GRAY’S POV “Fucking hell,” I cursed as I parked the car outside Marco’s house. My right cheek still felt numb even if my sister had slapped the hell out of my face hours ago. The rearview mirror showed me the remembrance of it—it was red and had the tiny mark of her ring that was on her fingers when it happened. I hoped this birthday celebration was an intimate one. I could not afford to be seen by guests looking like this. Fuck, why does it have to be Marco’s birthday today? Knowing that man, he was a social butterfly who knew almost all the people in and outside Texas. I got out of the car and went inside my friend’s million-dollar house, bringing nothing but the face my sister hit. I had no time to bring him gifts when many things had happened today when it wasn’t even 10 pm yet. I was not even in the pool area yet I could already hear the sound of the music. What do I expect? Marco was a party animal. I got where they were wearing the suit that I often wore while I worked, giv
GRAY’S POV “Damn, that was fucking straight to the point,” Kole stated, gasping. He lightly bumped his shoulder against mine as if telling me how bad it was, that it was rude and I should not have said that. Looking at Chelsea’s embarrassed expression, I thought he was right. I should have stayed quiet.“A-Ah, it’s okay Lawrence. You don’t have to force me to Gray. This party is for Marco. It should not be for me and Gray. And duh? We just met and he barely knew me. Stop shipping me to him, guys. It’s quite embarrassing for the both of us,” Chelsea told us, stuttering and not looking where I was. She had this huge smile on her face just a while ago when Marco’s friends were teasing her to me, but now that I told them how uninterested I was, she seemed to deny it and started acting conscious. Did that embarrassment do that to her? I apologized for being blunt, but that was what I truly felt. I wasn’t hoping for an issue. I would rather look rude from their perspective than let them
GRAY’S POV“Tsk. Forget about that Serena Ambers, man. It’s so fucking obvious that you’re interested in that woman, but you’ll never be at peace with her because of your family. Why don’t you try liking other women? Your former secretary—”“Shut the fuck up, Kole. I told you I am not interested in dating for now. I won’t fucking deny nor confirm anything for now, too, because everything is just so fucking confusing.”I messed up with my hair as I looked down the floor. I was not a teenager to be fucking in denial with my feelings, but I wouldn’t name whatever I felt because damn, they were not the same person, but I was afraid if ever I was falling deeply in love with Serena just because she reminded me of Jane. I had met women like Serena Ambers before. Brave and bold, and they never get too carried away with their feelings just like her, but I was never interested. Maybe as business partners, yes, as I was assured of their professionalism, but other than that, they did not interes
JANE'S POV“Where’s Gray?” I asked the maid as I held my father’s urn. I just went back from the funeral home where my father’s remain was cremated. As an only daughter, no one was with me as I processed everything regarding his death. Even my husband, who was always so busy with his family’s business, didn’t come with me.“He is upstairs, Ma’am. Do you want me to call him for you? He just got back from his office,” the maid offered, but I shook my head to refuse. With tears trickling down my face, I went upstairs to see him, hoping that maybe tonight, now that my father was dead, he would be here to comfort me.“Ooh, Gray! I like that! Please, I wanna cum so bad!”“I’ll make you cum, Hazel…”Standing at the doorway, my hands shook as I tried to convince myself that this was not our room. I refused to believe that Gray would bring another woman here. Not in our household. But no matter how I tried to fool myself that this was not happening, their moans were becoming louder as time pa
JANE'S POV“When is she gonna be okay, Doc? It had been months…”“Fortunately, Mrs. Jane Moore’s vitals are okay now. In the meantime, she needs to stay in bed. The intense impact of the collision damaged her legs.”“Can she still walk?”“She must undergo therapy to be able to walk again. Don’t worry, Madame. The chances of her full recovery are high. We just need to be a little patient.” Monitor beeps and muffled voices were the first sound to register in my ear. Sluggishly, my heavy eyelids started opening. Crystal white coffered ceiling was my first initial sight. I had a glimpse of people in my peripheral vision, and they seemed to be conversing about me. The immobility of my neck made it hard for me to know who they were. “A-Aah…” I tried to make a sound but even my throat started hurting. The word came out so raspy as if I hadn’t tasted water for weeks. What happened to me? “Oh my goodness, Doc! She’s awake!” the woman near me exclaimed. There were sudden movements around me
JANE'S POV— 2 years later —“We successfully bought Mrs. Baker’s share. Right now, we are one of Moore Estate’s major shareholders…” Miranda, my secretary, announced. Hearing that, a sly smile erupted from my lips, satisfied that everything was going according to plan.Well, well. What a good news to start this month. I wasn’t wrong when I asked my siblings to go back to Texas weeks before the Moore Estate’s anniversary. As one of the major shareholders, we would be invited, to be sure. “I can’t believe that Mrs. Baker would sell her husband’s share right after he passed. Poor woman. She probably doesn’t know how the business world works…” Kaihly, Kelly’s twin, remarked, her head resting on my shoulder. “It’s just perfect, alright? I mean, so sad that he died but duh? We got the shares! Jane finally has access to that company!” Kelly responded, clapping her hands for me. I did not comment. I had been waiting for this. I made sure that I would get access to that family's assets once
