Lily had to literally bite her lips with her teeth to prevent her from laughing out loud at Christopher’s shock, even though the flash of fear that she had caught in his eyes before it had quickly disappeared had worried her a little.Why would a man like Christopher Bridger be afraid? Surely, dozens of women had already seen his glorious naked form.“What are you doing here?” Christopher asked frantically.It was difficult, but Lily had to try as much as possible not to look linger on the parts of Christopher’s body that set hers on fire. It was the first time that she was seeing him naked, and she could not deny that Christopher Bridger was sexy as hell.“This is also my bathroom,” Lily said, slurring her words.Christopher’s hands covered his manhood protectively, because when Lily had entered the bathroom, she had taken his towel and held it behind her, and waited for him to turn. After he had left the room last night, Lily had looked through the window to see if he would drive ou
Lily was stunned at the reaction she was seeing from Christopher. Since she got married to Christopher, which has been over three months now, she had never seen him vulnerable, not even once, talk more of crying.Then it dawned on Lily that she had gone too far.“Christopher, I am so sorry,” Lily tried to apologized, but Christopher still had his eyes closed even though no other tear slipped out of his eyes.Not that Lily was expecting to see more tears; the only one that she saw unnerved her even. Christopher remained silent and unmoving, and Lily was confused for a second.“Are you okay?” Lily asked, her voice sounding a little shaky.Then she reminded herself that she was completely Ashley Grander now, and Ashley would not be afraid, regardless of what she had done. So Lily summoned courage and quietly walked closer to Christopher and handed him the towel.Christopher snatched it from her in an instantly, so much so that Lily almost passed out in shock, and he slammed the bedroom r
As Christopher sat at the back of his expensive car as his driver and bodyguard drove him to work, he could not help but feel the ache in his heart. This was the exact reason he never wanted any woman in his life, much more in his house. Over the years, Christopher had managed to maintain a single status, even though virtually all the single women in the city tried at several intervals to shoot their shot on him. “You should be thinking of getting married, Christopher,” his father had told him a year before he passed. “You are thirty now,” he had reminded Christopher. “I still have time,” Christopher had told his father stubbornly, because the mere thought of getting married and living with a woman scared the shit out of him. “You might think you do, but you don’t, Christopher,” his father had insisted. Christopher hadn’t known by then that his father had already been diagnosed of a terminal illness that would snatch his life in a couple of months, and that he was also speaking
Don Grander waited for Monk at one of the private lounges that he usually booked for certain rare occasions. Don Grander had been too preoccupied for days now to even think of his daughter’s impersonator, but thankfully, Emily had assured him that everything was in good shape, and now that she had returned to Christopher, positive change and result were highly anticipated. Don Grander was relieved when Monk showed up sooner than expected, because Don Grander hated to be kept waiting, and he insisted on meeting here rather than the house to prevent obnoxious ears. “What is the news?” Don Grander asked Monk as Monk settled in. “I couldn’t find him,” Monk said in defeat. Disappointment and anger showed in Don Grander’s eyes immediately. “What are you talking about, Monk? Benedict is not a spirit, and he cannot afford to run away from this city, so why are you telling me this?” Don Grander asked Monk angrily. Lately, Monk was beginning to fail in most of the tasks assigned to him. T
Don Grander could not arrive home any faster. Emily wasn’t usually one to cry wolf or even call him at the slightest inconvenience. If he ever got an urgent call from her, it meant that whatever was going on was intense.It reminded Don Grander of when Ashley was still alive and living with them. Often times, when Don Grander would get such calls, it would only mean that Ashley had done something of grave consequences and Emily wanted him to punish her severely.Don Grander was sick of juggling from one problem to another, and he just wanted everything to be over really soon with him emerging as the winner. Before he left, he strictly instructed Monk to continue to look for Benedict, even though he had already bought Monk’s idea of including it in Lily’s task.Emily was in the living room when Don Grander arrived home was early as he could make it.“What is going on?” Don Grander asked impatiently.Emily seemed very enraged. “You never listen to me, and it freaking pisses me off,” Emi
Lily decided not to dwell so much on the cruel words that Christopher said to her before leaving, because if she did, she would cry more, and she might be forced to stop trying.She knew that he meant that he wasn’t attracted to her but to Aimee Landon, and he only denied having anything to do with her, because he did not want to be accused of infidelity, which was equally a horrible scandal.Lily hadn’t met with the domestic employees since she got back, and she decided that it was the best thing to do to get her mind of Christopher and his harsh words.“When I am done setting some rules, then I can begin reading Ashley’s journal,” Lily told herself as she got ready to go downstairs.Thoughts of the journal made Lily awfully scared and worried, which was why she hadn’t even thought of it since she got back, but she knew that she couldn’t put it off forever. She already made a promise to the old maid, and now that Lily had an inkling of the kind of life Ashley lived, she genuinely wan
