She paces around with her phone glued to her ear. "Damn it! Damn it all to hell! What the fuck is happening? First he cancelled on me and now he's boycotting me in the industry? Just for chiding a woman who deserved it?" She says to whoever is speaking to her."Calm down Alicia. Don't get riled up, he's just an old man.""Yes! The same old man that's supposed to give me my new piece. How do you expect me to do this now? I never had to make my clothes myself, I always got help from these people. The show is in three days! Three fucking days! I absolutely have to make this work." She continues to yell, little beads of sweat surrounding her eyebrows and forehead."I can't help you with all this shouting. Will you calm the hell down?" Lily yells over the phone.Alicia takes a deep breath and sighs. "I'm listening.""I know a fashion designer who only makes pieces but never makes them or when she makes them, they don't come out all that beautiful. How about I get one for you? So that can b
"So, did you do what I asked of you? Regarding the dark web." Luc asks his secretary just as he settles into his office chair. He removes his coat and hangs it behind him and he loosens his tie slightly.He sighs, slightly relieved."The hacker I hired is still working hard on it. It's the dark web so those things don't come easy. But he was able to figure out one thing.""Oh, what is that?""The man who commented. He had quite the trackable ID. His phone was last recorded at a cell phone tower downtown. Around there is just a large lake and nothing more.""It's safe to assume he's not with the phone anymore?""Yes. But one more thing..."Luc rolls his eyes. "How about you just say it all at once and stop giving me bits and pieces?"His secretary smiles chidedly. "I was just keeping the best for last.""Ain't your fault. So what is it?""The man's name is Kevin Rowland. The commenter, I mean. And one of his cell phone calls was recorded around your house sir. When I found out about th
Alicia, in a daze, walks backstage where all the models are waiting for her, fury written in the lines on their faces. The lines that previously applied makeup had covered but now it's obvious, and it seems like they've all gone up years older than when they just walked the runway few minutes earlier. Wendy is the first to come forward. With the sequin gown in her hand, she looks right into her eyes and flings it down by her feet. "Do you know how much hit this has done to my reputation? Why is it so fucking hard to find honest fashion designers lately? Do you have to steal?" "I didn't..." She starts, hoping to defend herself somehow. "Shove it. Didn't you see this? I looked through all the seam points and lines in the gown and it's exactly the same thing. Save that lie for your family because they are the only ones that I might believe you." Alicia takes the phone from her and looks at it. The search is "2007 Fall Collection for Frederick Gandelier" and there it was. Althoug
That evening, Mika drank two full glasses of bubbly champagne, watching the video she had filmed and made live on YouTube and kept on laughing at Alicia's facial expressions.Her face when Frederick had screamed that the cloth was his and he had been plagiarized, her face had been priceless. She succumbs to her inner voice and screenshots it, making it into a meme and sharing it on her anonymous account that's now having about ten thousand followers on YouTube.Streaming the live had given her some sort of account access and now she has followers. She even had another reward in the reward of seeing Alicia's downfall.Luc smiles beside her as he sips from his own glass. "Are you that excited over that?""It's excitement and elation at the same time. I mean, I've never been mean to anyone, never schemed so much and now it seems like I'm a boss at it. Well, not a boss exactly but I mean, it certainly takes a level of skill to do this." She looks up at him, a smile in her eyes and lips. "
The next morning, there's absolutely no rush from everyone. Maya and Miles were adequately taken care of Mikayla while, surprisingly, Luc made breakfast for them all.By the time it's all set and they are dressed, they all meet at the table for a breakfast of Mac and cheese."This is good Dad." Miles is the first to compliment while the others just hm their agreement, including Mika.He smiles as he eats as well. "Thank you very much but there's something called table manners."Miles smiles and nods.Mika, shakes her head at the terrible way of taking a compliment. She turns to Miles who sitting on her left and whispers. "Don't mind your Dad. He's just not good at taking a compliment."Miles smiles again and whispers back at her. "You're talking while eating.""I'm a grown up, I can talk when I want."Both of them laugh and Maya rolls her eyes."Dad? I want you to teach me how to drive."Luc looks right at her. "Hm?""Teach me to drive.""Why? You're still too young to know how to do
All of the parents file into the class with the teacher in front. He's a pudgy man with a slightly large belly but not big enough to be called a pot belly. He has a scattered mane of dirt brown hair and it falls in wisps down his ears."Good morning sirs snd mas. Say welcome to your parents."All the children turn around and wave, except the twins.Mika had told them that morning that they should not show the presence of their parents there so they can see how he really treats them in class. Obviously, the teacher notices as they didn't turn around so he just assumes that their parents are not around and it's an avenue to use them as examples in his class."So we are starting the mathematics class now." He turns to the board and writes down a basic topic of division.Trying to make the class interactive and fun, he turns to the children with a smile that obviously doesn't suit him. "Who can tell me what division means?"He looks around and there's no hand up at first, but then Maya's
Daniella sighs for the umpteenth time as she wanders around the city, looking around for help wanted signs or vacancy notices outside large buildings.Of course, she's started to regret just resigning like that, on an angry whim. "I'm so stupid. Good jobs are so hard to find lately." She mutters to herself as she crosses the road after the light turns red for cars and green for passengers.Just then, a black van stops in front of her.The back door opens and a man exits with a mask on his face.Immediately sensing danger and insecurity, she begins to back away but the man is quite fast and before a person can blink to see what's happening, she's been carried into the car and the sliding doors closed.The car zooms right off and of course, it's a busy thursday afternoon which means many people see it happen but everyone cares about themselves anyway, so a broad daylight kidnap is not one of their day's worries thereby as soon as the van drives off, others continue their own activities,
Dean Lawney comes forward and stands between Mika and the teacher. "Ma'am, you had promised there won't be any violence." She states.Mika smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry ma'am. He promised no violence and I vouched for him, not me. I'm free because he hit my children with his filthy hands. Hit my daughter in her backside with that same hands. How do you expect me take that sitting down?""I understand your worries ma'am but..."Luc comes and stands right beside Mika. "I don't think there's any buts here. You're going to have to choose between keeping this teacher and losing me and my children from this school. I assure you, you don't want to pick the wrong thing."Right in the class next door, Lily takes Connor into his class and helps him settle down. "I'm sorry he's coming so late ma'am. I dressed him up late and he went to bed late because of his assignments."Some loud voices filter with the air into their class and Lily uses the opportunity to ask. "If you don't mind me asking