SERENA’S POV“Ms. Moore… What brought you here?” I asked, turning to see her. Aerah’s arms were crossed against her chest as she rolled her eyes at me.“You dare to ask me that? Of course, my family owns this company! What kind of question is that Ms. Ambers?” she replied, emphasizing my surname to mock. I knew where this was going. Aerah used to bully me before, but because I respected Gray and his family a lot, I never talked back nor did something that would make them hate me more.For sure, she would do the same thing that she did years ago. She was just unfortunate because I came back here prepared for that.“You work here now? As what? As…”My eyes marveled all over her torso, only stopping when my eyes marked the ID she wore. A grin erupted from my list.“An intern? I thought you owned this company. How come you belonged to the employees who had the lowest pay? Does the company even pay you?” I could remember Aerah not being interested in business before, that was why Gray wa
GRAY’S POVI spent most of my time in the office just like I always did since then. It was already dark when I left the Moore Estates’ building and headed to the address Marco sent me. “It’s been a long time, dude! How the fuck can you spend your days caging yourself in your office?” Marco greeted me, handing me a glass of alcohol. The bastard did not even offer me a seat first. Three of us were inside the private room of Marco’s newly opened club. Marco and Kole, my friends, came from a well-known family, too. Both of them had established their name in the business industry, so it was rare for us to meet during weekdays due to hectic schedules. Marco had set this meeting randomly for an unknown reason. “You really got connections, huh? I saw a lot of people on my way here. I remember most of their faces but not their names,” Kole commented, the corner of his lips turning up as he looked at our friend, Marco. I sat on the couch and put the alcohol glass on the table. I was not in
KELLY’S POVHolding a newly released magazine from my favorite fashion brand, I pretended to not see Aerah walking toward our table. Aerah seemed to have finished her work at the Moore Estates just now, as she was thirty minutes late on our so-called girls’ night.“Girls! I have missed you guys!” she screamed, making the girls on the table look at her—except me. We were currently in a bar where we were supposed to have our fun tonight. Tsh. Fun, my ass. I would not even be here if it weren’t for Jane’s request. She told me that I should come to gather information even though I already said no to Aerah.“Oh, Aerah! We have missed you, too! You seemed to be so busy with work? You did not even bother to come with us when we had our Paris trip!” Jessica said, kissing Gray’s sister on the cheek. Jessica and Alma, Aerah’s friends in college had been with me for almost an hour now. We were not close, so I did not bother talking to them when Aerah still hadn’t arrived.Aerah sat beside me a
SERENA’S POV“Oh my gosh, Kaihly. What have you done?” Kelly asked with wide eyes, her body relaxed in satisfaction. I was holding the remote as we watched the news that contained Aerah’s face. I only planned about embarrassing that woman two days ago, and now everyone was hating her due to her issues. “I did what you guys wanted to happen,” Kaihly answered, making me grin in silence. I wondered what was currently happening in that family. Did Aerah already know what her own medicine tasted like? I guessed so. I was expecting only Aerah’s governor issue to come out, not all of these. But I guessed these were better than what I was planning. She dared to call me a whore when she was the one who like different men everyday.“Aerah kept calling me since last night. She was asking for a goddamn help to get her out of this. I have been telling her fake reassurances.” “Wouldn’t that woman suspect you for only giving her useless words, Kel? A real friend should be a help.”While I listen
SERENA’S POV Hazel Brown guided me inside the conference room silently. I was behind her, watching her take her every step. My chest felt like clenching every time I would see this woman. I understood that she was the woman that Gray had an affair with years ago, but what more did she have to do with my life aside from that? Her presence always wanted me to throw up.The conference room was close to being empty when we entered it. Gray wasn’t there, and only two of the board members were present, both of them talking to each other. When they saw me, they immediately stood up and nodded their heads. I did the same to show respect.“Mr. Moore would be here anytime soon,” Hazel announced, checking the time on her wristwatch. Miranda sat beside me while we waited for the CEO to arrive. “Where are the others?” I whispered to my secretary. I thought this was a meeting. I was expecting everyone to be here given that the agenda contained important things to talk about. “This meeting is sud
SERENA’S POV “Look, Gray is on the TV!” I put down the newspaper I held and turned to face the television. The mention of that man’s name would never fail to make me turn around to see what was happening. I did not care about him, but I was interested in what he had been up to these past few days. “That’s an unexpected interview. Mr. Moore did not seem to expect the reporters to flock around him,” Miranda commented as she sat beside me, her attention was stolen by my ex-husband, too.She was right. Gray Moore was being interviewed by tens of people outside the Moore Estates building. And by the sharp stares he was sending toward the reporters, it was obvious that those reporters were not anticipated. Hazel was beside him, too, doing her best to make the reporters go away.Gray’s bodyguards were having a hard time handling the situation, as the reporters would not leave Gray’s way if the man would not answer their questions. A smirk emerged from my lips. Gray Moore looked so helples
