I stood there, waiting for him to leave or tell me he was kidding but he didn't.“I could stay here all day,” he said when he noticed that I was making no move to undress. He said it with this conviction that I knew that I had to believe him even if I didn't want to. He was going to stay till I undressed. “Okay, I'm going to wear it,” I replied. “Then go ahead,” he replied like I was the person causing the delay. “Can you go outside, so I could...” I started but he stopped me with a look.“No!” he smirked. “You lost that chance to make that choice when I told you earlier and you decided to be stubborn. Now I'm just going to watch you do it.”I was wearing just a loose T shirt and free shorts when I went for breakfast and one of the reasons I was delaying was because I wasn't wearing a bra, I had just worn the shirt rushed down to breakfast and didn't want to burden myself with a bra. I didn't know it was going to end up like this. Who was even going to know that he was going to ask
I told myself that I was done trying to get Jace's attention. I was done appearing like a fool before him. I was done with him and I couldn't wait for the one year of the contract to expire so I could go back to my regular life. For now, I was only going to be focusing on my art, get better and break new grounds. I had told myself all that for days that Jace had stayed away from me but immediately I saw the way that he was treating Aria; the way he was making her feel special and when he had finally taken het out for the evening, all my resolve shattered. I couldn't stop the envy that shoved its way to the front of my mind. I couldn't let go of it even though I knew that I should. She was my sister and I shouldn't be jealous but I couldn't help it.At some points during the day, she had even tried to make me hang out with her but I couldn't. I knew that I wasn't going to present there with her so it was easier for me to say no. If I did, there was a high possibility that I was going
ARIA'S POVMy birthday was a whirlwind of emotions, and I have to admit that I had fallen hook, line, and sinker for everything Jace had done for me. The clothes he had gotten for my day, the way he smiled and complimented me, the way he made me feel like I was the only person in the world. It was all so intoxicating, and I had let myself get swept up in the moment that I didn't pause for a second to think about the whole thing. But then, like cold water had been splashed on my face, Jace mentioned that everything he had been doing was just a distraction. He had tried to make the whole thing seem shallow and not really deep but I had seen through it. I was surprised when I knew that I shouldn't have been surprise because it was Jace after all - he didn't do anything that didn't bring back benefits to him. If as we had gone back home, I couldn't shake off the feeling of unease that settled in my chest - the whole day a distraction for him. I entered Caila's room, expecting to see her
JACE'S POVAria was right when she said that I needed to concentrate on my company, that I needed to focus in getting my company back on track but no matter how I had tried to concentrate I couldn't. Even when I was sitting alone in my office, my mind kept replaying the kiss. The kiss that I had with Aria several days ago. The kiss just kept flashing in my mind like I was a little girl that had just had her first kiss. It was just crazy that I had kissed a lot but for some reasons unknown to me I couldn't stop thinking about this one. But the truth was that kissing Aria had felt very different. And what's even more surprising is that it felt different from kissing Caila, someone I've been close to for a while. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but there was something about kissing her that left an impression on me.I know it sounds very corny, but it was the truth. And now, I couldn't stop thinking about it.That was the reason I had decided to be with her on her birthday to see
ARIA'S POVI had seen his reaction immediately I entered his office. I had seen the way his eyes had darkened when they rolled along my body, I had felt the fire that caught where they passed, I had heard his warning too, but I had been too stubborn. Now I was locked in the room with him, with the beast that seemed to have replaced him and I was beginning to have doubts about if I should have listened when he gave me a choice to leave. “I gave you a chance to run but you're still here,” he whispered a low voice that sent another round of shivers down my spine. I wanted to speak but my brain was jumbled. He came closer till we were literally breathing the same air and instantly he claimed my lips. I still wanted him to know even though it looked like he was in control, I had some degree of control so I bit his lips and pushed him backwards again and his lips coiled up into a smirk when he tasted the blood. “I'm going to bend you over and fuck that attitude out of you till you star
ARIA'S POVAs usual, I woke up from sleep but kept my eyes closed as the memories of the previous night flooded my mind. Since I had Lucas had left the last time, I had not slept with any other person, first it was because it felt like I was cheating, then it moved to the stage that I was healing, then it finally got to the point that I was no longer interested in sex. I had tried one time but I ended up leaving immediately the poor dude started undressing me. But with Jace… it felt like I had been expecting it. Since he had tried to kiss me several weeks ago and left me needy, I knew that I wanted him inside me and it had not been disappointing. It was almost like it wasn't our first time together because he knew the exact places to the, the exact way to move to lead me to the gates of pleasure and I hadn't come just once but five times. I think I needed another… I opened my eyes. I was still in his office? Wait, we had slept there? I remembered how weak I was when sleep came for
