SASHA’S POVI screamed, crashing everything in my room, crying profusely, and dragging my hair. What was all this? What just happened? Not only did I not get engaged, but I was also publicly humiliated and shamed. How did Andre, my broke husband I ran away from, find me? And it wasn’t just any day. It was on my engagement day.I was so scared to check the messages on my phone. I didn’t want to see the messages, the sympathy or the mockery. I was a public embarrassment.The scene kept replaying over and over in my head. I could still see Xander’s face when he asked if I had been truly married before.His eyes were wide with shock and hurt, his voice trembling with disbelief."Is it true, Sasha? Were you really married before?"I could only shake my head no, my voice caught in my throat. The room felt like it was spinning. The whispers, the stares, everyone was looking at me.The only thing I could do, instead of wishing the ground would swallow me whole, was to pretend to faint.I fel
SASHA’S POVI sat on the cold floor of my bedroom, clutching my knees to my chest. Tears streamed down my face, and I couldn't stop them. How did everything go so wrong after the plans I made? I pulled my hair from the roots as if that would somehow pull out the hurt and sobbed uncontrollably.The door creaked open, and my mom stepped in. "Sasha?" she called softly. She crossed the room and knelt beside me, her eyes filled with concern. "Please, calm down. Don’t cry yourself to death we can figure this out."I looked up at her, my vision blurry with tears. "Xander doesn't trust me anymore," I choked out. "I can't face anyone after what happened. It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, and now it's all ruined. I'm humiliated, Mom. How can I ever show my face again?"She sighed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Sasha, you brought this on yourself by lying to everyone and running away because of money. But it doesn't matter now. We'll fix it, okay? We'll find a way."
XANDER’S POVI had gone to my private house and locked myself in for three days, shutting everyone out. What happened at the engagement had been too much, and I needed time alone. I switched off my phone, ignoring the calls and messages. I knew everyone was worried, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak to anyone, not even my mom.For three days, the only person I saw was the nurse. She came and went quietly, tending to me. I had caught a fever, probably from the stress and lack of sleep. The first day was the worst. I was burning up, my body drenched in sweat. My private nurse Mary, had brought cool clothes to place on my forehead, spoon-fed me soup, and made sure I took my medicine.“Xander, you need to drink more water,” Mary said, holding a glass to my lips. Her voice was soft.I took a sip, wincing at the effort. “Thanks, Mary,” I mumbled, my voice hoarse.She smiled, patting my hand. “Just rest. You’ll feel better soon.”I kept thinking of how I met Sasha. We had moved the fam
XANDER’S POVBy the afternoon, I felt well enough to leave the house. It was time to face the world again. I switched on my phone, bracing myself for the onslaught of messages. The screen lit up with notifications, over a thousand messages and calls. My heart sank as I scrolled through them. Most were from my mom, my friends and Sasha. I didn’t bother opening any of the messages or calling back. I wasn’t ready for that yet.I packed a few things, took a deep breath, and headed home.Xander!” my mom called immediately I got home, rushing over to hug me. She wrapped me in a tight hug."Where have you been? I was so worried."I hugged her back, feeling guilty for ignoring her. "I'm sorry, Mom," I said, "I didn't mean to make you worry."She pulled back, looking at me with concern "Do you know how worried I was? Why have you been ignoring my calls and Sashas’ too? We were both worried."I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Mom, I really don't want to talk about it right now. I'm to
SASHA’S POV"Sasha, is it true you ran away from your first marriage?" someone had asked, thrusting a microphone into my face.My vision blurred, my head spun, and the next thing I knew, everything went dark then I woke up. I groan getting out of bed, my head pounding. Reality followed me to my dreams now. I was going crazy with everything that had been happening. Everything was spinning out of control, and I was just trying to hold on. Xander hadn't picked up my calls or replied to my texts at all. After telling me to never show up at his house anymore, he had completely cut me off. I still remembered his face and voice"Sasha, I don’t want to see you again. Ever," I stood there, stunned, unable to believe what I was hearing. I thought it was a joke and he’d soon change his mind but he didn’t and I had no choice than to leave.I also deactivated all apps on my phone. Every news page called my engagement a failure. My face was at every corner of the internet; “Engagement Disaster!"
