Low heels echoed along the hallways leading to the office of the owner, followed by a worn pair of leather shoes. The stout and short woman walked toward the door, soon knocking on the panel that was open with a gap. Rita, the team leader of the R&D, poked her in and saw Andrea making notes on a paper while looking at the design plate she had in front of her.
Rita glanced at the man behind her, and she smiled at Gina when the secretary came to stand before them to welcome them inside. “Is there something wrong, ma’am? You called for me about an urgent matter?”
“I also came in case it’s a big matter.” The director of Operations also walked in as if giving support to Rita in case it had something to do with their work.
“Hm, I’m not really sure it isn’t.”
The charity ball could easily be mistaken as someone’s birthday party, with all the names that had come to attend. Not only would the Pearce family be there, but the other members of the socialites also confirmed their attendance. The media were all setting up their camps outside as the party was beyond closed doors like how it was as usual.When Andrea looked out of the hotel, she could see the lines of cars that queued to drop off the stars they carried. For some reason, Gryphon hated this part because a lot of lights would be flashing against his face. He would rather pose at the actual Moissanite red carpet as camera flashes were banned in there. A lot of people loved the flashing cameras, but Gryphon had become elusive because of them.The woman ran her hands on the smooth blonde hair that was decorated with real diamonds secured by thin chains that
Slap! A tight slap resounded all over the hallway as if the design was there to amplify all kinds of sounds. Gryphon was so busy sizing up the males of Monarch that he didn’t realize the woman was the boldest among them. He should have known that the more venomous snakes struck faster.When he heard the slap, he quickly looked down and saw how Andrea shielded her face with her bag. He pulled Andrea toward his chest and used his hand to cover her face from malicious photos and more attacks from the other woman.At the same time, Mathias pulled Melody behind him to keep her from doing more than necessary. If there were no cameras around, he would have laughed at the instant response Andrea got. However, he also had to account for the fact that Gryphon glared at them like he would eat their bones. That man was rumored to hit even beautiful women, so Ma
The charity ball in itself was okay and pleasurable; it was the happenings before it that made it to the social media pages and forums. No one in the media missed how Moissanite Hotel threw out a group of influencers for disrespecting the fiancée of the president of Pearce Empire. Before that, there was a slapping incident that involved the same fiancée.Andrea sat on the edging strip at the back of Gryphon’s house. Her feet were moist from the water that dripped from the leaves of the plants around her. She had a cup of hot chocolate for that morning at her side, the woman not wanting to appear at VNVS for fear of their reports.She had been using her own face and name to propel searches of their website and the exposure of the watches that she got the license to sell. However, she took all of it—negative and positive publicity was st
Wide eyes greeted Gryphon as soon as the man walked in their front door. For some reason, Andrea was still in the clothes that she wore when she met Parker earlier in the day. She even looked like she had just come home… or that she hadn’t moved yet after she settled on the couch.The male put his case down at the side before sitting next to the woman. He whipped out his phone and showed her an online gossip. “This you?”“…your mom knocked someone out with a tray without a warning…” Andrea received the phone and stared at the headline, of how there was an altercation in a café involving the local supermodel, Roxanne Cromwell. The VNVS’s model’s face was even obscured as if the gossip blog knew its limits. “You weren’t lying about not messing with her.”
