Vivian’s POVI was sleeping soundly when I heard my phone ringing. It was barely 6am, and I wondered who was calling me so early; it wasn’t even time for me to get up and start working.I got up, wiped my eyes to get rid of the sleep and checked who was calling, and I did not know exactly how I felt when I saw that it was Manny. In all honesty, I had just wanted to distance myself from my life in that city, which included my family as well, but at the same time, I just couldn’t find myself ignoring the call, so I picked it up before it went into voicemail.“Vivian, thank goodness you picked!” Manny said.I could feel the relief in his voice when he spoke, and I wished I felt the same. Months ago, or even weeks ago, I would have been grateful to be getting a call from Manny, because at that time, there was nothing I had wanted more than to reconnect with my family. I had wanted their forgiveness and acceptance so badly that I was willing to go over and beyond for it, but not anymore. I
Georgia’s POV“Hello, good morning Miss Georgia. We are calling to inform you that your apartment is fully ready,” a male voice said over the phone formally.Georgia had been holed up in her bedroom when the call came. She had sneaked into the house late last night, because she knew her embittered mother would be asleep and probably dreaming of monsters. Georgia had had to perch somewhere and drag her feet until it was midnight, and since she successfully sneaked into her bedroom without having to deal with her mother’s bitter, angry and jealous words, Georgia hadn’t come out. She wasn’t even expecting this call right now, but she could not hide her excitement.“Are you for real?” Georgia asked.Things had gone more smoothly than Georgia had anticipated. She could rarely believe what her efforts were bringing to her. After calling Syrus and telling him about the apartment of her liking, because she knew that Syrus would have dragged his feet, Syrus had made an instant payment, furnish
Syrus’s POV“With all due respect, Mr. Vale, you shouldn’t have bought an apartment for Georgia,” Davis said cautiously, but he couldn’t keep his opinion to himself; not anymore.Davis knew that he had to tell Syrus all that was at stake, because if he didn’t, Syrus would definitely blame him when things went out of hand, just as he had always done.The last thing that Syrus wanted was to be scolded for his choices and decisions. In fact, he really hated it. Syrus was a man of his own choices and decisions, and he had grown up that way, because his father was so distant that he didn’t have a father-figure at all, so all he had done was out of his own discretion and knowledge, and so far, Syrus had done exceptionally well.“You do not have the right to tell me that,” Syrus said firmly. “Why are you even in my office?” Syrus asked Davis.He had already left Davis’s office days before, and if he hadn’t made that call about the house to Georgia that day in Davis’s office, Davis would not
Syrus’s POVSyrus arrived home later than usual after the long conversation he was forced to have with Davis and the plan that they had ended up making.The words of Davis still hung in the air and as much as Syrus tried not to be bothered about it, he realized how unsettled he was.“What if Davis is right about Georgia blackmailing me?” Syrus had asked himself as he drove back home.But then again, he had known Georgia way before now, and she had been nothing but caring, supportive, and helpful. Even when he had left her for Vivian, Georgia was still understanding enough to maintain a cordial friendship with him; even Vivian would not be that nice. Heck, hadn’t Vivian angrily left simply because Georgia declared that she was pregnant for him? Syrus knew that if it was Georgia who was in Vivian’s position, she would have treated Vivian with love and care.So Syrus decided not to dwell on the words of Davis about Georgia. “He doesn’t know who Georgia is,” Syrus concluded to himself.H
Vivian’s POV“Vivian, what are you doing?” Marie asked as she strolled into the pantry, but my mind was afar off, so her voice was only a distant echo to me.Since the call with Manny where he told me that they had all lied and pretended that Ted was in grave danger because he owed a deadly drug lord a huge amount of money, I hadn’t been fine. In fact, I had walked around the house like a robot, just going about my tasks. Thankfully, Mr. Vale and Marie had been too consumed with each other to take much notice of me.“Vivian?”Marie’s voice cut through my thoughts sharply like a sharp knife, and I snapped out of my reverie. “Yes,” I answered abruptly, as though she had just called me. “Are you okay?” Marie asked with concern in her voice.“Nothing, ma’am,” I lied.“No, you shouldn’t be lying to me; I have seen how you have been acting around the house recently,” Marie observed, and my mouth almost dropped open in shock. “Even Vale has expressed concern,” she added.“Oh my goodness, I
Georgia’s POVThe moment Georgia had stepped into her new house, the words of her mother disappeared from her head, and she had been having the best time of her life ever since.Today wasn’t an exception.As Georgia made lunch, she still reminisced on the fact that she now owned a house. The papers were with her, so it definitely wasn’t a dream or a joke, and this was fully and completely her property! This was something that would never be taken away from her. Finally, Georgia had gotten out of that dungeon where she suffered emotional and psychological abuse from an embittered and failed woman who called herself her mother.“You are the best at what you do, Georgia!” Georgia praised herself. In fact, she had been toasting to her immeasurable success ever since she moved in.It was not just fully furnished, it was also bigger than what Syrus had rented for Vivian. Oh, Georgia made certain of that. It was even a good thing that she saw the apartment for herself, because it gave her th
