All at once, different thoughts filled Leonica's head, her eyes clouding with tears at the scene while her legs threatened to give out from beneath her.But she didn't give in to their urges, instead, she took shaky steps towards her unconscious son. Dulling out Daisy's cries for her friend and Arvan's voice saying incoherent words, she gently sank to her kneels, careful not to shake Ashely's body too much as she cradled him.In the background, Gabriel had just finished calling the nearest hospital and no less than five minutes later, an ambulance arrived at the scene, prying Ashley out of Leonica's hold, to which she bitterly allowed.Gabriel who was just as shaken up by the situation, turned his eyes away from the ambulance for a second, fixing it on Leonica who looked very much like she was about to have a panic attack and break down at the same time.His feet moved quickly, without his consent, even with his content, he wouldn't have stopped, and in seconds, he was beside her, cat
"From here on out, subsequent treatments would be carried out to endure the boy has a speedy recovery and for that to happen," Doctor Bailey glanced down at the clipboard in his hand, reading through the words of his superior, or better yet, the person who had carried out the operation and examination on Ashley, before facing Leonica, who was eagerly awaiting his continuation. "The hospital needs the boy's biological father to sign an agreement and be brought in for an examination."As the last of those words rolled off his tongue, Leonica's expression flat out fell."What?""An examination needs to be carried out on the boy's biological father, as well as he signing agreements approving the treatment. Your signature of course would also be needed." Doctor Bailey explained once more, unaware of the effects his words were having on Leonica.Ashely's father...oh cheery F*cking Christmas.First her son gets into an accident and now she has to involve his freaking father.Just the thought
"And that should round up the last of our examinations." Doctor Bailey announced as he stuffed the last of Gabriel's blood samples into a test tube and had it properly secured. Grabbing a clipboard, he nudged it in Gabriel's direction. "Now, all you have to do is sign here, here and here," He pointed at the different places, even having to flip the paper over at some point. "To prove that you gave your consent and permission for the treatments Ashely is going to be receiving."Gabriel rolled down the last of his sleeves and fixed his wrist buttons, before he reached for the clipboard and offered pen. Taking a brief moment to read through it, he lifted the pen and penned down his signature on the places Doctor Bailey had pointed to, after which he returned the clipboard to the waiting doctor."Perfect!" Doctor Bailey exclaimed as he received the signed agreement, tucking the pen in his coat pocket. "That's all for now. If anything were to come up, I'll be sure to contact you. You can l
“So,” Leaning back in the chair he was currently seated in, Gabriel fixed his gaze on Leonica who sat across from him, hands arranged neatly in front of her. “Where do you want to begin?”Leonica remained quiet at his question, gaze darting anywhere but where he sat. It had been like that for the past five minutes ever since they had entered the restaurant a floor below.Anastasia, being the kind soul she is, had offered to watch Ashley along with Christian, who was already in the child’s room, when Gabriel had demanded the two talk.And now, here they were, seating across from each other, one refusing to look at one in the eyes, while the other was sternly demanding explanation for several questions.If one didn’t know better, they could be mistaken for a couple going through a tough divorce period.“I have nothing explain to you.” Leonica finally spoke, but still refused to look Gabriel in the eyes.“Nothing?” He tilted his head to the side, catching her gaze. “At all?”“Is there so
Those words felt like a sweet, yet poisonous drink being served to her, because no matter how dreamy they sounded, in the end, she was going to end up getting hurt.Hurt by getting her hopes up.Hurt by believing his words.Hurt by allowing feelings she had buried resurface.But what if those words weren't fake?That one fleeting question caused a bug in her system to spike, freezing her in her thoughts.Gabriel who had been holding her in his arms, felt her back go stuff against his chest. Maneuvering so he was now standing in front of her, the Noirette gazed down at her stiff expression, certainly thrown off guard by his question.But he wasn't joking.He meant every last one of the word he spoke."What's your answer, Leonica," He pressed in a whisper like tone, hot breath fanning her face when he leaned in close. "Would you?"Hearing his voice so close had done a good job enough to snap her out of whatever bug malfunction was going on in her mind, but the same couldn't be said for
Gabriel shook his head. "For now, no.""Understood." Bill said, bidding His employer goodbye seconds before ending the call.Now standing alone in the hospital's hallway, Gabriel briefly replayed the entire day's event in his head and sighed. Twenty four hours and a whole Hella lot had happened.If his life were to be animated into one of those weird My story animated videos that Angelina forced him to watch almost weekly, Gabriel was a hundred percent sure that their viewers would call it a bluff, make believe even.The thought made him chuckle quietly to himself. However, the sound died amidst the sound of approaching footsteps. Turning his head gently to the side, Gabriel's expression quickly became dark the moment he spotted Arvan walking down the hallway, Daisy tagging along at his side."What are you doing here?" He questioned the male as soon as the duo of father and daughter had gotten within hearing range."Where's Leonica?" Arvan was quick to fire his own question, evading G
"What is this?" Plucking the extended envelope out of his hand, Leonica gently peeled the edges open, fishing out the white paper with printed black letters on it and reading it over.The very next second, her eyes shot open in disbelief and surprise as well. The content on the paper was a cooperation between her company Romero Empire and His family widely known own, Richardson Industries.It was the one cooperation she had been striving to get, not wanting to work with Gabriel's company after the entire commotion that had happened and after a whole month and a half, nearly two months, here it was... she holding it within her grasp.If etiquette allowed it, Leonica would have thrown her arms around Arvan's neck and pulled him into the tightest, happiest hug. However, etiquette didn't and speaking from a standpoint, her stand point of view, she and Arvan weren't that close, yet.But the smile on her lips, which grew wider as she spotted that Arvan had changed several of the original co
Waking up to a warm tucked in blanket was the last thing Leonica expected. Pushing herself into a seating position, she surveyed the room, looking around for the only culprit that could have tucked her while she had been asleep. Her eyes landed on Ashley's sleep form firstly, wires and wires connected to his arms and hospital machine humming softly.She smiled at his peaceful expression despite the pain he might be suffering. Next, she spotted the white nylon and plates on the table, making her brows raise in a questioning manner.Was that food? Bought by... Gabriel?As unbelievable as it sounded, the white-ette knew that was the truth, after all, the hospital didn't allow just anyone in. In other to see a patient you need to provide identification and authorization p*sses and so far, no authorization had been given, meaning that no one had stepped in. Which proved that Gabriel had indeed bought the food.As much as Leonica didn't want to admit it, Gabriel's action caused some sort of
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