May 31st:
"Mother, father." Noah greeted, walking into their living room.
"Aunt, Uncle." He greeted Briana's parents, and he gave a curt nod to Briana, who smiled in response.
"Come sit." His mother urged him.
He raised an eyebrow. Why did she suddenly not force him to sit next to Briana and instead ask him to sit next to her?
Did she finally remove her blindfold and see he isn't interested in that woman?
He shook his head inwardly and took his seat. He glanced at Briana, hoping she would perform as they agreed.
"What did you call me here suddenly?"
"Well…" His father turned to him and then the Brooklyn couple.
"We were discussing your marriage. Seeing how close you and Briana had always been, Mr. Brooklyn offered a marriage with benefits. Of course, the decision will always be up to you." His father explained, pretending he had not sent his son the reasonable and generous offers Mr. Brooklyn had emailed to him beforehand.
Mr. Preston would not mind at all. This would always be Noah's choice, and he had no intention of meddling.
Just like he did not meddle in when he was determined to marry a girl with no background 7 years ago. To him, whatever made his son happy was enough.
He was also glad his wife had finally taken the same decision as his.
"Right, then no." Noah's reply made everyone fall silent.
Even his father was shocked at how he answered so quickly without consideration.
"Noah and I don't want a political marriage. It's insulting to our friendship." Briana voiced out as well.
Mr. Brooklyn furrowed his eyebrows.
Mrs. Preston was silent but confused. Did Briana decide to give up on her son, she then saw Briana's sad smile, and her heart thumped against her chest quickly. She didn't want to hurt someone she treats as her own daughter, but this is her son and there's a difference she must consider.
"Great, now that we have solved this. Excuse me." Noah then indifferently stood up, not wanting to hear more of it, and walked towards the door.
Briana swallowed, feeling a little hurt.
If she had not warned him about this meeting, would he have still been as indifferent as he was?
The answer was yes. But would she admit to it? No.
With a sigh, she gave her parents a small smile and excused herself to go after Noah.
"How have you been?" Mrs. Preston instantly turned to Mrs. Brooklyn, seeing how weak she still looked.
Seeing his wife's decision to pretend nothing happened, Mr. Preston followed and Mr. Brooklyn had no choice but to gulp nervously.
He had orders from that mysterious man! What was he supposed to do now?
If he pressured the Prestons more, he knew things would not end well.
….
"Noah! Wait up. With this marriage nonsense aside, can we please take a fresh start?"
"You want to wipe the slate clean?" Noah asked, still keeping his indifferent expression.
"I think that would be for the best," Briana answered.
"Okay!" He then turned around and opened his black car and entered it.
Briana froze.
What? Did her plan work? Was Noah willing to trust her again? A smile bloomed onto her lips and she shook her head with a giggle.
Things were looking up for her!
….
Inside his car, Noah's expression turned dark.
A sinister smile appeared on his lips as he drove off.
He checked the new message from his investigator; it wasn't a professional one with a legal certificate, but it was someone who would do the job.
Even glancing at Briana was hard, he could barely control his rage and so he had done things as quick as he could back there.
He gripped onto the wheel and controlled his anger.
Oh, it surprised him at his self-control. If he were honest, his insides were boiling, filled with rage at what he had discovered.
And he was not done, the digging he was doing was going to turn the situation around.
He felt so dirty for speaking with the little snake.
He had never been more shocked in his life.
All of this, he could have known it long before, but he had been looking into the wrong person! Instead of Adriana, he should have investigated Briana! Adriana had left zero traces behind. All she had was a tainted reputation, a tragic divorce, and a mysterious death.
Briana…
Oh, don't get him started.
Seeing a woman he had mourned over for 7 years was something, but finding such a dark thing from a friend he's trusted since they were in middle school is another.
He couldn't compare which one was more shocking.
Noah had been looking in the wrong places all along, but not anymore.
With a deep breath, he parked his car and composed himself before checking who was calling him.
'Justine.' was the contact name. It was her number on her business card and when she left the country without a word, he changed it from 'A. P' to 'Adriana Price' but when she ignored him so bluntly it went to 'Justine.'
If he knew his contact name was just a set of number, he would have probably changed it to 'The designer'
'Wait for a second, why is she calling? Isn't she ignoring me?' He frowned.
Either way, he couldn't afford to answer. If he heard her voice, it would tempt him to ask, ask and ask! He could not risk her finding out the discovery he made, and how close he was getting with his investigations.
In such a short amount of time, he had discovered 4 key components, and he was sure in a week, he would get everything he needs to connect the dots properly.
Or so he hoped.
With a sigh after lots of ringing, he answered, but as soon as he did the woman hung up on him!
"..."
He called back, and yet she answered and hung up again.
Once more he called back and she hung up as soon as she answered.
Annoyed, he tossed the phone away and started driving again.
She was definitely doing it on purpose.
The next time his phone rang, it was a notification. He furrowed his eyebrows. His expression turned dark when he suddenly read the subject of the email.
Couldn't she have just told him over the phone? Or did she decide not to speak with him when he took so long to answer?
