“What?” Zoe exclaimed, not knowing which she was most surprised by. What her mother had said or the fact that she felt good about saying it. “Who was in love with you?”“Her husband.” She replied still wearing the proud look on her face.“How did you know that?” Zoe asked. “Were you also in love with him?”“Of course not.” She answered immediately with a guilty look on her face. “Why would I be in love with a married man?”Zoe nodded her head, still studying her. There was still more to be told because of the look in her eyes and she would try her best to play around it so she wouldn’t come off as being too inquisitive.“So, they were already married before you noticed her husband was in love with you?”“Yes. In fact, we were all married. I noticed for the first time during a business dinner that he was throwing looks at me. Donald was a very handsome man so I felt flattered.”“Flattered?” Zoe asked. “Even as married woman, you were flattered that another married man was throwing look
Avery rubbed his palms together while she waited for a response. He didn’t know why she was asking him that but he sure as hell wasn’t going to defer from giving her an answer. Any answer at all.“What are you asking, Zoe?” He asked, eyes on hers. “What are you really asking?”“You do not want to answer the question?"“What is the question?”“Are you still in love with Jasmine?” She clarified boldly and he relaxed on his chair, eyes still on her. He was surprised that she was asking him that. Surprised about how she asked the question. Like she really wanted to know what it is he was feeling.“I don’t know.” He replied. “But every time I look at you, I want to kiss you. Every time I look at you, I want to touch every part of your body and make you shiver at my touch.”Zoe swallowed hard at the statement as she felt her cheeks becoming red. That was a very honest answer that she had not been expecting.“You are breathtaking, Zoe. I’m sure you have been told that before.” Avery continue
Avery watched as the hospital staff wheeled his sister and her driver into the hospital. She had been hurt but not as much as her driver. Wherever the car that collided with them had come from, he had no idea, but the car zoomed off in the blink of an eye and left them to deal with their mess. The car had hit the driver’s side and he wasn’t sure David, Mia’s driver was going to make it.Avery walked inside, grateful that the hospital administration had taken them in through the VIP entrance. At least it would stop them from being seen by onlookers in the hospital even though much couldn’t be done at the accident scene.Avery picked up his phone and dialed Jacob’s number and the latter picked up on the fourth ring, a hint of frustration in his voice.“Where are you?” was the first sentence out of Jacob’s mouth. Avery took three breaths to steady himself as he paced the lobby while waiting for his family to come.“Mia was in an accident Jacob.” He answered. There was silence on the othe
“Calm down, Mia.” Avery said to her but she stared daggers at him. So, he thought twice about going near her in order not to meet something worse than a flying vase.“You think I have not been aware of the whispering that has been going on between all of you?” She asked, this time around allowing Aaron share in her deadly stares. “You are doing dangerous things and putting our lives in danger?”“What the hell are you talking about, Mia. That was an accident.” Aaron argued.“Was it?” She snapped at him before turning back to look at Avery who stared at her, worried that she might not be as naïve and thoughtless as he might have made her to be. “Was that an accident, Avery?”He cleared his throat before speaking, knowing fully well that he needed to thread with care. She just lost her driver. Her driver who has been driving her around since she was a child, someone she shared a lot with. Right now, she was very sensitive.“It was an accident, Mia. You saw what happened. The car came out
“I can handle it, Avery.” Zoe replied immediately. The tone in his voice as he asked the question had scared her, but she wanted to know everything there was to know.“You are just saying that because you are curious.” He replied, closing his tablet.“Avery, you have to tell me.”“Well, it’s nothing.” He said. “I have to get to the company. Stay with Mia until I come get you.”Zoe rolled her eyes at him while he stood up and left. He had been serious when he asked if she could handle the truth, meaning that there was indeed something he was hiding and she needed to find out about it.Quickly, she finished her coffee and headed over to Mia’s room. Thankfully the teenager was alone, surfing through television channels. Zoe walked straight to her and took the couch provided beside her.Mia kept groaning and moving from one channel to the other with the television remote. When she couldn’t find anything suitable to watch, she turned the television off.“Nothing in the whole freaking telev
“You knew that I was married before?” Zoe asked him again.“Zoe?” Avery called to pacify her.“You knew about Francis and you pretended all this while?”“It wasn’t any of my business.” Avery tried to explain to her but she was not interested in any of it. He knew about Francis and she had been keeping it to herself all this while.“Did my mother tell you? Was it also included in your little discussion with her before you met me?” She asked, staring daggers at him and he shook his head immediately.“Then how the hell did you find out?” she asked coldly.Avery sighed and turned away from her. She watched him unbutton his shirt, pulling it out of his trousers. “Let’s just say I have my ways, Zoe.”“You have your ways? What else do you know about me?” She asked furious all over again. “What else have you secretly leant about me that I do not know?”“It is not a big deal, Zoe. You kept it probably because you didn’t want anybody else to learn about it. It is fine.”“It is not fine, damn it
Zoe woke up to see Avery’s face directly close to hers. He was watching her sleep with a very huge smile on his face. Last night had been very weird for the both of them. They had barely said more than ten words to each other and now, to have him smiling at her that way was confusing.She stirred on the bed and turned to her side in order to be able to get her face in good shape. Avery never woke her up in such manner before. In fact, with the way things were between them, she wasn’t expecting him to still be in bed at this time.It dawned on her immediately so she turned back to take a good look at him again. He was still dressed in his night trouser only that this time, his upper body was bare, but he still had that big smile on his face. That very big Simon smile that was now imprinted in her brain even after meeting him only once.“Simon?” She called just to be sure and his smile widened.Of course, it was Simon. Avery wouldn’t wake up that cheerful especially now that they were n
“I did not take the gun, Simon. I swear.”Simon continued to pace the garden, furious at her for losing the gun. Zoe watched him, wondering how someone so sweet a minute ago could turn into the angry fellow she was looking at now. He was angry with her and she could not understand why.“I told you it was important.” He said.“And I am telling you that I did not take it.”“That gun has been there for a while already now and no one has taken it. But the moment I showed it to you, it has gone missing.” He snapped at her with clenched teeth.“Then maybe someone probably saw it and took it.” Zoe answered, trying to defend herself but he wasn’t having any of it. She placed her hand on her temple and continued to look at the hole he built.It was strange enough that they were getting death threats but if guns were now going missing, what the hell was she supposed to do?Someone began to bang on the door of the garden. Zoe walked over to open it only to see Aaron and Jacob waiting. One was bo