“Ma’am, there is a man here to see you,” Mary Ann said. Gerald asked, “Which man?”Only his and Ivory’s family knew that Ivory worked with him, so he couldn’t understand the reason why somebody would come to look for Ivory. A man, for that matter. Yeah, Yvette knew that Ivory was working with Scotts Automobile too, so was she the one behind it?“His name is Dean Arlo,” Mary Ann said over the intercom. Gerald’s frown deepened. The name did not even sound familiar.Gerald stared at Ivory, his hand clutching the intercom. “Do you know anyone called Dean Arlo?”“Nope,” Ivory responded. The corner of Gerald’s lips twitched as he replied,“She doesn’t want to see him.”Ivory’s mouth parted instantly, realizing that the man Gerald had asked her about was there because of her.“I don’t know him doesn’t mean that I don’t want to see him,” she said seriously, but Gerald smiled at her and replied, “Just focus on work. I will take care of him.”Gerald stepped out before Ivory could utter anoth
“Are you alright? I got you coffee,” Gerald said as Ivory stepped out of the washroom. She smiled and took the coffee from him, sipping it gratefully. “Thank you,” she said. Gerald looked at her with longing. “You were tossing a lot in bed last night. Don’t you sleep well?” he asked. Ivory lowered her gaze and set the coffee down on the side table. Her sleep had never been peaceful since she left, and it was the same when she returned because he still wasn’t her Gerry. Though she had hope, she couldn't dwell on it because she didn’t know how Yvette would take advantage of the last clause. “I was sleeping. I don’t know what was happening when my eyes were closed, so were you spying on me?” she asked suspiciously. Gerald was slightly uneasy. He couldn’t confess that he had slept on the couch but had been watching her most of the time. “No. I wanted us to talk but you slept so early,” he said with a forced smile. Ivory pursed her lips and raked her mind, trying to find a good excu
"Because you have always been good to me. I couldn't allow Nat to destroy your hard work," Ivory said truthfully. Though she knew that he wanted more, she just couldn't lie about it. Gerald was disappointed that she didn't return because she was in love with him but rather because of the company. "So, if not for that, you wouldn't have returned?" Ivory pursed her lips and responded truthfully, "I had no intention to." Gerald swallowed bitterly and asked her, "So now, what do you plan to do?" Ivory saw the eagerness in his eyes and decided to tease him a little. "I just want to be happy. I want to mingle and date other people." As she expected, Gerald was furious and spoke possessively, "For your happiness, yes, but to date other people, NO." Ivory pretended to be offended. "Gerald, you still haven't broken up with Yvette yet." "I will meet her parents later today to explain things to them," h
Ivory let out a frustrated sigh and went to sit on the bed. She began to explain everything to him. “I saw someone who looked like him at the party. I only figured it was him when you asked if I had any idea who he was.” Gerald was confused, feeling that she was hiding something. “I think you have more to say.” Ivory nodded her head in agreement as Gerald went to sit beside her. “Andre Noel has multiple identities and I’ve done some jobs for him before.” Gerald’s brows raised questioningly. His little Ivory was not so simple anymore. He listened attentively as Ivory explained further. “I met him disguised but my agent sent a message this morning that he had another job for me. He also said that Andre mentioned that I wasn’t a man like I tried to make it seem in my disguise. In a nutshell, my agent suspects that I’m being hunted and should be careful.” Gerald was greatly disturbed about the whole thing and could not help ask
Ivory gazed into Gerald’s dark eyes dreamily. Her defenses broke and she almost agreed, except that she didn’t want to keep her relationship with him a secret. Without another thought, she pushed him away, creating a distance between them. “Even if your engagement is fake, you are still engaged and any form of intimacy is unacceptable,” she said seriously. To her shock, Gerald was not offended but rather smirked. He believed that he and Ivory were already in a relationship, but it could only be announced after breaking things off with Yvette. “I can’t wait for you to be my wife, my little pumpkin. Let me make you breakfast before I go and meet Yvette’s parents,” Gerald chuckled. The surge of excitement in his heart was overwhelming, and he couldn’t wait for things to progress between them. Moreover, the way Ivory’s cheeks crimsoned increased his conviction that she still felt the same way about him. Gerald could feel his blood heating up and making him sweat. Ivory was excited a
Gerald glared at her, and his eyes were so piercing that she lowered hers as he asked her, “Did you forget about the addendum to the contract?”Yvette was almost in tears. She recalled that Gerald had made some changes to the clause she had kept in there to favor her in case he tried to break off the contract.Naturally, it was understandable to hope that if Gerald opened up to her, he would eventually fall in love with her, but that did not seem to be the case at the moment.Gerald had been smart enough to counter her conditions beforehand, requesting her to state a compensation of not more than a million dollars should he not be able to fulfill her request.Yvette was defenseless against Gerald, and just as she was about to give up, a desperate female voice sounded from inside.“Yvette, what are you doing out there? Are you still fighting with the delivery guy? I told you it’s not necessary. Come here and let’s take your father to the hospital.”There hadn’t been any delivery guy ar
