Chapter 1
Stacy’s POV“Oh my God, Oh my God! I'm going to be late for work again. Why didn't Gina wake us up early?!"Gina! Gina!!" I shouted."What what what! Girl" she answered running to my room. "You...your...you...you’re awake! why didn’t you wake me up, we are going to be late to work again."I said running around our small apartment trying to put my things together, then I notice Gina isn’t moving.“You, Gina why aren’t you moving, go go go we’ll be late”.I said trying to shoo her away.“Girl you’re crazy, it’s Saturday Stacy Saturday! Alright? So can you chill now?!”Gina said, then I plopped down on the tiny plush couch.“I’m supposed to go to my mom’s today..., and I am so exhausted”.I said looking back up at Gina.“You can go see your mum today, just rest a little more, I’m going for a jog soon, you know where to keep the keys”?Gina says then walks into the bathroom.Ok quick introduction,I'm Stacy Bennet, the first child and only day of my mom, my dad passed away when I was younger, leaving me with the responsibility of taking care of my mom, since she gets sick a little too often.I have to do different part-time jobs asides working as a small accountant, just to make sure we have something to eat.“I'm really exhausted right now” I say to myself then get up to walk out of the room.I checked if there were any chores to be done in the kitchen, but getting there I notice Gina had already taken care of everything and even left a plate of bacon and toast on the table for me with a paper.Right after I put the paper then I heard Gina walk in,“Ahh... you got my note, I thought I’d be out before you woke up,so I did a little something for you”.“Thank you so much Gina”, I said feeling really emotional.“What are best friends for?”Gina said then walked to sit on a chair beside me.“Look Stacy, you’re my best friend, you are practically my sister and I love you so much, you’re all I’ve got in this world both you and your mom, I love you”.
“Gina why are you saying all this now, I don’t wanna cry in the morning and you’re making me so nervous gosh! And I love you too Gina, I’ll never leave you”.I said then hugged Gina tightly.“O.... Kay! Haha now that we’re done being all sappy, I gotta go, see you later baby girl!” Gina said while leaving the house.I put the house in order then started preparing to go see my mom....I got to my mom’s house, and I saw her watering her little garden on the front yard, the sight made my heart melt...if only I could buy her a bigger house with a bigger garden, then she can plant all the flowers in the world if she wants to, seeing that she hadn’t noticed me yet, I called out to her.“mom” I said, and she quick turned around and her face showed the brightest smile I had ever seen.“My beautiful Stacy, you’re back again I.... I’ve been waiting for you, I decided to water my babies to kill the time, have you had anything to eat today?” She said taking me into the house.“Yes mom, Gina feeds me really well, mom I’m so happy to see and see that you’re not sick,I am really really happy”.“Oh, dear child, I really missed you” she said then hugged me.I sat for hours after hours talkie g to my mom, she had a lot to tell me, it’s so crazy how I’ve missed out on a lot, but I’m really happy whenever I get to see her....“Um mom I uhh... I have a night shift at the bar later today”.“Stacy dear you are already an accountant, it’s not the best or biggest bank but it’s still something, I’m really not okay with some of these extra jobs you take on,Dear what if something bad happens to you” she says reaching out to hold my arm.“Mom I’m ok, really... and nothing is going to happen to me, okay? So don’t worry so much”.“Stacy” .... My mom called softly.“Mom I’m 26 years old, and mom some of my school mates have kids already” I said giving her a pouty look.“Ok my dear, I won’t hold you back anymore, just be care and bring home a presentable husband one day, he shouldn’t be as ugly as your dad, you’re so lucky you got my gorgeous looks” she said joking.“Oh mom” I replied with a laugh, “ok mom I’m going to start preparing to leave for work, we talked for so long it’s getting late again”.I took a shower then ironed my uniform for the night, my mom was already tired and was resting in her room.“Just hang in their mom, I’ll get us out of this awful state” I said to myself before leaving the house.
