Alice felt her phone vibrating in her purse. She sighed, as she saw the caller id,
“Hello?”“Alice, are you back from London?” Wes enquired.“Yes, I am heading home as we speak.”“Meet me at the restaurant around the corner from my company.” Wes ended the callAlice glared at the sorry of an excuse, fiancé sitting in front of her.Wes stared daringly back into Alice's eyes.“I do not think you are capable of loving anyone. I am your fiancé. Why can’t you show me any affection?”Alice leaned back in her chair. She looked down at her fingernails and moved her eyes back to him.“This is a business transaction, Wes. You knew that from the start. Do you think I am not aware of the affection you received from other women? I always thought their affection was enough.”Wes glared at Alice, ignoring her words,“If you think I will enter this marriage with you, you must be dreaming. This engagement is off!”Wes did not wait on her response and stood up, straighten his tie, and turned to walk away.Alice snorted. She made a small motion with her hand. Khan walked in front of Wes and stopped him from walking out by pressing on Wes’s chest. Wes turned around abruptly and stared at Alice.“You think I did not bring my men with me? Do you think I fear you?”Alice narrowed her eyes at him,“The ceremony starts at eight you better be there. You know what will happen if you don’t.”“Are you deaf? I told you the engagement is off!”“I never repeat myself, Wes,” Alice said as she stood up and walked past him. She stopped. “Don’t test us, Wes. You know we Bernardi’s do not take it lightly.”She took the long white gloves she was wearing off and walked out of the restaurant.As they reached the car, Alice waited for Oliver to open the back door and she climbed in.Before Oliver closed the door, Alice motioned with her hand for him to stop.“Khan!” He stepped forward,“Yes Alice ““Are you thinking what I am thinking?” She asked with a grin.“Yes. I will arrange everything. Your father has been waiting on your arrival. You should head home.”Alice nodded. Khan closed the door and motioned for Oliver to climb in. Khan walked toward his car and drove away. Oliver climbed into the driver's seat. He glanced at Alice in the rearview mirror.“Where to?”“Home.” She said as she put her sunglasses on,Oliver nodded. He started the car, and they sped off.Alice stared out of the window deep in thought, as she looked at the trees passing by.‘NOT capable of love?’ She sneered inside at those words.Love. An incapable word no one can master. Love, a meaningless word.Her thoughts traveled back to her childhood,The eyes are the window to the soul. His eyes were dark, lifeless. Sending shivers through her body as she was forced once again to look into them. If the eyes are the window to our soul, he would be considered soulless. “I - I did nothing w-w-wro—ng w-w-why are y-y-ou.” She stuttered. She swallowed as she tried to speak her words out correctly.“Do not cry do not cry do not cry…” She kept repeating to herself.She watched him slowly approach her. She was reminded of the stories she heard in the orphanage, about the boogieman and the man who lurked in the dark. But this man. This man reminded her of a demon. He was a thousand times worse than a boogieman.“When are you going to learn to stop? Why do you have to be so… what's the word… worthless. That's your problem you are worthless.”She squeezed her eyes closed and waited. Seconds past but nothing happened. She peeked with one eye and saw him still standing in front of her. When she caught the smirk on his face, she instantly crawled toward the door. She felt a painful pull on her hair. He twirled her hair around his hand and started to drag her out of the room. She gripped the door frame with her nails when her fingers started to slip. The wood tore into her flesh as his force on her increased.“NO! NO! NOOOO! Please don’t take me to that room! No! She screamed, she begged but it fell on deaf ears. The thumping in her head from the pain of his pull was unbearable.He stopped. The wooden door creaked open. She closed her eyes as she fell on the cold floor inside the room. She jumped up and darted to the door, only to get hit by it in the face. She turned the doorknob, but it was already locked.