Chapter Eighty-Two – Banter. The door to the restaurant opened and Ken walked out. He was dressed plainly with a hoodie that made it hard to know it was him. “Is he hiding from paparazzi?” Arya asked. Kane nodded. “Yes, sometimes he gets more attention from the media than Damien does. It’s because Ken entertains the media more.” It should be true as Arya noticed that Damien walked around more freely with her than she expected since he was the CEO. Perhaps leaving Ken to handle the media was Damien’s way of reducing the attention that comes to him. Ken rushed towards them and before Arya could lock the door to the backseat, he opened it and hopped in. Kane began driving immediately. “Damn it! Why did you rush in so fast!” Arya glared at him. He was shocked to see her and rested on the door. “Damien’s wife? What ever are you doing here?” Damien’s wife? Was that her name now? And that was her line. What was he doing in the back seat with her? He had just jumped in without even l
Chapter Eighty-Three – Dumb. The receptionist bowed just as she left Arya on the doorstep of Damien’s office and she went down. Arya stared at her. What was the bow for? Was it how receptionists worked here? The place was nice and the uniforms the receptionists wore were cute. Just skirts, that stopped at the knee cap and long sleeved shirts. It was better to Arya than employees dressing really lewd and distracting others. “I bet it’s Mrs. Wade that made the permanent employees wear uniforms. She’s quite conservative.” Arya smiled. She held the lunchbox under her arm and knocked on the door. There was no reply after a minute. She was about knocking again when she saw a button by the side. Was it a bell? She pressed it. Nothing happened. She heard a door close, then someone walked into the room behind the door. “Who is that? Come on in.” Arya grinned and gently opened the door. She closed it gently behind her then opened her hands wide. “Surprise.” Damien was indeed surprised
Chapter Eighty-Four – Her business. Lucy groaned, snatching the letter from her mailbox. She didn’t even know why she still had a mailbox. Her friends were still playing this prank of mailing her letters? She promised herself not to read any but maybe reading them and replying will make them stop. “Worst part is, I don’t even know who is doing this?” Lucy sighed. She had friends but since her life tumbled down, they’ve not been very friendly. She closed the door to her house and fell on her couch, tearing the letter open. “This better be a good joke.” However the first line of the letter didn’t seem very funny at all. “Lucy David. We have your mother.” Lucy closed the letter and smiled. What was this about? Another type of prank? She wasn’t really in the mood. There was no name on the letter and it was black and plain, holding only it’s written contents. Was this a threat? Or were her suspicions right and her mother was actually being forced to commit these crimes? “I should
Chapter Eighty-Five – Spies. It was confirmed. Something glowed up in her. Whether it was her body, probably not, or her charm. But she didn’t feel very timid when talking to people anymore. Her father’s shadow around her had finally been casted. Strangely, even if Debby was on her neck, she didn’t feel threatened or intimidated. All she knew was that as long as Debby didn’t meet her physical, there would be no issue. As per their ‘battle of wits’, it meant Debby had to outsmart her in some way. Debby wouldn’t need to launch a great deal of attack to do that, so Arya only had to be careful. With her mind at rest to an extent, Arya felt like a free bird with the sky as her limit. It could be the energy that attracted the looks to her. “Or maybe it’s cause you’re wearing really expensive clothes.” Winx smirked, making Arya’s smile fall. Either ways, she generally didn’t want the attention. Someone sent by Debby could use it to get close to her. And the person she wanted to notic
Chapter Eighty-Six – Unhinged.After Lucy left with Chandelle, Arya quickly dismissed herself from Winx and rushed home. If Debby was planting spies at these strategic places, then she could have one at her school too. Could they be one at the Wade’s Mansion? The servants, security guards? Debby’s goal was just to make Damien suspect all his workers, wasn’t it? “This is bad. Damien worked with people based on trust. If Debby was taking advantage of it because she knew that, then she was being very cruel.” Kane opened the car door when he saw Arya heading towards him. “I hope you had a good day at school?” She forced a smile and sat at the back. “I sure did. Thank you for coming.” She needed to get home quickly to Damien. He should be able to weed out the spy at his company before Debby would cause any major damage. Arya’s mind hadn’t settled on what exactly her aunt Jenna had done that gave Debby leverage over her. Damien had also confirmed that Aunt Jenna might not just be wo
Chapter Eighty-Seven – Dogs for dogs. Arya was almost panicking due to the chaos happening outside. How would she sneak there and drag Connor back? She found herself hoping Damien would come back and stop Connor. He was still a kid so if the media target him, his future career could be in trouble. She understood his rage but his actions weren’t justifiable. “You don’t listen, do you! Leave my cousin alone!” Connor screamed at someone. “Go away, all of you!!” A woman stayed back, yelling questions at him. “Who are you exactly to the Wades family? Are you his only surviving relative, Connor Williams Wade?” Hearing his father’s name, Connor took out his whistle and began blowing it. Barks from the back of the house could be heard. He smirked. “Wait a minute, I’d answer that soon.” The sounds of howling dogs came from the backyard. “Some pitbulls are coming, and I’d be opening the gate soon.” Some media men began going backwards. “We just need to speak with Damien.” “What are you
