KELLY'S POV All of us turned our eyes towards Gray's secretary. I was confident that we had hidden Jane's identity excellently, but hearing Hazel say that she found something about my sister made my heart drum bizarrely. “You found out something? Didn't we just talk about investigating her this afternoon? How can you find something about her that fast?”Aerah questioned, raising her brow. What the hell does she know about my sister? “Didn't I tell you to get out of our family matters, Ms. Brown? In which part of what I told you was unclear?”Gray eyed his secretary with pure judgment. I knew where was this going. I had heard that Geraldine Moore favored this girl so much that even if Gray was the one who was talking, that old hag would defend this woman. “Let her, son. At least we already have information about that strange woman...”As I was expected. Geraldine would favor this girl with her life.“I already started knowing who she was even before I suggested it. I have known Ms.
SERENA’S POV“She will fucking stay here?! Oh, come on, Gray! How come you’d let that whore work here?! I cannot believe you!”My arms were crossed against my chest as I listened to the noise inside my ex-husband’s office. Miranda was beside me as we waited for Aerah to come out so we could come inside.“She hates you so bad, Ms. Ambers…” Miranda commented, her mouth slightly parted. I let out a chuckle and shook my head. Gray called for a meeting this morning to announce my stay in the Moore Estates. Since Mr. Baker, the former vice president of the company was already dead and his shares were now successfully transferred to me, the board had decided for me to take over his position, too.Aerah wasn’t part of the board members, but news flocked really fast and when she heard about my position in the company, her mind went haywire and now she was in Gray’s office, disturbing his dearest brother.“Can’t you understand that that woman’s dangerous?! Who knows if she’s planning something
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
SERENA’S POV— Jane’s Memory —“Oh gosh, Charles. Why are you even telling me this? Gray is always busy and he would never have the time to screw other girls. He couldn’t even go home to our house because of his hectic schedule…”I found it ridiculous to think that Gray would have all the time in his world to have another woman aside from me. Since his father died, he barely went home because of the workload that his father left him in the company. I understood him, and I sometimes pitied him because all I saw was a man who was tired of dealing with so much stuff.I couldn’t do that. I would die first if my father died and left all the stress that he was enduring to me. He didn’t train me for that, unlike Gray who had been doing things in their company since he got married to me.“Oh goodness, Jane. Why are you even asking for my help if you won’t believe me? You said to spy on your husband, right? I am just telling you what I know,” Charles defended, drinking the alcohol he ordered.
GRAY’S POVSeeing that bastard again for the first time in years woke up something within me that I could not control. Well, I had no intentions of controlling it, anyway. Whatever I did to him, I knew he fucking deserved it.I called my mother last night to ask what the hell does that man doing in our company, and I would like to fucking choke myself to death when I heard my mother telling me to just fucking move on. Can she hear herself? She couldn’t just tell me to fucking do that as if that was something so easy to fucking do!That man ruined everything that I was cherishing!It was funny how I wanted to kill him every time we would be in the same place, but I couldn’t even move a finger now that we were sitting at the same table with the woman who looked exactly like the one that we both liked back then. Deja vu, huh? How fucking cruel. The only thing that made me feel good while sitting one seat away from him was the fact that I was the reason why his face got destroyed. I want
SERENA’S POVLucia was still sick and I still hadn’t moved on about the kiss. I should be acting brave and bold whenever I see Gray, but because of what he did and how I reacted to it, I always felt the need to flee whenever we would bump into each other in the Moore Estates.The memory I remembered was still fresh in my mind, and I still had no idea who the man named Charles was. I hadn’t told Kelly about him, too, as I was afraid that they would ask for more details regarding the day that I remembered something again.They always did that to know the things that triggered my memory. I was not ready to lie and conceal the fact that I liked the kiss that Gray and I shared. Fuck me for that.Ah! If I only knew that it would happen, I would have stayed at home and ignored the fact that I was the vice president of the company so I at least needed to show up even just for an hour.“Isn’t that the man who made you fall to the ground, Ms. Ambers? What the hell happened to his face? Is he ok
