Anastasia strutted into the conference room on the fourth floor, ignoring Sarah, who was trying to restrain her. The secretary was mad as a hatter and was glaring at her with obvious contempt. "Hey darling, you need to fire your secretary. She's insolent, arrogant, and has never liked me." She eyed Sarah, who turned on her heel to leave the room, having failed to stop Anastasia from barging into the office. Caesar was in a meeting with Bryan and the other heads of departments when Anastasia walked in. They all looked up at the sound of her voice, and Caesar swore under his breath. She ignored the people seated in front of Caesar and went around the table to drop a kiss on his lips. He scowled at her and stood up. She was dressed in a short red silk dress that showed lots of cleavage and left little to the imagination. She paired it with high heels that made her long legs seem even longer. "Please excuse me." He said to the others, held Anastasia firmly by her arm and pulled her o
Mark waited until the elevator doors slid shut before he started to talk excitedly. “Girl! Did you see the boss and his girlfriend in the throes of passion? She’s so damn sexy, I'm not surprised that he can’t resist taking her on the corridor, right outside the conference room! ” Mark bobbed up and down like a monkey. Amaliah merely smiled and said nothing. She was famished and had forgotten the lunch box that Sheila had packed for her. If it weren’t for that singular reason, she wouldn’t be going out for lunch with Mark, and she wouldn’t have seen that embarrassing scene between Caesar and his girlfriend. No doubt, Anastasia Knight was a goddess. She looked even better in person and her skin looked flawless. Amaliah had never encountered her in person, but she supposed it was going to be a normal thing to come across celebrities while she worked at Skyline Corp. “Come on! This is juicy news. Those product ladies will be so interested. I must give them the details during lunch. Th
Caesar sat in the living room and watched himself on TV as he shook the hands of well-wishers and smiled at everyone that came forward to congratulate him. He stared intently at Anastasia's beautiful face on the TV, raised a wineglass to his lips and drank deeply. He hoped he had not just made the biggest mistake of his life. Bryan and his two other best friends —Jacob (Jake) Kingsley, Everett (Evie) Rosenberg — had disappointed looks on their faces, but they congratulated him and smiled at him all the same. He wasn't sure why he did it. He still didn't know what had prompted him to get down on one knee to propose to Anastasia with the ring she had picked out herself. He could see the scene in his mind's eye even as it was being replayed on the entertainment news on TV. Apart from the pressure from his mother and hers, he and Anastasia had gotten along exceptionally well for the past two weeks since they got back together. She spent most of her time with him, and they had not had a
“Amaliah,” Sarah Lang smiled from the doorway of Amaliah’’s office. “The boss needs you." “Oh. Ms. Rodriguez just left here a short while ago. Thank you, I’ll be with her shortly.” Amaliah smiled back at Sarah and turned back to her computer. It was almost time to go home. “Not Ms. Rodriguez, silly. The boss-boss, Mr. Masterson,” Mark laughed and looked at Sarah for confirmation with a gleam in his eye. His interest had been piqued. Sarah nodded. “Thanks. Mark, right?” Mark bobbed his head up and down and stood up hurriedly from his seat. He extended his hand to Sarah for a shake. “Mark Robes, ma’am. A pleasure to meet you.” “Likewise, Mark. Please be there in five, Amaliah. He’s in the conference room down this hall.” Sarah said, and turned on her heel and left. “Omg, do you even know who that is?” Mark gushed, moving his chair close to Amaliah’s. Amaliah rolled her eyes. “She’s the boss’s secretary. And I'm not in for any gossip right now. Please, mark.” “Come on, you’ll l
The marketing department's office gossip, almost thirty-year-old Mark Robes, was ruthless in his pursuit of personal details. Amaliah often felt that the CIA had missed out by not signing Mark up for something. He might not have been able to speak Russian, or Iraqi, or even basic English — come to that — but his intelligence-gathering skills were second to none. Amaliah often wondered how he got into Skyline Corp, but she quickly found out from Mark himself that Miranda owed his mother a favour and the only way his mother wanted her to repay was by bringing Mark into Skyline Corp. He couldn’t create a single sales copy without hitting the computer spell check at least four times to see if he’d spelled everything right, but if you wanted to know why the new girl in accounts kept coming in with red eyes every morning, Mark Robes was the only man for the job. Except that Amaliah never wanted to know the gossip. It wasn’t her scene. Being raised by parents who disliked gossip instille
Amaliah let herself into the house. The hall was in darkness. Good. Sheila wasn’t home yet. She’d mentioned that she might go for a drink with Sarah after work. They'd invited her, but she declined. The twins were with her parents, and their absence gave her a chance to go to bed without talking to anyone, because she really didn't feel like talking. And if Sheila came in after a few drinks, she wouldn’t be intuitive enough to notice her downcast eyes. Amaliah left the hall light on and went upstairs to bed. She got as far as taking off her blouse when the wave of utter hopelessness hit her and she had to sit down on the edge of the bed and weep. Great gusts of sobs came from her, her chest heaved with each breath and she cried until her face was red and raw. Would she ever get over the pain of Rafael's death? All she wanted was for the pain of wanting to abate somewhat, so she could cope. Tears flowed down her face as she wept with grief. She’d been kidding herself during her the
"Wait, what? How? When? What did he say?" Sheila was as confused as Amaliah was. "I don't know. He simply said my loan has been paid off." Sheila grabbed Amaliah's phone and called the number back but the call didn't go through. "This is bonkers. Are you sure he's not just playing with you? Maybe he wants you to lose guard so they'll hurt you." "I don't think so. He sounded cheerful, sincere. I think the loan has really been paid off. I'm stunned." "Wow. But . . ." "I know what you're thinking. Who could've paid it off? Why did they pay it off? Do you think it was one of our friends?" "I'm sorry, Amaliah, our friends love you but that's quite a sum." Sheila rubbed her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, I thought so too. I'm torn in between celebrating and being wary. What if that person paid it off because he or she has bad intentions? Like you said, that's quite a sum, no matter how much a person has." "I agree. We need some information, although I don't think Ted Williams will be kee
Three weeks and four days later. Caesar lay on his bed, simply staring at the ceiling, trying to think. Anastasia had changed within a few weeks. She was a lot more considerate, even if she still tried to drag him along with her to her late night parties that exhausted him to no end. She was a lot more polite to his friends and staff, tried her best to be with him as often as possible, had stopped throwing tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted, had stopped trying to gaslight him every chance she got. But Caesar concluded that he couldn't go through with the wedding. He didn't want to. Anastasia might've changed, but he wasn't sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, living a mundane life that only consisted of parties, sex and glamour. He loved kids and wanted one as soon as possible but she had told him that she never wanted kids—at least not from her own body—and if he wanted kids, he could adopt a grown kid and hire several nannies. She hated things like nap