Five Years Later Alora's POV If there was anything I'd missed from my time away from New York, it just had to be the dazzling lights that lit up the streets at night. With the strips of red, blue and green neon lights flashing around, you could easily start a dance floor right in the middle of the street. All you needed to compliment it was some music. “Are you okay, Alora?” Someone's voice by my side was all it took to pull me out of my thoughts. I turned to my side, just to see a familiar face staring at me, a small smile on his face. “You look deep in thought.”“I'm fine, Fredrick.” I nodded once. “I was only reminiscing.” While the nostalgia that came with being back in town again were nothing short of bitter sweet, I knew there was some part of this town that had the power to turn my mood from a huvdred to zero in a matter of seconds. Not memories exactly, but more specifically; people. “The good old days?” Fredrick chipped in. “Darling.” I purred. “The best is
008Alora's POV I never believed the saying revenge was a dish best served cold , until now, and I didn't regret it. Not one bit. Before this moment, I always replayed it, over and over in my head, just how Cynthia and Eliaz were going to react when they eventually saw me again. I had made a habit of imagining the shock on their faces, but nothing could compare to this moment. Absolutely nothing. If it wasn't so dark, I would have taken a picture, just for reference. A couple of minutes had passed and the crowd was still in shock, which was exactly what I wanted. Slowly, like the veil had been lifted from their eyes, lone claps started resonating from different parts of the hall. The applause started out weak and scanty, but in a matter of seconds, it spread all round. With each high octane the claps reached, I couldn't help but feel all the more proud of myself. This was just one of many victories. “Let's welcome miss Alora to the stage please.” I took that as my sign to
Eliaz's POV Life could be a bitch, but I never really understood that concept until now. Or more specifically, a couple of minutes ago. Growing up, I'd always heard stories or people say you had to be careful of how you treated other people. As usual, I saw it as total bullshit, but now, I wasn't so sure anymore. My agenda for tonight had been very simple; come to the auction, bid the highest and win the contract for the company. I'd been looking forward to this all year, and I had made plans, set certain things place just so I could get it, and just while I was on the verge of success, the unexpected happened. Alora. If someone has walked up to me and told her that I was going to bump into her again, I would have laughed my head off. Or more specifically, I would have perceived them as a beggar and handed them a couple of dollars for the night. Alora was dead, so how the fuck was she able to not only show up here, but win the contract too? “Eliaz.” Cynthia's angry grunt c
Alora's POV I should have known nothing good would have come out of it. I had opened my mind to the possibility of anything happening tonight, but what u didn't see coming, was Eliaz actually approaching me. What in the world? Eliaz had a track record of being audacious and I couldn't believe there was a point in my life where I found it dashing. I was completely enamoured by the fact that he went for whoever and whatever he wanted, but right now, I couldn't be more disgusted. “If you keep your face like that for so long “ Fredrick spoke beside me, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts. “I'm afraid your face just might freeze.” I threw him a hard glare and he raised his hands in moxj surrender. I knew it was a light jab at trying to make laugh or at least crack a smile, but it was worthless, completely useless. .“Bad joke?” He let out and I sighed. “I'm sorry, I was just trying to cheer you up.”.He was, and that had to be the sweetest thing ever. It was Eliaz’s fault t
Fredrick's POV It stung, and I wasn't even going to try to deny it. The meal sitting in front of me had lost its taste a long time ago, but I still forced myself to swallow it, spoonful after spoonful. Why? Because it was Alora's favourite and I didn't want anything that was going to sour her mood. As she slowly picked at the plate in front of her, I couldn't help but feel like her mood had already been ruined, and by no one else asides me. Shit. I was a fool, and I'd only confirmed it this evening.Even a toddler would be able to see how happy I was to see alora on stage a couple of hours ago. She looked regal, right from the moment she got into her designated seat, the moment she outbid Eliaz and the moment she was called to receive the contract. Everything had been planned down to the last detail. My highlight of the night had to be the shocked look on Eliaz's face when Alora was announced the winner. Even though it didn't last long and was replaced by a faint sense of