ADELINE’S POVI stared at the paper in front of me. The numbers seemed surreal, almost too good to be true. One hundred million dollars. That’s how much they were offering for this campaign. All I had to do was sign. But the problem was that I had to do it with Xander. After turning down every single brand asking to partner with Xander, I thought they will let me be instead the deals kept coming and they offered more money instead. The truth was I didn’t want to be within a hundred meters radius as him, let alone work closely with him on a project. But the deal was good. Too good even. The visibility, the money, the opportunities that would come from it; it was a dream come true for my business.I thought of Sasha and how furious she’d be if I ever agreed to this and instead of wanting to refuse it the deal became even more tempting.She had called me several times to help her after the failed engagement but I knew better than that now, knowing who she is she’d make sure to turn t
SASHA’S POVI had been hiding from my father for weeks. He hated me, I was sure of it.Ever since my failed engagement our company's stocks had plummeted and he had been fighting hard to save what was left of our family business. The worst part was that the company was being boycotted, and it was all my fault.I made sure to stay quiet in my room whenever he was home. My mother would lie and tell him I wasn't there whenever he asked about me. It was safer that way. I couldn't face him, not with temper.But today, I needed to see Xander. I hadn't heard from him and I figured he must have calmed down by now. Maybe we could talk, clear the air and start over.I decided to dress up for the occasion. I put on a tight red dress that left little to the imagination and smoky makeup to remind him of what he was missing. My pointy heels were just perfect and made my legs longer.I left my room and came down the stairs when I saw my father coming out of his study.He was about to leave the hous
XANDER’S POVI sat in my office, staring at the pile of papers on my desk drumming my fingers on the oak surface. I was so angry and couldn’t get any work done. I had already instructed my secretary to not let anyone disturb me and tell them I was in a meeting but the truth is I was thinking of Adeline and how cold she acted towards me."Xander, you need to calm down," I told myself over and over but I couldn’t. The last time I saw her was at our last shoot. She looked stunning, as always. Her hair caught the light just right, and her smile was as radiant as ever. But that day, her smile didn't reach her eyes whenever she spoke to me. I had asked her to go out and eat with me after the shoot, hoping to spend some time together outside of work and talk but she declined. "I'm sorry, Xander. I have other plans," she said, and then she left.I haven’t felt the level of frustration I felt that day all my life. I clenched my fists, trying to control the anger I felt towards Sasha for ma
ADELINE’S POV***I woke up slowly, feeling so groggy and disoriented. My body was so heavy and there was a dull pain in my side. I did not know why but the pain had my head hammering. I blinked against the bright light in the room and that was when I realised that I was not alone. A lot of questions ran through my mind as I wondered what had happened and why I was here. Someone was sitting next to me and there seemed to be a shocked look on their face when our eyes met. "Adeline?" The familiar voice came through. It was soft, like silk. I turned my head and sock Xander sitting right by my side. I felt an instant wave of relief and my heart swelled. I was so scared before this happened, so scared that something bad had happened to him but seeing him right here with me did a very good job with pushing off the pain for a little while. He was here with me, alive and okay. I blinked back the tears that were already starting to form. And that was the moment everything slowly started to c
FLORAL.I could barely breathe as I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles were already white. I knew what Tristan was planning and I couldn't let it happen because it opposed everything that we worked for. Yes, I knew he wanted to take revenge on those who put him in prison but if he was going to do that, he should go face Adeline's old man, not Adeline. She was innocent and did nothing to him. I was not going to let him hurt her, not after I'd met her. Of course she was going to be a problem if I wanted to get to Xander but she was innocent and she was a good woman. I had to stop Tristan no matter what it was going to take. The streets blurred past me as I sped down the road. My heart was pounding so loud in my ears that I drowned out everything else. Tristan couldn't kill Adeline. Not like this. Not over some twisted sense of revenge. I didn't know how I ended up in this mess. It wasn't supposed to be my fight. But here I was driving, driving madly towards the one person who cou
ADELINE'S POV***My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I dialed my grandfather's number. I could barely think straight now as my thoughts were all over the place. It felt like my mind was running a hundred miles per hour but I wasn't going anywhere. What was I going to do now that it was clear Xander was in danger. I didn't even know where I was going to start from. How the hell was I going to find him? And it was clear from the foregoing that Matt had had the one behind this whole thing. He had abducted Xander and his phone was enough proof for that. He had also put on a mask to make me think that was Xander. That son of a bitch really did all this only to die a very disgraceful death. That was exactly what he deserved. But what if he'd killed Xander? The thought brought back the fear that was already building up. I needed to do something, and I hoped my grandfather would be able to step in with his connections. If it didn't work then I had no idea what else would. All I could think ab
