The last two videos were of the last day in Vegas, apparently. One I had set up her phone against the car I had rented, the same convertible that she was standing in with the photo I had taken of her. The sun was dipping low and she was leaning against the railing somewhere out further in the desert to where you could see the lights of Vegas far off in the background. “You know, these past few days have showed me there are still parts of Vegas that aren’t the gross seedy underbelly of the strip.” She turned back and smiled, a smile that threw my heart for a loop. I walked back in to the frame and I took her hands. “I can’t lose you, Evie. I feel like the moment I let you go, you will disappear out of my life and I can’t let that happen. No matter what my parents think or what the world thinks. I need you by my side. My grandfather taught me more than I will ever be able to thank him for, but he also warned me that there might be a time my soul would find its match. He told me to do
We spent another two hours going through photos and videos of Greece. I started to recognize more places. The last few of my memories that I had slowly recovered over the past few weeks had the setting correctly backdropped. Some of the photos I knew were direct from the memories I had already recalled. Everyone was in tears after seeing the seventy or so photos that I had apparently taken. Evie’s photos and videos were more candid, but there were fewer of them than there were at Vegas. We sat in silence, finishing our drinks as I closed the laptop. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Stacy was right about one thing. After looking at these, even if I never got my memories back, this fundamentally changed me. The path going forward for my life was now altered. I could never go back. Not after seeing these. Knowing what I had and what I lost, I never wanted to love again. Everything would pale. Even Adrian was struggling with the concept of it. I knew I would never love Jennifer.
***Evelyn POV*** I don’t know how I got here. When I got out of the cab at the hotel, I numbly made my way to my room and face planted on my bed. I slept for hours. I got a couple worried voicemails from both Mike and Jacob. When I woke up mid-afternoon the next day, I quickly lied through my teeth and said I was fine. It wasn’t fine. None of it was fine. It was all fucked up and I could barely function. Managing to check my email, I did at least read over the document the lawyer sent me. I made a few adjustments; adding Elliot’s name to the trust fund so I wouldn’t need to go through the hassle of it later but made sure the last name said Harris, not Anderson. He also said Zach had asked for photos of the time we were together. It seemed weird when we were literally finalizing our divorce. I wanted to say no. Those photos now were the only proof I carried of what we had together. The only thing that now kept me sane and proved that our time together wasn’t a dream. Other than Ellio
Leaning over, he put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath through his guffawing. “M*****a chica, te llevaré a donde quieras ir.” [Damn girl, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.] I felt strong hands on my shoulders and Zach pulled me back. The smirk he was wearing earlier was gone. Clear irritation was written all over his face. The chef straightened up and looked at him for a moment before chuckling. “A couple specials, coming up! I can’t make a beautiful woman pay, though. It’s on the house.” He turned and walked into the small space. Making quick work, he moved nimbly around the kitchen. It was surprising between the size of the space and the size of him, but he whipped up two orders of tacos and came back over, handing them to us. Zach reached over me and grabbed the two containers from him. “Oh shit! Let me get…” He turned in to the truck and opened a mini fridge in the corner. “Mamá just made a new batch today.” Pouring out two drinks, I took them from him an
The area started to thin out around 4:30 a.m. and after grabbing some dessert at one of the other trucks, Zach started to walk me back to the hotel. I had refused a ride, but he also refused to allow me to walk back alone. We walked close, but his hands were tucked into his pockets again. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I looked at the caller ID. Stopping, I answered. “Jacob?” “Hey! I’m sorry! I know it’s like 4 a.m., but Elliot woke up and he has been crying because he had a bad dream, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” “Okay, okay. Calm down, for one. It’s just a bad dream, not the end of the world.” I stopped walking and ran my hand through my hair. Zach stopped as well, curiosity coming across his features. “Is Anne awake?” “Yeah, she is holding him, but he’s still crying.” I wrinkled my nose. “Did he say anything specific about it? About the dream?” “It was dark and that he was alone and scared.” I cursed. It had been months since he had that dream. Shit. I leane
People pushed me around as I walked down the street. Quite a few of them turned to cuss me out, but I didn’t hear them. The tears kept falling and I couldn’t stop them. The numbness had seeped in and felt it restricting my breathing. I didn’t even know where I was walking anymore. I just started to walk as soon as I made it out of the office building, and I couldn’t stop. I feared if I stopped then I would break. I hit a street corner and I looked around. The street to my left was closed down for a street faire and I turned to walk down the middle of the road with the stream of people. There were vendors and stalls selling food and goods. There were also games and kids activities. I wondered with all the kids running around if school was out, but it was after 4 p.m. and so I figured everyone was just off school for the day. Looking around, I stopped at a couple of the stalls and picked out two gifts for Elliot. I thanked the vendor and walked through the crowd. I stopped at a guy who
