"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him while trying her best not to act as if his compliment had done something to her. "What? He asked because he knew that she should have melted at her age; she looked good. "I said that you look absolutely beautiful tonight," he said, and at this point, she had found a way to diminish his confidence. He was unsure of what he was supposed to say or do, so he blinked, and she shrugged. "Did you think complimenting me would make the fact that you came late without any explanation go away?" she asked. "Of course not; I was just stating an observation that I expected." "Well, good. Thank you so much for the compliment. Do you want to explain yourself now?" she asked. Damien took a deep breath and wondered if his friend's plan was ever going to work. Sam had mentioned the possibility that Lila was a different breed of woman; many women might be less hostile to you if you compliment her, but she was definitely not in that category. "Are you go
"Hi, Ms. Carson." Lila looked around her to see who this strange man standing in front of her was. He stretched his hand for a handshake, and her eyebrow knitted in confusion. "Who are you?" "Oh my bad, I should have introduced myself first," Sam said, retracing his hand. "I am Sam Damien's best friend." "He has friends?" Lila was confused. "What is that supposed to mean?""I never expected you to have friends given your picky personality, but it seems like you do have friends, which is weird," Lila let out. "Oh my gosh, you are spot on. I wonder why I stayed friends with him all this while." "You must have been doing such hard work on your part.""It has truly been hard work." Lila stretched forth her hand to him this time, and he took it, shaking it gently before letting it go. "I am Lila," she said. "I know, but what I did not know was how fun and beautiful you are." "You think I am beautiful?" She gasped, acting as if none had told her anything.Damien opened his mouth to
Arietta clutched Oliver's hand as they walked into the hall. "You seem nervous; it is not your first time attending events like this," Oliver said. Arietta raised her head to look at him. He sounded nervous, but he refused to even look at her; she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I am not nervous; I am just a bit worried about Lila. Do you think the bullying would come to an end if she gets introduced as a Carson?" she said. She was truly worried for Lila, but she was sure that many people would try to get to her good graces when they knew who she was. She was more concerned about the plan she had made with Lila; her mind was spinning as she thought about the feasibility of the plan. "I hope it does, but we can never tell what these people are capable of," Oliver said. "But when they bully her now, they very well know what they are getting into," he added, and she nodded. "Well, here goes nothing," Arietta murmured as they stood in front of the big door that was going to lead th
Arietta entered the bathroom, and luckily for her since there were not a lot of people around yet, the bathroom was empty, but she checked all of the stalls just to be sure. She stood in front of the mirror, washed her hands, and retouched her face makeup before washing her hands and rubbing on her hand cream. "I cannot believe I am doing this; I do not know how to flirt; I cannot remember the last time I flirted," she groaned, staring at herself. She turned out of the bathroom and met Evangeline on her way out. "Are you not going to say hi?" Evangeline asked, entering the bathroom, taking up a tissue paper, and dabbing her lips. Arietta looked her up and down and wondered why she was so overdressed for an event like this. She was not a guest of honour and most likely would not have gotten an invite if Lila had not pulled any strings to get them invited. They would have gotten to know the same time that every other person was getting to know, but Lila said she needed to see the exp
"See you both inside," Sam jumped out of the car immediately after they got to the venue. "Are you going in alone?" Lila asked before he could close the door, and he nodded. "Why don't you come in with us?""And risk being uncool and looking like the third wheel?" He asked and shook his head. I will never let this happen to me.""But..""Allow him to make his decisions; he is big enough for that." Damien cut her off before she could make any more suggestions. "See you," Sam said and was out of the like a flash. "Aren't we going in?" she asked when they stayed in the car for a few more minutes after Sam had gone in. The driver had left the car running. "In a moment," he murmured. She looked at him; his head was resting on the headrest with his eyes closed. She watched closely as she saw him grimace and his facial expression tighten. Adam's apple was moving rapidly, and she wanted to ask him if he was afraid or scared but just decided against it. "Let us go," he said after a few minu
"May I please have the attention of everyone, please?" Oliver said as the noise in the crowd fizzled out, the classical music that had been blasting in the speakers too had gone to the barest minimum. "Don't you think we are too forward? It seems like we are trying to climb the stage," Gasvin said in a whisper, leaning into Evangeline, who had dragged him to the front of the hall. "If we stood here, we would be the first people she sees, and we might even make connections with her faster," Evangeline replied. She could not categorize herself as a hardworking person, but anything she put her mind to, she was extremely good at it, and this was one of those things she was not ready to let go of. "Are you sure that is a good idea? Are you sure it does to make us desperate?" "I think Ms. Carson would appreciate us coming forward to honour her," Evangeline said. She seemed to have it all figured out. "I will only listen to you because it seems that you know exactly what it is that you
