🖤 RAFE:
Waking up early isn't really hard for me despite having light sleep. It's been like that almost forever since my incredibly annoying siblings came into my life creating chaos.
Although now all grown up, we don't even as much as meet in months let alone weeks. Except when Gran forces us to meet her back at home once every month which sometime gets missed because either we're too busy or simply forget it.
Yea, she's been pretty pissed about this for a while now. Almost threatened us to take away our inheritance and company. None of us really care for the inheritance since we all own companies on our names already but the Sinclair Enterprise is something we'd die without. And since the main holder and owner is still her, we can't just disobey her.
Personally I think it's not so bad since I do care how my brothers are, except I doubt I'll ever admit it up front.
I walk downstairs to find a surprise waiting for me. Well, not exactly a surprise since I already expect this.
"Ella," She turned to me from savoring pancakes she so loves made by Molina, my caretaker and maid.
"Hey, bro, surprised?" She grinned as I almost rolled my eyes.
"It's expected when you do it every so few months now. What happened this time? You're aware right, this isn't your hiding place or secret lair." I replied sitting beside her on the stool.
"But it is. No one knows I pop up here and no one will because I barely talk to you these days and everyone knows that." She replied taking another bite.
"Which is a lie." I state.
"No one needs to know." She shrugs.
"I still find this weird, of not taking to me in public just so you could hide behind me to stay away from public eye logic. Even Luc or Leo doesn't know this precarious behavior of yours, do they?" I asked as Molina forwards my juice.
Ella just scowled her nose at me but replied anyway.
"Do I look like I care? I love them and they love me. I talk to them and they do too. No need to involve how close I am to you. It's not important." She replied which didn't even make sense so I just dropped it.
"So what happened this time? Got into a fight, got caught into something, your parlor had a break in, you lost a contract? Or is it Will?" I kept adding till I saw her perk up and right on mark, it's Will. Again.
"Can you not interrogate me on my life just because I had the urge to see my brother?" She stated avoiding my eyes.
"We both know that's not why you're here. But I have work, so I'll skip it for now. Talk to me when you feel like it. Or don't." I said biting into my breakfast.
Ella, the only other female Sinclair envied by all. Successful by heart which is obvious for everyone with the name Sinclair, almost like a curse. She's been an amazing talent since childhood. She didn't need us to pull her where she is, when she turned 16, various top agencies begged her to join them. Both because she was a Sinclair and her talents were amazing. Even though I was pissed at her for choosing a different agency to sigh up over Sirens, I knew why she did it. She wanted to step up on her own without our help and I'm more than proud that she did it.
She isn't exactly my sibling even though in my heart she is for me and for all of us brothers. She's my aunt, as in my mother's sister's daughter. Both her parents went rebellious and choose to work in the medical field which unfortunately took their life in a volunteer campaign. She was 8 when Gran and mom took her in. She was too small then to realize what exactly happened and so were we to care if she was one of our own or not. Since then she's been every bit of our own sister as any blood siblings. Unlike her parents, she is a Sinclair by heart which made her more interested in fashion and business than anything else in the world.
"Take your usual room on the end of the hallway and do not even think about slipping into mine." I warn her getting up.
"But your's have balcony!" She whined as I shook my head as a no.
"And you have the terrace right beside you all to yourself." I said getting up since I might run late today.
Gran was very much upset with me when I said I'd be moving in to my not so small penthouse back in the city.
Both because it'll encourage my brothers to move out too and also because she'll miss being with me. But driving for an hour or more to get to my office did not sit well with me. And thanks to Luc who decided to move out but lived close by for her made her quiet down a lot. Plus, Max never left since his lazy ass loved his room and luxury too much to care the drive. Though I'll say it's all for being the pampered one.
