Andrea raised both eyebrows when she saw Anna walk into the living room dressed in all black, a wedge on her feets and what looked like a tattoo on her exposed arm. Her eyes went back to Butler Duke who only shrugged. "She insisted on wearing those." Left with no choice, Andrea got off the couch and squatted before Anna. "Baby, what profession are you dressed as?""I want to be a mafia queen, mommy!" Anna exclaimed, all smiles. The corners of Ryker's mouth curled into an unexpected smile. It was cute, but there was no way he was going to let his daughter become a mafia queen in the future. The game was way too risky. "What happened to being a doctor, an engineer, a businesswoman or a lawyer?" Andrea asked after a momentary silence. "I can be both, mommy. Just like you." Anna replied, lowering her voice. At this point, Andrea was gobsmacked. She wanted to say something but refrained from doing so when she heard Hayden's hasty footsteps as he rushed into the house. The man stoppe
Andrea sat down while Ryker walked Anna to the stage where she presented a speech Andrea had no idea had to be presented. Regardless, she gave Anna a thumbs up after she was done with her speech. Andrea soon frowned when she saw a lady walk up to Ryker. In the course of the discussion, Anna walked up to them and said something which caused the lady to look down on her in spite. Well, well, well. The perfect opportunity for Andrea to vent her built up anger. She got up and walked towards the trio, then she grabbed hold of Anna's hand. "Has the game ended?" Andrea asked and Anna shook her head. "There's one more, mommy." "Great." "Miss Accardo, I was just telling Mr. Darius how your daughter often bullies mine." The lady said, stopping Andrea from walking away. Andrea sighed softly and turned to look at the lady. She didn't recognize her, but she had a feeling the arrogance in the woman's eyes wasn't just for fancy. "Anna, did you bully anyone?" She lowered her head and asked
Couture GrillGeorgina walked into the bar to see a familiar figure drinking away his sorrow. Walking up to him, she pulls out a chair and sits on it, then requests for a glass of whiskey. "Drowning yourself in that bottle won't do you any good." She said after her order had been delivered. Damon filled his glass again, took a sip before saying in reply, "Drinking is never the solution, I know. But while I think of a solution, I'll drink." "Valerie always told me you were humourous. Never believed her until now." Georgina chuckled, tilting her head to look at him. Damon did the same and when he recognized her, his head cleared a little, "Mrs. Accardo?" "How are you, Damon?" Georgina asked with a small smile. "Can I get some water, please?" Damon spoke to the barman who got the water immediately. After gulping down an entire glass of water, Damon became a little sober. Only then did he turn to Georgina again, "I didn't expect to be visited by Mrs. Accardo." "You can call me Geor
Andrea walked out of the bathroom drying her wet hair with a towel, but froze when she saw a familiar figure staring at her quietly from a corner of her room. "I thought we agreed on privacy?" She asked, pretending to be upset. "Yes, we did. But you were also supposed to leave your door locked at all times. You never know what the big bad wolf has in store for you." Ryker chuckled and straighted to his full length. He walked towards her and extended his hand to touch her hair. Her hair reeked of vanilla, his favorite smell. "You really didn't think I'll let you go scot-free after the stunt you pulled yesterday, did you?" He asked, the corners of his lips curling into a dangerous smile. A chill ran down Andrea's smile when she recalled the stunt she had pulled a few days ago where she had kissed him.As she stood in shock, the man circled his hands around her and drew him closer to himself, "Most times I think you're just putting on a charade of loving me. Other times I really fee
When has Andrea ever been polite? There was a slight murmuring in the crowd as everyone's eyes darted towards Ryan. However, Ryan didn't look offended. Instead, he walked up to her and stopped just a few meters apart, "You've gotten it all wrong, Miss Accardo. The Meyers are privileged to have an Accardo in our family. In fact, it is a very great honor." "Well, guess what?" Andrea scoffed, "It's a privilege you'll never get to experience in your entire life." Her eyes settled on Gabriel who was looking down at her from the balcony, an amused smile on his face. Just when they thought their evening was about to be made, they looked in anticipation as someone rushed into the living room and grabbed Andrea's hand. "Andrea, tell them I'm the one you love. I know I've been rude towards you for a long time, but I was only being foolish. I love you and I now want to be with you." Damon confessed, faking his sincerity. He even went ahead to lean towards her only to be flung backward by C
