DAMIAN "Another woman?" I mouthed the words, my mind blank and confused with no idea of what Dorothy was talking about. And then it hit me. Dorothy had somehow known that I had gone to see Lora. But how? I was sure that no one had followed me there. Or was I? I had actually been on edge and worried after Lora's text message that I hadn't actually been looking to see if I was being followed. But then again, why the hell would someone have wanted to follow me in the first place? "Answer the question, Damian," Dorothy demanded. "You were at a motel room with another woman. Or do you deny it?" I forced myself to meet her angry eyes. "No," I said quietly. Amelia shot me a panicked look. I tried to assure her with my eyes that I had the situation well in hand. Dorothy drew herself up to her full height. "What nerve! You stand there without a hint of remorse and proudly say-" "Please, calm down, Dorothy. I admitted to going into the motel room to see a woman. I didn't admit
DAMIAN I bit my lips to stifle a groan. My fingers unconsciously massaged my temples where I felt a headache building. The sound of rustling paper made me look up. My secretary had merely paused to turn over another page of the report she was reading. Beside her, two men, members of my staff were hanging on to her every word, making notes in the margin of the documents in front of them. My secretary saw me looking in some dismay at the remaining pages of the report she had yet to read. "Should I... go on, sir?" she asked after a moment's hesitation. "Yes. Please do," I replied. The men who had looked startled at the idea that I could abruptly call off the meeting that hadn't even lasted for up to twenty minutes, now looked expectantly at her as she once more began droning on about the project. I fought to keep my expression bright and alert, like everyone else, but I found myself spacing out once more. Damn! But I was so goddamn tired. Lately, I had been even under more
AMELIA I was still basking in a postcoital glow when the sound of a door closing made me thoroughly wake up. I sat up. Beside me, Damian stirred. "What's the matter?" he said. His words punctuated by yawns which he tried to stifle unsuccessfully with one hand. "It's my mother. I think she's back. She went on the blind date Anton planned for her today," I explained further. "Oh." Interest flared in Damian's eyes. He sat up quickly and began hunting about for his clothes. "We have to go find out how it went. I'm curious." "I'm very curious," I said. I pulled on my clothes. Together Damian and I went downstairs. We met my mother just returning to the living room from the kitchen. We exchanged greetings, and then I could rein in my curiousity no longer. "Tell me, mum. How did it go?" I asked. She plonked down on the sofa. I perched on the sofa close to hers, and Damain settled down beside me. "It was..." She hesitated and shrugged. "It went okay
AMELIA "Hello, Amelia," she drawled. "For a moment there I thought you had developed some kind of sixth sense that told you I was here. I thought you would never come." "This is the exact time I come here everyday," I said shortly. While I spoke, my mind was going a mile a minute. Lora was again up to no good. That much was certain. Damian had told me everything about his meeting with her at the motel room, how she had tried to get him to say something incriminating. No doubt she had come to try the same tactic with me. My eyes skimmed over the skintight jeans and blouse she wore. I wondered whether she was wearing a wire under those clothes. I just had to be careful not to say anything that I wouldn't want recorded. "Nice place you got here," she said, staring at me with a malevolent look in her eyes. "I need us to talk about something very important. I assume there's a place where we can talk." I seriously considered telling her to go to hell when she added, "Or we can tal
AMELIA "WHAT?" I could physically see how my confession hit my mother like a train. Her eyes were wide like she had seen a ghost. "Tell me... this isn't true," she said. I opened my mouth to say it wasn't true, to lie my way out this situation, but I knew deep down that it was no use. I could feel her eyes boring into my skin. She could read my expression. She knew me too well and I was sure it was plain on my face that I had spoken the truth, at least this time. "Amelia..." She took a turn around the room and came to stand before me once more. "Amelia, I wouldn't have believed this of you. You disappoint me." "I didn't have a choice, mum." "You did. Everyone has a choice, but sometimes it's just easier pretending that you don't. What made you even decide to get into this?" "Damian made the offer..." I told her about the condition of Damian's getting his uncle's company, about getting my revenge on Noah by marrying his hated business rival. "So... revenge and m
AMELIA "I feel a strong connection between you and Damian." I tried not to groan. I had known this was coming. For most of the drive to the airport, my mother had been strangely quiet. That usually meant that she had something weighty to say, and considering her frequent topic of discourse was usually about Damian and I, I could not say I was surprised. Since I quite agreed with her sentiments, I was half inclined to shed tears of vexation, so I settled for 'joking' about Anthony. "I thought you were quiet because you've been thinking about seeing Anthony," I said. She took her eyes off the road to give me a reproachful look. "Don't make jokes. I'm being serious. You seem well suited to each other. I feel something... strong and probably genuine between you two and if I, a third party can feel it, I'm sure you and Damian do." Ugh! Getting her to talk about Anthony usually guaranteed her not talking about anything else. I heaved a sigh. "Mum, need I remind you that our ma
