After dropping Elena to her room and making sure she had everything she needed so she could rest for a few hours, Simon came downstairs and went straight to her study. Before going to bed, he asked her if he could use it for a while, that he needed to take care of some of his business matters while she slept. Elena had not hesitated. She had asked her butler to lead Simon to the study without a second thought. God, it hurt so much to see her so worried, strained and so damn troubled. If only he could take all her troubles away and give her the peace she desperately needed. But he could not. Not right now. And not because he did not want to—or did not have the strong desire to help her out—but because the men he depended on and paid millions to keep him one step ahead of everyone and everything had started to disappoint him gravely. “Cecelia McDowell is dead,” the words came out of his mouth as if he was chewing on rocks, as if he couldn’t swallow, as if he wanted to punch the hell
All hell broke loose for Richard when he heard of Cece’s death. For a minute, he almost refused to believe it. He thought that maybe, just maybe, there was some kind of misunderstanding. Because the last time he checked, his step-sister was missing not dead. But she was, and that made no sense at all. Fuck. “Richard,” his father sounded as if he was talking from under the water. He could barely understand what the older man was saying, but he made no move to tell him so because interrupting him now felt not only rude but also cruel. No matter how their family dynamics were to the outside world, there was no lie in the fact that his father adored his stepdaughter, so much so that he often put her before everything else. Richard always thought his father did that to appease Melinda, his second wife, but he could have been wrong. “Dad, I’ll be home as soon as possible. Please take care of yourself and mom.” Richard disconnected the call and put the phone aside, finally able to hear
Nina sat in the living room, letting the mild scent of freshly brewed coffee wash over her, right before one of the servants put the cup down on the glass table. Briefly, she tore her gaze from the magazine on her lap and thanked the man with a nod of her head. Once the servant left, she turned to face her younger son, having summoned him for something she needed to talk about. “Ben said you paid a visit to Simon,” she said to her son, not exactly a question but a statement, as if letting him know there was no point in lying or denying or ignoring even. It was better to come clean, instead of wasting both of their time. “Would you like to talk about it?” Derek rolled his eyes, not at his mother, but more at the question itself. “There’s nothing to talk about it.” He grunted. “Are you sure?” her question was almost instant, as if she was already prepared for his pointless attempt to brush her off. “Because the last time I checked, you weren’t a huge fan of Simon. Even the sight of
Elena looked out the window of the car and swallowed lightly, suddenly awfully nervous.“You don’t have to go, Elena, if you don’t wish to. Take rest, be with Caleb, it would help take your mind off things.”Elena knew Simon was right. But she also knew the moment she was in her house all by herself, she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about what had happened at the police station, about all those questions that the detective threw at her, and all those implications. She wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it at all.And she needed to stop thinking about it.If she was to have any hope of keeping a sane head about herself, then she needed to keep busy, and do something to keep her thoughts and emotions at bay.“I can’t,” she said with a sigh, as if to herself and not to him. “I sent him to school and it’s just, I don’t want him to see me like this.” She brushed her hand across her forehead and took in a deep breath. “It’s better this way. He wouldn’t even realize I was here the
Cortez woke up with a groan, warm rays too harsh on his face, the soft touch on his lips almost feeling like a dream, his brain foggy with the last dredges of sleep still hanging around him like a soft mist, clouding his thoughts and senses. It was the touch of that hand on his lips again, followed by a soft brush of fingers through his hair that he slowly woke up from the deep slumber, and felt the first hints of reality slip in, and a soft smile make its way to his lips. The sun was warm, the air in the room chilly and fresh, the light breeze of the air-conditioner brushing against the skin that was bare, and that touch… “Finally,” he heard the voice that had become way too familiar in the last few hours. “I thought I might have to give up, you were so peaceful like that, sleeping. It was almost a shame to wake you up.” Cortez almost chuckled but stopped himself just in time as he finally opened his eyes and faced Danika. His sharp gaze instantly took in what she was wearing, or
To say Simon was annoyed as he skimmed through the “hot” online article his assistant had handed him over a while ago would be an understatement. His jaw had clenched so tightly that he wondered if it might be possible to break a bone there. He sighed and closed the paper. “Is this her idea of distracting the media from the investigation?” His assistant who stood across the desk nodded. “Looks like it, sir. But if I have to be honest, it’s not a bad move either. It might actually work.” Simon tossed the tablet away and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew his brilliant assistant had a point, but at the same time, he felt a piercing impulse to put an end to this damn thing once and for all. He just couldn’t stand it, you know. The thought of Elena with that idiot Richard. Even though the rumours were as fake as they could be, and it was just for the media’s sake, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit possessive and territorial over the woman he had come to consider his own. But t
Elena was helping Caleb get ready for school when Betty Adams came rushing through the main door of the mansion and doubled over, panting, as if she had run a marathon to get to the place. “What’s wrong with you?” Elena asked, as she took one look at the assistant who was bent at her waist, breathing heavily, before looking at the butler who looked equally confused by the situation. Caleb, who always had been playful around Betty perked up from the table as soon as he heard her coming. “Bets! Bets! Look at me, look at what I’m eating!” But Betty, who seemed to have trouble breathing at that moment, shook her head at the excited little boy, a small smile appearing on her face, nonetheless. “Caleb, you look great and that looks, well, yummy,” she managed to say before looking at Elena. “Madam, I’m sorry, but there’s something that needs your immediate attention.” Elena could tell from the face of Betty that whatever had her worried enough to be so out of breath had to be big news. S
It was after a few hours spent brooding over the entire charade Simon had pulled that Elena realized things might not be as straightforward as she thought. Now that she had the time to think about it, to process the situation and understand how all of this was actually going to play out, she wasn’t so sure if Simon had done what he did to piss her off. Perhaps Betty was right. There was a reason, the one she had refused to see initially. Perhaps Simon did have an angle. Perhaps he was still doing what he did best. Make a game out of everything. And now that she had a reason to believe that Simon might have done something like that to actually take the heat of the media off her, she realized she wasn’t so furious anymore. Which, of course, made her wonder—why did she become so angry in the first place? As far as she could remember, it was Simon who had pursued her since the beginning, while all she had done was to reject him time and again. She had made it clear that she wasn’t look