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
"How do you know Reid Dahmer?" Carrie frowned, picking up the card. She recognized the private number because she had it as well. Andrea extended her hand and snatched the card. "I ran into him somewhere. Do you know him?" "Not really." Carrie shook her head. "Are you sure? I know his family is in the mafia." Andrea muttered, starting the car. Carrie sighed, "The Dahmers and the Forbes were very good friends back then. They had a big fight with something some time ago, so they split. They can't even bear the sight of seeing each other." "I see." "Yes. Now tell me the proper story of how you ran into him because Reid isn't someone you can see in just any convenience store. That's if he goes to any. But that's not the point." Carrie soliloquized. "Now that I think of it, doesn't the R.D in R.D Law Firm stand for Reid Dahmer?" Andrea asked in amusement. "They were actually rumors of that, but no one really confirmed it." "And yet you interned in an enemy's firm. Weren't you sca
"Thank you for coming to see me." Andrea muttered, forcing out a smile. Reid stared at her without a word. However, he filled her cup with red whine. "I came here to see if we can work on your contract." Reid said, dropping the bottle of wine on the table. "Are you trying to recruit me because I work for Ryker Darius or because I'm Gabriel Accardo's daughter?" Andrea chuckled lightly. "Both." "Then there's a possibility you might ignore me once I'm in your firm. How about we strike another deal?" Andrea suggested, interlocking her hands together. "What do you have to offer?" Reid asked, propping up his head. Andrea took out her phone and swiped through it for a while. Then she stopped and handed it over to him. Reid took the phone and stared at its screen for a long time. "This looks like you're threatening me." "I'm glad you don't think I'm threatening you." Andrea uttered, "But I'm not the only one with that document. I know a couple of my friends who have them as well. Who
Andrea returned to Ryker's manor where the man kept his eyes on her at all times. They also got closer during the next few weeks. Ryker walked into Andrea's room with a tray filled with breakfast just like he had been doing for the past few weeks when Andrea's phone on her desk rang. Because she was having her bath, Ryker had no choice but to see who it was after the person called for three consecutive times. "Miss Accardo?" A man's voice called from the other end and Ryker frowned."This is her fiancé, Ryker Darius." The latter went silent, but said after a few seconds, "Mr. Accardo was admitted to the hospital this morning and I was hoping to have a talk with his doctor." "Gabriel has a family doctor. And I know him." Ryker stated in a suspicious tone. "I'm the family's doctor assistant, Joshua Spears. Dr. Zayn can't be reached at the moment, so I took it upon myself to admit Mr. Accardo. But I need Miss Accardo's consent to do anything." The door to the bathroom opened and A
"Help me run tests on this." Andrea said, dropping something in front of Cheryl. Cheryl picked it and slipped into her pocket. "I heard about your dad." "That was just yesterday. How did it spread out so fast?" "When was the last time you had a talk with your father's workers? Most times when you let them be for a long time, they seem to forget the ethics of their work." Cheryl reminded. The café shop's door opened and Cheryl saw Carrie walk in. "Did you tell her about Valerie?" "Nope, she figured it out on her own. Being smart runs deep in our blood." Andrea replied in a smug tone. Cheryl scoffed and looked away. "If I knew she was going to be here, I would've rescheduled our meeting." Carrie complained as soon as she got to their table. "Don't act like I want to be here. If Andrea hadn't insisted I would be out of here." Cheryl hissed. "Even my daughter doesn't bicker this much with her agemates. Why are you two trying to annoy me?" Andrea asked, rubbing her forehead slight
Andrea stared at the body in front of her, then at Carrie and Cheryl who both had Ice bags pressed to their head. "You mean the both of you visiting a boxing arena and stayed up until 2am so you could steal this body?" Andrea summarised what they had told her in a question and they nodded. She scratched her jaw a little and grimaced, "I had no idea you were still planning to steal this body." "I even went as far as letting that disgusting thing touch my hand. Do you... What do you mean by you had no idea I was still planning to steal the body?" Cheryl asked, taking the ice bag away from her forehead. Andrea parted her lips three times but no words came out of it. In the end, she sat down and held her head with both hands. "When I returned back to the manor, my father called and asked me to come over. In summary, because of his situation, they are things he can't do. And that includes running his empire. So he left in charge." Andrea said, peeking at them through her fingers. "Yo
"I can get him killed if you want." Ryker suggested as he watched her go through the news covering for the evening. "He's an annoying soul and I hate him as well, but his death will only imply he was right about my father." Andrea refused without looking at him. "We can just get rid of him quietly." Ryker mumbled. This time, Andrea turned her attention to him. "Well, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf." "You're trying over a new leaf after being made the heir to an enormous empire? You have no idea how many idiots you'll have the urge to kill." He chuckled. "I'm glad you said I'll have the urge to kill. I can just stab a pillow and claim it's them." Andrea laughed. Her phone vibrated and she took it up to see it was Anna. The chatterbox had been calling for hours but Andrea hadn't been opportuned to answer her phone. "She's been asking to speak with you. It's a relief you're finally here." Andrea sighed in exasperation and walked towards Ryker. Then she answered the phone. Ann
"I've been trying to reach you." Carrie said as soon as she saw Kirby walk into the house. "I'm fine." Kirby replied, without looking at her. Her attitude was a little code and one Carrie hadn't seen in a long time. Instantly, she knew there was something amiss. Carrie walked up to her while she was taking off her clothes and placed her head on her shoulder, "You seem upset." Kirby breathed out slowly. She said nothing as she took her time to fold her clothes once again. "Maybe I can help with something if you tell me." Carrie didn't give up. "It's nothing to be worried about, Carrie." Kirby breathed out, dropping the folded clothes into the wardrobe. Then she turned to look at Carrie. Carrie straightened again and slipped one hand into her pocket while the other brushed the hair off Kirby's face. "Your face doesn't look like it's nothing. Is it because of a case? A new mission you've been assigned to?" Carrie inquired. Kirby thinned her lips as she gazed at the diamond gold
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