She put the book back in its original place and continued her tour of Daniel’s study room. That was when she accidentally discovered the bidding documents for Harford Corporation’s land in a folder on the desk. Harford Corporation’s land was very close to the urban area. The geographical location had a great advantage and had the potential to turn into a resort, a leisure villa, and a school.With one look at the figures on the bid, even Arabella could tell why Zephyr had a vested interest in the land, too.Daniel had already signed the bidding document, which meant that he had already given his approval. By the time she left Daniel’s villa, it was already half past nine at night. Without wasting another second, Arabella left South Bay.It was ten o’clock when she reached home. As she walked toward her room, she passed by the study on the second floor and saw Benjamin sitting in front of the computer through the crack in the door. She wondered what he was busy with.He held a cigare
In the most inconspicuous spot in the close-up, Arabella noticed Linda squeezed out of the crowd, holding her handbag alone.She had dressed up meticulously, wearing a strapless dress that revealed her slender and fair legs while her face was fully made-up gorgeous.Linda could be seen gripping her bag tightly and biting her lower lip as she stared at the handsome man and beautiful woman in the crowd with resentment.Daniel went straight back to the company after he got off the plane. And it was no wonder he looked so upset the moment he stepped foot into the building. Arabella thought it was Linda who had angered him by picking him up at the airport, so she was wracking her brain for ways to explain herself if he asked about this.In the President’s office.Daniel flung the newspaper onto the office table and frowned. “Didn’t you say that everything was settled? Tell me, what’s going on?”Caleb stood on the other side of the desk and glanced meekly at the huge headline. He lowered hi
“President Garcia has gone ahead. I’ll send you there now to join him,” said Caleb.The so-called banquet was just a small celebration at a private villa.For the banquet, the villa had been beautifully decorated with roses as the host’s wife’s favorite flower. The host was Mr. Lopez, and it was obvious that he doted on his wife very much.The banquet was held in celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Lopez’s one-month-old twins.Although the banquet wasn’t big, the guests were prominent figures in Andalas. Arabella still hadn’t found Daniel yet, so she took a glass of champagne and attempted to find a quiet place to stand when she bumped into someone she knew.Calvin Galvez walked past her with his partner when he turned to look at her in surprise. “Arabella?”“Mr. Galvez, long time no see.” She gently swayed the champagne in her hand and gave his female companion a meaningful gaze.Calvin was afraid Arabella would do the same thing as she did the last time they met, so he immediately gave her
Beside the woman stood the nanny who was carrying the other baby in her arms.Joseph approached his wife and gently hugged her. “Why did you come out?”Juanita Sanchez smiled, and two dimples appeared on her cheeks. “I was alone and feeling bored.”Joseph Lopez walked towards Daniel and Arabella with his wife in his arms and gave them a simple introduction.The guests gathered around to look at the twins. Although the two were just a month old, anyone could tell that their eyebrows looked 60% like Joseph’s, while their black and bright eyes looked very similar to Juanita’s.Joseph was very considerate toward his wife. Every few minutes, he would ask her if she was tired. All she needed to do was frown slightly, and he would immediately ask her nervously what was wrong.It did not take long for envy to fill the eyes of the socialites present.Juanita had suffered a lot because she had taken too many supplements during her pregnancy, so the twins had grown into abnormally large fetuses.
Feeling less anxious, she said, “I’ll call him later, then.”She was about to hang up when Caleb suddenly said, “Miss Arabella, President Garcia said that you don’t have to come to the company tomorrow.”She was about to hang up when her hand froze. As if on automatic response mode, she immediately asked, “What do you mean?”President Garcia’s sudden decision came with no clarification, so Caleb did not know the reason behind it. “Perhaps Miss Arabella would know better than me.”Arabella knew that she was in the wrong, so she decided not to ask any further. She hung up and stared at the pedestrians outside the cafe in a daze.How was she going to explain this to Benjamin when she got back?Would Benjamin listen to her explanation?After thinking about it, she decided to go to the company to see Daniel. Even if he told her to leave Zephyr Group, she had to find a way to stay.She first went to the mall to buy some clothes to change into before taking a taxi to the company. However, sh
When Daniel heard the commotion behind him, he paused for a moment before continuing to walk forward as if he did not hear anything behind him.Two security guards rushed over and shooed Arabella out. She stood outside the clubhouse and paced back and forth impatiently. Suddenly, she thought of something and took out her phone from her bag to call Calvin Galvez.As soon as the call connected, she heard a series of angry curses from the other side. There was a hint of displeasure in his voice. “Who is it?”She was stunned for a moment, not understanding how she had offended him. “It’s me. Do you have a membership at Golden Sands?”His voice was a little hoarse over the phone as if he was suppressing something. “Arabella?”“Yes, yes, yes, it’s me.”Calvin frequented this kind of place, so of course he was a member here. When he heard Arabella ask him for his membership serial number, he was suspicious. “Why are you going to Golden Sands?”Arabella said, “Don’t worry about it. You have t
