Rubbing my eyes, I looked up at the carousel with my flight information on it. I was already holding my hard case with my bionic arm in it. I found out it was much easier to carry on my arm than it was to wear it in the airport. Most of the time, they made you break it apart anyways to look at it since they can’t wand it because it’s full metal. So, it’s just better that it goes through the machine like an instrument. It was a pain to be one handed, but usually airport staff were nice enough to help. There are always exceptions to that, and New York was one of them. It was absolute chaos trying to get through this airport. Finally, one of my fellow passengers, a doctor out for a conference, was nice enough to help me when I needed it. I knew I would be going from the airport to my hotel, then directly to the office because the flight landed on time but took an extra twenty minutes to get unloaded. Sighing, I set my arm down between my legs and leaned over, eyeing my bag. Quickly grabb
His back was turned to me and he was looking out the window. I thanked the gods that I didn’t meet his eyes. I think right there I would have crumbled. But seeing his back, being reminded that all I would ever see is this man’s back made me angrier. It helped me look back down at the page and fight through the pain that now hammered in my heart. Reading over the first couple pages, I went back and started crossing out paragraphs. Fifteen million. They were offering me fifteen fucking million and part of me wanted to be a petty bitch and take them for all their pennies. I couldn’t, though. I couldn’t even take them for more than what I was thinking to help Elliot in the future. Reading through more of it, fifteen million wasn’t even all of it. They also added in a trust of five million, which I crossed out and put one million. That would cover all of Elliot’s college and then some if he wanted to invest in something for his future. Everything else I crossed out. I came to a fun clause
***Zachary’s POV*** “She crossed off all the money.” I didn’t move from where I had fallen back. My hand had touched her shoulder, or what was left of it. Suddenly all her movements with only her left hand made sense. She lost her arm, her whole right arm, saving me. It was enough to do so much damage they just removed it. We also weren’t in Vegas. We were in Greece, for our honeymoon. Not only had we signed the marriage certificate sober but then we had a honeymoon. “What do you mean she crossed off all the money?” Jason grabbed the papers out of Derek’s hands. “Shit. Everything but one million put into a trust account. Literally everything.” I looked at them before racing down the hallway. Jason was behind me, but I didn’t know if Stacy had also made it out. Almost sliding to a stop, I saw her, standing in front of the elevators. Every time I laid eyes on her my heart did flips. When I walked in and looked at her, her head down reading the document, I thought I was going to los
Peeling my eyes open, I was met with the familiar throbbing headache. It hit differently with an extra burn in the stomach and throat. Slowly sitting up, I looked around. I was in bed, which I didn’t remember being in. Hell, I didn’t even remember coming inside. The last thing I remembered sitting out in the rain, strumming and singing. I felt better. I felt better minus the copious amount of whiskey that was burning its way through my veins. Sitting up, I was still in my dress shirt and slacks. I discarded them and pulled on some sweats. Making my way down the stairs, I opened up the fridge and grabbed some milk. I needed something to coat my stomach at this point. I didn’t even know what time it was. There was still an edge of fuzziness that confirmed I’d drank enough that I hadn’t slept it off. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” Spewing milk over the counter, I nearly jumped out of my skin as Adrian popped his head up over the couch. “Fucking hell. Dumbass, don’t scare th
“When did this article go live?” “A few minutes ago.” Stacy was trying to find the initial source of the video and article, but it was blowing up so many places that it was hard to track exactly where it was coming from. Lately, more stuff had been posted by fans on social media platforms when articles picked them up. “Stop. Don’t. It’s not worth it. If they had sent an email out before it got posted, we could have stopped it. It’s already up on TV and it’s all over social media. She is a social media whore. We won’t make a dent. Even with the whole social team working on it.” I rubbed my temples. I picked up the phone on my desk. My personal cell was off since yesterday and now I really didn’t want to turn it on. Dialing a number I loathed to remember, I leaned forward in my chair, with my elbows on my desk, putting the call on speaker as it rang. “Claudia Anderson here.” “Hi, Mother.” I heard a scoff in the background. “Zachary, what a surprise. To what do I owe this pleasure?
“Are you sure you want to continue?” I laughed through the tears. “I mean, it can’t hurt any worse than it does, right?” “I think we need Jason and more liquor, though.” Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Fuck, when was the last time I cried like this? College maybe? No, before that. High school after my dad told us that he didn’t care that Adrian and I didn’t approve of Claudia. He had married her already and so she was our mother whether or not we liked it. “Adrian was with him, so I guess we get double trouble. But that means double the liquor.” I sighed. “I didn’t tell Adrian yet. He kept asking questions but I didn’t say.” “It’s fine. I’m sure Jason already spilled the beans. He sounded drunk already.” “Great. Now, I’m never going to hear the end of this.” Stacy laughed. “What? Them catching us sitting on the floor of your office, looking like a mess because we just cried through those photos and that was the smaller of the four folders? Yeah. No doubt. How old are we
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.
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.