By not so small, I meant my terrace pool which was the main reason I bought it. It has a clear city view living space with a efficient kitchen and dinning. Being a duplex, I owned three rooms. Except the guestroom was downstairs. Mine was the master bedroom with its own huge balcony on the top floor. Then the other room by the end of the hall also was with an amazing city view which I have no idea why doesn't please my dear sister. Right beside it is another stair leading down to the terrace. It's an interesting place and took almost a hole in my bank balance. But it's worth it with how quiet the surrounding is.
Knowing I have a meeting in the afternoon both with the board and that girl, I mean Triple C's president. I decided to dress presentable. Although I have no doubt I always look perfect anyway. In fact, girls drooling on me is nothing usual anymore since handling it for so long have now become a habit.
I put on a simple black shirt and put on a grey dark suit. Grey is like my neutral color. I can go anywhere with it.
"Are you taking your car?" I heard as I almost reached for the main door.
"Why?" I asked confused.
"I need to go somewhere." She replied fidgeting.
"Where's your car?" I asked crossing my arm.
"Didn't bring it?" She replied more in a question than a statement.
"Ella, you do realize I'm not letting you off just cause I'm late. Once I'm back home, your spilling. Take my other car. Rimela gave it back."
Or more like I took it.
"She's still around?" She asked with curiosity in her voice which I didn't want to answer, so I just ignored it all together and left.
"Rude much!" I hear her scream but ignored it anyway.
Few years back, Gram gave me a Range Rover SUV new model in Matt silver for my birthday. It's not like I couldn't buy it, I was just too busy to care. But it's been on my bucket list for a while. I'm not that much of a Mercedes kinda guy. I like rides I can drive in fun and comfort. They're more comfortable to drive.
And I'll never hand over my car to Ella because she drives like a maniac. Probably her recent car is also one of the unfortunate victim of her. Unlike her parents, her thrill of ride was incredible following my mom. Gran didn't even buy her a car until she was like 20 or something. I guess one of us inherited the drill to race and crash.
Despite my office building's exterior being too closed off, my interiors are much more interesting. We've been featured as one of the most innovative commercial interior decors. Although all of the floors are colorful and fun, I made my top a bit more sophisticated since I'll be working there more. And those two idiots also demanded to have separate sections of office made as per to their own wish. I can't blame them though since I myself like to stay put out of the open view too.
Oh, by those two I meant my two directors who are also unfortunately my best friends, Mark and Derek.
My office personally is a bit hidden from plain view and I made it so to not be on the ear range of my employees. I preferred a different style with gold and black. I also used a separate elevator to get their thankfully. It's better that way. It's a complete separate section for me and my PA and secretary.
"Morning, Sir." My assistant Lola greeted me with a coffee in hand as usual. But I don't find the other one anywhere.
"Where's Maze?" I asked looking around.
"Um.." She started fidgeting which is never a good thing.
"What?" I asked again.
"Nothing, sir." I looked up to see my most successful and efficient secretary Maze walking up to me with her tab as usual. Always the sophisticated one of all my employees.
But then I noticed a small bruise on her forehead clearly visible through her pulled back hair and up close it seemed to have swollen too.
"What happened?" I asked confused.
"I'm fine, sir. She just didn't get it." She glared at Lola who immediately looked down.
"I don't like asking twice, Maze. You're aware of that." I state with clear intention.
She finally sighed and looked directly at me.
"Miss Rimela Tark happened. The usual push and pull to get into your office and my usual throwing her out. Except this time she had company and I couldn't fight off two women at once. As I said, nothing." She replied without as much as a blink.
Although unlike her mannered self, I let out an immediate curse for that name.
"Next time, call the damn security." I said walking into my office.
"It will give me much joy to do it too, sir. But she's under our agency, I can't do that without catching attention. Thus ruining your reputation is not on my upcoming list." She replied with a shrug. Her reply kind of pulled out a smirk in me.
"Then just don't fight her alone. I know how serious you are to orders but injuring yourself is unacceptable. If need be take Lola with you. I'm sure she'll be a better match for her as long as you allow her." I turn at Lola who's only ever scared of Maze. Even I can't make her flinch as much as Maze does.
