SERENA’S POVI was right. The moment I entered my office, I found Gray sitting on the visitor’s chair in front of my table. I had no idea how long he had been here, but I was sure that he had been waiting for me for quite some time now.He did not follow me when I left him with the model. The model did, though, so I guessed they were not really together while I was eating.Looking at the man in my office, I recalled what Lucia told me. My heart started to feel heavier as I went toward him without stating a word.Should I show him the fake jealousy I was feeling? I was not in the mood the last time I talked to him in the hallway. “What’s the purpose of your visit, Mr. Moore? I am sure that you won’t have any problems with the papers that I passed. What is it this time?”I sat on my swivel chair, passing by him without even stopping to flirt and offer seduction—which was my original plan but changed because of what happened earlier.“I am gonna explain myself. I know you’re thinking th
GRAY’S POV I treasured my relationship with my mother even though she was sometimes suffocating, but this was what I hated the most. Whenever she did things behind my back. I had told her so many times that she could not fire anyone in my house without telling me. I had not even talked to Lucia for days now, and this was what Serena would tell me.I entered my mother’s mansion in haste. My jaw tightened as I tried to loosen my necktie. I bought this house as a gift to her for her birthday last year. They recently moved here and left Jane and I’s house because of the location.“Good evening, M—” “Where’s my mother?” I interrupted the maid, not wasting any time. I had been wanting to go here since Serena told me what my mother did to Lucia, but I had to be in a meeting so I did not get to drive here earlier. The maid I hadn’t met since they moved here stood straight when she met my sharp gaze. “T-They are in the common room, Mr. Moore. Do you want me to tell them of your arrival? Mrs
GRAY’S POV Being in the same house with them made me suffocate all the time, so I didn’t stay long and left them immediately. It was somehow strange for me because my mother was silent the whole time I was there and only letting Aerah speak up for her. If what they said was true, which I still doubted, then I thought Lucia and I had to talk and settle things. I needed to know what truly happened. I called the HR manager to ask if Lucia was really applying, and the woman confirmed that it was real. Lucia’s application confused me so much, too. If she really did something to my mom that she knew would result in her being fired, then she should not have done it in the first place. She would be scared to step foot in the property we owned because my mother could file a case against her at any time. I would not let that happen, though. Sending Lucia to jail would not be the solution. I had to wait for the next morning to come before I could talk to the woman. She was applying for a job
SERENA’S POV“Where is her daughter, then? How the hell could that woman leave her mother with her two children? Maybe that’s why Lucia doesn’t want to leave her job at the Moores. She’s feeding two children with her salary,” Kelly stated as she looked at the printed file that Caden gave us. Caden’s tandem with Kaihly seemed to be working. I asked about Lucia’s background last night, including her family and other connections, and they both worked for it in one night. Now, I already had the results in my hand. They woke me up with a folder with her life story. “Sarah Davis left and went with her new boyfriend, leaving the two children to Lucia Davis. They are currently living in Washington. Sarah works as a waitress in a restaurant that her boyfriend owns,” Caden added casually. Just like what I said, I asked Caden and Kaihly to know about Lucia’s family and her connections. That explained why Lucia still applied for jobs even though she should have been retiring already.She reall
SERENA’S POVI could see the fire in Gray’s eyes as he felt my touch on his thigh. I smiled in my mind, realizing how the slightest thing that I did affected him so much.His head got closer to mine, and right there I knew I should stop what I was doing. I did not want him to kiss me. I did not think I would go that far right now.Our eye contact remained intense, but it broke when I turned my head away, releasing a heavy sigh as if I were the most problematic person in this room.“What’s wrong?” the bastard asked, searching for my eyes. I shook my head and looked at him with worry.“You know what? I really could not help but worry about Lucia when I saw her yesterday. She told me she needed a job. Are you gonna accept her? I don’t know why was she fired but I really have a soft heart with old people. I don’t want her to work but it seems like she really needed the job. Are you gonna hire her here?” I stated, placing my hand on his.My worry about the old woman was true, but I asked h
SERENA’S POVMiranda was more than fine knowing that there would be another person working the office aside from the both of us. I believed Lucia wasn’t so sensitive to people, so I guessed she would just be fine spending most of her hours with us. I reminded Miranda a hundred times to not mention anything about my past and what was our plan, as Lucia did not know who I truly was. I hoped she would be alright seeing me every day. As much as I could, I did not want her to be emotional. It might trigger me. “Ms. Ambers, Madame Valeria Ambers wants to talk to you. She asked me to remind you to call her once you come back here. I think she has something to discuss with you, Ma’am,” Miranda announced, breaking the silence in the office.I ceased from signing the papers that Gray sent here. Silently, I dialed my mom’s phone number on my phone, not expecting that she would answer it on the first ring. She did. Isn’t she busy right now? “Mom, what’s up?”“Remember what we have talked abou