Eliaz’s POV A yawn bubbled at the back of my throat, but I struggled to keep it in. It was one thing to present, or pretend to be present, and it was another thing to fail while totally at it. While pretending was hard and absolutely not worth it, I would always pick that over being called out for what someone else termed inefficiency. “Mr Deutchmond?” Someone's gruff voice called out to me. I blinked back till all I could see again was my screen. “Is anything the problem?” “Not at all.” I shook my head, before adjusting my tie. “My apologies, I zoned out a bit. Please continue.” “I'm not sure that's the right thing to do.” I bit back a groan. My eyes flickered shut before popping open again, and just as I feared, Mr Dumont’s angry face was staring at me. “Are you even interested in this collaboration?” No. I wanted to let out, but for the sake of my company and my sanity, I kept mute. “Yes Mr Dumont.” I nodded.. “I'm more than interested in partnering with you.”While th
013 Eliaz's POV I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding when I stepped into the living room. I counted to ten, then twenty and thirty, and when the stillness I had walked into still remained, I let out another sigh of relief. Heaven knows I'd had a really long day at the office today. As promised, I had hopped on another call with Mr Dumont again, and it didn't go as planned. He was beyond furious. I didn't know the man on a personal level, but I think it was safe to say that if he could, he would stripped me of the little dignity I had left and made me the laughing stick of the business world. The first hour of the call was filled with constant pleas from me, just to get another chance. Before that, I'd contacted a couple of other investors, but they weren't really interested. A whole lot of them were polite by telling me they would get in touch, while the others simply didn't bother to pick up. Yes, it was that bad. I shook off the events of the day before head
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
082Alora's POV I had no idea which was weird, the entire moments that led up to me fainting and waking up in the hospital, or Fredrick's weird energy. If I was being honest though, I would say it was Fredrick. I watched him from the windows in the living room as his car pulled out of the compound. I wasn't sure why, but his departure just didn't sit right with me. It sounded weird, and funny in a way. My mind went in a million directions, and so many thoughts crowded my head, but no matter how frazzled my brain was, my uncertainty didn't hint at the fact that he was probably cheating on me. It didn't. At all. For most women, that would be their first thought, but not for me. Fredrick wasn't that type of man, and he never would be. But at the same time, he had never been the kind to keep something from me. It was pretty obvious at this point. Usually, whenever he saw I was in a bad mood, he would do everything in his power to cheer me up. But throughout the drive home, he'
081Fredrick's POV The drive back home was silent. I hated it, but there was really nothing I could do about it. I wanted to speak, to try and ease out the tension that brewed in the car, but no matter how hard I tried or wanted to, I just couldn't bring myself to do anything. It just didn't feel right. I let out a sigh. I'd been doing that for the past couple of minutes now, but Alora didn't seem to complain. In fact, she hadn't reacted to anything I'd done and I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me. I snuck a glance at the woman in question. She had her head tilted towards the window, with her eyes trained on the scenery whizzing past. I knew Alora well enough to know that she wasn't staring at anything. She was looking at it, but she couldn't see anything. Even after Eliaz had left the ward, the tension that once brewed between the three of us didnt just go away. I'd stared at her for a couple of seconds, and it was obvious something was wrong . Very wrong. I was
080Alora's POV The devil really was after me, and I had all the proof I needed in the world. In fact, one of them was standing, no, sitting next to me right now. I couldn't believe my ears or eyes. The entire scenario replayed itself over and over again in my mind, but no matter how many times it did that, I just couldn't make any sense out of it. At all. “Not only do you want me to pull out from the real estate contract and everything that has to do with it, you want me to sign off a percentage of my company to you?” They were my own words, but somehow, I wanted to believe that I had a mistake. That Eliaz hadn't really just offered that bullshit as a way to help me. My eyes snapped back to the man in question. He had a sickly smile on his face and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face with a slap.At first, I was worried about his threat of not leaving till he got what he wanted, but now I was just plain mad at his audacity and stupidity combined. “Get out.
