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CHAPTER 8
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 9
THE RINGING STOPPED and Ambert heard a female voice from the other line.“Hello,” he greeted back calmly. “Is this Nancy?”“Yes, this is Nancy,” she said, her voice sounding exuberant and younger than her forty-four years. “Who is this?”“This is Ambert Torres,” he introduced himself.“Ambert Torres?”“Yes, ma’am.”She didn’t speak for a few seconds. “Of the Torres Family?” then she asked, her voice sounding a bit incredulous.“Yes, ma’am.”“No kidding?”“No kidding.”“Oh!” she quipped, which sounded happy. “I will need a proof, first,” she chuckled. “I don’t know Mr. Ambert Torres personally and I’m not expecting a call from him. You might be a scammer or a hacker targeting my fat bank account.” She chuckled again, and then said. “Please speak again.”“I’m not a scammer, ma’am.”“Speak again, please.”“What do you want me to say?”“Nothing substantial, really,” she said, he could picture her smiling widely at that moment. “I just want to hear your voice. But there, I believe you no
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 10
AMBERT STOOD UP as Nancy walked towards him at the lobby. The big smile on her face seemed genuine as they shook hands. She seemed excited to meet him, and he remembered those genuine chuckles of her while they were talking on the phone earlier. She seemed to be a cheerful person, that it would be extremely far-out for somebody to think that she would be capable of mayhem. If she was an actress, she would probably be typecast as a loving and adorable aunt, ever protective to her nieces and nephews, one that would always be horrified even at the pettiest of crimes.Nancy was still in her office attire: dark blue blazer, white dress shirt and dark blue pants. He too was still in his office outfit, which was a two-piece suit. She was petite, probably standing at five feet two inches, and she had white complexion, slim figure and was bespectacled. And despite the glasses, he could still see her laughing eyes. He just hoped that it would still be laughing after their conversation. We need
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 11
“THERE’S A YOUTUBE video of you slapping her and pulling her hair,” Ambert said, choosing to ignore Nancy’re action. Then, he glanced at his cell phone which he still was holding. “That’s physical injury. You want me to show it to you?”Nancy remained seated. She became quiet again, but Ambert could hear a storm brewing inside her. He continued eating and waited for her to calm down as an agitated Nancy would be harder to convince.“Okay, yes, I slapped her.”“Why?”Nancy squinted at him. “For real?”“For real what?”“You don’t know why I slapped her?”“I don’t,” he said. “I have my suspicions, but I don’t have proof.”She sneered. “I have no doubt that you hired a private detective,” she said. “So, it’s either you didn’t ask your detective to dig deeper, or he dug deeper but found nothing remarkable because he’s not that smart. But then, why won’t you get curious on why I slapped her, in a very public place at that? I could follow her inside a rest room and maul her there without a w
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 12
“IS THAT LAYLA?” Nancy asked him while Ambert hesitated on what to tell the manager. “I called her up before I got here. I told her we’re meeting to talk about her.”“You should have asked my permission first,” he told her, stopping himself from gritting his teeth.“Ambert, my dear,” she said, a wry smile shaping on her lips. “You invited me to talk about her without her permission.”I was doing her a favor, he wanted to tell Nancy.But could you really do someone a favor without that someone asking for a favor? What if the favor you thought you were doing for them turned out to be harmful? What if because Nancy thought that he was meddling, instead of stopping, she would hasten her plan of harming Layla? He wanted to wipe imaginary dirt on his forehead. What had he done? He felt an urge to purse his lips. But he didn’t want to show Nancy that he was being affected negatively. And when you really think about it, now that Nancy knew that he knew about it, she would think twice befor
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 13
“I HIRED A detective,” Ambert said.He was expecting to see fury on Layla’s face but what registered there was frustration—and helplessness. “You really shouldn’t have done that,” she said in a weak, unconvincing voice. “I was just trying to amend.”“Amend how?”“Did you know what happened to her family?” Layla asked her, voice breaking.“Tell me,” he said, just to goad her to continue talking and let it all hang out.“Ralph, her husband, was sent to a mental institution,” she said, voice on the brink of crying. “Their daughter, Michelle…” She spoke haltingly, pain hovering on her face like an unwanted mask. “She almost died… she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills… she survived but her kidney and other organs were damaged… she’d need dialysis all her life… she’s sickly now, she even suffers from, some memory loss at times… She paused and stared blankly in front of her. “I’ve ruined her life.”Ambert already knew that and it was the most painful part of the detective’s repo
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 14
LAYLA LOOKED AT Ambert abruptly with wide eyes. “W-what..? How?”“It was the first day of me meddling in your life,” he said, shaping a small apologetic smile on his lips.He waited for her to say something but she didn’t—she probably was too shocked her tongue had a nervous breakdown and collapsed. He pointed to the glass of water beside her. She looked at it, grabbed it and drank it. “You were there?” she asked afterwards. “Was it you who called him on the cell phone?”“No,” he said.A little disappointment crossed her face. Disappointed that he wasn’t her hero? “I thought… Where were you then?”“In my office, working.”“You said it was your first day of…”“Yeah,” he interrupted her. “A private detective was working in my behalf.”“Oh,” she quipped. “A private detective… I only hear of them in the movies…”“They exist in real life,” he said. “The detective I hired was following you that day. He saw everything.”“Was he the one who called that man?”He nodded. “He got his number fro