After speaking to Gryphon at that time, Andrea continued reading through the article with a different mindset. She ignored the women’s qualifications and imagined how they were behind the shots of their magazine smiles. What did Gryphon not like about them?When she got to Roxanne’s segment, she stared at the divine looks of the supermodel. She envied the lush golden hair that she used to have, and those crystal eyes that had the same hue as hers. It was strange: this woman was more beautiful than her, and yet…“Wait a minute…” Andrea scrolled up to look at the other girls. They were all blondes with long hair, and their eyes were almost the same color. As for looking like siblings, no, their facial bone structures were all very different. No one would mistake them for someone else. It’s just that… Gryphon defi
The last time Andrea had gone to a tailoring shop, she was fitting for one of the dresses she had to model for Superstar. It was in a shop somewhere in the commercial district, next to a dessert shop and one that sold used books. The clerk there was friendly and bubbly, entertaining the customers in their small reception nook with zero unnecessary or awkward chattering and some jazz music. That shop had a rather homey feel, but this one right here… Andrea wondered if she had walked into a corporate office instead. The walls were cream and gold, while the reception was so wide as if cars were allowed inside. The displayed gowns were in full mannequins, along with the raised veil and gorgeous shoes. Some even had a bouquet of plastic flowers in their plastic hands. Andrea took a deep breath. She never had the chance to get fitted for a wedding gown before. She
Weeks after the crazy reveal about Andrea and Gryphon’s wedding, Andrea made another loud sound when VNVS announced their new line of watches a day before Monarch could announce theirs. It’s just that… VNVS was not planning to compete with Monarch head-on this time. After all, VNVS’s new line was set to cater to the middle class.Unlike how she advertised Cosmic Promises, she just had local celebrities do the promotion for the Gardener Series. In fact, she had four models for the first two watches of the Gardener series. Sunshine Spirit was loosely based on the sunflower, while King of the Night had the color of the black tulip.Since they were catering to the middle class, Andrea decided to design a few for men. Instead of making watches with a plain face and solely neutral colors, King of the Night had its dark purple color mixed with
The front lawn of Pearce Empire Tower stretched for ten meters worth of wide space and a few steps from the building and then at the edge before the sidewalk. It was already five in the afternoon, so the place was filled with employees going home or standing around to wait for their other friends or rides. Since the exit of the parking was on the other side, the people here rarely had their own cars.It’s just that all of a sudden, the president of the company pushed the doors open. In his gray suit, Gryphon had a phone in his hand. He looked around fiercely as if hunting a person in particular, eyes glaring at anything that met them.Then, a cab pulled up almost right across from him. When Andrea got out with a hand on the lower half of her face, Gryphon paled a little. He then ran toward her, surprising the people with his actions—even the cabbie
At those words, Charlotte frowned before dropping her shoulders in her little tantrum. “You lied to me? Why? I thought princes are supposed to be honest!”“…I don’t want you to think that I’m lonely. Princes have pride.” Gryphon somewhat snorted as he leaned on the frame of the door. He then eyed Andrea who only looked at him, ignoring the indiscernible emotion in her eyes. “We just went to pay for your bills, and you were already gone when we came back. Tch, you’re really Charlotte’s mother, aren’t you?”“Gryphon, I…” Andrea then saw how Marlene and Tommy showed up next to him. She only smiled at the arrival of her friends, feeling embarrassed. “Hey, thank you for coming to see Charlie. Erm, introductions will be messy at this point, I think.”
The next thing Andrea knew, she was lying down on a hospital bed again. She could still remember the things that happened that time, the nightmare that she survived once again. No one could have prepared her for the fact that it only took Mathias four years to completely forget about being human. However, he wouldn’t return to jail anymore. Gryphon made sure he wouldn’t.Even if she looked so pitiful, Andrea didn’t feel her body aching anymore. The drug must have been flushed out already, and the dextrose succeeded in making her body feel refreshed again. The only bad thing about this was that her left hand was in a cast for weeks.“…I have a bulk order…” Andrea whispered before reaching out for her call nurse button. “I need to find Charlie. She must be so scared to be on her own.”
Andrea had to get that heel to help herself. She then looked at how Mathias busied himself with Roxanne just steps away from her. The young mother then moved her left hand and tried to slip it out of the chains wrapped around it. She reached her right hand higher to relieve some pressure from the left as she forcefully worked it out. It didn’t matter how much burns she would get from this action.She had to escape these binds before Mathias finished with the other woman. She must get away before Gryphon got lured here.Keeping her cries to herself, she forced her left hand out of the chains with great difficulty. Her skin grew red and bruised, and her thumb even lost sensation from the potential break from the joint. However, she managed to slowly free her hands without making a sound that was too loud for Mathias to notice.