Daniel suddenly stood up. She thought that he was going to the washroom, but he turned around and said to her, “You play.”She was at a loss. “I don’t really know how to…”Besides, they were betting so big, and she didn’t have that much money.Although she was the second daughter of the Rivera family, she had never touched the money Benjamin had given her all these years.Some time ago, she had given all the money in her account to Benjamin for the bidding of Harford Corporation’s land.The money they better was enough for her to live on for a year. She was not extravagant enough to lose herself.Joseph smiled and said, “Daniel is here. What are you afraid of? He’ll be the one paying if we lose anyway.”She took a peek at Daniel, feeling uncertain since he did not refute or nod.If he didn’t pay after losing, wouldn’t she be selling herself?She hesitated, but because Daniel had already moved his seat, she could only bite the bullet and sit in his previous seat.Every time she played
July in Andalas meant scorching heat. The cicadas chirped on the branches under the shade of the trees at the Rivera residence. Arabella Rivera woke up to the music of the cicadas.Fortunately, Benjamin Rivera had left for the company. Otherwise, she would not know how to answer him if he asked her why she was not at work.But he had been pretty amiable to her recently. Was it perhaps because she had helped him with the Harford Corporation’s land bidding?After breakfast, she was about to find something to do to kill time when Frank called.She was a little surprised. Was he calling her in to formalize her resignation?When the call connected, Frank said, “Miss Arabella, why didn’t you come to work today?”She was confused. Didn’t Daniel tell her to leave Zephyr?Did Frank not know about this?That was impossible.If Caleb was given the authority to deliver such news to her, Frank should have known about it as well.Determined to find out what was going on, Arabella dialed Daniel’s nu
“Yeah, it was quite entertaining,” said Jack, stretching out his hand, with two 500 bank notes that Daniel had earned with ten minutes of work.He had to walk up to Jack to pull them out of his hand, which was the pinnacle of this experience. “Did you pull up here just for this?” he groaned and pushed the money into his pocket.“No, I still want my car washed,” said Jack, putting his hands into his pockets, on both sides of the bulge in his pants. He smelled of arousal, and all of a sudden, handsome Daniel could tell.“Sure, why not. Why not watch how badly I did, huh?” Daniel walked back to the buckets, trying to ignore the burning shame. “‘Look at me, I used to be the school loser and now I’ve got a Jag’,” he muttered and dipped the large sponge in the soapy water.Jack sighed. “You must really hate it, don’t you?”Daniel’s pulse sped up, and he could feel the vein bulging out on his neck. Even the orgasm he’d just had couldn’t soothe his nerves when Jack rubbed his success into Dan
Jack Ramirez POV “Daniel Garcia, am I right? The basketball star?”Daniel gave him a crooked smile. Daniel Garcia, the basketball star. That did sound nice. Too bad it wasn’t school anymore, and you couldn’t live off being a mediocre basketball player. He’d been good in school, just not good enough for a scholarship.But Daniel had to focus on the problem at hand. He couldn’t link those tantalizing eyes to a name at all. “Yeah, long time ago,” he said and held out his hand to the guy, hoping the driver would save him from his misery and introduce himself. He didn’t even take the hand Daniel Garcia offered.“Do you know who I am?” he asked with a small smile.Daniel crooked his head to the side and rubbed his hand against his sweaty stomach as if he’d never held it out. This was getting truly annoying. “Not really, no.” He shrugged, trying to keep his cool even though goosebumps of shame were crawling up his back. A motherfucker he was supposed to know from school pulled up in a sport
Daniel Garcia POVThe heat made Daniel Garcia boil in his uniform, so even though his boss had told him not to, he pushed the top of his coveralls down to his hips. Daniel was pretty sure the old pig was just jealous that his employee looked so much hotter than him. Not to mention both Manny’s wife and their daughter, Kiara Ramos, were making eyes at Daniel Garcia, which couldn’t be going down all that well with the guy. Manny Ramos probably only kept Daniel on because he couldn’t find anyone else who’d do the job for the slave wages he was willing to offer and live in the ancient motel by the gas station as well.Daniel carried a crate of beer into the small convenience store where Manny Ramos sat behind the counter, sweating, farting, watching TV, and fanning himself with a newspaper. Without a word, Daniel made his way toward the fridge to stack it full of beer. When he left home three years ago, he never thought he’d end up working at a shabby gas station in a deserted place, in a
