POPPY:Wyatt pulled over at the side of the road. Mr. Holding was a devil incarnate. He sure was succeeding in torturing me not only with his presence but also with his smirk. I hated him. I hated him! May he rot in hell where he truly belonged. He knew I lost. That I was on the disadvantaged side. Returning the money but tripling the account? That was next to impossible for crying out loud! And Sebastian was using my financial status as his leverage. "You're a devil, Sebastian."He shrugged his shoulders. "Am I? I did not know that. Perhaps I am.""Oh, please. You know it very well, Sebastian. And I was a fool for walking right into your trap," I exclaimed. “I regretted even knowing you.”"I don't have any idea what you are talking about, Miss Poppy," he answered, acting innocent but his eyes were twinkling in mischief. "Let's cut the chase and just return the money. You want to stop our connections and unfortunately, it will only happen once you return the money. You wasted my t
POPPY:Sebastian was giving me the I-told-you-so look while I hung my head low in embarrassment. It was good that they did not know anything about me or anything else…"Order now," he insisted again.Why is he making everything difficult again? I was seriously tempted to take his offer. My intestines were already wrestling inside my stomach. "I'm not hungry. I will wait for you two."Sebastian sliced the steak using his knife and picked one slice using the fork.I licked my lips. I had only eaten steak once when Nolan brought me to a restaurant. He insisted that he would pay for everything. That was his treat so I ordered the food I was dying to eat since I was in college. Steak. But it was only once and never happened again. I did not want to believe that it was because I lacked enough money. He already earned quite a hefty sum as an engineer in a certain company. But then…when we got married, our relationship became sour as if he was getting cold feet. I tried to disregard it thi
POPPY:The moans suddenly stopped, then I heard the shuffling of clothes as if they were in a hurry."A minute, please. We will be out in a minute."Oh, gahd. Christy. What have you done? The door of the bathroom opened and saw Christy. Her hair was disheveled like a bird’s nest. And the man beside her was topless. She was still drunk from sex. She looked at me sheepishly. “Poppy. I thought you won’t be coming home. So I invited someone to join me. By the way. He is my boyfriend. Love, this is my best friend. Poppy.”And that was the reason why you brought this man to my house? And on top of that, had sex? My bathroom will never be the same without imagining what they did inside. "Hi. Nice meeting you."The man offered his hand and I was tempted not to take it, asking my mind if he was done washing his hand or not. "I forgot to send you a message. I got busy. But it turned out, you got busier," I declared as my gaze darted back to the man beside her.She laughed nervously. “He is
SEBASTIAN HOLDING:Wyatt parked the car in the parking lot. He wanted to go with me, but I told him to finish his work so he could retire to his room. A text message, huh? It would be better if it was something serious. Something that would make me smile. "Mr. Willis!” I called the butler. “Where is she?" I asked the butler the moment I entered the mansion. It was already quiet inside. No maids in the hallway. No one to greet me. Everyone had rested? "Mr. Willis!" I called the butler again. My voice was like thunder echoing against the hallway. He had been constantly bombarding Wyatt with text messages even when we were traveling. Which meant something serious had happened to her. Not that I cared anything about it, but I still needed her now. And I never had given her the signal to die. A fifty-year-old man came running in my direction. Sweat broke from his forehead. "Yes, Sebastian," he answered. "My apologies for not answering right away. I've been to her room.""You answer o
SEBASTIAN HOLDING:I wanted to laugh at Mr. Willis's allegations. Mr. Willis was damn sure I would spare my time in killing my own mother. "You think I am a murderer, Mr. Willis?" I asked, smirking not even offended by it. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, while I looked at him with an intense glare. "I am only concerned for you, Sebastian. Your mother cannot defend herself anymore. Killing her is a crime."If I wanted to kill her, she would have been dead already a long time ago after what she did to me and Father. Killing her too soon was not something on my mind. Mother had to suffer like how I suffered under her hands. "I do not understand why you keep on defending that woman. It was her who tried to kill me, wasn't she?"It was when I was four years old. She put poison on my drinks when her jealousy ran extreme. It was Mr. Willis who was able to notice Mother's evil plan of killing her own son. Mr. Willis wiped the sweat on his forehead. "That was a long time ago. The
POPPY:Who is calling me at this hour? I grumbled. The incessant ringing on my phone awakened me earlier than I set my alarm to. It had been ringing nonstop. I was supposed to be dismissing it, but it wouldn’t fucking stop! The caller should be thankful he or she was not destroying Kelly’s peaceful sleep. If not…still, this person needed to receive an earful of scoldings from me. Popping one eye open, the ray of sunlight had not entered my room. Not the time to awaken, yet. The ringing won't stop and the caller also had no plans of dropping the fucking call!Left with no choice, I slid my fingers on the screen and answered the phone. “Who is this?” I answered groggily. What day was it? Weekends? Weekdays?Too tired to know the answer. “Are you still lying on your bed?”Wait. That voice seemed familiar!My drowsiness disappeared upon recalling who was on the end of the line. Sebastian Holding. The devil incarnate. The reason why I am suffering now.I glared at the ceiling. Now
POPPY:You…It wasn’t meant to cause me embarrassment. So why do my cheeks keep on flushing as if I was damn affected? I was certain Sebastian did not mean anything to it. That question was based on pure curiosity. He is waiting for your answer on the other line, Poppy. Right. He did. But there was no way I would be telling him the truth. “Y-You heard wrong, Mr. Holding. W-why would my child want me to marry you?”“That child obviously has a taste in men.”“If you’re talking about yourself, then I would rather that she remain a child than grow up and face men like you,” I answered, not even sugar-coating my words. That was my baby down there. I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the line. “Women said I am a catch.”“Perhaps it’s time I question my sexuality,” I retorted. “You have a sharp tongue, woman.”I smiled even if he did not see it. “That’s because I got to face a lot of men like you, Mr. Holding. Can we drop this topic and tell me what you need? I don’t
SEBASTIAN HOLDING:Women are the most complex individuals living on this planet. I could not imagine how a simple coffee would make Olivia agree to our marriage. There was nothing extraordinary about coffee. You needed her, the other part of my mind declared. I gritted my teeth. Fuck it. This should be worth a shot and if not, I will get back to that woman. She suggested this. I should be working by now, but instead, I wasted my time going there at Olivia’s house.“Where to?” Wyatt asked the moment I arrived at the garage. He was standing, leaving the passenger seat door open. “Anthony Hills.""We will be visiting Miss Olivia?” He raised his brows, surprise on his face. “At this hour? You normally do this.”"You're not the only one who is surprised."I was amazed at how I agreed to this. Making coffee for Olivia, huh? "What changed?"Nothing changed. I needed Olivia in my life. I wanted the company. Olivia is one of the women I needed to achieve that ambition. “Poppy, that wo