“If you want a drink or anything to eat, find it in the kitchen. You should have called me before you came because this is a wrong time. I have to get to spa. My man is arriving today so I guess you know why I have to go there.”“Why do you have to go there, mommy?” Amy asked.“Yes, why? Hailey.” I asked, raising an eyebrow.My sister rolled her eyes and walked into the bedroom.“Mommy doesn’t like to answer my questions,” Amy said. “I don’t know why. Do you think she hates me?”I pulled her closer. “Oh no, of course not. Some questions require answers that children may not understand so it becomes hard to answer.”“My teacher explains something when I don’t understand.”“Well darling, teachers are trained on how to deal with children. They know better that the rest of us. Don’t worry about it. What are you watching?”I could not tell the child that her mother was a b!tch who only cared about herself. It seemed losing one child had not taught her to treasure life with the living one.
“Lilith Hellman.”I turned to see the owner of the voice that had just said my name. He was a black man of average height and great looks. He was smiling heartily while holding a margarita on his hand.“Hi,” I said. “Who are you?”“Kyle Munther,” he said. “I’ve been watching you since morning. Okay, that came out wrong. I’m not a stalker. I work as a lifeguard here and just finished my shift. Been seeing you move from one activity to another, as if you can’t find one that matches your mood.”Well, he was right about that. My mind was all over the place, and I couldn’t find anything to make me happy.“How do you know my name?” I asked. “I don’t think lifeguards are provided with the names of every person who comes to this beach.”“I got to know you from twitter. You’re that reporter who wrote about Jake Rylland. I worked part time in one of his hotels so I kind of keep up. I liked the man.”“Of course you did. So why are you talking to me? I know you must have read what The Blue Paper
“Why are you so inefficient?” I yelled at Jenny throwing the files she had just submitted at her. She backed away and let them fall to the ground, enraging me. “Pick them up.”She knelt down and started gathering the papers that had scattered all over the room. “Why are you so fvcking slow?”Annoyed, I stood up and strode out of the room. The employees at the outer offices quickly turned away but I could tell they had been staring at my office with alert ears trying to capture what was said.“Get back to work,” I yelled at them. The room immediately fell silent which annoyed me more so I decided to leave and go home where there were no annoying people. I could be alone. That stupid woman was at it again.I thought I had managed to shut her up for good, but she was like an annoying fly, kept coming back even though it was clear it wasn’t wanted. This woman was making me feel so incompetent I felt like going to kill her with my two hands. Not many had been able to resist my orders in t
Things were going better than I thought. My blog had blown up within a few hours of uploading the first post. People have become extremely greedy for drama and gossip on social media. A lot of people talk about how much they hate drama but when it happens, they eat it all up. For a lot of people, their most regular source of drama is social media and television. Everything concerning the rich and famous is fascinating and everyone is interested in having their opinions of them seen. Everyone judges the rich and famous, even people who are doing worse things.My case was no different because it involved a man who was rich and famous. There were those who believed me, and more who thought I was a loser trying to profit off Jake’s name. At that point, I was almost inclined to believe them as I didn’t know what to think anymore. It was like I was becoming obsessed with Jake Rylland. I thought of him when I woke up, during all my waking hours, and when I went to sleep. The only thing lef
I watched with a smile as Lilith walked out of the bar. Johnny had been right. She wasn’t half as bad as I thought. She was actually really great company. If I had enjoyed her company when she hated me, how it be if she liked me. I realised that bastard Johnny had enjoyed his time with her. It was probably why he felt so guilty for betraying her.“You’re smiling.”“Shut up, Cory.”After Lilith was gone, Cory reminded the actors to honour the agreement they had signed and released them. “You seemed to enjoy your time with that woman,” Cory said when everyone was gone. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re in love.”What was with everybody making me laugh by saying the most ridiculous things that day? First Lilith, and now my own head of security. “Why would you think so?” I was curious.“You seemed really happy around her. In fact, now you are in the best mood you’ve been in since the week began. You say you hate her, but I didn’t see any sign of hate when you two were convers
“Amy has been kidnapped,” my sister said.I chuckled. “Is that your latest trick to get me come so you can beat me up?” I asked, switching the phone to another ear then stirring the soup I was preparing. It was smelling so good I couldn’t wait to finally sit down and eat.“I can’t joke about something like this,” she said. I paused. Maybe she was serious.“What happened?” “We’d just left the mall, and I was putting stuff in the trunk of the car. When I turned she was gone. We even saw the CCTV footage, and it showed a young woman placing her hand on Amy’s mouth and carrying her to a black car. I have never seen her before. I hope you’re not the one who has her.”“Come on. That’s ridiculous and you know it.”“I never thought you could ever rob me but you did. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were trying to get revenge on me for making you go through all that. What more money do you want?”I sighed. “I’m coming over.”“Whatever,” she said and hang up.Quickly serving my food to the plate
