FOUR HOURS LATEROphelia's eyes fluttered open and he looked around. For the first time in six days, she felt her sinuses clear a bit and her head felt lighter than she had been carrying. She looked around as she scrambled into a sitting position, trying to force herself to remember all the things she had done before she passed out on the bed."Oh god, I do not pray for anything in life, but please, I hope I have not done anything embarrassing today," she muttered as she sat there searching her room as if it were a strange scene.The door clicked and opened with Cade standing in the doorway. "You are awake," he said, rushing to her with a flak. He dropped the hot water flask to the bedside table and sat down on one of the stools he had managed to draw from her vanity mirror set. He wondered why one vanity mirror for a girl had three stools."I am, and you are in my room," she said, a nervous laughter escaping her lips."Yeah, I was the one who brought you here and helped you take medi
"Ms Davis, you very well know that this is a work trip.""I don't know. I just thought that you were taking a trip and I was to accompany you," Harper said. She knew the entirety of the trip. She was the reason he got this opportunity, and he was supposed to be grateful to her, but she was not going to brag about this. Her goal had not yet been accomplished, so she wasn't going to give herself any credits yet."Does this mean that you did not check through the schedule and event timeline that was submitted by Cael's assistant?" Cade said already feeling like he was cornered. He hated inefficiency, and she was already showing it; he hated that he could easily fire her. Firing her was a way of telling Abigail that the line for war had been drawn."Scheduel? What schedule?"Cade took a deep sigh. Harer was going to be useless for him for the ten days, and there was no point for him to take her all the way to Nebula and just have her spend money for nothing. "Maybe you should go home beca
Ophelia has gone to the doctor just because, for some reason, she wanted to listen to what Cade has drummed so much. The doctor told her it was just a simple cold and that she needed to take her medication and rest. She checked the time on her phone, she had been so caught up in trying to detach her feelings that she had not asked him for the details of his flight. She was curled up in one of the suspended chairs on the balcony of the house; since she moved in there, she had not been to the balcony; she loved that the breeze touched her cheek. She was wrapped in a quilt as she sipped from a large cup filled with chocolate milk. She was sure that he must have gotten to his destination; she wanted to hear from him, but her pride was more important to her anyway. Her phone began ringing on the table and she had hope that Cade was going to call and check in on her. The smile that had grown on her face dropped when she saw Green's name plastered on the screen. "Hello little one," he sai
Harper reminded Cade about him taking her shopping as soon as they landed. He told her to take his card and buy whatever she wanted and get back to her room after she was done."But you promised to come with me," she said with a pout as they waited in the VIP arrival room for the car to be ready."Promised you?" Cade scoffed. "When did I do that?" he asked, raising his eyebrow."You have to get me clothes that I can wear to accompany you to these meetings or else I wonder how the world would love to see your assistant show up in pictures wearing a sundress or a bathing suit" she said.Cade took a deep breath. "You know what? I can definitely handle my business by myself. You came here for vacation maybe you should take that vacation and let me work in peace" he said harshly.Harper had to admit that Cade had changed quite a bit; he would be responsive to her tricks and give in, but she had been at it for almost ten minutes now, and it was a bit frustrating to her. No matter what she s
"Wait, what do you mean?" Cade asked because that was not what he was expecting from Ophelia at all. He was calling to check in on her and to make sure that he did not leave foolishly because of his pride. It was obvious that this trip was to endanger him, even though it was also a good opportunity for him. It was a risk he was willing to take, but not at the expense of Ophelia. If he knew that she was still sick, he would have to abandon everything and move back home immediately."I mean, what you said was actually correct," she said, and he heard a shuffle. "Man, am I a fool?" she muttered to herself."How are you feeling? Did you go to the hospital? What did the doctor say?" He said, ignoring her."Huh?" she let out, shocked."Well, are you going to tell me?""Wait, are you worried about me and not gloating that you were right all along?" She asked because if she had been the one in the situation, she would have gloated hard about it. She would have wanted him to know that he was r
THE NEXT EVENING (5 PM)Green called Ophelia up almost as soon as she was able to put off the crisis. It was creepy because it felt like he had some kind of tracker on her, but she dismissed the thought because the new things she had learnt about him yesterday did not make matters better for her to think he could do something like that."Hi Green," she said, putting the phone to her ears and sitting down. With her free hand, she unclamped the heels she had been wearing since she came into work at three am that morning. This was the first time she was getting rest since she came in. The man had somehow extinguished all ideas the PR had out in place in case someone created a scandal. They had to brainstorm ideas and even meet with reporters and the victim for settlement. It was a long day, and now she was glad that it was over."You sound stressed; something big happened today?"She did not know if he just wanted to create some small talk or if he did not pay attention to the news. She