but then again, she had already left the house for more than twenty four hours now, and Ashley’s room was usually cleared out within every forty eight hours. “No, no, I can’t risk it. I have to go,” Lily told herself.If she delayed any further, Ashley’s room would be cleared out, and it certainly would not be by the old maid, and when that happens, the diary would be found, being that it had already been taken out of its original hiding place. Where Lily hid it could easily be reached once they cleared out the room.“Crap, how did I even do this to myself?” Lily continued to question and scold herself as her heart beat faster and dreadfully.This was something that could have been avoided, but instead, she had made another terrible mistake, and now, she would have to return to the place of her torment just to get it. Lily thought of completely abandoning the diary, but her conscience just wouldn’t let her do that, especially after the promise she made to the old maid, hearing snippe
Gently and slowly, Lily turned and faced Emily, and she made the terrible mistake of smiling, even though the smile did not reach her eyes.She was scared to her bones!“Wipe that ugly smile off your face; you look like a flipping monkey,” Emily said coldly as she approached Lily, and instantly, the smile disappeared from Lily’s face.She hadn’t even realized that she had given Emily a smile that she didn’t deserve. The smile was only borne out of dread, and the fact that she had been caught.“Stop standing there and come over here,” Emily said gruffly. “I detest the fact that we still have to tell you literally everything. You claim to be better, but you still act dumb to me,” Emily added bitterly.Lily walked solemnly to the living room and took a seat after Emily. Emily had always been hostile to her, which wasn’t a new thing for Lily, but now, she just saw her as a completely different person, especially with what she had come to know about her.“She is here, isn’t she?” Don Grand
Lily left Don Grander’s mansion, more relieved than she had ever been. At least for the very first time, he was communicating with her without spewing curses and threats when she reported a problem that she had found herself in. He was helping her fix a problem for the first time. With a new burst of energy and excitement, Lily decided to make her date with Christopher a memorable one. However, she did not want to go right back to the mansion and face Maggie so soon, because Lily had the feeling that Maggie would blackmail her yet again, especially knowing that Christopher wasn’t at home. So Lily surfed the internet with Ashley’s phone for the best planning services in the city, and she got options to pick from almost immediately. Then Lily gave her driver the address of the one that caught her fancy. “You are welcome to our store, Mrs. Bridger. It is such an honor to have you grace our store with your important and gorgeous presence,” Lily was greeted with so much enthusiasm and
Christopher had a new secretary by the time he got to the office, and yet again, he was reminded that she was there as a result of Aimee’s prompt response to details. However, that was not even slightly compared to the fact that it felt awkward not having Aimee at the board meeting. It dawned on me that Aimee had never been absent. “What did I let her do to me?” Christopher asked himself. The other board members were competent, but it just wasn’t the same with Aimee’s absence, or maybe it was because Christopher was already used to having Aimee around. If he had fired her or demoted her as a result of misconduct, he would not be feeling this way, and also, Christopher just felt as though he had done something wrong, and his conscience had been pricking him slightly since he arrived at work. Christopher even wondered if Aimee would show up at work again. He would not be shocked if Aimee decided to turn in her resignation, because the truth of the matter was that deep down, Christop
Derek wasn’t completely shocked, because he knew this already, but what he did not know was what they did together that had created this animosity, so much so that Aimee wanted Trisha to be killed. “I would love to hear all about it,” Derek requested calmly. He really had to be tactical about this issue, otherwise he would risk losing Trisha, and also getting to the root bottom of what exactly went wrong, because the last thing Derek wanted to do right now was go back to Aimee for anything at all, especially an explanation. He still hadn’t been able to decide how exactly he was going to handle what he just found out about Derek, knowing that she was supposed to be facing the full wrath of the law for taking a life. Gosh, he could not even believe that she would have the guts to kill anyone in cold blood and then try to pin it on someone else. If Christopher Bridger wasn’t a powerful man, Ashley Grander would have been in jail by now for a crime she did not commit. A worse and mor