FLORAL’S POV***I didn't know Adeline was in the house when I stepped out of my room. The moment I saw her standing there, my heart dropped. I should have been more careful. What was I thinking, walking out like that? But it was too late-- she had already seen me so there was no need to do anything suspicious now. But maybe there was still time, I thought to myself, glancing at her before I tried to duck back into the shadows. However, Xander’s mother, ever the gracious host, was quick to introduce me once she noticed I was behind her. "Adeline, this is my daughter, Floral," she said, gesturing to me with a proud smile. "Floral doesn't come around often." Adeline turned to me, scanning my face for a second and I held my breath. This was very bad because if she ever got to remember who I was, that was if she didn't know already, I was doomed. My palms were starting to sweat as I braced myself for her reaction. Would she recognise me? Would she say something? But instead, she smiled
ADELINE’S POV***I couldn't stop thinking about Xander. He hadn't come back since the day he told me he was going to stay at his mom’s house and I was disturbed because it could be the place where all his problems had started. Him acting weird must have been from there. He had been complaining about his sister before he came back and then everything had changed. He rarely talked to me and now he no longer complained about her. A lot of things were going on that I should be told about. But nobody was saying anything and it worried me so much. I wished someone could just let me know what was happening. But Xander was the only person I could talk to. He was the only one who knew what his problem was. It wasn't like him to just disappear like this, especially now that there was nothing bothering him, well, nothing that I knew of. He should have checked in lately but I'd heard nothing. My heart felt heavy as I paced around the living room. If I hadn't called him yesterday to know if he
FLORAL’S POV***I watched from a distance as Matt got out of his car and entered the pub. My heart raced but I had to keep my composure because this was going to work. It was either this night or never. This was the moment I'd been waiting for. I needed to find out who he really was. I had suspected for a while that something was off about him, and now I was going to prove it. I quickly made my way to his car, careful not to draw attention. The street was quiet, and only the occasional sound of passing cars in the distance was the only thing I heard. I approached his car and glanced around to make sure no one was watching. Then, I reached into my bag and pulled out the small hidden camera I had planted earlier. I couldn't risk leaving it there for too long, just in case he checked his car for anything suspicious. My hands shook slightly as I retrieved the camera, but I was careful to keep my movements steady. Once I had it, I slipped it back in my bag and quickly walked away, blend
XANDER’S POV***I tried to move but my body would not cooperate because every inch of me was hurting and it was starting to make me feel very dizzy. I was very worried because I did not want to pass out here because nobody would see me if I needed medical attention so I had to fight off every form of hazy feeling until I was sure that I was ok. My arms, my legs, my ribs- they were all on fire. I could not remember the last time I had eaten because my stomach was already growling and I was too weak to care. But do you think that terrified me the most was the fact that the room was very dark and there was nobody around. I could only help but picture that I had been left alone in some kind of Warehouse to die. My heart pounded very fast when I thought of that and as much as I told myself that his Men could be outside, there was still a possibility that they had left me alone here to die. I didn't even know if it was day or night because time had lost its meaning. I had tried to escape
TRISTAN’S POV***The weight of everything that had happened finally stayed to lift lift from shoulders. Sasha was dead. The hit man had done his job perfectly as there was no trace or evidence of who had done it. I felt so relieved because with her gone, there was no one left to testify against me, no one who could point fingers if things went wrong. That was the hardest mission so I guessed the rest would be very easy from here onwards. Now, I just had to take care of Adeline and Xander, before I could disappear. My time was coming, and I couldn't wait for it. I smiled to myself as I thought of my plan. Once they are gone, I'd be free to leave this place. But in the meantime I had to control everything from the shadows. I was happy that I had the capable hands. Sometimes I wished that this was the last mission, but then I was reminded that it was time to put my head down and do the rest. There was no promise of a better future if the rest were still alive. Thankfully, I had it all
SASHA’S POV***I sat on the cold, hard bed in my cell, staring at the ceiling. It had been a long day, just like every other day in this place. The routine, the noise and the walls closing in on me felt unbearable but that morning, something changed. My mother called. I was surprised when the guard came to inform me that I had a call. I thought they had abandoned me, that she had left me here to rot and die just like my father had abandoned us. And I wouldn't blame her for what happened because she was just as miserable as I was. The guard escorted me out of myself and walked me to the phone stand. My heart was drumming when I picked it up. Has something bad happened? Or was she going to just tell me that the divorce had been finalised? If it was the latter, I didn't want to hear anything about it. Since my father had decided to give up on me, I didn't want anything to do with him again. I listened in on the phone and her voice came through. "Sasha, honey." Her voice was so sweet,