Julia stood for a while, her gaze alternating between James and the card, and eventually took the card from him. He intentionally brushed her hand with his fingers when she took the card from him, making Julia step backwards. "Thank you," Julia said and was about to leave with her package in hand when James stopped her. "Hey, don't run off, just spare me 10 minutes of your time. I want to talk to you," James said, and Julia remained frozen where she had stopped with her back facing James as she carried her sandwich in a paper bag and her coffee in a cup holder. "I just want to apologize for the last time incident. Please," James pleaded, and Julia turned to face him. "We can talk here," he suggested, pointing to a round table with two chairs inside the cafeteria. Julia nodded and walked towards the table with James following her. James pulled the chair for Julia to sit on and quickly pulled a seat for himself, sitting across her from the table. In Julia's mind, she understood t
"Hello Julia," James said. James closed the door behind him and watched as Julia turned pale. She tried to remain positive even though deep down she felt James had come in with no good intentions. "Hi, what can I do for you?" Julia managed to ask, her voice trembling. James smiled, reading all the signs of fear around her. He strode into the living room and Julia went to the door to open it and realized he had locked the front door. Her heart started racing. James turned around and showed her the keys when he heard her opening the door. "I knew you would do that and make me look bad in the eyes of everyone. That is why I locked the door," James said, and looked around the apartment, leaning against the sofa with his arms folded across his chest. "You know, I like my brother very much for one thing, he loves a serene environment so much that he creates one when the environment naturally doesn't provide him with one," James said with a smirk. "And do you know how he does that?" he
Julia, on the other hand, had remained locked up in the bathroom, clutching the phone in her hand, soaked in sweat and tears. She had still not recovered from what just happened. The guard informed Jason about the damage to the door and the damage done to his bedroom door lock. He went further to inform him Julia was still inside the bedroom. He acknowledged the feedback with a "hmm" and disconnected the call. Jason stood in his hotel room for a while staring at the phone in his hand. When Julia's scream for help came through his phone, his heart skipped multiple beats and the only thing on his mind was how to protect her from harm. He did not expect the attacker to be his brother, but knowing James, that was not surprising. What he didn't quite understand was why their mother supported James's nonsense. "Would he have moved the same way to help any other woman outside his family circle?" Jason thought and the word 'family' rang in his mind. "Family. How does he feel about his fa
James is his brother, and he loves him, but he has crossed the line this time. Someone needed to teach James a lesson, but for the sake of the family, he decided he would let them release him in the morning. He made a decision that James would have to find a different place to stay. The previous day had been very stressful for Jason as he needed to act fast to resolve the issue with the company in Washington. He was able to identify the root cause, and it was fixed. He had to meet his clients who were affected to save the partnership for the business to continue. He had just returned to the hotel to rest when Julia's call came through. He stayed awake to ensure she was okay and proceeded with a flight back to Florida that same hour after everything was settled. He drifted off to sleep. Jason was the first to wake up, and his movement woke Julia up. He got out of bed in silence and went to the bathroom after checking the time. It was an hour past 9 a.m. He returned to the bedroom to
Jason stared at the document on the screen blankly in total shock. In the attached file was his birth certificate, which had the names of a man and a woman as his biological parents. There was another document with details of the adoption. He was adopted into the Haward family and the man he grew to know as his father named him Jason Haward. The only strange thing about the birth certificate was the fact that it only had a boy written in the space provided for the baby's name. He stared at the document on the screen blankly in total shock. He picked up his phone from the table and sent a message to the person. He got up from behind his desk and went to sit on the sofa in deep thought. All along, the man he knew as his biological father was his stepfather. Thinking about what to do in this situation, he immediately recalled something Mr Haward, his adopted father, told him when he was just a child. "Always be honest in your dealings and never claim ownership of what is not yours, e
"I just found out I was adopted," Jason began, and Julia sat up on the bed surprised by the news. "What it means is nothing here belongs to me. It also means I have to step down as the heir and also means I have to leave everything. I am going out into the world like any other person to struggle and make it," Jason began. "I know I forced you to move in with me by getting my guards to pick you up. My very presence, I know, frightens you and that made you do things you would rather not if given a choice. I came to tell you that you are free to go where you will be safe and never have to put up with me. I treated you badly from the beginning, and I am sorry," Jason apologized. "James will take over, and he will make life difficult for you if you stay here. I will ensure the company pays you this month's salary, add it to the salaries you have received so far and make a living for yourself," Jason added, and Julia's eyes became tearer, realizing what his words meant. They may not hav
"Let the news go viral," Mrs Haward said as the call connected with a broad smile on her face. "Today is my lucky day," Mrs Haward said after disconnecting the call with a laugh. "Hey, bring me some wine. I have to celebrate my victory," she said to a servant who was heading for the kitchen. The servant nodded in acknowledgement and returned shortly with a bottle of red wine and a glass. "Add another glass to it, idiot. Are you blind, can't you see we are two here?" Mrs Haward said angrily, and the servant apologized and quickly went to get another glass. Mrs Haward filled the two glasses with wine and offered one to Mirenda, who accepted it. Mirenda was just silent on the matter. She may have supported getting things this far; Grandpa is dead, Jason and Julia are out of the house and James, the womanizer, will be taking over the company, but was this right? Mirenda sat in silence with these thoughts on her mind as she tried to force a smile on her face as her mother celebrated
Jason went upstairs to take a shower. He smiled, seeing what Julia had done with the room. He entered the bathroom and was equally satisfied. He changed into something comfortable and returned to the living room to find Julia standing in front of the sofa looking like she had just seen a ghost and her hand was covering her mouth. Jason's eyes quickly moved to the TV screen, and he was shocked to his very bone. The ground begins to slip away from underneath Jason. He held the back of the sofa for support. Peter quickly got to him, but he waved his hand to tell him he was fine. "Change the channel," Jason said, sounding a little angry. "It is everywhere sir, all the channels, this is what they are talking about," Peter informed him. "Turn the volume up," Jason requested, and Peter increased the volume. The living room was silent and only the voice of the report could be heard. "You can never tell about people. Who would have known that the highly respected, rich and powerful hand