014Eliaz's POV This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening at all. I wasn't an avid believer of bad luck, I thought of it as complete bullshit. If you wanted something, all you had to do was work towards it, and it would all work out. But just because a certain human might have elapsed in his calculations or planning , which led to his failure or things not working out, he decided to term it bad luck, or worse still karma. That wasn't even the worst part. Not only did he make himself believe that, somehow, he was able to spread the concept to the rest of the world. I didn't believe in bad luck, so why were so many bad things happening to me all at once? First it was the contract, then Mr Dumont, and now this? I scrubbed my face with my hands, hoping that things would go back to normal again, and by normal, I meant, Mr Dumont would have considered me, even if it was only part time. But even after scrubbing for a total of ten minutes, nothing changed and in that mom
015 Alora's POV “Breaking news.” The newscaster’s voice reached my ears the moment I tuned into the news channel. Even though she tries to maintain a neutral face as she stared at the screen, I could easily tell the emotions that ran through her mind. She was both scared and excited. Scared to ruin the Deutchmond’s reputation even more and super excited for the hot piece of information she had in her grip.“The Deutchmond's have been under thick surveillance in the past couple of years and just while they were on the verge of fixing their barely existent reputation, everything fell through.” She allowed a couple of seconds to pass before she continued. “Just recently, news articles have began to come up, highlighting the fact Deutchmond Corporation has record a downward tank in their investments. Insiders tell us that about fifty percent worth of the company's stocks and shares have diminished, all thanks to their investors pulling out suddenly.”“Is that what I think it is?”
016Eliaz's POV I couldn't believe my ears, not my life either. I'd always watched movies and read books that described the moment in someone's life where their world came crashing down. I couldn't exactly say I'd experienced it before, except now. I just did, and it wasn't an experience I would recommend to someone else. I felt every bit of oxygen seep out of every pore in my body. I lost my balance tempo, but at the same time I didn't see myself tumbling to the ground. Even if it did happen, I would prefer I was standing next to one of the windows on the second floor. That way, my death would be certain the moment I hit rock bottom. No way. There was no way this could be possible. Alora's words echoed loudly in my head with each passing second. I tried my level best to push her words aside, but no matter how hard I pushed, they came back with more force. ‘Come on, Eliaz. Think. Did you ever meet them? Ever hop on a call with them? Ever try to figure out their real identi
017Eliaz's POV I meant what I said the other day, it wasn't just an empty promise I'd made in anger. I was going to make sure she paid for it, and in the hardest way possible too. I mused, pushing away the thought temporarily. Alora and I grew up together, or more accurately put, we shared a good number of years together before we eventually got married. I had chosen to get married to her for two obvious reasons, my revenge and no matter how hard to prove it wasn't true, she had a big heart, one that was easy to manipulate and break into a million pieces. How then, did that same heart come up with a plan that was just as evil and as it was brilliant? I would be lying to myself if I said I hadn't spent all night thinking about it. I knew time changed people, but five years wasn't a lot of time to do that much damage to her right?The alora I had spoken to on the phone was different from the one I knew five years ago. Hell, she was different from the regal lady thanking the ent
018Alora's POV I sniffed in the fresh morning air, and it just had to be one of the best decisions I'd actually made all morning. I was giddy, so giddy you could even see it in my steps. “Someone's happy this morning.” Fredrick had chipped in the moment he walked in on me dancing all alone in my room. “Care to share the reason why?” Yes, we were married, but we both stayed in different rooms, just how I wanted it. When we'd moved back to New York, Fredrick had proposed that we started sharing a bedroom, but I turned him down. Whether or not, I'd done it politely, I wasn't sure. All I knew was, at some point, we'd come to a conclusion that we had some kind of access to each other's rooms. While Fredrick was always in my room and I didn't mind, I wasn't sure I went into his space too often.“I have no idea.” I smiled in response. “Well, then.” Fredrick grinned, before waking further into the room. “This is where I come in.” My breath hitched in my throat as he walked towards
019Alora's POV I had definitely offended the universe at one point in my life, I was just beginning to see the consequences now. Shit. I should have known Eliaz's presence here would ruin things, but why was he here in the first place? He had bid for the contract and lost, so what the hell was he doing here? I gulped, hoping that my unease wasn't showing through my calm facade. The entire conference room could be likened to a graveyard, with everyone's eyes daring someone else in the crowd to speak. But no one did. No one could.“Mr Eliaz.” Donald cleared his throat. The atmosphere was still tense with anticipation, but it was better than radio silence. “That's quite an objection. Can we know why?”“Isn't it obvious?” Eliaz snarled. “The reasons are glaring at this point.”“Please list those reasons.” Donald's patience had to be studied at this point. “And why now? Why are you bringing up your displeasure at this gathering?”“The auction couldn't have been the best place to e