GRAY’S POV“A pleasant evening, everyone. It is an honor to stand in front of you today. To be honest, I didn’t expect this company to be this grand. I am a little pressured…”The guests who were unfamiliar with Jane laughed and cheered for her, while the others who knew my deceased wife, remained clueless about what was happening. My muscles were tensed, and my eyes could not leave the woman’s presence.“What kind of nonsense is this?! Why is that woman on the stage? Is this a joke? Mom! Do something about this!”Aerah was the first to react. Her sudden burst out took the attention of the guests that were previously drawn by Jane. Aerah’s reaction broke the ice that stiffened me in my seat. Damn, Aerah. This was not the time to be a fucking brat!“Aerah, sit down!” I ordered, my voice almost a whisper. She looked at me incredulously, her mouth slightly parted. She stood up, scoffing, making her the center of attention. Even Jane, who looked at her like she was a scandalous stranger
SERENA’S POV“Oh, your son’s here, Madame Geraldine. Since you’re acting like nothing’s happening here, do you want me to initiate and tell him about the accusations you’re throwing at me?” I offered, blatantly displaying a fake smile. The old woman’s eyes squinted, her lips turning flat. I turned my gaze on Gray, and just like how he looked at me the moment I showed myself on stage, his eyes were filled with confusion and mystery.“You’re so quiet… I don’t like it.”His silence reminded me of the days when I badly wanted to spend time with him, but I would always get nothing. Hearing that, Gray cleared his throat, swallowing.“I deeply apologize for all the troubles happening right now, Ms. Ambers—”“Don’t be. I am already disappointed. Given how wonderful this party looked, I never expected such treatment like this. If you want to redeem yourself, I suggest to stop trying tonight. Everything’s still fresh—”“Oh, shut up! Don’t even try to act so high and mighty, Jane Williams. We al
GRAY’S POV“Tsk. Forget about that Serena Ambers, man. It’s so fucking obvious that you’re interested in that woman, but you’ll never be at peace with her because of your family. Why don’t you try liking other women? Your former secretary—”“Shut the fuck up, Kole. I told you I am not interested in dating for now. I won’t fucking deny nor confirm anything for now, too, because everything is just so fucking confusing.”I messed up with my hair as I looked down the floor. I was not a teenager to be fucking in denial with my feelings, but I wouldn’t name whatever I felt because damn, they were not the same person, but I was afraid if ever I was falling deeply in love with Serena just because she reminded me of Jane. I had met women like Serena Ambers before. Brave and bold, and they never get too carried away with their feelings just like her, but I was never interested. Maybe as business partners, yes, as I was assured of their professionalism, but other than that, they did not interes
GRAY’S POV “Damn, that was fucking straight to the point,” Kole stated, gasping. He lightly bumped his shoulder against mine as if telling me how bad it was, that it was rude and I should not have said that. Looking at Chelsea’s embarrassed expression, I thought he was right. I should have stayed quiet.“A-Ah, it’s okay Lawrence. You don’t have to force me to Gray. This party is for Marco. It should not be for me and Gray. And duh? We just met and he barely knew me. Stop shipping me to him, guys. It’s quite embarrassing for the both of us,” Chelsea told us, stuttering and not looking where I was. She had this huge smile on her face just a while ago when Marco’s friends were teasing her to me, but now that I told them how uninterested I was, she seemed to deny it and started acting conscious. Did that embarrassment do that to her? I apologized for being blunt, but that was what I truly felt. I wasn’t hoping for an issue. I would rather look rude from their perspective than let them
GRAY’S POV “Fucking hell,” I cursed as I parked the car outside Marco’s house. My right cheek still felt numb even if my sister had slapped the hell out of my face hours ago. The rearview mirror showed me the remembrance of it—it was red and had the tiny mark of her ring that was on her fingers when it happened. I hoped this birthday celebration was an intimate one. I could not afford to be seen by guests looking like this. Fuck, why does it have to be Marco’s birthday today? Knowing that man, he was a social butterfly who knew almost all the people in and outside Texas. I got out of the car and went inside my friend’s million-dollar house, bringing nothing but the face my sister hit. I had no time to bring him gifts when many things had happened today when it wasn’t even 10 pm yet. I was not even in the pool area yet I could already hear the sound of the music. What do I expect? Marco was a party animal. I got where they were wearing the suit that I often wore while I worked, giv
