AUBREYIt was only so much until I lost myself. I was so confused, I wanted to leave everything and just run away, far from this goddamn place.Cole did not call or visit anymore after the incident at the store, it was like he had finally decided to let me be for the meantime. Words could not express how grateful I was for that, because I truly just needed space to process all these.Purity, on the other hand, did not really give a damn about space, and she kept asking me of her daddy, but the last thing I would do at the moment was pick up my phone and call him.I let her call him with my phone one time, and he told her he had travelled out of the state and would be back soon. That took us to her next question; when is soon?I struggled not to think about him or his parents when I was at the store, busying myself with attending to customers and writing receipts.The news of my store's success was spreading rapidly all over Vegas. It was the one thing that took me through the dark day
AUBREY"Calm down, Aubrey. What is it? Is there a problem?" Cole asked from the other end, but I was too busy sobbing, my back pressed against the door as I thought about the 101 things that could have happened to my daughter."Aubrey? Fuck. Stay where you are, I'll be with you shortly." He told me just when I leaned off the door with tear-filled eyes, pulling the door open as I let my phone fall off my hands.The initial shock had started to wear off and now, I could not help but wonder if my daughter was somewhere around here as well. If she had been killed as brutally as her driver and hidden somewhere around the house. I tiptoed over the body on the porch and started to walk around, not caring that my neighbors had started to look at me like I was insane.I started asking even, "Have you seen my daughter?" My first target was an elderly lady who looked like she was about to shed a few tears for me. "She is six. A blonde, cheerful kid, about this height…" I tried to describe Purit
COLEShe slept off in the car, curled up in the passenger seat in a peaceful manner like she had not just thrown a tantrum some minutes ago."Leave her." I ordered my guard as he made to pick her up from the back, after we had alighted at the house. He moved back at once and I picked her up, taking her to the house.Elsa was the first person to meet me by the door. "I see you have not relented in bringing her here. She is—"I breezed past her, not interested in whatever she had to say. She kept talking behind me, but I decided that I would talk to her later. I had to give her a good warning not to make my girl uncomfortable while she was here. Of course, she should know better than to mistreat my own child, even if I had not yet warned her about it.I wanted to take Aubrey to my room, but I knew that she would throw an even bigger tantrum if she opened her eyes and realized she was on my bed. I grudgingly took her to the room she shared with Purity, laying her on their bed instead.I
AUBREYI swallowed, then looked over at the bed before looking back at him."Can we at least get out of here?" I finally asked, and he glanced back now, before locking eyes with me again.He let out a sigh at the same time that he took my hand and led me out of the room, practically dragging me even.When we were finally in his room and the door slammed close behind me, I asked, my eyes boring into his with surprise,"Was that an elevator I just saw?"I could swear that I had seen a smirk start to break out in his face but he quickly concealed it. "Did it for you and our daughter. You like it?"He was moving closer with every word, and I could have pressed into the door even more if I could. Since I could not do that, I just stared into his eyes and hoped he would not do anything stupid, like try to kiss me… because my brain usually got jumbled up in times like these."I mean, who wouldn't? It's… easier." I shrugged, turning away from him. "So what did you want to talk about?"He tske
AUBREYCole let out a growl and pulled me aside in a flash, pulling the door open with such force that it almost went out of its hinges.I stood behind him, not knowing why I felt the need to hide away from Elsa, but also knowing that I needed to. "What did I say about getting in our way while we are here, Elsa? Do you really want to leave my house so soon?" Cole barked at her, and I did not know why that made me sob harder, though quietly.Elsa looked taken aback. Her eyes blazed with anger, her face red and her body shaking from rage… I presumed.Why was she angry with me? The same reason she has always been—no reason at all."Are you that blind, Cole? How can you not see the truth despite how close it is to you? Despite how much it is staring you in the face?" She cried out, and in that moment, Luke was behind her, his eyes fixated on me.I knew the look in his eyes too well, it was that one that always spoke volumes of how much of a misfortune I was, and how much trouble I carrie
AUBREYI made sure my daughter came to the store everyday after being homeschooled from that day. On weekends, I would take her with me to the store. Sophia watched after her while she was being taught.Elsa gave us sidelong glances every time she saw us with Cole, who would not stop coming after me no matter how many times I tried to make him stay away."A kiss to start my day?" He asked me, one morning after Purity had to go to the balcony with her homeschool teacher."Cole, please. If this is what you called me out here for, respectfully, I would like to take my leave, I’m getting really late for the store." I told him, ignoring how warm my checks had gotten from his words. He smirked."I missed that color on your cheeks. Not as much as I miss it on your ass, though." He admitted, and I immediately started to turn and walk away before Elsa would catch us here like this.He grabbed my arm, making he stop in my tracks and face him after taking a deep breath. There was no trace of hum
