"All and every question asked here today, will me answered by me and me alone, so don't bother wasting your time."Gabriel's words rang in the ears of the reporters, quieting them for some few seconds before they began their questions again."Questions are going to be answered by you? Do you by any chance intend to hold a press conference and release a statement like Mr. Richardson and Mr. Lee?" One asked, shoving his microphone in Gabriel's face with clear intentions to get him talking as soon as possible. However, one glare from him had the reporter backing off and rethinking his choice of action."Mr. Bryce, would you be confirming the accusations being paid against Ms. Romero later today?" Another reporter questioned, this time around, from experience, she chose to keep a safe distance away from Gabriel.Wise choice."Like I said, All questions asked would be answered by me, your curiosities could have to steamer down until then." Gabriel said and turned around, leaning down to Le
Leonica remembered that day like it was yesterday.It was spring in Denver, Colorado, a month or so after Ashley had been born and she discharged early. She stood in front of the kitchen island, staring down at the cup of juice lased with insecticide and trying to think of a d*mn good reason why she shouldn’t pick it up and chug the whole F*cking thing down.Motherhood was a pain and as a child Ashley had not hesitated to express his anger towards her for taking him away from his father. He cried at every given time, even when Leonica tried to sooth him lovingly, the child just didn’t want to hear it.And then her parents, as loving as they were, her mother especially, they had their own bad traits, one of which was when they constantly reminded her that they had warned against her one side unrequited love. At first she had shut up and taken their words, because why not, they were her parents, they had F*cking warned her the very moment she walked to them in on them ten years ago and
Those words were enough to have Leonica racing out of the company without second thoughts. Leonardo was confused, but during the drive, she had taken the initiative to explain the call to him.“Well, did they say what the bad news was about?” He questioned as they got closer to the hospital. Currently, they were stuck in a traffic that looked like it hadn’t moved for the past two hours, but in reality, they had only been there for five minutes.“No. And I never said it was bad news. They never said it was bad news, just an emergency.” She tapped her finger on the steering wheel as she corrected and waited for the traffic to free. At some point, she contemplated jumping out from her car and just jogging the remaining mile or two to the hospital.She could make it; after all, what was a little stress for Ashley’s safety.Was the emergency even about Ashley? F*ck, she should have asked questions before hanging up the call and skidding to the lift. She cursed in her mind.“Hey, calm down.
“Ms. Romero appears to be unfit for artificial insemination. Through the series of test conducted on the IVF physicals, we were able to conclude that this situation was caused as a result of complications and high level of stress during her first pregnancy.” Doctor Bailey continued on, explaining to the three people present, all he and his team had learnt.As he spoke, the sterile walls of the doctor's office seemed to close in on Gabriel as he absorbed the weight of the revelation. The news of Leonica's inability to conceive through IVF, a consequence of the stress during her first pregnancy, hit him like a ton of bricks and soon the feeling guilt bubble up in the pit of his stomach.The guilt he felt was as a result of the nagging thought in his mind that if he had been there with Leonica during her first pregnancy, had he not thrown her out, divorced her all because of his pride and misunderstandings, then maybe, no, not maybe, he knew for a fact that the situation would have been
“So Leonica, what do you say?” Gabriel asked with clear hints of expectancy in his voice.The air in the room thickened with tension as Leonardo, ever the voice of reason that Leonica was forever grateful to have beside her, spoke up before her heart could offer a response to the ridiculous proposition Gabriel had offered."Whether she agrees to that proposal of yours, it’s a fact, stated by the doctor himself that getting another baby from the original parents can't guarantee a hundred percent successful match," he pointed out, his gaze steady. He dismissed Gabriel’s stare when the older male turned once again to look at him. Instead, he focused on his younger sister who looked like she was clearly contemplating Gabriel’s proposal.Could he blame her, Gabriel was a sweet talker; even he had almost mistaken the devil for a knight in shining armor a minute ago. So what was the guarantee that his sister, Leonica, the woman who had fallen in love with him once, and was clearly still in l
“Remind me why again you want to go to the beach on a Christmas?” Melvin Romero asked as he watched his sister wrap her winter scarf around her neck and pack her hair into a pony tail, before she turned to face him.“Because it’s Christmas, stupid.” Came her response as she bent down and threw on her shoes.He scoffed at her answer. Funny how she was calling him the stupid one when she was the one who woke up around six am and began announcing that she was going to the beach. Obviously their parent’s had thought something was wrong with her sudden determination to go to the beach, on a Christmas. They had tried stopping her, but Leonica was set and after an hour or two of back and forth banter, they gave in, granting her the permission she needed to leave, but with one catch. He as her older brother had to come along.Protection, they called it, since she had also refused to allow any of the guards tag along.“Beaches are for summer, not Christmas, stupid.” He muttered and huffed, ben
Leonica's office buzzed with the hum of fluorescent lights, a stark contrast to the unease settling in her stomach after seeing Owen’s troubled expression."What's going on, Owen?" she inquired, her eyes narrowing with concern. “Talk to me, what’s wrong?” She asked again after he had remained silent for far too long, too long for Leonica’s liking.Taking a deep breath, Owen began, "After Ashley’s birthday party, I had my doubts on the present Angelina gave him, so I had a chat with my friend, the designer of that very same figurine. He testified to a few of the figurines going missing and thought that was all, but I didn’t. From what I saw, Angelina wasn’t the friendliest of person towards you; her acting may have deceived a few people, but not me. So it didn’t make sense for a woman who clearly doesn’t have good intentions towards you to go out of her way, purchase a stolen figurine, all because she wanted to give YOUR kid a present." He paused and stared pointedly at Leonica waiting
Earlier in the day, while the sun still bathed the city in warm hues, Angelina paced the space of her room, chewing on the tip of her nails as she concocted a sinister plan.It had taken a few days, but soon she had Recognized that Leonica must have kept the figurine away from Ashley because till this day, she was yet to hear news concerning Ashley’s life being in danger.In shorter sentences, her plan had failed and she was possibly screwed.“F*ck!” She cursed loudly, kicking her coffee table with her leg. The poor furniture suffered the wrath of her anger and toppled over, transparent gl*ss on the top shattering into small piece the moment it hit the floor, creating a loud bang.In seconds her maids had rushed in, worried for her safety. “Ms. Fernandez, is everything okay?” Her head maid asked as her eyes trailed from the broken coffee table on the floor to her messy wardrobe, broken vanity mirror and toppled over makeup chair.Without another word, she knew exactly what was happeni
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