Next day, 9:00am …Harper.“Don’t you think that’s too much teeth,” I heard Collin say and I turned to see him beside me, he stretched forward and pressed the elevator button, I took that moment to look around and I noticed that almost everyone was stealing weird glances at me.Oh maybe I was grinning a little bit too hard today, on a normal day, I usually carried an emotionless straight face and I answered to greetings curtly. The elevator door went open and we walked in together. Well I should be excused because I’m about to start living my best life.I felt Collin gaze on me and I turned to see him smiling sweetly at me,“I’m very happy for you,” he whispered, my lips stretched into a small shy smile and I folded my hands under my burst with bag at the crook of my elbow.“Well I guess you were right all along, and I can’t wait to explore this feeling,” I said to him, he chuckled and nodded slowly at me.“Ofcourse,” he muttered in reply and just then the elevator door went open, w
Few minutes Later ….“Heyyy Baby,” Damon chirped happily as he pushed the door into my office open and walked in, I looked up from my laptop and flashed him a small smile. One that was obviously fake and barely touched my eyes.“Uh-oh, what’s wrong?!” He asked hastening his footstep towards my table, he dropped the plastic bag he was holding on the table and walked towards my chair.He gently leaned on my table and pulled my chair closer to himself.“Talk to me, what’s wrong,” he asked softly, I exhaled deeply and looked up at him, “My mum just left, she’s hell bent on me marrying Novan,” I said to him, he sighed deeply and slowly placed his hands in my head Patti g my hair slowly.“You don’t have to show up if you don’t want to,” he muttered“Obviously I don’t want to!” I whined, he flashed me a small smile and nodded slowly.“Then don’t go,” he whispered, he let go of my hair and reached for the paper bag behind him.“You shouldn’t stress over stuff like that, you should eat,” h
Few minutes Later …Harper.I watched Damon as he clenched and unclenched his jaw, his grip on the steering tightened as he drove on, his nose flared in anger but he didn’t utter a word. I literally begged Collin to not let Damon know about what happened today, now guess who is driving me home!.They both insisted that I stopped working for the day and go home, Damon also called the doctor to meet us at my place, I tried to stop him, it wasn’t that deep and I could clean up my bruises myself but he passed me the nastiest glare and I just kept my mouth shut.I searched for my phone in my bag and took it out, I searched for Collin’s contact and sent him a text.-Even if God forgives you, I can’t forgive you for ratting me out like this!- I texted, “That bastard!” I heard Damon murmur and hiss under his breath, I placed my phone in my bag and slowly turned to look at him.“I’m actually fine,” I muttered placing my hands on his thigh.“Don’t tell me that,” he snapped cutting me off, I f
Next day …Thursday Morning 7:00am …Damon.I gently stroked Harper’s hair as she lay fast asleep in her bed, the more I looked at the tiny injury on her skin the angrier I got.Everything Harper said was actually just for herself, I’m definitely going to have a dialogue with that guy or maybe way more than a dialogue, I won’t be taking it lightly with him if this ever happens again.I stared at Harper as she slept, I knew that in time past she could not stand up to defend herself, I have no idea what happened but all that had changed, I mean she could stand up to her mother now, why the hell can’t she do the same with Novan, or is she still in love with him?!She stirred slowly in bed and her eyes slowly fluttered open, She stretched out her body, slowly placed her elbow on the bed gently supporting herself to a sitting position.“Babe,” she muttered rubbing her eyes, I leaned towards her and placed a kiss on her forehead.“Good Morning Sunshine,” I greeted and she flashed me a smal
Meanwhile …Damon.“Sir Damon, I think it’s time you visit the farm, I’d advice that you pick out and inspect the grapes we’ll use for Mr Cassano’s supply yourself,” Lisa said to me as she walked into my office.“Why? Don’t we trust Cindy and Greg’s judgement anymore?!” I asked as I finally looked up from the file I was working on and looked up at her. Cindy and Greg are quite a bit more aged couple who ran our grape field for us in California and so far so good they have been doing an excellent job, sending the most juicy and freshly pressed natural grape juice to us, and then we do the rest of the work, transforming them into our signature wine juices.“No it’s not that, it’s been a while since you visited the farm, I just thought it’d be nice. Plus Mr Cassano is our biggest client at the moment, you’d definitely know what’s best for him,” she said, I pressed my lips tightly against each other and nodded slowly.“Okay sure, I’ll consider it” I replied, she responded with a bow and t
Harper.“Harper!” I heard Mom call sternly as I was about to walk out of the office, I paused in my tracks and slowly looked up at Collin, I nodded for him to go ahead, he responded with a bow and walked out alongside the other board of directors. I turned around and walked back towards her.“What’s this?” She grunted stretching her phone out to my face, my gaze lazily left her face and landed on her phone screen, subconsciously leaning closer to the phone, it was the video I asked Collin to post earlier.“What the hell are you playing at Harper!” She snorted retrieving her hands forcefully from my front.“After seeing this video, do you still want me to get married to Novan” I said my voice firm but low and cool as I slowly stood up straight and looked her dead in the eye. She spluttered in an attempt to speak, looking everywhere but my eyes.“W-what w-w-what does it matter?!” She stuttered “Folks in love correct themselves how they deem fit, it shouldn’t mean anything serious, and