COLEI barged into my house like a fucking mad man, Fisher's words replaying in my head,"She wants to kill your daughter, she has her tied to a chair," My fists curled in fists as I bolted upstairs, completely forgetting that I had installed elevators. The words went on in my head, "Her eyes are tied with a blindfold and the doors are locked."I ran faster, practically flying three steps at a time.Fisher's words in my head continued, "She keeps telling her that if she makes a sound or cries, she would not hesitate to throw her mother out of the window when she comes to save her."My foot slammed into the door as soon as I got to the room she was trapped in, and the door flew out of its hinges from the force.Luke was in the room with my daughter, the door had slammed into him in fact, and he fell to the ground, gripping the side of his head."Holy fuck!" He cried as I ran past him to my child, tearing off everything that was used to cage her in.In truth, I should be on my way to Me
AUBREYHe took me towards the guest room where my daughter was currently, while I thrashed in his arms. Just as we reached the door, I heard running footsteps and I froze, he did too, before slowly allowing me to stand on my feet, whilst sandwiching me between the door and his hard body.I looked over his shoulder to see Elsa being captured by two guards before she could reach us and she shouted, "You are throwing your parents out because of a woman?! Your own parents, Cole?!"He turned his head to face her after his jaw locked for a second there. "Not just any woman, my future wife, regardless of any fucking ties you two think is between us. I would definitely not sit back and watch you cause her or my daughter pain." With that, he bobbed his head in the guards' direction and they continued to drag her out, ignoring her screams and curses.Cole unlocked the door before I could act, and nudged me inside, locking the door behind us.Purity ran into my arms, leaving Sofia in a flash. I
HELLO, AUTHOR HERE!I just want to say a big thank you to all of you, for staying with me from the start to finish of Aubrey and Cole's book! It was a really interesting ride for me, and I hope it was for you as well.If you see this, please go and leave a positive review on this book for me, please! It's simply a way to encourage me to write much more catchy books like these. Looking forward to reading all your heartwarming/honest reviews. Until next time, when we start another exciting book journey, goodbye loves!
AUBREYFIVE YEARS LATER…"… over the years, Aubrey Frost has proven to be a force in marketing and business. From one store and a limited range of clothing, to one of the biggest clothing lines in America, scattered across the country, and from what I have heard, the company is set to make waves in other countries as well, anytime soon. Aubrey Frost makes billions of dollars in months, and that is asides what her husband makes from his endless chain of hotels. That family is indeed, one of the most successful, if not the most successful in New York City…" Cole nudged me, taking my attention away from the presenter who had an award to present to me. I sluggishly turned to him, wearing a huge smile of accomplishment on my face. He was grinning as well."Damn, I'm sitting next to a billionaire. Nice to meet you." He joked, outstretching his hand for a handshake. I took his hand and with all seriousness on my face, I said,"Good to meet you too. You are strikingly handsome, I must say. C
AUBREYIt was our wedding.This day was a miracle. Our miracle. I thought back to the incident at the house where I had thought for sure that I had lost Cole for good. I thought it was the end, and that my life was supposed to be that way… miserable and full of disappointments every step of the way.How then did a human who was practically submerged in so much fire escaped with only minor injuries and a breathing problem which only lasted days before it cleared up?How was I walking down the aisle now with Cole's father, who also doubled as my dad—I tried not to ponder much on that, by the way—I was walking down, ready to be handed over to Cole Frost as his wife.Yes, Luke had come to apologize, Elsa too. They had asked for forgiveness and wanted to be a part of our wedding. Cole had not wanted to forgive them, he sent them away from his office so they came to the house and begged me themselves, and I forgave them. I could not help but cry with Elsa as she cried, and I felt it when sh
