"Alright," Clapping her hands, Leonica shooed Ashely to bed. "It's time to tuck in the blanket."It had been a few hours since she had pulled Ashely out if school during the day, taking him home so that he could rest his mind and mental health after all that had happened.Her parents had been surprised the moment they saw their daughter and Grandson walk into the residence in the middle of the afternoon. Questions after questions followed, but the answer remained the same."No one's forcing the kid to stay at school." Leonica had replied each time her mother mostly, questioned.Eventually, C*ssandra had given up, leaving the duo to settle on the couch while she joined the cook in the kitchen to prepare their dinner.Dinner with her entire family was a pleasant experience, not wanting the rare occasion to end too soon, Leonica offered to stay the night in her parents place, making Ashely over the moon.Which brought them down to where they currently were, dressed in sun and moon print
If Angelina’s set goal was to annoy and get under Leonica’s skin with her unnecessary announcement, then she was succeeding.Hearing those words, although she had expected to hear it some day, hit Leonica like a brick she had not physically prepared herself for.Her strut towards any crowded direction which she could use as an escape alternative had come to a stop, giving Angelina, who had seen her halting step, a chance to pound the horrible, yet incredibly lie for her, into Leonica’s head.“Yeah, you heard me right. I’m pregnant, and it’s Gabriel’s, so don’t bother trying to disrupt our wedding, after all, a blessed child such as mine, should have nothing less than a perfect family.”Angelina continued to boast, hands on her hips and chest as she addressed herself in a third person’s point of view.“But you know, I have you to thank for this. It’s all thanks to you being the sn*ke and b*tchy woman you are, that Gabriel could still open up his heart to me, after three whole years.” S
With a neutral expression on his face, Gabriel calmed his thoughts and heart alike before they could spiral out of control, and gave a simple nod in Ashely's direction, acknowledging him yet showing clearly that he had no intention of interacting with the younger male.At least for now, with his frame of mind, he had no intention of facing him. Perhaps some other time.Turning around, he ignored the look of confusion on Ashely's face and attempted to walk away. That was until the rowdy voices of a certain group of men caught his attention.They were walking in the direction where Ashely now stood still, looking at him, while carrying a stack of weighty and unbalanced technical props.As they got closer to Ashely, the props wobbled, showing signs topping over in the nearest future and Ashely, well Ashely was blissfully ignorant of his impending doom.Seeing the scene play out in his mind, Gabriel cursed. He was already mentally exhausted, and now he had to add this situation into the e
Close to fifteen minutes had gone by since Leonica began her search for her best friend and son altogether. Weaving her way through the crowds, she muttered strings of curses underneath her breath, bashing Angelina for having shown up to ruin her perfectly fine day."F*cking hell, where the F*ck are they?" She threw her hands up in the air, having had enough of looking around for one grown adult and a child, like some lost service dog."How the F*ck could they have even gotten this far?" She questioned herself, about to move on when a small and familiar silhouette walking towards a photo boot caught her attention.'Ashley, there you.'Raising her hand, she was about to call out to the younger boy through the crowd, but the words instantly died on the tip of her tongue upon seeing the figure lazily trailing behind him.Gabriel.Sucking her breath in, her body tensed at the sight.No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No F*cking way.She tried to shake her head, hoping and praying that her ey
Leonica couldn't hide the surprised expression that marred her face at Ashely's words.She blinked, once, then a second time before uttering the only sentence her mind could manage to conjure."What?""My...new daddy?" Ashely repeated, this time with hesitance as he quickly sensed the troubling aura emanating from his mother.Had he said something wrong?'Fudge!' Cursing his stupid unfiltered mouth, the young boy lowered his head.Leonica's brows remained furrowed. She wasn't sure what to think. Ashely wanted Gabriel to be his...new daddy? What? When had the two even gotten so close for Ashely to begin harboring such thoughts?Or was this perhaps Gabriel's handiwork?'No,' She shook the thought away as soon as it crossed her mind.Gabriel was a sly b*stard but he had no use corrupting Ashely with such thoughts if he wasn't going to benefit anything from it.This...this was obviously the handiwork of one thing. The connection shared between father and son. As much as she hated it, seei
Looking at the hard evidence in front of them, both Lloyd and Christian were shocked.The boy in the picture, some place around the age of four to five, had light blonde hair very much resembling the color of Leonica's hair five years ago. His eyes were round and held a bright shade of grey, which, just like the rest of his facial proportions, looked very much like Gabriel's own.There was no denying it, the kid they both were gazing at, or at least the photographic version, looked a lot like little Gabriel slapped into Corel-draw and edited with yellow locks."Wow, so you have a kid," Lloyd reached for the picture, examining the child's face as he brought it closer to his eyes. "An actual kid," he added with a smirk. "And here I was thinking that I'd be the first one to knock up some chick. Congrats man."Putting aside his friend's unnecessary excitement for the situation, Christian spoke. "Fine, maybe you're right. The kid does look like you,"'An awful lot!' He couldn't stop his fa
