Chapter 6: Board Meeting at Moore Estates

SERENA’S POV

“Where’s Kelly now? Did she send us an update?”

I tried to remain calm as I sat on the couch. I was still wearing the dress that I wore at the party, and even though it had already been an hour since I came home, I felt like I did not have the time to change. I was too preoccupied with what Kelly said.

What does she mean that we have a problem? Did Aerah know about her already? It had only been a night, dammit!

“Calm down, Jane. You know Kelly’s a good liar, right? She had been doing this for years. And besides, that girl Aerah trusted her so much that she won’t bother suspecting her…” Kaihly, Kelly’s twin stated, watching me silently panicked.

She sat comfortably in front of me, her arm crossing against her chest. She knew what was happening. She even saw how Aerah made a scene at that party. I did not have an idea that my sister hacked the surveillance camera in that hotel to watch me get embarrassed by that filthy family.

“She said that we have a problem, Kaihly. What do you expect me to do? Go to my bed and sleep like sleeping beauty? We had been planning this for years. We can’t just be caught by that bitch on the first night of my comeback…”

“Yeah, right. You said that you have been planning this for a long time, so just calm down, okay? Kelly might be dumb but she’s not dumb enough to make a huge mistake. Trust that woman—”

“Oh my gosh! You need to hear this, Jane! I am telling you. That Aerah is really a bitch!”

Kaihly and I simultaneously looked at the door when Kelly barged it open. I immediately stood up and waited for her to come to me.

“What happened? Is everything okay?” I asked, my tone worried. Kelly made her body fall on the couch aggressively.

“First of all, before you ask me if I got caught or not, I will never be, Jane. But that wench, Jane…”

Kelly halted and took a deep breath. Given the look on her face right now, I already knew that Aerah had done something.

“That woman told me that she would make a petition to kick you out of Moore Estates. She told me that Geraldine Moore agreed to it, too, so the possibility of getting you kicked out of that company was high,” she continued, her cheeks flushed with anger.

Oh, really?

I let out a sigh of relief. Damn, Kelly. I thought it was something serious.

“You should not worry about that, Kel. We have more than enough connections to not make that happen. We have signed a contract, too, so you should calm down now,” I remarked, smirking.

Aerah and Geraldine were too full of themselves to think that they could get away from me that easily. I did not plan this for two years for nothing.

“Besides, it would stir chaos if they would kick our Jane out. The media was present at that party, so the public would find out about Serena Ambers soon. They would think that they are kicking Serena Ambers for personal and selfish reasons,” Kaihly added. I nodded at her and rested my back on the couch.

Remembering how they all looked at me sent shivers down my spine. They were mad and confused, to be sure, but that didn’t stop me from feeling satisfied.

I wondered how Gray felt after seeing me. Aside from being confused, did he even feel an ounce of guilt remembering his ex-wife? The only difference with how I looked was my bold makeup. I was certain that I still looked like Jane Williams.

“If you want to know what happened, you can just ask your twin to show you the videos that she has. That woman hacked the surveillance cameras to watch the entire party.”

I got to my feet and eyed Kaihly, seemingly telling her to give her twin a copy. I then heard Kelly’s gasp as I turned my back on them.

“You dummy! You should have told me that you were gonna hack them. I could have watched the exciting part if I only had access. I should’ve watched them in my car!” Kelly hissed, making me let out a chuckle.

I left them and went to my room. The three of us had been living in the same house since we came back to Texas. Kaihly rarely went out, so Kelly had the freedom to spy on the Moore family whenever she wanted. I, on the other hand, didn’t think of going out until tonight. I was reserving myself for that party.

I took off my dress and entered the bathroom, my mind telling me how much I deserved a good shower tonight. I had asked the maid to prepare the tub when I was waiting for Kelly to come home, so some of the rose petals were already sunken deep down the tub when I soaked myself in the water.

I inhaled deep and closed my eyes—only to open it again when my phone beeped. Still at the tub, I reached for it from the small table near me.

Who would even bother to text me at this hour?

“Oh,” I muttered as my eyes were locked on the screen.

It was a text message from someone I least expected to contact me—especially after not seeing him for two years and only reunited today.

From: Unregistered Number

Good evening, Ms. Ambers. This is Gray Moore. I got your contact from my secretary. I would like to apologize for what happened at the party. Also, we have a board meeting tomorrow. Your presence would be appreciated there.

Strange.

That was all I could think about as I read Gray’s record word for word. Hazel, his secretary, could have just messaged me for business matters. Did he want to apologize personally? That was so unlikely. I could remember waiting for his texts every day only to receive nothing at the end of the day during the first year of our marriage.

