With a frightened heart, disorientation and confusion, Zoe stood up momentarily as soon as Gary told her what was going on at the hospital with her grandmother. A profound sense of helplessness gnawed at her insides instantly, as she tried to contain the bad news that had hit her about her only family, just after barely surviving a night before. "How many minutes will it take the chauffeur to be here?" She asked Gary in agitation, as she grabbed the almost empty luxurious purse that she had come with that morning. "Twenty minutes at most," he answered. "I cannot wait that long," she muttered, thinking of how fast she could reach the hospital if she went herself, "Get me the car keys, please," she asked Gary."You are going yourself?" He questioned her as calmly as he could. "Yes, please," she answered."I will drive you. However, we have to be back in the next thirty minutes. You have an investor meeting in an hour," he informed her instantly, knowing well that the meeting was not
Zoe was sitting behind her desk in her office, which was stationed right in front of the floor-to-ceiling-windows, as her rapt attention was focused on the files and hologram charts that she was going through all day. It had been days since her clash with Francis Sinclair, and since her grandmother had not woken up from her unconsciousness, which was soon tagged coma. She had been trying to hold on to every pain and pressure that was threatening to suffocate her, and trying to ignore the sadness that was feasting on her insides, with nothing to offer her solace. Every breath she took at every moment felt like a deep struggle, while keeping her head up in front of people that were waiting for her to fail. Nothing had been going well.As much as Zoe knew that her only family was sick and in a coma, she could not spend time being with her because of her hefty schedule. She had been unable to eat and sleep properly for days, while suffering from anxiety every time her head reminded her o
Zoe's mind had been occupied with the memories from the previous night after she almost got belittled by some group of jealous women socialites, who could not get her to join their groups, private clubs and parties no matter how hard they tried. It was by the slightest chance, when she had almost turned to leave, that the most unexpected person had come to save her and told them to let her in. 'Just why was this same guy here again, and helping her just when she needed it?' she wondered in her mind, as she followed Martin Lincoln inside the restaurant. "What are you doing here?" She asked him as her eyebrows shot up, forming a high arch of astonishment. "Surprised?" He smiled charmingly at her, as he walked before her while she followed confusedly. "Of course, yes," she answered, matching up her steps to meet him so that she could walk by his side. "I am the new head of this restaurant," he explained to her in calm words, and her eyes raised in shock because she didn't think he
Nestled at the top floor of the gigantic skyscraper was Malcolm's office, which was the perfect modern office for a sophistication of his caliber. He sat at his desk, deeply engrossed in his work with his eyes moving through mountains of paperwork that needed to be reviewed with high precision and focus. His demeanor seemed to be off than usual as he sat authoritatively in his position, with his face deeply contorted into a deep dark glare which held the weight of many unsaid emotions. More than anymore, his secretary, Edward, was the one that received the direct smothers of his capricious mood, which bore heavy weights of rage and surliness all day.In just one week, he had made the lives of his executives stormy and put them in an extremely tight spot with canceled project declarations, while raging endlessly to lay them off if they couldn't come up with something better. He canceled every event that he was invited to, and had been working endlessly in his office without leaving or
I am not loved by anyone. No one cares. I don't deserve love. You do not deserve love, Zoe. That is why you are alone. And that is how you will continue to be..…..'"Ms. Zoe. Would you like lunch?" The voice came faintly like she was trying to struggle out of some kind of haze, unconscious of her surroundings and everything around her, her mind delving deep on her thoughts. 'Everyone just wanted her for her own selfish gain. Even her own grandfather was trying to make her irrelevant. Everyone was trying to make her miserable with her actions. People from her past are trying to pull her down.' "Ms. Zoe….." she seemed to hear the voice call again, but her gaze was distant and fixed on a point in the horizon that only she could see. It seemed like the words that seemed so near echoed so distantly that she couldn't hear them properly. "Ms. Zoe!" Suddenly, Zara's sharp voice pierced through the veil of her thoughts for an instant, which caused her to startle and turn towards the source
Struggling to part her eyelashes open, Zoe's senses awakened by the strong pemeating scent that seemed to taunt her senses even from deep slumber. A gasp escaped her throat the moment her eyes finally opened, and her heart skipped a bit when she realized that, once again, she was nowhere she would have expected herself to be.Her mind flashed to the only person her mind compulsively hoped it was not, because she didn't want to be a burden to him for the nth time. But somewhere in her heart, too, she hoped that it would be him. Even if she didn't know if she could trust him as a stranger, Martin Lincoln made her feel comfortable in some kind of way. "Zoe?" She heard the deep, hoarse voice call her name, and she shut her eyes instantly to be sure that she was not hearing wrongly. More than anything, she wished that it was truly not what she had heard.Opening her eyes again to see the towering figure that was hovering after her, Zoe almost went bonkers on the spot, ignoring the IV tube
"Get out of my fucking face!" Zoe yelled at Malcolm as she head-butted him so hard, and the unexpected blow collectively struck different strange nerves in his body as they all tried to process the intensity of the pain. He took a step back instantly as his body instinctively retreated as a defensive response, and his hand held his nose firmly like it would prevent the pain from spreading. Blood drained from his face as he felt a red liquid trickle down the skin beneath his nose, and his hand caught it just in time before it splashed on the floor. He blinked rapidly as he tried to clear the fog of disbelief that clouded his vision, that Zoe had hit him so hard in that manner. "What?!" His lips found the instant words he could use to express his shock, while alternating touching his nose and looking at his blood-smeared hand, in great disbelief that it actually came from his breathing holes. "What? You've never had a nosebleed?" Zoe remarked with a scowl, when she observed the kind
"Scumbag jerk!" Zoe cursed under her breath, as she scuttled away after signaling to the kid, who helped her out of the bathroom without getting noticed by the nurse. After she had lied about wanting to go to the bathroom, she began to think of possible ways in which she could escape out of the hospital without getting caught. When she thought of the window, she knew she would end her own life if she tried jumping down from the top floor. And just when she thought there was nothing she could do after spying on the nurses for minutes, she saw a young girl that entered the bathroom shortly after she did by herself, who she deemed rude at first sight. "Are you trying to steal something?" She heard the tiny voice behind her which made her turn sharply, only to see a small cute girl with big, round eyes standing before her. "What? Steal?" She scrunched up her face at the little girl, wondering how old she was and who let her into the bathroom without assistance, "Mind your business, l