Mrs Adens was more than surprised to see her daughter come back home stained with mud. It was the dirtiest she had ever seen her daughter and it made her wonder why Emily was getting back from school like that. "Emily dear, why do you look so unkept?" She asked and rinsed her hands off the carrots that she had been dicing when Emily came in. Emily walked towards her slowly and came to a halt right in front of the kitchen. "Someone splashed mud on my body as he drove out from school." Emily said quite soberly. She didn’t want to admit the true situation, that someone she had thought was beneath her had returned even better and had rejected her so openly. "Mud?" Her mother's voice was a puzzled one. "Who would do that? And why Did you stand up to them?" "It was a classmate." Emily said again, but this time, she did not wait for her mother to speak. Instead, she walked into her room to change up. As Emily went up, her mother wondered which of her classmates would soil her clot
Ellis got home from school a bit tired that day. He needed to rest, but before that, he wanted to tell his father what had transpired between him and Jordan at school. He knew where his father was — at the study. He went up there to meet him. Mr Cyrus was very diligent with his work, so even when he didn’t regularly visit his office, he always worked from home to supervise the activities going on."Good afternoon." Ellis saluted his father. "Oh, Ellis! Welcome. How was school?" Mr Cyrus said, raising his face up from his laptop to look at Ellis."I'm fine, dad. How are you? You seem like you’ve been working for a while. You need to rest more.""I'm fine as well. And don’t worry about me, my boy, I’ll rest when I’m dead. Did you have any trouble today? I hope no one is bothering you." Ellis sighed and smiled. "Well, today, I made Jordan apologise to me and everyone he has bullied in the school. It was fun to watch."Mr Cyrus listened with sheer interest in what his son was saying. "
George hesitated a little before speaking up. His hesitation irritated his father and puzzled Ellis. Why was he delaying instead of just making his request? It must be something really bad."I want to speak to you in private, father. Send your street rat out of here." George finally mumbled."You can speak. You have my attention. Though I may just decide to have you thrown out instead for calling my son a street rat." Mr Cyrus said with a frown on his face.George wondered if his father did not understand what the word, ‘private’ meant. His father made no move to send Ellis out and was still telling him to speak? What sort of thing was that?"I want to speak to you alone, father. Did you not understand what I said." George responded, giving Ellis a disapproving look. "I understood you loud and clear, and I said I am listening.""What the fuck, dad? Do you want me to spell it out? I want to speak to you alone, in the absence of Ellis. Send him away. This is a private matter. I don’t w
George stood up again and began pacing back and forth in his father's spacious study, his Italian leather shoes clicking sharply against the marble floors. He loosened his Armani tie in frustration as his father, Mr Cyrus, sat stoically behind his desk, unmoved by his son's impassioned pleas."Dad, I think you need to reconsider the idea of this marriage," George said, running his hands through his expertly arranged hair. "You know as well as I that Lisa is completely unsuitable to be my wife. She won’t bring a good image to the family. Look at my sister’s husband, he was a businessman before she married him, yet, you never approved of her choice."Mr Cyrus arched his eyebrow. "Unsuitable? You should have thought of that when you were busy with her in the bedroom. My disapproval of your sister’s husband is for reasons best known to me. At this point, I no longer have high expectations of you, so marrying your Lisa won’t impact the image of this family in any way. The marriage will be
Ellis shrugged casually. "I said, if you refuse to do your duty and marry the girl, I believe you should surrender your inheritance. It’s only fair. We can use it as compensation for when the stock price of the company plummets by the time your scandal leaks."George barked out a caustic laugh. "My inheritance? Since when did you become an expert on legacy and responsibility?"Ellis gave an exaggerated sigh. "Father has spent decades sacrificing for this business. Building it from the ground up takes integrity, respect for others, and accountable leadership. If you lack those qualities because you can't deal with an accidental pregnancy, frankly you don't deserve an inheritance from the empire he created."George clenched his fists, his father's presence the only thing stopping him from throttling the impertinent whelp."Integrity? This coming from you?" He spat. "Please don't make me puke. You, a non-entity that was picked up from the slum? You want to talk? What the fuck do you know
George stormed down the marble corridor, his shoes clicking sharply in time with his racing pulse. Rage like he had never known before burned through him. How dare his father dismiss him so quickly? Nobody was above mistakes, so they had no right to berate him for his own shortcomings. He refused to acknowledge the fact that he had caused a lot of problems over the years, he didn’t want to admit any fault or blame to himself. He wanted to continue playing the victim when the fact was that their words hurt more because they were speaking the truth. Still, he wasn’t ready to become a father. Reaching an imposing set of double doors, he threw them open without ceremony."Marcus. Amira." he called out, bursting into the stately sitting room on the first floor. This was the part of the house where they usually spent time after dinner. His elder siblings glanced up in surprise from their adjacent antique divans, where they had been quietly sitting. "My goodness George, what's got you in s
“Kill him? Are you crazy? You want to commit murder?” Amira asked with widened eyes.“That would make sure he was out of our way once and for all. Just think about it. Right now, even if we implicated Ellis in some crimes, father may not believe it. He loves his new son, you said it yourself, George. We can’t take the risk of this plan not working out and father becoming even more close with Ellis. That would make everything worse for us.” Marcus explained but Amira was already shaking her head.Deep down, even while they had been planning to frame Ellis for a crime he didn’t commit, she had wondered if this was this proper. If it was ethical or even worth it. She asked herself if she could live with herself if they intentionally brought Ellis crashing down. But she didn’t voice her thoughts so they wouldn’t see her as weak. But Murder? Her answer was no. "We can't do this!" She blurted out loudly from her thoughts. Marcus and George turned to look at her. Where was this coming from
Emily gazed at her reflection as she carefully applied her lipstick. She had spent the last hour getting ready, painstakingly doing her hair and makeup. Her new emerald dress hugged her curves perfectly. Tonight had to be the night she got Ellis back. Ellis belonged with her, and she was going to remind him of the passion they once shared. She had been stalking him on social media for the past weeks because he was ignoring her at school and there was nothing she could do about that. She just let him be and made him think that she had given up on him, meanwhile, she was busy making plans behind the scenes.The past three weeks had been a complete makeover process for Emily. She put herself on a strict diet and exercise regimen. She scoured boutiques to update her wardrobe. She went to the salon and got her hair done in loose, tumbling waves instead of her usual practical ponytail. Emily even started wearing more makeup than her usual tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. Each morning she c