Anna“I love you.” Those words escaped my lips before I could even comprehend them, but it was too late to take them back. Mark stopped instantly upon hearing those words and slowly turned to me. My heartbeat increased as I stared at his face, my eyes heavy with sadness, but he just shot me a soft smile and entered the backseat of the car.‘What?!’ I screamed in my head. ‘That’s it, you’re just going to go wordlessly after I’ve said I love you?’ I wondered. I knew it was too soon to say it, but I expected him to say it back. How could he just leave me hanging like that? But he did. I watched as his taillight became smaller as the car sped away from view and it felt like someone had ripped my heart out. Heaving a deep sigh, I composed myself and turned back towards my room. I knew it was difficult for some guys to say things like this, and especially for Mark, but I thought that we’d gotten to that place already.Making my way through the hallways, I was immersed in my thoughts, tr
AnnaAfter a few minutes of waiting for Sheila, a knock on my front door froze me to my spot in the living room. Raising my phone, I quickly checked for any messages from her to find out who was at the front door, but there was nothing.Terrified of who was on the other side, I called out but there was no response. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and immediately the keys fell out of my hands as my eyes widened with shock. I couldn’t move and could barely breathe, shocked and perplexed to see him there.Standing in front of me was my ex-fiancé Luke Johnson, wearing a warm smile as his gaze caught mine “Hi Anna,” he said holding a bouquet.“Luke,” I replied still in shock. “Wh-what are you doing here?” I stammered.“The last time I saw you…”“I was calling off our marriage,” he interjected with a sardonic smile. He had a disposition about him that made me wonder if I was in trouble by the way he stared at me. “These are for you,” he finally said, holding out the bouquet, an
AnnaSheila was right. I was giving these men too much power over me. I’d tried to pretend like I didn’t get by for eight years doing so, but I cared. If Luke was here now, that meant something went wrong somewhere, and remembering how Linda threatened to ruin my life, and with how crazy that was, I couldn’t sweep Luke’s visit under the rug. If this had to do with Linda, then I couldn’t ignore this. Heaving a deep sigh, I turned my gaze to Sheila, “That was my ex-fiancée, Luke Johnson,” As soon as my words fell, I could see the surprise on her face as she gasped.“What happened?” She immediately asked.The memory of that night caused me to grimace. I know she was just concerned about me, but I had avoided this conversation for so long, it was starting to feel like Sheila was hounding me, and I just wished she would find something else to occupy her time with.I remember that morning like it was yesterday. Losing your boyfriend and a chance at marriage with him was not the kind of me
AnnaAfter that day, I was a mess, not only had I lost my fiancée but I’d also lost the only person who ever made Brigdon feel like home. I tried talking to him again, sent countless messages with no return, and waited for him to call me, but still nothing.Out of desperation, I went down to his house to check on him again, but it seemed he knew I’d come over to try and patch things up, and the only way I knew he wasn’t at home was that he had changed the locks. I know it wouldn’t be easy to get past what happened, but Luke was avoiding me as if I were some infection. After trying to get in touch with him to no avail, I decided to let him have some space. I thought that if I gave him enough time he’d start to forgive me for what I’d done, but then one day I found the hotel he was staying at and decided to visit him.I made his favorite cookies thinking it would give me some kind of leverage. As the adage goes, the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and out of despera
Luke I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her text. Without hesitation, I decided to call back. The phone rang for some moments before she finally picked up. I wasn’t sure if she was going to reach out to me, considering how irate she seemed much earlier. For a moment it seemed like she had changed but I knew deep down she was still the same old Anna. “Hi again,” I said in a smug tone as soon as she picked up. “What do you want with me? As a matter of fact, how did you even find me?” Her voice sounded heavy and scornful. “Believe me, but I’m here because of you. We need to talk.” “I don’t have anything I want to say to you,” her snide remark sounded over the phone. I knew this was not the way to do it, so I heaved a sigh, “You’re feisty now, I like it, but if you want to know why I’m here and I do think you’d be interested in finding out, then meet me in an hour. I’ll text you the address.” I said and immediately hung up the phone. She must have thought she was strong now. F
MarkDays had passed since I’d arrived in England and with the contract for expansion about to be finalized with our biggest client ever from the infamous Brookes family, I had nothing else to be worried about. In no time, I’d be on a flight back to Delroy to meet Anna, but despite how everything seemed fine, something bothered me. I’d gotten to like England a lot more and was considering making it my home. With everything on the bright side, I contemplated the idea of whether it would be safe to convince Anna to come down here, take her internship with Becca’s fashion company, and maybe then permanently relocate to England.I’m sure there were a lot of good schools she could enroll in here as well.Today had been the third day since we last spoke and it was getting a little difficult to stay ahead of our schedules. The last time we talked, she said there was something she was dealing with but we didn’t get to talk about it.Our relationship was on a smooth sail despite the distance,
Mark I was slightly concerned by what he said, because if they were truly investigators, there could only be one reason why they were here, and that was because someone sent them.“What can I help you with gentlemen?” I asked, leaning back into my seat.“What would you do if I told you that even though George seemed to have backed off, he is planning a big comeback against you for costing him this deal?” John asked with a raised brow as he leaned back in his seat.“I’m sorry, who?” I asked, playing dumb. Landon sneered at me with a clenched jaw, before leaning forward, “Do not f*cking play dumb with us. We know exactly who you are Mark Greyson and the people you have business with.”I turned to him with a sardonic smile, taunting “I’m sorry, were you permitted to speak junior detective?”“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I added, watching his anger grow.This wasn’t my first rodeo. I knew how these things go. I would admit my family’s business with George, and they would blac
Mark “What would make you think that we are?” John asked in shock. “That’s far from it Mr. Greyson. George has been on the top of our wanted list for a lot of crimes, swindling, fraud, evasion of taxes, and trafficking, but we’ve not been able to pin any of these crimes on him, as there’s been no evidence or witnesses willing to testify against him.I tell you one thing, he knows how to cover his tracks very well and silence anyone willing to testify against him, at least until now.” He said looking at me and even though I understood what his gaze meant, I still didn’t want to jump to conclusions.“What does that have to do with me, Mr. John?” I asked leaning back into my chair, staring at him quizzically“Mr Greyson, George is a dangerous man who needs to be behind bars, he’s responsible for a lot of companies going out of business, using the mob to threaten any business or person that he wants something from, and we know what he’s caused your family. I’m offering you a deal, Georg