Andrea had decided to spend the night in the Accardo's Manor. She walked out of her room fully dressed and walked down the stairs. She intended to walk out of the house when Carrie appeared out of nowhere. "You're not having breakfast?" "I'm not ready to be poisoned." Andrea replied, not looking at her. "Good decision." Carrie chuckled and walked towards Andrea. "Please don't tell me you're going with me to school." Andrea sighed, recalling the deal she made with Carrie."You can be rest assured I'm not. But I think you have something else to be worried about." Carrie replied, taking out her phone. She turned it on and the morning's news made Andrea sigh. "Damon Leicester left half-dead minutes after barging into the Accardo's Manor?" Andrea scoffed, "That doesn't sound like a proper news headline. I see no reason why I should care about it.""The publisher's English doesn't matter. What matters is that he has two videos attached under his post. And both of them have drawn peopl
With Andrea Accardo or anyone who attended the failed engagement party refusing to say anything about Damon's condition, the media is forced to shift their focus to somewhere else. With Anna in school and Andrea refusing to attend classes since this was her last semester, she stayed in Ryker's office watching him work. Feeling bored, she took out her phone and scrolled through twitter. Her eyes hardened when she realized there was someone still asking about Ghost. She opened the comments section to see netizens were still pumped up about Ghost's appearance. At the same time, she realized she was yet to have a permanent agreement with Samuel and his friends. "A penny for your thoughts?" She heard and raised her eyes to see Ryker looking at her. Shaking her head, she replied, "My thoughts are worth more than a penny." "Well then, I can make it two pennies." "I'll just pass." The two stared at themselves for a long time before Ryker reached for something on his table. Then he got
The day of the mafia ball soon arrived. Because Italy was chosen to host this year's event, a big hotel was booked for the whole night. People began trooping in thirty minutes before it began officially. And one of them was Gabriel Accardo who walked in with a dozen guards. Georgina had also come with him. An American man walked up to him once he had settled in and the duo said a few words of greeting. The next person who came was Marco. His presence attracted a lot of attention. "It's the man of that year." Someone said, walking towards Marco. Marco, who was clad in a gray Italian suit almost walked away when the man dragged him back. "Now, that's no way to treat a friend of yours back then. Didn't Gabriel teach you that?" He laughed. His words soon attracted the attention of a lot of people, including the American talking with Gabriel. "Being backed up by the Forbes doesn't make you untouchable, Edward." The American man said, drawing Edward's attention. "Actually, it does.
Three months later Carrie and Andrea sat on the roof of Ryker's house overlooking that buzzing city. Life had gone back to normal for them. Or at least for the moment. Gabriel had taken back his entire after Andrea refused to take over it just like before. Elaine also bailed out of being the head of the Forbes and the mafia boss. And so did Andrea. Hence, it fell on Carrie's shoulder. Carrie held up the jug of coffee in her hand and chuckled sheepishly, "I've always hated coffee, but for the last three months, it's been my very good friend." "It must be hard finally being at the top of the pyramid, isn't it?" Andrea grinned. "Hard isn't the word you should use. I think difficult and impossible should fit just right. At the rate at which my life is going, being the boss will soon become an impossible task for me. How did you deal with it when you were there?" Carrie breathed out in exasperation. "As a woman, it was hard. Marco dared me, a lot of men in the mafia also dared. All I
"What do you intend to get with all of these, Aindrea? I mean, with me, father and mother gone, you'll have no one on your side. That's going to be such a sad and pathetic life, don't you think?" Andrea tutted. "I've been living that pathetic life since the day I was born because my parents thought my younger sister was the cuter twin. So they did a lot of things for her." "You always talk about being the firstborn and everything. The responsibility of being the first born is to be self-sacrificing. You certainly do not have such quality." Andrea chuckled, her eyes almost losing. Aindrea smiled and squatted beside her, "Do you think I care?" "I know you don't, which is why I'm offering you the best thing that could ever happen to you; take as much money as possible and go far away from us. Start up a new life with your son and live the luxurious life you've always wanted. You can start up your own empire and in the future, we will act like we have no idea who we are to each other.
