Chloe looked at Moriah in shock, wondering where this was coming from. “This is a joke right?”“So you see any clown here?” Moriah replied, her face as cold as steel. It was hard to equate this woman with the same person who was all smiles at the engagement party. Granted, it was only a week ago but the sudden change gave Chloe whiplash.“How can you tell me that?” Chloe sat up, struggling to make sense of this scenario. Even though she might have returned Sean's ring, that didn't mean she wanted to wipe him off her memory forever. “I love Sean.”“Yet you're sitting here without his ring on your finger.” Moriah cooly stated a pointed look at my bare ring finger.Aware of Moriah's scrutiny, she pulled it out of view. “Whatever issues Sean and I are having are ours to face, not yours.”“I'm not trying to meddle but you see…” she stood up from her perched seat, circling Chloe's chair the way a predator would. “The last time I caught Sean in a similar position, I stepped back and allowed
Hastening her steps, Chloe practically ran down the stairs until she got to the third floor. Even then, her heart skipped a beat when she saw a man who had his back to her, looking scarily familiar.With her heart in her mouth, Chloe managed to suck out of sight before he turned.She wasn't sure she could deal with seeing Sean today, not after everything that had happened.The folder Yvonne gave to her was burning a hole in her bag, and as soon as Chloe got into her she whipped it out.Licking her suddenly dry lips, Chloe had a sense of deja vu when she stared at the file.Instinctively, she knew that it had the power to change the trajectory of her life but at the same time, she couldn't help but pry it open.It was similar to a mouse who saw food in a trap but went there nevertheless.Opening the file, her eyes ran over the details not sure whether to be disgusted or stunned at what she was looking at.The first page turned out to be phone records.It showed a call being made from L
Armed with the truth, Sean ran over his lines thinking about how he wanted to plate the truth towards Chloe.When Magnus told him what the security guard said, he only dug deeper.Just like he thought, the entire thing was one big lie. Not only was Amelia's unborn child, not his, but it belonged to a gardener…the man Magnus saw Amelia with was the father of the child.It wasn't surprising but Sean loathed Amelia for the destruction she brought with her false accusations, which was why he was out to set things straight. Hopefully, he could talk Chloe over to his side and they would live happily ever after.“I thought you promised me she would be here!” Sean ground out to the man next to him, tapping his feet on the floor of the car. “We've been out here for over an hour and not once have I seen her!”Mr Pontus, Sean's head of security shifted around nervously as Sean grew more agitated. “Sir, I promise you she's in there.”“So hasn't she come out?” Sean barked, fisting his fingers. He
Chloe turned around slowly, not sure she heard right. “What did you say?”Sean dared to hope. “The baby isn't mine. Amelia has been lying all these while, hoping to drive us apart.”She shook her head. It was a wonder that a man this bright could be so dumb. “You don't get it, do you? Do you honestly think I'm upset about the baby?”Sean's mouth dropped open. His first instinct was to say ‘yes’ but judging by the look on her face, that would be a wrong response. “It isn't?”“Of course not!” Chloe stomped her foot on the ground. “I am mad at you because you hurt me and lied to me. Everything about this relationship has been a lie.” She smiled sadly, her shoulders slumped. “That's what you do. Lie and use people until they're useless to you.”Sean's mouth flapped like a fish. He didn't know what to say. Chloe was spinning this around in another direction entirely. “What? Look, Chloe, I don't know what you're talking about but I would never hurt you and you know it.”Chloe spun around so
Before the confrontation with Sean….Chloe hiked her bag up her chest, peeling off the wet strands of hair that were glued to her cheeks.She resumed her workout sessions as a way to escape her current reality, and for a short amount of time, it worked.But then as soon as she's done, the world comes crashing down around her.It kinda sucks.“Hey, good one today Chloe!” Her trainer, Jackson boomed from the other end of the room, raising his water bottle to her in salute.Chloe returned one of her own before she focused on removing the straps from her knuckles.Hissing as she peeled it off, Chloe took a minute to examine her slightly bruised knuckles. There was a pinkish color, with faint purple marks around the center.The punching bag in front of her didn't dare any better.Punching off her anger wasn't healthy but for now, it was all she got.Bunching her hair up in a ponytail, Chloe reached for her water jug on the bench next to her but before she could take it, someone else swiped
Chloe rolled her left shoulder to get friction and blood flowing. That fucking bastard, Jackson gripped her arm too tight, stopping the blood circulation.Once she was sure that everything was well and good, she drew it back and slammed it into Clement's face.“Ow!” Chloe jumped up, clutching her hand which nearly dislocated from its sockets upon connecting with Clement's jaw.Clement's head snapped to the side, and he heard rather than felt something snap into two. He gingerly touched his jaw, flexing it a bit to be sure nothing was broken before he looked at Chloe.There was murder in her eyes...“Itching to get that one off your system huh?” He smirked, checking for blood. Luckily, there was none.“You're lucky I didn't do more than smack that annoying smirk off your face.” She growled, plopping her ass on the bench. “Don't you want to know why I'm here?” Clement thrust his hands into his pocket.“What I want is for you to get as far away from me as possible, so if that can happen
A slow knock sounded on his door, the sound grating on his nerves. Sean grunted at the door, turning his chair around to stare at the sunsetting.Trying to ignore the world around him for a week, Sean kept getting sucked back into the ever-revolving horror that was his life.Amber took great pride in reminding him just how much he had wrecked his relationship with his girlfriend and then she left.A hollow feeling had settled in his chest since that day.On his desk back home, were several unfinished letters which he addressed to Chloe, hoping that writing his thoughts out loud would be better.Maybe not.Because in the end, Sean couldn't come up with anything that seemed fitting enough.After all, what could he say?Hey, I'm sorry I drove out drunk and accidentally hit your mom's car.Abandoning the letters, Sean tried to reach out to her on her new line but he chickened out before she could pick up the phone.Every day, as Sean urged himself to come to work he was hit with bitternes
Magnus turned around slowly, almost like he was scared of what he would encounter. “Yes?” “Why did you bring this to me?” Sean grabbed the file that was now in disarray. “You could have kept it to yourself, why bother?”“Because you deserve to know the truth.” He shrugged. “Listen, even as an outsider, I'm not going to lie and say that your family dynamic doesn't look a little bit strange because it does, and if the least I could do is provide some answers, then it's fine by me.”Sean stared at the man before him, judging his sincerity. “Okay, fine. You can go.”Before the words were out of his mouth, Magnus had already fled through the door, closing it gently after him.Sean faced his desk once again, his eyes fixed on the papers in front of him.Why?That was the only thing going around in his brain. He tried to make sense of it, but nothing seemed to connect.Sean remembered how supportive Moriah had been from the start.When he worked on Magnolia he solved the court case against
“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