“How am I supposed to just take your word for it and believe that she’s just your friend, hmm?” I asked, already tired of arguing with him. “You need to believe it because I’m telling you the truth, what would I gain from lying to you?” He said in a soft voice, sounding like he was tired of the whole back and forth. “Amanda, I would never lie to you.”I hesitated, my walls slowly crumbling under his steady gaze. “You really mean that?”He stepped even closer, his hands gently resting on my arms. “I mean it. Cloris and I are just friends. Whatever she’s feeling- that’s on her, not me. And I’m sure she doesn’t have any for me.”I wanted to believe him. I needed to believe him. But the lingering doubt in my heart refused to be silenced.“And what if she tries something?” I asked, my voice barely audible. “Then I’ll make sure I deal with it and put an end to anything that has to do with her,” he replied me, his tone firm and leaving no room for argument. “But, I need you to trust me jus
The next morning, it was the sound of my phone ringing where I had thrown it in the bed that woke me up. With sleepy eyes, I searched for me phone before rubbing them gently to see who it was that was calling that early. Immediately I saw that it was Damien, my heart started beating faster and I wondered what exactly it was that he wanted from me. “Good morning, Amanda,” he greeted, his voice smooth, instantly pushing away every single sleep that was left in my body like a potent cup of coffee. “Good morning, sir,” I replied, making sure to emphasize on the ‘sir’ and trying to keep my voice neutral. I was excited that he was finally calling outside of work for the first time in a while, well not that long because we only had that argument about a week ago. “I’ll be needing you to act as my personal assistant for today,” he announced, not wasting any time. “Juliet has other matters to attend to for me at a different branch and because you know the drill and everything the role ent
The meeting was uneventful, but the tension in my chest didn’t ease. Every glance, every touch between Damien and Cloris felt like a dagger while I was also trying my best to make sure I paid enough attention so I could jot down the important details of the meeting.After the meeting, Damien shook hands with them and Cloris was still beside him like she was stuck to him or something. We finalized everything she went back to the car, in the journey to the next location, the dynamic remained the same. Cloris dominated the conversation, recounting stories from their past while Damien indulged her with smiles and laughter.“Amanda,” Cloris said suddenly, her tone sharp. “Could you pass me my bag? It’s right behind your seat.”I turned, grabbed her designer bag, and handed it to her without a word.“Thank you, at least you’re good for something,” she said with a fake smile in her face. I looked at Damien, expecting him to say something or even defend me but instead he remained quiet she a
“What about you, ma’am?” He asked, his voice filled with concern. I swallowed the knot that had formed in my throat and faked a smile. “The steak, please. Medium rare.”“Very good,” the waiter said before retreating.As soon as he left, Cloris turned her attention back to Damien, her voice lowering to an intimate tone that made me want to scream. I tried to focus on anything other than the two people in front of me, I looked around the restaurant, taking in the beauty of the place and gentle discussions from people eating around us. But, trying to focus on something else was futile because the sound of Cloris’ laughter pulled me back to them. Damien had probably said something and even though it wasn’t funny, she made sure to always laugh at his words. It was annoying. “So, Damien, do you remember that time we were in that small café in the Marais district? The one with the tiny tables and the terrible coffee?”Damien chuckled. “How could I forget? You complained about that coffee
After going to bed with a nagging headache, I woke up the next morning with a strange heaviness in my heart but I wasn’t going to allow it ruin my day. After everything that had happened the day before, I had made up my mind to focus on getting my mission done and also stop getting bothered by whatever Damien and Cloris did, because our relationship was private and it didn’t matter what he did in public. Their relationship, whatever it was, was their business. Not mine.I repeated that mantra to myself as I got dressed for work, pulling on my favorite blazer and neatly combing my hair into a low bun. Today wasn’t about Damien. Today was about me. My job, my goals, and my peace of mind. If Damien wanted Cloris, fine. That was his choice. But I wasn’t going to lose my mind or keeping feeling hurt because of him, I knew what I was getting into. I let out a small sigh before grabbing my bag, walking out of my apartment and headed to take the bus to work. Before I walked into the office
“Or what?”“You’re playing a dangerous game, this girl,” she says in a low and dangerous voice. “One you’d regret.”“I’m not playing any games and quite frankly, you know nothing about me,” I spoke up, already tired of her behavior. “If Damien wants to be with you, then that’s fine. But, don’t try to drag me down to make yourself feel better.”She let out a loud and dangerous laughter before walking to me and only stopping few inches away. “You’re so stupid, Amanda.”“No,” I spoke up, my voice firm yet calm. “I am not stupid and I won’t take any more of your insults just because I’m trying to respect my boss. I’m not interested in any of this.”She didn’t say anything, didn’t react it even act like she had heard me and the room fell silent. The silence stretched out for a very long time and we just stood there, staring at each later. The air was filled with a tension so heavy and thick that I started feeling suffocated. I could feel my heart beating faster but I refused to back down.