AMELIA I couldn’t get my mother’s words out of my head as I drove back home. If she had noticed my feelings for Damian, it truly meant it was getting out of control. I was falling for a man who would never feel the same way for me. I was stabbing myself in the heart with no hope of healing. “Just one year, Amelia.” I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and tucked a strand behind my ear. “How can you be so stupid?” I knew what I had to do but I didn’t know if I could do it. Shutting Damian out wasn’t going to be easy, it was no trip to the park. But I had to shield my heart from him. If I didn't do it now, it would only get harder in the future. Already, like a creeper, he had wound himself around my heart. I hadn't been aware of how he had done it so insidiously. I had to cut him off to set myself free before he dug his hooks further into my already damaged, bleeding heart. As soon as I got home from the airport, I purposefully marched to our bedroom to pac
DAMIAN I woke up the next morning thinking that Amelia would have finally gotten over whatever was making her act so weirdly the previous day. I was wrong. When I went downstairs, breakfast had been prepared as usual, but a place had been laid out for only one person. As I lowered myself into my seat, I glanced at my watch. It was a few minutes to 7. Amelia didn't leave for the bakery until half past 7 or thereabout. Wasn't she going to work today then? Was she ill or just letting her staff handle business for the day? "Good morning, sir. Do you need anything else?" The housekeeper, Molly, had appeared at my elbow. I swallowed the bit of toast lodged in my throat so fast I almost choked. Molly would know where Amelia was. "Where is my wife?" I asked her. "Has she had breakfast already?" "I should think so, sir although I didn't see her eating. She was up very early this morning." I frowned. So Amelia was still sticking to having her meals alone. "And she's now in h
AMELIA FIVE YEARS LATER "Yay! Pancakes! Mum made pancakes!” The excited shouts... or screeches were followed by the sound of running footsteps. I sincerely hoped they were not... But of course they were, I thought in mild exasperation. Lily and Liam came racing towards me on their little feet, their eyes much like Damian's, fixed on the plate of pancakes I held. "Hey! Please slow down, guys," I called when Lily, still running, looked over her shoulder and screeched excitedly when she saw Damian. Damian was chasing them with Liam's favourite stuffed animal. "Slow down! Slow down!" I called more loudly as the twins approached me. “You’ll hurt yourself if you keep running around!” At the same time, they got to me and clutched my dress, giggling. I glared at Damian, who gave me a boyish, unrepentant grin. "Liam! Lily!" I said, turning my attention back to my kids. "How many times have I told you to stop running in the house? And Damian-" "Yes, sweetheart?" "You ar
THREE MONTHS LATER DAMIAN "Oh, come on!" I muttered to myself as, for what felt like the umpteenth time, my fingers slipped on my silk tie. I had tied knots, dozens, even hundreds of times before. But this time, I couldn't even manage to tie a decent one. I knew what the problem was, though. Apart from the fact that my hands were sweaty, I was anxious and nervous. Seeing as I had gotten wedded once before, one would have thought that I was used to the whole process by now. This time was the first time, in a way, the first phase of my new beginning with Amelia. "My wife," I said aloud, pausing to stare at my reflection in the mirror. A smile lifted the corners of my mouth. The word 'wife' did have a nice ring to it. Amelia was still technically my wife, but today, she became mine for real, not only in name. And it wasn’t like our first wedding, which concluded in minutes and was void of any emotions. "Hey!" I flinched a little and turned to the door, then shot an irr
THREE MONTHS LATER Noah's head throbbed. It banged like the world's noisest drummers were having a nonstop concert in it. His eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of their sockets as he walked-no- stumbled his way out of the bar he had been getting wasted in for hours. "Out of my way, you," Noah growled, shoving someone out of his way. "What the- Watch where you're going," the man he had pushed shouted. “Such a fucking asshole.” If only everything wasn't spinning so fast, Noah would have gone back to plant his fist in that asshole's face. It might have made him feel slightly better, hurting someone. Hate burned within him. He hated his life. He hated this noisy, shitty bar he had chosen to get drunk in. He hated every freaking thing. Eager to get some fresh air, Noah hastened his steps the closer he got to the door. He had just gotten outside when he lost his footing and- THUD! He fell on his face, gasping for breath, inhaling the smell of dust on the cold f
