BRIELLE
I didn’t know why Silvie was home so early… my guess was, she probably left something and was returning for it, but that was bad news for me because I had decided to collapse on the couch instead of making it to my room after I got back.
I certainly didn’t want to talk about the date… not now at least, and so, I did the only thing I could think of to get out of having to talk to her…
Feign sleep.
Trying to slow my rapid heartbeat, I managed to get myself relaxed enough even as the keys turned in the lock and Silvie entered the apartment.
“Gosh, it’s not even 11 pm, and she’s back, already sleeping.” I heard her mutter to herself. From the corner of my eye, I saw her drop a couple of shopping bags, then proceed to her room.
She came back a few minutes later.
“Lucia?” My inquisitive best friend called out tentatively. I ignored her, turning over dramatically for goo
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BRIELLE Dylan Thoma was my boyfriend!!! It still felt unreal, you know? And it was just as I had imagined it would be… maybe even more than I had, if we’re being real. Dylan was the kind of guy who stimulated you in every way and not just sex-wise if you know what I mean. I always looked forward to our intellectual banters especially, because they were highly entertaining, and well… because they almost always led to amazing sex. That was a fast way to get to a consensus, amirite? Speaking of amazing sex, We were doing it everywhere… my office, his office, the elevator, the conference room, his apartment, mine… Life had never been this perfect. Now, I know you’d be skeptical, because office romance almost always gets out of hand, but Dylan and I had learnt how to balance things. We knew when to keep things strictly business and when to loo
BRIELLE The grand lobby of the Prestige Hotel glittered with radiance from the many chandeliers littering the ceiling. Surprisingly, there weren’t that many a people around and so I was able to breathe out and relax into the warm ambience and the soft music. “This way ma’am, sir.” One of the valets steered Dylan and I towards the massive, popular restaurant Artemis, where my amazing boyfriend had decided to take me out to, to climax a very weird week. It’s been four days since the whole Madeline fiasco, and I had come to a pretty obvious conclusion about the woman… she seemed to have some kind of mental illness. I remember the day like it was yesterday, Well, it was technically just four days ago, but still… I had left Dylan to deal with his mess, the Madeline woman still stuck in her high to notice. No one at work, except for Savannah knew of our budding romance, an
DYLAN I don’t know why I lied to Brielle about going to New York in the first place. Thing is, I’ve caused her so much trouble already, and so I wanted to take care of the Madeline problem all by myself, without involving her and putting a further strain on our relationship. I couldn’t do it alone though, and so I had told my best friend, Marin everything, and asked for help, and he had agreed to come to my aid. Now, if there was anyone who could help me with this, I knew it had to be Marin, hell… He calls himself the ‘best young black lawyer in New Orleans’, Let’s see how true that shit is. So no, I wasn’t in New York. I was holed up in my apartment with Marin, trying to come up with ways to get rid of the annoying woman without putting RetroCorp in jeopardy. I had really screwed up though, hadn’t I? You know, I always hear stories of how one sim
BRIELLEWednesdays.That time of the week that stuck right in the middle, giving you hope… telling you that the weekend will be here soon.I liked Wednesdays. I mean, not as much as I did Fridays, but you get my drift. Dylan was supposed to be returning from his trip today, and honestly speaking, that had been the highlight of my week. True, we spoke on the phone at the least chance we got, but it still wasn’t the same as seeing him in the flesh.I was excited.So excited that I had arrived at the office before 6 am. I hadn’t been able to sleep much, truthfully speaking, I haven’t been sleeping well since the whole Madeline fiasco, but I don’t really want to talk about that. Where was I again?Oh, yes.I figured coming to the office early and actually being productive, was better than sitting at home, moping, so I had done just that. It was 9:15 now, and
BRIELLE “Dylan! I didn’t know you’d be back so soon.” I voiced out, the surprise still laced in my tone. His expression was blank, I couldn’t guess his current mood or emotion even if I tried. “Well, Anna and dad needed to talk, so I left almost right after you had.” His gaze shifted to Ryan. “What’s he doing here?” Ryan chuckled. “You know, my mouth works just fine too, Thomas... and I can bloody speak for myself. I came to see Lucia because I had a meeting with Savannah, but she failed to show up.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Seeing as Lucia here was the one who assigned her to me, I only thought it right to come and inform her of this development.” “I see. Well, Savannah’s in the hospital, so you can be rest assured that she didn’t bail out on your meeting because she wanted to.” Dylan threw over his shoulder as he made his way over to me. “I’ll leave you to it then, Bree. I have to get a few things
