“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
About two hours later, Christopher and Mr. Yang were done with the meeting.Lily was bored and tired of listening to a conversation that she did not understand at all, and the only thing that kept her from dozing off was watching Christopher Bridger in his element, but then again, she could not deny the fact that Christopher was extremely upset. Lily could not tell if he was upset with her, even though she had said things that she shouldn’t have said, but it did not ruin anything, as Mr. Yang still seemed very much interested in whatever Christopher was saying.“Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Yang,” Christopher said as the two men shook hands.“We are happy to host you, and I know that you were supposed to have this meeting with the full team, but everyone else had other delegations,” Mr. Yang explained. “Anyway, we will put all that you have said into consideration, and since you fit into our requirement, you will be highly considered,” Mr. Yang addedChristopher seemed pleased t
Lily had just been placed between the devil and the deep blue sea, and she had no idea what to do, but what Lily knew was that she would not give herself to Mr. Yang for anything in the world.“You always have a way of making things difficult for me,” Lily said angrily under her breath as she hurried to their hotel room.She couldn’t even wait for Christopher to return from the room.As soon as Lily arrived at the room, she barged in like a wild dog, startling Christopher who was going through his documents with ease.“Jeez, Ashley, what is it?!” Christopher asked after recovering from the shock that Lily had just put him through.“We need to leave, right now!” Lily said frantically.Christopher was surprised. “Why are we leaving? What are you talking about?” Christopher asked without standing up from his sitting position; he did not share in Lily’s need for haste.“Can you just listen to me for once and let us leave?” Lily practically pleaded.When she had rushed upstairs, she hadn’t
Aimee Landon waited for Derek in her car that she had parked by the road.“I hope he doesn’t delay much,” Aimee said to herself.Not that she had anything else to do, especially now that Christopher was out of the country, but since Derek told her that he found something about Ashley, she had been eager. She could not wait to get her hands on something that she could use against Ashley.“Christopher is mine, and no one is going to take him away from me,” Aimee told herself firmly.These were the words she continued to say to herself, because they made her believe that they were true, and they also made her fight for him. Aimee already knew that loving a man like Christopher meant competitions, and it was a good thing that she was a good player. She had worked so hard to not also be by Christopher’s side, but to also make him see her. She had been able to maintain her position by his side, and one task had been successfully achieved so far, and all she needed to do was put in a little
As soon as Aimee arrived at Rosa’s apartment, she turned to Derek and said, “Don’t worry, I will handle this myself.”Derek seemed surprised. “I thought we were in this together, and don’t forget that I brought this information to you,” Derek said.“If you wanted to get a pat for a job well done, Derek, you would have gotten the full information, not bring something to me in halves,” Aimee said tightly. “I know Rosa, and I personally hired her to create ruins and damage for Christopher and Ashley’s interview, and trust me, she is going to talk to me faster than she would talk to you, and besides, seeing you might unnerve her,” Aimee added logically.She knew that Derek liked to feel important, especially when it was his area of expertise, but then again, Aimee was too desperate to leave this all to him to handle. All she needed to do was go in there, speak with Rosa and that was all.“Whatever you say,” Derek was not cool with the decision, but he also did not want to push it, because
For a moment, Aimee froze in shock.Rosa was shivering on the floor and battling to breathe while more blood came out of the spot that Aimee had hit her with. “Help me…help me…” Rosa pleaded in rasped breath, her words coming out as a painful and muffled sound. Aimee was shocked at what she had done, because she never expected it to turn out this way. Granted, she had been very upset that Rosa was trying to play smart with her. If it hadn’t been for her, a woman like Rosa would never have had access to Christopher Bridger’s home. Christopher was not a man who was keen on interviews and blogs, and he was also a very private person. Regardless of how close they were and how long they had been working together, Aimee could literally count the number of times that she had visited Christopher’s mansion, and ever since he married the wild Ashley Grander, he had not made any attempt to invite Aimee over. In fact, Aimee knew that as long as Christopher remained married to Ashley, chances of
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