COLEThe first video began to play on the screen and Dante loosened his tie, watching me all through.Laila tried to talk over the video and convince everyone that they should not be watching it, but everyone had all their attention on what was on the screen already."Oh hell, I hope that isn't who I think it is…" Ferdinand whispered, but it was still very much audible and made Dante's turn in the clip even more dramatic.As soon as he turned and his face was visible, there was collective gasps in the room, even more louder when he slammed the iron against our ex boss's head. Ricardo fell to the ground, lifeless, dead on the spot."What just happened?" It was one of the many murmurs that filled the room. Dante sat there, looking every inch of the Boss he was, even with the threat to his life playing on the screen."Ricardo was being difficult. He was an even bigger thief than I ever would be. I did you all a favour—""One which no one asked for." I reminded him, then instructed Ray to
COLE"Ready?" Ray asked me over the phone, and whilst grinning, I responded,"Ready. Today we take over the syndicate." I announced. He agreed to that, and we were still talking about some things that we would like to put in place when I heard a knock on the door. I ended the call and waited for the person to come in.Aubrey materialized at the entrance, softly closing the door as she entered into my home office. It was dark in here.. not exactly pitch black, but it was pretty dim.I could see her though. I could always see her. Well damn, now I was becoming emotional for no reason."Can I turn on the light, Sir? I want to talk to you." She pleaded. "You do not need to see me to talk to me. Say what you need to say, and leave." I told her, wheeling my chair towards her now."Oh… I, uh.. I woke up with the worst hangover, but… I recalled something… you were standing and uh… you kissed me. I don't think I was dreaming about the kiss because my lips are still sore!" She said all that at
COLELaila asked me to fire Aubrey. Of course, my first instinct was to say no. I had the word on the very tip of my tongue, but I decided to try to be patient. After all, by tomorrow, I would be executing my plan and I would finally get rid of her. I told her I would get rid of Aubrey in two days, as I did not have the time for drama at the moment."I need to prepare my child for the absence of her mother." I told her."Why can't the child go with her mother?" Laila asked in an impatient manner. "Because I want her with me. No child of mine would grow up outside of my territory." I gave her my best line, and it only took a short pause from the other end before she agreed and began to talk about how much pain she was in from the whole beating she received, and I had to beg her to not tell Dante about it first, as I would handle it in two days."Okay, babe. See you when you get back." She told me and I only hummed into the phone before ending the call.I decided to go home earlier to
AUBREY"Mommy, Auntie D said she would be visiting tomorrow." Purity announced with glee but I just frowned."What?" "She said you should call her." She handed the phone over to me, and I dialed Denise's number."You know this is very wrong timing, right?" I asked as soon as she picked up, just to be sure she had heard me when I explained that Cole never let any help bring in visitors if he did not permit it."Ray said you just need to ask him. Take permission and he would let you. I miss you guys so much and I want to come visit, is that too much to ask?" She sounded like she was dying and we were her ticket to another chance at life. The dramatic bitch.The thing was; I did not trust Denise. I did not trust Denise at all. I knew that aside from coming to see us, she had another reason why she was coming here… probably to cause a scene or two. But when I looked at my daughter, I saw the way she was really elated, and so I sighed,"I'll try to ask Cole. But please do not make a move
COLE"Do I always have to repeat the fact that you should watch your tone whenever you want to speak about my wife-to-be?" I asked after a while of being stunned by her revelation.Knowing my woman, she would not just make this accusation out of nowhere. No, she was not like Laila who would make up anything out of spite; it was the reason I was so interested in what she had to say.She rolled her eyes, and I pretended not to see that, just to let her talk, "I… Look, there's a recording, so I do not have to go on and on explaining myself." She pushed her phone into my hand and crossed her arms around her chest, which only caused her breasts to strain against her tank top with the action.She noticed I was looking, but even as her cheeks reddened, she did not drop her arms. Hell, it even looked like her eyes were daring me to do something about her stubbornness.It took a while, but I was finally able to tear my eyes off her and focus on the phone which I was given. The fucking tension
AUBREY"It's yours." Was Cole's cool response, and I almost fainted from the amount of rage that surged through my body at once.Laila had a different reaction to the news, though. She threw herself on Cole for the umpteenth time since she walked through those doors. Her excitement and the way she was rubbing it in by yelling her 'thanks' in his face were enough to make me snap."What the fuck do you mean…" I trailed off, realizing that I was only going to make it worse with that tone, so I amended instead, "You cannot give her the store, with all due respect, Sir."He tilted his head to the side in the usual way he did when he was trying to understand something."And why is that?" He questioned. I responded at once,"What do you mean why is that? I mean, you might have given me the place, but I have worked so hard to get it to where it is today, there is no way I am letting a complete stranger to take over what I have worked so hard to build. How can you even do this?""I do not care