Millicent could literally feel Austin's gaze burning into her skin, but she just sat next to her father, keeping as far away from the Carnbys as possible while the other executives settled into the seats, ready to begin the meeting. Well, with the exception of one Carnby.
Isaac was sitting in the chair right in front of hers, on the other side of the huge conference table, still silent and his expression impossible to read, even with all the murderous looks his father was throwing in his direction. And, in a way, Millicent could almost understand how he must have been feeling at that moment, since the attention of all the other men there was on her.
“I don’t think I need to tell you why we are gathered here today.” Massimo started to speak and the tension in the room seemed to get even worse, if that was possible “Our partnership with the Carnbys involves
“Are you ready to leave?” At the sound of Sage's question, Millicent looked away from where her father was, still in the meeting room and surrounded by executives, even though the meeting was already over. All those old men, if questioned, would give the excuse that they were still there just to clarify any doubts about the details of the investment in the Isaac company. But the truth is that they all just wanted to watch from the sidelines Evan's desperate attempts to make Massimo go back on his decision. She had imagined that her plan would make the Carnbys angry, but Millicent had never imagined Austin's father would seem so... Desperate.Although the Carnbys were the kind of family for whom there was never too much money, it wasn't like the loss of that investment was going to starve them or anything.“I think Dad is going to be busy for a long time, in fact.” she sighed, following her bodyguard out of the meeting room “But even if he can't come back with us now, I'm not leaving.
“Are you even listening to yourself?!” Austin shot back, looking genuinely offended “Do you realize what you're saying to your own fiancé? The man who loved and cared for you every moment of the last four years?! There is nothing for you to forgive, because I did nothing wrong. But, you don’t seem to love me enough to even listen to me, even more to believe me…”“You really have the stomach to say something like that, even after I exposed you in the most incontrovertible way possible, don't you?” she stared at that disgusting man, barely able to believe that one day she had actually thought about building a life with him “Those facts were just an attempt to return all the humiliation you caused me. And, if you think that was the worst I'm capable of, then maybe you shouldn't test your luck.” she threatened, “Stay away from me and my
Millicent had heard her father mention he was going to ask that one of the empty offices in the building be given to Isaac, as he now had many reasons to frequent the Bianchi Group headquarters regularly. However, she didn't think he would be so quick to transform that place. Which was a funny thought to have because nothing in that room had changed much from the regular decor. However, there was something about how he had arranged his desk and dimmed the lights, making the entire room feel colder and more intimidating, that was simply the perfect fit with Isaac's personality.Even that smell of cologne and nicotine was already all over the air around.“Miss. Bianchi?” His voice reached her and, through his tone, she realized that it probably wasn't the first time he had called her.“Sorry. I&helli
After an entire day of holding her ground and acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, Millicent had to admit she was exhausted like she had rarely been in her life before. At least, she could console herself by saying that, despite that exhausting day of having to endure stares and murmurs wherever she went, her goals had all been completed. Austin and his father would have access to a much smaller amount of her family's money and she had changed absolutely every lock in her office, to ensure Austin wouldn't dare try anything clever when she wasn't around.The project he had stolen would be the last thing he would take from her.Massaging the back of her neck, Millicent finished locking her room, ready to just stop by the women's bathroom one last time, before telling Sage she was ready to go home. However, the cry of a voice she knew very well stopped her in her tracks, still hidden on the other side of the bathroom door. “Please, I’ve already been humiliated enough…
“Since I gave Austin this kind of understanding, I thought it would be fair to give you the same treatment.” Millicent said coldly, as she watched Jasmine slowly cup her own cheek, as if she was too in disbelief to believe what had happened.“You…” she caressed the mark Millicent’s fingers had left on her face, her expression turning from hurt to furious “How could you do this to me?!”“I've asked myself the same thing about you many times since I caught you sleeping with my fiancé on the trip we took to New York.” the same moment Millicent said that, Jasmine froze, almost as if she had pointed a gun in her direction “What? Are you wondering which day exactly I surprised you two together? There are certainly many possibilities, right?” she laughed sharply “Don’t worry too much about it. The things I heard at that time were enough. I didn't even have to ask myself for long why my boyfriend and one of my best friends would do something like that to me. It wasn't hard to realize you were
After that exhausting day, in which there seemed to be no energy left in a single cell in her body, Millicent just wanted to go home and get some rest. But apparently even that couldn't be easy.“Oh, fuck. Here we go again.” Sage growled the second they stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor and came face to face with Austin, standing there in the parking lot, looking like he truly believed that his one-man barricade would be enough to defeat all of her security team “I have permission to punch him and knock him out, so you can go to the car in peace?”"No. That would make him call the police on you and the last thing I want is for you to spend the night in jail.” Millicent sighed ruefully “Let’s just try to lose him, like we’ve done all day…”“Millie!” Austin screamed the moment he noticed her there and just the sound of his voice made Millicent stop for a moment and think about accepting Sage's proposal “Please, baby, wait! We can’t let the day end without us talking about