079Alora's POV I hated confrontations, but if anything, I hated the very person who was about to do it all the more. My heart skipped a beat, and as I stared at the man in front of me, I allowed my head to do the math. It was going to determine which was more dangerous; the man or his words. If you asked me though, I was going to say both. An unsettling silence settled between both of us. His words echoed in my ears, and it sent goosebumps down my spine but it did nothing to calm my curiosity. When had Eliaz gotten so bold? I snuck a glance at the man in question. He stood his ground, and in the past minute, I wasn't sure he'd moved a muscle. His face looked stoic and even though I wasn't a mind reader, I could already tell he had come here just for ulterior motives. But what kind, and what was he going to be on about?A sharp throb formed at the side of my head, and I winced. Eliaz hadn't even started speaking yet and I was already feeling this tensed up. What would happen
078Alora's POV I tossed and turned, but apparently, it did nothing to ease the torture I was in. Red hot pain seared at my sides, and I found myself whimpering. A dull ache spread through the back of my head, but it did nothing to numb the frequent banging at my left and right cranium. Even though I felt all of this, I didn't find anything more strange than the fact that even though I wasn't exactly sure if I was conscious or not, I still felt like I was on the verge of dying. Shit. What the hell was going on? My question, obviously, wasn't a priority to whoever was listening, because despite my laments and silent cries, nothing changed. If anything, the pain seemed to be growing by the minute. I pressed my eyes tighter, and that was when it dawned on me that I must have my eyes closed. I wanted to open it, badly too, but I couldn't help this strange sense of fear that enveloped me. What the hell was going on? I knew what I needed to do, but it didn't make it any less dr
077Fredrick’s POV “Are you even listening to yourself?” I was furious and even that couldn't fully describe how I was feeling. One would think that with the beautiful memories I had of last night, it would transcend into the remaining parts of our lives. Alora and I had had a shitty life combined, especially her. It didn't even help that even after she'd returned for her fresh start, things were still going horribly wrong. And the worst part, it wasn't just from one person. At this point, if she already had the thought that Los Angeles was cursed and probably not the right place for her, I wouldn't even judge her. In a way, it was true, because the number of things she'd experienced in just this short period of time wasn't exactly nice. That's why I had organized that dinner for the both of us. I'd rented out her favourite restaurant just for the two of us. While the cherry on top had to be the rooftop view, I still had other activities planned out for the rest of the week. I
Alora's pov There was no way this could be happening. My ears buzzed and I felt the world around me fade away into nothing. I tried to stare at the man in front of me, but I couldn't. Instead, the more I stared, the more the colors around me blurred together, before forming a single color. Black. I blinked back, but it did nothing to return to my immediate environment. I blinked and blinked, but nothing came. What the hell was happening to me? Before I could so much as ask myself another question, Mr Donald's voice reached my ears. I'm sorry ma'am, but we'll have to pull you out. The panel wants you disqualified, effective immediately. No no no no. I wanted to scream but I couldn't bring myself to force the words out. I couldn't even see what I was and it felt like I had been transported into another universe. An idea popped up in my mind and I froze. Had I died somehow? Had the news been so shocking that I died right on the spot? My mind raced, but as I thought about I
075 Alora's POV. My mind was a reeling mess, but I tried my level best to keep it in check. I was feeling all of the emotions I could think of at the same time and it was becoming overwhelming at this point. Right now, if I could be granted one wish, it would be to disappear forever till everything was back to normal again. But I knew that couldn't happen. This wasn't a fairytale and I wasn't exactly the luckiest person alive. I sighed. With as much dexterity as I can, I slip into the suit jacket just hanging off the cost rails. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and even though I'm the picture-perfect representation of what a confident woman should look like, that's now how I feel on the inside. I'm on the verge of collapsing. Last night was a blast, and while I enjoyed it, I genuinely did not want it to end. Fredrick had taken me to one of my favorite spots in the city but that wasn't all. He had booked the entire restaurant just for the two of us. I actually thought it w
074Eliaz's POV My body ached and it was weird because I couldn't particularly pinpoint something stressful that I'd done that day. The only thing that involved stress had to do with my mind and I didn't even feel as mentally tired as compared to the physical. Maybe it was a kind of foreshadowing of what was coming. I had no idea, but whatever it was, I just needed to rest. I pushed the door open and breathed a sigh of relief the moment I was met with silence. The lights were out and I quickly put two and two together that Cynthia had gone to bed. She'd been bugging me about the whole picture issue and I wasn't sure she would want to hear that I hadn't fulfilled my part of the bargain. She was a handful. And sometimes I wondered if I had done the right thing by getting married to her. I counted to ten and once there was no sound coming from any of the rooms, I settled into the living room. I'd ordered takeout on my way back and eaten it in the car, so there was no need to star