"As you wish. The directors will be here in an hour sir. I cleared the meeting conference room 1 below. They are not happy with Kylie Jill's case at all. I heard the Triple C already noticed the involvement of the negative views on her." She stated as I realized I got too much of a problem to handle because of one girl.
"Honestly I feel like dropping her. But her position in just 3 years have grew immensely. Even through hater, she's still rising. But this mistake is unacceptable. Fooling a famous artist like Rmally who's almost like an idol to most people and cheat on him with a renowned lawyer and also ditching him too. That's also before a wedding. This is too much even for us to just ignore it." I said sighing.
"She was always trouble, Sir. From the beginning her long list of affairs are noticeable. In fact, I found something even more interesting." Lola said pulling out a file.
"What?"
"She seems to have a long list of stalkers as well. Some portrayed their love for her while others portrayed their hate. And some even gave her death threats. She called in yesterday to ask and talk to you. You had already left, so I asked her what is was about and she informed me such. Last night, I checked with others and confirmed it." Lola detailed.
"This is getting a little dangerous for us to handle, Sir." Maze said slowly.
"The same shit was said by the TRIPLE C's VP too. She was pissed why we didn't give her proper information regarding this." I replied.
"It's way worse than that, Rafe." Our heads turn toward my friend as well as annoying partner in crime, Derek who just walked in.
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.
"TRIPLE C called in. They checked the records Lola just talked about and their involvement have been noticed despite the secrecy. Last night, Miss oh so dandy Miss Delos annoyed the crap out of me about informing she got a call from one of her friend who helps her unlock these things that someone from the public traced their movement on the web. This is exactly what they were worried about." He explain which confused me more but he looked like he had a sleepless night.
"Explain." I asked again.
"Maybe I can help." We heard a knock and the infamous meddlesome boy Mark came in. Oh, did I mention he's also a friend of mine?
"Go on." I said sitting up.
"TRIPLE C's are famous for hiding their traces when unlocking, uploading or cleaning up on the web. It's why they are called a genius organization. Cynth-um-Miss Delos is the head of that department and for more than 5 years, no one have been able to trace a single link to her team. Therefore tracing into their involvement is almost impossible. But that seem to have changed last night. She and her boss screamed my ears off about why we didn't give them all the details on Kylie." He frowned.
"So what happened now?" I asked as I could see both Maze and Lola were just as confused.
"Some genius hacker broke into their web connection in TRIPLE C to collect information regarding Kylie Jill that they have searched up until now and when Miss Delos and Miss Lee blocked him with help of their team, he traced their whole team up. Sent in a message this morning and threatened them to stop their involvement in the case. They had to put up an entire new security system on their software and office system to stop that guy. In short they had an extremely long troubled night. No one even as much as guessed to have some old school genius hacker on it's way to ruin Kylie Jill. No other information was even as much as touched except her case. They were upset why we hid about her threatening and stalker problem." He completed as I immediately groaned.
"Well, what did you say? Even we had no idea." I replied slamming on the table.
"Oh," Derek broke in with a bitter sarcastic laugh before continuing.
"It gets way worse, Rmally tried to kill himself but was saved fortunately. And the case have been dubbed by his family. If it leaks it'd be catastrophic. And those two banshee would've killed me for this." Derek said sitting down in defeat.
What am I running, a magazine now? Why is people so up to ruining my company's image.
"How am I supposed to manage three companies and also this crap. The PR team, what the hell have they been doing?" I asked frustrated.
"We're onto it." Maze said leaving with Lola.
"Make sure none of this is revealed to the public, Derek. We have the Autumn winter Haut coming up. We can't let this hinder our works. New models are going to be launched in this as well as products. We already invested in this. We can't back out." I replied to the both of them who look just as frustrated as me.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? With how that bloody TRIPLE C is on our back annoyed me, how would I even allow such a big issue that will cost our projects. I'll take care of that. Mark can take care of this shitty scandal business. Please. Cause I can't handle those two banshee anymore." Derek said leaving but I stop him.
