Is Tristian starting to see Anna in a different light?
Many words were in Tristian’s head to say, but he didn’t know if complimenting Anna would be the right thing to do. But how could he not when she looked that good? “You look nice, Anna.” He almost face-palmed himself. Of all the words in the world, he just had to go with ‘ nice.’ “I don’t think ‘ nice ’ is the word you were going for, but I’ll take it. You look nice yourself.” Anna’s reply was unexpected by both Tristian and Shayne. It seemed that the look she had on had given her some confidence. Shayne loved it! “You also look nice, Shayne. You’re both stunning.” Tristian rephrased his words, holding himself from scratching his head nervously. “It’s the good genes, Reyes.” Shayne flipped her hair and walked to the car, purposely leaving Anna behind. “Are you ready?” Tristian asked, holding out his arm for her. Anna looked at his arm and smirked. “Keep the act for when we get there, Tristian. We don’t have to pretend when it’s just us.” She replied and followed Sh
“So, Mr Reyes. Tell me, how did you guys meet? No one knew you were in a relationship, not to even talk about being married. This has definitely been a big shock for everyone. The internet has been hot since your wife’s appearance yesterday.” William laughed as he sipped his wine, hoping to make small talk before diving into business talks. Tristian twirled his wine glass gracefully and smiled lovingly at Anna. “Anna doesn’t like the media attention. It was her idea to keep things quiet, and I’ll be honest, I couldn’t agree more. It shows how good of a woman she is, you know.” He replied and placed a hand on her thigh, making sure Jacob could see. Well, how could he not see when his eyes were glued to Anna? “Aww, look at them. You’re both sweet, and you look so good together.” Emma praised with a hand on her chest. She couldn’t say the same about herself and Jacob. Their relationship was anything but sweet. “So, how did you guys meet?” Garcia reechoed William’s question with a mi
Anna walked briskly, trusting her heart to lead her to where her son was. She felt he wasn’t on the second floor as she would have heard his voice already, so she went to the last floor. As soon as she arrived, she noticed a slightly open door, and her heart raced. She walks towards the door and hears the most angelic laughter from the room. Anna immediately pauses and listens again to be sure she is hearing correctly. When she hears the same laughter, her heart leaps, and her breathing becomes ragged. She places a hand on her chest to calm herself down as she steps towards the room. “Where are you going?” Anna halts and shuts her eyes in frustration before turning around to meet Garcia, who was standing a few steps away from her with a horrified look on her face. Her eyes moved to the room Anna was standing in front of, and she hurried to her and shut the door properly. “What are you doing, Anastasia?” She asked again, gritting her teeth. Remaining as composed as ever, Anna spo
“Mama…” Anna’s heart skipped immediately, and her hands began to shake. She never expected those words from him so early. To her, it was a sign from heaven, telling her to fight for her child. Everyone at the table gasped loudly as they heard the word leave his lips while Garcia and Jacob looked at each other with terrified looks on their faces. “Oh my! This is unbelievable!” His nanny, Carla, exclaimed with her mouth wide open. Anna noticed the surprise on the faces of everyone and asked. “Is something wrong?” She asked Carla, and without thinking, she blurted out. “He has never said that word before, even to his real mother,” Carla revealed, staring at Anna with a broad smile. “No one asked you to speak, Carla!” Garcia said from her seat with a frown on her face. The tension at the table was high. It was an awkward situation for the Wade Family, especially Garcia and Jacob, who knew the truth. They had never believed it before, but now they did. It was indeed tru
“Good day, Everyone.” Tristian greeted as he walked in, with Anna following behind him. Those seated stood to greet him, including Jacob and William Wade. “Mr Tristian! Good to see you again. Good to see you too, Mrs Wade. Although, I wasn’t expecting you.” William chuckled, hiding that he wasn’t comfortable with a woman being involved in their business talks. People didn’t know this, but William Wade was a misogynist. He believed women shouldn’t be allowed to work in the same sectors as men because, to him, they weren’t as smart as men, especially when it came to business. For that reason, he opened a world-class shopping mall in his wife’s but ran it himself and kept her as a housewife who only showed her face when the media was involved. William’s team had no women, whereas Tristian’s team had both women and men. Seeing them in the office disturbed William, and he was ready to shut them up the moment they said anything he didn’t like. Tristian immediately picked up his odd
“Are you bothered by my return, Jacob?” Anna whispered into his ears with a smirk, and she felt him shiver. Anna pulled away, crossed her arms, and stared at him. “You’re shaking, Jacob. Don’t be scared. I don’t bite.” Jacob finally blinked and scratched the back of his neck. When he raised his head, his eyes turned a darker shade. Anna couldn’t tell if it was from anger or lust. It could be both. “Have you finally decided to drop the act? What happened to not knowing who I am?” He closed their gap again and grabbed her arm harshly. Anna lowered her eyes to where his hand was and smirked. “I didn’t lie, Jacob. You are dead to me. This Anastasia doesn’t know a man like Jacob Wade.” She replied with a strong voice and eyes as cold as ice. Jacob’s brows creased in confusion as she spoke, and Anna decided to explain. “Jacob Wade was my boyfriend, but he is no more. The only man I know is a monster who took my son away from me through deceit and lies.” She said and pull
