"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
Seating with his hand arranged on his laps, Gabriel tried to keep his cool. Although word on the street had it that Benjamin was weak and sickly, his aura had not wavered and he remained the same formidable for on the battle field. That aside, seating like this, steaming cup of coffee in between both males, was a rare occurrence for Gabriel.Even during his marriage with Leonica, he hadn't gotten the chance to seat with Benjamin this way, so today, was definitely something new.Taking a sip from his coffee, placing the cup down afterwards, Benjamin was the first to break the silence. "We're both business men so I'll be straight forward. What do you plan to do by coming back into my daughter's life?"Gabriel shook his head. "Nothing, Sir. All I want is to have legal rights to be in Ashley's life...to be his father?"His answer, earned a loud snort of mockery from Benjamin. Gabriel winced at the familiar sound, mentally noticing where Leonica had gotten it from. "You want rights, to be
"Alright Kiddo, that's a wrap." Packing up the last of his medical equipments, Doctor Bailey gently patted Ashley on the head, the boy reacting to the affection the exact same way he reacts to his mother's touch. "Everything is perfect, and you have your father to thank for that.""My father?" The boy perked up at the mention of his dad. "You know my father?" His eyes shone as he looked at the doctor who found his reaction rather cute.Holding the clipboard close to his chest, he nodded. "Of course I do. Mr. Bryce is your father, right?""Mr. Bryce?" Ashley questioned, looking more confused than a few seconds ago.At this point, Doctor Bailey wasn't sure if he should continue speaking. But nonetheless, he chuckled uncertainly. "Yes, Gabriel Bryce. That's your father, isn't he?" Immediately he asked that question, the doctor slapped his forehead. "Ah, how stupid of me. Who am I to ask a kid for such answers when the test proved that he is the biological father." He spoke to himself, ho
The first two words that registered in Leonica's brain was 'Conceive' and 'Baby' and best believe it, her brain hung, trying to reboot itself but always failing as the confusion she was experiencing acted like a bug.Unbeknownst to Doctor Bailey, he continued on, tone urgent. "Medically speaking, I advice that the child be conceived as soon as possible, because as it stands, he or she needs to be at least five years of age before they can undergo any form of surgery. And looking at Ashley's medical charts, he only has that long, no more, no less.""That...you have to be kidding me, right?" Leonica questioned, shifting in her seat as she felt prejudice against the doctors words.Much to her dismay, Doctor Bailey shook his head. "As a matter of fact, I'm dead serious. Ashley's life depends on that marrow transplant.""But...can't, can't they be another way? Must we...must it be him?" Gabriel's brows creased in a questioning and very much offended manner at the way she addressed him."Ye
Artificial insemination.Those words were like a grinding sound to Gabriel's ears."Artificial insemination?" He repeated, brows knitting together in a way that showed his disapproval.Well, not like Leonica cared. His opinion was the last thing she could care about and the first thing begin her son's wellbeing."Yes. Didn't think that far, now did you?" She tilted her head to the side, a satisfactory smile making it's way to her lips at Gabriel's puzzled Expression.Serves him right, Leonica wanted to say that much, but considering Gabriel's hot temper and the fact that they would get into yet another argument in front of Ashley's room, she reconsidered her options and for the sake of her son's sanity, remained silent.However, the words she had said was more than enough to blow the lid on Gabriel's anger. "Artificial insemination, what the F*ck Leonica? If you despise the idea of me so much, then why keep Ashley? Why did you keep my kid?""Is that even a question?" Pushing the hair
"Isn't this great, Gabriel?!" Angelina celebrated meekly. "This wouldn't have been possible if that night didn't happen. You called it a mistake but I call it a miracle, Gabriel. It's a miracle." She explained happily, ignorant to how Gabriel's face knitted together in confusion as he stared at the positive lines on the pregnancy test stick.Sure, under normal circumstances, this would have been a good news, great news even. But the circumstances right now, wasn't the best. Especially when Angelina explained that the child she was carrying, his child, was conceived by the night at Stellar's birthday party, they spent together. But he was d*mn sure that the person he slept with that night was Leonica!A hundred percent sure. His memory and all served him well. The bracelet he had found the following morning was even another piece of evidence. And he had no memory whatsoever about spending any sort of time with Angelina.Yet, here she was claiming to carry his child that had been concei
"Gone, all of it." Placing the batch of information he had gathered over the past few hours on the table, Bill stepped back, giving his employer enough room to survey the different papers sprawled across his table.Footage details, Missing medical records, tampered medical documents, you name it. And each piece of paper in front of him, seemed to confuse Gabriel. Firstly, the security footage from Stellar's birthday party. It was gone, deleted obviously from the looks of it. And then moving on to the missing medical records, Angelina's medical records to be precises. Just around the time Gabriel had called Bill with the situation of the security footage, the *ssistant had been wrapping up his work at the central hospital, trying to get Angelina's records like his boss had requested. However, just like with the CCTV footage, he ended up with nothing other than a blank slate. The medical records had disappeared like they never existed in the first place.And then lastly, the evidence th
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