GRAY’S POV“Hello…”Jane Seri. My head fell downwards as I heard Serena’s husky voice greet me. It was already pitch-black outside, and most of my employees had gone to their homes now—including the vice president of the company. I could not fathom if I was just tired or if Serena’s voice sounded exactly like Jane’s. It was my first time calling her through the phone.“Who’s this?” she inquired, and I frowned as a response. Was she sleeping when I called? Or she did not just save my number?“Gray Moore, Ms. Ambers.”There was a few moments of silence on the other line after I stated my name. Her breaths even sounded like Jane’s.I waited in the middle of the hallway until she could speak again.“What made you call me, Mr. Moore? It is late at night.”I was supposed to ask her whether she was the one who told Hazel that I was texting her, but I thought that was irrelevant. Whether Serena Ambers was the one who told her that or not, Hazel was out of that. “I have been reviewing the c
SERENA’S POVGray and I had been in a meeting for almost three hours now. He had so many questions regarding the file I sent him, and I was fortunate enough to deliver all my explanations well. It seemed like he would not approve my proposal if I said something that would not satisfy his question.“As I told you hours ago, I have sent this file to each board member. They have reviewed everything and the questions I asked you were the same ones that they sent me. I am quite impressed, Ms. Ambers,” Gray complimented, nodding his head as he scanned the last page of my report. “I would not propose something just because I want to, Mr. Moore. I would not invest in your company if I didn’t know how this kind of business works,” I answered confidently, my chin up. Gray looked up and raised both of his brows, his lips pressed together.I bit my lip. I did not have any idea whether he found me capable or just cocky. Well, I could not care less. I would not be this cocky if I wouldn’t be able
SERENA’S POVFuck you, Gray. How could you fucking do this to me? Showing up with Hazel Browns, really? Damn him! Damn him and his family!“Don’t let your emotions eat you now, Serena. People are watching. You might as well save it for later.”I could feel Caden tapping me on my arm secretly, but my eyes were unable to look away from the two persons who had just gone inside the hall. I could hear a few murmurs from my surroundings, making me think that I wasn’t the only one surprised by the woman’s sudden appearance.Who the fuck wouldn’t be surprised when he showed up with the woman he cheated on me with before? He even banned Hazel because the woman beat me up so badly!I cleared my throat and turned my gaze to Caden, displaying a smile to hide my irritation. There was something inside me that made me want to ruin this celebration. I didn’t know what to feel, to be honest. But I was afraid that I would do something I might regret later. Fuck.“What’s with that look?” Caden asked me,
SERENA’S POVI went back to my office with a knotted forehead. I had to be professional and not let my personal emotions take over me. I sat down on my swivel chair aggressively, only to stop myself from complaining about what happened in Gray’s office when I saw a gold envelope on my table. I took it without hesitation, opened it, and read what was inside.“Who put this here?” I asked, my eyes focused on what was written on the material.An invitation to attend Geraldine Moore’s 50th birthday?Oh, I did not know that the wench would like to see me on her birthday. Damn, we made the right choice of not adding me as my mother’s plus-one. Is she really the one who invited me or not? I could not bring myself to believe that she wanted my presence on her special day.“Oh, Mr. Moore’s secretary passed by here to give us that. He said that all of the board members were invited to attend the party. A plus one is even allowed, according to him.”Oh…That was what I thought. The old woman did
SERENA’S POVIt was another day to be strong again. I had to face the Moores with all these questions in my brain, and it still sucked because again, I could not remember anything. My mother and I had talked before I left the house, and we had agreed that I would not attend the party unless someone asked me that was not her. We just could not reveal that we were mother and daughters that easily. I still refused to have them investigate my mother even though I was sure that none of them knew her as my father’s wife then. Even I wasn’t aware of her existence until three years ago. “What’s the update about Mr. Garcia taking over Mr. Jordan’s share, Miranda? I haven’t talked to Mr. Moore about it. Is there any progress? Has the CEO already scheduled a meeting?” I asked as I sat on my swivel chair, watching Lucia wipe the picture frames—specifically the frames that had my picture in it. She had been doing that for a while now, but I wasn’t saying anything. I liked watching her do things
KAIHLY’S POVI would not know what exactly should I do right away if ever I was alone in this situation. Caden took the lead in instructing Landon what to do, and I just followed most of what was he saying. With the help of Caden and I, Landon got to escape the situation by misleading the direction of the people who followed him the moment he drove his car away from the coffee shop.Caden seemed to be so aware of the ins and outs in this area. He was the one who talked to the man on where to go. I felt like a display here knowing that Caden did most of the things. I was just assisting him with what he needed me to do. I had been admiring how smart he was for the whole night, and the only thing that was new to me was how disappointed I was in Landon after knowing that he did not bother sending Aerah home.I meant, I did not like the woman for what she had done to my sister but if I probably did not know who she was, I would pity her for liking a man that was not so interested in her.
