Isabel checked her watch impatiently, as she waited to be called into the ob-gyn's office.She had less than an hour left to report to work and had been seated there for the past thirty minutes, but it seemed like it had been an eternity already.Although she was hoping to get accepted for the position she was applying for, she still couldn't afford to get fired from her job at Blue Farm yet.It has been her only source of livelihood for the past three years, and she enjoyed working there too. The free meals the employees are entitled to have been her lifesaver.However, she knew that if by sheer luck, she got accepted for this new position, she would've to quit from Blue Farm.Compared to the free meals and hourly income, this new position came with a lot of incentives, which made it luscious.From the free healthcare to the best hospital in the city, to the free living expenses, from her feeding to her clothes and transportation. Then, there was her monthly allowance an
Out of over two hundred ladies who replied to the ad, Isabel was among the lucky fifty who were selected for the interview.She was thrilled about the news, and begged her manager for an off day, so she could attend the interview.After much begging, the man gave her the permit she needed, to not show up at work on that day.On that day, Isabel dressed her very best, wearing one of Jasmine's hand-me-down tops, and a wide-legged denim she'd purchased for herself about a year ago.Her attire didn't appear suitable for the interview, but the dress she could've worn was destroyed by Jasmine after she borrowed it weeks ago and did not return it until two days ago.The strain on the off-white dress, which she didn't know if it was from coffee or makeup, was impossible to wash off, despite all the cleaning agents she used on it.She had to dump it and wear something else, and although it didn't appear professional, she had no choice.Before Isabel left home that morning, she prepared breakf
Two weeks after the last screening test, Isabel received a mail from the agency.She was at work when she heard her phone buzzed. She pulled out out of her pocket and swiped down the notification bar.There was an email from St. Patrick's Hospital. She needed no soothsayer to tell her it was from the agency, yet she did not open the mail.Her heart pounding, as uncertainty ate her from within.What if she didn't get the job? Does that mean that she will have to go beg Mr. Bernadotte to give her more time to save up his money?Will he agree?What if he doesn't and decide to make thing difficult for her?She wouldn't be surprised if he decide to make things worst for her. She could've agreed to go the easy way, but her pride could not allow her subject her body to such immorality.Now, it doesn't look like she has any choice.Isabel did not bother about thinking what if she got the job. She knew within herself that she'd only made it through the entire process by sheer luck. No
Everything happened so quickly for Isabel, that she lost track of her own life. Immediately after she signed the contract with the agency, she was moved to a new apartment, Unlike how she had expected the apartment to be a penthouse in the city, it was a multimillionaire mansion with an ocean view and it was unlike anything Isabel had ever seen.Whoever this anonymous employer of hers was, she needed no soothsayer to tell her he must be drowning in wealth. Everything she needed, from food and clothes to other necessities, was in abundance. She didn't have to do anything for herself, because two maids were designated to her care. There was a chef, a few cleaners, and bodyguards. The security was very tight, which means there was no unsolicited going out and coming in.The house manager, Madam Magdalene, an older woman in her late forties was there if she needed anything.Isabel was awestruck, yet cautious, because everything seemed too good to be true for her.There were certa
The morning after was a disaster for Isabel.She woke up feeling as if someone had run a truck over her, yet couldn't vividly recall all that happened the night before.The memories were fuzzy, making it impossible for her to give a detailed account of everything that happened, but she recalled the strange heat that overwhelmed her after she finished the soup she was served, the undescribable feeling she felt afterward, and the sharp pain she felt when the man first penetrated her.She vaguely remembered crying and begging him to stop, but he did not. He went on and on until she passed out from exhaustion.She didn't know whether he stopped after that, or continued until he couldn't anymore.Worst of all, she did not even see the man's face.All her senses were jagged, except her sense of feeling and smell, so could only perceive his scent and feel the strength of his powerful thrusts.Why is he so determined to stay anonymous?She kept wondering.Why does he not want to reveal himsel
EIGHT YEARS LATER, Isabel stepped out of the cab, dragging her bag with her. She close the door, thanked the cab driver, before sauntering towards her house. She unlocked the door and went inside the house, heaving a loud sigh of relief. "Home, sweet home." She took off her coat and shoes, keeping them at their designated places, and was about going further into the house, when she recalled she hasn't gone to pick her eight-years-old son, Reynolds, from her neighbor's. "Shit!" She cussed frustrated, returning to the shoe rack to wear her shoes. Before she left two days ago, she had begged her neighbor, Austin, to help her babysit her son, for the time she will be gone. It was the first time she was leaving her son to someone else's care for more than twenty-four hours, and she was skeptical about it, yet did not have any other choice. She didn't want him to skip school, so she begged Austin to help her watch over him. Despite knowing he was safe with Austin, it didn't ease her