Lila discovered that she had underestimated what Gavin could do; she knew that if she did not take care of him in front of everyone else in that environment, he was going to GP around, ruining her and that of her family. She pressed her lips together and watched him scream at the top of his voice. "She is an ex-convict," she knew that he was going to do something like that after she saw him walk up to the front. She was grateful that he showed how much of a scumbag he was because every single shred of feelings left in her body seemed to be flushed off immediately. She kept a smile on her face. "We need to say something about this," Oliver whispered to her with his head tilted. "What can I say?" She asked, biting the corner of her lip. The security guard had already reached the front of the stage and was ready to drag him away. "Wait!" Lila said stopping them; she was going to have him thrown out, but first, she had to put him in his place. Gavin looked up, and somehow he expected
"What was that in there?" Evangeline asked as they stood by the door; the security men had dragged them out of the hall and closed the door in their faces. "What was what?""Are you trying to claim that you have done nothing wrong even though you acted like a big fop in there?" "A big fool? Evangeline, it seems like I've been cutting you a lot of slack; why in his name would you think of talking to me like that?" Gavin roared.Evangeline closed the gap between them and held him by the collar. "How else do you want me to speak to you? You acted like a fool and got us kicked out, and for what reason?" she screamed. "I want to hear your reason," she demanded. "How can Lila be the heir to the Carson fortune?" he asked, pushing her hand off his collar. "Think of it? Does it make any sense to you?" "Why do you accept what makes sense? You are too lazy to know what makes sense and what does not; you should lick the floor if they tell you to do so." "Are you calling me a dog?" "You have
"Do you really have to go?" Damien hated that Lila was whining over the phone. "Am I whining again? Why am I acting like this?" she muttered to herself and before he could say anything, she was speaking again. "When are you going to be back?" she asked."In two days and once I am back, I am going to run to you.""Okay then, you want me to go in the evening to check on Daisy?" she asked. Daisy was a dog that he had adopted and she hoped that soon she would join them at the house. Although staff were allowed in the house now, she wanted to still go over to his place; if she could not see him, then at least she could see the dog."Yes, can you do that?" he asked."Of course I can," she said and he took a deep breath."I gotta go down. I will call you as soon as we get there but it might take a while," he said and she nodded. She had to be understanding; as much as she wanted to cling to him, he had to have a life or else she would be known as the woman who sucked the life out of her boyf
Lila stood in front of Damien's office; surprisingly, since Gavin was put behind bars and they had publicly declared their relationship, he felt free and began to go to work. Lila wondered what he had done to her; she wasn't the kind of person who would randomly show up at his office on a Monday morning but he had been out of town all weekend, meaning they didn't get to spend time together and since he was so busy with a product launch, he came to the office straight from the airport. She was supposed to be at work but should go to work after seeing him.She cleared her throat and walked into the office. The lobby was littered with people going in and out and some small groups of people talking. She tried to look at them; ignorance is bliss; if she did not check them, she wouldn't know if they were looking at her or even talking about her. She stood by the elevator with some other people and got in as soon as it stopped. She was going to the last floor so she made herself comfortable
"Do you really have to go?" Lila was standing at the airport as they were seeing her mom off; she could not understand the reason her mom was in such a hurry to leave them. She stayed until the end of the wedding ceremony and then began to talk about leaving to continue her world tour.Lila and Tessa were just getting close but Tessa knew it would be short-lived; if she stayed a bit longer, then both of them would be at each other's throats in no time."Yes, if I don't go, then we will fight Tessa replied with a blank expression on her face."Spo why don't we make conscious efforts to make sure we don't fight?" To Lila, the question made sense because if they were to make an effort, then maybe they could stay together."I would like to try but I...""You don't want to try, you just want to make excuses" Lila understood and she was sure not to try and bring me up again. Her mother was not willing to try; she had better things to do and that was okay. Even if she would miss her, she at