SERENA’S POVThree days had passed and this was the first day that Lucia would start working in the Moore Estates. During those days, Gray and I were both so preoccupied with paperwork that we barely even flirted with each other.The situation seemed to be favoring me because I would rather sign all those papers than sit in his office, waiting for him to notice my exposed cleavage.“Oh my goodness, you look like Jane!”A sly smile formed on my lips as I went down the stairs, my dress almost reaching the ground whenever I took a step toward them.The construction of my proposed project started today, and Gray and I had to be there to check on what was going on. I had gone there two times, but Miranda and I would only pass by all the time. I could not afford to run late at work while I was keeping my professional image.It was undeniably sunny on the site because of the recently demolished land. I made sure that there would be more than enough trees in the surroundings, though. We had t
GRAY’S POV I would bury myself to the ground. What the fuck is wrong with me? Serena’s eyebrows squished together. She was just as confused as me, but the difference was I knew where those words came from. I knew why did I say that, but I had no idea why I had to fucking say it out loud. My chin tilted up as I swallowed hard. I ran out of excuses to tell her, but I had to think through it. I should not have said that if it wasn’t meant for her completely. I was damn well aware that it wasn’t just Serena who I missed. I fucking missed my wife, too. “What do you mean? We’re always seeing each other in the company. What’s wrong?” she asked, giggling at me. I cleared my throat, straightening my back. I looked away from her and pretended to look at my employees instead.“It’s nothing. I just remembered something. Forget it.”“Forget what you said? That you missed me? Oh, Gray. No one can hear us talking here. Look, they are all busy. You don’t have to hide how much you want me, my darl
SERENA’S POV“Oh, stop overreacting, Aerah Celine. It’s just a shot on your leg. Why bother to cry?”I could not believe this old hag. It felt so strange listening to her confident voice when I had been watching her fake her illness a thousand years ago. How could she do all of that stuff? How could she shoot her daughter?“Mommy, stop this now, please—”“Oh, shut the hell up, Aerah Celine! The moment you chose to side with the woman, I no longer considered you as my daughter! How could you betray your mother, huh?! You are just like your brother—”“And how can you call yourself our mother while doing all of these, huh? I can’t believe you, Mom. After all these years… after all of the things that I have done for our family…”I still could feel the metallic material that was pointed at my temple, but after hours of waiting and I finally got to hear Gray’s voice, waves of relief washed over my chest. We were still here yet I already felt like my problems were now resolved. There was no
SERENA’S POVI felt lightheaded as Charles continued carrying me. The only hope that I had with me right now was the fact that Gray would be with us anytime soon. How dumb it was to feel like this when I was the one who ran away from him before I got kidnapped.I was the one who put us all into this.“Jane, I have to stop carrying you for now. Aerah Celine will guide you while I protect the three of us from any person who might come to us. This will be quick. Gray and the backups will be here anytime soon…” Charles whispered to me, making me open my eyes amidst the gunshot that I was hearing around the building.I was comfortable being carried by him, as my injured leg could not take it anymore. But hearing that this would be over soon, it was as if the motivation to get through all of these that I thought had left my body made me agree to what he said.My silent nod was his cue to put me down carefully. The moment that my feet felt the solid ground immediately had me gasp in pain. Ae
SERENA’S POV My lips seemed to be experiencing draught due to dryness, my bruised leg was numb, and I was damn well sure that I had lost a lot of blood during my whole stay in this building. It had been so many hours since Hazel told me those things. She said that she would finish me and I would not be able to leave this place alive. During my hours of stay here, I had a lot of time to think of what she told me. I even came across thinking of the things that I wanted to tell not just to my family but also to Gray before Hazel decided to kill me. It was so heavy in my chest to even think that I would not have the chance to talk to Gray after learning all of those things, but somehow, while I stayed all alone here for I did not know how many hours, there was a time that I accepted that this would be my end. That I would die without achieving the justice and happiness that I deserved. I did not know what Hazel was waiting for. Is this her way of killing me? To let me have an infection