“NO! NO” She hammered the door with her fist. “What did I do this time? Tell me! Tell ME!”She closed her eyes. The smell of blood, sweat, and another kind of scent she has never smelled before filled her nostrils.Darkness was all she got to know since they took her from the orphanage. The place she always wanted to leave, but now she wanted nothing more than to go back. She slid to the floor. Three thoughts always lingered in her mind. Why didn’t they kill her with the rest? Why did they keep her alive only to torture her? What do they gain out of this?”“Bang, bang, bang, bang...”The sound echoed through the room as the blood on her forehead coated the door.“WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING THIS TO ME!!!!! I did nothing wrong…”“Alice?”Alice got pulled out of her deep thoughts“Yes, Oliver?” Alice hissed.“I said we are here. Do you need more time before you enter?”Alice glanced past him. The elite country house stood in front of her. Surrounded by a few oak trees. Blue bougainvillea flowers spread across the white paint of the villa.She climbed out and walked toward the house. The butler opened the door.“Welcome back Miss, Alice”Alice nodded, took her sunglasses off, and handed them to Oliver. She walked past the butler toward the entertaining room.As always, he sat in his chair, paging through reports. He looked up and closed the document as soon as he noticed her.“Father,” she greeted as she walked up to him and kissed him on his cheek.She took the chair opposite him and crossed her legs.“How did the meeting go in London?”Adriano was in his late eighties. He could not travel as much anymore due to his age and health.“It went well. Khan said he already informed you.”The butler walked in and placed Adriano’s whiskey on the table next to him. The butler bowed and left. The tray flew across the floor. Whiskey splashed against the wall and glass pieces shattered everywhere. “I asked you! How many times do I have to tell you, to not trust anyone?”Alice did not flinch. She only stared at him.The butler hurried in and started cleaning and picking up the pieces of glass.“The deal went through. They liked our proposal. We will start supplying in ten days.”Adriano nodded. The sound of his ring finger tapping against the wooden chair annoyed Alice“Everything going as planned with the engagement party tonight?” Adriano asked as he looked with c
Techno Corporation“Sir, Sir. Our server has crashed! Everything is down.” Wes stared horrified at the IT guy that rushed into his office.“Then what are you standing here for? Go fix it! Why do you need me to tell you that?” The veins on Wes’s neck stood out.The guy looked down at his shoes.“I – I can’t”“Is this company full of morons?’ he thought to himself.“What do you mean you can’t? Why are you the head of the IT department if you can’t fix something so straightforward?”“Sir. This is more complex than I have ever seen before. It looks like an outside source has done this– this is beyond my knowledge.”Wes closed his eyes, “Can you speak English? What outside source? How is that possible? Didn’t we buy the best program out there to prevent this? Are you telling me the company wasted money!”“It must be an Elite hacker sir. Hopefully, they will contact us soon, and tell us what they want. Normally they are after money.”“Are you telling me I should wait? That is your plan to
Kevin’s eyes followed Alice’s every move. He caught a glimpse of her eyes. Her eyes used to shine full of light. He remembered how they used to sparkle when she twirled around and laughed. Her laughter. Oh, how he missed that sound. He remembers her torn expression when they had to part ways. Her body shook against his as she hugged him and softly cried, saying their last goodbyes. He never saw her again, until today. He kept the promise he made her, but he had a feeling things were not going to be as simple as he thought.“You grew up, Alice. Your not the innocent girl you once were.” Kevin whispered to himselfHe smirked as he watched how she handled Wes."Sir, shouldn’t we follow her?" Nico, Kevin’s right-hand man asked“No,”“NO? We are just going to let her leave?”"Yes, It's not time yet."“O- kay,”"I would love to stay and watch the show, but I have things to do." Kevin patted Nico on the back. "Come on, let's go!"“Why are we leaving now? We are missing the best part!" Nico c
