In a coffee shop"So, I was able to gather some data on who might've attacked your father." Cheryl said as she took out a black envelope. Then she handed it over to Andrea. Andrea raised a brow and took it. Flipping it open, her eyes quickly rummaged through it. "Elaborate." She said after a moment of silence. "Your father was attacked by a group called Dark Knights. They're a small criminal organization who usually keep to themselves." "So they were hired to assassinate?" Andrea asked. Seeing Cheryl nod, she added, "But I've never heard of them before. How long have they been in existence?" "As I said, they are a small organization who keep to themselves. And they've been in existence for more than five years. They don't do business with just anybody and only a few even know how to identify them, which is that symbol there." Cheryl retorted, pointing to the opened file. "I see." "So my conclusion is; someone close to them asked them to kill your father because they don't take
"Is there something I am missing, Davis?" Andrea broke the silence in the car. Davis who had been hoping she wouldn't ask, almost stepped on the brakes in fright. He met her eyes through the rearview mirror and quickly took down his eyes in fright. "What? Of course not." Davis replied in a stoic voice. Andrea tilted her head outside the car's window and went silent. "Stop the car." Davis immediately found somewhere to park and killed the car's engine. The silence in the car was once again broken by Andrea who took up her phone, "Do you remember the 14-year-old who got molested by Reuben Mark?" "Yes, I do." "Do you know she's dead?" She asked again and Davis' eyes immediately went to her. Recalling the way she looked that day, he had a bad feeling regarding her involvement with Reuben Mark. "I had no idea I was supposed to keep tabs on her. I'm sorry." He muttered. Andrea chuckled and glanced up at him, "There's no need to keep things away from me or be wary of me since I'm n
Seeing Carrie's apartment door open, Andrea got up, but stopped seeing a lady walk out. Before she walked away, she kissed Carrie on the lips. Feeling someone's eyes on her, Carrie turned towards Andrea's direction and the corner of her lip spasmed. "I didn't think you'd be the female type. I guess it's true looks can be really deceiving." Andrea chuckled as she walked into the house. "It's a little creepy to see you outside my house when I don't remember telling you where I live." Carrie said instead, glancing around before closing the door. "You don't need to tell me, Carrie. That's why I have people like Davis and Cheryl." Andrea uttered, walking towards the vending machine. Andrea was surprised when Davis told her about Carrie's apartment. The room wasn't bad, but her old self would never step foot in it no matter what. "I expected a penthouse or a house in the beach with a tall, muscular man." Andrea mumbeld looking around the room. "I must confess, your choices leaves me b
Kirby squinted as the bag on her head was lifted off. She had to keep her eyes closed for a couple of minutes before she slowly opened them. The room she was in was bare of any furniture other than the chair she sat on and her handbag which was right beside the chair. She looked haggard and disheveled from her lack of rest, with bags under her eyes, unkempt hair, and wrinkled clothing. Her glowing white skin had also gone pale and clammy, and her eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. "How could you sleep comfortably for eleven hours?" A disgruntled voice asked from the side.Kirby's pupils quickly dilated in fear as the memory of what happened flooded back into her memory. She had tried to leave the car after her name was called, but only saw darkness. So, she was knocked unconscious by this…person? "You do know kidnapping and abusing an officer is a crime on its own, don't you?" Kirby asked. The person in front of her chuckled and stepped forward. Then she took off her mask and
Andrea sucked in a deep breath when she heard him. She hadn't been sworn in officially as consigliera, but few people knew she had consented. And this stranger who she has bever met or heard of before also knows? "I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is Miss Accardo's first attempt of working in a law firm or as someone's attorney." Jeremiah buttered in when he realized the situation had taken a turn for the worse. The boss seemed to realize he didn't know who Jeremiah was as he turned to his assistant, "Who is he?" "Jeremiah Webber. He's one of the good attorneys here and Miss Accardo interned under him." The assistant replied. "How is he a good attorney when the intern under him wishes to leave a week after coming to the firm? He's incompetent." The boss scoffed and stood up. "Fire him." "Submit your resignation letter at the front desk. I'll find you somewhere else to work in." The assistant told Jeremiah before walking out of the conference room. The four elderly attorneys in th
The Meyer's Manor "Because of your stupid idea, not only did I lose three hundred million dollars, I also lost my dignity!" Isaac yelled at his younger brother. The only thing stopping him from throwing things at Ryan was the fact Evelyn was in their midst. Judith had returned back as soon as the engagement party didn't work. Hence, only Asher, Nicholas, Ryan, Isaac and Evelyn were in the living room. As usual, Adrian was out of the house. But even if he wasn't, he wouldn't bother to show his face since his grandmother was upset with him getting caught on camera for assaulting Damon. "Uncle isn't to blame, father." Asher butted in when Ryan refused to say a word in defense. Ignoring the murderous gaze Isaac gave him, he continued, "We're way past the age where children had no right to interfere in an arranged marriage. Andrea spoke her mind. It's our fault for not getting her opinion on the matter." "Gabriel Accardo gave his word that his daughter would marry one of my grandsons
The next morning Andrea walked out of her room only to come face-to-face with Gabriel. "I heard you were quite shaken by the incident that day. I'm glad you're up and about." She smiled, but the man took two steps closer to her and gripped her jaw tightly. She had no choice but to wince painfully, "That isn't how you treat your daughter, the mother of your granddaughter." "My daughter and the mother of my granddaughter sure lack manners for not paying her father a visit despite the critical condition she thought he was in." Gabriel scoffed. Andrea furrowed her brows slightly and took off his hand. Then she scoffed, "You cunning old fox! This is child abuse." "You neglected your aged father, even the law would punish you." The man retorted. Andrea gave up. She'd let him win just this time. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be in your fiancé's house?" Gabriel asked as they walked to the dining room. "Sounds like you're indirectly asking me to stay away from your house." "It's my
Carrie's ApartmentCarrie walked out of the bathroom drying her hair. Kirby sat in front of her study desk going through some things when Carrie passed by and caught sight of a Reuben's name. "Reuben Mark. Isn't that the business tycoon who was found dead in his penthouse yesterday?" Carrie asked and Kirby nodded. "Yes. I'm surprised you know him." Kirby chuckled. If one looked closely, they'd notice she clenched the pen in her hand so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "You care about stuffs like them, so I try my best to get the first, undistorted news. It makes you happy whenever you solve a case and your happiness means everything to me." Carrie smiled, walking towards Kirby. Her eyes quickly swept through the words on the numerous files. "One of my sources say he got involved with the mafia. Heard he messed with one of their own so they came for him. I mean how else do you describe a bullet in the skull?" Carrie mumbled, supposedly sucking in a deep breath. There w
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