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
GRAY’S POV“What’s happening to you, son? I cannot believe what your sister told me. Is it true that you like Ms. Serena Ambers?”Those were the words that I heard first thing in the morning. I went to my office earlier than usual to finish something that I did not get to do last night. I was not expecting my mom to come here this early, too, just to say those nonsense things my sister told her.“Your daughter is just exaggerating things, Mom. I was not in the mood during the negotiation. They only misunderstood me.”How did Aerah even know what happened that time? As far as I could remember, Ms. Brown wasn’t there and only Serena, Landon Mitchell, and Miranda Rowans were with me in that room. It would be strange if Aerah knew it from Serena.My sister would not even want to be in the same room with her. Talking to her was beyond impossible. “Are you sure? You know what happened when you married Jane—”“Please, let me work in peace, Mom. Stop mentioning Jane in the conversation when
GRAY’S POVI had been staring at her old photos for quite some time now. I was supposed to be working during this time, yet I found myself unable to move in my seat, my gaze stuck on Serena Ambers’ photos from almost three years ago.I noticed how she was always sitting on most of her old pictures. It was always candid and half-body, too. If I wasn’t observant enough, my sight would not even make me realize that she only started posting full-body photos only recently. “She fucking looks like her,” I muttered, biting my lip. Does she really look like this before? If I happened to meet Serena Ambers almost three years ago, I was sure I would fucking lose my mind. Her smile was just the same as Jane’s. Even her posture was like my wife’s.“What’s this?” I whispered as I clicked one of her old photos, trying to be careful not to like it. Serena Ambers in these photos was like Jane with longer hair. I zoomed the post to see her face, trying to focus on what she looked like—but immediately
SERENA’S POVI had been on dates with Landon. Might it be as best friends or as lovers, I did not really mind. His condition wasn’t a new or even a strange event for me. I had been seen with him multiple times, too. If I wasn’t mistaken, I thought there had been a published article about us being seen leaving a hotel. Goodness. My mom even thought that I was sleeping with him after we broke up. “I didn’t know you had an issue with that woman. You don’t usually do this, Serena. What did the woman do?” Landon asked, his eyes narrowing. There was no glint of judgment on his face, but I could tell he was dying to know what was happening. I acted nice toward Aerah yesterday, so he was probably confused. “You know that I lost my baby, right? You are also aware that my ex-husband and his family were the reason why I lost my child,” I started. Landon knew everything about my past, and I was sure he would understand why was I doing this. “Of course. I know everything about that, Serena. I w
SERENA’S POV I thought I needed to breathe fresh air. We would not be able to stop my mother if she really wanted to go here. Well, it was okay, but the things she might do would surely direct our plans to another path. Our mother was kind, but she was not the type of person who would please people so that she could look like the bigger person. She liked to do things her own way… may it be good or not. “What am I gonna do, Miranda? We can’t stop my mother, and we would not be able to control Aerah and Geraldine’s mouths either. This would be chaos.” I rested my face on my palm, appearing problematic. Mom was currently in Spain right now, living her best life in one of our houses there. My mother loved to work, so she probably was working there even though we told her to take a break. She said that there was another reason why she would go here… I wonder what could that be. It was probably for work again. That reason alone would not give us the ability to let her stay in Spain. “M
GRAY’S POVMy jaw clenched as I watched Serena and Mr. Mitchell walk away from us. What the fuck is that man doing here? Visiting? Since when did Serena Ambers become a cripple? As far as I could remember, he wasn’t needed in my company right now. “U-Uhm… Mr. Moore? Aerah is already waiting for me at the parking. I’m gonna have to go now.”I snapped back to reality when I heard Aerah’s friend’s tiny voice. I did not know what her name was… or maybe I forgot about it when my sister told me. I honestly did not give a fuck. She seemed nice unlike Aerah’s other friends who knew nothing but to spend their parents’ money and fool around with men. “You can go now,” I told her, nodding my head. My eyes were still stuck on the hallway where I last saw the image of Serena and Mr. Mitchell walking away. That man fucking pissed me off, and I thought my presence was doing the same thing to him. Mr. Mitchell wasn’t like that when we met, so I probably offended him during our negotiation. Tsh. I
SERENA’S POV “Oh, gosh! Do I really have to apologize for that? He was the one who was in the wrong,” I spoke to myself as I walked down the hallway. Landon just left, and Miranda advised me to apologize for what I had said to Gray a while ago.Well, not necessarily apologize, but I had to show that we were okay despite what happened earlier. I almost forgot that I had a goal to gain his trust and make him fall in love with me. I took a deep breath and faced the door of Gray’s office, ready to knock. Is he still with Aerah’s blonde friend? I wonder if Hazel Brown was inside, too. “Why the fuck does it matter to you? I have told you a thousand times that I want you to stay away from my business! Do your job as my secretary and leave my personal life alone!”Gray’s loud voice from inside the room almost made me jump on where was I standing. I was sure I wasn’t the only one who heard it, as employees who were passing by his office halted, too. What the hell is happening inside? “So yo
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
SERENA’S POVSince we could not waste time, we only did a few hours of resting before proceeding to the activities that were prepared for today. I guessed this was what Landon was telling me a while ago.All of us changed into the shirts that were provided for each team. Our team wore pink shirts, while Gray and his team wore white. I couldn’t imagine how dirty it would be after all the games that we were about to play.“Catch the duck for the first game? You wouldn’t force me to play that, Miranda. Over my dead body,” I whispered as I listened to the host announce the first activity. I would rather stay in our room the whole day than have myself roll on the sand trying to catch a duck while blindfolded. “It is for men only. We are not allowed to join yet, so it would be Landon, Caden, and the other men in our team as well. We’re just gonna sit here to support them…”I felt relief in my chest as I heard the words. The hosts started reading the mechanics. If I understood it right, eac