"Thank you for coming to lunch with me,” Derek said as he pulled out the chair for Trisha.Trisha smiled; a sight that Derek would give anything for to constantly see. “We have become friends over the last couple of days, so why not?” Trisha said as she took a seat.Then Derek signaled the server. After placing their orders, the server left them alone. Derek looked at Trisha, amazed at how beautiful she was. Her beauty and presence brought some sort of peace that Derek had never experienced before, and he would not have missed this date for anything in the world.“You are beautiful, Trisha,” Derek complimented deeply, making Trisha blush slightly.“You flatter me, Derek,” Trisha said with a sweet smile.“I only state the facts,” Derek told her.However, the words that Aimee said to him in her drunken state some hours ago still hadn’t gone out of his head. In fact, it kept gnawing at Derek. First of all, Derek now realized that Aimee was more dangerous than he ever thought her to be. H
Don’t forget our deal…” followed Lily out of Christopher’s mansion like a haunting word as she entered into one of his cars and proceeded to go to Don Grander’s house.That alone was enough to encourage Lily to take this step that she was taking, because Maggie was already posing to be a dangerous threat, and she could not continue to just relax and do nothing about it. She needed to act fast, because if this spiraled out of control, she would be the one to suffer for it, not Maggie.Lily did not call to inform Don Grander about her visit, but she hoped to meet him at his mansion, and also make the visit a short one, so that she could return to Christopher’s mansion in peace and plan the date. Lily wanted more than enough time to plan it, because now that the task had been placed on her shoulders, Christopher would expect nothing short of elegant, classy, and downright luxurious and expensive. First of all, Ashley Grander was supposed to be planning this date, and secondly, Christophe
Lily waited patiently for Christopher to get ready and leave for work so that she could go over to Don Grander’s mansion and inform him of a new threat, because for the life of her, she had no idea what she should do with Maggie.As usual, Christopher was very discreet about having his shower and getting ready, and Lily just lay on the bed, waiting for when he would leave. When Christopher came out of the dressing room, Lily’s breath was stuck in her throat, because of how handsome he looked. His suit pants clung to his strong and firm thighs, and his jacket hung to his muscles like it was specifically made for Christopher. Of course it was made for him, because Christopher had a personal designer who took care of his fittings, making him look dashing and ravishing.“Now I can understand why Aimee is head over heels in love with him,” Lily said to herself, because without warning, she had also fallen for Christopher.However, his cruel words still rang in her head, jolting Lily out o
Lily was greatly troubled, so much so that she did not sleep a wink over the night. How could she possibly sleep when she was tormented by Maggie’s revelation and request? “What do I do?” Lily asked herself while Christopher slept soundly on his own side of the large bed. “How do I handle this situation with Maggie?” Lily continued to ask herself. The option of firing her was totally off the table now. If Lily attempted to fire Maggie, she would only be pushed to blow the whistle, and that would ruin everything for her and Joe, and Lily could not let that happen. If her life was the only one at stake here, she would have risked it, but she could not let Joe lose his life and dreams on account of her. Never. “I really need to do something about her,” Lily told herself. Blackmailers were never satisfied; Lily knew this from documentaries and movies that she had watched, and also stories that she had read. Maggie was asking for everything that she could get from Christopher. She
"Get here as fast as you can!” Aimee barked into the phone. She was still very enraged, and she feared that her anger was getting over the wall, which might lead to a heart attack if she didn’t take care of some things, and one of them being Trisha. “I will be there in thirty minutes,” Derek answered over the phone. “Jeez, make it twenty!” Aimee said and ended the call. She was fuming and she needed to vent. She still did not understand why she was getting a mockery text from Trisha of all people, and it made it all the more painful because of what transpired between them. Trisha did not only mock her, she still sent another text message right after that. “Don’t think I have forgotten what I told you in your apartment, Aimee. I am going to tell Mr. Christopher of your deeds, and he is going to make you pay for it. I hope you have realized now that you mean absolutely nothing to him.” When Aimee had read the text, she had smashed her phone in a fit of a rage, and literally scatte
Lily wasn’t sure she had heard correctly; her ears had to have heard wrongly, right? Slowly and gradually, Lily turned and faced Maggie; she had a sinister smile on her face. “What did you just say?” Lily asked. “I know who you are,” Maggie repeated without an iota of fear in her. “You are Lily Bashwood,” Maggie added. Lily almost collapsed in that moment. Her knees became weak, almost making her give way, and she had to fall to the ground, but thankfully, she was still close to the dining table, so she grabbed the chair to steady herself. The confidence with which Maggie had called her name indicated that she truly knew Lily, and that was not a good sign at all. Lily quickly glanced upstairs to check if Christopher had really gone upstairs and was out of earshot, because she would be damned if he got a hang of this conversation. It dawned on Lily that she was in a deep mess here. “How…how do you know?” Lily asked, stuttering. She would have liked to play the denial game, but sh