***Zachary’s POV*** There was banging at the door again. How many times was this? It was pissing me off. I didn’t want anyone in the apartment. Hence the lock on the door. Not enough, well now the couch was thrown in front of the door. I moved out to the balcony with a pack of cigarettes and sat down on the only non-broken or thrown piece of furniture. Lighting the cigarette, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. Taking another drag, I peeked over my shoulder as I heard the couch scraping across the floor. I wondered how many people were pushing the door open to get that thing to move. Honestly, it was heavy as fuck, but it was the first thing I trashed when I got home after I spent time with Evie. After I found out I had a son. She named him after my grandfather and I knew that wasn’t a coincidence. There was no way. After the heated bout with my parents over whether or not I intended on keeping the agreement with the Sinclair’s, I told them I would be putting everything on
“Avez-vous besoin d'autre chose, monsieur?” [Do you need anything else, sir?] I looked up from my paper at the waiter and smiled. “Un café et deux sucres, s'il vous plaît.” [A coffee and two sugars, please.] He bowed and scurried off. I set my paper down and looked out into the street. It was busy, as most Saturday mornings were. There were plenty of tourists, but also the usual Saturday locals were enjoying the sunny day. Smiling, I thanked the waiter when he brought me my coffee. Pouring the sugar in my coffee, I looked out over the street again. The small flat I rented was only a couple blocks from this spot and this place was my go-to early in the morning. I had gotten up late today since, for once, I had a clear schedule. Four weeks I had been in France. I was overseeing the construction of one of our international branches which was nearly finished. The completion gave me mixed feelings. Part of me missed home and the other part didn’t want to go back. France was a distraction
Hello everyone! I know it's been a minute since I've updated on the things going on. I just wanted to update those who enjoyed my writing that I also have a new story I am writing called The Rogue Kings. It's currently being updated and I know fans of Alpha Desmond and of this story, which it's emotional pressure points, will enjoy the new one. It's a stand alone werewolf book, that will actually be in two parts. However, it won't be separated into different stories but all one. I chose to mark it as a more mature story since the themes and the things that happen within the story will be strong emotionally. I really hope you guys will check it out. I think it is one of my bigger undertakings and has been a labor of love that I've been working through for a while. Rrecently, I've been hit one after the other with health issues. The last of which I was out for two weeks with covid + pneumonia and landed myself in the ER. I was already in a compromised state but here we are. I'm slowly
I thought it was my father shaking hands with people as they walked in, but I realized that there was no grey hair. I was looking at Adrian. Evie touched my arm, and the metal was cold. It jolted me to glance at her and there was a concerned look on her face. “Sorry. I saw Adrian for a second.” I whispered in her ear. “Why do you look like you saw a ghost, then?” I looked down at her, my lips pressed together in a thin line. “Because I thought he was my father.” Her eyes widened and then she nodded. The grip she had on my arm tightened and we waited in line for the final photo to be taken. Walking in front of the logo, I stood with Evie close to my left side. Rissa was in my arms, and Elliot between us. I hadn’t spoken to my father since the night I told him I was done. He had tried to worm his way back into the company and bring his Mafia influence with him. At first, I was able to fight alongside Adrian until my father started to give Adrian something he always wanted, recognit
***Three years later*** “Honestly, I don’t know how I agreed to this. You know I don’t do this shit anymore.” I huffed, looking in the mirror. “One, it’s for charity. A charity that we frequently work with and help out. Second, your brother is actually putting this on. You haven’t seen him in two years, Z. It’s getting ridiculous.” Sighing, I shook my head. “I have a reason for that, Evie. It’s not all going to go away.” “I get that, Z but he is still your brother. You help him from the shadows and he doesn’t even know. It’s ridiculous. Just confront him.” “At a charity event with a red carpet and all the kids there.” Evie let out an exasperated growl. “For fuck’s sake, Zachary Anderson, grow up. I swear to god.” “Mom! Fuck is a bad word!” “Then why did you say it, Elliot?” She called back. “Shit!” I looked out the door. “Elliot!” He chuckled. “Sorry, Dad. Rissa is ready, as am I.” I walked out, rolling my shoulders and adjusting my sleeves. It had been so long since I dr
Evie was waiting for me at the elevators, behind the row of security so that none of the reporters could sneak onto the upper floors. I lifted Elliot up and held him, also reaching out for Evie’s hand. We entered the elevator and Jason raced in. He shook his head. “That was ridiculous. I can’t believe you just decided to chill with the reporters.” Shrugging, I stole a kiss from Evie. “I’m enjoying this…being relaxed. If I could have shown up in jeans without the stock market plummeting, I would have.” “It absolutely would have dropped by ten points at the very least.” Jason laughed as he pressed two different buttons and the elevator started to rise. He turned, holding his hand out to Evie. “It’s nice to meet you. It’s been a crazy few weeks but I feel like we are friends already. Especially if you have the patience to handle him.” Jason nodded in my direction. I tightened my hold of her hand but eventually she shot me a glare and pulled it out to shake his hand. “You as well. I
