Lily was back to pacing back and forth and talking to herself in the hotel room.“I am doomed. I am ruined,” she kept repeating to herself.Each time she felt as though she was getting something right, other things always came and destroyed everything. She was supposed to be acting as Ashley to get her parents what they wanted from Christopher, but at the same time, Ashley was still the same person ruining things for her.“What am I supposed to do now?” Lily asked herself frantically. “I can’t go for this meeting, otherwise if her words were true, they would catch up with me right away,” Lily pondered. Then she stopped pacing as her shoulders fell in defeat. “But I have to go for it; it’s the reason I am here for crying out loud,” Lily added.She was conflicted, and confused, and defeated, and angry at Ashley Grander for making things extremely difficult for her.“Gosh, I hate you, Ashley Grander!” Lily said out loud, and vehemently.This was the first time that she would be saying so
“Huh?” Lily asked like a zombie as she stared at her hair on Christopher’s hand.Indeed, some of her hair had turned to wavy blue, her original hair color. It had been weeks since her hair was dyed to auburn, and they had all completely forgotten about it.“Why are there strands of wavy blue hair on you?” Christopher asked, staring at Lily skeptically.It was dark, but Lily could very much see and feel Christopher’s skepticism and suspicion on her, and she knew that she had to do something real quick before things got out of hand.Lily cleared her throat, “I am pressed; I need to use the restroom quickly,” she said as she hopped out of bed immediately.Thankfully, Christopher’s hold on her wasn’t strong.“Ashley…” Christopher called out, his voice a little strong.“What? I just said I have to pee,” Lily said as she opened the bathroom door, entered and slammed it shut.She really needed some time to gather her thoughts together. First of all, she stared at her reflection in the mirror
The day for the meeting came like a flash, and Lily had never been this unprepared before in her entire life.“I am going to give you time to get dressed,” Christopher said.He was dressed in a fitted suit that clung to his body and made him look like the most handsome man on earth. In truth, Christopher Bridger was the most handsome man that Lily had ever set her eyes on. Anyway, Lily shook her head to get rid of the thought; now wasn’t the time, and a man like Christopher Bridger would never belong to a lowlife girl like her.“Have you mastered all that I sent to you?” Christopher asked.“Yes, I have,” Lily lied boldly.Of course she hadn’t gotten the time to try enough to get access to Ashley’s email, and Don Grander wasn’t even helpful at all, so she had no idea what Christopher had sent, but she would have to give this her best shot, even though she would have to do so blindly.“Okay then, hurry up. I don’t want us to keep Mr. Yang waiting,” Christopher said. “When you are ready,
“Hey, Rudney, there is someone here to see you,” one of the staff members of the wine shop informed Rudney who was arranging some bottles of wine on the wine rack.“Alright, I will be out soon,” Rudney responded.It would be his lunch break soon anyway, so he just decided to finish up what he was doing so that when he would attend to that person, he would not have to be in a haste. When Rudney was done, he got out and saw Joe waiting at the reception area.The moment Joe saw Rudney, he broke into a smile.“Did I come at a wrong time?” Joe asked.He was dressed in a pair of faded jean trousers and a jersey shirt from his baseball club, and he also wore the neckpiece that Lily got for him on his last birthday. “There is never a wrong time for you, Joe,” Rudney said and he meant it. “I was just around the corner and I thought to say a quick hello,” Joe said.“Even though Lily is not here anymore,” Rudney mused, but he didn’t know that he was loud enough for Joe to catch his words.Joe
“I am going to get fired when Mr. Christopher gets here,” Trisha said frantically and almost on the verge of tears. She had arrived at the office to see that some changes had been made to the fight tickets that she booked, and she knew that it could only be the handwork of one person alone.Aimee Landon.Aimee Landon gave Trisha a hard stare. She was still begrudged that she did not get to go with Christopher on the trip despite all the efforts that she put into it, and here she was, listening to Trisha whine about her job.“You will simply say it was an error,” Aimee said dismissively.“Miss Aimee, you know that Mr. Christopher thrives on excellence. He will never buy the silly excuse of it being a mistake, knowing that this was an important trip,” Trisha said as tears gathered in her eyes. “I can’t afford to lose this job,” Trisha lamented.Aimee was getting really irritated and infuriated by Trisha’s sulking presence; she had more pressing things to think about, and right now, Tris
“Mr. Yang, please meet my beautiful wife, Ashley,” Christopher introduced as he held Lily firmly yet tenderly by the waist.Lily tried not to be fidgety, but deep inside, she was shaking furiously. She had wanted to pretend to have a serious headache, just like she had done the night before, but then again, they were already here.“Oh, what a beauty,” Mr. Yang said as he took Lily hand and kissed the back of her palm casually. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Bridger,” he said, looking at Lily in a normal way.Instantly, Lily felt as ease. The man seemed friendly and harmless, and more importantly, he seemed as though he did not recognize her, or maybe that staff has just cooked up a nonexistent story to unnerve her. Lily realized that there was nothing to fear after all.“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Yang,” Lily answered with a warm and relaxed smile.“Please, let us settle in,” Mr. Yang said.Then he led them to the table that they had booked. It looked like a mini conference room
The show is yours, Mrs. Bridger, please regale me,” Mr. Yang said, looking at Lily with an expectant smile.“That’s right, honey,” Christopher added tightly. “Please tell Mr. Yang the beautiful story of how we met,” Christopher said. Then he muttered something that only Lily could hear. “Hell save you from my wrath if you don’t do this well.”Lily began to shiver inside again while struggling to maintain a better appearance; one that did not say that she was shaking and in dread.“Um…” Lily started. She had no idea what Christopher had sent to her, because she did not even get access to it, and at the same time, Lily could not keep the gentlemen waiting, especially Mr. Yang. “Our parents were very good friends,” Lily started.From the corner of her eyes, she saw Christopher’s jaw tighten in anger, and she knew right away that she had said something contradictory to his story, but whatever the case, Lily could not stop now, which only meant that Christopher would have to abandon his ow
Lily coughed, as though the tea was choking her, but by the time she was done acting up, she realized that the men were still looking at her, and expecting a response, especially Mr. Yang.“Um, her name is…” Lily stuttered and she hoped that her drama would not cost her the biggest mistake of her life, because she did not know why they had shifted from Christopher’s business to Ashley’s family.It would have been better if she had an idea about what she was being asked, but Don Grander never saw it fit to give her all the details regarding Ashley, and now she was left stuttering.“I think my wife is having a difficult time because she had a rough night,” Christopher immediately chipped in.“Oh my, is that so?” Mr. Yang asked, instantly getting worried.“Yes, it is,” Lily quickly answered, grateful that Christopher had come to her rescue. “I had a banging headache, which was why I couldn’t join Christopher for yesterday’s dinner,” Lily answered.Christopher cleared his throat uncomfort
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