Mrs. Maria could not believe her ears. She stood completely silent for the first few seconds, trying to understand what she’d just heard.“Miguel, what did you say?” She whispered, disbelief written all over her features.“Ma’am, the cake! It just fell. It’s ruined!”Her stomach tightened with dread.“I really hope you’re joking because that cake cost me over two million dollars and it’s one of a kind. Is this some kind of sick joke?”Miguel shook his head.“I wish it was, ma’am. I really wish it was. You can come out and see it for yourself. The cake is ruined.”Despite the war that was raging within her, Mrs. Maria took a deep breath, turned to her caterer and gave her a tight smile.“Please hold on for a minute, Miss Tehila. I’ll be right back.” Then she slowly followed Miguel into the lawn.Back at the lawn, the atmosphere was a frenzy of cries and screams.While the female cleaners were crying and freaking out over Mrs. Maria’s reaction to the destroyed cake, the men were plannin

“Ever since my father was fired about a month ago, life has become increasingly difficult for my family and I. The mafia stopped paying him and no one would hire him because they feared Mrs. Maria’s wrath. We lived on the little money he had saved for weeks until we eventually ran out. Last Monday, I came to pack the rest of our stuff from the staff quarters and saw a plate of leftover toast from somebody’s breakfast on the dining table. My brother and I had not eaten since that morning and since it seemed that no one wanted the food anymore, I walked over and picked up the toast so my brother could at least have something to eat for the day.”His face fell.“Unfortunately, I was caught.”“By who?” Alex was curious.“Miguel Santorini.” Eden deadpanned. “He caught me just as I was about to put the toast in my bag. I remember explaining our situation to him and expecting him to let me go since he was a my father’s colleague.”Alex already knew what was coming.“But that was not the c

MIGUELTHE NIGHT BEFORE:It was two AM but Miguel had not slept a wink. He paced from one end of his room to the other, thinking of a solution to his current problem.In eight hours or less, Mrs. Maria would assemble all the staff and ask them for the results of their search. He had to find a renowned baker who was willing to bake an elaborate cake before the day of the banquet and so far, he hadn’t found someone who was willing to take up such a Herculean task.After calling about thirty bakeries within and outside Spain, Miguel was starting to feel completely hopeless.He picked up his phone and called his wife. Angelica had already gone back home. Unlike the cleaners, she was not obligated to stay overnight at the mansion.She answered on the second ring, sounding groggy from sleep.“Hello?” She said, her voice muffled by a long yawn.“Angelica.” Miguel growled. “How can you be enjoying your sleep when I’m almost going out of my mind here?”All the sleep in her eyes disappeared in

Miguel stared at Antonio in shock.“Wait… you really made these?”Antonio shrugged.“What? I don’t look like someone who attended the most prestigious catering school in Paris and graduated top of his class? I don’t look like someone who has handled catering jobs for Presidents and Prime ministers? I don’t look like someone who once owned Dedos Magicos?”Miguel’s eyes widened even further with every single sentence that Antonio spoke. “You once owned this place?”He lowered his gaze. “Yes. Dedos Magicos was originally mine. Let’s just say my father made some really bad decisions before he decided to take his own life, and his greedy brother saw the avenue to pounce… and pounce he did.”Miguel was confused.“Hold on, start from the beginning, please. What really happened here?”Antonio gave him a hard stare. “Do you want the short version or the long version?”“The short version, please. I don’t have a lot of time.”“Well, Antonio’s father and mine were always at loggerheads. Antoni

Alex was nervous but not scared as the guards pushed him towards the arena.When they arrived, the place was already packed. The arena was built like a stadium, just not as big. It had a field in the centre and bleachers where all the servants and workers of the Guerrero mansion sat and waited to watch the spectacle. When Alex appeared from underneath the arena gates, whispers and shouts rippled through the crowd. The atmosphere was rife and choked with tension.Alex looked up, quietly surveying the arena. On his right, his gaze clashed with some of the members of his cleaning team and they promptly looked away, their expressions riddled with guilt. Amanda sat amongst them, he mind buzzing with ways to save Alex from being whipped. If that whip touched him today, she’ll have to live with the guilt for the rest of her life. She had to do something. Alex was led to the middle of the field where a wooden contraption sat waiting. The guards released him from the handcuffs and immediat