DAMIAN I looked up the stairs, checking to see if she was heading down the stairs. She wasn't. Not yet. What a surprise she would get tonight, I thought. With what was no doubt a goofy smile on my face, I touched the ring safely nestling in a box deep in the linings of my pocket. It felt like lead was there, a pound of it. I felt my smile slip a little bit as I thought of what this night would bring. I was nervous as hell about proposing to Amelia even though I was entirely sure that she would not refuse me. I wanted to do it right. I wanted the moment to be perfect for the both of us. Sighing, I willed my lips to speak the right words when the time came to declare my love for her, to ask her to marry me. Perhaps a simple 'I love you. Will you marry me?' would be best. Or not. The direct approach wasn't always the best, especially in romantic situations. "What are you shaking your head for?" Amelia asked in a voice I could detect the humour in. I raised my head to lo
AMELIAWith a slightly shaky hand, I pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at my sweaty brow. I had been taking deep, steady breaths for the past few minutes, but it had done nothing to alleviate my nervousness. I didn't think any woman had been this nervous to tell the father of his child that she was pregnant. Damian was unwittingly making my nervousness a hundred times worse the longer he stayed away. What was he still doing up there anyway?I straightened and straightened the placemats on the dining table for what felt like the umpteenth time. And then I heard his approaching footsteps and immediately stood straight. "Where's the food?" Damian said cheerfully, standing just inside the door and looking around. "In a- in a minute," I said. "I wanted you to come down first. I didn't want your food to get cold."I stumbled into the kitchen and stumbled back out. My hands trembled so badly that I almost dropped a dish cover on Damian's foot."Sorry. Sorry," I apologized as I caught i
AMELIAI turned my head a little to get a good look at the wall clock and saw it was just a quarter past eight. Good. I nodded. The gossip show would start soon, and I was amped for it. I adjusted until I was very comfortable in my seat and took yet another bite of popcorn. On the big television, an ad for a new washing machine was being aired, and then my phone pinged, signalling that it was time for the show. I grabbed the remote and quickly changed the channel. Just as I did, the familiar soundtrack of the gossip talk show came on.The words 'STRAIGHT TALK WITH MILES' popped up on the screen in bold caps. The message grew more extensive and slowly faded into the background. What appeared next on the screen was a live studio in which was seated a tall, youngish man, very much like Anton in looks. I immediately recognized him as Anton's friend in the talk show biz, the one who was going to help me dig up dirt on Noah, the one who was to talk about Noah today on his show based on a
AMELIA Noah got to his feet seconds after the initial surprise of my rejection had worn off. Luckily, I was already walking to the mall as fast as possible. When I looked back, I saw him coming after me. I increased my pace but managed to get into the building with Noah right at my heels, his face as red as a tomato. Red with rage. "Stop him," I said to the first security personnel I saw. I pointed to Noah, who was quickly approaching the mall's entrance. That man is after me. He wants to cause a scene. Make sure he doesn't get in here. Quickly!" Thankfully, the security guard didn't ask any questions. He just nodded to his colleague on his other side. They hurried to Noah and intercepted him before he could get to the door. "I'm sorry you can't go in, sir," the guard I had spoken to told him and turned back to glance at me. I nodded, indicating that I was content with their actions. Noah was too busy staring at me even to notice that one of the guards had his hand on his
AMELIA "We'll see soon then, Mrs Donovan." I blinked and once more, turned to focus on Engineer Sam who I had quite a lengthy meeting with. His team was hanging back a little, deeply engrossed in some conversation about the amusement park project. "Yes of course," I replied, with a glance at my watch. “I have somewhere to be. Good bye.” I was barely focused during the meeting, my mind drifting to all the things in my schedule. There were several other things I needed to do. As I left the project site, I waved absently at Sam who walked off with his team as I dug out my phone to call Rose. "Ma'am," she said when she picked up. "Are you stopping over by the bakery today?" "No. I'm afraid not. Do you have your notepad with you?" "Always." "Good. I got a call some hours ago from the office of the CEO of Sharecare. He's celebrating the 10th year anniversary of his company soon. He wants us to handle the cakes and the event in general. So what do you think?" Rose reele
NOAH I stopped typing on my computer long enough to adjust the shirt I was wearing. I felt uncomfortable as I tugged the fabric, feeling unusually small in my shirt. I sighed, a deep, weary sigh. That was what came of a reduced appetite, worry, many late nights of staying awake thinking of how best to get a lasting solution to all the problems I had been having. I made a mental note to myself to eat more and hit the gym before my enemies noticed my weight loss- if they hadn't already. I hoped they hadn't. There was nothing as aggravating as a well timed news headline to set the sharks at my door. Sitting here, I could just picture the sort of headlines those news vultures would print. BUSINESS MOGUL NOAH CARTER GOES TO PIECES FOLLOWING RUMOURS OF BANKRUPTCY. I clenched my fists, and found myself already getting worked up over the imaginary headline. Recently, a lot of news had been circulating around me. I would be damned before they printed something like that about me