Chapter 28ROBERT’S POV“Please exercise a little more patience,” I said with an awkward smile to the client waiting. “She’ll be here any moment from now.”The client rolled her eyes away angrily, impatiently tapping her feet against the floor. She’d been waiting for almost an hour now. Anyone in her position will be angry. And she was a new client, the owner of a five-star restaurant with branches all over the country. The offer she made us was very good. I won’t want to lose it at all.Beads of sweat were forming on top of my brows and my tie suddenly felt like it was too tight around my neck, almost to the point of choking me. Glancing around nervously and restlessly, I loosened it a bit. I checked my wristwatch for the umpteenth time to see it was almost mid-day. This appointment was scheduled to take place in the morning to accommodate other appointments that will be coming later in the afternoon. We were running dangerously behind.“I will be back shortly,” I said to the client
Chapter 29ROBERT’S POV“Scarlett! Scarlett!! What are you doing?” I couldn’t believe the sight before me as I rushed in to intervene. The client was thrashing under Scarlett’s grip around her neck. Her eyes had become bulgy and her face red as she was gasping for breath.I managed to free her from Scarlett. I moved Scarlett away from her to the corner of the room. The client cradled her neck, coughing violently and trying to catch her breath.“You tried to kill me…” she said through laboured breath, her face only reddening more with fear and utter disbelief. “You all in this company are crazy!” Grabbing her handbag, she scurried out of the room.Returning my attention to Scarlett who was glowering in the direction the client left as if she wanted to chase after her, I scolded her harshly. “What has gotten into you? You almost killed our client…what if she presses charges?”“I couldn’t just sit back and watch her bad mouth the company like that,” she said, looking away defiantly.“Sh
CHAPTER 30LILY’S POVThe boardroom fell silent, tension hanging in the air like a heavy cloud. I could feel that almost everyone wanted to say something but was holding back as if something was stopping them.Noah remained calm and firm. “Cassandra, I understand you’re upset, but this decision is based on performance. Lily has consistently gone above and beyond.”“So you mean to say I haven’t gone above and beyond?” She used his words against him, making it seem like she was being treated unfairly. “You mean to say everyone in this room that deserved this promotion more than her hasn’t gone above and beyond? That we haven’t been putting in our best over the years.”“I didn’t say that…” Noah tried to say but Cassandra cut him off.“You didn’t have to say it for us to understand. Everyone here knows you have been all over her from the first day she stepped foot into this company. You think we haven’t noticed how you favour her more than anyone else in the company. I mean she didn’t ev
Chapter 31LILY’S POVI was momentarily rebuffed from what Miley said. Relocating to this part of the country, my only intentions were to start a new away from my ugly past and take care of my children. I didn’t want to be considered a threat to anybody neither did I want to make anybody feel angry or jealous.I always knew Noah had feelings for me, but I have always been beating around the bush with him, never giving in to the feelings. And I didn’t even know Cassandra liked him. The last thing I want is to fight over a man with another woman. That was what got me into the mess with Scarlett. Cassandra can have Noah for all I cared. I wasn’t interested in him. I wasn’t interested in falling in love again.“Poor thing,” Miley looked at me with a pitiful gaze. “Don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault Boss Noah likes you. I won’t blame him either. You’re very pretty. Any man will like you at first sight.”She reached across the table for my hands, trying to rub them and make me feel better
CHAPTER 32ROBERT’S POV“What confession are you talking about Frank?” My brows furrowed as I asked.He looked away in somewhat fear, hesitant to talk. I couldn't help but notice that colour had drained from his face and his eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears.Realizing I had to make him feel comfortable to open up to me, I stopped what I was doing and got up from my seat. I approached him like a father to a worried son and held him by the shoulder, reassuring him. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”He looked back at me but struggled to maintain eye contact and nodded slowly. Whatever was bothering him must be something very serious because, in his nine years of working here, I have never seen him like this. He was an important member of this company. I didn’t want anything that would derail and make him not give his best for the company.“So then talk to me,” I said gently as I came closer to him, trying my best not to put pressure. “Whatever the problem is, I
CHAPTER 33ROBERT’S POVWhen Frank mentioned Scarlett was behind this, I thought perhaps it was one of Lily’s schemes to get back at her and make me hate her for exposing her deeds now that she was probably out of prison. But that phone recording proved me wrong beyond measure. Now it was all making sense why Scarlett has been spending a lot and constantly asking for a raise in her salary lately. Once I came across her transferring a huge sum of money to an unknown bank account. When I asked her who it was for and the reason for it, she had lied, saying she was repaying a loan she borrowed from a friend years back. I didn’t make a big deal out of it because I loved and trusted her. Little did I know the money was for silencing Frank and keeping his betrayal hidden.As Frank’s voice broke with regret, the weight of his guilt was palpable, raw and unfiltered. His remorse was genuine, so deep that he might have even accepted death as penance. But none of it mattered now. The damage has
CHAPTER 34ROBERT’S POVI scoffed in confusion and disbelief as my eyes raked the man standing before me from head to toe. Was he lost or something because it seemed like it? “Excuse me?” I cocked a brow, growing impatient as time was running out and I needed to get to Jake’s school. “Does this building look like a place for keeping wives and kids? If your wife and kid are missing you might as well go to the police station to report the case instead of wasting your time here.”Before he could open his mouth to say something, I turned to Martin and glared at him coldly. “How could you have let this man come into our house? What if he is a thief or something worse?”I heard the man scoff in infuriation over my words. But I couldn't care less. The earlier he left this house the better because I was losing my temper.“He’s no thief, Robert,” Martin said. I couldn’t help noticing his expression was becoming bleaker by the moment as if something bad had happened and he didn’t know how to
CHAPTER 35ROBERT’S POVAfter everything that happened, I was so heartbroken and angry I had to retire to bed earlier than usual. My half-sister, Ginny and one of the servants had informed me earlier that Jake was asking for me after he came back from school. He must have seen my car out on the driveway and known I was around. But I told them to let him know I was tired and off to bed. I didn’t have the courage to face him. I didn’t even know what to think or say to him. I couldn’t believe that for the past nine years, I had fathered and loved deeply a child that wasn’t mine. Sometime after he was born, people questioned his resemblance, saying he looked nothing like me. But since he had some of his mother’s features, we didn’t worry about that. Little did I know he was never mine. That it wasn’t the Wilson’s blood running through his veins. He shared similar features with Raphael – light brown eyes and tawny gold hair that fell in loose waves on his forehead. I had observed that cl