He shook his head, knowing she can be petty sometimes.
Anyway, as much as he would like to entertain her, he had more important matters at hand.
Like his investigations, for example.
He took a few deep breaths and sent a text message to his subordinate; he was sure what he ordered him to do would piss her off or at least get on her nerves.
He drove back to the company to finish working, though he wanted to give the investigation his full attention he could not neglect his job.
And aside from that, he trusted the person he had hired would do the job perfectly.
[I found something, but I can't explain it to you, I need to show you so come. Bring your driver with you.]
He received that message and immediately had his driver prepare his car.
****
When Briana and her parents exited Preston's residence and boarded their car, a pin drop of silence surrounded them.
Her mother was quiet, and she coughed a few times.
Her father's lips twitched, and he searched for the pills in her purse, passing her a water bottle he helped her take her medicine.
He then turned towards her with a sigh.
Briana could only share a glance with her mother.
How sh*tty must her mother feel? Her father caring for her like this and yet having done such disgusting things!
"Sweetie, what was that about?" He seemed rather.... angry?
He would usually support her decisions, so she didn't quite understand.
"Dad, please respect our decision. It's best if we don't approach a romantic relationship with a political marriage. It's not fair." She smiled calmly, expecting him to understand.
"Do you realize how much I put on the line for this?" Her father suddenly looked pissed.
Of course, she wasn't aware of how his father had his life hanging on a thin rope, because of Adriana's plans.
"Husband, please calm down. It was her de-"
"Not now! If you would reject the marriage, why didn't you tell me earlier?! Could you have saved your parents some face? All we did is go there and embarrass ourselves. What if this affects our friendship with the Prestons?"
"Dad, I didn't think this way before, okay? I and Noah met up, and we agreed it's best if we marry like a normal couple, so please calm down. Everything will be fine." Briana assured him, slightly annoyed.
If lying would calm the man down, she did as she had to.
Obviously, she couldn't tell him it was all part of her plan to gain Noah's approval, which seemed to have actually worked.
Her father massaged his temple. He seemed tense, but there was no reason for him to be.
Briana's confusion turned into suspicion.
The silence after that followed until they got home. The first person to enter their house was her father, and not in a good mood.
Briana glanced at her mother, who coughed.
"Driver, escort her inside." She ordered.
Mrs. Brooklyn looked at her daughter, who did not hide her disdain.
"Mother, be grateful your daughter still considers your existence. A normal person would have dropped you by now. So please stay low, I don't want a father to find out about this or for our family to be affected more than how it already has."
"Aunt Mellie will help us cover your debts as well." She added and open the car door.
"Briana! Don't involve yourself with that woman. If the polic-"
"You lost the right to tell me what to when you started screwing around and denying your responsibilities as a mother and a wife." Briana's bitter words were a bucket of water poured on the woman's head.
She completely froze.
She was losing her life because of this sickness, and she would lose her daughter too?
4 years ago she suddenly started fainting, coughing blood and she grew weaker and weaker. The only way she could cope with all the stress, anxiety, and despair of her debilitating health was gambling, and spending money as much as she could.
Now that her daughter found out about this, she could only hope she would take her secrets to her grave.
Right now it's all she hoped for, after all the doctors don't even know what's wrong with her.
This is because Adriana had poisoned her long ago. Actually poisoning Briana's mother was one of her first actions.
If only they knew that this conversation was also calculated long ago.
Mrs. Brooklyn's faith in her daughter was expected. She did not want to die with the public shaming her, she could only expect her daughter to keep this away from her husband and the public.
...
Walking inside her room, Briana removed her heels and sighed.
She was tired and had not been under this much emotional pressure in a while. She had to deal with her mother, her father, and Noah all at once.
The last time she had to exhaust her mind, to play everyone was 7 years ago. The hard work was extremely tiring, but the ending paid off.
She smiled at herself.
"Even if your alive, things never go your way, huh?"
She locked her door and jumped on her bed with a smile. A good feeling filled her chest, "You remember nothing, right? So how am I going to enjoy this?" She mumbled to herself.
She hummed and sent one of her connections a text.
It would bore her if Adriana doesn't suffer in her process of taking Noah.
Well, technically she had taken Noah from her a long time ago, but not completely. After all, a man like Noah needed a tremendous investment of patience.
"Patience that's running out..." Her lips twitched, and she looked up at her ceiling.
She immediately froze.
Her eyes quickly looked over all the images taped to her ceiling. Her father through the years raising a child with another woman. Pictures of birthday parties, vacations, and event dates.
The most recent one was 3 months ago on her father's important 'business trip' which had caused him to stay in another country for 3 weeks.
"W-what?" Briana sat up immediately and she immediately thought of asking who entered her room, but she couldn't have anyone see this.
"Fake....it's fake...." She assured herself.
She picked up a pillow and standing on the bed she tried to bring all the pictures down.
Her entire body trembled when the pictures started falling on her bed.
She fell on her knees and looked through all of them.
Her face had turned as black as coal.