Two weeks later, the entertainment news announced the marriage of Halynn Ashton and Jayden Lewis.
It was quite a grand celebration, attended by several businessmen and wealthy families.
Evidently, it was not up to the same standard as that of the Great 7 families. None of them attended the ceremony and the dinner after. They didn’t have the connections to even hand out an invitation in the first place.
Even so, within their circle, they still thought of themselves as the elite, if they were to compare themselves to the average earners and those in poverty.
Erin watched this piece of news from the television with a glum face.
She was supposed to be one of the bridesmaids.
She had received Jayden’s message a few days after the incident with Darcie.
He told her that in order for them, meaning her and Darcie, to not be hounded by
At The Waterfront Well restaurant, four event halls were opened and connected together to accommodate the Great 7 families for their Christmas ball.What was once a small gathering between Lucas and his close friends, was now extended to the family members. Especially now that some of them already have girlfriends and fiancees. So eventually, it was made into a grand celebration.From the elders to the very young ones, they were all invited.Although the four event halls were all connected, the first event hall was where the elders mostly sat. This included those in the second generation, Lucas’s parents and those in their age group.The second event hall was for the third generation. This is where Lucas, Diana and most of their friends sat. There were also members of the Great 7 families that Diana had never met before and was now only introduced or pointed out to her.
“Dad! Did you hear? They’re having a party..” A woman said in a low voice, barely hiding the excitement she felt.“I know. I heard..” He murmured, continuing to slice his steak.The woman kept looking towards the direction of the entrance where she watched the other descendants of the Great 7 families enter and head to the other direction.She was itching to go meet them.She could recognize a lot of the descendants, especially those who have in some way worked with their company. All because of their connection to the Ingram family.She missed those days when she was also given special treatment even if her family had not officially belonged to the same level as the Great 7 families.“Dad, I think uncle should be there too..” She turned to her father who had continued chewing on his steak.The ma
At the table where Lucas and those of his generation, along with their partners are present, Armie Lee sat next to Felix Cavalier.The two had become closer ever since Armie started working at House of Florence, owned by the grandmother of Felix Cavalier.It is on special occasions when Felix would show up to the company. Since he had already known her from that time at the yacht with Diana and the others, he didn’t treat Armie like a stranger.Armie’s colleagues would tease her every time Felix would look their way, saying that he was looking at Armie. They would tease her all the more whenever he would walk towards them and greet Armie first before the others.Though Felix was her boss’s grandson and that he would sometimes show up during events, no one could say that Armie was flirting with a superior. Though he is still part of the company by helping with the business aspect of
Lucas had been on his phone, sending photos to Diana and exchanging messages with her. He didn’t notice Veronica and her father approach.It was only when they were already in front of them and had started speaking to Emma and Hugh.Lucas’s brows began to pull together.“Hugh! Brother! It’s been a while! How is everyone?” Stanley greeted, presenting a smile though his lips wobbled slightly. He was mentally preparing himself to be embarrassed. However, he kept telling himself that Hugh is not like that, and so is the rest of his family. They will for sure avoid causing a scene.He, too, didn’t want to cause a scene. His company had already come back up. A scandal would just smear t
“Miss Turner.” Emma spoke.Stanley gave his handkerchief to Veronica who took it and dabbed her cheeks.“Aunt–” She whimpered, looking pitiful.Emma’s teeth suddenly felt sensitive. Her eyes twitched as she looked at the young woman.‘How did I not see this before? She reminds me of Tuesday.’Back then, Tuesday Palmer had looked this pitiful as well when she tried to cling to Morris.“I’m glad to hear that you have come to understand it now and have already moved on.” Emma smiled warmly.Veronica smiled in relief.“Ah.. Lucas, these bags are getting too heavy for me. Could you take these to the car first?” Emma suddenly turned to Lucas and handed her the handbag and a gift bag.“Sure. Then I’ll go first.&rdqu
After thinking it over and over, Lucas still decided to let her know so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings between them.All this time, they were able to avoid any arguments because of their constant communication and honesty to each other. They saw each other as partners and not just lovers. They’re committed to building a life together and they know that there should be mutual trust and understanding, not just love and affection.Back then, it was fortunate that Lucas was with Diana when the gossip about Veronica claiming she was Lucas’s childhood sweetheart went viral. Lucas was able to explain and clarify it to all right away, not giving chance for Veronica to continue to parade herself as the future Mrs. Ingram.It would have gone awry when it happened right after Lucas had proposed to Diana and both families were celebrating it.Thankfully, Diana’s cousins discovere
Heather relaxed in her bath tub as she listened to her playlist of soothing music.She had on a face mask to moisturize and make her skin glow.With her busy schedule, it’s quite rare for her to be able to take her time in the bathroom and just enjoy her bath.Since she was already off for three days beginning today, she decided to pamper herself a little.She closed her eyes as she felt her muscles loosen.Ten minutes later, her phone’s alarm snapped her out of her daze. She was already beginning to fall asleep in the water, if not for the alarm, she would have ended up sinking inside the bathtub.She craned her neck, moving it side to side.She then got out of the bathtub and stepped into the shower to rinse off. She didn’t need to wash her hair again since she had already done it when she was preparing for the party.
Nicholas went out of the house and went to the garage.He had kept a bag of extra clothes in his car’s trunk for when he goes to work out or for any time that his clothes would get accidentally stained or wet.When he heard from Heather that she would stay in the house instead of heading to Anderson's residence, he decided to stay with her so she didn’t have to spend Christmas Eve by herself.Meanwhile, Heather quickly put on some loose pajamas, even opting to wear a hoodie to cover the embarrassment that she felt earlier.She heard the door close.‘Did he leave?’ She wondered as she fixed her hair.
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.