“If I were you, I would be very careful of my words Mr Lambert,” Mark said slowly, interlocking his fingers in front of him. “Between you and I, I would reckon you stand more to lose than I do if this goes south.” Mark held his gaze and took a swig from his glass. “So what's it gonna be? Are you going to sit down and talk or throw around threats?”He was right, and Sean hated it.Mark might not know how much he had to lose if Amelia and her parents had their way but the obvious was quite damaging already.The business world ran on trust, pure and simple.If one person decides to go into business with you, it simply means he or she trusts in your track record and business acumen to ensure that you don't fuck it up.As small as that might seem, that's what keeps major companies running. The moment that trust is gone, so does the credibility of the company and things go downhill from there.Sean had an obligation, not only to the family but to the thousands of staff that they employed wh
“The day everyone's been waiting for has finally arrived. Please join me, let me take you through this event.” The news reporter droned from the TV, backing the entrance to a courthouse. “Today, two families will be going head to head in a court battle, trying to figure out who is the liar amongst them. They are none other than the Cruz,” the camera moved to show Amelia, Mina mad Jason walking up the stairs to the courthouse. The reporter was smart, incepting them before they could get past the door. “Do you have anything you wish to say? Maybe to your fans or people watching…” Mina took the lead, her children backing her up. She looked stunning in a floor-length cashmere blue gown with sparkles all around and her face beat to perfection. “Well, first of all, I would like to say a big thank you to our supporters and people who believed in us. The truth will always prevail, no matter how much they want to shut us down.” Finished with her speech, Mina thanked the reporter and went into
Nothing tastes quite as good except the feeling of victory thrumming through your veins, and that pumped through Seans, keeping him invigorated all week after the news came out.The Cruz family went into hiding and Sean even overheard that they had been banned from some social gatherings.Ha, that served them right!Sean threw himself back into work, more excited to get new work out. He worked so hard that he almost ran Rebecca to the ground.He had to give her two days off to recover while he hung back at the office, going over some documents.Currently, Sean had a lot of projects he was working on but keeping in line with his mission, he tried to be up to date on each, making sure he went through the daily updates being sent to him.It was through that, that he discovered what went wrong.The Atlas project was finalized and sent to Rebecca who was supposed to get approval so they could begin working immediately but now…it was lying on his desk, a large red sign on it.Sean was confu
Moriah stood up, feeling attacked. “I still don't understand why you're coming to me with this, Sean.”Sean scoffed. “Is that supposed to be a joke? You're the only one who can help me.”She threw her hands up in the air. “Urgh, it's just one project, Sean. You have like thirty others that have been approved…why don't you go on with that one and leave this one?”He squinted. “Is there a reason you're being so evasive?”“No.” She looked away. “I'm just saying that you need to forget about Atlas, is all.”“I have a ton of people depending on me for this project to work and now after all my efforts, you're telling me to let that go?”She looked him square in the eye. “That's exactly what I'm telling you.”“You're the fucking CEO, why can't you do something?” He yelled, frustrated.“I'm sorry Sean, but you need to leave. I have things to do.”“But-”“Go. Now.” His loving mother was gone, replaced by the stern businesswoman who was well respected.Sean grabbed the copy of Atlas and stormed
Sean took off his sunglasses when he arrived at Rebecca's little cubicle outside his office. She stood up the minute she spotted him. “Good morning, Mr Lambert!”Sean only shook his head, leaning an elbow on the edge of her desk. “You know you can call me Sean, right?”“I do, sir but Mr Lambert has a nice ring to it.” She joked.He chuckled, tucking the sunglasses into his breast pocket. “So what do you have lined up for me today?”He pushed says, walking briskly into his office with Rebecca droning on, listing out the events scheduled out for him.“You have a meeting with Ms. Alberta at 2 pm, it's supposed to be for the coupons you agreed to give out and then Mr Cooper, from Initiatives.” She scrolled up on her tablet, jumping up in surprise. “Ooh, that reminds me…the meeting you wanted so badly finally came through, he mashed to squeeze you in by 4.”“What meeting?” Sean took a seat behind his desk, powering up his computer.“With the CEO, sir,” Rebecca replied making his head snap
Sean blinked rapidly to be sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him but no…Clement was still standing in front of him with a smug look on his face. “What the hell is going on? Is this some prank?”“Now, why would I prank you brother?” He spat out the last word like it was so distasteful. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Clement spread his feet. “You asked to see the CEO, here I am. What do you want?”Sean ran a hand through his hair, messing up the slicked-back hairstyle he took minutes to achieve. “I don't believe you. Where is he huh?” Sean looked around, walking towards the bathroom door and jerking it open. “Where's the CEO?”Clement resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how Sean was behaving. “He's standing right across from you, but I'm guessing that's not what you want to hear, is it?”“There is no way they made you of all people the head of this company!” Finding no one in the bathroom, he pulled out his phone, searching for Moriah's contact. “Moriah will tell me the tru
