SERENA’S POVI could not believe it. I did not want to believe it. There were so many questions in my head that kept popping up, and Gray, standing up in front of me while I remained clueless did not help at all.“You probably had your reason. Anyway, I have to go, Mr. Moore. My secretary and I still have to deal with things.”I turned my back on him and left the bathroom, not looking back. My pace was slow while I walked, but the more questions that were left unanswered in my mind, the more that it would get faster that I did not realize I was already running.Tears pooled in my eyes as I ran through different hallways, unsure where should I go. My mind was going haywire as I found myself almost passing out at the fire exit, my knees trembling.“W-What the hell does he mean?” I asked myself, tears falling down my eyes. I was so confused. I could not remember anything, but the words he said were far from what I believed. All of them seemed to be altered in a way that would make my min
SERENA’S POV“Why the hell would he do that in the first place? Didn’t he want to divorce you?” Kelly exclaimed as she stood in front of me, both of her hands resting on her waist. Kaihly and her picked us up in the Moore Estates parking lot, expertly disguising themselves as different people. I told them we were fine, but they were so stubborn that I did not realize that we were already at home. “Your husband is so fucked up, Jane,” Kaihly commented, resting her head on my shoulder. I sniffed, nodding my head in response. We had confirmed that Gray and I’s marriage was still registered with the help of Kaihly’s technical skills. Gray faked it like what he said, but when we dived deeper and Kaihly used things that all of us weren’t aware of, we freaking saw what Gray was talking about. “What’s the purpose of lying when we all know that he was in favor of the fucking divorce? Everyone was in favor of that aside from Jane because unfortunately, she was so in love with that man that sh
SERENA’S POVI put the wedding ring back inside the drawer, hiding it as if it was something I did not want to see ever again. I used to look at it with admiration when Gray and I got married, as it symbolized that we were one in our marriage. But now, I could not bring myself to stare at it without feeling the clench in my heart. “A million dollars was wasted to symbolize cruel love,” I whispered to myself, shaking my head. I shut my eyes firmly and did not let another lone tear escape from it.The darkness in my vision started to have images, as it gradually played a few memories that I had been keeping for years now. FLASHBACK — Almost 6 years ago“After this big day, you can build a family of your own. You can have your complete and happy family, my princess,” my dad told me as we watched the guests get entertained by the wedding host.He was beside me as he held a wine glass, but I doubt he was drinking at all. My father was never a drinker.“Do you think Gray will like me, Dad
SERENA’S POV “Wouldn’t Gray suspect you for being absent today? You don’t look sick,” Kelly stated as we passed by different designer stores. Kelly forced me to go shopping with her today. I knew it was risky and we might get caught here, but I could not spend another hour alone in our house. I might go crazy due to unwanted memories that would attack me. “I don’t care if he suspects me or not. I do my job well. He shouldn’t have a say in this,” I replied casually. Aerah did this all the time, so she never got the promotion she wanted. This would be the first time that I would spend my time with my sister without talking about things that were not related to the revenge I wanted to do. “What if Aerah sees you with me? What are you gonna tell her?” I asked her, wondering.Well, I thought I could get away with Aerah’s anger that easily. I could just tell her that people wanted to be friends with me, and I did not think there was something wrong with that. However, I was sure that wom
AERAH’S POVRena?Who the fuck interrupted me? With piercing stares, I turned to my side to know who owned that manly voice. My eyes widened slightly, my feet almost freezing on the ground.Fuck. Landon Mitchell?My gazes shifted from the Landon to Serena, and Serena to Landon Mitchell, the only man who dared to reject me when I made the first move on him while I was traveling in France. Landon went to Serena’s side and rested his arm on her shoulder as if they had known each other for years now. I felt the bitterness in my chest as I watched Serena’s huge smile, seemingly happy to see Landon here.How the hell did they know each other? Landon has multiple businesses including furniture and construction materials, but he was more active when it came to his bar businesses. Serena was not the type of person that would go to a bar. How did she know him? She seemed so connected to the people I knew. “Landon. What brought you here?” Serena asked with a smile, almost making my mouth sligh
SERENA’S POV I bit my lips as I watched Aerah Celine’s inconsistent reactions. How could I not be amused when she would send me dagger stares as if she wanted to kill me and would be frightened at the same time whenever Landon would add another sentence regarding her brother’s suspicious actions? Landon knew that I had a husband then, but he wasn’t aware that it was Gray Moore. He also knew that I was planning to avenge my child, but he did not have any idea that I was already in the process of doing it right now. “Still strange. No one would reject such a nice offer especially if the project is too risky. But as I was saying, I don’t have the right to judge. Mr. Moore probably had his reasons,” Landon concluded, letting go of the topic. I nodded my head, agreeing with what he said. Aerah, on the other hand, remained silent as she listened to us, her eyes now directed to the floor and her eyebrows almost meeting each other. She was probably thinking what the hell was wrong with he
