NINA’S POV
I stretch out lazily checking my wrist watch. It is nearly ten in the morning. I look around me to find that I am still in Mark’s bed. I smile to myself.
This morning started off a lot in the same way last night ended, with the added bonus of a long lazy shower together.
I slide off the bed, pick my robe up and slip it on. I walk to my room and head straight into the shower. I take a long shower, relaxing in the hot stream of water. When I exit the bathroom, completely naked as I have now decided is the best way to exit a bathroom after a hot shower, there is a soft knock on the door.
I walk to the door and hide behind it while opening it just enough to look through.
It is Florence.
“Morning” Florence greets me with a large smile. Seeing that it is her, I open the door a little more but still hide my nakedness behind it.
“Good morning.” I greet her in r
NINA’S POVMark takes two quick steps towards Cole. He grabs him by the back of the neck and pulls him backwards. Cole looks surprised as he falls back. The moment he lets go of me, it feels like he loosened a grip around my neck. I take a deep breath to clear my mind.I see Mark bend down and grab Cole by the chest. He says nothing. He pulls him to his feet and takes a step towards the door with Cole still in his grip. He throws Cole out of the study. I am amazed at the strength Mark has. Cole lands on his back and slides on the floor. Mark makes his way purposefully towards Cole. I can see that this could go on all day.Cole quickly gets to his feet and cocks his head. I hear his neck crack. He smiles at Mark who is now standing in front of Cole in a threatening manner. His fists are clenched and I cannot even imagine what the look on his face must be like. He seems very angry from where I am standing. I feel so ashamed. Why couldn&rsqu
ANTHONY’S POV I clasp my hands together in front of my chest and turn to the wide-eyed girl and smile. She looks utterly bewildered. This is the strangest thing she has ever seen, for sure. I look at her and decide that there is only one way to handle this. Straightforward and blunt. As I always am anyway.“Very well. How are we going to handle this?” I ask her while still smiling. I thought smiling would ease the tension but it seems that she is only more bewildered. She looks at me with her big doe eyes. She then focuses her eyes on where Cole laid for a while, technically dead. Her eyes shift to the broken railing where Cole fell off the second floor. Finally, she shifts her focus back to me. She doesn’t say a word. I will have to rephrase the question.“Are you going to start screaming?” I ask her. More direct than that, I really cannot be. That is the only thing I don’t really want right now. Screaming women irritate me. They are so difficult to talk to. She looks at me a
NINA’S POVGreg walks into the office.“Seems that there have been some altercations here this morning.” He states as he takes a seat next to me. He gives me a grim look before he focuses his attention on Anthony.“This only forces us to fall into plan quicker than expected.” He tells him.Anthony presses his lips together and nods. He heaves a deep sigh and gets up from his seat.“Nina, you will need to excuse us. We have urgent matters to attend to.” Anthony tells me.I look at Greg and then at Anthony. I am being excused. They want me to leave the room. I don’t have any answers yet. I get up slowly and walk out of the room. Just as I exit the door, I hear Greg telling Anthony that Mark has booked a one-way ticket out of the country.I walk up the steps quickly. What the hell is going on? Is he not even coming back? He just walked out the door and booked a one-way ticket? I am stunned.I walk into my room and for a moment I have no idea what I need to do. I am still standing in the
The paper is old and there is a six-digit number written on it. I turn the paper over in my hand. There is nothing else written on it. I immediately feel irritated. I shove the piece of paper back into the envelope and turn the envelope around to look at the writing in front. My eye catches the date stamp on the envelope. It was posted the day I was discharged from hospital.This cryptic note was posted before the newspapers erroneously printed that I was Mrs Ross. This only unsettles me more. This person knows more than anyone else that I am not Mrs Ross. I walk to my handbag and shove the envelope into it angrily. I am not the biggest fan of mysteries. I hardly ever watch mystery movies and now I have to deal with this in real life. I feel irritated.I finish up and go to bed. I still feel unsettled when I fall asleep.I wake with a startle in the middle of the night. I lay awake staring wide-eyed into the darkness trying to listen to what it is that woke me up. There is a scraping
Mark looks at me intently. He sets his mug down and touches his fingertips together.“A few centuries ago, there was a girl that looked exactly like you.” Mark starts to tell me. He pauses a few seconds to let it sink in. “Her name was June. We met her at a fundraiser and I immediately fell for her. Cole also fell for her but I never for one second thought he fell that hard.”Mark sucks in a deep breath and lets it out.“I started pursuing June and she enjoyed my company. I later found out that Cole was pursuing her also. She didn’t have the heart to hurt anyone so she tried her best to keep both of us at arm’s length. This kept on for quite some time.” He seems to think for a few seconds before continuing.“Cole befriended an old witch.” Mark looks as me and shakes his head. “Don’t ever, for one second, think you can really be friends with a witch. They always, only take care of themselves. Cole needed her to help him make June choose him over me. She told him all magic always comes
I don’t sleep well that night. My mind keeps going through everything that happened. The note. The break in. The trip here. The building. The potion. Mark’s eyes. His coldness. I know I need sleep because I will have to get my life in order tomorrow. I just cannot seem to get my mind to rest. I get up to take another hot shower. After drying my hair I feel exhausted and finally fall asleep when I lay my head down. When I wake the next morning, I find that the sun just started shining into my room. I get up quickly and get dressed. I exit the room to go to the kitchen where I heard a noise earlier. Mark is standing behind the counter, reading a newspaper while drinking a cup of coffee. He barely takes notice of me. When he quickly flicks his eyes up to see who entered the room he lets out a irritated sigh. “Are you still here?” he asks in a bored tone. My heart instantly twists into a tight knot of pain. Why is he being so cold towards me. “Well, you said I can stay here as long as
I sit crossed legged on my bed and stare at the box for a while. Of course, I know what is inside. I don’t really need to open it. What frustrates me most, is that I know that I will open it and I will not have any more answers than I had before I opened it. I open the box slowly and set the lid on the bed next to me. I take a deep breath and let it out in a rush. Inside the box is the little vile that Mark gave me with the potion in. Next to the little vile is the business card he gave me with the contact details of his secretary. The memory of his words leaves another stab in my heart. He basically told me to contact her, not him. Frustration builds up in my chest again. I had a connection with Mark. It disappeared within seconds and I couldn’t even get an explanation for it. I feel over emotional today. Tears well up in my eyes. I take the little vile in my hand and roll it the way I did the night he gave it to me. It feels exactly the same. There is no difference in weight. I op
NINA’S POVHave you ever met someone who just seems to have the worst luck in the world? They would walk on an even pathway and trip over absolutely nothing. They would lose one of their earrings and throw the other one away, only to then find the one they have lost. This is me. I am this person with the worst luck in the world.I have gotten so used to being the one with the bad hair day, or the one with the odd shoes. I am usually the one who messes up in stead of helping anyone. When assignments are assigned to members of a group, I am usually the last person they ask.I have long since given up trying to work in groups. I have opened up my own little antique shop and spend most of my time finding old treasures and restoring them without compromising their worth. This is about the only thing I am good at. I like the time I spend alone, in silence with my antique items. I feel their history and it excites me.I have also gotten a degree in antique evaluations and I sometimes give ad