Vivian’s POV“He is your what?” I asked, still unable to tear my eyes from the picture.“That is Leon, my twin brother,” Diana said, completely oblivious of my mood.Maybe it was because she was standing behind me, which was why she didn’t know that color had drained from my face, my knees were weak, my heart was beating really fast, my hands were becoming sweaty, and I couldn’t even think straight.Just when I thought I had succeeded in running away from every danger I knew!“You must be Vivian,” Diana was speaking behind me. Her tone was light, friendly, and accommodating, even though she was just meeting me for the first time and I was acting really weird. If I didn’t know better, I would have mistaken her for Marie’s daughter, because the aura of joy and peace that came with being around Marie was all over the store since Diana came in, but the picture on the wall and his haunted look the day Manny and I went to pick up Ted from the location that was given to Manny did not allow
Vivian’s POV“Vivian?” Diana called, drawing me out of my frozen state.I shook my head to get my head back in shape. “What did you just say?” I asked.“I said that it would be nice of you to meet Leon,” Diana said.This time around, she was looking at me with a worried expression on her face. My reaction to what she said was glaringly obvious that there was no way she would not have noticed, and I couldn’t have pretended even though I wanted to.“Is everything okay, Vivian?” Diana asked, placing her warm hand gently on mine in concern.“Did you say he was on his way here?” I asked, hoping that I had heard wrongly.“Yes, I did. He should be here in less than two minutes, actually,” Diana answered, flashing a quick glance at her wristwatch.I sprang to my feet as though I had been bitten by a poisonous snake immediately, making Diana also stand up, extremely worried.“What is wrong?” She pressed.“I have to go; Marie would be expecting me back by now,” I lied.“That’s not true,” Diana
Syrus’s POVSyrus stared at Anderson, and even though it was a little dark because it was quite late, he could see how deteriorated his condition was.“Anderson,” Syrus said through a rasped breath. He had no idea that Anderson had gotten this worse. Syrus might have been busy and occupied with other things, especially with all that had been going on with him recently, but he always ensured that Anderson’s medication bills were paid in full, including his salary and other bonuses, which was why he was shocked to see Anderson in this situation.But Anderson was smiling.“You took longer than I thought. I thought I was going to die without seeing your face,” Anderson said.“I shouldn’t have taken this long to come,” Syrus said and meant it. “I didn’t know that the illness had eaten this deep into you,” he added.“No man is ever going to live forever, Syrus. The most important thing is that they are on the right path,” Anderson said through labored breath. “I am not a sad sick man livin
Syrus’s POVSyrus drove through the city at night, trying to maneuver his way around.He could barely recall the address, but he knew that he had to locate it. Years after Anderson introduced Syrus to the Frenchman and Syrus was able to bring the company back to its feet, he kept Anderson employed. His mother never liked it. In fact, she antagonized Syrus for years.“You should fire him, Syrus. He maintained a close relationship with your father even after knowing the pain and heartache he put us all through,” Nancy repeatedly told Syrus.“That would be you asking me to fire all the board members and senior staff, mum,” Syrus had told Nancy, but she had been adamant.“Then fire them and replace them all if need be!” She had said fiercely.“Mum, these are people who have worked hard in the company. They know exactly what they are doing. I cannot fire them out of the blues and just replace them like a pair of shoes. It could bring down the company, and you know this,” Syrus had argued r
Vivian’s POVMarie wiped her teary eyes and continued, and I was more curious than ever to hear all about it.“So instead of Vale to have an impersonating staff member fired, he asked me out for dinner,” Marie said.“In front of everyone that he had already bragged that he was getting you fired?” I couldn’t help but ask.One thing I realized about this conversation which Marie began without warning is that it eased whatever we were both feeling in our hearts. Before now, Marie had been troubled about Mr. Vale’s health, and I had been troubled about the revelation I got about my family from Leon, but now, we both just seemed happy. It was as though the love that she shared; the same one I had resented before now was a soothing balm to me. It reminded me of the love and thrill I had felt with Syrus when we initially met years ago. It had been intense and deep, and it had been the best time of my life, and surprisingly, the memory of it did not fill my heart with anger as it usually woul
