“Call to inform us once you land in Russia.” Elsie instructed, handling Cohen his traveling box. Cohen collected the box from her and pulled it to his side. “Okay. I will.” “And don’t forget everything I told you. My efforts on lecturing you mustn’t be a waste. Okay?” Elsie uttered.Cohen nodded, beaming. “Sure. How can I forget my teacher’s words?” He made a joke. “I put your word in my left palm because I won’t dare eat with it.”“Thank you, Elsie. You taught him how often he should call Anna and reassure her when he gets to Russia, right?” Charlotte inquired.“Hun!” Elsie toned. She instantly beamed and nodded. “Yes, I even warned him against getting closer to Patricia and to never let anything mutual happen between them.” Charlotte beamed, impressed. “I am proud of you, Elsie,” she said, looking at Elsie’s face. She faced Cohen and brightened her smile. “You must follow all her guidelines and listen to every word she says. Okay?”“Okay, ma.” Cohen bent his neck. “Let me be goi
Bastian drove into the company at a loftiest speed. He parked his car and rushed into the company in a hurry, staring at his wristwatch. He attended a meeting to represent Patricia while she would prepare for the traveling, hoping to return on time and take her to the hospital, but the meeting wasn’t successful, causing a delay though, he later left some issues unattended to, worried Patricia might miss her flight.Bastian abruptly opened Patricia’s office. “I am…” he said, but didn’t complete his words because Patricia wasn’t inside. He blinked his eyes and gently opened the door, widely. “Where did she go?” He wondered. He rounded his hands around his waist and as he veered around, Anna walked in.“Good morning, sir.” She greeted, bowing her head.“Morning,” he responded and immediately threw a question. “Where is the president?”“Hun!” Anna exclaimed.Bastian stared at her face, repeating her question. “She is already in the office today. I dropped her earlier.” “Yes. But have y
Ailee rushed into Patricia’s office and immediately as Bastian saw her, he ran to meet her.“I can’t reach Patricia…” he said, his body shaking in fear, with his concerned tone matching his worried expression.“What happened, sir?” Ailee inquired, adding, “I saw her left in a cab earlier.”“Yeah,” Anna intervened, and Ailee turned her gaze to her, hearing her explanation. “The cabman said Mr. Bastian ordered the cab because he might be late. He said Mr. Bastian sent him to pick the CEO so she won’t miss her flight.” Anna explained.“Did you see the cabman’s face? Can you recognize him?” Ailee interrogated.Anna nodded. “Yes,” she responded, adding, “the cabman met with me first and I was the one who informed the CEO that Mr. Bastian sent a cab to pick her up. The cab man didn’t discuss it with her directly.”“Then this is your fault. You shouldn’t have allowed her to go with the cab man without confirming it. That’s your job as her secretary,” Ailee reprimanded in a cool tone. “I am s
(FLASHBACK)Anna entered the office and slowly walked to meet Ailee. She arrived at Ailee’s front and stood on her feet, casting her face downward. Ailee looked up at Anna’s face. “What’s wrong?” She asked, but Anna didn’t give a response.Ailee stood on her feet and walked closer to Anna with a concerned expression. “What happened, Anna?”“I want to ask you for a favor,” Anna spoke out. She lifted her gaze and put her palms together, requesting, “please, can I close from work now? I have to go somewhere right now and it’s very urgent. Please.”“Anna, are you sure everything is okay? If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask. Asking for help isn’t a disturbance. I won’t complain.” Ailee persuaded in a calm tone, hoping Anna would confess to her.Anna tried to fill her lips with a bright beam. “I am fine, don’t worry.” She let out.“Okay, if you insist,” Ailee agreed. She sat on the chair and wore a serious look. “Where are you going?”Anna didn’t expect the question, causing a surprise
“We can’t just arrest her because of this. We need more evidence.” Bastian made a point. “Yes, but we can just interrogate her. That won’t make her feel bad.” Ailee suggested.Bastian couldn’t help but scoffed at her idea. “Interrogate her?” He uttered, amazed, and Ailee nodded, making him furthered. “It’s not as easy as you think. She won’t confess, even if she knows anything about it.”“I doubt you don’t even know how stressful it is for government officials to interrogate criminals about confessing their crimes.” He murmured.“Maybe we should-” Anna had another idea, but a call into Bastian’s phone interrupted her.“Who is this…” Bastian let out aggressively. He dug his hand into chest pocket and took out his phone. He looked at the phone screen and seeing an unknown caller, he shaped his mouth to the left, wondering, “who is this?”He accepted the call and immediately threw a question. “Who is this, please?”“Bastian, it’s me, Elsie. The-” Elsie introduced with the transparency o
Bastian drove into the police station. He parked his car and immediately as he got down, he heard someone calling his name from behind.“Bastian.”He glanced backward, and seeing Cohen also drove into the police station, he moved backward a bit and waited for him to get down.Cohen rushed down from the car and sped to meet Bastian.“You are here.” Bastian uttered in a low voice.“Ailee called and explained everything that happened,” Cohen said. His worried tone matched the concern on his face. “What have you found out? Any clue, please?”“We found nothing tangible yet,” Bastian answered, explaining, “we suspect her secretary, Anna, but since we can’t do anything to her, I come to the police station to report so they can invite her for an interrogation.”Cohen speedily nodded, agreeing, “that’s good. Let’s go in together.” He said.Bastian nodded in approval and without uttering a word, he veered around and walked into the station, and Cohen walked after him.Immediately as they stepped