Surprise ridden by the sudden revelation,Gabriel was left speechless. He remained silent, staring almost blankly at the test result in his hand, yet his mind was swarming with thousands of questions.At last, he gathered himself and asked. "Angelina was pregnant? When?" He glanced between the doctor and his fiancee, who hung he'd head low under his stare."Eight years ago." Doctor Ken answered and sighed. "From her chat history that I have studied, it's clear that the baby had been miscarried, but Madam Fernandez insists that it was an abortion.""I'm not lying," Angelina defended."Medical chats don't lie, Angelina," Gabriel nearly snapped, the entire news of having had a child that he lost eight years ago, without even knowing of it, felt somewhat overwhelming for him. "It's either Doctor Ken forged this papers, or you are lying, so which is it?""I...Gabe, please," She begged, water forming in the corner of her eyes. Gabriel felt bad, but nonetheless he stood his ground, knowing th
"Who the F*ck does he honestly think he is?!"Brimming from head to toe with anger, Leonica stormed into her office. Behind her, Kennedy, the giver of bad news followed. Although he made sure to put as much distance between as possible, not wanting to be within reaching range when his boss finally blew the remaining of her fuse."Ms. Romero, please calm down." He advised, voice low and tentative in the event that Leonica took actual offense to his suggestion.And she did.Shooting a sharp glare at him as soon as she sat down, she questioned. "Why should I? That F*cker is obviously challenging me just to get on my nerves." She spat. Kennedy winced at her choice of language, although a grown as man, he still chose to speak in a more subtle manner compared to his boss."I understand your anger, Ms. Romero," Closing the small space between himself and the table, Kennedy gently aligned all the documents he had been carrying in his arms ever since stepping into the company this morning, wit
Anastasia had fallen asleep after her call with Megan, only to be awoken to the sound of someone knocking on her front door.Reluctantly, she slipped out of bed and made her way towards the front door and without checking who was at the door, opened it.When her eyes landed on the person standing in front of her, her expression switched from surprised to angry, then back to surprise, because she had not expected to see her mother standing in front of her door after so long.“At times I want to believe that you’re blind to my call, but then I see you winning all these cases on national Television and realize, oh wait, my daughter does have eyes.” Pushing her way into Anastasia’s apartment, Fiona dropped her purse and coat on the chair and turned to face her daughter. “Give me one good reason why you’ve been avoiding my calls?”“Didn’t Mason pass along my message?” Anastasia questioned, closing the door and heading to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.While doing so, she did
Whatever dark, alcohol induced thought that had been roaming Anastasia’s mind was dashed the moment she gave Lloyd the pass code to her apartment and instead of doing anything when he arrived at her room, he simply tucked her underneath the duvet and sighed.“You’re really a case.” He mumbled underneath his breath, but she clearly heard it, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, she caught his wrist.“You’re leaving? You’re not gonna do anything?” She had blurted out the question before she could control her own words and in seconds, she wished for the bed to open up and swallow her.Gosh, why had she said that?The alcohol, yeah, it is as definitely the alcohol!“Do you want me to stay?” Lloyd’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Do you want me to stay, Anastasia?” He repeated when she remained silent.Her grip around his wrist loosened and Lloyd nodded.Of course she didn’t want him to stay. That was simply the alcohol in her system talking.Swallowing the bitter pill, he
Lloyd’s words had instantly sent Anastasia’s heart into an overdrive. Without even needing to focus on it, she could feel her heart beating hard against her chest, shaken up by his words, his proximity and the look in her eyes.And it scared her.Not Lloyd, but rather the familial pounding of her heart and the fluttering in her stomach, because she knew it all too well and it was a feeling she feared.It was the same feelings that had caused her unfortunate relationship with Derek.Those memories flashed within her mind and before Anastasia knew it, she had paled.Lloyd didn’t fail to notice this and in seconds, his expression changed into concern. But before he could say anything, she had broken free from his hold and stood up, walking towards her door and holding it open.“Get out.” She demanded.Lloyd was surprised by the sudden shift in her attitude. Just a few seconds ago, she seemed pissed at him, now the look in her eyes made it seem like she was trying to be on guard against h
