Chapter 77 The new CEO
THIRD PERSON’S POV
When Serena finally woke up again,
Her bed was empty, and a pillow now lay on the spot Damian had occupied earlier.
Her eyes darted to the curtains, the sun was fully out now, shining bright and hot. After reading the text from her tipster earlier in the morning, she had decided to lie down to rest her head for a few seconds. What she didn’t plan to do was wake up hours later.
Stretching and yawning at the same time, Serena slid off the bed and headed for the door but not before grabbing her robe from the nearby chair.
As she drew closer she heard yelling and strained conversations from the living room area, wondering why there were so many voices coming from in there, she hurried inside.
She finally entered the living room but the sight before her made her blood boil so much she had to pinch herself to make sure she was actually awake.
All she kept thinking about was the message, so these were the unwelcome interruptions the tipster had warned her against.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” Seren asked, her voice rising an octave even though she tried to remain calm.
“That’s what I’m trying to know too,” Damian added.
“We just came to say hello to you guys, why are you all reacting this way?” Jonathan asked, confused.
Trisha shut her eyes and slowly counted to ten, every time she saw Jonathan her mind instantly went back to the site of her accident and her breathing became strained, she didn’t want him to have that effect on her, so quietly she stood up and went back into her room.
“This is supposed to be a private lodging, why are they in here?” Serena threw the question to no one in particular.
“Jonathan told the travel agency that you and Clara were related and requested to stay in the same hotel.” Space was the one who answered this time.
“Excuse me,” Clara said, crossing and uncrossing her legs anxiously, “you say we are related like it’s some sort of lie.”
“I didn’t say that.” Oscar countered.
“Let me get this straight,” Damian said, finally rising from his seat, so you flew across the world with your wife under the guise of going on your honeymoon but instead you came here to stalk my wife.”
Karim felt like he had failed at his job. “Mr Damian,” he said quickly, “please forgive me, I should have called to confirm before bringing them in.”
“Yes, you should have,” Damian replied curtly.
“We didn’t come here to stalk anybody, we were hoping to have a great time with you all.
Serena scoffed, "When have you and I ever had a great time?” She said, doing air quotes around ‘great time’
“It's time for you two to leave,” Damian said, pointing at Clara and Jonathan his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear them.
The room fell silent.
Clara chuckled, “You do not have the power to ask us to leave Marrakech, this isn't Monterra where your word holds water, Damian.”
He nodded, "I'm not asking you to leave Marrakech, I’m asking you to leave the penthouse that I paid for, because right now I can very easily claim you broke into our hotel room.” Damian said in one breath.
“Oh and Clara,” he continued, “it would interest you to know whose presence you stand before. I am Damian Crowne and my words hold water anywhere I am.” He stood up and cleared his throat.
“Now, both of you, kindly get out.”
Jonathan and Clara walked out, in shame.
“I told you we shouldn’t have come here,” Clara mumbled under her breath.
“For God's sake, shut up Clara,” Jonathan muttered through gritted teeth.
The Gregory house buzzed with servants moving up and down as they set up the guest house. One of the butlers rolled Sarah’s rather small suitcase up the stairs.
“I promise I won’t be staying for long,” she said to Horace who was standing next to her. “They’ve already started work on my house.”
“Stay as long as you need, after all this is a house you grew up in,” He responded. “Moreover I can use the company.” he had a hint of mischief hidden behind his eyes as he spoke.
When he strolled to the bar he had grabbed two glasses and a bottle of champagne but he hadn’t opened it yet.
Sarah looked around dramatically, “Are you waiting for a divine invitation before you pop that bottle open?”
She teased.
Horace chuckled, “Of course not, my mind was somewhere else, sorry.” he apologized, but that was a lie, he was only looking to wait out the time a bit longer,the watch on his wrist indicated he still had about five minutes before the eight-hour wait period after her first dosage.
He finally popped the bottle of champagne but for some reason, he had turned his back to her when he wanted to pour the contents into the glasses. It had seemed normal so Sarah didn’t question it. He had even been subtle when he squeezed a drop of the blue poison into the champagne glass.
He faced her now, handing one of the glasses to her.
Looking around it was easy to assume no one had seen him lace the drink, because there were no people around but someone did, someone had seen him, and that someone was not going to keep it a secret, or would they?
This was in Monterra, a never-before-seen part of Monterra, a black sedan came to a stop in front of a white bungalow that was surrounded by rows of white picket fence. The driver turned the car off and got out, kicking the door closed with the back of their leg.
When he opened the front door, instead of the usual laughter of his children and a warm hug from his wife, he was met with loneliness. A sadness louder than any noise. His family was gone, and there was only one way of ensuring their safety, of bringing them back home.
He slouched on the couch, opened a bottle of beer with his teeth, and started scrolling through Facebook. But a moment later he stopped.
Bending down, he pulled the legs of his pants up. Tucked in his stockings was another phone, a flip phone. The one he used to contact only her.
He flipped it open, his eyes scanning the black ink on the white background.
The last message he had sent her sat there unanswered. He read it over and over again. Times like these, he hated that he was using a private number to contact her. Part of him wished she would text back, return his messages, but he knew that would only open a can of worms nobody was ready to deal with yet. So he waited, lurking in the shadows until the time was right.
His mind drifted back to the night of her death. He had watched them push her off that three-story building without a second thought. The moment her head split open on the concrete floor was when he realized what true evil really looked like, that’s when he knew how deep greed ran.
Since then, fate had tied their destinies together. He knew he was the only one who could truly save her, because he needed her safe if he ever wanted to find himself and his happiness again. But now her stubbornness was getting in the way of their revenge, and he had to show her she couldn’t do this without him. He was going to start by withholding the information he had stumbled upon earlier that evening. Maybe when she suffered a loss, she would finally get back on track.