I got to work late and got scolded by my boss, and now I have to do overtime,“Hey Sam”I said to my close co-worker, “Hey Stacy, what happened this time? You’re late again”. “I was with my mom, and I got carried away”.“Stacy!” A voice called she looked up and seeing it was her boss, she immediately ran to him.“Yes sir”“Take this to the customer on table 15 in the VIP section”.He said handing me a basket filled with expensive bottles of wine.I got to the table and saw an old with barely any hair on his head, he had two strippers sitting with him, if not for the money I wouldn’t work in this kind of place.“Sir here’s your order” I said and attempted to walk away but he called me back.“My goodness you are so pretty miss” he said while scanning my body from top to bottom, I immediately felt this man had no good intentions, and my thoughts were confirmed by his next line”.“Do you mind spending the night with me, I’ll pay you double of what I’ll pay these two altogether” he said referring to the strippers with him who had already started glaring daggers at me.“Sir my job is to serve to customers as a waiter and also bartender, there are many other strippers you can choose from, and with that I’ll be on my way, enjoy your wine sir” I said and walked away really fast, I rushed to stand next to Sam, who noticed my discomfort.“Stacy are you Ok? you look pale, are you fine?” He asked looked extremely worried. “Don’t worry about it Sam I’m ok now”.Said then noticed my boss walking towards me and Sam and my guts told me he was coming to scold me for something again.I quickly put on a neutral look on my face before turning to face him."Good evening again sir" I greeted staring at him with a serious face."What's good about the evening? Hmm Stacy tell me, exactly what is good about this evening after what you have done!” He said slightly raising his voice.“Sir I don’t understand what you’re talking about, what did I do?”"Really? What did do? You are really asking me that?!, why don’t you quit working here and go work as an actress!”“Sir I’m still confused as to what I did and why I’m getting scolded”.“Stacy Bennet, just see your work for this month as charity. Is that clear?""Don't do that sir, you can’t do that! I don’t even know what I did wrong!"“Stacy, you angered an important customer, he even wants you to get fired but I’m only seizing your salary for a month so you should be grateful”.
“An important customer? don’t tell me it’s the greasy old man you’re referring to?” “And now you insult him?!”My boss yelled back angry, attracting the gazes of customers.“Sir if my refusing to have sexual intercourse with a man that should be at least ten years older than my father then I might as well just quit the job”.“What did you say?” My boss asked shocked.“Oh, he didn’t even say what happened and just that I offended him”?“No no no no Stacy please don’t leave, I’ll pay you your Salary please don’t go, it’s just that, that greasy old man is the biggest investor here, so I felt obliged to do his bidding”. “Sir I will not engage in such act with a man almost as old as my grandfather before he passed on”.“Stacy please do it for the bar?” He asked almost begging.“The bar?!, I don’t even own this bar, why exactly will I gain, even if I owned the bar, I wouldn’t sleep around to keep its business flowing”.“Sir can you even hear yourself” Sam said, speaking up for me.“He might pay you triple, he’s really rich he will give you a lot” he said again.I wanted to slap him, but I held myself back, I wasn't brought up that way, and he’s my boss, but God! I really need to slap sense and light into this man’s stupid brain!” And also thinking of that old man Doesn't he have a conscience?” I said all to myself. “Don't worry sir, I've accepted my fate, I can see it’s either your bar flourishing, or I leave, so I will leave, I quit” I said and stood up to walk away but his next words stopped me”.“You can’t leave!” He spoke.“And why can I not?” I asked him almost ready to punch his face.“If you leave, this customer will pull out all his investments and my hat will shut down, I will become penniless” he said in a voice that sounded like he’s a hopeless person and I’m the villain.“So, in other words, you want to use me to make money? Am I correct?, so sir I’m uninterested, goodbye, and Sam I’ll see you some other time, sorry I’m leaving you alone here and thank Goodness you’re not a female or our Boss will be using you next” I said then walked out of the bar, on my way out I grabbed a cup with contents that looked like water, I gulped it down out of thirst then I realized it wasn’t water, but it didn’t matter I just had to go home and tell my mother I’ve dropped one of the jobs she’s unhappy about.On getting outside my head started to hurt a little and my vision got blurred but then I could see a big figure walking towards me, I squinted my eyes and then realized it was the same old man, I turned around swiftly to walk in a different direction, but I couldfeel him close behind him, my head was hurting, and my heart was beating in fear. “He can’t catch me, he can’t catch me, he can’t catch me” I kept repeating to myself.