Gerald was having a meeting with some VIP clients. In situations like this, he always wanted Ivory to be present.Since the clients arrived without prior notice due to a change in their travel schedule, Gerald had no choice but to receive them without prior arrangement.With Ivory’s help, everything was in order until Mary Ann delayed sending them some documents and cups for the coffee."I will go and check on it," Ivory said. Gerald wanted to use the intercom to save her the stress, but she was already gone before he could refuse.As they waited and waited with neither Ivory nor Mary Ann showing their faces, Gerald said to his guests,“Excuse me, let me check what is going on.”They nodded their heads to his request, but before he got up from his seat, the door pushed open from outside and Yvette walked in, making Gerald upset.He hadn’t seen her for a week and though it had put a hold on how he wanted to propose to Ivory, he was only calm because his relationship with Ivory was stil
"Yvette, don’t ever step foot in this office again. It’s already over between us. Tell that to your parents."Yvonne froze and all the color drained from her face. It seemed that her plan to make herself useful had caused her to incur Gerald’s wrath.After successfully delaying the end of their fake engagement by one week, she had ruined it all because of her bubbling envy of seeing Ivory with Gerald."But we haven’t broken up," she said meekly. Ivory had a straight face. She couldn't bring herself to feel pity for Yvette, no matter what the issue was.She loved Gerald and wanted him to be hers alone. No other woman must bear any closeness to him, even if it was all a fake relationship."Since it doesn’t look as if your father would be recovering any time soon, I suggest that you break the news to him yourself," Gerald added insult to injury. The little respect he had left for Yvette was nipped in the bud.He wasn't unfeeling and wanted to hold off the unwelcoming news until Yvette’s
Garvin had a small smile on his face. Cooper and Gerald might be wise, but Garvin was still more experienced. “Your method would not have been the best.” “I would have sent them to jail,” Gerald said. He hated that Yvette and Nathaniel were walking around freely, so what if they were impoverished? “They would have served a few terms and then be walking free. They would also come back to enjoy their family’s wealth as if nothing happened. It’s the reason why I took this action,” Garvin explained. It made sense to Cooper and Gerald that though their plan would punish those two well, it would have also been for a short term, but Garvin’s method was a long-term one. “Fine, but next time, you should discuss with us first,” Cooper insisted, but Garvin refused and explained, “Ivory is also my daughter.” Thus, he didn’t need anyone’s permission to protect his daughter. The three men all loved Ivory in different ways, and they were ready to avenge her. Since there was no way around Garvin
Ivory may be resilient and resourceful, but this time, she felt the security of being with her family. Gerald was already there for her, but so were her brothers and parents.Nathaniel was not only humiliated but also afraid. With all these powerful men threatening him, he couldn’t find any means of support and was afraid of his father’s deteriorating health.To find a way to get out of this mess, he decided to expose the brain behind it.“It was all Yvette’s idea. She masterminded everything. Please Gerald, I’m very sorry.” Nathaniel looked remorseful, but the damage caused was too much to let go.Ivory had to constantly look over her shoulder because of the enemies she was exposed to.“Why are you blaming me? If I suggested it, did I tell you to go ahead with it?” Yvette was equally trying to find a way to get out of the mess.“So you agree that you suggested it,” Gerald glared at her. She realized she had made a mistake with her words.“Please Gerald, it won’t happen again.”Gerald
Chaos broke out as the guests began to murmur in confusion. Gerald’s expression darkened instantly, but no one else knew what was going on. Ivory didn’t have her hacking tools with her to stop whoever was trying to sabotage her so openly because it was a joyous event. The first name that came to mind was Dean Arlo, but he was being processed for court and wouldn’t dare. Gerald already got the best lawyers to handle his case. The robotic voice continued to speak as images were shown on the screen. “Two years ago, three company servers were destroyed by Ice Panther. Those companies are now closed down with their employees jobless.” The crowd was already feeling pity for the company shown on the screen, but Ivory was boiling with rage. She was trying to figure out who was behind it since it was not hard for her to defend herself. For that reason, she decided to wait a little, hoping to be able to detect the human behind the robot. “A year ago, Ice Panther hacked into a government s