“Ailee called the chief security earlier…” Bastian said, walking to Patricia’s office, glancing backward at Cohen. He arrived at the door front, and stopped talking immediately as he tried to open the door with his handle, but it didn’t.“Hun!” he exclaimed. He held the handle tighter and put in more efforts to open it, but it was to no avail. He took his hand off the handle and took a step backward, with his furrowed eyes fixed on the handle. “What happened?”“What’s wrong?” Cohen inquired.Bastian faced him, explaining. “The door. It’s not opening.”“Why?” Cohen uttered. He walked past Bastian and tried to open it, but he couldn’t. He tried continuously, putting more effort into every attempt, but the door still didn’t open.He took his hand off it and stepped backward, turning to face Bastian. “What could be wrong with it? Where are Ailee and Anna?” He threw a question.“I left Ailee in the office earlier and I bumped into Anna coming back to the office with the deputy chief securi
“Who sent you, Anna?” Cohen asked again and after a long stare into his face, Anna sluggishly shook her head, giving the same response. “Sir, no one sent me. I don’t know what you are talking about.” Anna let out.“Are you sure you don’t really know?” Cohen said. He scoffed and, as he opened his mouth to say another word, a call came into his phone. He stood on his feet and accepted the call.“Yes, ask a staff member to lead you to the president’s office.” Cohen informed. He hung up the call and reported. “It’s Mara. they are here already.”“Good,” Bastian nodded. He stared at Anna, saying, “you refused to grab your opportunity and the officers are here already. Seems you will go with them and discuss the rest at their station.”Anna grabbed Bastian’s leg. “Sir, you can’t let them take me away. I know nothing about it. Believe me, sir.” She said, with more tears flooding out of her eyes.Bastian bent over and gently took Anna’s hand off his leg. “If you know nothing about it, then you
To my dear readers,Thanks for embarking on the journey of my first novel. Your time, coins, gems, and comments mean a lot, and it's the reason I keep going until the end.While writing this book, some left comments to criticize my works and I appreciate them all. I will make use of them and put more effort into avoiding such mistakes (grammatical, word usage, and construction of the plot) in my next books. I am a new author and still finding my way and I promise to work harder and better to make every coin and time you spend on my works worth it.Cohen and Patricia's story ends here, but we will still meet them in the next books in the series.As planned, I want to continue to create the characters' universe for them because of the impact they make in this complete novel. I hope you will stay with me and keep giving your support.If things go as planned, we will have another five amazing journeys to embark on in this series and the next books to come are for:1. Ailee and Bastian.2.
-THREE MONTHS LATER-“What are you doing, Cohen?” Patricia challenged as Cohen slowly reversed the car. “Aren’t we going to pick the kid at the school anymore?”“We will.” Cohen answered as he drove into the other lane and headed toward their street.“Then why are you reversing? Why are you heading back home?” She questioned.“I forgot something at home.” Cohen informed.“What did you forget? Hun?” she asked, looking at him with a side of her eyes.“My phone.” Cohen responded.“Why must we go back to pick up your phone? It will take less than an hour to get back home. Can’t you just let’s go?” She queried.“I can’t because I am a business owner. I mustn’t stay away from my phone.” Cohen gave an excuse with his eyes fixed on the road ahead.“It’s the weekend, Cohen. No one will call you today. Stop giving excuses and let’s pick the kids. We shouldn’t keep them waiting for a long time.” Patricia said.“I’m not going because of business, but I need to pay fees before we can take the kids
Cohen discharged a deep breath as he walked out of the bathroom. He paused for a second and rounded his hands over his waist, forgetting what he wanted to do next at that moment.A thought passed through his mind and he wiped his right hand over his face with the left still on the waist.Patricia’s phone rang, and he walked to the cabinet on the bedside and picked it up. “Who could be?” He wondered with his eyes furrowed, confused, and before he could turn to the door, the call ended and a message came into her eyes.Since Patricia’s phone was always unlocked, Cohen saw the message’s content and his eyes enlarged as a surprised tone escaped his mouth. “Hun!”He bit his lower lip and after a few second thought, he reached a conclusion and instantly swiped the message to the left to delete it. He returned the phone to the bed cabinet and rushed out of the room.He arrived in the sitting room and saw his mother watching the TV while Elsie was packing their breakfast out of the kitchen an