I kept speed walking and looking back then I bumped into someone, I didn’t see who it was, but the pets smelled really nice. “Help me, I whispered to the person, and I passed out before I could say more.Brian’s POV“God! I can’t believe this!”I yelled to myself in my car.“Sir where are we headed?”“Shine Bar”My driver asked and I replied then pulled in my tie and tossed it on the seat.We got to the bar, and I remained sitting in the car, I looked out the window and noticed a lady staggering, thinking she was one of those drunk strippers I turned away, “but wait she’s not dressed like a stripper” I said to myself, but I unknowingly voiced it out.“Who boss?” My driver asked.“Ryan that girl, she looks drunk” I pointed out for him.“Why is Mr Cyrus chasing after her?”“Chasing?!” I said and got out of the car and Ryan did the same, if Cyrus is following a drunk looking girl, I know it can’t be anything good.I stood and watched the girl as she walked, she looked red, I started walked slowly towards her, she kept looking back while walking then she bumped into me, without even looking up to see who I was she muttered “help me” then passed out, I could tell she wanted to say more but
Stacy woke up early and felt something holding her, she jerked a little before noticing a beautiful face in front of her, she was stunned, she started remembering the late nights events, how The old greasy man had tried to get her, she couldn’t remember how she became weak, then suddenly she remembered what happened between her and this man lying next to her and her face flushed red, “he called me beautiful, I kissed, I kissed him, oh my god!”, she squealed then immediately put her hands over her mouth,“Why did he stop? wait what am I saying? Stacy get your head together”.She said then gathered her clothes and left the hotel, unknown her she had left herpurse which contained important items.Stacy got to hers and Gina’s apartment, thinking Gina wouldn’t be home she enters the house noisily, she is shocked when she sees Gina sitting in the small living room and watching TV, “G-Gi-Gin-Gina! Why are you home? don’t you have work today?” “I was given today off, my boss is quite good to
Minutes after Stacy left, Gina woke up again and drank from the cup that Stacy left for her, then she noticed the note."Gina get well soon, you don't have to come in to work today, if I see anyone that knows you at work, I'll let them know you're not feeling too good, Okay? Take care of yourself I love you, and you breakfast is in the kitchen, you can microwave it before eating, Love You!* After reading the note, Gina put down the paper then slowly got off the bedWorkplace...Stacy got to the company but stood outside admiring how huge it was, then some caught her eyes in a distance, she was sure the person she just saw looked like the man she spent the night with because she had taken a quick glance at him before she fled.Shoving the possibilities out of her head, she finally stepped into the building.Not knowing exactly where to go or where to go or what to do, she began looking around and almost walked past the Receptionist. "Excuse me miss, how may I help you?" She said loud e
"Do you still think he's petty?""You see my boss doesn't do anything for no reason at all"Ryan says before he pushed open a door and walks in with Stacy following closely behindHave a seat over there. Brian will be here soon.He says then walks out, not long after he stepped out he came back in and Stacy lifted her head to look at him,Your file, hand it over he said then left again after collecting it from her.Now alone in the office Stacy began observing everything around her then she notices a photo frame racing down on the table she slowly reaches out to pick it up.HandsomeShe says then continues to look at the photo."why does he look so familiar?" She says to herselfthen a memory flashes in her head."He can't be the same person from that night, that can't be possible" she says with a nervous laugh, her palms and forehead getting sweaty, "I made out with the boss of Smith Holdings? Isn't he gay?" She says to herself in her head, then moves to put the photo back but slip
"Soo, l'Il be marrying you for real?""Why do you say it like it's such a bad thing, i'd also be helping you out since you just lost both your jobs and you need to take care of your mother"."Are you stalking me?" She asked shocked at how he knew all this about her."Stalking you? You wish Lu".He says while signing the paper in front of him."Then how do you..""I wouldn't propose something like this to you if I haven't done a full background check on you, and I'm really grateful I bumped into you that night"."I... can I sleep on it?""There's no time for you to sleep on it, you're getting a rich husband for free, you should be happy"."How long are we going to keep up this act for?""A year and you're not allowed to fall in love with me"."Who's falling in love with you?""I'm being serious" Brian said with a straight cold face.Seeing his mood change from playful to cold so fast Stacy became a little scared, "why can't he just tell his parents that he likes men, I mean the whole c
Brian took his time to Analyze everything his dad says then he made a self-realization that Avery is a little bit dumb."I hurt her? Oh please, when is she going to stop behaving like a spoiled child? Remind her that she 24 and will be 25 soon and she needs to start working on getting herself a suitable husband, instead of clinging onto someone who isn't interested, that's all I have to say, you can hang up now" Brian says then put down his phone, then sneakily glanced at Stacy and saw she was already looking at his then he looked down at his table."Stacy, do you want to go out tonight?"he asks while arranging the papers on his table."Huh? Oh, um I don't know, I don't know if Gina is better, so I have to go home and check up on her"."Oh, is that so? Send my regards to her, and I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning".Brian says then Stacy gets up from the chair and turns to walk out."What kind of girlfriend doesn't kiss her boyfriend goodbye?" Brian says before Stacy cou