GRAY’S POV“I was never in love with my wife, Lucia. Maybe I was interested in her before everything changed—”“You are just in denial. You are in love with Jane, Gray. You have always been in love with her. Even after she passed, you have been in denial. You kept telling yourself that you were not in love with her because your untamed anger was still there. You are mad at her for what she did, and you became angrier when she passed…”Lucia’s words started sinking into my mind slowly, highlighting everything that she was saying. I closed my eyes as I started recalling the times that Jane was still alive.I admitted that I was not a good husband. I was merely a stranger to her, as I was not always at home. My office actually became my house because of too much work that my father was giving me. Those were my preparations once the company would be given to me. Jane would talk to me whenever we had the chance to do so, but I would always answer her like how I answered most people that I
GRAY’S POV I did have an idea of what should I do, but I did not think I would be able to trust myself.“I don’t think we should talk about this over the phone, Serena. I just called to apologize, but I would like to talk about us in person,” I responded, regretting that I called tonight and disturbed her. I wanted to apologize, but the original plan was to do it in person. I just called because I happened to miss her voice. “Tsk. Whatever. Let’s talk in person like what you want, Mr. Moore. I am gonna end this call now. Bye.” She ended the call without letting me bid her goodbye. I inhaled a deep breath, turning off my phone. My feelings had been confusing me since then, and now that I had to decide, it seemed like I could not bring myself to decide what should I do, too. I could fucking feel that I wanted Serena to be mine. I liked her as Serena Ambers, but I also could not help but remember how I used to act around my wife. It was fucking confusing me. Did I only like Serena be
SERENA’S POV “Yeah, she did. I received an email from one of her friends. I declined because what am I gonna with them? Listen to them talking nonsense about other people?” My shoulders fell. She was invited to one of Geraldine’s private gatherings. I was sure a tea party would not be huge, so only a few people were invited there. One of them was my mother, and that was already a chance to have a connection with her. “You know I don’t have many friends because I don’t wanna waste my time talking about other people’s business, right? It’s not my cup of tea. I would rather spend time with my children and talk about something that would make sense to me,” my mother added, almost rolling her eyes at me. I bit my lip and refrained from talking about how much information we could get from that woman alone. That tea party would not only be about the tea that they would drink. I was sure it was a tea about someone’s life, too. Hopefully my life. It was okay if she talked shit about me as
SERENA’S POVI could feel Miranda’s intent stare as we listened to what was Lucia saying. We had been investigating what truly happened in the past, and we had never encountered someone who said that my husband used to be interested in me. Did that really happen? Because I could not remember a single thing regarding that. I had never felt Gray’s interest in me.“He’s interested? I heard from a few employees here that they are only under an arranged marriage. And if he’s interested, he would not flirt with the woman you were talking about…”Is Lucia even telling me the truth right now? How come Gray liked me when I was always a ghost to him? He rarely went home and never knew anything about me. He was always too busy with the company. He was always with his father.“Oh, I don’t know what happened to that man. They were indeed only under an arranged marriage for the sake of business, but I knew that Gray truly liked his wife. He never told me anything but his actions told me so. He migh
SERENA’S POVI was so confused. I could not name what I was feeling right now, honestly. But no matter what it was, it was against my better judgment to freaking feel this way.We were already on our way to my office, and I still could not comprehend these emotions.Should I be freaking glad that Gray said that he missed the old me or be confused because what the fuck? How could he miss someone he used to hate? How could he miss someone that he kicked out years ago?I should be pissed off. That was right. There was no right answer between those two. I should be mad and cussing the hell out of him because even after all these years, even if he wasn’t aware that I was Jane that he said he was missing right now, he was still stressing me out. So, what was gonna happen now? Is this the end of our useless relationship? Is this the end of my pretend flirting with him? This could not be happening at all. I had not even asked him about so many things.If he wanted to be away from me starting