“Ready?” Diana asked Lucas as he finished putting on his shoes.
“Yeah.” He replied, getting up.
She turned to the door, ready to leave but was stopped by Lucas when he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He rested his head on her shoulder, kissing it.
She giggled as she felt his lips on her skin. She felt ticklish in that area.
“Come on.. They’re waiting for us..” She chided him.
He groaned, burrowing his head more. He was still reluctant to let her go.
He was very tempted to tell her to stay with him at home instead.
Reluctantly, he let her go and followed her out.
Lucas told his driver and bodyguard that he’ll be driving the car himself, giving them a day off.
They were to attend a fashion event held by the House of Florence. Not only will it showcase de
Chantal however did not see Diana on the screen as her attention that time was on her model who was still standing in line. She was making sure the outfits looked good, The moment she looked at the screen, the camera was already showing a different angle. “You see those.. Armie designed those..” Diana spoke to Lucas. “Hmm.. Those look good. Do you like it?” he asked. “Mn. Yes.” “We’ll order it from her then..” Diana grinned. “Alright. I’ll choose a few from her line.” “Anything for you love..” He smiled sweetly at her, making her cuddle closer to him. Meanwhile at the front, Florence Hargreave held a folder with paper and pen. She took note of the designs that interested her. Nobody dared to speak to her as she did this. There were also a number of people next to her who had the
The moment Florence heard that Diana’s friend is one of the designers that entered the top 5, she subconsciously paid more attention to the designer. “Go ahead and enjoy the banquet, you don’t have to stay with old bones like me..” Florence told Lucas and Diana, smilingly. Lucas then excused themselves. Diana kept looking around, trying to find Armie, Lucas was only following her. “Ah! She’s over there.” She saw Armie standing close to her boss and a few coworkers with wine glasses in their hands. As they were nearing, they couldn’t help but overhear their conversation. “Mrs. L, if you had sent me instead of her, I could have promoted The Atelier better than her.” A young woman said arrogantly. She looked to be the same age as Armie. “That’s true Mrs. L. Ayah is a better designer.” Another young woman said, smiling at the ot
“Everyone, may I have your attention, please. We will now announce the top 5 designers chosen by House of Florence.” The host announced. The designers were feeling anxious as they trained their attention to the stage. Before this event, they were made aware of the schematics. Other than that they would represent their company, they would have the chance to be recruited by the House of Florence. They were made aware of the benefits they would get if they would enter the biggest fashion house in the country. It is up to them if they would pass on this opportunity and would choose to just stay in their current companies. If they choose to stay, they have to sign a written agreement to relinquish their right to compete with others in the ranking for the top 5. However, there is a separate ranking which would include everyone. But it is very rare for anyone to choose to stay in their o
After Ashley Cavalier announced the Top 5 designers to join the House of Florence, the host then handed certificates to Felix and the envelopes with cheques to Ashley. They handed it to the designers one by one, shaking their hands as well. Although the Top 5 designers seemed like an easy-going group, they still behaved meekly in front of Felix and Ashely. “Congratulations..” Felix told each designer as he handed the certificate to them. “Thank you, Mr. Cavalier..” Quinn said to Felix, shaking his hand after receiving the certificate, bowing slightly. Felix nodded at him as he finished giving them the certificates. He was late in coming to the event so he wasn’t able to see the designs of these designers. He couldn’t gauge their abilities at the moment. Anyways, his grandmother Florence Hargreaves knows what she’s doing. The
Over the next few days, Diana has been busy with school and work on the weekends. The only times she would be able to spend with Lucas was when they go for Martial arts classes and on weeknights when she would sleep over at Lucas’s home and go with him to work at Forrest Research Institute. Nothing noteworthy happened at both places, with undercover bodyguards watching over her, those men with stalkerish behaviors had no way of getting close to her. Henry’s effort all this time has been in vain, making him depressed. He became useless at his father’s company, to the point that he was even fired by his own father. With no income, he was even more depressed. He turned to finding pleasure from women, finally making use of those photos. He started to sell those racy photos to those websites catering to pornography. The staff behind the website were impressed by his skills in photography but they wanted him to show the faces of the women inst
Struggling to get up, he spoke to the man on the seat. “Sir, I know you’re capable of sending men to help me achieve this. I assure you it’s worth it. If I could get him to give me all of their assets, in exchange for his freedom, then my debt will be paid and you will still have more in the end.” After a long while, Mortimer spoke once again. “Very well. Make sure you are successful. Or else, it’s better if I can’t find you breathing still.” “Uuuwaaa… uwaaaa…” The sound of the crying baby could be heard, startling the maids. “Ah.. Is it time for his milk?” One of the maids said. “I think so.. Go quickly..” Another one said. The maid hurried up the steps and went to the nursery room where the baby was. She could see that the baby was waving his hands around, kicking his feet and crying. She checked first if he had pooped or
Alarm blared in the whole building. Chaos ensued. As the men in uniform guided the prisoners to evacuate the building and gather outside, one jailer escorted a prisoner out who was now wearing one of the officer’s uniform. “A car is waiting outside..” The jailer told him. Osmond nodded, pushing down the anxiety down his gut. He knows that he’s committing a crime now on top of what he has been sentenced before. But he was left with no choice. A few days earlier, he received a call from Henry and was offered a deal he couldn’t refuse. Now he took advantage of the commotion to follow through with his escape plan. He entered the passenger’s seat. Henry was already waiting for him in the driver’s seat. Henry drove off quickly the moment Osmond closed the door, getting far away from the prison as fast as they could.
