Olivia ~•~“What’s wrong?” I asked Maya. “The purpose of this trip was to get away from them. But I guess that is impossible.” Maya complained as she slumped down on the couch. I understood her frustration but I was also curious to hear what Sandra wanted to talk to me about. It was unusual and unexpected and I couldn’t wait to hear what it was about. “I’m not letting her ruin the evening. I’ll call her after dinner.” I said but Maya wasn’t impressed by my words. If it was up to her, my phone would have been turned off until the end of the trip. “I just hope she doesn’t cause any problems that would make this trip short,” Maya grumbled. “By the way, our ride is here.” She added before standing up from the couch and making her way to the door.I silently trailed behind her and the walk to the car was awkwardly silent. But I couldn’t continue like that throughout the night, so I had to address the issue as we settled into the car. “Maya, I can’t control what other people do. It’s
Olivia ~•~As he led me to the bar, I couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted to speak to me about. I was a stranger in Miami and I didn’t have any business with anybody there. When we reached the bar, he pulled out one of the stools for me to sit. “Please be fast, I was waiting for my food,” I said to him as I climbed the stool. He chuckled. “I couldn’t resist speaking to such a beautiful woman. But sure, I’ll be fast.” He responded and I didn’t miss his thick Russian accent. I had no idea how I missed it the first time he spoke. His charm was effortless but I wasn’t in the mood for any sort of flattery. “What do you want?” I asked, cutting straight to the point. What did a Russian man want to do with me? His expression shifted and he leaned closer to me. “I’m sorry for intruding but I would love to be your friend. Maybe you could even give me your phone number.” “I’m not from here, I only came here for a vacation.” The man nodded. “I know. Same here as well.” He said. “Forg
Olivia ~•~Sandra hesitated for a while before speaking, her voice cracking slightly. “Alexander discovered the truth!” My heart skipped a bit and my mind raced with different thoughts. But when I realized I had no shared secret with Sandra that I was scared of getting out, I let out a relieved sigh and straightened my posture. “Alexander discovered what truth?” I asked with a confused expression registered on my face. “What are you talking about and how does it concern me?” There was a long pause on Sandra’s end before she finally continued speaking. “He found out the truth about Jason.” She added, her voice shaking. I was still confused. I had no idea what she was even talking about. She sounded so scared and guilty. “Calm down, Sandra,” I spoke in a soft voice. “Explain to me what you mean.” There was a long pause, and I could hear her breathing, shallow and uneven. When she spoke again, her voice was even shakier. “Jason isn’t Alexander’s son.” For a moment, I couldn’t sp
Alexander Burke ~•~I stared at Jason while he was lying on the hospital bed. I felt so devastated but I felt worse for him. How could he have a liar as a mother? I was so aggravated and my mind raced with a million questions. Why did she do something as deceptive as this? Why did she always make bad decisions? Why did she choose me to lie to and manipulate? A surge of anger coursed through my veins but I decided to stay calm for Jason’s sake. Even though I turned out not to be his biological father, I was already attached to him and still cared for him. But Sandra, on the other hand, I despised her. She lied to me for many years and was still going to keep up with her lie until eternity if I didn’t have to donate my blood to Jason. The nurse who did the DNA analysis during the blood testing was a lifesaver. When Sandra accused me of being Jason’s father, I shouldn’t have trusted her. Instead, I could have conducted a DNA test. All these years, I have been deceived and lied to.
