"Amanda, dear. That is not the way to greet old friends now, is it? I would have thought that your mother taught you to have better manners than that … oh, wait, my bad! She didn’t teach you anything other than to be a mean little girl who is always jealous of other people and what they have.” I say to her, enjoying the way her expression darkened at my words.“Keep my mother’s name out of your filthy mouth, Miss Goody two shoes. You think you're the shit, don’t you? Coming back into town and prancing about like you own the place, just because you got lucky. Tell me, how did you manage to become so famous? Did you sleep your way to the top?”"Is that sour grapes, I hear? Oh, you poor thing. How have the mighty fallen? If anyone had told me that the day would come when you would be jealous of me, I would have probably laughed out loud in their faces.”“Me? Jealous of you? Oh, please, don’t be delusional. You may be prancing about and feeling like the best thing in town right now, but I

Coming here had been a huge mistake. Denise realized this the moment she stepped foot into Andy's house. But what was she supposed to have done anyway? Refuse to come as his royal highness Andy ordered and have him blaring her secret to everyone who cared to listen? She could not antagonize this asshole who was bent on making her life a living hell if she did not want any more problems on top of the ones that she currently had. “Make yourself at home Denise,” Andy told her, disappearing into another part of the house, while Denise sat gingerly on the closest couch to her and looked around in disgust. “That’s highly unlikely.” She muttered to herself, looking around her in distaste. The house looked as cheap as Andy’s car looked. The man had indeed fallen upon bad times, but she could not bring herself to feel sorry for him. If anything, he deserved everything that he was going through and then some. A few minutes later, Andy returned to the living room with a glass of cold

EIGHT-PLUS YEARS AGOThe minute Denise stepped foot in the airport on her way to meet Andrew Tanner, and subsequently to pursue her dreams, she felt happy, fulfilled, and free!No longer would she have to listen to Derek tell her all about his oh-so-boring plans about how he was going to run his company and all the money that he was going to make from the company.She could go out into the real world, meet famous stars, become a star herself, and travel to wherever the hell she wanted. It was a dream come true and she couldn’t wait.The first sign she got that it wasn't going to be as Andy had promised her was when she and Andrew arrived, tired as hell at a run-down and shady-looking motel which did not befit someone of his status after they landed.“Um, is this where we’re going to stay?” She asked him tentatively, not wanting to offend him, but unable to believe her eyes all the same.“Yes. Why’d you ask?”“Oh, um, nothing. It doesn’t look quite safe is all.”“Don't worry, it is qui

It had been ages since Denise heard anything about him, because first of all she was in another country, and his family clearly wanted privacy and kept their affairs out of the eye of the media.This was to be expected since they were mourning the loss of Derek's father, as well as Derek’s unfortunate accident.On TV, Derek looked … different. She did not know how to describe it, but there was something about him that she could not put her finger on.The news was talking about how his company’s values and profits had skyrocketed more than anyone could have imagined would be possible in such a short time … especially since he spent some time recovering from his accident.Denise stared at the TV screen, unable to believe her ears. It had been almost a year and a half since she left and in that time, Derek had morphed from an ambitious twenty-six-year-old who staked his entire trust fund, on his dream company, as well as took huge loans from his father to well being on his way to becomin

Derek’s mother wiped at her tears as she sat in front of the police officer at the police station, but the tears immediately began to flow again.She could not understand how a grown man could disappear just like that from the surface of the earth and not be found, despite all the resources that were available.“Madam, we’re trying our best. We hope to be able to give you some solid information … either good or bad soon enough.” The officer told her helplessly. He was at his wit’s end here and everyone was blaming him for not taking Derek’s bodyguard seriously when he first came to make a report."No, please, I beg of you. Don’t say that. His son, my grandson, is dying in the hospital as we speak. I can't lose both of them.” Mrs. Turner cried.This incident had aged her. She usually looked young for her age, but now, her hair was unkempt and her face and whole self looked haggard and tired.“Mom, come on. Let’s go. We’ll leave the police to do their job.” Amanda urged her mother, feel