AnaThe next morning saw us leaving the mansion very early. Ben and I rode to work in the same car.I entered first and settled comfortably in the back seat. Two minutes later, he came out to join us.He entered in front with the chauffeur. When I greeted him from the back, he was startled to find someone else sitting in his precious jeep, clearly forgetting that he'd given the order himself.I shook my head in displeasure, dug into my handbag and brought out my phone. I completely ignored him while pressing my phone. “Ana,” he subtly nodded at my disinterested face and then faced the driver. I continued looking at my phone, smiling at old pictures of me and Beth.“Terrence,” he promptly faced the driver. “Get us to the office right away.”“Yes, Mr. Pierce,” Terrence answered and pulled the jeep out of the driveway. We soon left the estate and sped off into the highway.The drive was smooth and the car was quiet until I suddenly remembered something I'd been meaning to ask Ben.It wa
BenStanding in the elevator all alone and in such close proximity to Ana made me lose my cool for a split second; something that had never happened to me in five years. I bit my lip in annoyance; more at myself than the current situation I'd found myself in. ‘I must be pretty banged up by the stress of this Tokyo mess,’ I thought and closed my eyes for a moment to relax.I opened them in a second to find Ana staring at me with an usual expression: concern.“Everything okay, husband?” She asked in a small voice as she avoided my eyes.Husband? Why was she sounding so…nice? Since I met her, Ana had been nothing but a pain in the ass, constantly undermining me and making everything about herself.Now she's asking me if I'm okay? This must be a trick. She's probably trying to play coy while planning something behind my back. She must think I'm stupid, or that I've forgotten about her and Remi's suspicious friendship.So I took a calming breath, nodded at her and answered in a very nonc
BenAna's resolve seemed to break under my commanding presence and intense gaze because she quickly lowered her eyes and turned around, walking away from me.I chuckled lightly and removed my glasses. Ana thinks she's tough and keeps underestimating me. I tried to hold her back from walking away but missed, my fingers slightly grazing her inner arm and out of nowhere, I felt warm thrills run down my abdomen down my legs.What the hell was that!Just as I was trying to understand the weird feeling that just went through my body, my assistant, Flynn, barged in, breathless and unable to speak coherently.Ana and I were each interrupted mid-action and instantly turned to face him, curious as to why he barged in in that manner.“Yes, Flynn? Everything okay?” I walked over to my desk, picked up a bottle of water and handed it over to him. As I did so, I noticed Ana raise her eyebrow in mild surprise and why not? She clearly thinks I'm the devil's spawn who is incapable of even an insignifi
Ben The room became deathly silent as everyone just paused to stare at Shirley and me. She stood facing me squarely while she had her back to the rest of them.Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Ana's facial expression which was a mix of curiosity, intrigue, and…jealousy?“What the hell are you doing here?” I finally asked Shirley, rising from my seat. “Come on now Ben. This again?” She crossed her arms on her chest and pouted. “Don't tell me you didn't miss me. It's been weeks and you couldn't even bother to call and check up on your family. That is no way to behave.”She turned around and headed for the couch but came to a sudden stop after two steps. I couldn't see her face because she'd turned her back to me but I could tell her hesitation was because of Ana.She'd never met Ana and was probably envious—which was insane considering she cheated on me with my own brother—but that was Shirley for you.“Well, hello there.” She approached Ana.Ana immediately stood and offered her h
AnaOnce the Shirley character left the room, everyone exhaled in relief. Her energy was such that it'll either keep you on edge or threaten to choke you till you passed out.The resulting tragedy would depend on the type of person you were and how strong you were at detecting and filtering BS.No matter how strong and unaffected Ben had tried to seem, or how much he wanted to present his masculine strength, I could tell straight away that Shirley had some kind of effect on him.Who was Shirley to Ben? Were they past lovers or a past married couple? Was she the reason he'd mindlessly caressed my palm this morning at the elevator, thinking it was Shirley as they might've done in the past?I had a lot of questions running through my mind all at once but no single answer to any of them. This only made me realize that as much as I thought I knew Ben, I was still very much in the dark about his personal life.He wearily waved Kelly and Flynn away, sank into his chair and began to rub his t
AnaThe rest of the day saw Ben and I battling with files, trying to keep reporters away from spreading false news about the bankruptcy of Ben's company, and generally worrying about whether we were going to find something before Shirley makes it impossible to.It was nearing evening, the time when Shirley had asked Ben to meet her at the Imperial Suites.Watching Ben working, his mind focused on the stacks of files scattered on the desk, I wondered whether he was considering meeting Shirley. I was concerned for Ben, and the thought of him being alone with a scheming character like her made me uncomfortable.Shirley was a looker and they obviously had history together. No man can resist a beautiful woman no matter how hard they fight or say it. And I wondered whether Ben might be like that?What if he goes to meet her and Shirley seduces him and sleeps with him. That would be a huge opportunity for her to further take down the company and Ben with it and I couldn't let it happen.‘I h
AnaIt was 6:00 pm on the dot when Ben and I finally left the office and headed for home.We left the same way we'd come in: hand in hand. But this time, it didn't feel as forced and uncomfortable as it did in the morning.I settled in the back seat of Ben's jeep and thought back to the various incidents of that day and how each changed the way I looked at Ben.The first one was Kelly. Maybe I was wrong about the incident with Kelly, because Kelly turned out to be not-so-good at her job.And Flynn? Ben probably only yelled at Flynn because he was stressed and frustrated. After all, he did apologize for his outburst later, didn't he?But Shirley? Hell no. As far as I was concerned, that woman deserved everything Ben and I said to her in the office. You don't just walk into someone's establishment and start making threats and expect to be let off with a pat on the back.Thank God I was there to put her in her place, because Ben sure wasn't doing a great job of it. Their history together
AnaI gave Candace a questioning look. “What kind of…situation are we talking about?”She pursed her lips, then nodded and handed me a piece of folded white paper. I opened it to find scrawny handwriting by someone named…Anonymous?The note read: "My lovely Beth, You think you're too good for me? You think you can just dump me and move on?Newsflash: nobody dumps me, I do the dumping.You're gonna pay for humiliating me, and your precious sister won't be able to save you.You're not as special as you think.”My eyes scanned the note, my mind racing with questions. "Who wrote this?" I demanded, my voice barely above a whisper.Candace's expression turned grim. "We don't know," she admitted. "Beth received it earlier today. She's been shaken ever since."I read the note again, my heart sinking."Is this related to Tony, or even Shirley?" I wondered aloud.Candace's eyes widened. “Did you just say Shirley?"I hesitated, unsure how much to reveal. “Yes, Shirley. She came by Ben's office