“How much did Jake Rylland pay you to do his dirty work?”The woman laughed, leaned down and slapped me. Sharp pain assaulted me and I was almost certain the marks of her long fingers were visible on my face. My eyes narrowed as I stared up at her. She was smiling and shaking her head slightly. “Don’t be disrespectful.”The woman walked to the end of the room, picked up a chair and came to sit in front of me. “We can now talk.”Amy was still crying so I turned to her. “Don’t worry, Amy. We shall get out of here soon.”“That lady-.”“Shut up, little girl.” The woman yelled at her.“She’s just a little girl. Why did you have to involve her in this? I’m the only person you should be punishing.”“My son has tried to punish you, but that hasn’t worked so far.”I knew I’d seen her before. I remembered scrolling through Jake’s family photos and seeing her face. “So he called you to come and help. Had no idea he was such a mama’s boy. Where have you been through? I stalked him for a while but
After my unexpected meeting with Kyle, I gathered the courage to return home, lock the doors and turned on my phone. It had not been a minute when it started ringing.Hailey.My finger hovered on the phone before I answered.“I’m so sorry, Hailey.” I began before she could say anything. “How dare you not face me after everything you did? I swear if you don’t come here right now and explain yourself, I’m going to call the police. I don’t care if you’re my sister. You nearly got my daughter killed.”Not the police. If I involved the police, it would be me going to jail, and not Jake and his mother who truly deserved to be there. “Please Hailey, do not call the police. I will do whatever you want me to do, just don’t do it.”“Well come here right now and tell me why the hell you had my little girl kidnapped and pretended to care about me. I don’t understand how and when you became such a psycho.”Grabbing my purse, I headed to the door and opened it. My eyes went wide when my sister ba
LillyIt was a beautiful, sunny afternoon in the pack. The birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming and we were was strolling along the winding path. Jake and I were enjoying the serene ambience and talking about the future. We approached a fountain and I stopped walking to observe it.Suddenly, Jake dropped to one knee.I gasped.“Lilly,” he said, looking up at me, “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. You make me happier than I ever thought possible and I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without you. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”My eyes welled up in tears and I took his hand, helping him to his feet.“Yes, yes. I will marry you.”He slipped the exquisite ring on my finger.“I promise to always love and cherish you, and to make you the happiest woman in the world,” he said, kissing me softly on the lips. We then embraced before devouring each other’s lips. It was only after we pulled apart for air that I saw a photographer and my friends a
Lilly.I nervously clutched my bad as I walked through the white corridors of the station. I was led to a small, windowless room. I sat down at a table and waited, my heart pounding in my chest. After a few minutes, Jake was escorted in by a guard. He looked tired and pale but still fairly good.“Hey,” I said, trying to sound casual.“Hey,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.We sat in silence for a while.“I didn’t do it,” he finally said. “I could never do that to my own mother. She was driving me crazy but not once did I think of killing her.”“I’m sorry about what happened.”“Do you believe me?”“I don’t know. I find it hard to believe most of the things you say.”“I’ve never lied to you.”“You said you loved me.”“I love you. I never stopped.”“But when we broke up, you ran off with another woman. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. I just wanted to… I don’t even know why I’m here. Whether you killed your mother or not is not my business.”“I did not kill her. I’m many things
Lilly.“Johnny Knightley,” I said. Leah was watching me in silence as she ate an apple. “That’s the man who fooled me. He made me fall in love with him and ruined my life.”“Are you surprised? He’s Jake’s best friends. Birds of the same feather blah blah blah.”“How did I not know about him all that time I was doing my research? I get that he was away in some small town but I’m really surprised that his name did come up.”“He has a nice name, actually, better than Ian.”“That’s not helping.”“I pity that beautiful girl. Imagine falling in love with such a person.”“Well, maybe she’s as stupid as I am. I mean, I fell in love with the one who started the plot. Johnny was just helping his friend out, but Jake created the idea.”Seeing Jake and Johnny so happy had opened the wounds that had been just about to heal. When I saw them, I felt so much pain that I couldn’t stop myself from lashing out even though I knew my boss was right outside. I had thought Athena would be mad when she found