While Stacy, Elliot, Evie, and I drove together, Stacy and I went in the back way to the office, meeting up with Jason and his full security team. Evie would enter through the front and find a space to watch the press conference. Elliot wanted to see it, since I refused to tell him what was going on in the company beforehand. He had asked his mom multiple times to check her phone to see the stock prices of A.A.W., as he called it. Taking a deep breath, I pulled up my talking points on my tablet, choosing to not go with a prompter because it just seemed silly. Adrian was worried about it, but he just wasn’t used to being in the limelight. Not while I was around. Looking around, I tried to find Adrian, but he wasn’t anywhere. “Where is he, Stace?” “I don’t know! I called Nicole but she said he left at six in the morning, and she hasn’t heard from him either.” Cursing, I looked at my watch. We did not have time for this. We were supposed to go out in five minutes. I wanted to go over
I looked at myself in the mirror. It had been a while since I was in a full three-piece suit and tie. It felt uncomfortable. I looked like my father. Sighing, I asked to see another tie. The associate disappeared and I wondered where Stacy was. Usually, she was my style compass when it came to these sorts of things. All I wanted to do was to wear the jeans and button-up shirt that I had gotten used to lately. “If that’s what you are going with, I wonder if anyone will take you seriously.” My eyes widened and I whipped around, watching Evie walk toward me. She was smiling brightly and I nearly dissolve into tears right there. She was wearing dark jeans and a shirt with a band I didn’t know; her usual combat boots on her feet. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, no makeup, and she looked like the goddess I knew and loved. “Dad!” Elliot came running up and jumped into my arms. I caught him and planted a kiss on his cheek. He was wearing jeans and a dinosaur t-shirt with a backpack, h
A pin could drop and it would shatter the windows with the sound of it. Those who didn’t know, their mouths were wide open. Those who did were smirking. I lifted up my hand and spun the ring around my finger. How it still managed to fit perfectly still boggled my mind. I always meant to ask Evie more about her father, but she wouldn’t say much about him. I always figured it was still a loss she felt deeply. She had more time with her father than I did with my mother, but he was also all she had. He was a single father and that made him all the more important in her life. Looking up, I smiled. “Jennifer, have you ever been to Greece?” “Once or twice.” “There is an island, Zakynthos. My parents have a summer home there, it’s lovely. The beaches are beautiful and it’s just an all-around experience. I went there for three weeks for my honeymoon, and it was spectacular. I would highly recommend it.” Jennifer spit out the wine she was drinking, coughing slightly. I looked over at my pare
Pulling up to my parent’s house, I sighed. Stacy and Jason were also with me, since they had been added to family dinners long before they entered the company. Waiting for a moment, I stared up at the looming shadows of the house. “Zach, you okay?” Stacy put her hand on my arm. I nodded, but didn’t look back at her. “There are two ways I can play tonight. One, I can be straightforward and upfront with them. Explain everything as best I can and just walk out of there. Step up to my father man to man and have an adult conversation with him.” Jason snorted. “Please. You fucking hate the man. You could never just sit and talk with him.” Smiling, I looked up at the two of them. “Or I can go in there and throw everything in their face. I can make the biggest scene I can and show them I don’t care about anything they say.” “At this point, I think balls in is the only way to go. They destroyed you, destroyed your happiness. I think it’s time they get a taste of their own medicine.” Jason
Stretching, I leaned back on the couch in my old office. Adrian had taken over the office already and all my stuff had been sent to the office in LA. It had been chaos for the past three days. Projects getting moved and adjusted while debriefing Adrian on all of them. The lack of their CEO didn’t seem to be part of the talk. It was mostly that Adrian was now going to all the meetings. My father had noticed it too, but I just brushed him off. My phone buzzed and I looked at the caller ID. Brow furrowing, I stood up and walked over to the window. I leaned against them and held up my phone at eye level, answering the video call. “Evie?” “Dad!” A smile filled my face as I saw the bright look from my son. He seemed like he was sitting on the bathroom floor from the background. “What are you doing with your mom’s phone?” “She won’t notice. She is talking with Uncle M. I said I was going to read.” Sighing, I shook of my head. “It’s not good to lie to your mom and sneak around, Elliot.