Simon Walsh grinned to himself, watching the chaos unfold on the television screen in front of him as he sipped his coffee slowly. “Look at that, little guy,” he said as he nudged his small dog that was lying beside him. “The whole world is going to hell now thanks to that fucking whore. Good job, Elena. You finally did something right.” The dog gave him a small bark in response before continuing to stare at the television, his head tilted slightly to one side as if confused by what was happening around him. Simon leaned forward in his chair and grabbed a bottle of whiskey off his table, pouring a generous amount into his cup before taking another sip and closing his eyes, relishing in the delicious flavor. He loved whiskey. And he especially loved it when he got to watch his dear nephew go down like that. Fuck. He hadn’t expected Elena to be so bold, but apparently, she proved him wrong. She was indeed a formidable opponent to have, and those people underestimated her capabilities
Elena sat by her brother’s bed, watching him as he slept peacefully like he had been since the night of his car accident. She watched him breathe with the oxygen mask strapped to his face, and her heart ached. She hated seeing him like this, so helpless and vulnerable. It killed her inside every time she looked at him, knowing that there was nothing she could do to make it any easier on him.She sighed softly as she ran her fingers through his hair, brushing aside a few strands from his forehead. “Josh,” she whispered while leaning down and planting a tender kiss on his cheek. “I miss you, Josh. Aren’t you tired of being like this? Of all this sleep? You should wake up now, really, it’s too much. Please.”But Josh didn’t reply. Instead, he kept breathing steadily, as if nothing else mattered in the world.“Come on, Josh,” tears pricked at her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Please, wake up. I need you to wake up. I can’t live your life for you, you know. You have a son. He comes to
Richard sat in his office when his father stormed inside.“What do you think you’re doing?” Gerald McDowell hissed.“I’m handling the problem as it should have been handled a long time ago,” Richard said without even looking up from the file he was reading.“Cecelia is my daughter!” Gerald slammed his fist on the desk, making the papers fly around and almost knocking over the cup of coffee Richard was drinking from. “You can’t just go around and declare her missing, goddammit! Are you stupid or something?!”Richard finally looked up and raised an eyebrow at his father. “No,” he said calmly, “I’m not stupid. And neither was I when I decided to do what needed to be done. I tried to talk to your wife, but she only fed me with excuses. So I figured, since she wouldn’t do anything about it, I should.”Gerald narrowed his eyes at him. “You think you know so much better, don’t you? That you’re old enough to make decisions for this family and its members? That you have some kind of power over
“It’s been a whole damn week, and there’s still nothing about Cecelia,” Danika said with frustration, her voice tinged with disbelief as she flopped back on the couch and swirled the whiskey in her glass. “It makes no sense though. How could she just disappear?”“Or maybe she didn’t disappear at all,” Elena sighed, her brow furrowing in thought as she scrolled down her tablet, her eyes scanning through emails with a mix of concentration and concern. “I told you, she’s on the run. McDowells probably shipped her to some remote island of sorts, waiting for this whole mess to blow over, which it obviously won’t since her asshole brother went public with everything. This entire thing they are doing is all a pretense. It always is with them. They aren’t even looking for her in earnest. They are just saying that so they can save face, so they don’t look bad in public.”Danika scoffed in disgust. “What a bunch of idiots!”Elena raised her glass to her lips and took a sip, savoring the strong
Elena wasn’t sure what she was doing.Except for the fact that she had finally decided to pay Mr Walsh a visit.If she were to be honest, it felt like she was going on a suicide mission, because even though Danika had told her that there was still hope for her, Elena seriously doubted it. She was convinced that Mr Walsh would deny helping her after what happened between her and Richard.Hell, he might even refuse to see her altogether, thinking that she was here to seek revenge on his nephew and destroy his family completely. But regardless, she needed answers, and the only way to get them was to ask Mr Walsh himself.The only reason she was still considering asking Mr Walsh for help was because she owed that much to her brother. Whatever happened to him that night, whoever was behind the ruthless accident, he deserved justice. And if there was even the slightest chance that Mr Walsh could give her that justice, she had to try.She’d be a fool not to.That’s why Elena found herself st
Simon Walsh.The name echoed inside her head over and over again as Elena sat quietly opposite him. She tried to wrap her head around the fact that her mysterious no-strings-attached and Richard Walsh’s uncle were actually the same person this whole time.But it was so hard, though. So hard to comprehend. It just seemed too unreal. Too far-fetched. Like a damn cliché plot of some cheap erotic novel. And yet, here she was, sitting directly across Simon Walsh himself, watching him closely as he did the same to her.They haven’t spoken a single word since Elena found out his true identity. They just stared silently at each other, waiting patiently for the other to say something. Anything. But neither of them seemed willing to break the silence, and honestly, she didn’t even know what to say. Hell, she didn’t even know if she wanted to say anything at all.Part of her wanted to jump off her chair and slap him across the face for lying to her all this time. For pretending to be someone else
Elena was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. She couldn’t believe he actually admitted to being the one to show her the real face of her husband. The same husband who broke her trust, her heart and her soul. The same husband who cheated on her with another woman.But even though she could be grateful for what he did back then, she still felt angry. She didn’t know why but she was growing restless by the minute. Somewhere deep down, deep inside her chest, she felt as if everything was wrong about this man. Simon Walsh was not just an arrogant rich asshole. He was something else entirely. Something dangerous. Something dark. Something Elena had never seen before.And yet, she felt drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Like a magnet to metal. Like a drug addict to drugs. She needed him. She craved him. She wanted him. And he knew it.Perhaps that’s why despite her efforts to be mad at him, he seemed unbothered by her anger. He simply s
Elena stormed into Danika’s changing room and flopped down on the couch as if it were nobody’s business.Man, she was pissed. Pissed beyond belief. How dare that asshole call her a coward? Who did he think he was? She was no coward. She was anything but that. And who was he to put a tag on her? She wasn’t his property. She didn’t belong to him. She never did. And she never will.Elena groaned loudly, covering her face with her hands. She hated feeling helpless. She hated feeling weak. And most importantly, she hated feeling manipulated. And that smug bastard had done exactly that. He manipulated her. He let her believe what she wanted to, never saying a thing, never admitting anything, never giving her any clue regarding who he was.But maybe it wasn’t exactly his fault. He let her believe what she wanted to, maybe because that’s what she needed. At the time when they had met, she wasn’t looking for anything serious. No. She was looking for a distraction. She wanted to forget about eve