I looked up at him in shock and dropped my plate. "What do you mean by that?"He turned over to look at me. "Liza, I didn't just pick you randomly, or because I had no other option. It was a calculated decision," he explained shortly but I folded my arms and sat forward on the chair, prompting him to continue.He took another gulp out of the bottle and continued, "I wanted someone who could make me look good, and be ready for a no strings attached relationship and that wasn't you but..I also needed a person who wouldn't talk, and to make sure, I put a price you couldn't refuse. You want the money too much." He chuckled and sat down on the couch again, grinning to himself.I angrily grabbed the bottle from his hands and this time, he did not stop me. I was tempted to take a swig of the wine, which I now knew was alcoholic, but a part of me also felt like pouring it on his head. But I needed to hear something first, so I leaned towards him and asked."Why could I not make you look good
The ride back to the hotel was quiet and Cole and I just stared out of our individual windows. One time, I saw the driver looking at us with a curious expession before he caught my eyes in the mirror and quickly looked away. I did not blame the man though, we had seemed so chatty on the way to the the docks and he had even been smiling at our jokes. But oh well…Immediately we got to the hotel, both of us silently separated into our individual rooms and instantly, I fell on the bed as my eyes became misty with tears. This time, I sniffed loudly and allowed them to fall down my cheek even as I tried to figure out why I was crying.I should not have been surprised with what Cole said, neither should I have expected more. A guy like him did not fall for a girl like me, maybe in movies but in real life, no matter the circumstances surrounding them–men like Cole only went for educated, sexy women who would look good beside him.I walked over to the full length mirror and stared at my image
My ears perked up at his announcement and when he walked into my room, I went to stand beside him."How?" I asked and he played an audio clip from his security head for me to listen to. Apparently, after Cole suggested our plans to them, they planted an audio chip in a package and sent it to their flat, under the guise of winning at an event. Fortunately, Dave and Kiera believed the ploy and after some moments, someone in Cole's team made a fake call to her claiming to be me.After that, it was easy to get the evidence since both of them had launched into a full blown topic about us which had been recorded and sent straight to Cole's email. I bounced my legs in delight, eager to move past the both of them but more about anything, I wanted to know what those criminals said about me."I want to hear what they said about me...us." The statement tumbled out of my lips, before I realized that Cole would also be listening to whatever they said about me too. But no matter, I would still be l
We arrived at the apartment complex under thirty minutes, and the first thing hat irked me about the place was the musty smell that surrounded it. For such an averagely maintained building, the surroundings were very demeaning with candy wraps scattered around and stale wraps of food on the sides of the building.Cole put a handkerchief to his nose and albeit reluctantly, we stepped out of the car with his security team right behind us. They were all expecting a confrontation, and though I guessed it would not come to the use of force, I was glad that they were with us.We walked closer towards the building and saw a woman sitting at one corner of it. She was clothed in what looked like a hospital gown while three small children lay on a mat beside her, and when she noticed us, she stretched out a blackened hand and I froze.I dipped a hand into my purse to offer her some money, but Cole held my hand and shook his head as he motioned to one of his men. The guy brought out a few dollar
The guys quickly understood their boss's intent and went to hold a weak Dave up by his hands and I watched as Cole gave the guy one punch and a slap. Behind them, Kiera had started to scream and I feared she was going to draw a large crowd so I started to stop him by holding his hand but he shrugged me off and instead held a bleeding Dave by his collar."Why did you try to trick us?" He questioned, but the guy just shook his head repeatedly and motioned to Kiera. "Don't hurt my son," he whispered, and Cole chuckled quietly as he dropped him to the ground. Dave raised his eyes to meet mine, but I looked away from him and instead looked at the open door which was still empty.Maybe the people here did not care for one another or, a nagging thought suddenly flew into my brain, they had gone to call for reinforcements. The matter was unlikely, but still we had to confront them fast and move on before our faces got on the news or worse.I moved over to where Cole stood over Kiera who was h
Immediately we entered the car and began to leave the building, a loud sigh escaped me and I happily inhaled the fresh air. I never wanted to be in a place like that again, and I felt glad of my current status, even if it was just temporary.A sense of gratitude also washed over me, because no matter how much my birth parents and adoptive parents struggled, I never had to live in such a horrible place and I got to inhale fresh scented air everyday.My mind moved back to the woman we had seen before we entered the building, as well as a pre-teen girl I noticed as we rushed down the flight of stairs. She had seemed hungry, so I subtly raised a dollar bill and dropped it in the ground for her and I would never forget how she grinned at me and slowly walked forward to pick it up.These people were having it rough, but unfortunately I could not help everybody no matter how hard I tried. But there and then, as the car drove back towards the hotel, I made a vow to push through with studying
When we got out of the elevator on our floor, Cole put a hand on the wall and trapped my body within his as he looked into my eyes."I did not tell Kiera anything like that." He gritted his teeth and tapped his feet as he waited for my response, but I just pressed myself further against the wall and folded my arms."Are we going to talk about this here?" I asked hesitantly, and he gave a single nod and continued to pierce me with his gaze. In return, I rolled my eyes and gave an exasperated sigh."Okay. Fine. I believe you," I agreed and then held up a hand. "Why are you so determined on making me believe you?"His gaze faltered and stopped at my lips for a second before he leaned backward and ran a hand through his hair. "Because...I lo–you know what? It doesn't matter." He turned away from me and swiped his keycard across the door lock. "Believe what you will."I shook my head and called his name when I entered the suite behind him. "Crystal is inviting us to stay at Zach's resort i
Cole left the suite ahead of me to tell the hotel staff that we would not be back for two weeks, which I knew to them meant checking out. I was sure that by the time wecame back–if that actually happened–this rooms would be occupied by other people.I looked around the room and walked over to the window, but the fishes I usually saw playing around were not there but instead, a larger fish swam lazily few inches away from the window. I marevelled at the blueness of the water again and stepped out of the room.Staying in this suite for two weeks had opened my eyes to the beauty of the world as well as the weirdness of my marriage and husband. I did not want to admit it to myself, but I was scared of being in a room alone with Cole. The way he looked at me sometimes scared me, like I was an object to be chained up.A call from him came in through my phone and I quickly left the room and went upstairs. He was standing beside the hotel reception with sunglasses covering his eyes as he lean