Harper."How could she stay with him after this?""Poor girl, she must be terrified.""I hope she gets help. This is heartbreaking.""She's just attention-seeking."“The rich also cry, I tell you. This is bad! I hope she gets out of that Toxic relationship”"Seeing this breaks my heart. I hope she finds the strength to leave him and start healing."“This particular lady eyes has actually seen a lot for a lifetime, first it was her family behaving like she wasn’t part of them and now this? I really hope she heals”"She probably deserved it. Why would anyone put up with that unless they liked it?""Why didn’t she fight back? I don’t get why she just took it.""Maybe she’s exaggerating things to get attention. Who knows what really happened?" "She’s not innocent in this. It takes two to tango.""Why is this even a big deal? Relationships have ups and downs.""If it was that bad, she would’ve left already. There’s more to this story.""She’s just staying with him for the drama. Some peop
Later that day , Damon’s office.Harper.“Collin is asking for some hours off, apparently he wants to meet up with Daphne,” I said looking up from my phone to Damon at his desk, he hummed and nodded slowly his eyes not leaving his PC.“Yeah, I think Daphne mentioned something about it,” he replied.“Oh wow, I didn’t know they are now that close,” i said, he raised his shoulder in a shrug still working on his laptop.“Why do I get the feeling that you do not like the idea,” I said to him as I stood up from where I was seated and walked up to him, I folded my hands across my chest and leaned on his table in front of him. He exhaled deeply and finally looked up from his laptop and looked up at me.“Eh, I don’t know, I don’t know how I feel about it,” he muttered.“Don’t be like that Damon, you’ve talked about this before and I told you, you can’t be the only man in her life,”“She has never been any relationship right, the least you can do for her right now is to support her right?”“Sh
One months later .Harper.As Damon and I walked out of the wedding reception hall, hand in hand, the sound of cheers and applause surrounded us. The air was filled with excitement, love, and celebration as our family and friends gathered around, clapping and throwing rose petals into the air. My heart pounded in my chest, the reality of what we had just accomplished sinking in—we were finally married. After all had been said and done, I was finally spending the rest of my life with the man I loved the most.I looked up at him, my husband, and he gave me that smile, the one that made my knees weak every time. It felt surreal. After everything we had been through to get here, after all the obstacles and moments of doubt, we had made it. We were bound together, forever.The cool evening breeze hit my face as we stepped outside, but all I could feel was the warmth radiating from his hand in mine. Our family followed close behind, their joyful laughter echoing around us as they took pict
Five days later. Geraldine.I paced through the bustling terminal of the international airport, I was putting on sunglases and an oversized hoodie and sweatpants to hide my identity.I had carefully been planning my escape, I had prepared these travel documents a long time ago as plan B, I used my maiden name nobody ever knew me as. Two days ago, Michelle was arrested, the investigations Harper began were finally completed, also she happened to have been involved in Damon’s Ex plans, she was taken into custody alongside Jade awaiting trial. Novan was also caught trying to kill Harper, and trust these little bastard to drag me right into the mud with them, they both became very sentimental and unreasonable after Michelle got pregnant. These are the issues! These are the exact reasons I hate children. My grip on my box tightened as I pushed it along, as if that wasn’t enough, Evidences of what happened Eighteen years ago began to resurface, I thought I had wiped clean all eveidence b
4:00pmDamon. “Harper was dismissed?!” I repeated immediately Collin mentioned it, he nodded slowly in response to my words and he went on to explain how it happened.“Shit!” “How is she ?! Is she doing fine?!” I asked as I looked up at Rose.“Obviously not, she’s still in her feelings and she says she just wants to be alone,” Rose replied.“How can she just want to be alone, someone has to be with her,” I said, she shook her head slowly.“No I think she should be left alone,” Rose said, I exhaled deeply and leaned into the chair, I dipped my hands in my hair ruffling it slightly. “What do we do guys, honestly we channeled all our effort in one direction, we didn’t have any plan B,” I muttered, Rose sat up straight in her chair looking between Collin and I.“There’s someone I’ll like you to meet,” she muttered and almost immediately the door open revealing Lisa and someone else behind her, “Thank you Lisa,” Rose said, she responded with a slight bow and with that she turned arou