ARIA'S POVAs I prepared to go to Jace office, I couldn't shake off the feeling of that had building up since I heard the name and now, the unease had flooded my system. I was hoping against hope that Kai was wrong about it. No, he had to be, because Victor? No way, I had tried to imagine why but I couldn't come up with anything. How had Jace of all people managed to get on Victor Hayes' radar? He was the last person in the world that anyone wanted to cross paths with, especially as an enemy. And yet Kai had discovered, after weeks of checking that Victor had hacked into Jace's company. My phone rang and I picked it up, thinking it was Jace but it was Rita. “You good?” she asked immediately I picked. “Yes,” I replied, adding energy into my voice to make sure she didn't hear that I was lying.But she did not reply almost as if she was waiting for me to talk. “Come on! Spill! You told me you were going out with Jace last night and you had an intuition that something was going to ha
JACE'S POVAs soon as Kai uttered the name "Victor Hayes" as the mastermind behind the hacking, I knew that the fight was going to be very long. And just like I and Aria had told Kai, Victor wasn't to be compared to Darius. Darius acted foolishly and expected that once he had put things in place like the security system, it was going to be impossible for us to get to him again. He had stopped taking precaution. Based on what Edward had told me about Victor some years back, he was patient and that was the scariest quality that an enemy could have. I knew about him but I was shocked that Aria knew about him too. His evil activities were not broadcasted loudly. I had thought I was the only one who knew the truth about him, but I was clearly in the wrong. As I thought about the possibility of losing my years of hard work to him, the office suddenly felt suffocating, and I needed to escape. I stepped out of the office into the hall way taking a deep breath as I tried to clear my head.
THREE YEARS LATERSilent nightHoly night…… Was playing from the hidden speakers but the estate was anything but silent. The air outside was freezing cold with several inches of snow but the house was warm and cozy. The scent of pine from the Christmas trees and the sweet aroma of freshly baked gingerbread cookies filled the air. It was a perfect winter afternoon at the Sharpe estate. Bright twinkling lights surrounded the whole estate and snow was gently falling outside. Caila and Liam stood hand in hand at the entrance of the large room, looking at the scene before them. The warmth of the gathering reached them even from across the room, it was the sound of family chatter and laughter. Their son, Ronan, tugged at Caila's coat urging her to come with him."Momma, is Cacacia not ready yet?" he asked, his eyes wide with excitement which was amazing because had not seen her before. He had just heard his parents talk about her, telling him that he had a cousin.Caila smiled softly, b
CAILA'S POVI was finally going out on a real date with Liam after he had asked me out. It was also the first time that we would be a couple in the eyes of the public and not go out on dates in private places. I didn't want to feel nervous, I actually had no reason to be nervous but I was probably because it felt too official. He was downstairs talking to Jace about things I didn't care about and I was just here, delaying. Even though Jace never wanted me to “rush” out of the house, I still needed to give him and Aria that privacy now that they were becoming serious. But as he said, he wasn't pushing me out so I still had time to think about it and make proper plans.Well… let's do it. I brushed my hands over the evening dress that I wore and stepped out into the sitting room were he was waiting. When he saw me, he stood up and his eyes immediately looked onto mine and a small smile spread across his face, the kind that made my stomach do flips. “Hey,” he greeted, walking toward me
ARIA'S POVI loved Jace to the moon and back. I couldn't even imagine that there was a time when I hated him. He had also been very supportive of my plans. Soliel Vineyard was beginning to grow faster and the public assault on our image because of the video of Mr. Sleighman had stopped. He had also helped me in providing a means to help the people around the site of the company.Then he had stood in front of national TV to confirm how much he loved me. Now we were going to our first public event together. After the statement Jace had made in front of the court some days back, several investors had reached out to him to be a part of Sharpe Tech's success because he was now seen as trustworthy. The company's shares had also increased rapidly, and the clients they handled were now bigger and better than ever before because of this. So in less than a few weeks, Sharpe Tech was known as the greatest tech company in Europe.Seeing this as an achievement for his years of suffering and har