“How could he?” Sean exploded once he was in the confines of his office. He tossed the file to the ground, deeply upset.Rebecca rushed into his office when she heard the noise, grimacing when she saw the mess on the floor. She didn't need to ask how the meeting went, since his face was an obvious indication.Sean whirled around. “Did you know? Did you about Clement?”It all made sense now. Why everyone including Moriah, his mother didn't want to tell him that Clement was the fucking CEO!Rebecca shook her head, genuinely confused. “Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about. I take it the meeting didn't go well.”Sean snorts, still pacing. “Of course it didn't! I should have known something was wrong when everyone kept insisting I leave it alone. It turns out that Clement is the new CEO, and he rejected the Atlas project.”Rebecca's mouth fell open in shock, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. “Really?! I had no idea.”“Yeah. Neither did I.” He spat out bitterly.The last thin
The shrill ring of his alarm woke him up.“Urghhhh…” Sean groaned, covering his ears with an extra pillow while he blindly reached out to stop the alarm from buzzing.It took a couple of tries but he finally got the annoying sound to stop.It took another five minutes before Sean was able to convince his body that it was time to get out of bed.Then after splashing some cold water on his face, it seemed to jolt his brain.Sean went through his systematic daily routine. Shower, brush, exfoliate, and then padded downstairs.A simple breakfast of bread and toast with hot coffee got him ready for the day.Once he got to the parking lots, he tossed his keys to the security guard and walked up the stairs and straight into the elevator. The minute he stepped foot into this building, his brain was already working overtime, eager to pick up from where he left off yesterday.The elevator doors opened and he walked, heading straight for his office.People greeted him as he walked past, making hi
“So you’re going to do the wedding before you start to show? Why not do it after?” Maeve asked as they lay upside down on the couch. She had a permanent smile on her face these days and Amber liked to joke that she was receiving great sex from Ivan. They had been under the covers for way too long and finally announced their relationship over Sean’s takeover dinner last week, of course none of them were surprised even Mrs Lambert had teased them about it. Sean had passed all the requirements and Clement was serving Jail term for the next two years. Sean knew if he came out he would seek revenge again but he was going to gloat in the beauty of having a wife with him, at the end of the takeover night when he was crowned CEO, he went down on one knee and proposed to Chloe.“Sean wants it soon,” Chloe answered, fidgeting with her sheets.“Sean wants it or you want it? You don’t listen to what he says and he does all you ask!” Amber retorted and they laughed.“I don’t think there’s any ne
The beep from the EKG monitor was the only sound present in the room. Sean had sat just as he was seated throughout the night, holding Chloe’s hands as she received the treatment, the doctors had done a mini surgery and removed the bullet. He also cleaned up the injury and she was still unconscious, Chloe’s eyes had only fluttered open once in the night and the only thing she had said was “Sean” and she went back to sleep.“Are you sure I shouldn’t switch with you? You’ve been keeping watch throughout the night.” Maeve asked him her concern was clear in her eyes. Sean scoffed and shook his head.“No. This is my fault, all of it is my fault and now she is probably fighting for her life.” Maeve sighed. “She's not fighting for her life. The doctor said she’s safe, all that’s left is for her to receive proper treatment. Allow the nurse to stitch up your wounds and let me spend time with my sister.”Her final words did the trick, Sean nodded and stood up, pushing back the chair. “If she
“Your stupid boyfriend is here! How did he locate us?” Drake panicked as the police officer’s voice sounded from the speaker again. He didn’t know how to act or what to say.“Don’t ask me” Chloe muttered under her breath, feeling her chest bustling with emotions, she was finally going to be away from the shackles of captors and ropes!“You have bad taste in men.” He concluded and she raised an amused brow as he continued. “Listen to me, just agree that you wanted to stay away, that way nobody gets hurt. Not you, not me.” Chloe pretended to be lost in thought. A few seconds before her head snapped up and she looked at him.“No, I won’t be doing that, I'd rather die than let you go scot free and I mean that in every possible way.” She snapped at him and immediately he pulled out a knife again and wrapped his left hand around her neck, he placed the knife on her neck and led them downstairs, Chloe groaned in his hands, acting up to hide this year that she felt when he pressed the knife a
