SERENA’S POV I still could not understand where he was coming from. Every board member had the right to have visitors anytime, for business or personal visits, as long as they could fulfill their job well even without Gray knowing. What the hell is his beef with Landon and he hated the man so much? I would never understand him. I had to lie to Gray that I could understand him just so the conversation could end. I had done my part today. I thought I did well in gaining everyone’s sympathy… especially Gray who even followed me in my office even though he knew damn well that he wasn’t needed there. We were currently in the car, and our driver sending us home. I had to go home earlier because of what happened. That was what Gray wanted, too. He seemed concerned about me, but I refused to believe every kindness he was showing Serena Ambers. He failed to do kindness for his wife then, and it was just hard to believe that he could be concerned for someone when he could not even do it bef
SERENA’S POV My heart felt like it was coming out of my ribcage. I sat on the couch in haste, my full attention now focused on my sister. Kaihly was sitting in front of me, her face serious as she looked at me. “Him? Where did you find him?” I inquired, my eyes starting to get teary. How could I not? We had been looking for witnesses that could help us for years. Kaihly was a computer geek, but even she had a hard time looking for the person who had access to the CCTV cameras at the time. It all disappeared right after the accident as if someone asked to delete them. “Yes. I finally got the records of the employees who worked in that neighborhood almost three years ago. The man said he’s willing to tell us everything as long as we would pay him great amo—” “How much does he need? Pay him millions if that’s what he wants. I need to know who wanted to kill me and my baby.” I had been waiting for this for so long. My team had a hard time looking for any evidence that seemed
SERENA’S POV I found myself locking the door of my room right after clicking the green button, answering Gray’s call. It had not even an hour since I arrived home, yet he was bothering me again. Taking a deep breath, I placed the phone on my ear. “Yes, Mr. Moore?” I greeted, my voice low to appear weak. I had to pretend that I was the victim even if we were not face to face right now. “How are you feeling?” he asked, not even greeting me with a hi or hello. His background was filled with silence, and I could only hear his breaths and the sound of his air conditioner. Is he home already? Strange. It was still too early to go home for a CEO like him. “M-My bruises are still hurting. I have put an ointment already, though…” I faked a cough with a low voice, still appearing weak. My cuts and bruises were hurting, but I knew to myself that I was only exaggerating myself. I could hear Gray taking a deep breath from the other line, making me grin in silence. Are you worried, Gray? Or i
SERENA’S POV “Weird.” That was all I could say as I stared at my cellphone screen. What did I do wrong and he suddenly ended the call? It wasn’t like I still wanted to talk to him. It just felt like I did something that made him act that way. Gray Moore never ended the call first ever since he got my number from my secretary. Hmm… something was fishy. What the hell is wrong with that man? Is that because of my joke that was supposed to be funny? “I don’t know, Jane. Why don’t you just stop thinking about him? You have a long day tomorrow,” I talked to myself, remembering the board meeting that I set for the partnership between Landon’s company and the Moore Estates. Landon would see me tomorrow, and I wondered if Gray and he would have tension between them just like the last time. I hoped they would not. I hoped Gray would consider how weak I would be tomorrow. Weak, my ass. Another day and another pretending in front of those bastards. Psh, how I wish Geraldine Moore
SERENA’S POV I could feel Landon’s hands tightening on my waist as if my ex-husband’s presence bothered him. This was what I was preventing from happening. Gray and Landon being in the same room without my presence would result in no good. “Mr. Moore,” I called, smiling. Landon took his hands off me and faced the man who just come. Gray, on the other hand, had his eyes focused on me now, seemingly scanning every part of my body. “And what consequences did you give that woman? I have heard that your secretary isn’t the only one who abused and embarrassed Serena. Your sister and your mother were involved, too, yet they haven’t received any punishment from you,” Landon remarked, his tone low and serious. Damn. The meeting hadn’t even started yet and they were on the verge of fighting already. My body’s strength would not be able to go in between them. “Mr. Mitchell, I treat every member of the Moore Estates with equal rights… especially to their well-being. Ms. Ambers and my fami
SERENA’S POV I had to take several deep breaths to register what the fuck did Gray’s sister just said. First of all, why is she here? I thought this was supposed for board members only? “Aerah, don’t start with that,” Gray warned in a serious tone, sending Aerah dagger looks. Fuck. If this was a normal day, I would have said something to freaking defend myself. But no. My body was aching so bad and this damn bitch in front of me still dared to say something. “Is she really like that, Serena? The fuck…” Landon whispered in my ear as he made sure that I was comfortable in my seat. I let out a chuckle as I remembered what I wanted him to do to that woman. By all the information that he knew, he must have been so disgusted with her by now. Who wouldn’t? That was Aerah Celine Moore that we were talking about. No one liked her aside from herself and her freaking family. “Just pretend that you don’t hate anyone in this room, Landon. Remember that you still have to make that woman fall
