~SIERRA~
He smiled and said, “You look surprised to see me.” He played with the pencil in his hands.
“How did you get in?” I asked and walked towards him.
“The secretary asked me to wait for you here,” he said, “and this was the only comfortable seat.”
I cleared my throat and said, "Okay, Mr. Fosters, right, if you are here to discuss the contract, then it's Mr. Winters you should be talking to or Ethan; I'm just a shareholder,” I said, hoping he would understand. I didn't have the energy to
~SIERRA~Damian scanned Alejandro before he turned to me, then to Ethan.“Mr. Winters, good morning, I’m actually...”“Didn’t Ethan tell you? Ethan, you didn’t tell him?” Damian turned to Ethan.“I did, he’s not here for the contract.”“Then why is he here?” Damian sounded cold. Well, I wanted to see what Damian was capable of doing—I mean, here he was acting all jealous when in our years together he never cared. Well, I don't know, as I never got a chance to go out without him.“I’m here to see Sierra,” Alejandro said.“You call her by her name?” Damian sounded surprised."Well, it’s what we used to call her back in school until she became this lady, sorry, I meant Ms. Reid.” Alejandro sounded stubborn."Well, this is an office, if you want to talk to Ms. Reid, then you should wait for her and not near my company,” Damian said. I noticed the frowns on his forehead."Oh, come on, is it that you have a little crush on her too?” Alejandro said, I could see Damian’s hands, which formed i
~SIERRA~I knew if Bruce saw me, he would tell Gilbert about Damian because, with the way Gilbert talked of Bruce, they seemed to be buddies—maybe even closer than Damian. I couldn't let Gilbert find out I was Damian's ex-wife, so I thought of an excuse, but Ethan ruined it."Hey, I'm still here. Can we go for coffee?” He shouted, and Gilbert heard it.“So that's why you pretended to be in a hurry, you could have told me you were s
~SIERRA~I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Ethan seemed to be a good man, there was no way he would do such a thing, so I cleared my throat and said, “It might be a misunderstanding, talk to him about the employee, let’s see what he says.”“Oh Sierra, don’t tell me you are falling for him already,” Lily chucked.“What?”“You’re trying to find the good in him, Ethan might be an accomplice, but your brain just refuses to believe it,” she said, suspiciously looking at me.I cleared my throat. “All I’m saying is we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions now,” I said, standing up."Okay, sorry,” she said, raising her arms.“It’s okay,” I said and picked up my phone—it was time for me to start carrying a handbag, I thought to myself.“Is that why you’re leaving? I mean, it’s too early.”“Oh no, I have a dinner date.”“Uh…”“With Gilbert, my fiancé,” I said, as she sounded surprised.“Oh, alright, have fun, but if it’s dinner, isn’t it a little early?”“Oh yeah, it is. I want to have lunch with
~SIERRA~Maybe it was just in my head, with everything going on, I would understand—everyone was dangerous in my head, so I started the car, and surprisingly, the man didn't start his. I turned to Gilbert on the road and asked, “Where should I drop you?”“Back to the Winter's company, Lily wanted to talk to me,” he said, and I nodded. I drove back to the company, and even when I was sure the man was not following us, I still kept looking at the back. The ride was silent and only took us ten minutes to get there."Well, here we are,” I said as he looked lost in thoughts."Oh, thank you,” he said, and I nodded. “Can I get a hug as a goodbye?" He asked, and I shook my head. "Okay, that's fine, I'll see you tomorrow.”“Bye,” I said, and he got out. He waved as I drove out of the company parking lot. On the road, I couldn't help but think of the man at the cafe. It might be a coincidence, but from what the detective told me, it might be another person who wanted to hurt me. It might be him
~SIERRA~I didn’t know what to say. I looked at Gilbert, who was now in a thinking position—as if putting the pieces together.“Please tell him, Mommy, Uncle Damian looks like him.” Ingrid held my arm. I turned to her and sweetly smiled.“What did I tell you about people looking alike, Ingrid? It’s a coincidence,” I said, and she nodded."Yes, Mommy, but what I’m saying is that he looks like him just like I look like you, do you think he’s Nathan’s daddy?” "Okay, that’s enough, let’s eat.” Nana took Ingrid and helped her to her seat. I looked down, shocked and scared to face Gilbert. “Wow, this smells delicious,” Nana said, and looked up: “Oh my God, I didn’t know you could cook.”“Oh yes, I learned to cook because my parents were in love with food, so as soon as I turned six, they started teaching me how to cook,” Gilbert answered.“Does that mean you will teach us how to cook once we turn six?” Ingrid, being outspoken as usual, asked. She was sitting next to me, so I turned to her
~SIERRA~But before I could say hello, Nana took the phone from my ear and ended the call. “That must be important, Nana.”“I know, but I don’t want anything to ruin tonight for you,” she said, and I shook my head."Nana, tonight is not even like that,” I said.“Just go and have fun, okay? I know talking to the detective would stop that from happening. You deserve to be happy, Sierra. I feel bad because I’m the reason you came back, and it has been one problem after another since you got here.”"No, Nana,” I said, taking her hands into mine. “You are not the reason those problems have been happening, if there’s anyone to blame then, it’s my father,” I said—I didn’t want her to stress about that.“Then do it for me, forget about your problems for a second and just be happy. I will take care of the kids so you will not have to worry about them,” she said, and I nodded even when I knew this dinner was not what she was anticipating—I was having dinner with Bruce and Ava. Gilbert might fin
~SIERRA~I couldn't believe it. How could Damian and Cassie choose to go out on the same day and, much worse, choose the same restaurant as us?“What a coincidence,” Cassie said as she gestured to Damian, asking him to pull out a seat for her—yes, that was Damian, so unromantic, he never pulled a seat for you.“Cassie, we don't have to be here.”“What are you saying, Damian? Your cousin is here, why shouldn't we join them?” Cassie sounded smart, she had already pulled a seat for herself as she was already seated. Damian had no choice but to sit. “I see you guys have already ordered,” she said, and Ava nodded.“Yes, we did.” Ava sounded uncomfortable.“Oh, this must be Sierra's fiance, hello?” Cassie waved at Gilbert, and Gilbert returned her greeting with a smile.“How are you? Yes, I'm Sierra's fiancé,” Gilbert said, sipping on his water. “She's my soon to be wife, I'm the luckiest man alive,” Gilbert said, which made everyone at the table except Cassie clear their throats. I also si
~SIERRA~I got worried. Gilbert never liked to drink, for him to drink, it had to be a special occasion, and he only drank wine as it had less effect. At restaurant accomplishment celebrations, he usually had a glass of water or juice. "Gilbert, where are you?” I panicked.“Not with you, that I’m sure of,” he in a drunken tone said. I didn’t want to make any noise that would wake the kids up, so with careful steps I walked to the door and carefully closed it than walked towards the guest room, where Gilbert stayed.“Listen, you don’t have to do all this.”“Then what am I supposed to do? No, tell me, Sierra. I confessed my love for you, but you did what? You ignored me instead of at least telling me that you didn’t feel the same, you decided to run away.”“Gilbert…”"No, Sierra, you ran and left me heartbroken. You left me in your room, Sierra, and the next morning, instead of talking to me, you ran to your ex-husband.”"Okay, stop,” I said as I ran towards him. I was already inside