SEVEN DAYS INTO THE TRIPCade heard a knock on his door; he opened up, and Harper was standing there in a full-floor-length dress. "Did you forget anything?" he asked, stepping out and closing the room door. He had to try his best to keep her out of the room because he did not know what she was planning to do."Yes, it seems that you have been invited to a party this evening, and I totally misread the details on the calendar," Harper said. She was lying; there was no official event, but she knew that the only way to get him out of his room and out with her was to cover it up as a work thing."Are you trying to tell me that we have been invited to an event and I did not know about it? When does it start?""In a few minutes, maybe you need to go in and put on your tuxedo, and we will be on our way." Cade turned around to go into the room but stopped and turned to Harper, who was standing there in a red floor-length dress. Looking at the dress, he could not tell what he was looking at or
Cade knew that there was no escaping this; as much as he had tried to stop her from taking pictures on their way to this place, he could never control it because he was behind the wheel. "If you wanted to have a meal together, would you have to blackmail me to get it?" Cade asked. He knew very well that he had been blowing her off so frequently, but he still had to sound like he would have been a gentleman and done what she asked of him in the first place. "Would you have come if I asked?" Cade felt cornered; he knew that this was bad for him. A single image can cause so many problems for him."This is wrong," Cade murmured out of frustration."Is it?" she asked with a smile on her face. He nodded, and she pressed her lips together and nodded. "It would not have gotten to this if you had just given us an opportunity to be together," she added."Harper I am having this dinner, but this means nothing, and I hope you can understand that," he said angrily and got out of the car. He walk
Abigail could not believe that instead of debunking the rumours that Cade was an illegitimate child, he was owning it like it was his identity. He was still facing so much backlash for keeping it a secret from the public that the people seemed not to like the idea behind the fact that he was not a full-bodied Cade.The girls who swooned over him before suddenly began to dislike him. Abigail was thrilled, but she knew that the battle was not easily over; there was no way that Charles would just let him go; she needed to do something that would make the board of directors and all of the people of the nation want him to leave the company. She had to make him unfit.She was glad that she always prepared for this; while she was busy siphoning money away, she was still actively preparing for someone else to take the blame in her stead, and now it meant that she could easily take all of the blame and dump it on him. She had called Frances into the room to share the news with her; she knew th
Carl had come to meet his grandfather earlier. He was tired of his mother's games and how she kept trying to put him in the middle of it all. He knew he was incapable of being the good chairman the company needed, and amongst all the grandchildren, only Cade had been preparing for this moment his whole life.The rest of them sat with their hands folded because they believed that since they were affiliated with the Vale family, a responsibility was going to drop on their laps soon, and they could get on with their lives. Even without the jobs in the company, they could live good lives on the return on the shares they owned because they all owned a lot, and the company was always doing well."But Grandpa, if we do that, the prices of the shares?""See this," Charles said, showing an electronic tablet that had been resting on his lap since he came in. "This is supposed to go up tomorrow, so are you saying we should do nothing about it?"Cade took it up and read through it. His face chang
"I did not think that you would help me out," Harper said to Green with a smile on her face. She had called him about a week ago to tell him that Ophelia and Cade were now locked in. Green had been so angry about it. He waited years for Ophelia, only for her to end up Cade. He had expected that he could pull them apart, but now he was hearing that she was together with Cade and they loved each other now.When they kept telling the public that they were deeply locked in, he could tell that she was doing this just because her father asked her to do it. He waited, hoping that there would be a time when they went their separate ways and then he would swoop in to save the damsel in distress."I refuse to lose to Cade.""I like how you think," Harper said, and her phone began to ring. She took up her phone and stared at the screen. "Ophelia is calling me?" She murmured, looking at the screen, her eyes growing wide and wider."What are you waiting for? Pick it up," Green urged her."I should