DYLANI know staring at someone while they sleep is creepy as hell, but I can’t help it.I still couldn’t believe she was mine, you know?I’d had a crush on Brielle when we were in high school. Being a new kid on his first day had been uncomfortable to say the least, then here comes this pretty girl, with vibrant pink hair, glasses perched on her cute button nose, smiling up at me, just because I had been decent enough to open a door for her. I must admit, I never knew how much I needed someone to smile up at me, I was dealing with the discovery of dad’s affair, and the looming chance of divorce, so you can just imagine how much of a silver lining that smile was for me.I had been so stupid.Caught up in the chance of becoming popular, so forgetting everything else.Brielle squirmed slightly, and rolled over with a long stretch, a soft groan escaping her lips as
DYLAN“Take it easy, Anna.” I muttered softly as I helped my sister take a seat on the couch. She had finally been discharged from the hospital, and despite her numerous protests, I had brought her straight to my place where she was going to spend the time, recuperating.“The doctor wouldn’t have cleared me to go home if I wasn’t alright, you know? So stop babying me.” She complained bitterly.I ignored her and padded to the kitchen to get her and myself, something to eat. I had been at work the whole day, working on getting the rest of my list of investors on board with Lavish, and I’d been too pre-occupied to even think of getting lunch, so I was pretty famished.I didn’t have much, but I did have the Wonton soup from yesterday;I guess that’ll have to do.Heating them for a few minutes in the microwave, I headed back to t
BRIELLE “What do you mean by we’re being followed?” Silvie asked in surprise as her gaze lifted to the rearview mirror to see what I was talking about. “See that silver sedan behind us?” She nodded. “It has been following me all day, I first saw it when Chloe and I were going to Johnny’s for lunch. It followed me home, Silvie.” Silvie reached for my hand, probably feeling the tremor in my voice. “Oh Lucia. It’s probably just coincidence, you know? I mean, there are a lot of silver sedans in town, but if you’re that sure, let’s see if we can lose it.” Leaning forward, I heard her mutter something to the driver, who nodded curtly. He began to speed up slightly. He turned off the main road, negotiating a series of curves. We made our way back to the main road with the silver sedan nowhere in sight. “I think we lost it.” Silvie confirmed, double checking in the rearview mirror to be sure. “Yes ma’am,
BRIELLE My phone rang again just as Dylan and I were getting ready to head over to tell Shawn the good news. It was Silvie. I knew she was definitely calling to ask about Shawn… she had seen the frantic way I had exited our apartment, and I knew she was undeniably worried as well. “Hey.” “Lucia, how’s Shawn?” “He’s not good, Syl. He’s in very critical condition and the doctors don’t think he’s going to make it.” I told her. “Oh Lucia, I’m so sorry to hear that.” “Yeah, we all are.” I admitted sadly. “But there’s good news too.” I told her, my voice lightening up a little at the change. “Savannah just gave birth. She’s healthy, and so are the babies.” I said. “Oh my God, that’s excellent news!!! I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can.” “Sure, sure.” I answered. “I guess it’s safe to say you haven’t heard the news then?” I raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. “News? What news?”“Madeline has been
DYLAN“I want you all to know that I love you. Much more than you can ever know, and I’m sorry that my naïve cowardly actions drove such a huge rift between us for years, I can never forgive myself for that.” Our father rasped weakly.“Don’t say a word, dad… save your energy and focus on getting better.” Savannah whispered, tears streaming down her eyes as she held onto his hands. She sat on a chair right beside his bed, I was okay with leaning against the wall. Ma sat in a couch at one end of the ward, her legs tucked under her, eyes red-rimmed from crying so much.“Where—” A painful fit of coughs racked his frail body for a moment, cutting of whatever it was he was going to say. “I-is Brielle coming?” He asked when he had recovered.“Yes, she’s on her way.” I informed him, my jaw clenching real hard to sooth the
Chapter 40- ShawnDYLANI was finally ready to leave for the airport.With Brielle being on sick leave, I was basically the one in charge and I needed to oversee a couple of things before I left for my trip.I stepped out of my office, only to bump into Savannah about to knock on my door, a distressed look on her face.I panicked.“What is it Anna? Oh, fuck, are the babies coming?”“Dylan—”“Come on, let’s get you guys to the hospital.”I reached for her hand and started leading her towards the elevator, but thought better against it and made to lift her up instead. “I don’t think you should walk, come here I’ll carry you to the car.” She smacked my hand off frustratingly. “Will you listen to me for a fucking second?”I stopped. “Okay?”“The babies aren&rsq