"You overrate my capacity of love. I don't possess half the warmth of nature you believe me to have. An unprotected childhood in a cold world has beaten gentleness out of me."by, Thomas Hardy"GET OUT," Alice screamed then stared out of the window.Her right hand started to tremble. She stops it by placing her left hand on top of it.Oliver nodded and climbed out. Alice watched Khan taking two steps at a time as he sprinted down the steps towards her car. He climbed into the driver's seat and sped off.Alice looked at the ocean as they drove along the shore. The car came to a stop. Khan leaned his seat back and closed his eyes. Alice waited a second. It has been a long time since she came back to this place. She inhaled and climbed out of the car. The fresh sea wind whisked across her face blowing the daisies that were still in her hair with it. She took her shoes off and continue to walk barefoot. In front of her was a long cement pier. She walked until she reached the end of the pi
Kevin read through an important report. He heard the door to his office open.“Didn’t I tell you not to bother me?” Kevin asked annoyed without looking up.“No, you did not!” She said as she walked toward his table and sat in the chair opposite him. Her feet automatically went on to the table.“Feet off!”"Why so grumpy today? Didn’t you miss me? I came here straight from the airport.”Kevin looked up. His facial expression softend when he saw her.“Hello, brother!” She said with a smileHe stood up and walked around the desk. She giggled when he hugged her.He pulled back looking from top to bottom.“Welcome back Maisie! You look good.”Maisie Rodriquez. Age twenty. Kevin’s younger sister.She playfully hit his shoulder.“You better not say I got fat!”He chuckled as he sat on the edge of the table in front of her.“I was talking about your clothes. I gather this is one of your new designs?”She twirled around. “What do you think?” She asks with excitement.He tilted his head left an
Alice’s eyes moved to the guy sitting a table away from the girl. He kept looking her way. Alice tilted her head.“What are you looking at?” Khan asked as his eyes followed hers.” He sighed, “Yeah, I also noticed it when she came in. Looks like he has been following her for a while”“Yeah. I saw that too. Can I please?” Alice askedKhan narrowed his eyes at her. “You know I don’t get you. You hate this type of work but when you can teach someone like him a thing or two” He motioned with his chin toward the guy. “You look like a child in a candy store.”“Yeah well, I like fighting. You like shooting. People like different things, and guys like that. You and I both know what he has in mind for her.”He sighed. “We will see this as your warmup.”Alice smiled triumphantly. She slowly stood up and walked to the guy and sat down in the chair opposite him.“Hey there.” Alice greeted“Get lost. I am working.”“Yeah, I noticed. You wanna play?”“What?” The guy asked“Hey, Franky.”Alice tilted
The door opened to Alice’s office. Alice looked up from her laptop and noticed Khan walking towards her.“Morning, Khan,”“Alice.”“What happened?” Alice asked"The shareholders of LLC Corporation have moved the meeting to tomorrow, they need the product sooner."Alice's frown deepened as she tapped her pencil on the table"Then I guess we are going to London.”“Not we, you are.”“Okay? And why is that?” Alice asked“Adriano wants me to stay behind. He wants you to go alone.”“Why does he need you here?”Khan narrowed his eyes at her, “Alice, do you want me to question him?”Alice bit the side of her lip.“Fine.” You can leave if there is nothing else.Khan stared at her for a moment before he stood up and walked away. As he walked out he slammed the door behind him.Alice stared at the door deep in thought.“Something about this trip doesn’t feel right,” Alice whispered.~~~London~~~Alice looked down at her phone as she walked out of the airport dragging her suitcase behind her.“So
“Bang.”His eyes widened. His finger loosens its grip on the gun letting it fall to the ground. Alice's eyes widened as she watched him fall to his knees. The blood poured out from his forehead down his face. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she crawled backward away from him. His lifeless body fell forward next to Alice. Alice held her breath. Through the screaming and police sirens, Alice, heard the sound of boots pacing toward her.“Alice!”A familiar voice she heard before calling out to her. Alice stared in the direction of the voice, but her blurry vision made it difficult for her to see the man’s face. She closed her eyes and opened them again trying to regain her focus.“KEVIN?” She called out in a hoarse voice. She tried lifting her body only to fall backward again, she saw the figure approaching her, “Finally” she muttered then lost consciousness.‘When we think we finally have everything in our control. Life comes and knocks our feet right from underneath us, showing