When the next morning arrived, Elena said her goodbyes to her dad and got ready to return to the world that waited for her.God knows she didn’t want to leave, not so soon anyway, but what choice did she have? The whole Matthews Empire was waiting for her to come home, to take control of the company that was rightfully hers. Or it was for the time being, until Caleb grew up to claim his birthright.Elena shook her head. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to focus on the task at hand.“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” She asked her father as they stood outside his cabin, the early morning sun casting a golden glow over the trees.Her father smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. You just focus on yourself and the business. I know you’ll do great things. I know now.”Elena nodded, her chest tightening. She didn’t know when she’d see him again, but she knew that things between them were different now. Things were better now. Over t
There were times when Elena knew what she wanted, why she wanted and how. Times when she was in control of her own destiny, of her present, and future. Times when she was aware of how her actions could affect everything.Those times, however, weren’t the ones she lived at the moment, at the point her heart raced so much that her whole body seemed to vibrate. She walked as if what she was about to do was either the best thing that could ever happen or the worst.“Are you sure about this?” Simon asked, as he stood on the driveway, looking up at her, his eyes filled with nothing but want and curiosity and so much more that she had barely started to understand.“What? Are you getting cold feet now, Simon?” She turned and teased, but she knew what he really was talking about, what he really wanted her to be sure about. Elena wished she had the luxury to think this over, to second-guess herself, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to. She was done questioning and doubting her decisions, espec
The look in his eyes was so intense, so beautiful. The intensity behind those words, the truth she could hear behind every single one of them was too much. She knew he meant it, every single one of his words. And she wanted to be strong, she wanted to resist. But at the same time, she didn’t know if she could.Her heart raced faster than she had ever thought it could. “Why?” She whispered, her voice so small, so shaky that she wondered how he didn’t pull back right then. “Why do you want me, Simon?”Instead of answering her right away, he gently pushed her back down onto the bed and leaned in. “Because,” he said, his lips ghosting over hers. “Because, Elena Matthews, only a fool wouldn’t want someone like you.” He captured her mouth with his, his tongue sweeping across the seam of her lips and she parted for him instantly, the heat that coursed through her veins so hot, she felt as if she had been set ablaze.He pulled away all too soon, still looking into her eyes as she gasped for a
“You can’t hide this from her forever, Simon,” Diana said, as she sat next to him in his car, leafing through some sort of kids magazine. Simon was positively aware that the words uttered by the older woman were nothing but the truth. There were at least a dozen things he had kept from Elena. Not because he was ashamed of them, but because he was assured that once she learned about them, she would never even bat an eye at him. And that, believe it or not, was downright unacceptable. After getting so close to that woman—after touching her, feeling her, and breathing her in every way imaginable—there was no way he would put the bullet to his own feet. He would rather keep her away from all the fucked up mess that he was a part of than reveal to her and lose her forever. Just the thought of disbelief in her eyes made his chest clench. No. He wouldn’t make the mistake of being honest. Honesty was for the fools. “I can,” he grunted, looking out the window and doing his best to keep h
“Who did this to you, Mr McDowell?” Detective Cortez asked, as he stood at the doorway of the private hospital suite, hands deep into his pockets, while his eyes remained on the man on the bed.Richard looked up from the screen of his laptop and frowned, not expecting any visitors for almost a few hours. Didn’t doctors assure him that they wouldn’t let anyone in, especially when he was trying very hard to keep his condition under wraps?He was already embarrassed enough to know that Simon had managed to beat him to a pulp, he didn’t need any more reminders of the fact that Simon Walsh wasn’t someone he could dare to mess with. That man was dangerous and not easy to be scared.Of course, that did nothing to deter him from wanting Elena back in his life. She might hate him now, but once she learned what Simon Walsh had done in his life, and what worse he was capable of, he was assured that she would come back to him, sorry for leaving him and not believing him in the first place.He sig
“Madam, the board meeting is about to start in five,” Betty Adams reminded Elena once again, as she stood at her office door, looking more impatient than Elena herself.Elena looked up from the papers strewed about on her desk and nodded. “Yes, of course. Let’s go.” She said and moved away from the papers that had eaten most of her previous day and this morning. It was finally that time of the year when she had to inform the board members about her decision and the future of her business.“Do you have everything ready? She asked Betty Adams, as she reached for her blazer hanging on the chair and slipped into it. “Did you give everyone their copies?”Betty Adams nodded, walking along beside her, her strides brisk as they entered the elevator and rode to the top floor where the conference room was.“I made sure they all had copies,” she said, flipping through the pages in the binder in her arms, as Elena gave her a curious look, “and I gave everyone some time to look at the reports befo
The interrogation went on for hours.But not once, Elena opened her mouth to say anything. If there was anything to say, her lawyer took care of it. He was smart, direct and pulled on punches.No doubt he worked for Simon, as far as she could tell and had known the man for whatever duration they spent together, the cunning businessman did not compromise with his intelligence or skills. He knew people and he knew what he wanted, and it seemed that the man hired for her also shared his intelligence as well.There wasn’t a single thing the detective said or questioned her about, that she was not aware of, that he was able to trap her in or put her in an embarrassing spot. She was not rattled. Not even close.The whole time she sat there, she wondered what led him to think she could be behind Cecelia’s murder. The only theory the detective had given so far was the same old story about her beef with the dead actress. It wasn’t news to her that he had no proof to link her to the murder, but
After dropping Elena to her room and making sure she had everything she needed so she could rest for a few hours, Simon came downstairs and went straight to her study. Before going to bed, he asked her if he could use it for a while, that he needed to take care of some of his business matters while she slept. Elena had not hesitated. She had asked her butler to lead Simon to the study without a second thought. God, it hurt so much to see her so worried, strained and so damn troubled. If only he could take all her troubles away and give her the peace she desperately needed. But he could not. Not right now. And not because he did not want to—or did not have the strong desire to help her out—but because the men he depended on and paid millions to keep him one step ahead of everyone and everything had started to disappoint him gravely. “Cecelia McDowell is dead,” the words came out of his mouth as if he was chewing on rocks, as if he couldn’t swallow, as if he wanted to punch the hell
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