020Alora's POV Even after everyone in the conference room had cleared, I still remained, my body glued to the swivel chair I had been offered. When I had first gotten into it, nothing could hear how soft and lush it was, but now, it was the complete opposite. Invisible pins and needles pricked into my back at every interval, but I couldn't bring myself to move. Whether it had to do with shock or disbelief, I wasn't exactly sure, but I just knew Eliaz was the cause. Eliaz. I should have known he wouldn't take my surprise lightly. I didn't remember him being this vindictive, so when did that happen? No matter how hard I thought about it, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. It didn't make sense, it didn't make sense for him to pull this stunt on me. Was it Cynthia? Had she somehow convinced him to do this? Even though I asked myself a million and one question all at once, it did nothing to stop the fact that I knew the answers to the questions. It was Eliaz. It was all
021Eliaz's POV I'd never been more glad wiping off the smile off someone's face. I always heard it was satisfactory, but this, I could bet my life that an English word to describe what I felt hadn't been invented yet. Time seemed to slow to a halt as I watched the expressions change on Alora's face. First came shock, and then a steely determination that I didn't exactly like. “You do know this is a lost cause right?” She called out, her voice as cool as a cucumber. “You have nothing against me….”“Yet, I just submitted a file.” I responded with a smirk. “I implore you to not judge from it's size, it's more efficient than it looks.” The woman in front of me parted her lips to speak, but pressed her mouth shut again. I liked to think that I had rendered her speechless but she cornered me just at the last minute. “I hope you know you're only digging your own grave, right?” She asked quietly. “it would be a shame to see you lose twice in a row.” “I think you have enough things
163 Alora's POV I had a fifty fifty stand when it came to miracles, but right now, a miracle didn't sound like a bad idea. In fact, I needed it now more than ever in my entire life.My heart hammered in my chest, as I sat rooted to my seat. Time seemed to slow to a halt, and for a moment, I found it hard to breathe. No matter how hard I tried to push out air from my nostrils, it just didn't work. In fact, the more I tried, the more I sounded like a suffocating animal. Please help me God. Neither Henry nor his minions had reacted since I spoke, and I honestly didn't know what i thought about it. I tried to think of a reason why they were yet to say anything. Was it shock? Or perhaps they hadn't even heard me and I was only panicking. That was also a possibility, right? The bar was rowdy, with the dim light bathing and giving the place little to no light. In fact, the entire interior was a sharp contrast to the bright lights that ruined the sky and the outside as a whole. Bass
162Alora's POV Life had a funny but effective way of forcing one to be humble. With everything I'd been through in this city, I honestly thought things couldn't get worse, but I guess it was my fault in the end. I should have trained myself to always expect the worst, because it always happened, it was only a matter of time, and this time, fate had reared it's ugly head again. But only, it picked the wrong time to show it's face. A tired sigh slid past my lips as I stared ahead. I'd been in this spot for over an hour now, and I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn't tired. My bones ached and I felt restless, but for some strange reason, it had nothing to do with the what I was about to do. Instead, it had everything to do with what would happened if I failed. I gulped, and my mind took that as an Invitation to recall what had happened in the last couple of days. If there was a word that could be used to describe my mood all through, then it definitely had to be shock. Sh
161Alora's POV I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I just knew I had to. Those were the words I chanted to myself as I walked into the office a couple of days later. Yesterday had made it aa week since Fredrick was arrested, a week since I'd last seen my husband, and completely seven days without being granted to see him . I'd tried my level best to go around it,o searched high and low for a loop hole that would grant me at least five minutes with him, but no matter how hard I tried, it seemrd kike luck wasn't on my side at all. Luck and the police station too. On the fifth day, I easily discovered something, the police station was being uncharacteristically stubborn and adamant, and the only thing or reason that could give them that sort of audacity, was one simple fact.They were being backed up by an even powerful force and forced to do their binding. I wouldn't even be surprised that the Saudi powerful force, was nothing less than a human being, an influential one