SERENA’S POV The lounge fell silent as Miranda walked toward me. I glanced at Kelly, hoping to see the expression on her face that said, “I wanna answer it.” But no. My younger sister only gave me a signal by nodding her head, seemingly telling me that I should be the one to answer it. Usually, Kelly would be the one to communicate with our mother. I always led the plan and sometimes would do what they suggested, but when it came to talking to the one who birthed us, Kelly was always our representative. She had the most amazing communication skills among us and she could convince the one and only Valeria Ambers not to go here. I took a deep breath as I received the phone from my secretary. Mom’s name flashed on the screen, making me nervous even more. I answered the call as silence enveloped inside the lounge room, turning on the speaker button so that my sisters could hear her, too.“Mommy…” I greeted, befuddled on what tone should I use. She just heard that I passed out in the de
SERENA’S POV “Kelly, stop with the arguing, please. There’s something that we need to do first before anything…” Kaihly interrupted us, her tone worried. We all looked at her simultaneously, forgetting what we were worried about in a split second. It was so rare to see Kaihly without her tablet or laptop. She would not be able to live without those gadgets. But right now, she had nothing on her hand. She was just listening to us, seemingly assessing the situation. “What is it? Are there other things that we need to be worried about besides that our mother is coming here anytime soon? Damn, Kaihly, what is it?”Kaihly took a deep breath and stood up. She then faced us all, the look of terror was hiding behind her eyes, yet it still could be seen from our point of view. With the way she was acting right now, I felt like something bad was about to happen. Kaihly was always calm and composed. She was the only person who could be so chill in the middle of chaos. “Miranda said that they
AERAH’S POVI only realized that they had gotten away already when an intern walked in front of me. Snapping back to reality, I clenched my fist and continued walking. I could not see them anymore, but the memory still lingered in my mind.Serena just passed out. Why did she have to cling like that to Landon? Why did Landon have to guard her as if someone would do something bad? He was freaking overreacting! I had not heard anyone died from freaking mild headache! If I knew, that Serena was just faking it for fucking attention!That was what she was… like what Jane always did!With my head knotting, I headed towards the clinic where Serena was just a while ago. I heard they did some lab tests on her. Well, not here because a clinic in a company could not do that. The probably got the things that they needed from her and did it at one of the nearest hospitals here—which our family also owned. I had not even gotten inside the clinic when its door suddenly opened, revealing my brother a
SERENA’S POVMy head was lightly in pain, but it was not throbbing enough to make me look suspicious in front of Gray and Miranda. My sight was starting to get clearer as I regained consciousness. I was not in my room. This room was like a mini hospital that I had never seen before. Is this still inside the Moore Estates? I had never been in here.“Ms. Ambers… are you okay? How are you feeling? You have been asleep for hours now. Do you feel dizzy? Is something hurting?” Miranda asked one after another. I sat down on the bed, my forehead knotted.Her questions were making my mind turn upside down. I just woke up, for goodness sake. I would not be able to process any information for now.“Stop, Miranda. My head might hurt again because of your questions. Please, I don’t wanna answer anything for a while right now,” I said, trying not to give an attitude but ended up sighing so deeply.The only thing that I wanted to do right now was go home. They had no idea how much I was nervous pas
SERENA’S POV — Serena’s Dream / Memory Continuation —I walked toward the dining room silently, hoping to see nothing but the food Lucia had prepared for me. I would surely eat the leftovers from last night. I would not let the food I worked hard for go to waste just because Gray did not show up. Lucia and I put our blood, sweat, and tears for all of these.“Lucia, I am here now…” I announced as I entered the dining room—only to halt and fall silent when I saw a man sitting at the end of the table. All of the dishes that we cooked yesterday were served. His eyes went straight to where I was, but he did not say anything or even greet me good morning. He was still here? I thought he had left already. I intentionally took my time preparing for the day because I thought he would not bother waiting for me. My eyes fell on his empty plate. It seemed like he had been waiting for me to come down and join him. It was clean and shining. “Good morning,” I greeted in a low voice, smiling fain
SERENA’S POV — Serena’s Dream / Memory —I stared at my reflection in the mirror, naked and my hair wet. I woke up today with a puffy eye due to crying the whole night. Last night was supposed to be a special night for me. We were supposed to celebrate my birthday, but Gray did not fulfill his promise. He did not show up. He did not even greet me through text or call. The only good thing yesterday was when my father visited me here. He made me feel special when it should be Gray doing that. How could he forget my birthday when I never forget to remind him about that damn dinner? Is he too busy that he forgot he had a wife? I knew we were only married through papers. He did not love me and I was merely a stranger to him, but can’t he at least show up as a respect to his wife? We were not personally in a relationship, but in the eyes of the public and the eyes of the law, he was married to me. Is he even taking this marriage seriously? “Tsk. What kind of question is that, Jane? Of c