DYLAN I was such a coward. A stupid, helpless dweeb who couldn't protect his woman. What good was having her in my life if I couldn't even fucking ensure her safety? Madeline was out there, and every minute Brielle spent with me was one that could put her in even more danger. I couldn't have that. She was better off with someone else… someone who was more capable of taking care of her— someone whose… whose baggage didn't turn around to haunt his perfect life in anyway, She needed someone who wasn't me. That was why I was gently exiting her life. She may not want that now, but eventually, she'd come to thank me for saving her from my messy life. She would come to realize that I'd done her a huge favor when she's happy with some other man. With some other man who could give her the protection and safety I never could. I was going t
DYLAN“How’s she doing?” I asked the doctor as soon as he exited the master bedroom where Brielle had been resting.“Luckily for her, her body went into a state of delirium to take her mind off things, but she’s slowly coming off it now.” The old man told me. “Her wounds are frightening at first glance, but they’re not too serious. They’ll disappear in a few weeks. Generally, she made it out okay, it’s her emotional and psychological wounds I’m worried about however, but we’ll find a way. Just make sure she takes her medications.”I thanked the kind doctor and walked him to the front door, thanking him once again for showing up at such a late hour and on such short notice.I sighed deeply after the door closed shut and stood there, deep in contemplation for a moment.Madeline was nowhere to be seen.The implic
DYLAN“What have you got?”“My men tracked her cell to a pub around Warrington Drive, but they found nothing.” The investigator told me.“Keep fucking searching!” I snarled. “They should either be in that area, or it’s a whole decoy to throw us off their tracks. I shouldn’t be the one telling you this? Do your fucking job!”“We’re on it, sir.” The five men walked out of my office.I swept my hair back frustratingly.If anything happened to Brielle…She’ll be fine man. Positive thoughts only.But how could I do that?She had been gone since noon, it was almost 10pm, and we still had no idea where she could possibly be. No ransom calls had been made yet, and I still couldn’t reach Madeline.The door to my office barged open and Ryan Rodriguez walked in. I l
BRIELLE I was floating. Floating over my lifeless, sleeping body. I tried to reach out for her… but all I grasped was air. Was this truly how dying felt like? Because instead of feeling pain— I felt free. I felt— liberated. There was no light, no darkness, no heaven, no abyss… there was just; Me. If this was death, then why wasn’t it scary? If this was the end, then why did it feel like this was just the beginning? It was another space, another dimension… where the main focus was no one but, Me. “Fight.” “You can do it.” “Just hold on.” “I’ll find you.” Voices. No, a voice—Dylan’s. It was fading… fading into the darkness
BRIELLE I don’t know how Dylan had done it, but whatever he did had worked. Never had I felt so much at ease since the incident, and now thanks to his wonderful connections and that restraining order, I had gone about my daily activities without stress or worry for the past two weeks. I finally felt free, you know… like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I was even sleeping much better now. Of course, Dylan still had to go out with Madeline for her usual checkup and all of that other stuff. And hey, though it wasn’t that easy dealing with the whole thing, I had resigned myself to the fact that that was probably going to be our new normal. But Dylan had told me that the doctor said they could do a fetal cell analysis to determine if he was really the father without waiting for the child to be born, and he had told me they would be doing that tomorrow, which meant that the day of reckoning was going t
BRIELLE At first, I thought he was angry at me for threatening his mother, and apparently, so had she. “Dylan, you see why I never approved of her, look at how she’s talking to me!” She lamented, trying to seek his sympathy as she wrapped her arms around him. But he pushed her off, inching closer and closer to me. “Brielle, what did you mean by that? And don’t lie to me.” He ordered. He called me Brielle, not Bree. One thing I had promised myself was that Dylan was never going to find out about the whole Anya and the gun situation, and now, thanks to his mother, he finally had. I rebuked myself bitterly. Perhaps, I should have gotten a tighter leash on my anger, and then none of this would have happened. I feared for Dylan and what he would do were he to find out about this, but it was a little too late for regrets now. Taking in a deep breath, I told him everything. From how she was bip