News traveled fast, anyone who knows them or has heard of them would still talk about the incident for days on end. Speculations just laid on top of each other as days went by. “What if that man paid someone to get him out of prison but was taken by the other one instead?” “What do you mean?” “I mean just like what I said. What if he paid someone to break him out and it was arranged for him to escape with those that he paid but instead, it was the other guy waiting for him..” “Eh? So you mean they’re not actually accomplices?” “Yes.. What if that’s what happened?” “How could that be though? Did that mean that his ex-son-in-law found out that he was planning to break out and was waiting for him outside the whole time?” “That’s probably the case..” “So you mean that he planned to a
Lillian, Ernest and the rest arrived at the airport and were quickly assisted through the process. They were able to leave the airport and head to their residence easily. Adrian looked around and saw that everything seemed strange in his eyes. Nothing was familiar to him. It was when they were finally close to the mansion when he recognized the structure. He had dreamt of this place so many times. It had become hazy at some point. But now, he could see that this was more or less the place he lived in before he was taken. It had some new additions along with other changes such as the paint and the landscape design. But the overall structure was the same. As they entered the gates, he saw that there were a lot of people outside of the house. They were lined up even in this cold weather. Most of them seemed to be wearing uniforms under their black coats. The only ones who looked different than the others were the three couples and two young men. “Ah.. Everyone’s here.” Emma smiled
Adrian and Violet were apprehensive when they saw the big plane that they were going to ride on.Fortunately for them, they were flying through the private plane of the Lovell family, else, they would be even more embarrassed by the way they were acting.To their memory, this was their first time being on any plane.That simply was not true for Adrian, as the family had gone on vacations before that needed the plane. It’s just that this memory may have been forgotten by Adrian already.As for Violet, this was her first ever flight.They at least knew what a plane was.They were only anxious as to how they would feel once they’re already up in the air.Lillian and the rest tried to distract them from these thoughts.Hugh and Leroy offered them some wine and snacks.Emma and Priscilla showed them the movies they could watch on the screen in front of their seat.Lillian especially made sure they felt warm and comfortable, giving them blankets and pillows, showing them how to recline thei
“Yes, Dad. Alright–Mn..Goodnight.” Lucas said to Hugh on the phone.Hugh had called him to let him know that they would be heading back in the morning with Adrian and his friend, Violet.Hugh and Leroy’s secretaries have received updates regarding a background check on Violet’s family.They’ve decided to let Violet stay with the Lovell family as a guest.In the residence, there’s usually only the elders living with their staff. Usually, it would be busier during holidays and if there are any special occasions. In those times, everyone would gather in the residence and stay in their rooms reserved for them.Lillian and Ernest have held out hope that Adrian would return to them so they never thought of letting anybody else use it.Lillian would personally clean it and it was only in the later years that she let her staff help her.She wanted to preserve whatever remaining scent Adrian had left.There were times when she would burst out in tears, realizing that she could no longer recall
Soon, the driver, John Garcia, pulled up outside of the hotel where Lillian and the rest were staying.Adrian was no longer as anxious as he was half an hour ago, still he could still remember the bullets trying to penetrate through the car and the explosion after those goons’ cars had collided.Detective Jones glanced at him, noticing how pale Adrian was.Still, he commended him for not breaking down and not getting in their way.And also, because of him, they were able to rescue so many people who have been missing for years.Perhaps the Mayor might even think of rewarding Adrian because of his contribution.At the moment though, it was inappropriate to bring it up, given what the man had just experienced.So after escorting them to the hotel, Detective Jones left them, joining the other Officers with the rescued people.It was a field day for the reporters, gathering outside the police department.On the televisions of most households, they showed several people with their heads lo