“I do not want you being in a closed space alone with him, Anastasia.” Tristian’s face was as hard as a rock and cold as ice. Anna’s face twisted, and her brows raised as confusion spread across her face. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” Anna chuckled and folded her arm, watching Tristian’s jaw become as sharp as a knife. “He was staring at you like he wanted to rip your clothes off and kiss you right here. He was doing that before me. I simply cannot have that. Next time, if you need to meet him, it must be in the open or with me by your side.” He asserted, and Anna’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Do you realize that Jacob is my ex? He was my boyfriend for two years. I carried his child! Why would I be scared of him? I don’t need to be careful around him, Tristian.” She replied. Anna found his anger funny, but at the same time, she was getting pissed. “You do, Anna. You need to be careful around him. No one knows what he’s capable of. Jacob Wade is not a good ma
“I’ll be heading home now, Mrs Reyes.” Anna’s assistant, Samantha, said as she entered Anna’s office. It was then Anna realized that it was already past work hours. Anna checked her wristwatch and gasped when she saw it was 6:37 pm already. “Oh my! It’s late already. Thank you, Samantha. You may leave.” She thanked Samantha, but as the lady was about to leave, Anna stopped her and smiled apologetically. “Do you know if Tristian is still in his office?” Anna asked. “No, Mrs Reyes. He left an hour ago.” Samantha replied, and Anna forced a smile to hide her pain. “You may leave. See you tomorrow, Samantha.” Anna said and leaned back in her seat. She had hoped to speak to Tristian about what happened earlier. She knew that his leaving without telling her or even checking up on her meant that he was still annoyed. Anna closed her laptop and cleared her table as she prepared to leave. As she picked up her bag, a knock sounded on the door, and Tristian’s driver, Sean, entered her
“Come, let’s go to my room. We should be careful, even in my house.” Anna said and led Emma to a guest room in the house.Even though she was now working with Emma to bring down the Wades, she wasn’t going to trust her fully as there was still a chance Emma might want to betray her. The only people Anna could fully trust were her sister and Tristan.She still had to be careful with others even though they seemed nice.“There’s a lot in here, Anna. William has more secrets than we thought.” Emma said as she placed the bag on the bed once they were inside the cozy room.“Show me.” Anna requested eagerly and Emma nodded as she started pulling out the items she had stolen from William’s secret room.“I didn’t even have enough time to go through them because of how many they are.” Emma shook her head and handed Anna a stack of files she had compiled.“I have gone through these though….they are terrible. I cannot believe he is respected in this country. Once this leaks, he will definitely b
“Someone was in here!” William said angrily and stormed into the living room, his face twisted in rage. He didn’t want to cause a scene because there were secrets hidden in that room that no one was to ever find out and if Jacob or Garcia saw him getting so worked up about someone going into his room, they would wonder what was in it that he wanted to hide so badly. So, he called one of the maids and had her call the others to his study.“Get everyone to my study, now!” He yelled at the young maid who immediately scurried off to grab the other staff.The maids scattered at the entrance of his study, unsure of the source of his anger as they sensed trouble on the way.“Which one of you came into my study?!” He barked, his voice echoing through the four walls of the study.The maids exchanged confused glances as they silently questioned each other. Tracy, one of the older maids decided to speak up and save everyone from William’s wrath.“Pardon me, sir, but, none of us came into this fl
“Emma?” An overly familiar voice called out and Emma froze. When she looked up, she found William standing beside his son, Jacob. They both stared at her with suspicion as she never frequented the area unless she was being called.“What are you doing here?” William asked, narrowing his eyes at her Emma’s heart pounded harshly against her chest and her mind raced, searching for a lie to get her out of the situation she was in.“I…I..uh.. the thing is…” She stammered but couldn’t form any coherent sentence.“What are you doing in this hallway, Emma? You know it belongs to Father and I don’t think you were sent by anyone so what the fuck are you doing here?” Jacob yelled, his gaze sharp and full of suspicion.Emma knew that she had to say something fast if she didn’t want them to throw her out right there so, she said the first thing that entered her head.“I was looking for you, Jacob. I searched everywhere but couldn’t find you so I decided to come here since I know you visit here freq
Emma stared at the now-revealed door with her jaw on the ground. Her pulse quickened and her feet trembled but, she was determined to uncover whatever secret was hidden behind the door so, she stepped in. There was a dark hallway, the only source of light being a dim light which was at the end of the hallway. She finally reached the end of the hallway and a door came into view. Emma said a small prayer before reaching for the doorknob and to her surprise, it wasn’t locked. Her heart thundered in her chest as the door creaked open, revealing a small, dimly lit room. It was almost like a private lounge with leather couches, a glass coffee table, and a running air conditioner. The air in the secret room was cold with a faint scent of cigarettes. This meant that the room wasn’t abandoned. If anything, it was still very much in use. But she wasn’t there to gaze at the mysterious room so, she blinked and readied herself. “Alright, Emma.” She whispered to herself in a barely audible voi
THE WADE MANSIONEmma sat on her king-sized bed, her mind filled with various thoughts. With her family’s name on the decline and her father on the verge of imprisonment for money laundering, she had lost all the modeling projects she was handling and had received cancellation emails from other brands that wanted to work with her.Her life was falling apart and there was nothing she could do.The last few days had been hard for her as she could feel the tension in the Wade mansion. She knew that something big was about to happen. She could feel it.Jacob’s attitude had become worse and even his parents were no longer on her side. Not that they were ever on her side.Her only option was Anna, the only person who had offered to help her. She understood that if she wanted to save her family and herself, she had to listen to Anna. There was no time to be suspicious of her.A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. Garcia opened the door and walked in, a false smile on her face.