“Who is here for me?” Anna threw a question at the security officer escorting her out of the room, showing no interest in meeting the person. The security officer opened the door for her and immediately as she sighted Patricia, she veered around.Patricia quickly stood on her feet. “Is that how to treat a guest?” She threw a question. “Shouldn’t you at least stay to hear why I am here? Your daughter, Rachel, don’t you have any message you want to pass to her?”Patricia’s words made Anna’s feet froze, and she halted for a minute before she slowly veered around and walked to the chair and sat down. “I have no message for Rachel. She doesn’t deserve a mother like me. I don’t worth to be called a mother,” she poured out. “Tell me why you are here. I don’t want to talk with you.”Patricia discharged a deep breath and sighed. She stared at Anna with a pity and despite having a lot of things in her mind, she couldn’t open her mouth to talk at the moment.Anna sighed. “Take your eyes away fro
Anna abruptly opened the door and banged in, panting. “Ma! Ma! Ma!” She shouted, running towards Patricia’s desk.Patricia was shocked, and she couldn’t utter a word. Instead, she widened her eyes and watched Anna arrived in front of her desk before she could pull a word out. “What happened?” She asked, the worried in her voice cooperating with the concern in her voice.Anna breathed heavily as she bent her back and placed her hands on her knees.“What happened?!” Patricia raised her voice. She was getting more scared by Anna’s reaction.Anna panted for another second before she raised her hand and stood straight on her feet. “It’s him…” she uttered, but couldn’t complete her statement.She pointed her thumb at her back, crossing it over her shoulder without looking backward. “It’s him…” she continued, struggling to complete her statement but couldn’t.“It’s who?” Patricia asked, with her lips already quivering. “Calm yourself and talk, Anna. What happened? It’s who? Please, talk. You’
Ailee walked into the office and stood in front of Bastian’s head. She bowed her head, holding a file in her hand. “Good morning, sir,” she greeted, but Bastian, whose head was placed on the desk, didn’t respond to her.“Good morning, sir,” she greeted again, but still no response.She furrowed her face. “What’s wrong with him?” She asked herself in a low voice. She observed him for a second and bent a bit to check if he was sleeping, but his eyes were wide open, making her guess he was just lost in thought.She elevated her shoulder a bit with her mouth shaped to the left a little. “What’s wrong with him?” She asked herself put the file on the desk and let out. “The president said I should give this to you.”She eyed her for another few minutes and turned around to leave, but as she took three steps forward, she halted because she was worried and couldn’t leave Bastian in that situation.“Gosh…” she uttered and discharged a soft breath and, without giving her decision a second thought
Patricia heard a knock on the floor, and she stopped pressing her laptop. She glanced at her wristwatch. “8:05 Am? Who could it be?” She wondered.She stared at the door and raised her voice so it could reach the person. “Come in.” She permitted and immediately continued pressing her laptop.“Good morning, ma.”She heard a familiar voice and instantly raised her gaze. “Cohen?!” she exclaimed with her eyes widened in disbelief, and she couldn’t say another word. Instead, she fixed her eyes on him and watched him stride closer.Cohen arrived in front of his desk and bowed his head. “Good morning, ma,” he greeted. He raised his head and crossed his hand behind him as he stared downward and slightly bent his neck to apologize. “I’m sorry I arrived late,”“I have to drop my mother at the hospital.” He exclaimed.“What are-” Patricia opened her mouth to talk, but Cohen interrupted her.“I’m sorry. I know that’s not an excuse. I shouldn’t involve family matters in business, but I have to sta
“Be careful…” Patricia cautioned Williams, who was already a few steps ahead of her out of the hospital and had been jumping around since the doctor said he was perfectly healthy now. There was no injection for him anymore.“Mom, please call Dad. This call for celebration. I am happy,” Williams let out. He stopped jumping, but couldn’t help pacing fast because he was so excited. He halted and glanced backward at his mother. “And don’t forget to invite Mr. Cohen as well. He needs to be there. I hope he is fine now and will have the strength to come.”“Sure, I will,” she agreed. She took a few steps closer to her and bent in his front. She passed the medicine nylon in her right hand to the left and placed it on Williams’s shoulder. “Williams, I know this won’t sound well with you or you won’t like it, but now that the truth is out and you know who Cohen is, you should change how you address him.”Williams furrowed his face as he raised his shoulder, stretching his hands beside him. “What
-Many weeks later-“Ma, it’s Mrs. Charlotte. She has been waiting for over two hours.” Anna proclaimed immediately as she entered the office. Patricia was working on a file, and Anna’s announcement made her halted. She raised her gaze and looked at Anna’s face. “Why did you keep her waiting?” She questioned. “You should have told her I was in a meeting.”“I did, but she insisted on staying, and Ailee told me to allow her. I even invited her to come into the office to wait for you, but she declined saying she doesn’t worth it.” Anna explained.Patricia sighed and closed the file on her desk. She stood and walked out of her seat, asking, “where is she now?”“At the third floor. She is waiting with others question,” Anna responded. Patricia had already walked to her side, and before she could add another word, Patricia increased her speed and already walked past her.Anna turned around and paced to Patricia with three steps between them. “You can stay. I will go call her.” She offered.