As John Garcia was driving the car forward, everyone in the car held their breaths.They already knew that those people were Mortimer’s men. They could only play along for now, hoping for them to think that Adrian was in the other cars.But then–that possibility is very low.The black car they’re in was far from ordinary upon close inspection.And like clockwork, shots rang.Adrian ducked, covering his head with his arms.John Garcia gripped the steering wheel while Howard Dawson and Detective Jones cocked their guns.A voice of one of the policemen came on the comms. “Keep going. Follow the second group!”No matter what, they couldn’t let Adrian and the people who had just been rescued be in Mortimer’s hands again.John Garcia didn’t hesitate and quickly sped on.Mortimer’s men have picked the road where there’s only farm crops on each side, the road only leading one way.The city was still quite far so blending in or hiding in some alleyway would still be impossible.For now, they s
The drive was calm, with John Garcia, the driver not making any stops if he could help it.The car could drive even without gas as it can run on solar power.It could be recharged at a charging station, could store gas and could be powered through solar. This is all thanks to the upgrades done by the Lovell Technologies.With the drive being calm, Adrian fell to sleep.Even Detective Jones dozed off as well, his head hitting the window a couple of times.An hour into the drive, the car suddenly beeped in alarm.Adrian and Detective Jones groaned, having been woken up by the alarm.“What is it? What’s happening?” Detective Jones asked.“There seems to be an accident up ahead.” John Garcia answered, pointing at the GPS shown on the screen in front of him.“Is there another road we can take?” The bodyguard, Hoyt Cole asked.“This is the only road back to Westbury..” John Garcia answered.“Maybe the road is not totally blocked–” Detective Jones said.“Alright then–we’ll keep going..”“Sta
After canvassing the full layout of the building and accounting the number of people inside, Detective Jones and the other Officers made their strategic plan.An hour later, they made their move.Adrian was made to stay in the car while he viewed their perspective from the tablet device.He was given eyes for different cameras. Two more Officers were also monitoring it from their tablet devices.They compared every person found to the sketches from Adrian’s description of the people held captive. And also of the ones Adrian said were the people who ordered them around.Adrian watched as the trained Officers infiltrated the area covertly.CCTV cameras were hacked and made to play the same view over and over again.They knocked out the guards with tranquilizers, making sure they wouldn’t be waking up so soon.They were separated into groups. One made way to the sleeping quarters of the captives, another entered the main building, and another surrounded all possible exits.There were onl
Adrian held her hand, squeezing it.At that moment, Hugh returned to the room and was startled by the silence.“What happened?” He asked. His eyes wandered to Violet who now had her head lowered, her hand covering her eyes and her shoulders shaking.‘Is she crying?’ His brows furrowed.“Violet just remembered what happened that time when she was taken away.” Emma summarized it for him.He nodded. “By the way–I’ve just received information just now. Violet–it has something to do with you. If this is not a good time, I won’t say it.”She looked up, quickly wiping her tears with the cloth napkin.“No, please, I want to hear it.”Hugh nodded.“What is it, Hugh?” Emma asked.“It’s about her family.”They all glanced at Violet, gauging her reaction.“I remember–my mother died that time.” She said.Hugh nodded, confirming what she had remembered.Her heart fell. Deep inside, she was hoping that she was wrong. That she remembered it wrongly.Tears continued to fall down her cheeks. The napkin
Knock. Knock.“I’ll go get it..” Emma said.She opened the door and saw her younger brother, Adrian.“Ah.. Adrian.. What is it?”Adrian was startled.He stepped back to check if he knocked on the correct room or not.“You have something you need from Violet?” She smiled.His brows shot up. “Oh. Um–I was going to bring her to the dining room.”“Ah.. I see. Well, just in time. We’re done here as well.” Emma smiled. She turned her head and called over. “Come on you two..”“Okay!” Priscilla said. “Let’s go Violet..”Priscilla brought Violet over.Adrian was struck for a moment when he saw Violet.He had never seen her so dolled up.Her hair was beautiful and so is her overall look. Her face was even more beautiful than usual.Violet’s head hung as her cheeks blushed bright red.Adrian cleared his throat.“Let’s go..” Adrian tilted his head.“Mn.” Violet nodded.