Georgia’s POVIn private now, Georgia held her hand to her chest and released the breath that she had been holding.“That was freaking close!” Georgia said in shock.While she sat there and watched the banter among Syrus, Nancy and Bonnie, Georgia had been praying that Bonnie wouldn’t be pressured into telling the truth, thereby mentioning her name.She was really smart enough to have told Bonnie to wire it over to her, because she knew without a doubt that Syrus definitely tried to trace that money. “I have to think of something,” Georgia said to herself in thought.She received the mail of her officially approved contract with the TV show, which meant that the money would soon be paid to get. It also meant that she would soon begin her tour. All things seemed to be working well for Georgia. Now, her only problem was Bonnie. Georgia had a deep feeling that if Syrus applied just the right pressure, she would slip. She knew Bonnie and the soil she was made from. Bonnie was too soft at
Georgia’s POVGeorgia stayed hidden in that spot and watched everything play out. She had planned everything with Adrian, but she needed to be sure that nothing was going to go wrong. Georgia watched Bonnie give Adrian a side look, and she raised her nose up.“All of you from wealthy homes are always looking down on people at first look,” Georgia said to herself in disdain.She was familiar with that kind of look all too well, because when she was trying to make her way to the top, she faced a lot of criticism from wealthy and influential people. Georgia also knew that if she wasn’t where she was now, Bonnie would not give her a first look at all.“Well, all that is about to change,” Georgia said as she paid attention to the pair. She arranged it in such a way that made her hear everything they were talking about.“I am waiting on someone, and you are in her seat,” Bonnie said in her rich, proud, and sophisticated voice that made Georgia want to drag off all the wealth and influence
Vivian’s POVI had been fuming with anger since I left my home. How could Manny suggest something as outrageous as that? Why would he even think that I would want to collect such a huge amount of money from Syrus.I got into the apartment and slammed the door angrily. I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen first to calm my thirst, but it did nothing to quell the anger deep inside of me. It was bad enough that they were already treating me as the black sheep of the family, and now, they want to guilt-trip me into this.I called Belinda on the phone immediately. I knew she was at work and probably busy, but if I did not talk to anyone, I might explode, and Belinda was the only one I could talk to. Belinda picked at the first ring, making me super relieved.“Girl, you do realize that I am at work, right?” Belinda said in her light nature, as always. “Do you want me to order that breakfast now?” She asked.“I am sorry, Bel, but I just needed to talk to someone,” I said, and now that
Vivian’s POV“Mrs. Nancy Vale,” I said breathlessly.I wasn’t particularly expecting anyone, but definitely not Syrus’s uptight, sophisticated, condescending and downright blunt mother. Without even asking if she was welcome in or acknowledging that at least I said her name in exchange for a polite greeting, she shoved me off the door and sashayed into the apartment, her exotic and expensive cologne lingering in the air.I stood by the door, frozen in shock, and maybe a little bit of fright. Since I divorced Syrus and moved out of their house, I completely stopped thinking about her and her cruelty and hostility towards me, until now, everything just came rushing back, especially the first day I met her.“Where are you taking me today, Syrus?” I had asked, giggling happily as I rode with Syrus in his brand new car.He had insisted that he wanted to see me, so as usual, I went out of the house with the constant lie that I had something to do at Belinda’s house.“Do you want to guess?”