SERENA’S POVGenuinely worried? What is this man on? I blinked rapidly as I looked away from him, my gaze now focusing on the front. Landon’s voice was loud and clear as he talked about the plan and the proposals, but there seemed to be a problem in my ear that I could not understand anything that I was hearing. Or rather, the words any of the people said within the room would not register in my mind.What the hell? I tried hard to not look at Gray’s direction. He was just beside me, and I had to gather all my effort to not make me look at my side. Gray Moore being vocal with what he felt honestly surprised me. He did not seem like he was acting or faking his concern, but I didn’t want to assume that his worry was goddamn artificial. “You are one of the people who served this company a greater success since you came, Ms. Ambers. I am very grateful you became a part of the Moore Estates. I couldn’t just let you go on with your life without knowing if you’re okay or not,” I heard him
SERENA’S POVDamn. This was what I was talking about. How could Gray hear that when I could barely hear what Landon was saying? Damn it! I clenched my fist as I hid it under the table. I then looked turned to Gray—who was looking only at me with a raised brow. I displayed my pearl-white teeth, pretending that nothing was going on.“Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, Mr. Moore. To tell you frankly, you are not the only person that we deal with every day. We have personal lives, too. And, you are not the only person that we know in this room. We could talk about anyone who’s in here right now…” I said, trying not to be sarcastic but still ended up sounding that way. I thought I got it from Landon. “I thought I heard my name, Ms. Ambers. No need to get mad,” Gray answered, withdrawing his curiosity. Well, I guessed that worked. Landon and I almost got caught gossiping about the Moores on the spot and worse, by Gray Moore—the smartest and the only person that had a brain of them all.Gray
SERENA’S POV“Who the hell is that man Mom was talking about?” I asked myself as I ate the salad Kelly made for us. Just like usual, all of us were in the lounge, spending our time here however we wanted. The sun was up now, but none of us seemed to have planned to leave the house. Well, I did have a plan, but I would not be so stubborn again like how I did last time. My doctor freaking scolded me when he learned how I didn’t take his advice seriously. Also, no matter how much I wanted to go out and do what I had to do, I would not take any risks again unless I really needed to do so. Geraldine almost learned what was I hiding because of my stupidity and stubbornness. I was too careless and wasn’t thinking smart enough.“Chill, girl. You don’t have to worry about it too much. Mom’s men are all reliable when it comes to technology and physical fights. You won’t be dead if someone tries to kill you again,” Kaihly answered the question that was supposed to be heard only by me. Tch. S
GRAY’S POV“Tsk. Forget about that Serena Ambers, man. It’s so fucking obvious that you’re interested in that woman, but you’ll never be at peace with her because of your family. Why don’t you try liking other women? Your former secretary—”“Shut the fuck up, Kole. I told you I am not interested in dating for now. I won’t fucking deny nor confirm anything for now, too, because everything is just so fucking confusing.”I messed up with my hair as I looked down the floor. I was not a teenager to be fucking in denial with my feelings, but I wouldn’t name whatever I felt because damn, they were not the same person, but I was afraid if ever I was falling deeply in love with Serena just because she reminded me of Jane. I had met women like Serena Ambers before. Brave and bold, and they never get too carried away with their feelings just like her, but I was never interested. Maybe as business partners, yes, as I was assured of their professionalism, but other than that, they did not interes
GRAY’S POV “Damn, that was fucking straight to the point,” Kole stated, gasping. He lightly bumped his shoulder against mine as if telling me how bad it was, that it was rude and I should not have said that. Looking at Chelsea’s embarrassed expression, I thought he was right. I should have stayed quiet.“A-Ah, it’s okay Lawrence. You don’t have to force me to Gray. This party is for Marco. It should not be for me and Gray. And duh? We just met and he barely knew me. Stop shipping me to him, guys. It’s quite embarrassing for the both of us,” Chelsea told us, stuttering and not looking where I was. She had this huge smile on her face just a while ago when Marco’s friends were teasing her to me, but now that I told them how uninterested I was, she seemed to deny it and started acting conscious. Did that embarrassment do that to her? I apologized for being blunt, but that was what I truly felt. I wasn’t hoping for an issue. I would rather look rude from their perspective than let them
