Oh well, looks like trouble is on its way :( What do you think?
Angelina stormed into her apartment and slammed the door as hard as she could. Why? Because she was super mad. Because men were dumb. Because the rich were assholes. Ugh! She wanted to punch someone in the face so badly. If only she could…“Whoa! Easy on those shoes, sis. You’re gonna wake up the little devil, and I just got her to sleep. Finally!” Betty entered the living room with a steaming mug of coffee, wearing a t-shirt bigger than herself and pyjamas that were so damn comfortable. If she could, she would spend every hour wearing them, but she needed to go out and make money sometimes.Angie rolled her eyes, kicking off her shoes as quietly yet furiously as possible.“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” Betty raised her eyebrows and sipped her coffee, making a funny face when it burned her tongue. “Bleh.”“Who pissed you off this time? It can’t be me, since you just got back.”“Some rich men, of course. Who else makes me want to burn down this world? At least that way I’d clean
“I’m not sure about this,” Elena said as she looked up at the grand mansion of the Petrovs, feeling weird about returning to the strange place.“Me neither,” Josh spoke calmly, stepping out of the car and joining her soon enough. “But there are things that need to be done, and this is the only way to do it.”“Are you sure, though?” she asked him. “100 bucks says they are going to be super mad.”Josh scoffed out a chuckle, a hand slipping deep into the pocket of his pants. “And 500 bucks says they will have no other choice but to make peace with it.”Elena grinned. “Oh, you’re on.”Nina greeted them at the foyer, her smile wide and cheery. “Finally, the faces I have been waiting to see.” She hugged Elena and then Josh, soon leading them deeper into the mansion towards the drawing room.Elena looked around the place and wasn’t surprised to see every single thing polished to perfection. But instead of stopping to admire the artwork on the walls like the last time, she followed Josh and Ni
Josh looked at all the men surrounding them, hands on their weapons, and sighed, bored.He turned to look at Roman, who now stood in front of him, his men ready to follow his orders by the word.“Are you sure this is the right way to handle…” he jabbed a thumb at Elena and then himself. “…us?”Roman smirked, hands sliding into the pockets of his pants. “Well, it’s not like you left us with many choices. This is on you, Josh. You brought this upon yourself. You should have always known that walking out on Pestovs can never be so easy. Pestovs are known to be good friends, but we also make a very good enemy. You should have thought twice before thinking you would ever walk out of here without a fight.”Josh scoffed, not at all scared, dark eyes nailed on Roman all the time. “And what about you, Nina? Do you agree with your son?”Nina still sat in her chair, her back to them. “I don’t know what to think, Josh. You hurt me badly.”Ian Pestov, however, seemed to be showing at least some sor
During the entire ride back home, Elena couldn’t hide her annoyance—or maybe that was intended. She wanted Josh to know that whatever happened that night at the Pestovs’ was NOT normal. She did not favor it; in fact, she was offended that he would bring her to a place where she did not feel safe.But, of course, that was not her only concern. There were so many other things to be mad about. For instance, he should have been more cautious when it came to his life. Caleb had already suffered enough during Josh’s months of absence; there was simply no need to take such a risk. Not when he knew that now he was the only parent Caleb had.“You can stop grumbling now,” Josh said to her, noticing how tightly she sat in the corner of the backseat. “Everything is fine.”“Everything is NOT fine, Josh!” she snapped, glaring up at him. “Are you blind? Did you not see what happened tonight? We could have gotten hurt!”“But we didn’t,” he tried to counter, but all she had for him was another hard gl
Derek rolled off the woman beneath him, panting hard as he tried to get his breathing under control. The woman sighed, feeling boneless after one hell of a fuck. It was only after he started to get ready that the woman forced herself to sit up, clutching sheets to her chest.“You’re leaving already?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise at his sudden departure.“When have I ever stayed the night?” he asked instead, annoyance evident in his voice. He didn’t even spare her a glance, and once he was ready, he grabbed his purse and took out some cash, tossing it on the nightstand.The woman pounced on the money like someone hungry for food. She counted it in desperation and frowned when she found it to be less than she had expected.“That’s it?” she exclaimed.Derek rolled his eyes, fixing his shirt. “It’s more than enough.”“You must be kidding me. After everything I do for you, you dare to treat me like charity? What the hell, Derek? This is not what I signed up for.”He snorted as he
By the time the next morning arrived, Elena had everything packed up. She came downstairs and, as always, found her brother already at the dining table, his tablet in one hand and black coffee in the other.She greeted him first. “Morning.”Josh looked up briefly, nodding at her with a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Morning.”Elena grabbed a chair and sat facing him. “We need to talk.”He nodded without peeling his gaze from the screen. “Sure. What is it?”“I’m leaving for Sydney, and I’m taking Caleb with me, if that’s okay with you.”That seemed to get his attention. He looked up, frowning. “Let me guess. Simon invited you to spend the weekend with him.”Elena’s eyes widened, never expecting him to know the real reason without her saying anything at all. “Wait. How did you know?”Josh sighed, guiding his gaze back to the screen and taking a sip of his coffee. “The mention of Sydney gave it away. Simon has a project going on there. It’s practically all over the news.”Well,
The flight to Sydney was a long one—almost 20 hours. During the initial hours, Elena kept busy with Caleb. However, when the boy grew tired and she left him to sleep in a small cabin at the back, she finally stretched her arms over her head and let out a heavy sigh.God, handling kids was tiresome. But at least she now had a few minutes, maybe hours, to herself. Her nephew had exhausted himself and would sleep soundly unless something woke him up.Elena returned to the bar section of the plane and ordered herself a fresh lemonade. While drinking it, her eyes scanned the rest of the cabin until they finally rested on Simon, who appeared busy talking on the phone. Papers and his laptop were in front of him, alongside his assistant whom she had seen on many occasions. And of course, there was the strange man she knew she had seen before—the detective. The one who had brought her solid proof of Richard’s infidelity on the night of Denika’s movie premiere.Elena could never forget his face.