“I have made the necessary preparation. I will be divorcing Emma next week after the party to make room for you in my life.”Anna stared at Jacob with her eyes wide open and her jaw almost on the ground, the weight of his words hanging in the air.She knew he was a fool who didn't think before acting but this…this was unexpected. She could tell from his expression that he had not sat down to think things through properly. If he had, he wouldn't have been so eager to go through with the divorce. Any sane person would be suspicious of their ex-girlfriend who they treated badly suddenly coming back into their lives and acting like everything was great between them.“Are you being serious right now, Jacob?” Anna asked, her voice steady but the shock in her eyes remained. “On what grounds are you asking for a divorce? I don't think Emma has done anything bad enough to warrant a divorce.” Anna said, pretending to care about his marriage.“We aren't a real couple, Anna. Getting a divorce wou
“You are openly seducing the CEO to keep your job because you are talentless.”A surge of irritation rose within Shayne but, she maintained her composure. The last thing she was going to do was stoop to their level and exchange words with them. So, with a smile on her face, she held her head eye and walked to them.“I don't have to seduce him, my darling. He's the one swooning over me. Too bad no one has noticed you….either of you. You seem like the talentless one to me.” She mocked, leaving them with their jaws on the floor.“Now, If you'd excuse me. This talentless person has a shoot to do. There's no time for me to be lazying around doing nothing. I'll give you some advice; you should change this nasty character of yours. Maybe then you'd stop being an MIT.” Shayne said to both of them, referring to them as a Model-In-Training.Before any of them could give her a response, the door opened to reveal her manager who informed her that her shoot begins in ten minutes. She turned and gr
“Since your morning schedule has been cleared out, you will be spending the rest of the morning with me.”Shayne blinked, completely caught off guard by his bluntness. She had known for a long time that the man was bold but, this was…unexpected.“Let me take you to a restaurant for a light snack. I know you already had breakfast so we won’t be ordering anything heavy. I know models don’t eat much.” He said, gesturing for her to join him. “We’ll only be out for an hour or two. You have nothing to be worried about.”Shayne stared at him with her lips parted. She couldn’t believe his guts. She wondered if this was how all rich men behaved.Shayne opened her mouth to speak, ready to decline his offer and walk out of his office but, she immediately had a second thought. It was just breakfast and it was going to be in an open space. There was no way anything would happen.‘Having a little snack with him wouldn’t hurt.’ She thought. Besides, she had only taken a cup of coffee before leaving
“You’re getting this wrong, Shayne. I didn’t do this. Mr Wade did it himself. He cleared out your schedule.”Her mouth parted slightly, both intrigued and annoyed. “Nathan did this? Why?”“I have no idea, Shayne. But, hey! You have a lot of free time. I think it’s a win.” Luca shrugged and flashed her a wink before he walked out of the dressing room.As soon as he left, Shayne grabbed her purse from the table and marched to the last floor. She wanted to hear from Nathan himself why he cleared her schedule.Shayne got off the elevator and searched for Nathan’s office. She asked one of the workers on the floor who directed her to his office.“Can I help you?” A blonde who seemed to be in her early twenties stopped her before she could enter the office.“And you are?” Shayne asked in an impatient tone, her face twisted in annoyance.“Mr Wade’s secretary. Is there a problem?” The blonde asked with a scowl on her face. Upon hearing that the lady was Nathan’s secretary who was only doing he