Vivian’s POVI stayed with Marie in the hospital after we took Mr. Vale to see his doctor at the hospital. We hadn’t exchanged a word, and there wasn’t even a need to. As we sat close to each other, I heard Marie mumbling words of prayer to God for Vale. I couldn’t hear the words she spoke, but somehow, I was deeply touched. As much as I would love to resent them, there was no doubt that they loved each other like never before.“Marie?” The doctor called.We both stood up straighter and looked at him. Marie had been so soaked in her supplication and I had been immersed in her devotion to him that we both hadn’t noticed the presence of the doctor.“How is he?” Marie asked instantly. I found myself praying and wishing that nothing bad would happen to Mr. Vale. Not that my feelings towards him for abandoning his family had changed, nor my feelings towards Marie for taking a man away from his family had changed, but I still didn’t want him to die.If I didn’t want someone as dangerous as
Syrus’s POV“I have been asking you if you have anything to say to me, but you keep evading the question,” Nancy said as she stood in Syrus’s bedroom. Bonnie was also present.Syrus felt like a piece of shit, because of the news that was flying around on the internet. He should have known that confrontation with a man like Ken alone was a bad idea, but then again, no one knew this part of Syrus’s life. Even Vivian who almost got to know, Syrus managed to keep her in the dark, but now, things were slowly getting out of hand. Ken had been so good and smart with what he was doing that he ensured that his face was faced out of the camera. The only person the world could see was Syrus, and of course, to them, he was trying to kill an innocent citizen simply because he was wealthy and powerful. Syrus had stayed holed up in the house, because right now, he could not bear to face the judgmental faces of everyone that knew him, including the colleagues that he hired himself.“What the heck
Vivian’s POVThe revelation I got from Leon still had me reeling with shock. Hearing that Dad had used up our inheritance and wanted to give me out in a contract marriage to pay off his debt, I had thought that that was the height of betrayal from my family members, but this was worse than I could take.Ted now had blood in his hand!I shuddered at the remembrance of it. Thankfully, when Leon brought me back to the house, Marie and Mr. Vale had been too engrossed with having their lover’s time together to even notice that I was drenched in dread, so I had just delivered what I was sent and I went into my room. I could not even bring myself to eat anything. In fact, the thought of food made my stomach retch.This was no longer a case of drug dealing; it was a murder case. First of all, Ted had gotten involved in drugs, which was even a great crime in the country. Then he had killed Jane in cold blood simply because she had betrayed him. To make things even scarier, he had planted a pi
Syrus’s POVSyrus got home at past midnight, drenched and drained. His mission with Ken had failed woefully. After asking Ken that question, Ken had laughed at him to scorn.“If you didn’t, then who did?” Ken had asked without remorse. “You were the one with the wedge hammer that day; I only walked in and saw that you had just murdered the Frenchman,” Ken had said.Syrus had almost fallen defeated, because on a face level, that had been what had happened, but Syrus was determined to get to the bottom of it. More than anything else, he wanted to get this guilt hanging over his head; this guilt that Ken was now threatening to use against him. Syrus was a businessman, and he knew what deadly scandals could do to his company. Once the news got out and the world knew that he had murdered someone, he would never recover from it, and Syrus had gone too far to let anything stop him now. He had sacrificed too much to let a sin from the past crawl up to destroy everything. “I don’t remember an
Vivian’s POV“I still want to know,” I told Leon insistently even though my heart was pounding greatly.I was asking myself if I truly needed to know about it, because Leon’s words sounded dreadful, causing my heart to beat faster than usual. Maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie, especially now that I had gotten far away from Ted, but how far away can I ever possibly get? Each time I think I have successfully run away from a problem, it pops right back up and stares at me squarely in the face. For instance, the last person I expected to run into in this peaceful town that I had gotten a job was Leon, the same man whom I had seen with Ted who had a dangerous look in his eyes. These were signs that I could never actually run away from my reality. There was Ken and the conniving inspector that I had fled from. There was Ted who had verbally threatened me right in a house that I had called home for years. I couldn’t continue running away from difficult and harsh truths, especially the
Vivian’s POVI waited for Marie’s package to be brought to me, but it was taking longer than necessary.“Ma’am, please how much longer is this going to take?” I asked, because my legs were beginning to get weak.“A little while longer,” the attendant responded politely.I waited and waited, and I wondered why it was taking so much time. I began to feel sweaty and hot in my stomach, and extremely uncomfortable, but I did not know what else to do.“Here,” Leon turned.I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice. Then I turned around and saw him holding a glass of juice. “I have been watching you, and you look like you are about to pass out,” Leon added when I didn’t make any move to collect the juice from him.“Where did you get this from?” I asked him skeptically.“There’s a restaurant just by the corner,” Leon answered, his hand still stretched at me.I took the juice from Leon, because I realized that I highly needed it, especially with how long I have been standing and wai