Gina walked back to Stacy with two bottles of water and plain donuts, then she passed the bottle to her first, “Here, drink some water first, I got donuts, you have to eat something” she said and Stacy nodded her head in response.Stacy was eating the donut when a nurse finally came out, Stacy immediately rushed towards her “h-how is my mom, is she okay?”“I’m sorry you have to wait for the doctor, sorry again I’ll take my leave now” the nurse said then hurriedly walked away, Stacy stood waiting for the door to open again, she started feeling slightly dizzy and wanted to sit down but just then the doctor came out and she hurried to meet him, “doctor doctor,tell me how is my mom she- she’s going to be alright right?”“Can we speak in my office please?” The doctor asked seeing how shaky and unstable Stacy was. “No please tell me here, is there anything wrong with my mom? Tell me!”“Did you know that you mother has arrhythmia?“I knew... I know, it’s just that I...”“She now also has a br
Stacy?” Gina whispered to herself when she got to the door she looked from the glass and saw the nurses in the the room using a defibrillator on her, then the doctor arrived with Brian.“Doc-Doctor what’s happening, why is she- what- why is she like that?” She asked holding on to the doctor's coat.“I’m not exactly sure, please excuse me let me go and and see What’s wrong” seeing that she had no choice but to let go, she released her hold on the doctor and began to cry.“Dear God, please! Please! Save mom and Stacy, I cannot lose another family! God please!” She shouted and fell to the ground, Ryan not knowing how to react simply hugged her tightly till she stopped crying, then he led her to sit on the bench chair again.Brian followed behind them slowly, he looked at Gina and felt really bad for her, then he gave her and Ryan some distance again. who said Brain Smith didn’t have a heart, he does. Brian is also struggling with the whole situation, he’s extremely worried about Stacy, b
At the hospital, Stacy slept for a really long while and when she eventually woke up, she saw a buff man standing not too far away from her bed, she was about to scream, and seeingthat she was about to, the man rushed forward to cover her mouth then he spoke. “Mister Smith sent me”After that he felt her calm down, then he hastily removed his hands and stepped back, and began the pack her belongings in the room.Stacy watched as the imposing figure of Brian’s bodyguard, clad in a tailored suit, moved around swiftly in the room as he picked up things that looked like they belonged to her and also asked for her to confirm ownership.“Is this man only surrounded by beautiful people, even his bodyguard is so handsome!”She thought to herself as she watched the bodyguard.Someone enough was done, and Stacy had freshened up and changed her clothes, the guard walks ahead of her to open the door. Unfamiliar with such treatment, she hesitates before stepping out of the room, he helps her chec
After she was done scolding Gina, Stacy raised her gaze to meet Brian's, but as their eyes connected, Brian quickly averted his gaze from her."Are you blushing, Boss?" Gina remarked, observing the slight redness on Brian's face."Aegina!" Stacy sharply called out, lightly reprimanding Gina with a smack on the arm."Stacy, Gina is not mistaken. Look at him – his face and even his ears are red," Anna pointed out, making Stacy a bit nervous but she promptly responded. "Mom, it's getting late. I think you should go home and rest now. You've just recently been discharged from the hospital, and I..." Stacy began hurriedly, but her mom interrupted her."I understand how much you want me to leave right now, and I was about to go anyways. Take care of yourself," Anna expressed before picking up her bag and gently guiding Gina to stand.Brian remained rigid at the door, visibly embarrassed. He found himself in an unfamiliar situation and was uncertain about how to retro it. As Anna spoke with
The shop owner forcefully dragged Evie back into the shop, pulling her to a corner. After briefly stepping out, he returned. In that moment, Evie was in tears, because she knew exactly what awaited her.While driving to the hospital, Brian called Ryan, who answered promptly. "Brian, I'm your half-brother and personal assistant, not your girlfriend. How many times will you call me in a day?" Ryan said playfully. Brian who could tell he was joking around chose to be serious in response."If you don't want me to call you anymore, that's fine; I won't call you," he said, waiting for Ryan's reply, but it never came."Aren't you going to answer?" he asked, feeling slightly frustrated."Oh, I thought you were going to hang up after you were done talking, so I decided not to say anything.""RYAN!""AARON!""I'll get you!" Brian said with a laugh, then switched up immediately, remembering the reason for his call."I was at a bakery a few minutes ago; I could sense the owner of that place is sh