Thousands of miles away from Colby, Sebastian Bernadotte, CEO of Bernadotte and Sterling Corporation, was seated in his office, leading a zoom meeting with his investors from Taiwan, when a knock came on the door.He excused himself, telling whoever it was to come in, before he continued speaking with his clients.Zachary, his driver opened the door and waltzed into his office, greeting him.He signaled the man to give him some time to finish up with his meeting, and the man went to sit down on one of the available seats.Sebastian continued with his meeting, explaining to his investors how important it would be for their company globally, if they invested in Bernadotte and Sterling.He would've had his vice president handle this, but he'd to do it himself. They have an ongoing project in Taiwan, and they've been having issues with the Taiwanese government. However, he needed to bag this investment, to use his client's influence as leverage to complete his project in their country.Be
Two days later, Isabel was in the cafe going over the list of things they've run out of stock of in the cafe, when Padma, one of her employers walked up to her with a cream colored envelope."Chauncey from the mayor's office brought this in for you while you were away."Isabel turned to the seventeen-year-old teenager, gesturing her to keep the envelope on the counter."Padma," she called the girl's attention just as she was about to leave, and she asked her,"Have the repairman fixed the faulty expresso machine?""Not yet. Ginny called him while you were out of town, but he gave some excuse about his son being at the hospital.""So, the machine is still not functional.""Yes."Isabel let out a frustrated sigh,"Is there anyone else who can fix it for us? I mean, we can't be out of expresso for our customers.""I can help you if you want." A deep voice cut through their conversation, and both Padma and Isabel turned to the owner.It was Austin, her neighbor.Isabel's stomach churned th
Isabel was watching the triplets who were busy with their assignments, later that day, when her phone began to ring, disrupting the serenity of the atmosphere."Excuse me." She mouthed to the boys, then pulled out the phone.It was Jasmine calling her.She got up from the chair, then left the patio to go take the call somewhere out of the boys' earshot.She accepted the call once she was certain she was out of their earshot and placed it against her ear,"Hello Jas---""How heartless can you be, Isabel?" The girl fired at her, before she could even finish her greeting."I called you yesterday to beg you for some money for my daughter, but you ended the call and didn't call back. Why are you so heartless, Isabel?"Isabel was taken aback by the girl's uproar, "My daughter, who is also your niece, have been sick for the past couple of days, and I have no money take her to the hospital. I called you yesterday, so you could help me, but you ended the call and did nothing. How can you be s
The first question Sebastian asked her, seeing her horrified expression was,"What has happened this time?" He sprang up from the chair he was seated, coming to her side."What happened, Isabel? Talk to me." He urged her, but she was too stupefied to speak or even move.He picked up the brand new phone which she'd dropped and fortunately, the screen wasn't damaged.However, that wasn't what caught his attention. What piqued him was the picture displayed on the screen of the phone and the headline before it."Girlfriend of popular businessman, Sebastian Bernadotte, caught in an intimate position with businessman, Damien Giddorti."He scrolled down and there was another photo of Isabel and Damien tagged,"Isabel Hadid, mistress of businessman, Sebastian Bernadotte caught cheating with businessman, Damien Giddorti."His blood immediately ran cold, as he stared at the picture, which from the photographer's angle, matched the headline.Except that he knew all of it weren't true.It was
Earlier that evening, Shakira had driven to Sebastian's penthouse in Brooklyn.Ever since the invitation for the event was sebt out, she has been waiting for the man to call her and has eveb been trying to reach him.All to no avail.He'd blocked every possible means of her contacting him and his security wouldn't allow her come anywhere near him.She didn't believe that he would replace her with that lady he picked from nowhere. She couldn't believe that he has ended their relationship because of that tramp.That tramp he picked from the dirt.She haven't told her parents about their breakup, know they wouldn't take it very well, especially her father.The main reason she'd wanted to see him, was for him to not bring his mistress to the event because her parents would be attending and she didn't want then to find out in such way.However, his security team wouldn't let her enter into the lobby, talk more of getting into the elevator.She'd to leave the premises when one of the men th
