Liz Walters frowned in confusion. “My money, what money…? I’ve got nothing. Don’t you know?” She asked him through gritted teeth. “And don’t call me sweetheart,” she whispered angrily. “I have a name.” “Chill, woman!” He held her shoulders and lowered his face to her level, forcing her to meet his eyes. “I’ll deduct it from your salary.” “My salary…? How much will all of this cost?” She pursed her lips in disapprovement, glancing at the counter filled with clothes with fearful eyes before meeting his eyes back again. “Not much,” Adrian said slowly as though thinking about his choice of words. “Come on, she’s packing the clothes. We can get going now.” Shaking her head tiredly, she followed behind him. Leaning against the counter and looking at her joining him, he asked the lady, “Did you get the tops?” “Yes, Mr. Moore.” The lady replied politely as she packed the remaining clothes. It was a lot but she was fast. “This dress… didn’t I tell you to get the two of them,” he exclaime
Jocelyn’s face went pale. She looked at Adrian before looking back at Liz. The latter was satisfied seeing her loss of confidence. Poor woman! She totally wasn’t expecting that, Liz thought. She forced a sweet smile on her face as she squeezed her fingers around Adrian’s making him grit his teeth together. He bit back a cry of pain. Jocelyn glared at their conjoined fingers. If her eyes were laser beams, their hands would have been burnt to ashes within seconds. “Does Mrs. Moore know about this…?” She dared question Adrian as though she was superior to him and he was obliged to answer her. “About her…?” She sneered, looking down at Liz with one side of her lips curled up. “She’ll know soon… that is if someone doesn’t already go spill the beans before I tell her.” Adrian’s tone of voice changed to a condescending one. Liz sucked in her lower lip to hide the grin tugging at her lips. “Huh,” Jocelyn rolled her eyes at him. “Do you think I’m a telltale?” “Are you not?” He asked chal
Liz Walters left them outside, heading straight to her room to call it a night but then, Adrian hollered out to her, sounding very close to her bedroom door. “What?” She huffed but still went to open the door for him. Instead of seeing Adrian‘s face, a huge mountain of piled up bags greeted her. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could utter anything, it moved – the mountain of bags – moved. She was forced to step to the side, letting him walk in. How the hell was he carrying all those stuffs altogether? “No –” she cried out. Not on the bed! She wanted to say but the words died down in her throat when she saw all of it tumbling down on her bed. No! She pouted. Where will she sleep? She was exhausted and to think that she would have to sort out those clothes before sleeping made her just want to cry. “Not the bed,” her mouth turned down. “The sooner you arrange those clothes in your closet and throw out whatever needs to be thrown away, the better it’ll be for the both o
Adrian Moore gave her an once-over and then, slowly shook his head from side to side. “Not really.” “What do we do then?” Liz looked at the front door and then, looked back at Adrian. “Why don’t you hide in my bedroom?” He suggested, already pushing her down the hallway, opposite to where her room was. He didn’t even wait for her response. Liz had no other choice but to run inside his bedroom, looking for a good hiding spot. Once she’d disappeared out of sight, Adrian rushed to open the front door. Like he’d predicted, it was indeed his grandma. “Grandma,” he smiled at the old woman whose smile faded away. She appeared frustrated and slightly pissed. “Did you just get up? Why weren’t you opening the door for me? What are you hiding like that? Is there anything you don’t want me to see? Or someone…” She drawled out, meeting Adrian’s gaze. Adrian’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Hiding…? Why would I hide anything from you?” “I don’t know. You tell me,” Mrs. Moore tilted her chin a
It’s been a week since Adrian’s grandma had paid them a surprise visit. Liz had nothing to do except help Ben, short for Bennett Dubois, Adrian’s butler, clean and cook while Adrian went to work every morning. She really enjoys Ben’s company. The forty-year old man was very friendly, kind and funny and, was sometimes sarcastic. Unlike the people she’d known for being simply sarcastic because they weren’t amused, she took his hint of sarcasm as a sign that he was in a good mood since he would only do so to entertain her. She was focused on cleaning her bedroom when someone knocked at the front door. Ben wasn’t at the house. He had gone down town to buy some groceries. So, Liz immediately thought that he’d come back but she was wrong. It was Adrian’s mom… his step-mom. She’d recognized her from the pictures Adrian had shown her the other day. She couldn’t help but gulp when she remembered the conversation she had with Adrian back at the restaurant. This woman wasn’t his real mom.
“What…? No! I’m just asking you to see whether you told her anything about the contract.” Adrian exclaimed, whispering at the last word. “I was just surprised when she offered to buy me. I didn’t expect her to have such thoughts about me,” Liz said with a shrug, looking down, her lashes hiding those expressive eyes, as if she didn’t want him to read too much into her words. His heart skidded. Is that what she thinks about me? Did she think I bought her to be my fake wife? I didn’t buy her. We signed a contract to work together. We’re together in this. He cleared his throat, ignoring the thoughts crossing his mind and fisting his hands to stop himself from saying anything he’d regret. "I know... she can stomp to any level to have her way." Adrian diverted his mind somewhere else instead. His bluntness seemed to take her by surprise. Liz's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?" "Do you still want me to tell you?" He asked with an amused lift of one eyebrow. "She won't kill me
“I’ve been trying to call you but your phone is unreachable.” Adrian said before adding, “I came home to tell you about it when I saw you and my mom having a nice conversation.” His voice was laced with sarcasm. “I should be thanking my phone then for being unreachable when you needed to tell me something important.” “Listen, I don’t want to argue with you. And yes, you should be thanking your phone for being unreachable. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have come back home to save you from my mom.” Liz scoffed. “As if I needed you to save me from her!” “Look who’s talking!” Adrian muttered to himself but Liz heard him. “I didn’t need you, okay. I’d have listened to her taunting till she’d have gotten tired of me and left.” Liz simply said. “What worse would she have done to me?” Adrian couldn’t believe her. “Words cut deeper than a knife.” “So? What are you trying to say?” “You were about to cry when I’d arrived. If I hadn’t come then, God knows what would have happened to you if I ha
“Liz?” Adrian nudged her with his elbow. “Do you need some time?” Gulping, Liz nodded at him. “Then, come with me,” he steered her to the left and down the hallway, opposite to where the banquet hall was. “Where are we going?” Liz asked him, tugging at his hand. “I have a personal room at this hotel. You can use it.” He explained. Liz let him guide her to the room he’d mentioned. She tried to keep her mind off Ivan and instead, watched as they passed by several rooms before stopping at a specific one. It didn’t have a room number. It had Mr. Moore engraved onto a silver plate on the wall beside the door. “I’d brought the keys just in case we’d get bored at the party. I never thought we’d really need the room.” He unlocked the door and opened it for Liz. Closing it behind them, he gestured at Liz to have a seat. “If you want to order anything, let me know.” Liz didn’t want to talk. She needed some time to be by herself. So, she left Adrian in the living room area and went into t