AERAH’S POV I could not believe them… especially Gray! I was unaware of what happened during that negotiation, but based on Landon’s words, I knew for sure that something was going on. What the fuck is wrong with him? Does he like that bitch? Oh, come on! This was what my mom was talking about! Given that Serena Ambers had the same face as Jane, Gray could be crazy again! “We’re already here, Ms. Aerah.” I thought I was spacing out too much that I did not realize the driver had stopped the car already. I inhaled a deep breath and got out of the car, slamming its door hard as soon as I got outside. The driver flinched, but I did not give a fuck. My mom needed to know what was going on with his son as soon as possible! “What’s wrong with you, Aerah Celine? Did you get into trouble again? Oh, don’t you dare give me another problem this week! I told you not to go out!” my mom greeted me the moment I entered the house. “Oh, please! Don’t say anything, Mom! There are more important thi
SERENA’S POV I should have known that Kelly, hearing all of the things that Landon said was a bad idea. I was aware that she hated Gray—or men in particular, but I did not expect her to be so invested in what happened during the negotiation. “I can’t believe that trash would react like that. As far as I can remember, he never acted like that around women. I tried to seduce him multiple times before, but he never cared about me. Geez,” Kelly stated, sipping from her tea. We were already home, chilling hours after Kelly refused to stop bombarding me with questions I had no energy to answer. “Landon was probably exaggerating things, Kelly. Stop assuming things that are likely impossible to happen. You know Landon always thinks men worship the ground I walk on. That man found me too beautiful not to be liked by anyone,” I responded, shaking my head. Even though I witnessed what Landon was talking about earlier, I still refused to believe that Gray was really jealous. Why would he? He d
SERENA’S POVThe sound of my heels colliding with the floor surrounded the empty hallway of this floor. Weeks later and I finally had the time to visit this wench face-to-face.Hazel Brown was sent to jail immediately the day I got rescued, as she didn’t have any major injuries like Geraldine Moore. I did not know how had she been since she was arrested, but I hoped she was suffering here. I hoped she would rot here.I went inside a room when a policeman opened the door for me. This room was just for private visitations, so this was far from Hazel’s cell. This one was decent and might be comfortable for her. I did not want her to feel this good while she was in jail.“Why did you visit me here? Is sending me to jail not enough for you?” she asked the moment I sat down in front of her. Her hands were handcuffed and there were two policemen behind her, while my bodyguards were on my side. “Any form of punishment and torture would never be enough for me, Hazel Brown. You’re lucky I stil
AERAH’S POV My heart was throbbing in anxiety as the maid of the mansion escorted me inside. This wasn’t my first time coming here, but this was the only time that I dared to enter the huge structure and face the people whom I had been having anxiety about talking with. I heard my brother was here again. I needed to talk to him… at least just this once. “I did not expect to see you here, Ms. Moore. You’re looking for your brother?” I was startled when I heard a voice that was similar to the voice of the person that I was most scared to face. Looking to the side, I saw Kaihly Ambers sitting on one of the couches, a plate filled with fruits resting on her lap. She was alone there, and I was so thankful for that. She looked exactly like Kelsey, the only difference was that she had soft features and lacked the boldness on her face. “Y-Yes. Have you seen him? I heard he’s here… according to his secretary. I just need to talk to him,” I answered, my confidence leaving me as the minutes
GRAY’S POV Ever since Jane got rescued and woke up from her deep slumber, I started having a new routine. It felt like I was already living in their house because I refused to leave her side even though I had a ton of paperwork to do. One part of her room looked like my office. It had a table and a swivel chair where I did what I was supposed to do in my office. Her family offered me a room, but as I said, I refused to leave her side. I would only do so if it were nighttime. But everything must come to an end. When Jane finally healed, I took the initiative to leave her alone and only met with her whenever she went to work. I would visit her from time to time, though—but only if she allowed it. “What the hell is this, Gray? What’s the meaning of this?” Jane inquired curiously as she put familiar papers on my table. “Have you read it?” I asked her back. The last time I saw those papers was already years ago, when I thought she had died, and all I could ever think was to give her e
GRAY’S POVI was not expecting Jane’s family to let me enter their home after all the things that happened. I wouldn’t question it if they banned me here, but that was not the thing they did. They simply let me wander around their house as if I did not do anything wrong, as we all waited for my wife to wake up.Jane was peacefully sleeping in her room, a bedside monitor standing beside her. It had been two days since she got rescued, and she still hadn’t woken up since then. Fortunately, they didn’t hurt her when we hadn’t arrived where they hid her, so there was nothing serious that happened to her body aside from the wound that she got before they took her. She already got the treatment that she needed, but her doctor said she was still under trauma, which was why she wasn’t waking up.My phone had been vibrating for a while now. It wasn’t a call from anyone but text messages from my sister. She had been asking me if I was going to visit our mother in the hospital, and if I was eve
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