I didn’t want to risk Cloris carrying out her threat so I stayed away from Damien and sanded him like the plague. If I saw him coming, I passed the other side, if he called, I transferred it to voicemail. I even stopped going to meetings to avoid being in the same space as him and risking a personal contact with him. It was hard but definitely not impossible, I could feel Cloris’ eyes on me whenever she same to the company. It felt like she could see through me, and if I didn’t like living my life on somebody else’s terms, I had no choice but to do this. It had been week since I stared ignoring Damien and I could tell that he was already noticing something was wrong but I paid him no mind. I had always gone to work, sort out the documents that I had to and used my extra time to keep trying to find information on Ryan but that too was difficult. I was currently in my office, going through the stack of documents that were on my table when Damien walked past with Cloris by his side. M
The next morning, I woke up with a start and as I prepared for the day ahead I kept repeating the conversation I had with Jay in my head. I headed to work and settled in behind my desk as usual but instead of getting to my normal routine, I decided to spend my time to dig dirt on Cloris but I got no information. A few days passed and I still had not gotten shy information on either Cloris or Ryan. I was seated in my room, going through files and documents I had copied to my laptop. It was dark outside and way past midnight but I was not sleepy, the only thing keeping me going was the words I kept telling myself, willing myself to believe I was getting closer to the truth. For now, my focus was singular- Cloris. The dim light of my laptop casted faint shadows across my body but I was focused on going through the files throughly. In the days that had passed, I had been going through every piece of information I could find on her and taking every lead that I got. Social media accoun
But as I was about turning around and walking out of the office, my eyes fell on something.I froze in my tracks, the air suddenly heavier around me. My gaze locked onto the photograph on the shelf, an image that seemed out of place among the neatly arranged books and polished wood. It wasn’t the frame that caught my attention but the two men captured within it.I walked closer to the table and saw that the men looked familiar. Realization dawned on me as it clicked that one of the men in the picture was my father, younger and healthier than I remembered. His usual easy smile looked forced, his arm slung around a man I immediately recognized.Damien.The Damien I knew was hardened, closed off, and brooding. But here, in this picture, he looked different- vulnerable, almost normal. He was smiling as he stared at the camera with a carefree expression on his face. His face carried an innocence I had never seen before, and it unsettled me. What is a picture of my father doing here in Dam
“Let’s make a plan,” I said, turning all my attention to him after I finished sorting through the papers. “What do you suggest we do?” “You already said we should stake out at the office,” he replied me. “You can’t be seen there so how do you think we should go about it?” “Anything we plan has to work, Andrew,” I said, my voice low and firm as I thought about what we could possibly do. Andrew nodded, running his hand through his hair. “It would work, there’s no other option.” I didn’t respond, making the room fall into silence as I thought hard about what could work- something so good that nothing could ruin it. A few minutes passed and a brilliant idea popped up in my head. “This is what we’re going to do,” I finally spoke up, sitting up straighter. “You’re going to act like you have a shitload of work to do and you have no other choice than to stay back at work.” “Hmn,” Andrew said, fully focusing on me. “Go on.” “Okay,” I replied with a nod. “You’ll stay late at the office
Andrew and I went our separate ways, promising to meet each other the next day. I was glad that I now had someone who could help me in my plans by my side, I had thoughts of giving up but Andrew had renewed my determination. The coffee that I had finally left my apartment for had gotten cold, so I just tossed into the trash can and walked back home, feeling a bit better and letting out a sigh as I made my way back. I couldn’t wait for what was to come next nor could I wait to see the look on Ryan’s face when I’m done with him. He had gotten away for too long and soon, her meet his end. Just like her had promised, Andrew showed up at my house the next day and I let him on. We quickly began working on how he would get the documents from the office and copy the ones he could to his laptop. Getting the files was going to be difficult but we were set on accomplishing our mission and didn’t care what it would cost. Over the next few days, we kept meeting up and discussing plans. Andr