When he heard his name from the woman’s mouth, Gryphon lifted a brow. He didn’t know why the woman had a rather big reaction to seeing him there. He wasn’t even a celebrity that a lot of people wanted to get really close to.The man just looked away from the black woman and motioned to pick up the child. “Little Highness, let’s get you somewhere safer—”“Ow! Wait, it hurts!” Charlotte suddenly felt pain in her body now that her excitement lessened. She couldn’t even raise her arms to accept the carry. Soon enough, she hugged herself and cried out as if everything she did hurt her. She even shivered from the multiple assaults on her small body. “My back hurts… my chest hurts… I can’t breathe… Help me, Mommy… Daddy… help…”
Ring! Ring! Andrea stared at the phone ringing on the kitchen counter. She was preparing dinner, while Charlotte was drawing on the living floor. However, the TV was on, so the child wouldn’t hear how much Andrea let the phone ring. She didn’t even have a prompt set up to receive a voicemail. When the phone picked it up, regardless, Andrea just heard Gryphon’s voice. [“Andy, pick up the phone. We need to talk. Now.”] His tone was short and commanding, and Andrea didn’t use to hearing it that way. It was as if it was a different person already. However, she also berated herself for not blocking the number. Even if she didn’t have it saved in her contacts, she had the number memorized. She should have just declined the call and blocked it then and there. She just felt like it wasn’t the right thing to do; she
Roxanne knew that Kelsey was supposed to pick up the monster from the prison today. They worked on getting his case dismissed, pining everything on the former president who frame his employees to take the fall for him. Of course, they had to work in the shadows, so neither Gryphon nor Ashley would catch any of them. If things happened, they would be diced into pieces… literally.However, four hours had already passed since Kelsey last sent her a text. Without confirmation of the man being onboard their plan, Roxanne couldn’t help but stay frustrated. It even showed by how she did her daily tasks to seduce the CEO.She waltzed inside the office and brought Gryphon a cup of coffee for the late afternoon. A tray was in her hands, and she placed the cup down on his desk like clockwork. She then looked at the glass wall behind him, hoping that Kelsey wo
Furious knocking came to the door, and it came to a point when the occupant of the room growled in annoyance. She reached out to flip her hair back and press on the phone to make the loud music stop. Slowly slithering out of the person on her bed, she bent down to pick up a shirt to cover her naked body. She also grabbed a hair tie from the side.“Just stay there. Don’t make a sound, or else I will cut your little guy off for real.” She huffed at the fringe she picked from the ponytail to have something to frame her face. There was something sticky between her legs, but she only endured it as she made her way to her condo unit’s main door.“You better be hot SWAT officers or something…” The woman peeked through the hole and saw a furious and puffing Roxanne pacing outside her door. Not knowing what could drive her cous
Andrea also wondered if the truth made her sad. She kept on preparing herself for the time when Gryphon would come to collect her… or even just their daughter. Her new life was built on the assumption that Gryphon would drag her back into his world the moment he found her.However, when it came to it, the man only watched them come and go like he didn’t even know them. Now that she faced the man’s mother, she also heard how Gryphon refused to connect with her anymore. She was the one who left him that night, but why did it feel like she was still the one who lost the most?Did she hope that Gryphon would chase her to the end of the earth? Now that he didn’t, her heart decided to shatter some more.She just offered a smile, which Parker caught in its least visible state. “Not really. I
The aftermath was the worst that ever happened in the last four years of Andrea vanishing. As soon as Gryphon met with his father in the parking lot, Parker stopped them both from leaving. She had a finger knife out, holding up both males in her small family. “Will anyone tell me what just happened? Did we really just see Andy there… and not make a sound?!”“Hon, let’s continue this conversation at home. We drove hours just to get here.” Fred sighed as he knew the mood of his wife. It was as if someone hid a tub of her favorite yogurt and ate all of it without sharing it with her. “Aren’t you tired? I’m tired.”“I am tired! I’m so tired of looking for Andy, yet when she shows up, we do nothing!” She turned her finger at Gryphon’s face. “You did nothing! No ‘hello,&r