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 15
THERE WAS A soft and moist and warm thing that was traveling on Layla’s skin, roaming slowly and deliberately, and it seemed, nervously as she felt it shivering a little. She was dreaming about something sweet when she was awakened by it, and it was a nice little dream largely because she was with Ambert in the dream. And in her dream, they were on a shore, sitting across from each other on a small round wooden table, just a few meters from the small giddy waves that kissed and adored the sand repeatedly. There was a bottle of champagne on the table, two wine glasses, and a white rose at the center with its short thorny stem.In the dream, Ambert, seemingly, was happy and was always laughing—he would draw his head back, his hair would appear like every strand was jumping for joy, and his mouth would open wide into a happy shape— although he wasn’t making any sound, it was like watching a muted video, and she didn’t know why he was laughing, but he seemed very happy, yes, his eyes shon
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 16
“DO YOU WANT me to get out, ma’am?” the woman asked Layla.The woman was sitting on a chair near the door, which was closed at that time. She was wearing a white blouse with purple collar and a purple skirt and black shoes, which Layla surmised was a uniform. Layla looked around, Ambert had vanished, but she could see that she still was in his hotel, in his suite specifically, and that this woman in front of her, was employee here. What this woman was doing in the room with her butt naked, she still had no idea. Layla jerked and suddenly looked at herself when she remembered that indeed she was naked at that moment. But no, she wasn’t naked. She still was wearing the clothes she had when she rushed to this hotel, except for her shoes which were on the floor near the bed.She still was in bed, alright, but now that her lightheadedness was slowly disappearing, she now was starting to have a strong inkling that the kissing scene with Ambert which she happily—and hungrily—indulged with wa
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Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 50
LAYLA NEEDED TO blink twice to see if she wasn’t just imagining things, Celine’s visit made her a bit disoriented, but yes, Ambert stood outside their door, in front of her, holding a bouquet of white roses and was wearing a black suit like he was attending a funeral—their relationship had collapsed and died, didn’t it?—or a wedding. Celine talked about an engagement ring with matching photos, so the topic of a future wedding shouldn’t be far.But she thought Ambert would be sleeping drunk until tomorrow morning so he was the last person she was expecting to see standing outside their door. The first person, of course, would be Celine. Ambert seemed alone; no one was inside his car, which was parked just outside their small, front yard.“The gate was open,” he said, his face apologetic, “so I thought I’d go straight to the door and knocked.”He was wearing a suit which unfortunately had wrinkles and creases like it was worn haphazardly, like he stumbled and fell to the floor numerous
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 49
“WE TALKED JUST hours ago and he never mentioned anything,” Layla said.“He was waiting for the rings, I guess,” Celine said and smiled. “You can’t propose without a ring.”Makes sense, Layla thought. “Did he specifically mention my name? I mean, did he tell you that the ring was for me?” “Well,” Celine hesitated, like she was trying to remember something. “I can’t recall if he mentioned your name while we’re talking about the ring. You know Ambert, he could sometimes really be a man of few words. But I assumed that that it was for you since you’re his girlfriend.” Well, that’s because you don’t know the whole story, she wanted to tell Celine but stopped herself. The whole story being that Ambert didn’t really love her, that he was just trying to repent and now, with the information about the ring coming out today, that he could be in another secret relationship, and the woman in this secret relationship was the one he really wanted to marry.“If it’s for another girl,” Celine conti
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 48
LAYLA CRIED ALL night and barely slept.When dawn broke, she called up Anika to tell her that she wouldn’t be going to the office that day and would just come the next day. Anika just asked if she was sick and said goodbye when she said she wasn’t. She didn’t know if she would be disappointed or relieved that Anika didn’t inquire about the whole brouhaha that was going on—it was impossible that she hadn’t know about it. She was probably just careful not to add insult to injury. Or maybe she wanted to talk to her face-to-face and would just wait for her to come to the office.At breakfast, she announced to her family that she had broken up with Ambert—and Ambert, because he couldn’t do anything about it, accepted it.“I thought he didn’t easily give up,” a visibly disappointed Lillian remarked.“He’s probably guilty,” Layla said softly but enough for everyone in the table to hear.Her mother and brother didn’t seem ready to join the conversation. And were just eating heartily, which wa
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 47