After leaving his house, Brian drove back to the hospital to check on Stacy. While driving, thoughts of the look Ryan had given him earlier that day when he saw him holding Stacy’s hand lingered. He understood the meaning behind that look – Ryan was teasing him, teasing him about Stacy. Brian, realizing he was getting distracted, slowed down and parked his car by the side of the road.“Why can’t I stop thinking about her?” he exclaimed out loud, then rested his head on the steering wheel in irritation. After some minutes, a knock on his car window interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a young girl staring at him intently. Brian rolled down the window to hear what she had to say.Frustration evident on his face, he asked “what?!”.“Um sorry you can’t park here, you’re parked directly in front of our shop” she said then pointed to the bakery behind her.“We didn’t say anything earlier because we thought you were a customer who wanted to quickly get something because even customer
After thinking to herself Valerie made an internal decision that Avery won’t easily be forgiven this time, she finally looked at Avery’s parents and spoke up. “Rita, Jacob...” she called to them but Avery’s father, Jacob immediately replied. “We will book a flight for Avery, she’ll go back to her modeling, i...we will make sure she doesn’t bother Brian and will definitely reflect on her mistake, she will also apologize to Stacy before she leaves.“WHAT!!!”Avery sat on the floor as she listened to everything her father said, and as much as she was against it, she didn’t have the strength to refute anymore but the minute her father mentioned her apologizing to Stacy, her body reacted before she could think."Dad! No! I can do anything but apologize to that lowlife!" She yelled. The moment she uttered her sentence, a hard slap landed on her face, shocking both her and her parents. The person who had slapped her was Valerie.After Valerie had slapped Avery, one of the housemaids discreet
Although it wasn’t easy to find the actual location of the men holding Avery, Ryan managed to locate it, enabling Brian’s team to save her and take her to his house. For the first time in his life, Bryan left his work unattended, sitting at the hospital waiting for Stacy to wake up. Anna and Gina joined him, after a while they back to worry about Stacy not waking up yet.Noticing their worry Brian then spoke up, “she is probably just really tired, that’s why she hasn’t woken up yet, I was here through the night, nothing could have happened to her, don’t worry too much”. He said and Anna looked at him in shock, surprised that he had noticed her worriedness, Gina’s reaction was no different, she began to wonder when her cold boss became so attentive.In that’s moment, Brian’s phone rang, he then picked it up and saw it was Ryan calling, that was when he remembered about Avery, then he hurriedly picked up the call.“Sorry Ryan I completely forgot about Avery’s issue”. He said immediately
Brian stayed with Stacy longer than he had expected, even after she fell asleep. He took a seat close to her bed, eventually reaching out to hold her hand while staring at her with mixed emotions. As his eyes grew heavy, he fell asleep, still holding onto her hand.Outside, Gina, feeling tired, grabbed the bag of clothes she had brought for Stacy and entered the room. Seeing Brian asleep with his head on Stacy’s bed, holding her hand, Gina smiled happily before quietly leaving. Once outside, she spotted Anna and signaled her to be quiet when she noticed she was about to speak.Approaching Anna, she whispered, “Stacy and Brian are asleep.” Anna then took Gina's hand, leading her to sit on the bench chair. “Mom, I'm starting to feel hopeful about their relationship,” Gina said eagerly the moment they sat down.“Why all of a sudden?” Anna asked, observing Gina's expression.“Mom I’ve known Stacy almost my entire life, I can tell she feels something for Brian, it’s probably their contract
Avery rushed inside in a panic after Brian left, frantically calling Jeff again since he hadn’t text her or called back.“Why isn’t he picking up!?” She yelled in a hushed tone then threw her phone to the ground after Jeff had still not picked up any of her calls, and just then her phone lit up and began ringing, she rushed towards the phone and saw it was Jeff calling, she immediately picked up and did wait for him to speak then she started asking him questions.“Why haven’t you been picking up!? Did you do what I asked? Where is she now? Why did Brian come to my house, did he catch you? Look I’ll send you the money once you send me the video!” After noticing that the other side said nothing Avery looked at her phone to see if he hung up, but the call was still on.“Jeff why aren’t you saying anything!?” She asked, “Avery really?” A chillingly familiar voice answered and Avery’s whole body went cold in shock as sherecognized the voice to be Valerie’s."Aunt, why are you... Why did y
Stacy woke up in a hospital room and realized she was moved to a recovery room. Arlo excused himself, leaving Gina with Anna, and Valerie. Gina explained the chaotic events that led to this moment, and as Stacy processed it all, she thought about Brian and remembered how he fought against Jeff while carrying her, and how hard he tried to protect her from him.Feeling concerned about Brian's whereabouts, Stacy asked, "Where is Brian?" Her hoarse voice and a sharp hiss of pain revealed the toll her injuries took as she tried to sit up.Upon hearing the question Stacy had asked, not wanting Gina to let her know about Avery having anything to do with what happened to her, Valerie came closer to Stacy, searing herself beside her, she gently took her hand and answered her saying “Stacy dear, Brian is going to be here soon, he just stepped out for a while” realizing what Valerie was trying to do, Anna felt a little bit angry but she decided not to say anything as well, Gina who was completel