The moment his breath touched her skin, a strange, burning sensation spread through her, leaving her unable to move. He was doing all the moves and all she could do was close her eyes and hold in her breath.This man had the kind of power to turn her into mush in his hands, and she knew it. But, she was not ready to admit to that, not just yet.She waited for his next move. She waited to see if he would bring his lips closer to her ear and do something… anything. But it was as if the world froze in that exact moment. The movie had no sound, his breathing was the only thing that mattered, and his finger the only thing she felt as he continued stroking the skin along her neck, teasing.It was such a strange, overwhelming feeling. The desire she felt inside her…A tiny voice in her head told her this was wrong. That they couldn’t be doing this on an airplane in front of anyone. That this was all too fast, too sudden, and they weren’t alone. But that voice was drowned out by her racing hea
Hey lovely readers,First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you if you’ve made it to the end. It wasn’t an easy journey, I know, but you stayed, and that means everything to me. :)Secondly, let me get straight to what I said I would be talking about in this note.I know a lot of you (probably all of you) must be wondering what happens with Josh next, and what about Angelina, Betty, Caleb, and the other kids.No worries—the reason I decided not to continue their stories here is that I’ll be exploring that story arc in a new book. It will probably be published soon (I’ll do my best, I promise). I realized that Josh’s story needed its own space because there was so much I wanted to write for him, and that couldn’t happen alongside Simon and Elena, who were obviously nearing their happy ending.But yes, it’s impossible to write about Josh without Elena, so Elena and Simon will be making appearances in the new book as well. Maybe sometimes more than I intend, because God knows I lov
After their little party was over and everyone went back to the guest rooms to rest, Elena laid their sleeping daughter in her crib and tucked her nicely.A pair of warm hands slid around her waist from behind, a kiss landed on her shoulder. “Thank you for today. How long have you been planning all this? And how the hell did you manage to invite Josh? I didn’t take him for a party person. Not these days.” He whispered into her ear, making her skin tingle.“You have to ask me how I got your brother to attend? I have my ways of making people do what I want.” She grinned as she turned in his arms and looped hers around his neck.He grinned as well. “Is that right? Do those ways include threatening? Do I want to know the details?” He said jokingly, knowing how Elena is, and she was very much the kind of person who’d go out of her way to make the things that were important to her, happen.“Oh, I think you don’t really want to know. But, I just had to do it for you.”She gave him a light kis
Simon woke up in the middle of the night, his heart racing.He looked around himself, patting his hand around in search of the person he was hoping to find. But to his dismay, there was no one else on the bed with him.“Elena?” he said out loud, frowning at the darkness.His hand patted the sheets and pillow again, trying to feel for her body, but he found nothing. Where was she? Where did she go?“Elena?”No response.He was starting to worry now. Where was she? He could feel a sense of dread slowly filling up inside him. He needed to find her. He needed to know if she was okay.Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from outside his room. He quickly got out of bed, put on his sweatpants and a t-shirt and opened the door.There was no one in the hallway. It was eerily quiet.He frowned, he could swear he heard someone walk by just now.“Elena, are you here? Please say something, darling. It’s me.” He said as he walked slowly to the end of the hallway, bare feet.Just when he thought he
Elena stood outside the doors, clutching the bouquet tightly in her hands. She was shaking, and she knew that anyone who could see her right now would notice, including her brother, Josh.“You’re not a very confident bride, are you?” he teased.She rolled her eyes, wanting to punch him but refraining from causing any casualties at her wedding.“I’m just nervous, that’s all.”“Understandable,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Trust me, you’re not the only one.”She looked up at him, unsure of what he meant. “What do you mean?”“Simon probably feels way worse. I mean, did you see him before he went into that room with his friends? He was sweating bullets.”She shook her head. “You’re making that up.”“I’m not, I swear!” He chuckled. “He’s just as scared as you are, if not more. And that’s a sight I never thought I’d see in my life.”She smiled a little. “I guess you’re right. He is pretty intimidating.”“Exactly. So you have nothing to worry about.” He patted her shoulder. “You’ve got thi