Does he do this with his business partners all the time? I saved his number in my contacts. I shook my head and typed a reply.

To: Mr. Gray Moore

Details.

It did not take him a minute before he could reply. I raised a brow as I saw another notification with his name just 45 seconds after I sent him my one-word message.

From: Mr. Gray Moore

The meeting will start at 10 am. Further details will be discussed tomorrow. See you at the company, Ms. Ambers.

I stared at the message and imagined that man’s face as he was typing so fast. I could not picture it. I had never seen him reply to anyone in a span of seconds. He did not even use his phone that much before.

He was becoming more suspicious. What is wrong with him?

I decided not to reply anymore. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the tub, the half of my face soaking with water.

I wondered what would happen in that board meeting. Is it possible that they would consider kicking me out like what Kelly said?

*****

“Meeting at 10? Right after what happened at the party? Is your ex-husband nuts, Jane?” Kelly concluded while she sipped at her tea, her eyes rolling at 360 degrees.

“They might kick me out of the company… like you said,” I calmly stated as I shrugged. Kelly’s eyes widened, but before she could say another dramatic statement as she did last night, Kaihly, her twin, intervened.

“Look at the news, guys…”

From the distance, we shifted our attention towards the living room TV. Kaihly was on the couch having her brunch while the screen was on, showing something I had never expected to come this early today.

“Breaking news! Jane Moore, the deceased wife of the business tycoon Gray Moore, showed herself last night at the Moore Estates anniversary. She claimed to be Serena Ambers, a woman who resembled the respected tycoon’s late wife but does not confirm to have any connections from Mr. Moore and his family….”

Kelly, who was currently drinking her tea almost threw it up. I, on the other hand, got stuck on what the news said.

Jane Moore?

I had expected the news to come, but not this soon. It felt unacceptable that they had my name connected to Gray Moore’s surname when in fact, the moment I left his house, I was no longer his wife.

“They did not show Aerah’s scandalous act!” Kelly exclaimed, her hand pointed at the TV.

She was right. They only said the summary of what happened last night, but not the part where Gray’s family shamed me.

Damn. Even after years of not showing up, even after changing my name and identity, they still found a way to hate me. They still found a way to show how much I was not accepted in their family.

“They are powerful enough to do that. It’s alright, though. I didn’t want anything to come out this soon, anyway,” I said as I stood up and fixed my coat.

“I have to leave now…”

I took a last sip from my coffee and left them, not bothered by the news that came out today.

Suspect me all you want, dumb bitches.

*****

“She was in the news earlier today…”

“Wow. She really looks like Mrs. Jane Moore. Is that really her? I thought she was dead?”

“She claimed that she’s not Mrs. Jane Moore. She’s Serena Ambers, one of our big bosses here!”

I could only leave a blank expression as I listened to the gossip from the employees that Miranda and I came across in the Moore Estates hallway.

“Do you want me to shush them, Ms. Ambers?” Miranda suggested as she hugged her clipboard that she brought anywhere she went.

“You don’t have to. Let them gossip and get caught by Gray’s sister. They would face harsher punishment once that woman heard them,” I answered, mocking how Aerah acted.

Miranda only nodded her head and continued guiding me towards the meeting room. This was the first time that I stepped foot in this building for the past two years, so I was not really familiar with the rooms anymore. I made the right decision to send Miranda here when she made a deal with the Moores, so she already knew where to go.

“Right here, Ma’am.”

We stopped in front of a large wooden door. Miranda turned the knob and opened the entrance for me.

“She’s here.”

I roamed my eyes around as I entered the room, scanning every person who was in there.

The board members seemed to be complete. Gray Moore was seated at the end of the table. Beside him was his mother, who eyed me like how she did last night—with hatred and disgust. Aerah sat beside Geraldine, and just like her mother, if looks could kill, I would be dead because of how deeply she stared at me.

Hazel was not sitting anywhere. She was just behind my ex-husband, who looked at me as if this was the first time that he had seen me after years.

Gray stood up to greet me, but I only nodded at him and sat on my designated seat. I made Miranda sit beside me, too.

“You’re fifteen minutes late, Ms. Ambers,” Aerah greeted, mockingly emphasizing my surname. Gray cleared his throat and eyed her, but the woman only rolled her eyes.

“How could I be not late when the news showed my identity without my permission? The people flocked around me the moment I got out of my car,” I answered sarcastically, not backing down from Aerah’s hatred.

“And you hate it? For all we know, you liked the attention so badly. That’s why you came back from the dead, right? You like the attention so badly that you decided to ruin our lives again…”