"Hang on, what did your other board members said about this mess up?" I asked seeing he's very annoyed at this. I mean he's the one running the place, he would be.
"Lets just pray I don't kill them soon enough." He sighed and left.
"There's something else actually." Mark suddenly said sitting in the chair in front of us.
"There's more to this?" I asked in almost not even surprised anymore.
"No, I'm not talking about this. We'll handle this just fine. I'm worried about something else." He said which obviously confused me.
"What?" I asked sitting down.
"Rafe, tell me something. What do you think of Miss Lee?" He asked which immediately got my attention and surprised me.
Meddlesome as always.
"Why are you asking?" I asked opening my computer.
"Rafe, I'm not talking as your subordinate but as a friend. What do you think of her? Tell me honestly." He asked again.
Sighing out I looked to him, when he kept staring at me I realized he won't give up anytime soon.
"I think nothing of her. She's a successful career woman, confident and bold. She seems young but she's experienced, you notice that once she speaks up. Talented and obviously gorgeous. Nothing much. So why are you asking?" I replied confidently which somehow I didn't feel deep since I lied.
"I saw the way you looked at her. You're interested in her." He replied as I immediately shook my head.
"No, it's not some weird interest. She's a beautiful and powerful woman, anyone would notice her and find her interesting as well as attractive. And stop pointing at that direction. What? Did you forget I hate being involved with woman like her?" I replied scoffing.
"No, I didn't and that's why I asked. She is a President of a company and may seem experienced but she's far from it regarding relationship. You'd hurt her as well as yourself if you get involved with her." He said easing up in his chair.
"What made you think I'd be interested at all?" I asked rolling my eyes.
"Well, I wasn't blind to your staring, neither deaf to your calling into Tider to get infos on her." He replied like it's the most obvious thing.
Can he not be so observing?
"I asked for her information to get to know her as I'll be working with her. She probably knows everything on me too." I said shrugging.
"Yea, right. And guess what Tider got to me first with the same curiosity as me." He said scowling.
"Stop being a drama queen and spit it out. What's up?" I asked logging into my computer.
"Don't do something stupid then, from shock. I warned you." He said to which I just rolled my eyes to his stupidity.
"Shut up and spill." I stated as he sighed again. How many times did he sigh now.
"Miss Lee is actually Anna Pierre." He stated as my hands immediately stopped, frozen.
"Wh- wait, what did you call her?" I asked not believing my ears.
"She's Anna Pierre, Sally Pierre's daughter." To that I was off my chair and in shock, not from being taken by surprise but rage.
He's f*cking kidding with me now?
"Is this a f*cking joke to you Mark? Like have you lost your sense of humor completely that you pick this?" I ask a bit rudely at him.
"That's Derek, not me. I never joke about stupid thing. Especially regarding this matter because I know more than anyone else about it." He said simply without a single doubt.
That's impossible.
"How? That's not possible. Sally Pierre was just a scum of the society. How can her daughter turn up into a CEO? And a good one at that." I let out my thoughts honestly knowing it doesn't make sense.
"True but life's all about the twists, isn't it? Sally Pierre may have been a scum but fortunately her daughter turn out to be a genius. Since childhood Anna was incredibly talented. She was sharper than most kids and her IQ was higher than average. Unfortunately for her she got into school late because of her mother who never even stayed home most of her life. But because she was sharp, despite not studying preschool or primary school, she was able to get into a public middle school easily. Since she was exceptional, she got a scholarship in high school. Graduated early. Turning out how she is." He concluded which didn't impress me rather annoyed me.
"And how did having a background like being involved with Sally got her to even get into a college or even TRIPLE C. They are said to be very careful with these things." I asked wondering myself.