Richard whistled, and Danika watched as Greg, standing outside the room, appeared and uncuffed him.“What the fuck?” Danika was shocked. “How did you… How did you do that?” She turned to face Greg. “You… you work for me, not him! Cuff him back to the door, you giant imbecile!”“Sorry, miss,” Greg said in a deep voice, “I don’t think I will. Mr. McDowell here paid me a lot more money than you to change sides.”“What?!”“That’s right.” Richard stood up, rubbing his wrists. “This is over for you, Danika. Let’s just end this before anyone gets hurt.”Shocked and now furious, Danika was not someone who would give up so easily. Her fingers tightened around the scalpel in her hand. She would fight. She would not go down without a fight.“You think you can win, Richard? You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Well, you’re wrong. I’m not going anywhere. If I can’t have Elena, then no one can.”Without warning, she lunged at Elena, swinging the scalpel towards her throat. But before she could eve
“Is everything set up?” the first man who carried the unconscious bride asked.“Yes,” Greg, who stood outside the operating theater, nodded. “The room is ready. All the equipment is working fine. Just leave her inside, and that woman will handle the rest.”“Sounds good to me,” the other man said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.“Yeah, me too. I just want to get this over with as soon as possible. I don’t want to be here for too long. My wife and daughter have been going on and on about this wedding, and if they come to know I was part of it, they’ll never let me hear the end of it,” the first one said.“Don’t worry. You’ll be paid handsomely,” Greg assured, opening the door for them. “I’ll make sure of that. We just need to do our jobs and get out of here. Simple as that.”“Fine,” the two men said in unison.Danika was waiting for them next to the table, a smile on her face. “Ah, there you are. Any trouble?”“No. Everything’s fine.”“Excellent. Place her on the table, please.”They
Danika was so damn ready for the final stage of her revenge.She had planned everything meticulously, and now all her efforts were coming to fruition. She was smiling to herself when the phone rang, and she picked it up, already aware of what she was about to hear.“We got her,” the man with the deep voice said. “On our way now. Will be there in twenty.”“Perfect. See you then.”She hung up, unable to stop the grin from forming on her face. Everything was going according to plan. And it was just getting started.She looked around. She was standing right in the middle of an abandoned hospital, the perfect place to host her little celebration. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Simon’s face once he realized his bride was gone. And this time, for good. He would be devastated, broken, destroyed. The thought alone was enough to make her laugh.“What’s so funny?” Richard asked as he walked into what looked like an operating theatre.“Just imagining Simon’s face once he realizes I’ve taken
Simon was pacing outside the bridal suite, restless and nervous. One of the servers had informed him that Elena wasn’t feeling well, and he had dropped everything he was doing to rush over and see if she was okay, or if they needed to cancel the wedding. Because he totally could. Nothing was more important to him than his soon-to-be wife’s well-being.“Come on, open the fucking door! Let me in. Just once. I swear, I won’t even say a word.”“Not yet, Simon,” came the familiar voice of Diana. “We talked about this. You can’t see the bride before the wedding.”“Fuck that. This is a fucking emergency. She’s not answering the phone. What if something’s wrong?”“Relax. She’s fine. She just needs a few minutes alone. The excitement is getting to her. But she’ll be out soon. Don’t worry.”“Diana, I swear to God, if you don’t open the door right now, I’m breaking it down. I don’t care if I have to chop the entire thing down.”“Go away, Simon. Or I’m going to tell Elena what you did the other da
And while celebrations and laughter were being shared in one part of the world, in another corner, a different kind of gathering was being planned—a more sinister, dark, and twisted celebration.“I knew I’d find you here,” a familiar voice whispered in his ear. Richard glanced over his shoulder, frowning at the face he hadn’t seen in a while. But there was no mistaking it. The woman was actually here, and the first thing he wanted to do upon recognizing her was to wrap his fingers around her throat and squeeze until she stopped breathing.“What do you want?” he growled, turning back to his drink as he sat at the bar of one of the elite clubs.“Why? No welcome? Where are your manners, Richie?”He hated it when she called him that.“What are you doing here, Danika? I thought I made it clear you were not to contact me again.”“And I thought I made it clear that I have no intention of backing off until you realize that we both have the same enemy. Until you agree to work with me.”“You are