Frances was sitting in a coffee shop; she had gotten a message from Ophelia that they had to meet up. As much as she did not want to have to go out there to meet her, she was curious to see her face after reading the news. She had not thought to publish the news like that because she did not want to do anything that might affect Cael, be it directly or indirectly, because she still believed that they would be able to get together soon.She was however happy for whoever had taken that news and ran with it; the entire city was buzzing while waiting for a statement on the family. She felt that now that Cade was so put in the public eye, Charles might consider Cael as a better-suited candidate for the position."Did I keep you waiting for long?" Ophelia asked as she sat down.Frances swallowed as she saw how good she looked; she was tempted to almost comment on it; she did not look like she had seen the news. "No, I just sat down a minute ago," she said, and Ophelia nodded."Have you orde
THREE DAYS AFTER THE WEDDING TUESDAY MORNING "Honey" Ophelia sat by the side of the bed shaking Cade; his eyes opened slowly as he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her in."Good morning, darling," he said and pouted, waiting for a kiss. She closed her eyes and bent down to kiss his lips. "That was so short," he said, his eyes opening wider. "Something is wrong; what is wrong?" he asked, his eyes catching a glimpse of the frown on her face. "What happened?" he asked, sitting in bed quickly."You might want to see this," she said, taking her phone and giving it to him. He took the phone from her hand and sat up straight. He read through the screen as his eyes widened with each statement he came across."What is this?""The number one trending news in the city this morning.""From what source?""Apparently it started as a rumour from a blog but when the reporters reached out to Abigail yesterday evening for an interview, she did not confirm or deny it so they are just carry
"My mom wanted you here, but I never did, so it is crazy that you are trying to force me to sleep with you," Cael scoffed as they sat on the bed in the room. They had been so preoccupied with other things that it was the night of the wedding that they all realized that they did not have a house, so they went back to the mansion.Charles had taunted them for their poor planning; Cael could not believe that his grandfather had not stepped up to do anything concerning the wedding even after he had leaked the secret to him. He was feeling overwhelmed by the situation and was now convinced that his grandfather was doing the right thing by not allowing him to be the next in line for succession. Even when he had leaked the secret of the wedding to Charles, he did not do anything about it.Even this evening, when they got back to the house after the wedding, Charles was not shocked to see them back at the mansion; he just nodded his head at them and retired to his room. He did not know why he
"You look so beautiful," Fiona gushed over her daughter as she entered the room."I do?" Frances asked, and her mother nodded."Like the star of the show that you are," she murmured, and Frances smiled.She had been so busy stressing and preparing for the wedding that she feared she might not look good in any of the images because of how stressed she was. She felt good to receive a compliment from her mother considering how shallow she was; she would be into complimenting something or else she found it appealing to the eyes."I hope you remember all I have been telling you." Fiona said, and Frances nodded.Her mother had basically turned it into an anthem that was engraved in her mind. She had told her to make sure to get pregnant between the first few weeks of pregnancy so she could have an edge over Ophelia, who was still yet to show any signs of having a baby. She also told her to make sure she sucked up to Charles, even though they all knew how almost impossible that might be."Do
THE FAY OF THE WEDDING Ophelia's eyes fluttered open as she turned to Cade sleeping beside her. She felt his hand that had been holding her head up all night. She snuggled into him and felt his hand pull her in closer."Are you awake?" she murmured, trying to look at his face from her position."No," he drew out, and she laughed."You are asleep yet talking?" she said, and he tried to nod but was failing badly because of the pillow."I talk in my sleep," he added, and she gave him a frown."Then sleep and talk some more. I want to go get myself a cup of tea," she said, trying to stand up from the bed, but his hand on her wrist pulled her back, and she dropped to his chest."What are you doing?" she asked, propping herself up with her hand on his chest."I think you forgot something," he said with a pout and his eyes closed.She traced his pouted lips with her fingertip. "And what can that be?" she asked, feigning ignorance."I know that you very well know what I am talking about," he
A FEW DAYS TO THE WEDDING"I have something to report," Paul said, coming into Charles's office. He had been working in the background to make sure that Aigail and Cael's plan did not work. He knew that they had been so busy with the board meeting, and he had to work too. He was not going to sit down and assume that since he was the chairman, everyone was supposed to be automatically loyal to him.He was meeting with all of the board members and directors while trying to know their stand on the matter; for most of them, they kept trying to play both sides and see which side would favour them. Charles lowered the glasses from his face and dropped them so they dangled by a rope on his neck.The entire company was so tense that even a child could tell that something was up. The staff were trying their best to be careful not to choose sides so they did not find themselves jobless after the board meeting. Everyone was walking on eggshells since the chairman was no longer working from home