Lily felt better than she had been, and for days now, she hadn’t set eyes on Don Grander or Emily. She wondered if they had forgotten that she was here. She also wished that Christopher would come again to take her away from here. Lily got up from Ashley’s bed and checked herself in the dressing mirror. Her face, arms, and legs were the same, but her back was filled with scars from Don Grander’s whips. As Lily managed to look at the scars in the mirror, tears began to flow from her eyes. Never in her life had she experienced this depth of pain, much more being scarred by it, and Lily regretted the day that Monk had seen and kidnapped her. “If I had just waited for Rudney like he pleaded with me to, I would not be here right now,” Lily said as she sobbed bitterly and regrettably. Then her mind instantly went to Joe! She had been so immersed in pain that she did not remember to think about Joe. The last time she had tried to ask Monk about him, she did not get a response. Ashley
Aimee Landon had taken it upon herself to hire stylists for Christopher’s dress fittings for the party. This was often the job of Trisha, but now that Trisha had been fired and Christopher was yet to get a replacement, Aimee gladly took it upon herself. “He must look dashing and impeccable, and no one in that party must come any close!” Aimee barked orders at the stylists as they styled Christopher in his bedroom. Another reason Aimee was over the moon with joy was because this gave her the opportunity to not just be in Christopher’s house, but in his room for the very first time. Usually, Christopher should have been styled at their studio, but because Aimee wanted this rare opportunity, she paid them extra to come to the house and style Christopher. Christopher was not comfortable with the idea of it; he preferred to go to their studio to get styled, because he hated having strangers in his mansion, but Aimee managed to talk him into accepting. “I think they are doing a good job,
Lily paced about in her room.“I have to do something,” she said to herself frantically. “I can’t just stay locked up here without knowing what is going on,” Lily thought deeply. “What is Don Grander was referring to Joe?” Lily shuddered at the thought of that.She knew she had to do something…or try, at least.Lily gently opened the door and looked around the aisle left and right, and she saw no one. Maybe Don Grander and Emily had forgotten about her, because aside from eavesdropping on their conversation, she had not heard Emily’s voice around.Taking the risk, Lily tiptoed downstairs, careful not to be seen. In the living room, she sighed in relief when she noticed that no one was there. Then swiftly, she made her way to the kitchen. Fortunately for Lily, she saw the old maid chopping some vegetables, but then again, the reserved one was also there.“Ashley,” the old maid called when they both turned and saw Lily.There was something about the reserved maid that made Lily quite un
“Are you there now?” Don Grander asked Monk.Monk sat in his car outside the hospital as he talked with Don Grander over the phone. He had just arrived, but he knew that he could not stay parked in that spot longer than necessary.“All you have to do is get in there, get access to his word, and smother him,” Monk rehearsed the whole process that he had cooked up in his head over and over again.This was a government hospital, and he knew that what he was about to do was very risky. If he got caught, he would rot in jail. Monk never shied away from assigned duties, but he wished that Don Grander had assigned the same person he hired to find out if Benedict died or not to simply complete the task.“Yes, I just got here,” Monk answered, grounding his teeth.He looked around the premises and everyone went about their businesses innocently. His eyes fell on the hospital’s entrance, and Monk swallowed hard. The state government never took lightly to crimes, and Monk knew the consequences. H
Lily was glad that she had been able to get back to her room without getting caught even though her attempts were futile. It was not until she was back in her room and pacing around again that she remembered that she could have called Rudney. “Gosh, Lily! How could you forget such a thing?!” Lily berated herself. The one person that would have picked up was Rudney, and yet, she did not remember to call him and ask about Joe. Anyway, Lily blamed it on the fact that she was agitated and also trying to hurry up. Then her mind went to her call to Christopher. “It has just been a couple of days that I have been away, and he is already going about with Aimee,” I said to myself jealously. Since when did Christopher start giving his phone to Aimee as though she was his secretary, and what were they doing together at that time? Lily had heard soft music playing in the background; were they out on a date? Lily scoffed. “Christopher never cared about me…or Ashley, and coming here was just
Lily could not tear her eyes off the TV. Christopher and Aimee looked like the perfect power couple, and a pang of jealousy shot through my veins. First, it was Aimee picking up Christopher’s call, and now, they were both attending the same party together. From the guests shown on TV, it was obvious that it was an elite party, and Lily could not deny how impeccably handsome Christopher looked. Among all the people in the crowd, Lily’s eyes continued to pick Christopher out, but then again, seeing him also meant that she would see Aimee glued to his side possessively.“Do you see what you have caused?” Emily’s voice rang out, cutting through the moment as she made her way downstairs.I turned quickly and looked at Emily, fear enveloping me all over again. For a moment, watching Christopher, Lily had almost forgotten her current predicament.“I…it’s…” I stuttered, not knowing what to say.Emily came and stood beside Lily, and Lily cowered in fright, thinking that Emily was going to gra
I am Ashley Grander. I am wild and reckless. I have been to many countries like…” Lily began to read through nuggets about Ashley that Emily had given her.“You will have to start from the beginning and relearn everything, and commit the new ones to memory, because if you fail again this time around, you will not be punished; you will be killed,” Emily had told her as she handed the piece of paper to Lily.So Lily had gone back to Ashley’s bedroom and had begun to digest everything written in the paper with vigor and determination, but her mind kept drifting back to Christopher and Aimee at the party. Something good had obviously happened to Christopher Bridger, but Lily could not think about it without thinking about Aimee.“That is your next assignment.”Those were Emily’s words, and Lily knew now more than ever before that she could not fail. She dared not fail otherwise she would not only die, but Joe would also die. Lily now worried less about Joe, because no one had mentioned a
The party had ended about an hour ago, but Christopher was stilled held back shaking hands with men that mattered most in the countries, and already signing business deal.It was a new dawn for the Bridger Empire.As Aimee stood by and watched, she could not help but smile. Yes, she loved Christopher Bridger deeply, but now, she loved him ten times more. It swelled her heart watching him climb that stage, and more, that she was right there with him.“As it should be,” Aimee said to herself.She wondered why Christopher couldn’t see that she was his perfect match. Ashley would not have known the next thing to being Christopher’s anchor for tonight if she had been available, and Aimee was more than happy that she had had to do a little dirty act just to get this moment for herself and Christopher.She smiled triumphantly as she watched Christopher interact with people whose deals were capable of shooting up his company as her mind drifted to what she had had to do for him to earn it.Wh
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