160Alora's POV I couldn't believe my ears, at all. I'd heard of moments when one would be so shocked, that one would be forced to think that time had somehow rolled to a halt. I'd experienced my fair share of that moment, but I never thought another occurrence could top the charts of the most shocking one. If anything, what had just happened now was something I wouldn't be forgetting in a long time, even if I died, or went into a coma. “You’re alone now, Alora.” his words echoed painfully in my ears. “Abandon Fredrick, sign over your shares to me, and we could go back to being a couple”. The words seemed to be on loop, and the more I tried to get his voice out of my head, the more they settled into my mind. As they did that, I struggled to find the motivation behind it all. Was he really that audacious for him to think that I was going to agree to his terms? Or perhaps he was delusional and was only playing a prank on me. I raised my gaze to meet his face. My eyes scanned the
159Alora's POV I was conscious, but for the life of me, I didn't even want to open my eyes. Call it embarrassment, or probably depression, I didn't care. All I knew was that I didn't want to feel like this, at all. I couldn't even remember the last time I felt this way. I'd been through hell and back, literally, from the contract being ripped from me the first time, to bring framed for something I had no idea about, to you g to jail, to dealing with Ethan and a whole lot of other troubles I didn't wabt to remember, I wasn't sure I felt the way I was feeling now, and i hated it. I let out a deep breath, before finally forcing my eyes open, and the all too familiar sight of my ceiling greeted me. I knew I should be happy, or at least feel a tiny bit of comfort, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't summon it. All that ran through my mind, were the events that led to this moment. It wasn't a lot, but it was still embarrassing. I'd passed out in the Inspector's office a
158Fredrick’s POV A small groan slid past my lips as I slowly peeled my eyes open. A dull throb spread through the back of my head, and all around me, but I didn't let it get to me. My body ached, and I felt like I was going to pass out again. My lungs burned, and even the side of my torso too. I had no idea why it hurt, but for the life of me, I couldn't even bring myself to check. More groans slid past my lips as I forced myself into a sitting position. My back came in contact with the wall behind me, and I regretted it immediately. Something slimy seeped into my clothes, and I jerked forward immediately. Even that wasn't a good choice, because the moment my hands came in contact with the floor, a burning sensation raced up my body. I scrambled to my feet, and my legs ached. I tried to walk to the other side of the room, but I just couldn't. With all the strength I could mutter, I found myself limping to a part of the tiny room I felt was clean enough. Once there, I pressed
157Alora's POV I paced around the room, my footsteps slapping loudly against the clear tiles. I hadn't expected the sound from beneath my shoes to be so loud, but in my defense, I also hadn't expected to end up here of all places too. What the hell was wrong with my life? Why was there always some evil plan lurking around in the background and waiting for the right time to rear it's ugly head? I pinched the bridge of my nose as I continued my pacing. While I did that, I didn't miss the angry glares that the other people in the room threw my way. Did I care? Not in the slightest. It was selfish of me, but if nothing was going well for me, then I honestly didn't mind ruining a couple of other people's day too. I shook my head slowly. For the past hour now, I struggled to comprehend what the hell had just happened. One minute, things were going relatively fine, if you excluded the missing funds, and the next, Fredrick was being arrested. Fucking arrested. My mind darted back t
156Alora's POV An additional week had passed since we started the real estate contract in earnest, and I knew I should be glad that things were beginning to shape up, but I just couldn't shake off the unease that lodged itself in my chest every now and then. It didn't always come when I was distracted, I only seemed to feel that way anytime I set my eyes on our two new employees, Marcus and Phineas. They'd been eagerly at work, making choices and decisions that were sometimes out of my reach, but there wasn't a lot I could say. I didn't agree with half of their thought process, but Fredrick was always ever ready to back them up. “This is the new innovation I was talking about.” He'd said. “let's just let them do their thing, I'm sure it'll come out great.” I had so many questions, but for the sake of global prace, I'd decided to shelf them, until today that is. I'd arrived at the office like any pretty normal day. Once in a while, Fredrick and I often did routine checks, to
155Alora's POV It'd been a week since we started the real estate contract in earnest, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of myself. It was stressful and overwhelming, and in the past week, I could swear I'd lost count of how many times I wanted to give up. From the preparations, down to going to the site and managing the workers, everything was a lot. I'd cried to Fredrick more times than I wanted to, and at a point, i honestly deliberated giving it all up. “Do we really have to do this?” I'd said to Fredrick a couple of days back. “Is it really too late now?” “Yes.” Fredrick had let out admit a series of chuckles. “We can do this Alora. We fought so hard for this, from the very beginning too. We can't give up now. You're saying all of this because you're stressed. I'm sure once your vision starts coming to light, you'll forget all about it.” To further support his reassurance, Fredrick had taken me out to dinner. He insisted it wasn't a date, but just an avenue