Gavin looked down at the text message on his phone; something about it sent uneasiness down his spine. There was no way that Tessa Carson would ask to see him. When he first got the message, he told them that he knew she was out of the country, but they had tried their best to prove she was back in the city, and now he did not know why, but meeting her did not seem like a good idea. He knew that if his wife were to hear about it, then she would ask him to go and meet her. "What should I tell them?" his assistant asked. It was upon hearing his voice that I remembered that his assistant was in the same room with him. He shifted in his seat uncomfortable; there was no good side to meeting her unless that was not how he took it. He swallowed and thought of the opportunities he could create if he were wise enough. "I will meet with her," he announced. "She would like to meet tonight; should I RSVP to that?" Gavin had not expected that the meeting would happen so quickly; he wanted to go
"There is something important I need to report," Grey said, sad bursting into the room. Seated opposite Damien was Sam; he raised his eyebrow at him and motioned for him to go on. "Didn't you say it was important? Are you not going to report it?" Sam asked while Grey stood by the door silently, all the vigour with which he had rushed into the room gone in an instant. "Well, I do not know if I should," Grey said. "Go on," Damien said. Sam would try to figure out what it was later, and with his annoying and imposing personality, Damien would come to him when he would give him the information to save himself from the stress of going back and forth with the situation. Was it not best that he heard it firsthand?"Okay sir, I just heard from a staff member at the Voss residence that they had a visitor yesterday." "And how is that big news?" Sam said. It was not a strange thing to let visitors into your house after all. "That is strange," Damien said. Sam lifted up his head and wondere
"How is this possible? What is Lila doing there?" Sam asked. The number of questions running through her mind was outnumbering that he could place a handle on a single one at a time. Lila's crying yesterday finally made sense to Damien. He had thought she was being dramatic about the situation and had ignored it, but if she was crying so much after visiting the Voss Renaissance, what did it mean? He wanted to find out how much they knew and what they did not know, but he could go into the place and just ask them questions; if he did that, then he would have to answer questions about it, too. Kevin wanted to know how and why he knew. It was going to be a messy situation, and even though he liked to act like Sam was wrong about it all, he knew deep down that he was very right about it. It was strange for him to keep tabs on them so much. "What is this?" Damien asked, hoping that there was an explanation that made sense. All the scenarios he was drawing up in his head made no sense at
Gavin did not understand what Tessa meant when she said she was going to go head-on with him, but he did not like it. He wondered if Lila had kept it a secret from her family that he was the reason she went to jail. It was obvious that with Oliver and Tessa gaining in on him, there was no escape for him. He would have to give up his son pretty enough. To be honest, if he wanted his relationship with Evangeline to last longer, he would like it if his son left, but he was not sure what relationship to pursue now. Should he try his best to get back with Lila? Should he have asked her mother to try and fix them back? Should he remain with Evangeline and hope for the best? "Are you coming to bed?" Evangeline popped her head in through the door. She had been standing there for a few seconds, watching him so lost in thoughts that he had not even realized that she had been standing there. "Oh hello" "What are you thinking about so much that you did not even notice me?" she asked, pushing
Damien, I am sorry about the other day.Lila looked at the text on the phone screen; she had been hesitating to send him the message for a while now, and she wondered why she called him. Her hand hovered over the send button, and she sent it without any hesitation. As soon as she hit the send button, she threw down her phone and decided to act as if she did not want to know what he was going to say in response."Lila, open up," Tessa said from outside.Lila did not know her mom was at home; she could barely tell the difference between her mom being at home and her being away on a trip. She was constantly out of the house, and Oliver had commented that she was working because of her. Lila did not want anyone to work for her; she was not a child, and she should be able to face the consequences of her actions.She touched the door handle, and a cold shiver went down her spine. She did not know what her mom, who was on the other side of the door, would want to say, but she was ready to fa
Lila stood there and watched her mom leave the door closing behind her. She had the evidence to put him away for good, but she was afraid of his threat to the life of her son. All she was doing and all she kept doing was so she could stand before her son as a good mom.She walked to the door briskly, hoping to catch up with her mom; maybe her mom could do it all. She could put Gvain behind bars and successfully reunite her with her son. She had begun to have hopes that someday the relationship between herself and Damien was going to get better.Maybe it was greed, but she was not ready to let go of it yet; she did not want to be alone, no matter how much she acted like it did not matter. She liked Damien for real, and she currently did not like the image he had of her in his mind. Why should she continue to suffer prejudice just because of Gavin? Why was she still trying so hard to protect him when all he had ever done for her was to make her suffer right from the moment they first me
"What?" Damien asked, shocked at her words. He had been working all morning and took a break to check his messages when he saw hers. He decided to reach out, and this was the first thing he was hearing. The emotions behind the words she was saying and the emotions he felt through the text were too different."If you did not hear me the first time, then maybe I should say it again," she said and paused as if she were waiting for him to stop her. "Let us break up.""And why?" he asked."Do we need a reason?" She asked panicked because she should have thought of all she wanted to say well before she said it to him."Of course we have to, or else why else would we be breaking up? For no reason?""Are you going to marry me?" she asked suddenly. She did not know what her mind was trying to do to her, but she was grateful that it had thought of something to say."What?""I guess I might need to say everything I want to say twice today since you are having a problem hearing me clearly," she s
Lila held the phone in her hands till all of the veins in them were popping; she could only believe that this was how it all played out. She looked down at her phone as it chimed with a text message in her hand. Are you free?She looks down at the message and thinks it must be a mistake because she has no idea where the message is from. She deletes it and calls Gvain. "I have been waiting for your call," was the first thing he said. She could not believe that of all the things her mom could tell her to do, one of them was crawling back to her ex like he was a trophy. As much as she had loved him when they were together, she had self-esteem that was not going to let her do something as stupid as this. "You have been?" she asked, feeling her throat get bitter. "Of course, you called me last night, drunk, and I wondered if it was because you wanted to get back together." He asked and he could not believe how shameless he was. She knew that the only reason he was interested in her was
"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.