Alexander Burke ~•~“What do you want? Why are you calling me?” I asked as I pressed the phone closer to my ear. She hesitated for a while before responding. “I have some information for you but I need something in return.” Her tone was desperate. I contemplated for a while. Should I trust her or hang up the call? What kind of information did she have and what impact was it going to have on my life?I already had an idea of what she would want in return and at this point, I didn’t care about giving it to her. But she had to have a good reason for me to consider doing it. After a long silence, I finally spoke. “What information do you have?” From the way she sounded, it seemed like she had something important to say. “You have to promise to agree to my terms first.” I closed my eyes momentarily, taking a calming breath before speaking again. “What are your terms?” I asked, anticipating to hear what she had to say. “Reduce my prison time.” Diana’s desperate voice echoed again fro
Alexander Burke~•~The sound of my ringing phone made me jolt out of my sleep. I picked up my phone and looked to see who was calling me. As I was about to answer the call from Arthur, my eyes darted to the top of my phone and saw the time was 5:00 A.M. I gasped in disbelief when I realized that I had spent the night in the hospital. I answered the call before it would end and brought the phone up to my ear. “Arthur, what’s going on?” I asked in a slightly groggy voice. I was still feeling sleepy. “I should be asking you. Why didn’t you tell me about what was going on? I’ve been trying to reach you throughout the night.” Arthur replied, his voice laced with a mixture of concern and frustration. I sat upright and scratched my eyes. “I’m sorry, maybe the service was bad. I wanted to fill you in but you were at a meeting.” I reminded him about the text he sent to me. “What kind of meeting did you attend by that time of the night?” Curious, I asked. Arthur sniffed. “Don’t worry abou
Alexander Burke~•~I nodded and took a sip from the glass of water on the table. Just as I was about to stand up from the chair, I got a text from Sandra. [ You have to come to the hospital right now.] Arthur noticed the worried look on my face and gently nudged me. “What is going on? What did you see on your phone?”I gave him the phone because I was still trying to figure out why Sandra would send me such an urgent message. Was Jason in danger or something? I guess I didn’t have time to rest anymore. Even if there wasn’t an emergency, I still needed to have a conversation with Sandra. “I’ll go upstairs and change,” I said as Arthur returned the phone to me. “Yeah, I’ll be waiting here. We’ll go to the hospital together.” Arthur gave me a reassuring look and I responded with a sigh. I was really exhausted from everything that was going on. I hadn’t even been to the office in two days. When I went upstairs, I ran into Tricia in the hallway. “Hey, what is going on?” She asked, r
Alexander Burke ~•~Arthur was shocked when I told him the entire story about what Sandra did. Initially, I didn’t tell him about what happened with Diana. But as we ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant, I filled him in on everything. “They really got some balls,” Arthur responded with an unbelievable scoff. “So how do you plan on dealing with them?” I sighed, leaning back into the chair. “I’ll speak to the doctors before pressing charges against the nurse,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. “As for Sandra, as soon as Jason is fully recovered, I’m reporting her to the police.” Sandra had caused a lot of problems but she somehow managed to get away with it. It was going to be different this time because I wasn’t planning to let her go freely. Did she think I was that gullible? I caught her lie and she went ahead to lie about it again, trying to manipulate me. Even if Diana hadn’t called me to inform me about Sandra’s plans, I still wouldn’t have believed this story she c
Riley Burke ~•~I called Mason’s phone severally but he didn’t answer. I was upset for a moment but I decided to calm down. I figured he would be busy with his family, due to everything that was happening. Or he could be asleep because the day was already dark. After tossing my phone on the bed, I decided to rest my head for a few minutes. But the next time I opened my eyes, I saw that it was morning. Sunlight streamed through the window, making me realize I hadn’t closed the curtains before I slept off the previous night. I blinked repeatedly as I tried adjusting to the brightness coming through the window. Letting out a loud yawn, I sat upright on the bed and reached out for my phone on the scattered sheets. As I picked up my phone, I glanced over the screen to see what time it was. But I realized I had gotten a lot of calls from Mason. I was deeply asleep and didn’t hear when the call came in. I contemplated returning the call but it was too early. I decided to wait for a l
Mason Craig~•~A few moments later, I heard a loud bang on my door, followed by my mother’s angry voice. “Mason Craig! Why did you choose to betray our family?” I had no idea how long I had been asleep for but I jerked back to reality after I heard those words come out from my mother’s mouth. I stood up from my bed immediately and walked to the door. My mother had a disappointed look on her face as the door swung open. “What are you talking about?” I asked, my brows etched in confusion. “So you decided to tell your little girlfriend about what we did? You decided to snitch and betray your family?” She questioned, her voice laced with disdain. My eyes were still thick with sleep and it took me a minute to process what she was talking about. “What do you mean? What girlfriend? I didn’t say anything to anybody.” I responded, my tone defensive. “Oh please!” She waved her hands violently in the air. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Follow me downstairs, your fa
Riley Burke ~•~After I was done talking to Mason, I went to meet Rowan because he asked me to meet him after my class. We were meant to go back home together. He was waiting for me in the driveway. I settled down in the front seat of the car and fastened my seatbelt. As we drove back to the house, I contemplated telling Rowan about the situation with Mason. But I wasn’t sure if I should say anything. Rowan would be so upset and probably tell my parents about it. I didn’t know if I wanted anybody to know what I knew Mason personally. It was best if I kept it away from them for a while. After an exhausting drive, we arrived at the house. “Is Belle still pissed at you?” I asked Rowan as we both stepped out of the car.He shook his head. “Yes, I messed up big time and I’m not sure she’ll forgive me easily,” Rowan admitted, running his hands through his hair. My lips parted and I blinked. “What? How did you mess up?” My curiosity got the best of me and I couldn’t resist asking him
