Roxanne felt her body being pulled into one of the many rooms of the huge Laurent Mansion. Her back hit the wall just as the door slammed close beside her."Ouch! What the..." Her words came to a halt as Lance's face suddenly appeared in front of her.How did he get here?! No, more importantly What was he doing here?! She could hear the thumping of her own heartbeat ringing in her ears."You..." Roxanne began, pointing the tip of her finger in Lance's direction. "What are you doing here?""Am I not welcomed in my own house, anymore?" Lance asked causally, almost ignoring the fact that they had had an argument less than three hours ago.But that wasn't the case for Roxanne. The moment she remembered the words he had said about her parents and how he had undermined her just a few hours ago, Roxanne swung his hand off her shoulder."Hands off." She retaliated harshly. "And don't think you can be all friendly and buddy buddy after all that happened."Lance stared at her with an expression
Roxanne returned to the dinning table after that. But she couldn't help feeling that Lance wanted to tell her something more. And only did it hit her, that she forgot to ask why he had pulled her into that room, when she sat down in one of the chairs- precisely the furthest one away from Christopher."So, which of you wants to explain this whole engagement cancelation charade to me?" Henry asked as he took a slice of his meat.Grace, who was beside him, glanced at both Roxanne and Christopher, mostly at Roxanne and the blonde could literally see the warnings in her eyes."Don't misspeak." The silent words were clear, but Roxanne rolled her eyes and sliced into her meat, putting the price in her mouth and enjoying the delicious taste.Meanwhile, Christopher fidgeted in his seat. He thought Henry had forgotten the topic, but turns out that his father had a keen memory."That's a private matter." Christopher decided to play along."We're your parents and I want to know what happened betw
Silence engulfed the entire room after Roxanne's question. It didn't take her long to realize that she had touched a subject that was meant to be untouched.But she could no longer back down. Now she knew that it was all or none, so, straightening her shoulders and carrying her head high, she asked once more."My parents, you knew them?"Henry glanced away from her momentarily and cleared his throat. "Yeah, your parents... They worked on a project with me for a while. It was brief so I had only just realized that you were their daughter."What obvious lies, Roxanne thought as she effortlessly saw through the elderly mans' lies. He was hiding something else, she was sure of that.And what project is he talking about? Was it perhaps the project labelled Cypher in her father's journal? She could not be sure, but Henry and the Cube family seemed to have more clues and evidence she needed to start deciphering the mystery behind her parents death that had recently been brought to light.The
"Lance!" Roxanne was surprised to see the male standing at her front door. She quickly glanced behind her at Colton who was busy eating, and quickly stepped out closing the door behind her."What...what are you doing here?""I need to talk to you." Lance started to walk past her, and she blocked his path."You need to talk to me? Here? Now?" She was a little surprised that he was showing up, and she had no idea why.Lance noticed how she was blocking his path, he stopped and eyed her suspiciously."Is there a problem?""No. I just...what do you want? I mean, what do you need to talk to me about?""Can we go inside? I don't think we should discuss this here." Lance informed. He was a little puzzled by her reaction, but didn't question it. "Can we?""Uh," Roxanne bit her lower lip and glanced back at the door. She didn't know what to do.With how Lance is and Colton being in the house, she knew that things were going to ride down the wrong path.Just great! More wrongness to her already
Roxanne couldn't remember when it had happened.Sometime during her summer break years ago. She and her parents had gone on a picnic situated in the lush greens of one of their many picnic spots. They had eaten all of the delicious foods, talked to their hearts content and then moved onto games.Roxanne's favorite yet worse part. It was her favorite part because it was all fun and games and her worse because for some reason she couldn't ever seem to beat her parents at each and every game.Just like the usual times, Roxanne sighed out in defeat, allowing her lips form a pout as defeat sank in."No fair." She protested while looking at the peice of crumbled bricks. "You and mom know how to play this way more than me. You're older!" She added in.Both her parent's chuckled. "Come on, Roxy, since when does age determine the amount of luck you have in life?" Her mother said with a warm smile in her lips.Roxanne folded her arms and huffed out. "It should, mom. Everyone knows it, older peo
Roxanne's new discovery left her feeling conflicted.She wanted to confront Lance and ask him where he had gotten the neck lace and have him explain a whole lots of things to her, but after the Oscar worthy performance she had shoved in his face, she dared not.Even though she didn't like the male all too much, she had a conscience and was smart enough to know that no one would want to talk to a person who had just displayed all what she just had.Talk about perfect timing.Life just had to reveal yet another peice of her puzzle after her heated argument with Lance. As if her life wasn't already bad enough."Ugh." Roxanne groaned and chugged down the last of her wine in her glass. She flipped her father's journal close and shoved it away, no longer wanting to see things that made her thinking about the depressing situation her life was in.She got up from the table and walked to the sink. She dumped the empty wine bottle into the trash and set her glass into the sink.She didn't know
It had been more than one week since he last contacted her.Lance stared at his phone screen with Roxanne's last text message displayed for his eyes. It was a rather usual message coming from her, after all, the feisty sunshine of his would never send something like this in her right sense...Yeah, that was the only explanation for it, she wasn't in her right sense.Lance chuckled and placed his phone down on the table in front of him, locking the screen as he reached for his shot of vodka. The burning sensation of the drink slowly warming his throat helped him to calm down his racing thoughts and mind.For the first few seconds, all worrisome thoughts of Roxanne had disappeared, but then they came back in a flood of memories and the male groaned.Just what he needed for his already stressed day, he thought and placed his glass down just as he phone began to vibrate.His lavender eyes snapped towards his phone, only to find it lighting up, showing that a new text message had arrived.