Sean would remember to give Amber a hug when next he saw her because apparently, she had the foresight to dial 911 and halfway through their pummeling, the cops showed up. The whole place was surrounded, escaping was out of the plan, Clement wanted nothing but to pluck out his brother's eyes but the cops had their own plan which involved he conflict ending peacefully.Everyone of them including Maeve and Amber were placed in the vehicle and driven off to the station. Only Drake and Chloe were not there which made pissed Sean off especially when he had his eyes on her less done twenty minutes ago.His first instinct had been to drag her out of his arms but holding on to Camille had made that impossible. Camille now sat at the corner of the van looking out the window wondering how she had managed to end up in this exact place again. Maeve was all cuddled up on Ivan in a cozy position, and he made a mental note to ask Ivan what was going on between them later.“Amber,” he muttered an
Waiting for Clement didn’t take long, he came forty minutes later, the sound of his car was the first thing they heard and it was Drake who brought their attention to it. Amber, Maeve and Ivan immediately left, then Sean followed with Camille and stood behind the large banister at the living room exit, hiding his view.Sean's heart was racing at a mile per minute and he prayed that nothing went wrong so they were able to get Chloe. Camille wanted to say something but he pressed his hand over her lips firmly. “If this goes wrong because of you, trust me I will invent ten thousand ways to slowly kill you, so shut up!” He hissed.“If you don’t have something reasonable to say then I swear I will shoot you right here right now” Clement growled as he walked over to where Drake stood with Chloe, he bent toward her and held her chin. “Hello Chloe, I trust they’ve been treating you poorly.” “You don't need to worry about me, it seems you have bigger problems,” she said to him, and he chuckle
The gun remained on Drake's head and the knife remained on Chloe’s neck as the three of them walked into the building again. If Ivan knew better he would have taken the risk and fought her out of Drake's hands, but who was going to believe a man hardened by life’s many struggles would hesitate to cut his prisoner's neck wide open. The knife to her neck was causing Drake to feel sick in the stomach but his fate would be much worse if he let her go without Clement’s consent. “We’re in here!” Maeve called shakily from what looked like it used to be the living room of the mansion, when the three of them came into full view and Ivan saw that Sean had Camille he dropped his weapon. “What in the hell happened here?” He gasped, subconsciously shielding Maeve from any stray bullets that may be fired.“Sean, Maeve!” Chloe cried out loud, all her emotions concentrated into that one word. She wanted to say more and even run into all their arms but Drake placed his palm over her mouth. Ivan watc
Their plan was in motion and the girls had proved to be more useful than not. Sean had suggested Trevor stay back while the rest of them spread out in Aviline, a slim in downtown New York.It was a spot where the low or the lower class lived, just like Trevor had described.The young man was more useful than not and Sean was going to make sure he fulfilled his promise, but first…“Have you texted Clement?” Sean asked Ivan and he nodded, in response, bringing out the phone to show him the text.Amber and Maeve were standing a few feet away from them, lost in their own discussion. It was going to surprise Chloe to come out and see that her sister had made a friend in Amber who she originally hated a lot.Ivan flashed the phone in front of him reading the chat out loud.“Yes, you said ‘Chloe is missing, have you heard anything from anywhere that suggests foul play?’” “Well I guess that’s convincing enough. Andrea is back in the house as back up. She will call the cops if we don’t show up
“If you honestly say a word, I’ll stuff my hands in your mouth.” Dufus threatened and she was quiet, she had lost strength and zeal, her despair was crawling over her and she wondered how long this torture would have to go on for.After Drake left, he didn't come back and instead they sent this Dufus guy to take over because she hadn't seen him since then almost like Drake couldn't stand the sight of her.From the beats and pieces of conversations that she heard she realized that she was being moved, as they handled her roughly, pushing against her as she got in the car, shoving her roughly into the new space before pulling off a blindfold.This new place that they took her to was even worse than the last, dank corners with rusted irons scattered about. The smell was horrible and she could see that a section of the ceiling was leaking, leaving a puddle on the floor. The conditions were worse than jail and her heart bubbled with hatred for Clement.If she ever saw him, she would proba
They settled in a corner of the pub, Ivan and Sean on one side and Camille sat pretty opposite, she had the air of someone who felt in charge and her cockiness was enraging Sean.Ivan noticed and patted him on his arms, urging him to remain calm. Ivan leaned forward and pushed one of the beer bottles Fatima had brought, towards her. It was her third bottle.“So, you are here to see your former captor, get a closer look?” Camille asked as she took a large gulp of the lukewarm drink, Sean had taken a bottle and decided he had enough but she was still going at three. It definitely pointed to some kind of celebratory mood.“No actually, we need your help on something,” Ivan told her and Sean watched as his friend delved into an Oscar award-winning act, his face twisting into a concerned one.“Recently, one of our friends went missing, we didn’t know if it was a voluntary ghosting or an actual case so we are being more on the low profile side. She was last seen in this area, I was hoping s