JACE'S POVAfter several weeks of waiting, Caila and I had finally signed off on the divorce papers, the finalization of our one-year arranged marriage contract, and just to make it official, I and Aria had also signed it off.The weight of keeping my love for Aria away from public eyes had been heavy for so long, but now, with marriage officially over, there was a strange sense of relief I was having. One thing was clear though, it was the realization that the moment the door to that chapter closed, my love for Aria was just beginning.I couldn’t imagine my life without Aria, it was just going to be incomplete. In the last few months, she’d become an essential part of my world, I did not even notice it at first but she was like a light I couldn’t ignore. Now, I was committed to making up for the past, for all the time that I had treated her and her sister lightly, now I wanted to give her everything I could. Because she deserved everything good.But I wasn’t entirely free from my pas
ARIA'S POV Now that everything was settling down and we were counting down to days to when we could finally take our relationship public, I and Jace were mostly indoors in each other's arms. I thought that my father's action was going to affect me for longer but it had not, and I knew it was as a result of Jace's consistent presence around me. I didn't have the spare time to think about Mr. Sleighman. Caila had Liam and she had been flashing the brightest of smiles and it was safe to say that she was okay.It was a Saturday morning and I was lying on Jace's chest and we had been like that since we woke up and Jace had not even complained. The only thing he did was place a kiss on my forehead, cheeks and lips from time to time. The change between this Jace and the one I met some months back was different, it was almost like there were two different people.“There has been a lot of change with you,” I said. “In what way exactly?” he asked.“The Jace I know wouldn't be lying on the b
CAILA'S POVWhen Liam stopped by the road side and came to open my side of the car door I was shocked. He had said we were going on a date, so my mind couldn't process the reason why we were stopping in the woods. But he told me to trust him, then held my hand and led me down the path. It wasn't long before he stopped in front of a lake where a boat was waiting. He turned it on and drove us to a lake house that was at the center of the lake. I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face when Liam took my hand and led me inside the cozy lake house. It was just the two of us… no distractions, no noise, no one else, just us. It was the kind of privacy we both needed at that point. I loved the atmosphere of the place already. “Watch your steps before you fall into the lake. There are crocodiles waiting,” Liam cautioned. “What?!” I screamed as I ran away from the side of the lake house and towards him. The last thing I needed was to get eaten by a crocodile. But when I held on
CAILA'S POVWe sat down in the dinning to eat breakfast together for the first time in a long while. It was two weeks after everything that happened. The men that Victor had dealings with were beginning to get caught and some of the victims of the trafficking were reconnecting back with their families. As I ate, I couldn't help but notice the tension in the air. Jace was eating slowly while Aria was flipping things around on her plate. She had been doing that since we began eating and I knew her too well to let it pass. “Do you want to keep doing that or do you want to tell me?” I asked her.“There's nothing really,” Aria mumbled. “Right!”“Okay, I didn't want to tell you about this earlier because I didn't want to affect our relationship again and I know how you Jace have been and...”“Just say it,”“Me and Jace have been having sex,” she replied. I stared at her, expecting her to continue to elaborate but it seemed like that was the only thing she wanted to say. For a moment, I
ARIA'S POV“Yes, I did it,” My father said immediately as I narrated what Jace told us to him. The way he even said it, with an air of authority like he didn't do anything wrong. “You know when I saw you walk in, I thought that you have finally seen that no one else but me should be CEO. And then you come and start talking about an old issue?”Jace, who had been leaning on the wall, grunted with disgust. “You would never be CEO again, you don't deserve it,” Jace said. My father turned and stared angrily at Jace. “You think you can come into my home and...” my father started to say but I cut him off.“Why?” I asked calmly. I could already see that he was gone past redemption at this point but I needed to be sure that he had some reasons. Some good reason that I was too blind to see. “You'd never understand,” he replied. “You'd never understand how sacrifices work. When you have to give things you love just to get what you need.” he said sadly. “Sacrifices? Love?” I scoffed as I got
CAILA'S POVI was happy when Victor was caught and sent to prison. It meant that my budding career was going to begin to progress more rapidly now that I had no one trying to bring me down. But then he had told me about how my father had decided to give me out to Victor Hayes. Victor Hayes! Someone that was known for human trafficking and other forms of violent crimes? It wasn't loud that Victor had been into all those things before but before agreeing to give me off like that, the least he would have done was to make sure he wasn't giving me to the wrong person. I was so pissed I didn't know how to react. Aria was quiet but I knew she was just as pissed off as I was. We wanted to go to his house immediately but Jace said we should go the next day when we were calmer, but I knew nothing was going to change even when we got calmer. Just then, my phone rang. The worry disappeared from my head for a second and my heart did a little flip when I saw that it was Liam. He had not called a