Mayor Xavier fixed his cufflinks and then turned to look at Jace."Bring him here, Jace," he ordered, breathing sexily. His side profile made me stare at his jawline. It was sharp enough to cut all his subjects in half. He shrugged his shoulders, seeing an old man being dragged out in the middle of the crowd.A sigh of relief exposed my lips, and I’m sure Olivia felt at ease too."This guy here," Mayor turned his body smoothly like a dance move and pointed a finger at the poor old man, who was shaking, "Is a pervert," he finished, and my heart sank in my chest.The crowd began to chatter once again. The disgust in their eyes made the old man lowered his gaze. I couldn’t comprehend if Mr. Mayor was telling the truth or punishing this man for fun."He needs to be punished, but I wonder how!" His fingers played with his lips as he pretended to brainstorm. Definitely, he came prepared. So the punishment was already decided.I peeked through the shoulder to shoulder and, sadly, everyone lo
It was not yet over. She seemed to shake when recalling how he broke up with her.“But he was in love with you, right? I’ve seen love in his eyes for you,” I mumbled, trying to make sense. Of course, I was wrong. You can’t tell by the looks if the person is loyal to love. To make it look like he was into her, he faked all those emotions. Mr. Mayor is definitely an expert in faking smiles.“I’m still trying to figure out what it was. It felt so real.” She cradled her face in her hands and smiled weakly, probably recalling a memory of him.“Did he force you to sleep with him? Or coerced you?” I felt like asking her that question. If what she is saying is right, then he only wanted sex from her.“No, he didn’t force me to sleep with him, not even once. I made the first move. He kept avoiding the topic of sex, so I made him talk about it. I convinced him, almost begged him to sleep with me,” She spoke the truth, regardless of how desperate she would look.“Now he wants you to not get clos
It was the fear in my veins that I couldn’t even look away from him. I took a step back from him when he tilted his head and a frown appeared on his forehead. And only then did I realize that his subject of interest had shifted to Olivia. He clearly warned her against coming near him again. I wondered how she found out he was at our home."Olivia," I whispered, looking in her direction. They were both looking at each other; the feelings weren't the same though. She liked him, and he loathed her. I could tell from his looks that he didn’t want her anymore.I was annoyed with Olivia for acting so clingy. He told her they were done, but she kept appearing everywhere just to get glared down by him."Mom, is dad okay?" Just when the tension grew, Zoe rushed downstairs and stopped in the center. She was in her school skirt, her hair done in a braid. It wasn’t only I who noticed that, but Mr. Mayor’s frown turned into a smile. A smile I've never seen before, especially not for Olivia. Just t
I remained in my room for a few moments as the commotion downstairs devolved into chaos. It was around that time that I felt like I could not stay hidden in my room for too long.Derrell had recovered from the injuries he got from the fall. He had even joined his job again. Although I heard him complain about working now that he had tasted the luxuries Mr. Mayor had given us in the days of his sickness. I never denied the fact that Mr. Mayor helped us a lot. But that didn’t justify his arrival at our place at this time of night. I tip-toed to the corner of the wall, peeking downstairs secretly, seeing a group of guards standing around Mia and Derrell, who were on their knees.The sight instantly pulled goosebumps over my skin. The way they were shaking while on their knees felt like he was going to assassinate them.That’s when he finally appeared. Mr. Mayor! He was wearing a black tuxedo, as if he had arrived for a party. If only he hadn’t come at such a scary and odd hour of the nig
We had been staring into each other’s eyes for the last few minutes. He finally broke eye contact just so that he could inspect my face. I felt heat rushing to my cheeks when he was busy examining me.The next thing I remember was him scrunching his nose as if he had seen something he didn’t like. He took a step back, looking into my eyes once again. It wasn’t a mystery what message he was trying to convey. I wasn’t dying to get liked by him, but it hurt my ego when he shook his head and looked digested."You are not what I expected to find," he mumbled, and disappointment could be heard in his voice. My breathing has calmed down. I swallowed with difficulty, preventing the expressions of hurt from appearing on my face. He was no one to bruise my ego."I thought ---," he said, with a slow, disbelieving head shake while stepping further away from me.It was crazy how his rejection affected me. I didn’t want him to try anything, but the least he could do was to silently leave without ma
“Morning! What brings you so early?” Jace smirked, fixing his white coat. It wasn’t like we had known each other or communicated many times, yet I felt like arguing with him every time I see him.“I’ve come to see Mayor Xavier Charming,” I answered in a much more respectful tone. It was too early to have an argument with an asshole. I would have been on my way to speak to Mr. Mayor had Jace not come in my way.“I don’t think it’s a delightful time.” Jace bent his body over me, almost towering over me as he stared into my eyes.“It’s important, I’ve to meet him right now,” I insisted stubbornly, both looking into each other’s eyes. My hands were wrapped around my chest while he had his hands in his pants pockets.“Miss Important! That is a weird name. Mr. Mayor is attending an important meeting right now. He will be busy the whole day so how about I write you an appointment for another day? There was a smirk on his face when he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and raised a brow,
He pulled away before continuing and walking behind me."I don’t like ungrateful and disobedient people," I gulped at his statement, thinking he was talking about me when he added, "speaking of which--" I heard his whisper from behind me, "How is Mr. Derrell now?" He leaned against my chair from the back. But I didn’t move for fear of contacting him."He is fine. You saw him last night," I replied, not looking back. My heart felt like it was swelling inside my chest."You seem upset about it." His voice was huskier, and his slow mannerism of breathing was all I could focus on."Home is where one feels safe." Without arguing much, I still gave a statement regarding him breaking into our home last night."Hm! And you don’t feel safe in your home because of me?" I watched him bend over even more and place his hands on the desk from around my chair. The backrest of my seat was small, so our bodies might have been only an inch away from each other. I didn’t respond to his question. I under
The walk seemed to be like a hundred miles as I brainstormed how to put it into words. What happened back in his office? The annoying part was that Derrell would not leave me alone until he heard about everything that went down in my meetup with Mr. Mayor. Everything was messed up here. All the bad vibes aside. Why the hell was my body still squirming, thinking his finger was over my skin? I felt hypnotized, and that disgusted my soul."Phoenix," I heard my name being called in a whisper, almost like somebody didn’t want anyone else to hear it but me. I scanned the area around me and found someone hiding behind a tree.Could this town be creepier? With my heart pounding in my chest, I grabbed all the courage I could find and called back, "Who’s that?"After a brief silence, a figure showed up in a red hoodie. She looked so petite and dull. If anybody saw her in the dark, they would think she was a zombie wandering around."Olivia, you scared me. What are you doing over there?" I tried