HAZEL’S POVDamn, that was fucking tough. Even though I had no intention of saving Charles’ ass before an employee passed by the hallway, I still had to help him fix himself before anyone could see us. It was my better judgment, and Geraldine would kick my ass off if I wouldn’t do it. “I don’t know what the hell are you thinking about coming back here. What the hell is wrong with you? Do you want Gray to kill your ass? You never listen…” I lectured as I guided him toward the fire exit. We couldn’t be seen by anyone while his face had so much blood, so we had to take this way to not embarrass himself.Charles was the only son of one of the Moores’ closest family friends. Gray wasn’t alive yet when Charles’ family had a connection with Gray’s father, so he was so hard to get rid of even if we already made so much effort.“Oh, I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought the bastard already fired you for beating up his so-called woman. Why are you here?” he asked, smirking as if his face
HAZEL’S POV Damn that man! Why did he have to come back? Why did he have to show up now that we are suspecting that Jane is alive? Damn him… he was making it hard for all of us. His timing was all wrong. “I am here now Mrs. Moore. Are you sure I am now allowed to enter the Moore Estates? Your son might kick me out again. He wouldn’t think twice to embarrass me in front of those people…” I stated over the phone, looking at the tall building where I used to work at for almost a decade now. Gray and I had never been on good terms ever since Serena came, so I was not sure if I was even allowed to show myself to him after what I did to Serena. I took a deep breath as I waited for the old woman’s response. She was not really old, but she was acting like one. She was acting like she would die anytime soon so that her children would favor her all the time. Cunning, right? “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Hazel. I have talked to my son about you representing me as one of the major
SERENA’S POVI shouldn’t be like that. How can I like the kiss of someone who ruined my life? It shouldn’t be that way. I found myself leaving the building, hailing a cab because I had no plans on going back while my face looked like a fucking mess. I didn’t want to show my face to our driver, too. I just didn’t want to be seen by anyone. I felt so embarrassed because of the emotions that were currently living in my chest right now.What the hell is wrong with me? What the fuck is going on?I didn’t go home like I originally planned. My mom and my siblings were there, and I would have some explaining to do if they saw how smudged my lips were.I checked in in an unfamiliar hotel. This was the first hotel that the cab passed by, and I was lucky enough that this wasn’t owned by the Moores. Their properties were scattered all over Texas, so it wouldn’t be impossible if they owned the establishment, too.Lucky for me because they didn’t.I stood in front of the mirror, removing my makeup
SERENA’S POVI rolled my eyes dramatically, acting irritated, when in fact, his actions were confusing and kind of enjoyable at the same time. Is he jealous? Does he know that stranger?“Who gave you the right to forbid me to talk to someone? You only own this company, Mr. Moore. You don’t own me or anyone that works with you,” I responded, getting rid of his hands off my arm. He should start realizing by now who he wasted. He should start thinking that he would not be able to get rid of the idea of me in his mind.I knew how much I could affect him… no matter how hard he tried to show that he didn’t give a damn.“I am not saying that I own you, Serena. I am telling you this because that man couldn’t be trusted. You should stay away from him. This is for your own good—”“How do you know what’s best for me? You were not even that good before yet you still slid into my inboxes and flirted with me and all. You don’t get the right to judge who’s good for me when you’re not even better…”A
SERENA’S POV“Miranda, how’s Lucia doing? She’s still sick?” I asked as we walked down the hallway, both of us catching our breaths. How couldn’t we? We were both late and I never wanted to have that in my record. I valued punctuality so much that even if Gray’s opinion about me didn’t matter anymore, I knew I still had to be here on time.“She said she’s still sick right now, Ms. Ambers. She’s currently staying in her own house with her grandchildren. I heard Mr. Moore told her to do so…”It had been two days since Lucia didn’t show up at work due to flu. It was fine, as long as she could rest and spend time with her family. We could clean the office on our own, anyway. “Pay someone to send her groceries and toys for her grandchildren,” I added, worry could be detected on my tone. It was not new to me to send groceries or even financial help to people I wasn’t close with, as long as I knew that they needed it.I knew Lucia wouldn’t accept it if it came from me. I always offered her
GRAY’S POVI watched my mom get assisted by the nurse I hired for her in silence. She just got here a few seconds ago, and the shock on her face when she saw me interrogating my mom just pissed me off.This wasn’t the first time that I saw my mother being alone in a room. Her doctor advised her that she should always be with someone wherever she went because she might get a heart attack anytime. Seeing her alone for the fucking nth time while she was shouting so hard at the person she was talking to on the phone was something I didn’t expect to witness today.Why was she shouting, anyway? If I hadn’t interrupted her, I guessed she wouldn’t know that I was already inside the room. That I was already listening to her private conversation.“Who was the person you were talking to, Mom? You seem so mad. You know it’s not good for your health. You might have a heart attack again…”I promised my father to take care of the family, but I could not just watch them 24/7. I wondered if this had b