MARGO POVTWO YEARS LATER.When did everything start to go to shit? I turned to face Miguel who was busy pulling on his suit with a nonchalant attitude that did nothing but irritate me to no end. It was like he didn't care at all. I was sure if someone was holding a knife to my throat, he'd just sit back and watch until they slit it open. We had been so happy, so why was this happening to us? His gaze met mine in the mirror and he sighed, as he dragged his hand through his hair before turning to face me. "Do you really have to do this every blessed morning?" he asked accusingly and I arched a brow."What are you talking about... I haven't even said anything yet""Do you have to when your eyes are already screaming your displeasure huh" he gritted out, then exhaled. "Fine. Spit it out, What is it you have to bitch about again... You'll think with all the shit we have been experiencing you'll have more things to worry about than to nag me every chance you get"His words made the ugly f
SCARLET POVThe sun rays hit my glasses and I blinked, the skyscraper in front of me becoming blurry. Antonov cleared his throat beside me."Well, here we are Scarlet. This place looked better than in the photos"I took in the company that my father had built with his blood sweat and tears. "We used to have a picnic at the rooftop once a week, then mom died and things spiraled from there" I got out past the lump in my throat, nostalgia washing over me in waves."Well, you got what you wanted. It's time to take back what is yours"I took my glasses off, then turned to face Antonov, a smirk on my face. "I am going to have so much fun Antonov. Margo, Miguel, and Raphael do not know what is going to hit them""I still think what you did with Raphael's order is unethical and he is going to find out that it was you"I grinned. "That is the whole plan, Antonov. Let him find out and wonder without rest why I was coming after him... I want him to have sleepless nights just thinking about how h
SCARLET POV Margo was pissed but there was nothing she could do about it and at the end she'd had to comply with all my requests. I had made it clear to her that if she wanted to save the company then she had to suck up to me... But everything was all a sham because, in the end, she was going to lose everything, and it would happen without her even knowing it. It should have been easy too but I hated that I was still affected by her. There was still fear because I knew who Margo was and she was a killer. It had been a shock to learn that I wasn't the only one she'd taken out to keep the company for herself... There had been others and they were not so fortunate as I had been. I had also thought the boardroom had just been suffocating but now that I was outside with Antonov and taking in fresh air, I became aware of just how hectic the whole ordeal had been. I felt bereft and the cravings for the pills in my purse grew in my chest but I couldn't. I couldn't show any weaknesses.Anto
SCARLET POVI screamed, then bolted because I wasn't going to take any chances. He'd broken into my home, which meant that he was not here to talk but to hurt me.Antonov had been right. I shouldn't have messed with his orders... I had thought it would keep him busy... I should have known that he was unpredictable and dangerous. I shouldn't have underestimated him, not after what he and Miguel had done to me. I should have known that he was a sick bastard and that he hadn't changed, and probably never would. I barely made it past him before strong hands were wrapping around my waist and I was being hoisted off the ground.I cried out, struggling and punching him, but it only felt as if I was beating against a rock, and when he finally threw me down on my bed and loomed over me, I was the only one breathing hard, while he didn't look affected at all."What the hell do you think you are going" I gasped, glaring at him, my head still reeling from the fact that he'd broken into my house.
MARGO POV"You really need to calm down, Margo... I know the girl's a bitch, but you have to admit that her presence is making a huge impact on our overall revenue. We went up a whopping twenty percent, heck, that's what we made last year and that was after struggling through the..."I slammed my hand on the desk and then turned my gaze in Bianca's direction who stared back at me like a deer caught in the headlights."Can you not read the room... Do you not see how pissed off I am right now" I gritted, then exhaled, dragging my hands through my hair as I struggled inwardly with losing my shit, but I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before I snapped. Bianca's words came out tentative when she spoke them but all they managed was to piss me off. "I am just trying to make you feel better""I don't need you to make me feel better, I can manage that on my own Bianca, so please just shut your stupid mouth while I think"Bianca cleared her throat, then pressed her lips together,
SCARLET POVIt had been forty-eight hours and I was still reminiscing about the whole encounter with Raphael Batista. My hands still trembled just thinking about how he'd bypassed my whole security team and gotten right into my room.Antonov had wanted to travel back once he got the report but a firm refusal from me and promises to keep more bodyguards placated him enough to let him stay back with Elde.The only thing left now for me to turn off my mind because every time I closed my eyes, Raphael's crazy icy stare assailed my senses."Goddamn it. This is going nowhere" I groaned, dragging my hand through my hair when the door to my office flung open and Margo marched in, the whole aura about her screaming righteous indignation.Margo got to my desk and then slammed the memorandum I'd ordered to be distributed around each office onto it."How dare you do this without consulting me or Miguel" she barked, tapping at the memorandum viciously. "I don't know if you're forgetting that I bas