Lance glanced at the time on his watch for the third time in five minutes as his feet tapped rapidly on the ground.He had one of his hand stuffed into his pocket as he leaned against his car, waiting for Roxanne to step out of her house even though she was more than ten minutes later than the time they had agreed upon meeting today. He'd sent a text message telling her to meet him outside her house after work, but there was no reply. He had considered calling her but figured that might make him seem a little too eager.And that, he did not want to seem.With yet another sigh, Lance glanced at his watch and then at the house in front of him. For a few seconds, he contemplated going in, but at last settled for calling her line once more.The line rang on and no one answered. He had just about had enough after that and hung up before walking towards her house.Having knowing the pass code and believing that Roxanne made no effort to change it, Lance typed in the series of number and pul
Roxanne sat by the window of her favorite cafe wrapped from head to toe in seasonal clothing befitting winter. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail while her fringe hung on the side of her face, she wore a brown and white beanie while a black scarf was wrapped around her neck. Her outfit consisted of black jeans and a beige winter sweater along with a pair of white boots to complete her look. She had ordered a hot chocolate along with a pastry and was sipping on the drink when her phone rang.She looked down to see that it was Colton and she quickly answered the call, placing her cup down on the table. "Hey, Col, where are you?""In front of the cafe." The voice from the other end of the phone responded and Roxanne looked outside to see her friend waving. She smiled and waved back."Alright, I'm coming out." She said and got up, throwing her cup into the bin before grabbing her bag and walking out of the cafe.The winter was getting harsher and harsher with each passing day but she had
"You are absolutely pathetic, Penelope Cube." She said and glanced over to the crowd before returning her gaze to Penelope. "You're absolutely pathetic." She repeated in a much louder voice, making sure everyone in the room could hear. "All this while I had my eyes on you, waiting to see how far you'd sink before you drown." Roxanne smirked. "But you're the one that ended up drowning yourself, it's you that lost the game and now, you're going to have to pay for it."Immediately after Roxanne's words, Claude emerged from the crowd ready to defend his daughter. But Lance was faster.He rushed forward and blocked Claude before he could get closer to Roxanne. "Don't you dare?" He sneered.Claude stopped short in his spot and looked around from Roxanne who was standing her ground and looking unfazed to Penelope, his daughter who was drenched from head to toe in wine and then to Lance who was shooting daggers at him through his eyes. He didn't like the look that the young lad was giving him
The rest of the party went by peacefully, that is until Henry clinged his glass, drawing the attention of everyone in the room as he announced that he had something to say. In that moment, Lance and Roxanne glanced at each other, remembering how Henry said he was going to announce Lance as the new CEO tomorrow and step down from the Company."Can I please have your attention?" Henry said with a smile on his face as he stepped forward from his place where he had been standing with Frank and took to stand at the center, while everyone watched in anticipation."I know this might be quite sudden but I want to thank everyone here today for being a part of welcoming back my father from the hospital, it means more to me than any one could ever imagine." Henry said and glanced at Frank who nodded his head in agreement and looked back towards the crowd with a smile on his face."It's been an honor and a pleasure to meet all of you, whether you be the regular guests or some of the close family
After looking at herself one last time in the mirror, She decided that her outfit was okay as well as every other thing on her."You ready?" Roxanne asked when she finished dressing up and found Lance standing in the living room in his black suit."Yep." He answered and extended his hand for her to take, which she did, giving him a smile of confidence."Let's go." She said, and the couple exited the penthouse, locking the door and taking the elevator to the ground floor and stepping out into the bright sun of the morning.The city had woken up early that day, and the streets were already packed with people going on with their daily business, having no idea about what was to happen later that day.The couple strolled towards the parking lot, hand in hand. Roxanne took a deep breath before entering the car. She buckled up and strapped the seatbelt while Lance slipped into the driver's seat and started the engine."How nervous are you?" He asked once he pulled out of the parking lot and
