Chapter 1: New Beginning

With a determined and icy face, Grace stood up from her chair, turned around and marched over to the booth in the café behind where she had been sitting. There was a group of people sitting at the booth that were staring at her as she made her way over.  Grace looked at the male closest to her, “Excuse me Mr Gibson but I did not ask you to pay for my meal, thank you but I can look after myself”. Grace then angrily slapped the money for her meal on the table in front of Sebastian, picked up her laptop bag and strode out of the café with her long curly hair bouncing around, whilst lots of people staring at her admiring her beauty and her curvaceous figure.

 (EARLIER THAT MORNING)

Walking into the ‘Shore Café’, Grace spotted the same table she had sat at the last two times she came to this café.   It was in a quiet area of the café, near the window facing the beach.  Growing up near the beach in Sydney Australia, it was one of the things she missed the most about living there.  Having the beach so close to her, she missed the sounds and smell of the ocean, especially at night when the sound of the waves put her to sleep.  She missed her daily morning beach runs and even her ocean swims with her loyal Labrador dog called Luigi.  The Beach was her serenity where she always found peace and calmness, even after a hard day at school, it was the place to sit and ponder with Luigi and occasionally her best friend Max would join her.  Grace would sit there and tell Luigi all about her day and he being a patient and loyal dog breed, he would sit there and listen even though he didn’t know what she was talking about.  

She left Australia behind when she was just about 16 out of circumstances that were out of control.  Grace missed her family dearly but going back to Sydney, even for a visit could not only endanger her life but the lives of her family. Just before her 16^th birthday, she fled the country with very little although she had the love and support of her family and her best friend Max.  She was now 21 years old and whilst the last five and a half years away from Sydney, away from her family have been difficult, she has had to stand on her own two feet and now runs a successful business which has been the result of sheer dedication, determination and a lot of hard work. One day she plans to return back home, one day when it is safe for her. Since leaving home at such a young age, she has lived in at least three countries and more than a handful of cities around the world. She needed to make sure she stayed hidden and was not found by the man she was running from.  If he would find her, he would surely hurt her and maybe even kill her.  “No, I will do my best to ensure he doesn’t find me again, not when I am not ready, but when the day that we are face-to-face becomes a reality, I will not surrender to him.  I am no longer the weak young girl that left Sydney 5 and a half years ago.  No, I am much stronger than that, and should we ever meet, he will come to know that”, she thought to herself.

Grace walked confidently with her head held high over to the table in the cafe in a floral Summer dress that reached just above her knees and accentuated her slim waist.  She also wore gorgeous denim wedge heels. Grace had a beautiful face with naturally tanned skin that was typical of her Italian Mediterranean heritage that accentuated her big, gorgeous bright blue eyes and long eye lashes.  Even without make-up, she was already turning heads of many patrons in the café. The strides she took accentuated her slender legs. As she reached the table, she opened her back pack, took out her laptop and thought to herself “Hmm, what a view, such a beautiful ocean view.  Here’s to a new beginning.  A new beginning in a new City”.   

As Grace pondered her new beginning, over by the table behind her were members of the 3 most prominent families in Straco City.  Carter Michael Watson, Sean Xander Harper and Sebastian Jake Gibson, all three 27 years old.  All three of these prominent men grew up and went to school together and then went on to successfully run their own companies that were the top three companies in net worth in Straco City and well-known throughout the entire country. Carter had a girlfriend but both Sean and Sebastian were single.  All three were said to be such outstanding in the looks department. Carter a successful CEO of ‘Watson Corporation’, running an Investment company that was known throughout the world. Apart from Investments, Carter had a Marketing and advertising arm of his corporation that he set up three years ago which was growing quite well and he was involved in other business ventures mostly with his best friends Sean and Sebastian.  He was said to be one of the richest men in Straco City mostly because he acquired the investment company from his father, but the hard yards he had put into the company since he took over five years ago as well as his new Marketing, advertising and shared investments with his best friends.  Carter was just over 6 Feet tall and had dark short hair.  

Sean Harper, the CEO of ‘Harper Group’ which included his law firm and his investment company amongst other ventures.  Sean was a well-known in Straco City amongst the elite and he was the go-to lawyer whenever there was a tricky legal situation. He was the tallest out of the three at just over 6 Feet, 2 Inches and although all three lads were handsome, Sean was said to be the most handsome.  He had dark, wavy hair that he liked to keep short and although he was mostly cleanly shaven, he occasionally had a three-day growth.  He was never short of any suitors but he was married to his job as the CEO of ‘Harper Group’ and he tended to find a lot of women very shallow.  Sean started ‘Harper Group’ when he was in university getting involved in a few investments and a year after he graduated, he set up his law firm under Harper Group which grew rapidly with all his successes.  Sean’s dad had a company called ‘Harper Invest’ that Sean’s brother was now the CEO of.   Despite Sean’s parents setting him up on many blind dates, he was never interested and sometimes went along to some of those dates to appease his parents but he never connected with any of the blind dates his parents set him up with and he never had more than one date with the same girl. In fact, he stopped going on any of the blind dates his family set him up on about two years ago because he just didn’t see the point.  Sean completed his 4-year law and business degree in three years as he was highly intelligent. His years of practising law had seen him lose very few cases which made him a very well sought after lawyer, not only in Straco but also in other parts of the country.

Then there was Sebastian Gibson. Strapping and confident and 6 Feet, 2 Inches with light brown straight hair that was not short and neither was it long.  He ran a well-established Talent company called ‘Straco Gibson Talent’ that signed people from models, singers, actors in both large well budgeted movies to smaller less budgeted movies and even bands.  His company was the leading Talent company in Straco City. Like Sean and Carter, he also dabbled in business ventures both on his own and together with his best friends.  After having his heart broken three years ago by a woman he was engaged to, Sebastian stopped dating for about two and a half years, but that changed in recent months with Sebastian deciding it was time to stop wallowing in the past and he had started dating again.

With Sean, Carter and Sebastian having breakfast at Shore Café were Tyra Radley, Carter’s girlfriend and Sean’s niece Luana Harper.  Tyra was a 22 year old talented Medical Student in her fifth year of Medicine at Straco University.  She had wavy thick dark brown hair that went half way up her back with gorgeous brown eyes and long eyelashes. She was also tall and had a slim waist.  Tyra and Carter had been dating for 12 months.  Luana was 21 years old with straight long dark brown hair that went just past her shoulders and gorgeous green eyes.  Luana attended Straco University part-time in Business Studies. She worked for her father Jaxon Harper and her grandfather Marcus Harper in the family company that her great-grandfather Taylon Harper had started up many years ago.  She occasionally dabbled in some modelling gigs and although she attended university, her heart was not in it, she just wanted to be a model but it was her family expectation that she successfully complete a University degree in Business and then help her dad Jaxon Harper with the business as it was expected that she would succeed her father as CEO when her dad would retire in many years to come. Her Uncle Sean, her dad, her Aunt, her grandfather and great grandfather all had shares in the company.