Nadia sat down at Dean’s kitchen counter silently watching him as he read through the article that already made its way to the media and was now infesting most of the news outlets. Her picture was palstered in the front showing her face from before and after her transformation to Nadia Rowell. Not that she did much except for dye her hair back and add the glasses. Sometimes simple modifications made radical changes. “To think that you were a Talbot…” He said with a sigh rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly looking at her. “You don’t have to treat me any different now that you know the truth…” She told him with uncertainty, and he looked up at her with a smile. “You think I would be upset about this little bit of news?” He asked and she shrugged internally relieved by his reaction. Last night, she had hacked into the newspapers’ system looking for Rolland’s article. It took her moments to find it, and minutes to realize that most of Rolland’s threats were bluff bravado. The story
"Dean..." Nadia said with an exasperated sigh as she leaned back from him.She really was taking him seriously there for a moment."Hey! I'm being serious," He said and she shook her head."How can it work out after all the mess that happened? Your best course of action is to announce that you gave me the job to help me out and that everything is a misunderstanding. Otherwise, your reputation is going to suffer and they may even take you for Luke's real father," She said."I don't care about what they say. Besides, I don't mind being called Luke's father," Dean said and Nadia's eyes widened."Dean. You must realize what you're saying right now," Nadia said her tone darkening, "This is not a game!""Listen to me for a moment, will you?" He insisted grabbing her hand to stop her from leaving her place. Sighing, Nadia looked at him and waited."I know for a fact that things are complicated right now. But I think that this is the simplest and surest way to resolve this problem. The media w
Nadia rubbed the back of her neck before she returned to typing on her laptop. As soon as she began working, she realized that this was a false alert and that she didn't need to follow the tracks of this hacker. It was simply an internal glitch, someone from the development department must be testing her firewall. Some of them were having a hard time accepting that WhiteFlower, an outsider, is doing a better job at protecting their digital system than they were. Wich was why she was paid a hefty sum of money which all went to support her multiple investments. If these fake alerts kept going she was going to have to report it to Dean to deal with the development team. It was high time they hired some female IT employees to drop those men's edge a few pegs down. She was always in for letting a little male ege take a healthy fall. Nadia then realized one thing. If she was going away in a few days, there was no way that she will be able to continue her relationship with WTech. So her pl
Nadia sat alone in her apartment her mind traveling miles away when she heard a knock on the door. Luke was asleep tired from his agitation and panic and having cried himself to sleep. Nadia’s heart still hurt remembering her son’s reaction to her suggestion. She felt ashamed to be reminded of her connections by her affectionate five years old. But her mind had still been set on their departure. Opening the door, she noted how the house was dark as the sun set so she turned on the light to face a somber-looking Dean. “Come in,” She said and he abided by her command not speaking a word as he went inside. “Would you like something to drink?” She asked leading him to the kitchen. “Are you really leaving?” He asked and she sighed turning around to look at him. “Was it Daniel?” She asked him and he gave her a blank look. “He was more than a bit confused. And so was I when I heard that you were planning to leave…” He said then hesitated, “Listen… I have no right to stop you from leavi
“Mommy, are we still leaving?” Luke asked making Nadia’s heart go out to her son. Before she could muster the words to reassure her son, Dean was already making his way toward him. He knelt before him looking him in the eyes. “Don’t you want to go away with your mommy?” He asked and Luke shook his head vehemently. “No, I want to stay here with everyone,” he answered with a small frown. “Then why don’t you stay here with Uncle Dean? We can wait for Mommy here,” he said. Luke frowned and then looked at her his eyes filling with more tears. Then mustering his strength, he seemed to try stopping himself from crying before speaking. “No, I won’t leave Mommy alone. She will be lonely without me. I have to stay with her!” He exclaimed giving Dean the challenging look she suddenly remembered. It was the exact same look she’d given her father when she’d told him that she would be having Luke. She was ready to let go of everything to be with him. And now he was ready to do the same for h
“You will never know how glad we are to hear that you two are still going through with your engagement,” Said Dean’s mother as she sat before them with an excited smile. “We know, Mother. You’re practically brimming with happiness,” Dean teased and she frowned at him and sighed. “I had always wanted a daughter. But I was only blessed with a son, so I always considered you as my own daughter Nadia,” She said completely ignoring Dean. He was getting used to his parents’ preferential treatment of Nadia. At first, he was shocked but over the years he grew used to it. His parents had always wanted a daughter, somehow this felt more like him being introduced as the boyfriend, not the other way around. “Thank you, Mrs. Wess. I mean Maria,” Nadia said blushing slightly as she looked down. It seemed like Nadia was the one having more trouble getting used to their affection. Nadia’s phone rang and she looked down at it. “You can take that, I’m sure it’s important,” His father said and Nadi
“Here is what’s going to happen, gentlemen,” Nadia said as she stood in the meeting room the group of developers who turned out to be responsible for the hacking incident were standing before her their heads bowed and their skins as white as a sheet of paper. Dean sat at the back of the meeting room watching everything. His presence was in case she needs his intervention but now he realized that his intervention wasn’t needed. They didn’t even seem to notice his presence. This is how scared they were of Nadia. He smiled as he watched her lecture them to the point of tears, it was ridiculous to watch, they were grown men, and Nadia wasn’t exactly a big woman. But still, her presence was no joke. Dean was simply glad that this time he wasn’t on the receiving end of her anger. She came into the office all eyes on her. Whispers followed them around about the article but she paid them no mind, she didn’t seem to notice at all and even if she did, Dean had the impression that she wouldn’t
“Nice to meet you, Dean Wess,” Dean said giving the man a business smile as he reached out to shake his hand. Mark Colt, a man in his mid-thirties, elegant, tall, and less full than Dean, Stood up to greet him with a charming disarming smile that didn’t quite reach his golden gaze. “Mark Colt at your service. I am so sorry to reach out at such a critical time but I had to meet you after what happened.” He said making Dean wonder why would he want to reach him. He’d met Mark Colt in the past on one of his business trips to Blue Ridge City. He had tried to offer Dean his company’s services but Dean had been preoccupied then by the sudden cyber attack that almost cost them their database. So he had hurriedly returned to Starlington ending any prospective talk of collaboration. To think that he had been this close to Nadia back then, had he agreed to meet with Mark, he would have had a chance to meet Nadia too. But she would have still been Mark’s fiance back then. Somehow, the though