chloe's side realizing the bandage on her waist, what the hell happened to her? They had been gone for over two weeks and she is back worse than ever."What the hell happened to you?""Kyle stabbed me," Chloe cried."Kyle?" Emily said not believing any of it"let's get her to her room."Emily said to Stone as they held on to her leaving Cam alone, when they got to Chloe's room, Emily informed them that there was a party going on as regards the partnership between Dark Age and Klar and that Chloe and Stone might be home alone but first she had to inform Leonard."I won't be staying over," Stone announced."Okay," Emily replied."No, stay here. Please.." Chloe said not letting go of his
- BACK AT IVY'S MANSION -"Where is Chloe?" Stone asked Astrid and hoped he wouldn't ask again; he didn't care about all the nonsense she had going on with Ivy. Now that he knew Ivy was alive, he had something to prove to Emily. He had spent his life taking orders from Travis, and he wasn't going to continue taking orders.Chloe was here for him even though she tried not to say it; she was here for him, and he couldn't just leave her like that after Astrid just told him she was stabbed by Kyle. Why would Kyle stab her? Didn't she have a thing going on with Kyle, and even if he didn't like her, it wouldn't have warranted him to stab her, or was there more to the story that he wasn't getting at all?"Stone, listen to me," Astrid pleaded as Stone dashed out of the bathroom, and it dawned on Astrid that her plan in her head wasn't going to happen as Stone was not going to pay any attention to her."Don't let me repeat myself.""She is in the warehouse," Astrid said as she watched Sto
- LEONARD'S MANSION -- LEONARD'S OFFICE -"Dark Age are willing to accept the partnership deal," Mark informed Leonard in his office. He had driven here immediately after he got the paper work.Leonard stared at the paperwork they had mailed to the company, and it was well-detailed. Whoever wrote it took their time in such a way that every offer that looked unprofitable had a comeback to back it up.Dark Age and Klar had been in the fashion industry for so long that, at some point, Klar had offered to buy Dark Age. Buying companies wasn't a new thing for Leonard, especially companies he felt were going to ruin his business or become a competition for him in the future.All he had to do was find out how much their company would cost and double the price. This way, the price was too good for anyone in their right minds to refuse it, but this company, Dark Age, had refused his offer without a reason, and even when he tripled it, they still rejected it, which only angered him.He had imm
"Hey!" Astrid yelled at Chloe as they pushed her into the ward. Where the fuck was Stone, and why wasn't he answering his darn phone? Hopefully, nothing will happen to Chloe, she thought. As she paced around in the reception with her blood-stain gown, she could see someone staring at her."What?" she asked as the person looked away. She rolled her eyes and tried to dial Stone's number again, and this time it went through, but she couldn't hear him properly; all she could hear were faint sounds of gunshots. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he even pick up the call, or was it a mistake?"Get Chloe out of the hospital now," she said, finally hearing Stone's voice."Hello," she said, but the phone disconnected. What did he mean by getting Chloe out? Was he in trouble? How did he know she was in the hospital? Astrid stared at her phone and dialed his number again, but this time the line didn't go through."Fuck!" she yelled, going to the reception desk to talk to the nurse. "How long will t
"Kyle," Chloe said, staring at him as they swayed around the dance floor swiftly. She kept her eyes fixed on him, but the young man didn't say anything, or was she wrong? She was not wrong because she knew what she was feeling right now, and only someone had that effect on her. How is he here now? She knew he was alive, but he had been in hiding for so long that Thana and she were forced to hide Nathan. At some point, they felt that he didn't even want Nathan, and he never reached out to them again.The music was finally coming to an end as the man pulled her closer to him. He placed his lips on her ear, and she could feel his breath on the tip of her ear and a tingling erupt in her stomach. It was Kyle."You shouldn't be here, Anna," she heard him say as the music came to an end before she could process what he had said. The music came down as the lights went dark, then back to its normal color as Kyle was nowhere to be found. Chloe stared around, perplexed, looking for any sign of
Chloe looked around through her lashes; she could see someone familiar again. She stared towards Stone, and he was dancing with Astrid, and the bitch seemed to know how to dance better than her. She watched Astrid sway her waist to the music as she leaned in, whispering something into Stone's ear as he burst into laughter instantly with his head laid back.Chloe wondered what Astrid had told him that was so funny that he wanted to cry from laughing. She could also be funny if that was what he was into."Someone seems to have your man on a hook."'He is not mine,' Chloe was about to say, but she couldn't because Travis thought that they were both here to spend time together. She had to play her part and keep Travis out of what was about to occur here, but from the situation, it seemed she had to get to that person because Stone and Astrid seemed focused on whatever nonsense they were discussing.The music tone changed again, and this time Chloe swayed into the arms of the person her in