My lashes must have fluttered too quickly because I felt a massive headache immediately. My eyes shut, and my hand ran up to rub my aching head as I wondered why I was in such pain. I recalled the room I saw for a second before my eyes shut, and it looked nothing like the apartment in which Oliver and I lived. This was a different location.I forcefully opened my eyes and kept them that way despite the pain it caused. I was in a room I'd never been in before. Panicking, I sat up immediately, and the white bedsheets covering me fell off. I was naked from the waist up. I gasped and picked up the bedsheet to cover myself with it again. My eyes searched the room for my clothes while I tried to retrace my steps and figure out how I ended up in a stranger's room this morning. The last thing I remember was Oliver trying to keep me in bed longer than needed.Oliver! This wasn't his room, nor was it our bed, yet I was naked in it. My heart skipped, and my lips trembled, dreading this reality.
I left Seth's apartment after getting dressed but knew I couldn't return home; it was no longer mine. I stayed at a hotel the first night and then returned to the apartment Oliver, and I shared to get my things. They weren't much because he owned most of what we had at the apartment. What was his used to be mine, but not anymore.He wasn't home, and I got a bittersweet feeling about that. Bitter because I hoped to see him and tell him I loved him and wanted us to figure out what happened together. Sweet because the man I saw yesterday didn't look like one ready to work through anything, especially with me. He was hurt and betrayed, and he was one wrong move away from strangling my neck. I didn't feel safe and thought this was the best.It took twenty minutes, but I had everything I owned arranged in the moving box, ready to leave.I didn't want to leave; Oliver's scent was all over the place, and I wanted to bask in it and inhale the rich, masculine scent of the man I loved until I go
"Do you want to say any last words?" Onu's small voice came through as we stood at the cemetery, saying our final farewells to Elena.It was a small burial ceremony, and only the family was present. We couldn't even afford a proper funeral, and all I had, I gave to Onu as my contribution. We could only have this small gathering with our contribution, and honestly, this was so much better.The priest had read a passage from the Bible and proceeded to give words of comfort to our family. After he finished, Onu and his wife said a few words; Godiya also did, and now it was my turn.I stood staring at the casket already lowered into the grave, and I didn't know what to say. I didn't plan to say goodbye this early-not until she had seen all I set out to achieve, not until I made her proud. We had so much planned out for our lives, and now it's over.What could I say? Where would I begin?I stepped closer to the grave, clutching the rose in my hand, and a tear rolled down. "I didn't see thi
They pulled away, and Oliver's head turned around. His eyes landed on me, and they immediately grew murderous. He released Cecil and stormed towards me. I tried to hurry away as fast as my legs would take me, but my back collided with the pillar, and panic came to my face."Oliver!" I whimpered out."I told you I didn't want to see you. I didn't want to hear your voice, and I didn't want you anywhere near me. What the fuck are you doing here?!" He sneered at me, and I trembled all over."You moved on," I mumbled, but he heard. "With my best friend?""You were fucking my brother while being married to me." He countered, "Or did you come to lie and deny?"I had no memory of what happened that night, and the harder I tried to remember, the blanker it became. I had no feelings for Seth. Yes, I kept the things from him because Seth and Cecil begged me to. I was with Seth only because Cecil didn't want to be alone with him. I thought I was a helpful friend-a good friend.Cecil had planned th
My heavy lashes fluttered, but seeing came a few seconds later. I found myself on a bed in a white, empty room, and I stayed, unable to move; all I could do was stare at the white ceiling with its chandelier hanging over me. It illuminated a golden light, and my senses tried to make calculations of it. It was beautiful and peaceful, and though I couldn't remember much, I knew I had not felt this way in a while.Was this heaven? Was this my heaven? If it was, it wasn't so bad; the peace and beauty were like none other, but this wasn't heaven. There would have been much joy, happiness, and people if it were. Also, I would be able to move.I wanted to move, though, but I couldn't; I couldn't move my head or my mouth. The only thing I could move was my eyes, which scanned as much of the big room as possible. My eyes found a beeping monitor above my head, which made it hard to spot, and beside it was an IV pole with a drip on it, connected to my hand. I noticed I had a respiratory mask ove
Four years later“Well, what are we looking at?” I asked as Marlo, my cousin, projected his presentation on the screen for me and the eight other board members to see.“Expansion, Ms. Garcia,” he answered. “The Garcia Group has dominated the European market since its inception. I believe it is time to expand.” He concluded with pride that I couldn’t wait to tear down.“We are the most dominant financial firm in Athens, Paris, Australia, and South Africa,” Kian Lopez, a board member, countered. He, too, seemed not to get the point Marlo wanted to make.“They aren’t the biggest market; the United States is,” Marlo argued.His research plan was half-baked at best, and he wanted us to run in and approve it just because he presented it.“The United States market isn’t the best place to expand, at least not with your presentation. We don’t just look at the country’s market size and decide on expanding our firm. We look at economic stability, security, competition, the availability of resour
Ocean was the best thing to come out of the hell I lived through four years ago. I didn’t think he would even make it after everything I went through, but he was a fighter from the beginning. The world didn’t want us, but here we were, shoving our middle finger back at themFour years ago, my life took a significant turn I never imagined: I met my father.Marcel Boris Garcia is a Russian-Spanish billionaire businessman. What were the odds that instead of drowning, as my attackers intended, I would be found by my biological father?After my recovery began, I asked Marcel about my mother, Otaria Barau, and he told me what he knew about her. She was the woman he met and fell in love with after he visited Port Harcourt.He had separated from his wife, Felicity, a year prior, and meeting my mother was a breath of fresh air. Their love story would not last because Felicity returned after seven months, wanting them to give their marriage another shot.When he told my mother, she was brokenhe
"You wish to return to the States?" Marcel asked as I told him that Garcia's Group might be going to the States after all."Not return, but rather to move the firm there, papa. I took time to review Marlo's presentation, and after considering all the odds, I saw we could make it work," I answered.In the last week, I dedicated myself to Marlo's insane proposition, trying to make it work. I had to tear it all down and rebuild it back up. I would have thrown it into the trash and left it there, but things changed."Pensaste que la idea de Marlo era el suicidio. (You thought Marlo's idea was suicide.)" He pointed out.I didn't like Marlo's proposal because it lacked depth. He probably saw the "Land of Opportunity" and thought it was for him. He lacked vision, and it showed in his rash decisions and actions. As I pointed out during the board meeting, there was more to research before considering expansion. He didn't do his homework, but I have. I also never thought I'd want to return to