MARGO POV.Things were going to shit! The memory of Miguel walking Into my office while I'd been clutching the evidence of my disloyalty was forever ingrained in my head. He'd been distracted and angry about his new office, so he hadn't really taken note of how pale with fear I'd been. I'd managed to go around my desk, stash the pictures in my file cabinet, and managed to persuade him that I'd get someone to redesign his new workspace without him suspecting a thing. All in all, it had almost destroyed me. If Miguel had seen those pictures, I would have been ruined. He would have surely asked for a divorce because part of our agreement before we got married was that once either of us cheated, the marriage was over.God this was a nightmare and on top of all that, Scarlet was pissing me off. She said she wanted to get revenge and even though she said I wasn't her target, that didn't stop me from worrying. The look in her eyes had been ice cold, and she was shifty, which only meant that
SCARLET POVThere was no way Bianca knew me in the past. I didn't even know who she was and all of a sudden she was here telling me that I reminded her of myself from the past when we never crossed paths in our lives.Did Margo suspect something and put her up to this? There was just no way she could have found out I was Eve... If she did, she would have done something, so maybe she just suspected... No, I was blowing things out of proportion. There was no way Margo knew about me. She believed I was dead. Bianca cleared her throat, then rubbed her hand over her arms awkwardly and I realized that I was glaring and watching her intently."I mean, it's really not that serious, I just think you are similar to her that's all" she rambled nervously, her eyes darting around the empty office as if she expected someone to suddenly jump out of the obvious empty space. "Why are you telling me all this... I didn't even know Margo had a sister" I got out evenly even tho what I felt inside was an
SCARLET POV.Today was the happiest day of my life and as the light from the chandelier cast a lovely glow on me as I walked down the aisle, I couldn't help but smile, and smile some more.Raphael was waiting for me and the look in his eyes was enough to make me swoon.I couldn't tear my eyes off him and the closer I got, the more brighter he radiated his love for me. I was going to be happy this time. So much happier.My gaze caught my mom's and Antonov and they grinned back at me.I got to Raphael and he took my hand and guided me to my stand with a smile that lit up his eyes."You take my breath away little bird" he whispered and I blushed, holding his gaze even as my face burned."So do you, and I love you so much. Always" I said and the officiator cleared his throat and both of our gazes snapped to his.Gods, I'd almost been close to kissing him since it had been as if we were the only two people in the room.I chuckled as he did, then turned to face the officiator.The wedding c
RAPHAEL BATISTA POV"I want her found. I don't care how you do it but you need to do it before she hurts anyone" I said clenching the content that I had gotten out of the brown envelope just a few weeks ago. It had been meant for Scarlet. Thank God I had gone to meet Bianca myself that day. Scarlet was just starting to get better and not be dependent on her pills but I was sure if she found out about this, it would be down that rabbit hole once more. She would worry and live in a state of constant fear and I could not allow her to go through such suffering again, not after everything she'd been through. But the strain was starting to get to me. Margo was still at large despite all efforts to find her and with our wedding plans already underway I couldn't help but be worried. Where was Margo right now and what was she scheming?"We have eyes everywhere, but we haven't seen anyone remotely resembling Margo, we'll intensify our effort, so be rest assured. She won't be able to get past
SCARLET POV"You've been smiling a lot these days, but you still haven't introduced Raphael to me, why? Do you think he's so good-looking, I'll try to keep him for myself the first chance I get," Elde said and I gaped at her."Mom! Oh my goodness, I can't believe you just said that"She chuckled, stood up from where she was sitting, and came to stand in front of me. "I admit I was a bit skeptical about Raphael at first" she got out. "I still am, but since he's succeeded in making you so happy, I want you to bring him home... You just set a date and I'll fix the wedding... How about that"I grinned, then hugged her. "I must have given you a lot of tough times for you to be planning to marry me off so quickly, huh"She patted my back. "Oh you did, you almost turned me into a murderer at a point too, you little brat" she laughed, then let go of me and helped me tuck my hair behind my ears."I am just so glad that you are finally ok, Scarlet. I want you to be happy like this for a very lo