Vivian’s POVI froze at the sound of her cold and harsh words to me. It was the first time I was hearing her voice, and those were the words that came out of her mouth.I opened my eyes in the apartment now and turned around to face my reality. “How did you find this place?” I asked her as I turned and saw her looking around the apartment.“Why can’t you leave my family alone?” Nancy turned to me and asked, her eyes as cold as ice.“I have divorced Syrus,” I reminded Nancy, refusing to feel intimidated by her presence and words.When I was still married to Syrus, I tolerated every trash they threw at me, because I desperately wanted to make things work. I desperately wanted to be accepting and feel the sense of belonging, because I had neglected my family, and I had never lived without the presence, love, and joy of being around a family. But now that we were divorced, I realized that I did not need to accommodate any of her hostility. In fact, I realized that right after the divorce
Syrus’s POV“Yes, please have all of those delivered to the address I attached to the purchases,” Syrus said over the phone. He had just ordered a few things for Vivian; some of the things that would make her comfortable for now, and this time around, he was paying with his personal funds. He did not want to have to deal with anyone policing him about his finances, especially his mother.Syrus was still troubled about the huge sum of money Bonnie moved from the family account. This was the first time that she was doing something like that, and he was even more surprised that his mother took her side, or was she in on it too? He never got to know.“What in the heavens did she use that money for?” Syrus asked himself, greatly troubled. “What could she have needed it for?” He pondered.He was beginning to develop a mild headache as a result of trying to understand why she would do something like that, because Bonnie was well catered for. In fact, she had everything she needed, and all t
Vivian’s POVWhen I heard the doorbell ring later that evening, I jerked in shock. Did Nancy return to continue with her threats and harsh words?I just sat there, contemplating. It was early evening, and I doubted anyone else would be visiting. Besides, I didn’t have any friends, and the only friend I had was Belinda. It couldn’t be Manny, because he did not know that I lived here. It couldn’t be Syrus; since the last time I told him to leave, he hadn’t returned or even called, and he would probably be nose deep into work right now, so my best guess was Nancy. She probably forgot to throw in a few more threats and punching words, and she decided to return to say them. Yes, Nancy Vale was petty like that.So I just sat there, contemplating while the doorbell continued to ring, although I already concluded somewhere in my mind that I did not want to let her in. Perhaps, if she continued that way, the neighbors would alert the cops on her, because she was threatening the peace of the e
Vivian’s POV“What in God’s name did you do that for?” Belinda asked, looking at me in shock, but before I could respond to her, the knock came again.I turned immediately and opened the door, and there stood the delivery lady.“Excuse me, ma’am, but you are Vivian, and you sure know Mr. Syrus Vale?” She asked.“Yes, and yes, but I still do not want any of them,” I said firmly, my voice sounding a little harsher than I intended it to, but I was already getting too upset to care about how I sounded.“Ma’am, it has all been paid for, I assure you, and they are all special orders,” she pressed.“Are you deaf or something?” I lashed out at her, and she threw her head back in shock.“I was just doing my job,” she said, less pushy now.Well, I guess she now realized that there was no talking me into accepting what I already clearly did not want to accept in the first place. Belinda hastily jumped in front of me, and in the middle of the tension that had begun to build between us.“Uh, I am
Syrus’s POVSyrus had been broken since his altercation with his mother and he had simply continued to stay locked in.He had had to send a formal email telling his senior associate staff members that he was taking a few days off. This was the first time since Syrus took over the Vale company that he would ever be taking a break. He was always up and doing, but what he was going through now was just too much. First, Anderson’s death, which he had intended to mourn in peace, and now, his mother’s firm threat to disown him. Syrus had never seen his mother like that. He had never even heard her say words like that to either him or Bonnie, no matter what. Syrus had always taken pride in the fact that his mother was fiercely protective over them, especially after his father walked out on them. She had been a mother-hen to Bonnie and him. Even when he had stubbornly ended things with Georgia whom his mother had approved completely and married Vivian whom his mother had vehemently and openl
Georgia’s POV“That was you?” Belinda asked, stupefied.She would never have thought that this was their college roommate from years ago. The revelation in the past hour by Georgia shook her to her core, and her insides quivered. Talk about nemesis coming to bite them in the face!Now she understood why Georgia was so hell bent on making life miserable for Vivian. Now she understood why Georgia wanted their years of friendship to be destroyed. After college, she and Vivian only talked about her once, a few years after they graduated anyway, and life wasn’t even as rosy as it had been after college, especially for Belinda who had had to fend for herself.“Do you remember our college roommate?” Belinda had asked Vivian one night when Vivian had passed the night in her apartment and as usual, they had been knee-deep into their late night conversations.Vivian had laughed fondly. “Why wouldn’t I? The girl with the weird face. It’s just so crazy that we lived with her and never bothered t
Georgia’s POVAfter that introduction, Georgia had googled about Syrus Vale and the Vale company, and she had gotten all she needed to know. After that, she kept close contact as best as possible.“This is my once in a lifetime opportunity to finally get into wealth and fame permanently,” Georgia vowed to herself even though she and Syrus were only just talking as friends.It had been months since they met and had kept in touch ever since, but Georgia never relented. She knew that Syrus had a keen liking for her, but he wasn’t forthcoming with officially asking her to be his girlfriend, and Georgia was getting desperate.“What if while I am here playing the good friend, he goes right ahead and falls in love with someone else?” Georgia asked herself.She and Syrus could talk all day without getting tired, and they talked about everything, from spots, to politics, games, places, fashion, including his company and her career. Sometimes, Syrus would tell Georgia about a hitch he was havin