Jake.Although my father and I lived in the same city, we never spent a lot of time together. We did not have a lot in common. He was not very business savvy and had little interest in running the family business which was why he couldn’t wait for me to become old enough to handle everything. As soon as I took over, he decided to move to a quiet area in New Jersey and continue with his scientific research. I liked to think of him as a mad scientist. One of the reasons I didn’t like being around him was that he was always talking about science. After separating from my mother, he met some science teacher of his age and they started living together. They were both crazy about science since they even had a lab at home. Since my mother was driving me crazy, I had decided to go and see him because he was the only one who could understand what I was going through. He was the man who had married the devil, so he had idea what being a son of the devil was like. “I don’t understand why you
Jake.Johnny had been right. The sandy haired woman with wide and sharp eyes was quite the looker. The photo I had seen before did not do justice to her in a way. She was way more beautiful and warm in person, especially when wearing a casual red dress and heels. Her hair fell down the sides of her face in beautiful curls and her smile could melt the coldest heart. Had I met her first, I would have totally taken her.But Katarina Hayes belonged to my friend Johnny Knightley. Johnny and his beautiful girlfriend had decided to come to New York for a vacation. He also wanted to show her everything the big apple had to offer. As his best friend, I was one of those things. I was happy because they had come at a right time when I really needed a friend. Everything was driving me up the wall. Now that my best friend was back, I was starting to feel better.“So Katarina, do you see yourself living her or do you like your town better?” I asked. Katarina smiled. “That’s a hard one. I like my
Jake Some years back, I arrived at my first ever apartment, not far from the University of New York where I was to study. A lot of my high school friends had joined the same university and I had lived in New York my whole life so it was not a big change. It was like being home away from home. The only difference was that I was nineteen and had a kind of freedom that my parents had never allowed me before. I could do whatever I wanted.At Castle apartment building, I met James Milner. James Milner was your typical jock. He looked like those thirty something year old men who play teens in movies and series. He had a muscled body, pretty face and was the quarterback of the football team. My family was rich, but James’ family was crazy rich. While we were of new money, he came from old money. The riches had been in his family for generations and generations. James did not have to work for anything. James was in his last year of college, older than me but he took me under his wing. We qu
Lilly.“I think someone is stalking me,” I told Leah a week later. I had just sat down at the diner where she had been waiting for me after leaving work early. Walking from the office to the diner, I had felt that someone was watching me. Even in the morning when I arrived at work, I had felt it. I called the officer in charge of Kyle’s case and he confirmed that Kyle was still behind bars. “Are you serious?” She asked before closing the book she had been reading and placing it on top of the table. I glanced at it before turning back to her.“Yeah.”“Are you sure you’re not worrying too much about Kyle?” she inquired. “Maybe it’s the stress making you hear things.”I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’m very sure that someone is following me.”“Who do you think it could be? Kyle’s still in jail, right?”“Yeah.”“Maybe Mrs. Rylland is having you followed. Maybe she found out about your little tryst with Jake.”I looked around the diner. None of the people inside it looked suspicious.
Ashley’s POVOf course I was not pregnant. I had made some stupid decisions in my life, but I was not that stupid. I only lied to Jake out of boredom, to see what he would say. I needed an excuse to see him and possibly seduce him. Since I had slept with almost everyone in my circle, I needed fresh meat.The door opened and Richard Eyck walked in. He was a 60 year old real estate billionaire I had been in and off and on relationship with for some time. What I liked most about him was that he never cared how much of his money I spent, as long as I gave him what he wanted. The best thing was that he always finished so fast.“Hey baby,” he said.I faked a smile. In the past, age had never really mattered to me but after being with young and energetic Jake Rylland, older men did not seem fun anymore. I wanted someone like Jake. I wanted Jake.There were a lot of men who looked like Jake, and had the kind of money he did. Most of them were total jerks. But Jake was different. Sure, he coul
Lilly.He looked so peaceful as he slept. He was perfect even in the morning when I looked like a ghost with a birds nest for hair. Jake, on the other hand, looked like an angel. But, he was far from it, and I had been full to let him in despite knowing that. He was the second worst male devil I knew, first being Kyle.I kept making the same stupid mistakes. But, I was done. No more. Reaching out, I shook Jake awake. He opened his eyes, and smiled when he saw me. “Good morning, baby.”“You need to leave now, Jake.”He frowned, sitting up. “What’s wrong?”“Just go. I can’t do this. I can’t pretend that everything is okay after what you did.”A few minutes after we broke up, he had gone off to Catalina Island with a woman that wasn’t me. If Jake thought I could act like that never happened, it meant he thought I was a total idiot. I was tired of being a fool for a man. “There are so many things I need to tell you. I can explain everything.”I shook my head, not wanting to hear it. “Ja