“What’s that?”“You won’t believe what I just found out about recently,” he said, his voice was barely above a whisper. His voice was low and I knew whatever he wanted to say was confidential because he didn’t want anyone to hear about it. I raised an eyebrow, eyeing him suspiciously. “What are you going on about? Just say it as it is,” I said, already getting frustrated by the suspense. “It’s Ryan,” he replied, saying the name like it was was some kind of poison but he was still keeping me in suspense.“What about Ryan?” I asked, urging him on. “Ever since you left the firm, he’s been making life hell for everyone at the company,” he replied. I didn’t know it was going to turn into this, he had been on a business trip for a while before I left the company and while I was there, he seemed… civil. So, I didn’t understand what was up with him and his new behavior, did Cloris tell him something?“Making life hell?” I repeated, looking at him with a blank expression. “What is he doin
I could feel both their eyes on me but I didn’t care. I wanted to go far away from there, disappear even. They could go back to their talking and getting to know each other better because all I wanted to do was to be alone and find a way to stop feeling like that. After a few more minutes of staying alone, I finally felt a bit better but I was tired of staying outdoors and just wanted to go back to my room and drown in my sorrow or just rot in my bed and sleep my sadness away. “Are you fine, Amanda?” Andrew asked, his voice drawing me out of my thoughts.“Yeah, I am,” I lied yet again, turning to look at him. His eyes were filled with concern and I couldn’t help but feel bad because I had made him leave Anna behind just to check on me. “Where’s Anna?” I asked, trying to change the topic as I looked past his shoulders and realized she was not longer seated there. “Oh, she had somewhere to be so we just exchanged number and she said we could meet up next week,” he replied me, his e
“Thank you, Miss?” “Em- Amanda,” I quickly corrected myself, not wanting to blow off my cover. “Oh-“ she said. “You look familiar but I guess my mind is just playing tricks on me.”My heart skipped a beat at her words and I wanted to admit to her that not only did I look familiar, I was her cousin but I held myself back and didn’t say anything. “Thank you once again,” she spoke up, her eyes filled with sincerity as she finally stopped crying. “You don’t need to thank me,” I replied, my voice quiet. “I’m just happy that you’re fine.”She gave me a small nod before turning back to Andrew who was now standing with an unreadable expression on his face. “And thank you,” she said, her voice steadier now. “You saved me.”A blush crept up Andrew’s cheek and he scarfed the back of his head awkwardly. “It was really nothing. I was just helping,” he replied awkwardly. “It wasn’t nothing,” Anna insisted, a small smile breaking through her tears. “You were amazing.”“I just… I mean, anyone w
“Amanda!” Andrew called, making my stop in my tracks. I was still frozen in place when he walked up to me and grabbed me by my hand and pulled me towards him. “What do you think you’re doing, huh?” He asked, his voice soft but firm. “Do you really think going there without a plan in mind is a good idea?”I tried to pull away, my heart racing as I glanced toward Anna. She was still struggling against the masked man, her cries piercing the air.“I can’t just stand here!” I whisper yelled at him, my voice shaky and filled with desperation. “And what do you plan on doing just by going there? Don’t you see that he’s dangerous?” Andrew challenged, his tone calm but resolute. “You’ll rush over there and… what? Get yourself hurt too? Be smart, Amanda.”I opened my mouth to respond, but my words failed to form, I couldn’t even think of the prosper things to say. He was right, I didn’t have a plan. Hell! I wasn’t even thinking. I just wanted to save her, it’s been so long and the first day I
“Andrew,” I called, my voice soft and cautious. “I need to say something to you.”His smile faltered. “Okay…”I exhaled, making an effort to speak carefully and avoid offending him. “I am really sorry for the way I have treated you up until today. I know I’ve ignored you, been distant and even rude to you when all you tried to do was to be there,” I started, my voice filled with sincerity. “You didn’t deserve any of that.”“Amanda-““Wait, let me finish,” I spoke up again, cutting him off. “I have been cold to you. I know you… care about me, like me even. Probably more than you should. And I hate that I can’t feel the same way.”Andrew kept looking at me with an unreadable expression, but like I asked, he didn’t try to say anything or cut me off. “It’s not that you’re not handsome or amazing, because you are,” I continued. “And I know any woman would be lucky to have you as their partner. But… I can’t reciprocate your feelings. My heart is… elsewhere. And I’m sorry if it seemed lik
“I know that you are,” he replied almost immediately. “I know you and I can tell that you’re lying.”“Did you call to argue about my mental state or what?” I asked him, my voice filled with mock seriousness. “Okay. Okay, I’m sorry,” he apologized, his voice filled with sincerity. “But, you really do sound like someone that run over by a big emotional truck.”I huffed out a laugh despite myself. “Thanks for that visual, Andrew. Very helpful.”“See, I can make you laugh,” he said and I good tell that he was smiling. “But, seriously Amanda, you don’t sound like yourself at all and it’s quite heartbreaking to see you that is always strong like this.”He meant to make me feel better with his words but I couldn’t help but be reminded of how far I had steered from why I really came back to this city. “Thank you, for looking out for me,” I whispered into the phone, not sure if he had heard me. “So, this is what we are going to do to help you feel better,” Andrew started, his voice now fille