Rosie felt terrible for the hairstylist. She had put in so much effort to put in the extensions and they looked good on Rosie.“I’m sorry, but you have to take everything off,” Rosie said politely, but her voice was stern. The hairstylist did not want to, feeling that if Cooper saw Rosie, he would reconsider.“That will take time. You will be late for your wedding.”“Let it be so, but Cooper’s happiness matters to me. After all, I’m doing all this for him, so what is the essence if he doesn’t like it?” Rosie stood her ground.She would rather be late and appear the way Cooper wanted than to appear on time with a look that would make him upset.Ivory smiled at Rosie’s resolve. She would have done the same for Gerald. It was just as Gerald wanted her to wear that wedding dress, and Ivory couldn’t refuse.“She’s right. You should make the necessary changes. We shall wait for her and everyone else,” Ivory added her voice.The hairstylist sighed frustratedly. “Alright. Please remove the we
Three weeks later, excitement brewed in the air as another joint wedding was announced among the Berets after so many years.A journalist was reporting the news on live TV. “I’m Lola, a reporter from Channel Z. Decades ago, the Parker-Berets and their best friends hosted a mass luxurious wedding.”“The trend is repeating itself as the twins, Cooper and Curtis Parker-Beret, are getting married to the sisters, Rosie and Rosalind. What makes it more interesting is that the last born of the Berets, Ivory, is also getting married to Gerald Scott, the hot CEO of Scotts Automobiles and Cambridge Incorporated.”“I am here to give you every information you need about this mega wedding so stay tuned,” the reporter ended.There was a lot of excitement going on. Curtis’s relationship with Rosalind was well known to the populace so the shocking ones were that of Cooper and Gerald.Most people knew that Gerald was engaged to Yvette, not knowing how he was getting married to Ivory.The news sparked
“Admit it. I won,” Ivory smiled and gave in to sleep. She still had no regrets at all. Gerald smiled and shook his head.His little Pumpkin was growing smarter and smarter by the day, she was even outsmarting him now.It wasn’t long before he fell asleep. The next day, Ivory woke up feeling sore. Her movement woke Gerald.“Pumpkin, are you alright?” He asked worriedly. Pain registered on Ivory’s face. How could something so sweet give her so much pain and ache in the morning?“I feel sore. Is this how you wanted our honeymoon to be? It’s as if I have a knife stuck in there,” Ivory exaggerated the pain.Gerald was worried and said, “Don’t move. I will be right back.” He went out and called his dad on the phone, speaking hastily,“Dad, I had my first time with Ivory and she’s complaining of pain. What should I do?” Gerald could manage two companies flawlessly but with Ivory, he was as helpless as a teenager.His father chuckled at the end of the line. “I see you finally became a man.”G
“Ivory’s cycle falls on our wedding day,” Gerald revealed. The twins understood the weight of the problem as Curtis eagerly suggested,“Dude, you should take your pound of flesh before then.”Gerald chuckled. “I’m still thinking about it but I can’t believe she’s your sister. You are giving me bad advice,” he accused Curtis. He laughed and retorted,“She’s a woman after all. So, what happens to the companies if we all get married on the same day?” He asked.Cooper already had that planned out and asked them, “Isn’t that the reason why we have parents who pioneered the business?”As Gerald and Curtis were nodding their heads in agreement, Cooper added, “That reminds me. We should let them handle our wedding planning too.”“Perfect suggestion,” the three men clicked their wine glasses.That night, Cooper had a serious talk with Rosie. “When you get better, would you like to work in the company? I can train you,” he suggested. Rosie recalled what Ivory told her about Cooper and work.She
Cooper frowned suspiciously, but before he could refuse, Gerald cut in, saying, “I even want to speak to you and Curtis, Cooper.”Cooper glanced at Rosie, and as she smiled, his heart warmed. He said to her, “Excuse me, Rosie, I will be right back.”Rosie chuckled and quickly replied, “Take your time, Cooper, Ivory and Rosalind are here.”Cooper did not like it when other people got his woman’s attention. He was the last to fall in love among the three, and his behavior showed that he was trying to catch up on all the years he lost.“You prefer them better than me?” He asked with a slight jealousy in his tone. Rosie was amazed, smiling and asking him,“Are you jealous?”Cooper pursed his lips but did not immediately respond. “I…I will see you soon,” he said and walked out with the two men.Rosalind was glad that Ivory created this opportunity for them to have a girls' talk. She quickly asked her sister,“Rosie, you look happier and better than I ever saw you. What have you been doing?
"Is it the doctors? It’s not yet time for my routine check," Rosie said, equally at a loss. As the plane lowered, Cooper detected the person in it."No. It’s Gerald. That’s his family jet."The two of them walked towards the jet to meet the person in it. It was just as Cooper said. Gerald was the first to alight, his arm intertwined with that of Ivory.Cooper frowned a little at the intrusion and said, "I didn’t know you were coming."Rosie and Ivory had already hugged each other. "Rosie, you look stunning. What is on this Island that makes you look so good? I want to join you," Ivory said half-jokingly. Rosie blushed and looked at Cooper.She knew that not only her health but appearance had also greatly improved."We decided to surprise you but we have something very important to discuss," Gerald was saying to Cooper when another couple alighted from the jet.Cooper wanted more time with his woman and was not pleased with the intrusion, especially when they had not informed him."I s