Chapter Eighty-Eight – Faked. Damien found himself at the door of Diablo’s bar again. He adjusted his mask and knocked on the door. The huge man opened for him and he sprinted his way to Diablo’s little office. He knocked again and was offered entry. “You are still wearing this mask.” Diablo laughed, clearing the files on his table to reveal another file underneath them. “I figured out who Jenna Marbles is, that’s why I called.” “That’s why I came.” Damien exhaled, taking off his mask. Diablo placed a picture of two girls on the desk. “I actually don’t know Jenna Marbles. I found this picture in a school year book. They were two sisters who won a beauty contest.” Damien gazed at the picture. He recognized one of the ladies, she looked a lot like Anna but had Arya’s body structure. She must have been their mother, Jenna’s sister. “What does her sister have to do with Jenna? Her sister is currently dead.” Damien asked. “Yeah, she is named Juliet Marbles. The woman I knew. Not Je
Chapter Eighty-Nine – Pitter Patter.The media. Arya accepted she’d never understand them. She had scrolled through Tiktok and Instagram searching for actual videos of Connor harassing reporters as the media said. They were only just memes about it. He hadn’t even caused bodily harm per se yet the reporters called it harassing. Weren’t they the ones harassing the Wades by storming their house? A talk show had even made it a subject matter. “But the fact that the masses are praising him is…” Arya shook her head. She was glad though. Many people actually supported Connor behavior telling the media to leave his cousin alone as he said. The video they posted to soil the Wade’s good name had backfired and many young people even thought he was cool and ‘savage’ for threatening to release dogs. “Young people these days are something else.” Arya rolled her eyes on seeing a comment that said, “Connor! I love him already.” Connor became popular for yelling at reporters? The gate to the
Chapter Ninety-Eight – Interest. It was the second wedding Arya was attending but the first she was feeling really excited about. It was Anna’s wedding. The reception had taken place immediately and ran out to look for Connor. He was with her phone and she needed to take lot’s of pictures of Anna. She has to show them to Winx who couldn’t attend the wedding due to her injury. Arya wished Jim could have taken it back so Winx would attend as a bridesmaid but the groom was in so much haste to marry his bride. One of the reasons being that he had to return to his base as soon as possible. Arya finally caught sight of Connor with some girls. Should she walk over to him or just let him be? She wasn’t sure. He once told her how he grew more popular at school after his issue with the reporters went viral. All she hoped was he didn’t repeat it again, it might take a different turn. Thankfully, Connor turned around to look at something and noticed her watching him. “My phone
Chapter Ninety-Seven – Paired up. Lucy had heard the news on the radio. The part she didn’t hear, however, was how her mother was the murderer of Juliet Marbles, her aunt. How in the world? Lucy was still fighting with the fact her mother conspired to kill Arya, she was hoping her mother was still her mother while holding on the fact she wasn’t the mastermind. But to think she had actually masterminded and perfectly executed the murder of her own sister years ago? It blew Lucy’s mind away. Everyone at the work place was talking about Debby and Winx issue while Lucy racked her brain over her mother’s. It was revealed that one of Debby’s accomplice had been caught, while the other escaped. No name was mentioned. Lucy knew she was safe even still because her mom didn’t share her surname. She divorced her father and went to Mr. Stark so decided to go back to her maiden name. “And to think that Mr. Stark was also killed.” Lucy shivered. Her mother had really gone down a dang
Chapter Ninety-Six – Parting gift. Winx accepted to be a witness to keep Deborah Chan in rehab. Many protesters wanted her to be kept in jail despite her being a minor. She was losing fans by the minute. The media had caught whiff of what happened because a popular celebrity had been in the boutique when it happened, while shooting a video for her fans. She also witnessed that Debby just walked into the store then went after the girls. The identity of the other girl wasn’t necessary to the media, they only wanted to know why the genius attempted murder. Also, it seemed they forgot Debby was once acquainted to the Wades or they’d begin asking barrages of questions. Meanwhile, while detained, Debby desisted from answering unnecessary questions. All she said was she didn’t regret going after the girl because she wanted her dead. The girl being Arya but to the masses, Winx. Debby’s reason was unknown and since there was no prior relationship between Winx and Debby, the med