The Accardo's Manor Gabriel glanced towards Andrea's room where Aindrea now occupied as he heard the sound of so many things smashing and breaking. "Does anyone have any idea what's going on?" He asked no one in particular, but his workers who were in front of him shook their heads. Even those in the mafia who had come into the house on Gabriel's order had no idea. They couldn't go up to check up on Aindrea as she was now their boss. "She's obviously upset and breaking things." Damon said walking into the house. Gabriel tilted his head to look at him before taking his eyes away. He no longer had any control over who came into the house and who didn't. And since Damon was with Aindrea, there was nothing he could do about his appearance. "You don't look surprised to see me? You probably knew I wouldn't spend the rest of my life in jail, didn't you?" Damon hissed, inching closer to Gabriel. "If you're working for Aindrea, you're making the wrong choice. A very wrong choice which
Presley rushed to the station less than ten minutes later, but to her dismay, she found Carrie seated beside Luca as they drank sodas. Luca squirmed closer to Carrie when he saw Presley. He recognized her to be the woman who led him to the warehouse. Carrie takes another can of soda beside her and extends it towards Presley. "I think he recognizes you." "And I think you should return him to me." Presley responded, sitting beside her. Luca held onto Carrie even tighter when he heard Presley. "You're scaring Ryker's son and you're actually admitting to have kidnapped him. Are you, perhaps, tired of loving?" Carrie hissed. "I didn't kidnap him, I only took him in and kept him in a safe place for his parents." Presley corrected. "You took him in without the consent of his parents and have kept silent all these while despite being aware that's one of Andrea's realism for coming to New York, a city she vowed never to visit." Presley snorted, opening her can of soda. "I don't care a
The following morning, Carrie walked out of the ward's bathroom fully dressed to meet the doctor in charge of Cheryl inside the ward. Cheryl was still fast asleep."She seems a whole lot better now." Carrie was the first to comment. The doctor agreed with her as he nodded. Then he pushed the file in his hand towards her, "Her vitals are stable and we've monitored and checked her numerous times to see if she'd have any relapse in the future, but our system states she won't. However, we'll require her to come once a week for regular check-ups until we deem her fit to return back to her normal activities." "Okay, sure." Carrie mumbled, taking the file. He handed her a file and she took and signed on it. Afterwards, they were ready to leave the hospital. Carrie sat on a chair waiting for Cheryl to wake up. Cheryl woke up an hour later, prepared and they were ready to go. The ride back to Carrie's place was slow and silent as none of them wanted to talk about the events of the past few
One hour after Ryker left, two lawyers had been summoned; one for Gabriel and the other for Georgina.Georgina stood defiantly on the other side of the room, her eyes locked with Aindrea's. "I want what's rightfully mine," she insisted, her voice laced with anger. "I deserve half of everything Gabriel owns.""Georgina, you have to understand that Gabriel doesn't have anything anymore. He gave it all to me. There's nothing left to divide. Frankly speaking, since you're the richer spouse, you should be the one giving to my father." Aindrea tutted. Georgina's face twisted with disbelief. "How can that be? He was wealthy. I won't walk away empty-handed. I won't allow it!"Aindrea didn't expect Georgina to understand, so she could only nudge at the family's lawyer to draft out a divorce agreement which would favor both of them.The lawyer quietly began drafting the divorce agreement, carefully outlining the terms and conditions. The pen moved swiftly across the paper as he kept a blank fa
The Accardo's Manor Early that morning, Valerie heads out of the building to jog within the vicinity. Two hours later, she turns and jogs back. However, she is forced to stop when she sights a familiar figure standing in her way. Taking off her earpiece, she tuts silently and asks, "I didn't know you were out of jail. Did Gabriel release you?" "No, he didn't. Aindrea did. She even brought me to live here until I get an apartment." Damon responded, taking slow strides towards her. For each step he took, she took two steps backwards. Seeing this, he scoffed and stopped walking. "Why are you moving away from me? You don't think I'm going to hurt you, do you?""I heard people pick up bad behaviours in jail. I don't think we should continue our relationship. I think it's best if we both go our separate ways." She stated in a righteous voice. "Go our separate ways? Are you trying to abandon me now that I'm worth nothing?" He hissed and continued walking towards her. "Don't take it pe
The Forbes' Manor The next day Elaine walked down the stairs the next morning and straight to the dining room to see Andrea seated already and enjoying her breakfast. "I didn't know you were still around." "I'm not leaving until I find what I came for." Andrea stated, forking a pancake into her mouth. "Why do I have a feeling you're about to do something crazy? Maybe like, umm, snatch my empire from me?" Elaine chuckled, taking her seat opposite Andrea. "I have no business with your empire." Andrea thought she should clarify. "And you're not also upset that the more you hesitate to do what we talked about the other day, the more things you hold dear will keep getting snatched from you?" Elaine inquired, and raised her phone provocatively. She tapped a few things on it before sliding it over to Andrea. "Seen it?"Andrea dropped her fork and took up the phone. When she saw the heading of the news, she paused the video and slid it back to Elaine. "I watched the live broadcast.""
The Forbes' Manor Andrea slipped her phone out of her pocket when she felt it vibrate. It was a text message from Ryker. She read the words on it with a blank face before slipping back into her pocket. "You should respond to his messages." She heard Presley say behind her, but didn't turn to acknowledge her presence. "I'll talk with him when I've organized my thoughts." Andrea breathed out. Presley chuckled and walked towards her. She stood beside her and sighed. "You think you know Ryker Darius, don't you? What if I tell you there are a lot of things you don't know about him." "I'll believe you." Andrea replied almost immediately, catching Presley off guard. "Then you should know better than to believe any word that comes out of his mouth." Presley admonished, getting a grip on her emotions. "Thank you very much, aunt. I'll do well to keep that in mind." Andrea turned to her and smiled. "You're welcome." Presley nodded, returning the smile, "I also know you've been snooping