Xander Reyes POVXander looked at this Daniel, so gorgeous, pretty, hard, and needy. It was one of the easiest assignments he’d ever had. His bright hazel eyes were heavy with lust, and then sooty black lashes swept Daniel's face as he shut his eyes tight. Xander didn’t kiss on jobs like this, ever, nor did any of his clients ever get to know his real name. But right now, seeing Daniel’s lips parted in a moan, his name repeated over and over, it was all he could do not to bite down on Daniel’s plump lower lip and then lick his way into that appealing open mouth. Groaning, he pulled himself back, he needed to get his head back in the game, and he wasn’t going to expose his vulnerability like that. He focused back on what he was doing, turning Daniel into a pile of sobbing need in his arms. "Want to suck me?" Xander asked, low and insistent. "Want me to force you to your knees, and make you suck me until I come all over your skin, rub it in… make you beg for me?"Xander felt Daniel push
Daniel Garcia Past LifeDaniel Garcia lived his own life far from his brother after they separated from their parents. He tried so damn hard to be a good straight husband. The life he chose meant so much to him. He experienced the ultimate sin which made him aware of the remnants of his past. Together with his brother, he approached the only sparkling desire that he thought to be the answer to his dream. Daniel wanted a family of his own, but, fate was unkind to him.It may have been the alcohol or the high of knowing tomorrow he’d be closer to changing his life, but tonight, worse the wear for the beers he had downed in quick succession on an empty stomach, meant that for once, he wanted to be himself. So he stood here, in a gay bar on what the cab driver said was the wrong side of town. The bar had shadowed corners and the smell of sex in the air—he watched.He watched the man at the bar; saw him leaning back, veiled eyes scanning the heaving late-night crowd. He stood in sinfully
Arabella put her cutlery down too and indifferently said, “He just doesn’t want to see me. So no matter how much you cook, you won’t persuade him otherwise.”‘Didn’t you say that you didn’t want to see me? Why did you come back then?’She remembered every single word he said yesterday which lingered like thorns in her heart.Daniel’s expression turned colder when he heard her words. He walked away to pick up the car keys on the coffee table and grabbed his coat at the entrance.He must have used too much force because the hanger shook twice and almost fell to the ground.Daniel walked out and not long after, the sound of a car engine came from outside.Mrs. Winstead walked to the living room and saw Daniel driving away. She returned to the dining room with a gloomy expression. “Young Madam…”After Daniel left, Arabella lost her appetite so she stood up and walked towards the stairs.Mrs. Winstead looked on and sighed heavily. When Young Master had not been coming back over the past fe
He got up and walked towards the stairs. She followed closely behind him and the two headed up to the second floor one after another. When they reached the bedroom door, Daniel did not stop, continuing to walk towards the study room.Arabella grabbed his sleeve again and Daniel stopped in his tracks. He turned around to look at her expressionlessly.“What are you angry about?” She looked up and met his dark eyes.He looked back at her innocent eyes and the words that he wanted to ask became stuck in his throat. “Nothing,” said he calmly.“How can it be ‘nothing’? You haven’t been home for half a month.” Afraid he would shake her off, she tightened her grip on his sleeve which started to wrinkle.“It was a business trip,” said he curtly.“What about before the business trip? Furthermore, Caleb told me that it has been a few days since you returned from your business trip.”Well, the part about Caleb telling her so was a lie. But she felt no guilt implicating Daniel’s assistant since Ca
Arabella had been waiting in the parking lot of Zephyr Group since 4 p.m.Afraid that she would be seen by her colleagues, she chose to hide in an inconspicuous corner while keeping her eyes on Daniel’s car.One hour, two hours, three hours passed, but Daniel still did not appear.The sky gradually darkened and the lights in the parking lot were a little dim, making the place gloomy and cold.She wrapped her coat tightly around her body and crouched as if to curl herself into a ball. Since she stayed in that position for quite some time, her legs started to feel a little numb. She decided to stand and walk a few steps to return blood flow to her legs. After stretching for a while, she resumed her crouched position.With the night approaching, the cold in the dim parking lot grew heavier – Arabella started to shiver. She wanted to go home in a huff, but she was also unwilling to do so without having confronted Daniel.What right did he have to treat her like this?Even if he was angry,
When it was the day of the pregnancy checkup, Daniel had not returned from the business trip. She was already expecting to go to the hospital alone only to find someone else in the living room when she came downstairs.“Why are you here?” She looked at Francesca in surprise.“Young Madam, President Garcia asked me to accompany you to the hospital,” said Francesca gently.It seemed that he still remembered the date. Arabella nodded. “Let’s go.”Mrs. Winstead noticed how thin the clothes Arabella was wearing so the former handed the latter a red coat on the hanger at the entrance.How could Arabella refuse Mrs. Winstead’s kind intentions? The former took off her jacket and put on the coat. Then, Arabella grabbed her bag and left the living room with Francesca following behind her.Because Francesca had made an appointment in advance, they went straight to the hospital for the checkup. After a series of examinations, the doctor said, “The child is very healthy. It’s just that you must ha