“What the…!” Isaac growled, causing his driver's face to appear over the back of the seat.“I’m sorry, sir. A cat appeared out of nowhere in the direction of the car and I had to brake to try not to hit it…”“A cat?” Millicent gasped “And is it okay?”“I… I don’t know…” the man swallowed hard “Nothing seemed to hit the car’s wheel, but…”“That’s fine…” Isaac huffed, irritated “Just make sure you pay more attention to the road next time…”“What? But… We should stop and check if the cat is okay.” Millicent interrupted him “If he was hit, he needs to be taken to a vet…”“We are close to where several roads meet. If it has run away, it will be impossible to find it.” he replied and, in his tone, Millicent heard no disdain or cruelty. Just… Practicality. However, she still shrugged her shoulders in annoyance.“Of course, you don’t have to worry about it. Thanks for the ride. I’m going to look for the kitten and I can go home in my own car, after that.” She said goodbye politely, but just a
A business group of the Bianchi's magnitude had meetings taking place and important decisions being made all the time, every day. However, Millicent was starting to realize that when it came to Isaac, people tended to overreact for some reason.“They seem pretty sure that Austin is going to lose his managerial post today.” Cassidy commented, as if she had read her mind, as the two watched the movement of all the employees in that sector who looked more like ants preparing for the entrance of their queen “I bet they just don't want to lose their seats to watch this from the box.”“I wish it were that easy, but the decision to choose Austin was made in conjunction with all the other investors and executives.” Millicent sighed “Even though Isaac is the main investor, he can't just go against everything and everyone without a plausible reason. Besides, there are already enough rumors spreading about why my father chose him.” “Are you talking about this shit about everyone thinking you guy
"What...? What did you just say?" Millicent gasped, but instead of answering her or at least appearing aware of the shocking words that had just come out of her mouth, Laura simply sighed and turned her back to her, beginning to walk away.“I knew I should have waited longer to talk about this with you…”"Mrs. Poulin! Wait!" Millie stuttered, starting to follow her around the room, needing to control herself to keep her voice low "Mrs. Poulin...! Laura! You can't just say something like that and leave...!""Stop making a fuss. I'm not leaving." Laura suddenly grabbed her wrist and only then did Millicent realize that they were now on a small balcony at one end of the party room, hidden from all the other guests. “I just don't want to talk about it in an environment where anyone could overhear and tell Emma.”“So… You… You really are…” Millicent had to hold her own head for a moment, feeling dizzy “But… How is it possible that Emma has a daughter and no one ever knew about it…?”“Becau
"And I think this will be enough for us to close the contract with the actors. What do you think, Ms. Bianchi...? Ms. Bianchi?"“Uh… Yes.” The sound of her name being called by one of Laura's friends forced Millicent to snap out of her thoughts and at least pretend she was paying attention to what they were saying "That's great. Please keep me posted."“Uh…Of course.” The woman exchanged a quick glance with Laura, as if she was doubting whether Millicent was the one they should be discussing these matters with "The casting coordinator is here somewhere. If you give me a moment, I can find him and bring him here. They have a lot more details on the matter than I do. If you'll excuse me."“Thank you.” Millicent smiled, trying to sound as focused and interested as possible, but obviously not enough to fool anyone. Not even that woman whose name Millie hadn't memorized, much less Laura.“If you can’t pay attention to what’s being said, then why did you come here today?” Laura questioned h
“So… Are we just going to leave him like that?” Isaac was still lying on the couch in the middle of his living room when that question, coming from Dominic, reached his ears. Not that it would have encouraged him to move, anyway. There didn't seem to be any strength within him to do that.“He brought this on himself.” Vincent snorted, dismissive "I warned him a long time ago what it mean involving the Bianchi girl in our plans. And, most importantly, I warned him about developing feelings for her. If he's now paying the price for not listening to me, then that's entirely his problem. Leave him there pretending to be a corpse, if that's what he wants."“You’re always a great help, old man.” Dominic snorted "I've told you this several times, but I'll say it again: just because you want to risk your life all the time in the mafia's sights doesn't mean we both have to do this too. Isaac has the right to want to have a wife, get married, have a family and all that. In case you don't rememb
There was an elephant in the room at Millicent’s house.And she was fully aware it was herself.“Give her some space, Massimo.” her mother murmured outside her room, but, as no one among the Bianchis was exactly silent, Millie could hear every word "She'll tell us what happened when she's ready. She's no longer a child who needs our help dealing with her own feelings.""And what do you expect me to do? For me to stand here, pretending like I didn't notice that she was hurt again?!" her father growled "Did you see how she acted after she came back from the office? She couldn't even look us in the eye without looking like she wanted to cry. And now this news that Sage Carpenter asked to step down as her bodyguard?! Something happened! And I'm sure it has something to do with Evan's oldest son! I knew I shouldn't have let him so close to her after we found out what his brother did! Now my daughter is heartbroken again and it's all the Carnby's fault…!”“Don’t make a hasty decision, love.”