GRAY’S POV “Fucking hell,” I cursed as I parked the car outside Marco’s house. My right cheek still felt numb even if my sister had slapped the hell out of my face hours ago. The rearview mirror showed me the remembrance of it—it was red and had the tiny mark of her ring that was on her fingers when it happened. I hoped this birthday celebration was an intimate one. I could not afford to be seen by guests looking like this. Fuck, why does it have to be Marco’s birthday today? Knowing that man, he was a social butterfly who knew almost all the people in and outside Texas. I got out of the car and went inside my friend’s million-dollar house, bringing nothing but the face my sister hit. I had no time to bring him gifts when many things had happened today when it wasn’t even 10 pm yet. I was not even in the pool area yet I could already hear the sound of the music. What do I expect? Marco was a party animal. I got where they were wearing the suit that I often wore while I worked, giv
SERENA’S POV The lounge fell silent as Miranda walked toward me. I glanced at Kelly, hoping to see the expression on her face that said, “I wanna answer it.” But no. My younger sister only gave me a signal by nodding her head, seemingly telling me that I should be the one to answer it. Usually, Kelly would be the one to communicate with our mother. I always led the plan and sometimes would do what they suggested, but when it came to talking to the one who birthed us, Kelly was always our representative. She had the most amazing communication skills among us and she could convince the one and only Valeria Ambers not to go here. I took a deep breath as I received the phone from my secretary. Mom’s name flashed on the screen, making me nervous even more. I answered the call as silence enveloped inside the lounge room, turning on the speaker button so that my sisters could hear her, too.“Mommy…” I greeted, befuddled on what tone should I use. She just heard that I passed out in the de
SERENA’S POV “Kelly, stop with the arguing, please. There’s something that we need to do first before anything…” Kaihly interrupted us, her tone worried. We all looked at her simultaneously, forgetting what we were worried about in a split second. It was so rare to see Kaihly without her tablet or laptop. She would not be able to live without those gadgets. But right now, she had nothing on her hand. She was just listening to us, seemingly assessing the situation. “What is it? Are there other things that we need to be worried about besides that our mother is coming here anytime soon? Damn, Kaihly, what is it?”Kaihly took a deep breath and stood up. She then faced us all, the look of terror was hiding behind her eyes, yet it still could be seen from our point of view. With the way she was acting right now, I felt like something bad was about to happen. Kaihly was always calm and composed. She was the only person who could be so chill in the middle of chaos. “Miranda said that they
AERAH’S POVI only realized that they had gotten away already when an intern walked in front of me. Snapping back to reality, I clenched my fist and continued walking. I could not see them anymore, but the memory still lingered in my mind.Serena just passed out. Why did she have to cling like that to Landon? Why did Landon have to guard her as if someone would do something bad? He was freaking overreacting! I had not heard anyone died from freaking mild headache! If I knew, that Serena was just faking it for fucking attention!That was what she was… like what Jane always did!With my head knotting, I headed towards the clinic where Serena was just a while ago. I heard they did some lab tests on her. Well, not here because a clinic in a company could not do that. The probably got the things that they needed from her and did it at one of the nearest hospitals here—which our family also owned. I had not even gotten inside the clinic when its door suddenly opened, revealing my brother a
SERENA’S POVMy head was lightly in pain, but it was not throbbing enough to make me look suspicious in front of Gray and Miranda. My sight was starting to get clearer as I regained consciousness. I was not in my room. This room was like a mini hospital that I had never seen before. Is this still inside the Moore Estates? I had never been in here.“Ms. Ambers… are you okay? How are you feeling? You have been asleep for hours now. Do you feel dizzy? Is something hurting?” Miranda asked one after another. I sat down on the bed, my forehead knotted.Her questions were making my mind turn upside down. I just woke up, for goodness sake. I would not be able to process any information for now.“Stop, Miranda. My head might hurt again because of your questions. Please, I don’t wanna answer anything for a while right now,” I said, trying not to give an attitude but ended up sighing so deeply.The only thing that I wanted to do right now was go home. They had no idea how much I was nervous pas
SERENA’S POV — Serena’s Dream / Memory Continuation —I walked toward the dining room silently, hoping to see nothing but the food Lucia had prepared for me. I would surely eat the leftovers from last night. I would not let the food I worked hard for go to waste just because Gray did not show up. Lucia and I put our blood, sweat, and tears for all of these.“Lucia, I am here now…” I announced as I entered the dining room—only to halt and fall silent when I saw a man sitting at the end of the table. All of the dishes that we cooked yesterday were served. His eyes went straight to where I was, but he did not say anything or even greet me good morning. He was still here? I thought he had left already. I intentionally took my time preparing for the day because I thought he would not bother waiting for me. My eyes fell on his empty plate. It seemed like he had been waiting for me to come down and join him. It was clean and shining. “Good morning,” I greeted in a low voice, smiling fain