LAYLA HEARD AMBERT calling her as she approached the door of the restaurant but she didn’t stop and continued walking. She didn’t even glance back as she got out of the door. Her steps grew bigger and quicker as she walked to the direction of the road and stopped at the curb to hail a taxicab even though her feet both felt heavy. She didn’t think she had time to call an Uber as her goal at that time was to get away as quickly from Ambert.She waved at the first taxi she saw and it pulled over in front of her. She finally glanced back at the restaurant as she was getting inside the vehicle, and saw Ambert coming out. She went inside the car and closed the door, and told the driver to move. She didn’t dare look at Ambert again. But after just a few hundred meters of journey, she started feeling guilty. Did he deserve what she just did? They were there to talk, and she walked out on him just when their conversation was becoming more interesting. And emotionally hurting. She probably shou
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 46
LAYLA DIDNT KNOW how long she just stared at Ambert, not speaking, not making any movement. She didn’t know even know if she was showing any emotion or expression on her face. Her father had always been successful in inflicting pain on their family before, but she never thought that until now, he would still be able to hurt her with the mere mention of his name.“The detective told me, Sadie’s detective,” Ambert continued, there was a visible uneasiness on him, was obviously forcing his words out of his mouth, like his tongue was just shoving them out, like he would rather bite his tongue and make it bleed than speak, “that your father was about to leave Celine but then the unfortunate incident… which I initiated… happened. At that time, your father was still staying in your house and was successfully hiding the affair. He took pity on the boy… Joel, who was Celine’s son with her first husband. And he also took pity on Celine, who was inconsolable. Apparently, the detective said, Celi
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 45
AMBERT REGULARLY CALLED Layla at night but it usually at around ten in the evening. It was only twenty past eight, so it was a little early and a bit unusual, so she was sure that he was calling not to have their regular nightly chit-chat—he was calling because he had learned that Sadie visited her tonight and that it wasn’t a friendly visit but something which had the intention to harm and hurt.Layla took a deep breath and picked her cell phone up and answered it. She would be vastly disappointed if Ambert would talk about a different matter. “Am I bothering you?” he asked the moment he heard her voice, and strange, but she could almost see him smiling.It was Sadie who was bothering her, she thought, but he probably already knew that. “No,” she said. “We just finished dinner.” It was what he about to discuss with her, something she was sure would also bother her.She heard him clear his throat. “I received a text message from Sadie,” he said, going straight to the point. “She told
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 44
IT WAS AROUND seven PM when Layla got home and when she entered the house, she saw sitting on the living room couch beside Lillian a woman whose photos she had seen a lot of times on the Internet, specifically on Ambert’s Facebook but never in the flesh—Sadie. The woman was listening keenly to Lillian, and her beauty glowed, like somebody had snatched a star from the skies and dumped it on their sofa, even though she was dressed very casually. She wore a green shirt with floral design and denim jeans and no makeup.Ambert had since deleted all of Sadie’s photos on his Facebook account but Sadie, Layla discovered when she visited her Facebook account and Instagram once, still had Ambert’s photos. If she was just too lazy to delete those photos, or she still wanted to have a glimpse of Ambert whenever he logged on to her social media accounts, Layla didn’t know.And to say that she was shocked to see Sadie inside their house would be a vast understatement.“You’re here,” Lillian stood u
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 43
AMBERT WASN’T SAYING anything but Layla could feel that something was bothering him. Yes, he was obviously happy whenever they got out and roamed and strolled—he was genuinely happy when they went inside the Eiffel Tower, he was obviously happy, too when they got to the city’s other tourist attractions, but every now and then, she would catch him getting lost in thought and would sometimes scowl at nothing whenever he thought she wasn’t looking at him.It all started when his phone rang at their first day here in Paris. It woke her up but she still was so sleepy she didn’t move and open her eyes and tried to sleep again. She felt Ambert climbing out of the bed and walking out of the room. She opened her eyes and didn’t see his cell phone on the night stand. She shut his eyes and fell into sleep again.And after that, something changed in him. The excitement in him seemed to decrease. Who called him? Was there a problem back home? Was it work-related? Or something personal? She didn’t
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 42
AMBERT SAW SOME confusion on Layla’s face when he confirmed to her that he was talking about France, the country. And he sort of had an idea why—she remembered his tryst with Sadie in that country. A woman who loved him would not easily forget that and it was for that reason that he wanted her to take to France, to Paris specifically, to have that memory with Sadie erased and replaced with brand new Paris memory with Layla. That every time he would remember France, or Paris, he would remember Layla and not Sadie; that every time he went to Paris, it was Layla he’d remember and his moments with her and not Sadie.And why did he suddenly remember Paris and had a hankering to travel there? Well, while inside Anika’s office, he saw the Eiffel Tower miniature he gifted her, standing proud on top of her desk.“I saw a post on your Facebook where you said you wanted to see the Eiffel Tower up close and personal,” Ambert said.“Yeah, I remember posting that,” she replied and then smiling awkw