Shrouded by the darkness her office provided after lights out, with her eyes glued to the bright screen of her laptop, Anastasia replayed the CCTV footage she had gotten from Danco.She studied the man’s movement, how he had approached Logan, his face shaded by the black hoodie he wore. She paused the video during moments of their interaction, trying to read the lips of Logan.It was clear he rejected at first. He even looked appealed by the idea. But then his eyes suddenly showed the interest that had sipped into his mind after heading something that he hooded figure had told him.What could it have been? Anastasia wondered as she watched the part of their interaction where Logan had indeed offered the hooded figure payment, in the form of raw cash, but he rejected, handed the drive over to Logan and walked out.Smartly, the hooded figure had walked in the opposite direction waiting until the attention on his had lessened before he came back and entered the black car, which belonged
“What?” Anastasia blinked in surprise after hearing what Logan had said. “He didn’t request for any money?”“Yes. As a matter of fact, it seemed like he was doing it not out of crude or hatred, but rather obligation. At first I thought something was wrong, I tried refusing it, trust me, but he insist and before I knew it, that bastard had dumped the concept and vanished.”Anastasia brows knitted together more. This wasn’t at all in the file that Kareem had given her. In fact, going back to what he had told her when briefing her about the case, he said the employee’s motive for selling the concepts was because they had gotten fired and had a personal grudge against the company.But that wasn’t the case, at least not from both sides.“And did you tell your attorney this or-““Yes, I have. I even explained the whole goddamn thing to Riley when his lawyer dropped by yesterday, but he refused to listen. He thinks I’m covering for the employee.” Logan sighed. “Look, I’m telling you the trut
Anastasia sat in the chair farest from Lloyd, listening to all his assistant had decided to tell her about the situation.Yes, she had accepted the job. Why? Well it was simple, the pay. The money that was offered for her to handle this case was more than enough to buy her a whole island.Who was she to turn down such an opportunity. Most definitely not her and most definitely not because of someone name Lloyd Riley.“And that is the case.” Kareem concluded.“I see.” Anastasia hummed, nodding her head in the process. From all she had heard, learnt and was able to gather, the situation on ground had come about because of an employee who had stolen confidential files from the company and took it to a rivalry company, selling it off.But the rivaling company, either they were not smart enough to change the concept of what had been sold to them or that they purposely wanted to rub the fact that they had gotten hands on L.R co’s latest concept.Either way, it was a stupid move and Anastasi
Lloyd woke up the next morning to find the bed beside him cold and empty. His brows furrowed and as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his mind recalled the events from last night yet Anastasia was nowhere to been seen.Did she leave? He wondered.He looked around, and his eyes landed on a piece of paper on his bedside table.Lloyd frowned and picked the note up, his eyes skimming through the words written on it.Last night was great, but I could have gotten better. I left some cash to thank you for your service. Hope we don’t ever cross paths again, Lloyd Riley.After reading the message, Lloyd’s eyes quickly found a thousand dollar bill placed on top of his wallet and he chuckled.“Is this a fucking joke?”Did Anastasia take him as a sex worker? Or did she think he was a prostitute?And she even had the balls to tell him that she hoped they were crossed paths again.He shook his head, still finding it funny that she’d leave a message like this.“Oh, Anastasia, you’re so cut
“Lloyd Riley, I’ll make this a night for you to remember.”It was like a promise, or maybe even a declaration, but regardless, it was one Anastasia was determined to keep and she knew just how to do so.Over the course of years, she had dealt with boys like Lloyd, players, the call themselves. They waltz into your life, mess up your emotions and end up using you as a one night stand.Anastasia’s first experience at that had been painful, so right now, as she walked back to where she and Lloyd had been seated, she wondered how Lloyd would feel if the tables were turned on him.“You done?” Lloyd asked as she took her seat from across him, fingers curling around the glass of her whiskey.“Yes. The bathroom here didn’t really have much to offer.” She flashed him a smile, deciding to move on to her plan rather than delaying an further. “So, do you have any plans after this?” She asked, placing the tip of her glass on her lower lip and looking at Lloyd through her lashes.He narrowed his ey
Standing in front of the mirror, Anastasia sighed, a frown etched onto her face as she checked herself. For a second, she debated whether or not she could pull off the outfit she was wearing.Her usual dress code, always having had the mindset of a lawyer and boss woman, was a simple jumpsuit or trousers and a blouse. But tonight, she had decided to switch things up.Tonight, she was wearing a knee length, skin tight dress, a dress that was cut at the front, revealing the bare skin of her thigh. Her hair, usually held up in a messy bun, was free flowing down her back, her lips a deep shade of red and her eyelashes long and luscious.As she stood there, checking herself, her mind began running wild.Why had she agreed to a date with Lloyd? What the fuck was she thinking?She shook her head, this for sure, was going to turn out to be chaos.Being ripped away from her thought by the sound of her door bell ringing, Anastasia decided to lock up her worries in the back of her mind and appro