Mason Craig~•~After Riley left, I remained in the office for a few more minutes. I needed some time to think and clear my head. I was certain that Riley didn’t believe anything I said and I had no idea how to make her see that I was being completely honest with her. Even if she eventually comes around, things will still be weird between us because of my parent’s behavior. After meeting so many shallow people, I finally found someone worth starting something with again. But it was already crumbling before it could even start. I didn’t have any other classes, so I decided to head back home. I locked the office and made my way back to my car. My uncle was a professor at the university, so he gave me a spare key. He asked me to go there whenever I needed a break from the crowd. He was one of the reasons why my father allowed me to attend Columbia University. He wanted me to go to a different country for college, but I didn’t want to go far away. Most times, I do regret my choice. I
Riley Burke ~•~I was already pissed when I saw Mason walking into the class. But his stupid text only fueled my irritation more. He still had the guts to ask if he did something wrong. Whenever I was upset and couldn’t do anything about it, my legs automatically started shaking. Liam noticed and tried his best to calm me down.I hated the fact that I was about to crash out in public. At first, I didn’t want to respond to his text. But out of annoyance, I responded to him and then blocked his number afterward.I didn’t want him to contact me anymore.After what felt like an eternity, the class was finally over. At one point, I even wanted to walk out of the class, but Liam persuaded me to stay. As everyone left the class, I wanted to rush out before Mason could get the chance to speak to me, but he was faster than me. I knew I wanted to have a conversation with him to demand answers but I wasn’t interested anymore. My daddy was going to take care of everything. “What do you want
Mason Craig ~•~After thinking about what to do for a while, I decided to tell Riley about it. I could imagine how devastated she would be if she found out about it from someone else. I didn’t want her to think I was part of it in any way. I knew telling her was me betraying my parents, but I didn’t care. The truth was going to come out eventually. I didn’t want it to look like I was enabling their behavior. At first, I wanted to call Riley and talk to her about it over the phone, but since we had a class together later in the day, I decided to leave it. I would have a conversation with her after our class. A few hours later, it was time for me to leave for school. I was already running late, so I grabbed my keys and bag before rushing down to the car. While I was on my way to school, I couldn’t stop thinking about the damage my parents had caused. They were so hungry for power and success, it wasn’t healthy. Even if they were giving me the silent treatment, I was still determ
Riley Burke ~•~As I got to school, I contemplated going back to my dorm room or going to class. I wasn’t sure I was in the right head space to see Mason. My mind was spinning with different thoughts and I was laced with anger. I couldn’t believe someone would betray me like that. I felt so stupid and used. I didn’t even know what to say to him. As I stepped out of the car, I decided to call Harper first to ask if she was in the room. I didn’t want to go to meet in an empty room, it would just fuel my frustration more. Harper didn’t answer her phone. I was guessing that was in class and couldn’t take the call. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I decided to call Amelia instead. I let out a relieved sigh when Amelia answered on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up? Are you in class?” I asked with a hint of urgency in my voice. “No, I’m in the dorm room.” She replied. “What’s going on?”I didn’t want to talk on the phone. “You’ll see me soon.” I ended the call and made my way to the dorm
Riley Burke ~•~It was finally time for me to leave for school.The driver was already waiting for me downstairs. I took one last look at my reflection in the mirror. I was satisfied with my look and my outfit for the day. I wore a pink sweatshirt and a short leather skirt with boots. I grabbed my coat and bag and then arranged my hair before heading downstairs. I only had one class, so I was kind of thrilled about it. Plus, I’ll also get to see my friends and Mason. As I walked down the stairs, I ran into my mother and Caroline discussing seriously in the living room. They were so engrossed in the conversation that they didn’t hear me walk down the stairs. “What’s going on?” My voice diverted both of their attention to me: I was able to hear some of what they were saying, so they didn’t see the need to keep it away from me. Plus, I deserved to know. I asked my father to keep me in the loop and he agreed to do so. “They finally found the people responsible for tarnishing the com
Mason Craig ~•~I could barely get any sleep the previous night because I couldn’t stop thinking about what Tristain had told me. He confirmed my fears about my parents being the ones responsible for Burke’s company’s rumors. I was highly disappointed. A part of me was also scared. Why did it have to be them? How would Riley feel if she eventually found out that my parents were the ones who were responsible? My mind was spiraling with different thoughts. I contemplated confronting my parents but they were already not speaking to me. I wondered if I should call Riley and tell her about it, but that wouldn’t be a smart move. It would be as though I was betraying my family. I hated that I was in such a position. I couldn’t even think properly. I didn’t know the right step to take. I didn’t even want my parents to know that I was friends with someone from the Burke family. I had no idea how they would react to it. Even if I wanted to keep the truth away from Riley, nothing stays h