Isabel walked into the ladies' room, and she pulled out a small towel from her purse, using it to dry up the spots Sebastian had missed when he was cleaning her up.Luckily for her, the stains of the wine weren't obvious, because of the color of her dress.She just had to wait for it to dry up a little, before returning to the hall.It pained her that she was missing Sebastian's speech, but she'd no other option.The longer she sat there, the colder and more uncomfortable she became.After dying herself the best way she could, she was about to return to the hall, when it crossed her mind to call Brittany and know if the boys have gone to bed.The lady did not pick the call until the third ring, and she was greeted by a sleepy voice."I'm sorry to wake you up. I just wanted to know if the boys are still awake." "No need to apologize, Ms. Hadid. The boys have long to bed." The lady replied to her,"They went to bed shortly after you left with Mr. Bernadotte.""Okay....thank you, B
Sebastian's face turned beet red with rage as he listened to Isabel's account of her encounter with Damien. It took great effort to have her speak up, as she was sobbing. His eyes blazed with fury, when she did, and his jaw clenched so tightly that it seemed to be carved from granite.His heart was pumping with unexplainable fury."How dare he," Sebastian growled, his voice low and menacing,"I'll kill him. I will fucking kill that bastard."Isabel placed a calming hand on Sebastian's arm, but he shook it off. He was beyond consolation, seeing her in such state and hearing what Damien has tried to do to her.The bastard had tried to touch what belonged to him."I should've ended that bastard when I had the opportunity to. I should've killed then, saving myself all this disrespect." "What did he say to you?" Sebastian demanded, his eyes burning with intensity.Isabel hesitated, clearly not wanting to relive the experience. But Sebastian's gaze was unyielding, and she knew she had to
Indeed, the black Sedan drove to Shakira's family home, confirming Fowler's words. Watching the man alight the vehicle with the package, his blood boiled with fury.At that point, he wished he could step out from the vehicle, barge in there and get his son back.But that wasn't a good choice.The most important thing now, was getting his son back home and wiping tears from Isabel's face.Dealing with the Valande's will come later."What do we do now, sir? The boy should be inside there somewhere. How do we get to him?" Zachary asked him,"And remember that we cannot go there unprepared, as you are not welcomed into the family anymore. What do we do?"Sebastian was quiet for a while, staring intently at the massive iron-wrought gates that separated him from his son. He wished he could level it to the ground, and go get his boy.Fury coursed through his veins, as he glared at the men outside.The bastards who was holding his son hostageHe would make sure Shakira and her family pay,
The next day, Sebastian went straight to the bank from the house and without wasting time, he was able to withdraw the cash they needed for their bait.Of course, he'd to liquidate one or two assets to gather the money, then there were loads of paperworks to be signed.It took them over two hours to get everything done, after which they drove to the meeting spot they kidnapper had sent Isabel.Their meeting spot was a park near a small lake with ducks. The park was empty because it was noon, and weekday.According to the caller, they needed to keep the bag under the chair which was closest to the fire hydrant.After dropping the duffel bag, which was filled to the brim with wads of hundred dollars bills, a tracking device and a small microphone attached to the zipper, Sebastian returned to the car where Zachary of waiting for him, while Fowler stayed in a blind corner, surveying the environment.Their plan was to use the money as bait to get the caller, then follow him to their hiding
Sebastian was stupefied, as he left the precinct.He couldn't believe that somehow Damien Giddorti has somehow unearth his secret."How did it go, sir?" Zachary asked him, opening the door for him when he got to the car."Did you find the clue you were looking for?"Sebastian did not say anything to answer Zachary's question, even when the man ushered him into the car.His mind was preoccupied with plenty thoughts, one of which being, how Damien Giddorti got to find out about his past?Pierre had told him that there was only one original copy of the actual accident, and that was the copy he was given. And he'd kept it somewhere safe, where no one will ever find it. The other available copies were the ones his father had doctored.So, how did Giddort find out that he was the one behind the wheels that fateful night, and not Adam Reed?He would've to put an end to the bastard, before he expose his secret and ruin his life.He cannot allow that to happen.Aside from his reputation wh
The drive lasted for a long while, during which Sebastian did not say anything to Zachary. He sat in the back, scrolling through his phone in silence, while Zachary kept stealing glances at him through the rearview mirror.Zachary wondered what was going through the man's head as he drove, because his expression was unreadable."Sir, we have been driving for almost an hour now, don't you think we should stop now, or do you have any particular destination in mind?" Zachary asked the man, but he was ignored outright. The man continued to scroll through his phone, feigning ignorance to his question.Zachary didn't bother the man anymore. Instead, he drove for a while, then stopped the car in the middle of nowhere.He turned turned off the engine, letting it rest from overheating.They were at an"What if the meaning of this, Zachary?!" Sebastian scolded the man, as he rolled down the car windows"I did not give you the instruction to stop the car now, did I?""No, you didn't, sir," Za