Carrie's Apartment"She didn't remember coming to Italy?" Kirby asked as she looked down at the sleeping Carrie. Andrea sat on a stool not far from the bed. She had both fingers interlocked which she rested her chin on. "How many times do I have to say it, Kirby?" She sighed weakly, getting onto her feet. She walked up to Carrie and stared at her peaceful face. The only person who hadn't lied to her was lying here unconscious. "Then how did you get her here?" Kirby chose to ask another question. However, the next second, her eyes caught sight of the chains used in binding Carrie's hands and feets. Andrea realized she had seen the chains and shrugged, "Don't blame me, she was really strong." "What did Anna say when she saw you backing her?" "She doesn't have to think anything other than the fact there's something wrong with her aunty." Andrea breathed out. Kirby asked nothing else. She reached out and held Carrie's lukewarm hand. Almost immediately, the door opened and Cheryl
Ryker stopped his car in the parking lot of a five-star hotel. He alighted from it, glanced behind him to see Hayden slighting from a black SUV. "Boss, I didn't make a reservation because I had no idea we were coming here. Wait in that car while I get you a room." Hayden said, trying to walk past Ryker. So I'll"No need." Ryker merely mumbled and walked ahead of Hayden. Hayden nodded and walked behind him, but the confusion in his eyes couldn't be erased.They walked into the hotel and straight to the receptionist. Hayden waited behind while Ryker said something to the receptionist. Soon, they were on their way towards the elevator. Hayden caught sight of a room key in his hand and concluded Ryker might've reserved a room beforehand. "Wait here." Ryker said, stopping before a room. Hayden nodded and stepped backward. As Ryker opened the door and stepped in, Hayden happened to catch sight of a feminine figure. He widened his eyes in shock as the thought of Ryker cheating on Andre
The Forbes' Manor, New York"Ms. Forbes, the board of directors are worried about the sudden change of company ownership which you've stated is bound to happen." A man's voice came from the laptop before Elaine. Elaine pinned her eyes on the four men on her screen. Her silence was so deafening that the man who had spoken last, crosschecked his words in his head. "There's nothing to worry about, gentlemen. My daughter is a skilled business man. It won't surprise me if the first thing she does once she takes over the company is to change investors." Elaine replied, flashing a toothy smile at them. A knock sounded on her office door before it was pushed open. Then Presley's face appeared. Elaine didn't look at her immediately. But after a few minutes, she took her eyes towards her. "Andrea is here." Presley mouthed. Elaine first froze before she reached out and turned off her computer, cutting off the men she was in an executive meeting with. "What do you mean Andrea is here? Gab
Carrie slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the remnants of sleep from it. As consciousness seeped in, she realized she was not alone. She quickly became vigilant, but before she could attack the person, she realized there was a big bandage on the latter's head. Cheryl also stirred and opened her eyes when she heard movements. "It's a good thing you're up. I was beginning to think you'll die in your sleep." Cheryl mumbled sarcastically. "Who are you and where's Kirby?" Carrie frowned. However, Cheryl only struggled to get up and grabbed a bag, then threw it towards Carrie. "Get changed, we're going to see a psychologist." "Psychologist? What for and what the hell are you? Are you with Andrea Accardo? Did you help her kidnap me?" Cheryl felt danger, so she turned towards Carrie again and warned, "You should be thanking us or you would've been dead by now." "I do not understand a word you're saying." Carrie finally admitted. "What do you remember, Carrie?" "I'm supposed to b
The Accardos Manor Gabriel was wheeled out of his room by one of his staffs that morning. He sat watching the early morning news while sipping his morning coffee when the door opened and Aindrea dragged a box into the living room. "The house didn't change one bit, daddy." She grinned, glancing around the house. The maids stared at her in surprise. Although this person looked a lot like Andrea, they couldn't help but notice the air of tenacity around her. "Don't be rude. Come help me with my bag." Aindrea beckoned onto one of the maids. The maid glanced towards Gabriel who had a stoic look on his face. "Where do I keep it?" "Andrea's room." Aindrea responded, her eyes pinned on her father. "We have other rooms, Aindrea. If you take over Andrea's room where would she stay once she's back?" Gabriel said his first word to her. Aindrea huffed and ignoring him, she ordered the maid, "Take everything belonging to Andrea down to the basement. She'll pick them up once she returns." "
The Accardo's Manor Gabriel, who was dressed in a midnight tuxedo, took away the phone in front of his face and glanced towards Aindrea who smiled at him. She walked towards him and turned off the camera, then said, "You've done one thing right. The other is to make me the chairman of your company." "If you take everything you'll leave Andrea with nothing. How will your sister survive?" Gabriel asked worriedly. Aindrea's grip on the phone tightened and so did her smile. "As the new head of this family, I'm telling you that is none of your business now. Just do what I say or I'll tell everyone how you got Ryker Darius to sleep with Andrea. Don't forget, she was nothing but an underage." The father and daughter fixed their eyes on each other for a long time before Aindrea turned and walked out of his sight. Valerie, who was in the room as well, quickly followed after her. "Sister!" She called out to Aindrea who didn't bother stopping. In the end, Valerie had to turn to her front
Matrix Empire Gabriel stood before the podium clad in his usual black tuxedo. There were cameramen and news reporters in the room as well. Behind him was Aindrea and a few shareholders. "Mr. Accardo, regarding the announcement you made the other day, a lot of people keep asking why you kept the existence of your daughter a secret. Why did you expose one of your daughters to the public, but kept the other hidden away?" A male reporter asked. Gabriel blinked his eyes twice before responding, "My first daughter didn't want to be exposed to the public so soon. So I let her have her way. However, now that she is ready to deal with all these things, I do not mind telling the public anything and everything they need to know about her." "That being said, Mr. Accardo, doesn't that mean you'll leave your second daughter, Andrea Accardo without anything to her name if you hand over everything you have to your first daughter?" Another reporter asked. Aindrea's eyes quickly moved to the lou
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
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