GRAY’S POVIt had been a day since Jane went missing. Because of this happening, we paused everything that we were about to do during the whole team building. To be fair to the other employees who had been so excited about this out-of-town activity, I gave them all a budget to stay on a nearby island where they could enjoy things without interruptions.There were only a few of us left here, and when I said few, only Jane’s relatives and mine were present. Including the police officers that we contacted, of course.“Look for my daughter in all the corners of this island and the nearby ones. It is so impossible for her to be missing in this small place. I need you to find her.”The woman whom they called Victoria, the mother of the love of my life sat at the end of the table with a wine glass in front of her. Just like what they described her, she had a strong facade because of her sharp features which no one dared to talk about while she was speaking.I did not know if I was the only o
SERENA’S POVIt was like a long dream. A dream that I wish I did not remember at all for the sake of saving my heart from all the pain that I already felt for the past years when I could not remember anything.It was just the same. Remembering everything or not, I would still end up hurting.I remembered all the things that happened now. From my childhood up to the night that I got into an accident—or perhaps, an intentional one that made me forget half of my existence.How could Gray do that? That night, Hazel told me that it was Gray who asked her to kill me. Right after sleeping with her in our house, that was what he did to get rid of me.But there was something wrong. There was something that wasn’t connecting to what she was saying in my memory.If Gray really tried to get rid of me, why didn’t he sign the divorce papers? Why did he act like he was so in love with me? Things like that were not adding up at all. Was Hazel trying to trick me that time? Was that a real thing and sh
SERENA’S POVIt was so stupid of me to even try standing up and turning my back on him. The ache in my chest was pushing all my stupidity to keep going and leave this man. I didn’t know where to go and how would I come back, but I kept on walking away even though I was screaming inside because of pain.I did not want to be with him right now.I had the advantage when I was walking away as Gray seemed to be not in his right thinking right now. He had only called my name, but the words I said seemed to strike him so much that he couldn’t even move to follow me.I started running away even though the sharp wood that was attached to my leg was stabbing me in every step I took. I couldn’t find the way out of this mess, but I was lucky enough that I didn’t hear his footsteps near me.“Damn it,” I whispered as I held on to my knee to support my body. I was gasping for air as I stopped and looked behind me, relieved that I was all alone on my way back.“How stupid can you be to let yourself b
SERENA’S POV How did he get here? I believed he was also busy looking for the treasure that we had to find. Why did he even come here? I meant, it wasn’t like I did not want someone to find me, but I was expecting Landon or the other employees to find me!“Fuck, what happened?” He ran toward me in haste the moment his eyes landed on my bloody legs. It already felt numb, so I did not notice that he was referring to it immediately. I did not speak, instead, I just watched him worry about me while my mind started roaming around what had happened today. I never spotted Gray talking to Hazel, not even just for once ever since this day started, but seeing that woman follow him around like a dog just fucking made my chest abnormally in pain. I was slowly regaining my memories day by day, and I felt like I was close to the part where both of them would betray me. And no matter how much I wanted to learn the truth, every memory that I would remember just made my heart ache even harder. I re
GRAY’S POVI could not take my eyes off my wife when I saw her walking toward the seashore wearing only nothing but a two-piece. The last time I saw her wearing one was years ago, and we weren’t really close at that time.“Stop being a creep, man. You’re staring at her too much.”I blinked twice to pull myself together. Perhaps I might be looking like a creep right now as I continued admiring my wife even if I was meters away from her. How could I not? She was so gorgeous and I was sure I wasn’t the only one appreciating her beauty.They had been walking around the beach together with her secretary and her other friends, taking pictures together like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t follow her, of course. I wanted her to enjoy this vacation with little to no interruption of her activities.“Too bad you won’t be seeing her be a sporty woman today, man. Why did you even ask them to move the schedule for the beach volleyball? It would be lit,” Marco inquired with curiosity, watching my wi
AERAH’S POV “Did you see that, Mom? What the hell is going on between them? I thought Gray was avoiding that woman already? What is happening, and why has your son been clinging to that woman since this morning? He didn’t even stay in our cottage when we ate breakfast…” I eyed the two of them as they walked away from the crowd. Couldn’t my brother think properly? He knew that we hated that woman, yet he was still doing this shit and kept neglecting what we were telling him. The person that I paid to spy on him told me that my brother was rarely with Serena, and seeing how he was acting right now just made me think that the bastard was lying to me. “Are they in a relationship now, Mrs. Moore? Gray is so unbothered with our presence. He hasn’t talked to me since we came here. What do I do, Mrs. Moore? Huh?” Hazel inquired, her voice slightly shaking for an I did not know reason. Is she threatened that Serena Ambers, who shared the same face as Gray’s ex-wife, was probably going out w