FIVE MONTHS LATER"I know I was happy that you were joining my family but I still can't believe you are marrying my brother," Lila murmured as they waited to be called in."I would have you know...""You love my brother." Lila cut Arietta off before she could complete the sentence. "I know you do; I understand that you do but I still cannot...""If you can't understand it, then I suggest that you let it be." Arietta knew it was playful banter but she was getting nervous; she wondered what was going on in the hall and why it was taking so long for her to get called in. She wanted to tell Lila to go check what was going on but she knew if she showed fear, Lila, who was far more nervous than her, would freak out.She opened her mouth to continue the banter when someone came to tell her that her father would be there any moment to walk her in. Matteo came in almost immediately and it had Arietta wondering why they had to send someone when he was right behind her."Oh my goodness!" he excl
Lila waited for her mom to be out of the room before she said a word. She could not believe that she had just stood up to her mom and it had worked. It made her begin to think of all the times she could have done the same and maybe it would have worked too. She was still trying to process what had happened when she felt her feet leave the ground and dangle in the air. Alarmed, she looked down to see Damien holding her up. She looked down at him with wide eyes."What are you doing?" she asked with shock all over her face."I have missed you so much. I can't believe we began dating and we had to stay away for so long," he said, not answering her question. She felt butterflies swell in her stomach. It felt good hearing a man say words like that. It was never that way with Gavin for her, at least the side of him he decided to show her."I missed you too," she replied. She could not help but say, looking down at his face after hearing such words was enough to make her blurt them out withou
Damien spent the next few days shuffling between his office and the police station; somehow getting Gavin behind bars made him feel like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He could finally stand face to face with Kevin and Rosa without feeling bad. He and Lila had been communicating via text messages only and the words sounded as formal as they could be. She had told him that she was going to wait but first Gavin had to be securely behind bars because she feared what he might do.Even though Damien swore to protect her, he could still understand her paranoia. Every time he went to see Gavin with a lawyer, he was screaming in his voice and breaking out in a sweat, demanding Lila. Of course, Tessa was never going to allow Lila to show up there; it was still scary to see how much Gavin was not willing to give up even though he saw that there was no hope for him again.Gavin was glad that at last, it was the final hearing; he wondered why the court was dragging out the trial
Damien sat across from Oliver, wondering what he wanted to say; it was not like he was completely oblivious to whatever he was going to say; it was just that he had expected that all of this would blow over and Gvain would be safely behind bars before they talked about anything."You deceived me," Oliver said at once; there was no time for him to be beating around the bush. Damien had not thought too much about it before he decided to deceive him."I did," Damien replied with a head nod. It was not a false accusation after all and he thought that the faster he admitted to doing it, the faster they got to stop talking about it. "I wanted revenge and since I did not have the facts, I ran with what I had.""So all the while I was helping you get revenge against my sister and even after spending time with her, you did not realise that you were wrong about her?" Oliver asked. Lila was the kind of girl you would not believe would ever hurt a fly, even as her brother he had to say that nothi
Lila stood behind a glass watching Gavin get questioned; she wanted to run in there and scream in his face now that she was sure there was no way he would escape from there. She watched him get flustered even though he tried to act cocky. They were yet to bring up Amber and the evidence they had gotten. She knew he would lose his mind once he saw the evidence because that would point directly to her. She was the only one who had that evidence so he would know immediately that this was her doing but she did not care. There was no escaping for him for this one.She turned to Oliver, who was standing beside her. Tessa had said that she did not have a need to stand in the room and watch him get interrogated and the chief of police had taken her to his office so she could sit and get some coffee to drink. "I think I have seen enough; I want to go home," she announced, turning slowly to Oliver."I told you there was nothing to see here but you wanted to see," Oliver replied, his voice devoi
It took a while before the officers came to release all civilians from the room they kept them safe, the criminal was found and even transferred from their station to a more secure one. It was then that Lila knew that her mother and brother were standing outside the entire time. By the time they came in, Kevin was already speaking with the officers about how he would like to keep Gavin in there until there was evidence.Tessa did not pay any heed to Lila but walked straight to Kevin, who was arguing with the officer he was speaking to. "Mr. Voss," Tessa said as she approached him. Kevin turned around to see her and smiled with the base of his lips."Mrs. Carson, it has really been a while since I saw you," he said, turning to her."Can we talk a bit?" Tessa asked and he nodded. "Can we have some privacy, please?" she asked the officer who was still standing by them. The man looked flustered but his expression changed to gratitude because he was happy that he had found a way to escape.