Georgia’s POVGeorgia was in the theater for hours, after trusting the doctor to give her a complete face transformation; one that was completely different from her true face, beautiful of course, and also matched her body at the same time, and also paid with most of the money that she had stolen. After that, Georgia spent about three weeks in the hospital, recuperating. She still had some money left, so she used it to take care of herself and her basic needs.The first day that Georgia looked at her new face in the mirror, she had been so awed by what she saw that she could only say, “Wow.”That expression carried all the emotions that she felt. Indeed, money was the ruler of life. If Georgia hadn’t taken the risk of stealing that money, she would never have looked this beautiful. Her face and skin were alluring. As Georgia touched her face in the mirror, she felt as though she was touching the face of a star.Georgia’s insides tingled with delight.“If I looked like this in college
Georgia’s POVGeorgia continued to work as a cleaner, but she did not forget the words that the male client said to her. Every morning, before she left for her cleaning job, she would stay in front of her cracked mirror and look at her face. Georgia had the body, but just like the male client had said, Georgia began to believe that she was ugly.“This is why they treated me badly. This is why they never wanted to be my friend. This is why they called me all sorts of ugly names,” Georgia would tell herself, sadly touching her face.She had never thought that her face was the problem before now, and she secretly wished that she could be half as beautiful as Vivian or Belinda, her college roommates, or any other beautiful girl out there.More than ever before, Georgia wanted to be a star.She wanted to excel where her mother failed. She wanted the world to know her. “I bet she’s going back to the dungeon she came from and no one is going to hear from her again.”Those were the mean word
Georgia’s POVGeorgia had thought that the hostile reception she got from Belinda and Georgia would stop at that first acquaintance, but it got worse as she lived with them.“Get up, you dolt!” Belinda had tapped Georgia rudely.Georgia had slept really late, because Belinda and Vivian had stayed up almost all night dancing, talking, and giggling, and Georgia wasn’t one to sleep under such disturbances. Meanwhile, she had lived with the two cruel girls for the entire time they stayed in college, and neither of them knew her name. Every time Georgia attempted to tell them her name, they always cut her off or waved her off. They disliked her so much that they wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.“What?” Georgia had woken up, feeling groggy and sleepy. It wasn’t even up to 8am, and she still had an hour and thirty minutes to rest before getting set for class.“Is she up now?” Vivian asked as she played with her phone on the bed.“Well, the ugly frog is still sleeping as though she
Georgia’s POVGeorgia was just a young girl when she was miraculously granted admission into their city’s college. She had been ecstatic and joyous, because she never thought she would get it, especially without any help.Her mother was struggling with the heartbreak of being abandoned by Georgia’s father whom Georgia never got to meet, her failures as a model simply because she had a child, Georgia, and so she had become embittered, and a complete shadow of herself.Georgia had applied into college all by herself with the hopes of getting a degree, but her hope had dwindled when she didn’t get it initially, and she overheard that if she had someone, maybe a responsible parent to stand in for her, she might have gotten in. Georgia had been devastated, because she was desperate to leave her mother; her mother kept unleashing her anger and bitterness on Georgia, and she kept blaming her for being jilted by her lover and getting kicked off the modeling world.Georgia had almost screamed
Georgia’s POV“What are you doing here?” Belinda, shocked to see Georgia, asked worriedly.This was her work hour, and when she was told that someone important wanted to see her, she hadn’t known what to expect at all, but certainly not Georgia.Georgia smiled coyly, glad that she could still get this reaction out of Belinda. She was always happy to know that she always had an edge over Vivian and Belinda…always.“That is not a polite way to speak to an old enemy,” Georgia said.Belinda looked around, worried that anyone would hear them, even though they were speaking at a private corner in her office.“You shouldn’t have come here, Georgia,” Belinda said angrily. “You have done enough damage, and the least you could do is simply leave me alone. Do you know what would happen if I lost my job?” Belinda asked, deeply worried and irritated.She had always hated Georgia, but Belinda never knew that she could hate Georgia the way she did right now, especially after the havoc that Georgia h
Syrus’s POVSyrus had paid Anderson’s family a visit after the heartbreaking news of his passing. He had been thoroughly devastated by the news, especially because he didn’t get enough time with Anderson to tell him what he needed to know.“You died without explaining to me the issue with my parents, and what exactly to do with Ken,” Syrus said, as though Anderson was right in front of him. Syrus didn’t tell his mum, because he knew that she never liked the man, but he had stayed in his room and wept. That was the closest thing to a father that Syrus ever had, and it pained him deeply that he didn’t even give Anderson enough of his time. After Anderson fell ill and couldn’t continue working at the company, Syrus had simply never paid him a visit. Yes, he had been completely financially responsible for Anderson, but that had been it, and now, Syrus regretted it deeply. He wished his only time of visiting Anderson was the only time. He wished he had actually taken out time to visit And