“You’re not even going to try to answer me?” Millicent asked, when the silence in the room began to last too long. "Or are you buying time to think of a way to turn this situation around and convince me that everything is fine? After all, I'm very easy to fool, apparently." Her hands balled into fists, but she couldn't even recognize if what she was feeling at that moment was anger.“Millie…” he murmured and hearing him say her nickname like that, as if he really cared about her, as if somehow he was also suffering, only revolted her more."I asked..." she growled, her voice firm, even though she felt as if something was unraveling inside her chest "If that was your plan from the beginning. You made me think this was all my idea when, in fact, you had planned every detail so that I would have no one else to turn to other than you..." her hands started to shake slightly, but she refused to show it "I thought we were helping each other when I suggested that partnership, but... In the en
Austin's words left Millicent so shocked she just froze for a second. However, it was still enough time for him to take advantage of her hesitation to play the video, causing the man in the suit on the small screen to start moving.“Very well.” the recording of Austin’s voice said, out of camera range “Start talking.”“Uh… I'm not entirely sure about that, Mr. Carnby…” the man loosened his tie, clearly uncomfortable."I already told you. I'll pay double what he offered you that day. Triple if necessary. You accepted his money quite easily back then for breaking your security procedures, didn't you? Why hesitate now?"“It wasn’t that simple, either…!” the man seemed to try to argue, but, as he looked over the recording, probably where Austin was, he ended up shrinking, almost as if he was trying to conform "Alright... Five months ago, when the rooms and offices of our hotel were reserved by the Bianchi Group, I was responsible for putting together the best possible security arrangement.
"We know we look terrible, Millie. You don't have to stare at us like we're two abandoned dogs." Cassidy grumbled, rubbing the deep dark circles under her eyes, while Frankie just continued to sip her coffee as if she were drinking water."It's not that." Millicent lamented "It's just... You don't have to go through this. Let me talk to my father. I know I can get you out of Jasmine and Miles' hands...""You spent months thinking you'd lost your project, but you never thought about talking to your father. And now you want to do this just because we lost a few hours of sleep? That's so... You." Cassidy laughed, without much humor "Look, as much as I would love to change positions and have the freedom to tell that bitch to fuck off, Mr. Davis has already talked to me privately. The only thing that annoys me is it took him giving me pity to actually get me close to the promotion I always wanted. I've worked at this company since college, but Jasmine was more relevant than all the effort
Hello everyone!First of all, I would like to apologize for all these weeks of inactivity. I didn't mean to be away for so long. Thank you very much for all the support and kind words from all of you. My father is okay, but he still needs to do some tests to confirm or deny the doctors' suspicions of prostate cancer.These next few weeks will be quite turbulent for me, but honestly, I want to get through them doing what I love: writing. That's why Millie's story is back and, hopefully, this month we will finish it in the best way possible
“Isaac?” Millicent blinked and, unlikely as it was, he was there when she turned, looking as shocked as she felt to see him standing there in the middle of Evangeline Greco's small garden.“What are you doing here?” he asked again, his voice not only surprised but also alarmed and irritated.However, Millicent didn't need much to realize that, even though he was looking in her direction, strangely that question wasn't directed at her.The person next to Isaac looked young, although he was easily the size of three men. Isaac was already extremely tall, but somehow this stranger seemed built like a wall, even though he was Millicent's age at most. He had brown hair and even darker eyes, making it look like his pupils were just two empty spots on his face. It was quite intimidating, Millie had to admit, but at least it wasn't her that stranger was focused on.“Evangeline.” the man next to Isaac said, his voice hard and demanding “Why is there a Bianchi in the house?”“Because this is my