CHAPTER 2

Carter’s p.o.v

2 weeks ago

The sun is far from rising up when I wake up, I look at my bedside clock and the time reads 4:30. Another wasted effort at sleeping seeing as I only went to bed two hours ago, trying to get more sleep would only disappoint me so I stand up and go into my office.

I finish off some work and check my mails, I am about to go to the gym when my phone rings. I look at the caller id and I see that Daniel is calling, he’s supposed to be in Paris for his honeymoon so what’s so important that he’s calling. I pick up the phone,

“What’s happening Cole, I thought you’d be so far up your wife’s ass that you wouldn’t be reachable for the month”.

“Ha ha very funny, I’m calling with a very important issue.” My hackles rise up the more he’s silent……….

“Out with it Cole some of us have work to do”. He sighs and replies “I have found her”, then it’s my turn to remain silent and after a few seconds he says “can you hear me”? And I almost nod before I remember that he can’t see me so I settle for a grunt. He says in a more somber tone “I said I found her”. “Who did you find Cole”?

“Are you really going to play dumb, I’m telling you that I’ve found the woman that you have been looking for, I’ve found Valerie Du Bois, this is someone you’ve been looking for, for six years now and I’m telling you that I have found her and that’s your reaction? You really are the most boring Cole sibling”. He replies and ends the call.

By the time I drop the phone I have gone through a myriad of emotions. Fulfilment, fear, and elation, I settle on elation. After six long years I have found Valerie and I can finally do right by her.

I can apologize to her and make everything better. I need to see her. I pick up the phone to call Daniel back but I figure that he might need to rest. I’ll call him in the evening. For the first time in years my heart is truly light and I have something to be happy about.

I have excess energy and going to the gym will not exhaust that energy so I go for a run. When I get back and take a shower, the sun is just rising so I head to my office to grab my work phone after which I get dressed for work.

I enter my kitchen to see Martha setting up for work, Martha’s my house-keeper. She and Gerald (my head of security), are the only ones that are allowed up here without supervision. The rest of my staff occupy the next floor in the apartment complex owned by Sullivan Group which is a fancy way to say that I own it.

I grab a coffee and tell her when to send my lunch and I head to the elevator, once I get down, my driver brings my car around and I head to the office. I start answering more emails until my personal phone rings and I quickly pull it out secretly hoping that it’s Daniel with more information about Valerie.

I check the caller id and my smile dims a little when I discover that the caller is Arabella my younger sister. She is the head of our fashion subsidiary and for a while she has been bugging me to allow for a collaboration with fashion designers saying that it would help our brand’s social standing.

That’s a little confusing because our brand is in the same circle with Gucci, Louis Vuitton and other big names in the fashion industry but Arabella is a Cole so I understand her need to be the absolute best and while I respect it, I do not see the need for us to involve ourselves in the squabble that is the fashion world drama.

Arabella rarely hears the word no so she believes that she can wear me down by calling me repeatedly and asking me every chance that she gets. I had stopped answering her calls but this morning I feel extra happy so I pick up the phone and answer it,

“Hello princess shouldn’t you be on your bed”? “I heard the party went on till past midnight”, she laughs and sniffles “Hey big brother, you actually picked up the call, I thought you were avoiding me”.

“Ahh you caught me, now what was so urgent that you decided that my voice is the perfect way to wake up”?

“I heard you found her” she replies, oh fuck Daniel can never keep a secret. I should’ve known he would call Arabella and whoever is involved in finding Valerie. “Yes princess, that’s what Daniel said although I don’t know if I should believe him or not, you know how many times we’ve been so close to finding her only for it to turn out to be a fluke”. “Let’s not get our hopes up”.

I’m assuming she nods from her next statement, “I want to ask you a question though”, “okay princess what’s your question”?

“If it’s really her, what will you do”? My reply is instant, “I will beg for her forgiveness”.

“And if she does not forgive me I will keep on trying until she has forgiven me”. The line is silent for a while and I’m just about to disconnect the call when she replies “good, that’s a very good answer and for all our sakes, I hope you find her and make things right with her”. “Good luck big brother I’m rooting for you” she says and disconnects the call.

I’m lost in thought when my driver knocks on my window and gestures outside, seeing that I am already at the company, I get out of the car and go inside the building, taking the private elevator to my floor.

I occupy the one of the two offices on this floor, the other one belongs to Daniel and is notably empty. I walk past his office and when I enter mine I am not surprised to find breakfast on the table.

I polish that off and immediately get to work, I’m in the middle of a zoom call when my personal phone rings and seeing Daniel’s name on the id makes me reschedule the zoom meeting and with a hurried swipe of my fingers, I answer the call only to find out that I have been ambushed, the little shit has everybody on the call, and by everybody, I mean Daniel, Arabella, our cousins Rafe and Luciano and our friends Kingston and Dante. The moment the call connects I catch the tail end of Dante’s laughter as he react to God knows what.

Daniel is the first to notice my presence and he immediately sighs “Y’all the kill joy is here, hopefully he won’t be more of an ass now that the love of his life is back”.

More laughter follows his statement as Rafe asks, “so do I need to dust my tuxedo for a wedding or what”?

“No Rafe keep your tux to yourself, this is not a romantic equation”.

“Moreover, I haven’t seen the confirmation that the woman you found is really Valerie.”

“Oh it’s her quite alright, we have confirmed everything”. Let me send the details to you”

My laptop pings with the notification and when I open the folder, I am blown away. Valerie was beautiful as a child, even when she rarely smiled but this Valerie is all woman. Dark hair that comes to her waist, round doe eyes, and a body that could easily feature in all my dark fantasies. She’s model beautiful and when I shift in my seat, I realize that I might be over in my head. I don’t even know when I sigh and Kingston laughs “I know that reaction, it is the sign that our friend has found the one”. “Oh shit Rafe, you might need that tux after all”

“I can’t believe she has been under our nose all this time”. “I wear her dresses, I’m literally so pumped”. I have an idea Arabella says

“Your ideas are always trash, but let’s hear this one” Dante replies. Arabella huffs then asks “Do you want to hear my suggestion or not”?

“Dante please don’t start, let us listen to Bella’s idea”. This is from Luciano.

“Bella what’s your idea”? “Okay listen, since Valerie is a fashion designer, why don’t we have our subsidiary collaborate with her”?

Daniel smiles and says “that’s perfect, it’s a really good idea. Especially since she put out word about collaborating with other fashion companies but the final say will come from someone else, so what do you think man”?

The whole line is silent while I contemplate on the issue and after a little while I tell them that it would be good to go with Bella’s idea and afterwards we say goodbye and hang up the phone.