Henry went stiff and his gaze momentarily flew to where Roxanne was seated beside Lance, finding her eyes glued on him before he looked away."I..." He hesitated. "I did so because I wanted to protect Roxanne."His answer left both Roxanne and Lance stunned and confused."Protect Roxanne?" Lance asked."Protect me?" Roxanne asked."Yes." Henry nodded. "At the time which your parents had died and their case was being handled, Claude had been proven guilty In many ways and as a result asked to pay compensation worth thirty five billion to the victims daughter, Roxanne, or spend the rest of his life in jail. So Claude taught that if Roxanne wasn't around then he could pass under the charges. He was planning on harming her in other to walk Scott free and I couldn't allow that, so I bribed the judge to drop the case to make sure that Roxanne remained safe."Lance's eyes narrowed in on his father and he frowned deeply. "You mean, that monster that killed Roxanne' parents had actually attemp
Lance and Roxanne spent a few more hours in Rosalie's place, talking things over and planning for the party the next day. By the time they had finished, the sky was already darkening and Lance and Roxanne feeling tired. They bade Rosalie goodbye and began the journey back to Lance's penthouse which was now virtually like Roxanne's place too."So, you and me, huh?" Lance asked playfully once they were in the car on the drives back home.Roxanne who had her head leaned against the window chuckled. "Don't even push your Luck, Laurent." She teased, earning a hum of disapproval from him."Why not, you're already my girlfriend, I don't see any harm in making you my finacee.""True, but it'll be awkward to explain this to everyone since we only just found out that you and I are apparently engaged since childbirth, but without a doubt, it'd be funny seeing Penelope's face when she learns of this." Roxanne pointed out with a chuckle which faded almost instantly as she said. "Funny and pitiful.
Rosalie was rather surprised when both Lance and Roxanne showed up at her house, so suddenly."Lance? Roxanne? Why are you both here? Isn't the party until tomorrow?" The elderly woman asked, looking confusingly between the young couple."Hi, grandmother." Roxanne greeted, followed by Lance who gave a curt and respectful nod in her direction. "Yes, the party isn't until tomorrow but that isn't why we're here, we need to talk." She said seriously."Oh," Rosalie uttered, surprised by her granddaughter's sudden serious demeanor. But she recovered from that quickly and smiled. "Well, how about we have a chat in the living room." She suggested politely, gesturing for both Roxanne and Lance to step in.They both did as told and sank down together in the same chair, waiting till Rosalie had served them glasses of water and sank down in her won chair before begining to discuss the reason why they had come here for."Grandmother, can we ask you a few questions?"Rosalie viewed her granddaughte
Roxanne quickly looked over the document, reading the information and then quickly turning to look at Lance, her eyes wide and her heart racing with excitement. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!""What is it?" Lance asked as he walked over to her and looked over the documents in her hand, his brows creasing with equal confusion. "I wasn't aware that Grant Enterprise had a medical center." He commented."That's because it doesn't." Roxanne informed, flipping through the documents all the more to get headings and after a while, she scoffs. "This is ridiculous. What are we meant to do with fake documents."She tossed the paper back into the podium and ran her hand through her hair, pushing them back and out of her face. In the process of doing so, she had missed as Lance bent down and picked off the floor the piece of paper that had slithered out from in between the pages of the document as she had tossed it away."Perhaps it isn't fake," He began, looking over the small piece of pap
"Penelope Cube, the daughter of the Cube family is the customer claiming to have already wanted those dresses.""Oh my freak fucking God." Roxanne cursed as she rolled her eyes and later on groaned in annoyance while Lance on the other hand sighed out loudly in frustration, both leaving Catherine confused."So you mean to tell me the person playing owner over the dresses I picked is Penelope Cube?" She asked once more out of confirmation sakes.Catherine hesitantly nodded her head. "I'm afraid so.""Oh fuck my life. That girl has been making it her mission to be the worst person ever. Why she had to come here to spoil our time together is beyond me." Roxanne ranted with a roll of her eyes. "I can't fucking believe this.""I know this might sound like a difficult task, Catherine, but I need you to get me those dresses. Not a single one of what we picked should go missing. Am I making myself clear?" Lance instructed with a serious look on his face and Catherine nodded her head immediate