RAPHAEL BATISTA POVScarlet let out a harsh sob and then pressed her forehead against my chest, so I kissed her on the back of the neck in an effort to soothe her. “Talk to me, baby, tell me what you need me to do” I urged. Scarlet relaxed as if the endearment was a balm to her soul, then she went quiet for several beats before she met my gaze. “I ache,” she said softly. “I burn and I can’t… I can’t make it go away on my own. I've tried...” she trailed off, the color on her cheeks darkening. It took me a few painfully long seconds to understand what she was trying to tell me. She couldn’t make herself come. “Oh God, Scarlet, I’m so sorry,” I said as I lifted her head up and pressed kisses along her temple, then her cheeks, and finally her mouth. “I’ll take care of you,” I said as I began ramping the kisses back up.“Raphael” she called, her voice hitching. "I... I..." “What?” I urged gently when I saw a bit of fear still lurking in her eyes. “I don’t think I can… go all the way
RAPHAEL BATISTA POV"Is she going to be alright?" I asked the doctor as I stared down at Scarlet. She was asleep and her breathing was even but that didn't stop me from worrying."She will be fine. She has been under a lot of stress which was why she collapsed... But please try to monitor her drug prescription. I am afraid she is taking them more than is necessary and if she continues to do that, it would not bode well for her in the long run" the doctor warned, his voice severe and I nodded."I'll do that doctor, I'll make sure she takes only what is prescribed"He nodded and then picked up his bag. "Just let her rest and I'll be here to check on her progress tomorrow morning," he said, gave a curt nod, and walked out of the room.I sat beside Scarlet and just stared at her, pain and elation warring in my heart. I'd always felt that she was Eve but to have it confirmed that I was indeed right, shook me to my core.I took her hand in mine, then placed it on my cheek, my heart breaking
SCARLET POVI liked the weight that was pressing me down into the warm mattress. It was hot and just the right amount of heavy. I groaned, moving closer to it. Was my pillow always this warm, or did Mother get me a new pet? I asked myself as my hand reached to clutch at whatever it was but my hand didn’t come in contact with short fur or a pillow.No, what was beneath my fingers was short but it was also super soft, silky even. And just a few inches down there wasn’t any hair, just hot skin.Raphael has hot skin. I jumped off the bed, my eyes flying open as I struggled to make sense of what the hell was going on.Raphael maintained eye contact as he slowly got up from the bed too, his gaze trained on mine as if I were some wild animal and just a look away from me would send me running off.He looked as if he'd been awake for a while so why was he just lying by my side?I couldn't remember what had happened the night before. I just remembered having a drink and Pierce forcing a kiss on
MARGO POV.Everything hurt, especially my face. It burned so hot that I wished I hadn't woken up at all.I've been drifting in and out of consciousness after the van I'd been in exploded... I didn't even understand how I'd been able to survive, but I guess it was because the force of the explosion had pushed me out of the van as it crashed to the ground.Miguel hadn't made it... I knew it because his face had been the last thing I'd seen before I was flying through the hot air.We'd been in the van and he hadn't even spoken a word to me. He'd stared at me as if I was the vilest person he'd ever met as if I had ruined his life as if I was the one to blame for everything and not Eve.Her name made me groan and all of a sudden, someone was hovering over me, and then a wet cloth touched my head.I tried to open my eyes and only managed to get my left eye slightly open while the other felt as if it was permanently shut.The eye I was seeing with was still blurry though and I had to blink t
SCARLET POVI couldn't hear the words that Santos was saying not when Raphael was just a few feet away from me, talking to some men and smiling when they said something funny. When last had I seen a smile like that? It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that just a touch of his hand had had my walls and resolve crumbling like ashes. It had been so hard to wrench my hand away from him when all I'd wanted to do was to lean in and press my lips against his. He'd stared at me with such fierce passion or was it my wishful thinking... Was I just projecting what I felt onto him?I flinched when I saw Kristine walk toward him, wrapped her arm around his waist, and animatedly joined in on their conversation. I couldn't help but clench the document in my hand harder while murderous thoughts ran through my head. Raphael was mine... He fucking said he was going to protect me. "Miss Scarlet" Santos called and I flinched, then forced myself to focus on him when it turned out that he'd been trying to ge
RAPHAEL BATISTAScarlet Antonio Rivera was standing in the elevator and her eyes were wide open in surprise as she saw me. She was clutching at her hair and sweat dripped down her hairline as if she'd been struggling with something in the enclosed space. I stared at her, totally speechless as I took in the most beautiful pair of green eyes I'd ever seen and when I looked closer, it felt as if I'd always stared into those eyes for as long as I could remember. Scarlet lowered her gaze and dropped her hand from her hair, but I noticed the strands that were clutched in her deathlike grip and it had me wondering why she'd been tugging so hard at her hair. I stepped into the elevator with her and once the door closed, sealing the both of us in, I had to resist the urge to grab and tilt her chin so that she could look at me just as she'd done before. I couldn't believe she was here since no matter how many appointments I had with her assistant, I had never met her in person.I turned to