Meanwhile, that same morning.Damon. I parked in front of the Jade apartment, I stepped out of my car and dashed to her front porch, I banged my hands on her door continuously, my patience waning by the second. The door went open, without even letting her say a word I violently pushed the door wider and walked in, she flinched lightly as she let go of the door knob and stepped away immediately. “It was you! You did this!”“You saw that I was drunk and you took advantage of me!” I yelled the veins in my neck popping out, she scoffed as she slowly folded her hands around her chest, “I took advantage of you?! Everyone saw the video and it seems to be the other way around,” “Your hands were all over me, you couldn’t get enough of me! You enjoyed it as much as I did!”“Can’t you see Damon?! We are meant to be, you love me,” she muttered stepping close to me, as she raised her hands to my chest, I angrily grabbed her hands and twisted it behind her,“Oww, that hurts!” She squeaked and
(Immediately after the meeting)Rose. “Have you found Michelle?!!” I paused in my tracks, my hands slowly loosened around the knob to Geraldine’s office , I stepped close and pressed my ear against the door“No ma’am, she’s not at her place , Novan is confused also, her friend’s apartment have been under locks for a while, I guess they ran away together,” “Leslie at this point I don’t need any negative answers from you, you should do your job perfectly,” I raised my hands over my mouth immediately she mentioned the name of the person she was having a conversation with. Oh my God! Who would have thought! Leslie?!“What about Harper?! Anything I need to know?!”“Ma’am Everything is under control, you’ve ruined all their evidences against you, at the moment everything is going south for them,”“Good! Now get back to your work station before anybody suspects anything,” I heard Geraldine say, I immediately stepped away and hurried over to the next passage way, after some seconds, I peak
Next Day Damon.My eyes slowly fluttered open, the moment I opened my eyes I felt a banging ache in my head, I winced in pain as I raised my hands to my head and rubbed my forehead slowly, I slowly sat up on the sofa where I was seated. There was a glass of alcoholic wine and a cup on the floor, I mistakenly kicked the glass with my legs but luckily it didn’t break. I looked down at my self, my shirt was undone, even the zip of my pant trousers, I exhaled deeply, the pain in my head still as prevalent as ever, just how much did I have to drink yesterday. I picked up my phone laying carelessly on the floor and stared in it, 07:00 am. It was already morning, I’m sure some workers would have arrived, I buttoned up my shirt and dressed up properly, I wanted to pick up my laptop bag but I decided against it, I’ll be coming back to the office very soon, I just wanted to go home and get changed, and come back to the office. I picked up my jacket and headed out of the office. “Ohh!” Lisa s
Damon.9:00pm I didn’t even know what to think right now, my head was empty, very empty, I already drank every single thing in my head away. I was dead drunk, I don’t usually drink talk more of getting drunk but with everything that had been happening recently I drank way more than my liquor limit. I’m amazed at the fact that I was able to drive without getting into an accident. I slowly looked up at the building I was parked in front of, ohh shit! The office. How can I be here, I really thought I was driving home and had gotten home. Ohh boy, I might as well pass the night here, I pushed the door open, staggered out barely keeping my acts together, I almost fell but I quickly grabbed onto the car door to steady myself, I squeezed my eyes shut tightly hoping to steady all the images spiralling before my eyes but I couldn’t, I gave up, slammed the door shut, locked it and headed into the office. Everyone had locked up and gone home, I fumbled with the lock for quite some minutes befo
Harper.“You misplaced the drive?!” Mr Henry exclaimed over the phone, I dipped my hands in my hair and ruffled it rigorously, pacing my office aimlessly. “I’ll make sure to find it I promise,”“There’s no need for that, Geraldine just left my office, she had it and she has destroyed it,” he said, I paused in my tracks immediately and looked up.“What!”“Yes! Obviously,”“But who could have told her about it,” he exhaled, I exhaled deeply and slowly dropped on to the sofa behind me,“That’s the thing! I have no idea,” I sighed frustratingly, I heard him exhale deeply over the phone,“Okay, let’s talk later, I’ve got to go” he said, I nodded slowly as I gently removed the phone from my ear and dropped it on the table. Just then the door opened and Collin walked in, “Harper ..”“Mr Henry just called,” I said cutting Collin off, he stepped forward and propped closer to me,“What did he say?!”“That we shouldn’t bother searching for it, Geraldine destroyed it right in front of his eye
Meanwhile.Michelle.“Tell me why you haven’t been picking up my calls!”I looked up to see Novan barge into my hospital room and slammed the door behind me, I rolled my eyes to the back of my head, obviously he’d be able to enter now, I sent the guy my mom out to monitor me on an endless exhausting errand, he paused in his tracks and looked up at me,“You’re packing, you’re leaving?! Did the doctor say you can leave?!” He asked all at once, I ignored him and kept on packing my things, I didn’t want to stay here anymore, it’s no longer safe for me, I want to leave. “Atleast tell me where you’re going!” He said as he grabbed my hands and turned me to face him, I bit the insides of my lips and snatched my hands away from him, I looked around the room, immediately I sighted the CCTV camera, I took off my platform slippers and aimed it at it, I didn’t miss, the CCTV camera came shattering down, “I’m going somewhere safe!” I finally said as I walked up to where I threw my slippers , pick