Chapter Ninety-Five – Sorry end. Chen broke into boisterous laughter, then he pointed the knife at Aunt Jenna and slowly menacingly towards her. “You want to meet your man?" He scoffed."Didn’t we both have a deal? You should protect the woman I love and I’d not harm your loved ones, right?” Jenna’s eyes shook. What ever did he mean by that? Had something happened to his loved one? Had Debby been caught? And even if she wanted to, how did he expect her to protect Debby when she was Debby’s hostage? And between she and Debby, she needed protection against Debby than she needed to protect the girl. Aunt Jenna looked at the blood on his knife, and her stomach turned. Who did that belong to? “I-I don’t understand you.” Did something happen? “Well, Since it has come to this, I’d flee the country, never to return here.” Chen seethed. “But you, the police will come for you next.” Next? Jenna realized what had happened. Debby must have been captured. “Did you go after her? Those
Chapter Ninety-Four – Last Card Arya arrived at the Wades’ Mansion. Kane dropped her then drove out again, without speaking. She knew his head would be filled already. She slowly walked into the living room but was immediately embraced by someone. She patted Connor’s back when she realized it was him. A part of her wanted to see Damien first. Kane had called home to inform them what happened. When Connor let go, Arya saw that Damien wasn’t home yet. “Are you alright? And was it really Debby?” Selena asked quite agitated. It's the first time she showed concern for her. Arya smiled, nodding. “Yeah, it was her. Winx protected me and was stabbed at her right collar bone. The nurse said she’d be okay though. It was very sudden.” Selena gasped, rubbing her face. “Winx. My poor girl. I can’t still believe Debby became this selfish, became this monster!” Mrs. Wade just had a sour expression, looking down at her hands. “Arya, go and rest. This incident must be frightening.”
Chapter Ninety-Three – Fear. The dark circles under her eyes had increased, along with the heaviness of her eyes and her heart. Debby didn’t know if she was still alive because she felt so dead. She could hardly walk around in public for fear that the police could be unto her. And she really needed to stroll. “Chen?” she called but no one answered. Since he spoke to her, asking her intent on killing Arya, he had been distant after she didn’t give a satisfactory response. Had he left her alone too? She just wanted that bitch dead. Why was it too much to do? Why didn’t anyone get her? She slammed her hand at the desk and screamed. “Arya, I’d kill you if it’s the last thing I do!! Bitch!!” The fact that she was somewhere, excited and with Damien made her furious. Damien rarely showed excitement with her, how was he able to open up with Arya within a short time? Debby grabbed Chen’s hoodie and forced it on her body. She needed to move out and plan her next attack. She had been to
Chapter Ninety-Two – I’d stay.But why did it feel like a miracle she stayed in the marriage? Arya wondered if he didn’t expect her to stay. “Did you plan to divorce me?” she asked jokingly. “Ah no. I actually thought you’d find someone else. You know, the contract permits you to.” Connor smirked. Arya shrugged. “I thought so too but…” she paused. Wait! He knew about the contract marriage?? She grabbed his shoulder and shook him. “You knew about it? How?” Damien would definitely not have told him. “I married you, you know. I had gotten curious and read the contract during the court marriage.” He revealed. Arya clenched her teeth. Then all these while, he knew their marriage wasn’t real? Did he tell anyone? Even when she had asked him from relationship advice. She felt so stupid. “Well, I was bent on making it work out, though. So I didn’t tell anyone about it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” he added with a pat on her back. Her expression changed to a sober one. He wante
Chapter Ninety-One – Wedding She had been having second thoughts about lots of things lately. It was partly Debby’s fault, but the other, hers. Arya washed her face with water then left the restroom. Winx was waiting for her, she stared at her best friend and smiled. “Something’s been on your mind.” She had been noticing her stalling or standing at a place, lost in thoughts. “No shit, of course.” Arya agreed with a smirk. “I don’t want to talk about it, though. I’d like to sort this out myself.” She always had a way of sorting out her emotions, the ones she needed and the ones she didn’t. Crying and feeling overly excited weren’t things she grew up doing due to her strict father so she didn’t have time to ponder about strange feelings. “Wouldn’t it be weird if I liked Damien now after trying to stay away from him for months?” She muttered to herself. But could she do anything about what she felt? She was matured enough to like someone. Only that her feelings for Damien were qu
Chapter Ninety – Satisfaction.Jenna tried the knob of the door but it didn’t still open. It’s been hours since Chen left to check on Debby. She sighed, plopping down on the bed besides her. The only thing in the room. She had ended up being kidnapped and forced to be an accomplice. Her current situation was far worse than she could contain. She was beginning to harbor thoughts of turning herself to the police, after all, Stark, who she was hiding her dark side from was already involved. Chen had drugged him for days, keeping him unconscious. Jenna knew it wasn’t healthy but she had no say as Stark had seen Chen when he came to her house to drop instructions and he began asking questions. The both of them were basically hostages at the moment. She hadn’t been able to contact Lucy while Debby had been sending strange letters to her. “I don’t want Lucy to get involved, really.” She groaned. “If only there was a way to reach the outside world now.” She regretted everything. Her h