"That's the interesting part. Miss Lee as in Anna Pierre grew up isolated because of her mother but since joining middle school, she'd rarely be at home or so her neighbors says. School records shows her mother was never involved in her life. They aren't sure since she moved around a lot with her mother but every once in a while they'd come back to Florida where her actual home is and stays there most. Around when she was about 11 or something, her mother got married to a man. He wasn't a good man, in fact he was mixed with the wrong people. Some said Sally was forced to marry him. He may even have been a druggie and alcoholic. But in between months his own daughter was forced onto him by her mother who passed away from cancer right after. Making Sophie to be Anna's sister. When Anna reached 15 or so, her life took the biggest turn. Her step father got convicted and her mother disappeared leaving both her and her sister literally alone. Some say it turned into a blessing for her. Thankfully an NGO helped her pass through high school and later she changed her name and information and everything into Lee and her sisters into Sophie Lee Lockwood who's how married to a Ranch owner named David Lockwood. She helps her sister financially as well from time to time but as to why I am not sure. In short, no one knows of her past correctly except that she lost both her parents very young and has a step sister."
Mark finished as I just stared at the window feeling something I couldn't point out. Rage? Fear? Annoyance? Despair? I don't know. But I wasn't happy, that's for sure.
"Is she, this Anna, whatever her name is, does she know of her mother's crime?" I asked him without turning.
"I don't think so, no one does infact." He replied shaking her head slowly as I simply let out a cursed.
"And Sally Pierre's whereabouts?"
"Personally I think she doesn't know but I'm not sure." He said approving.
Well, there's only one way to find out. And I will find out. I don't care how much I have to dig her life up for that.
"Rafe, don't do anything stupid. I already warned you." He suddenly got up following me by the window and shook me.
"Whats makes you think I'll do anything stupid?" I ask without looking at him.
"Because I know you. I know how your devilish mind works. She's not a simple woman but a powerful one. And she's not someone you should mess with, trust me." He came front to make me look at him.
"She wouldn't spit anything just by asking." I state the fact.
"Would you if you have a past like that? But she didn't do anything so pulling her isn't right, Rafe." He reasoned again knowing how I won't listen.
This friend of mine always looks out for me. Sometime too much that it gets annoying. But look at the ironic fact, he looks out for everyone but himself. His relationships are all but in a jumble.
"Is this because of your Miss Delos?" I finally look at him to see his expression which have instantly gone grim.
"I know how they are. You don't have any idea how dangerous she is. And no, it's not about her. If it was, I'd have stopped you myself." He finally looked away which made me realize I touched a sore spot.
"Why do you bother than what business I have with them anyway?" I asked curiously.
Mark never shows interest in woman. In fact, since we started working together I've never seen him with one and it's been more than 10 years. It wouldn't have been a big deal if not for the fact that we literally work with the top most beautiful women found in New York. But I never understood what he found in that rude woman. She was a definition of cunning, sly and annoying, which surprisingly resemble him. I guess, that would make sense. At first you'd think she's ignorant but that's just a cover. She's very observant. Like someone I know so well.
"Listen, I just hope you don't do anything you end up regretting in the end." He broke in my train of thoughts as I nodded.
"You know me Mark. I don't do things impulsively." I turned away not knowing how honest I am anymore.
"If you need answers, try asking her at least before you take any step. I've heard as much as she seems quiet, she never avoids a question and is very honest with her replies. Maybe if you explain her she'll open up." I hear him say as I think of ways to make her open.
He's wrong about her being open though. She's anything but open and expressive.
"And did you learn this from your pretty woman?" I asked smirking back.
"I'm saying from what I observed only Rafe. I don't need someone to tell me that she's a very smart woman for her age and never beats around the bush with people. And I have a feeling you know that." He says wiping the smirk off his face as I curse internally.
I can see the similarities now, between that rude woman and this annoying guy.
"I'll handle it. Just make sure you don't change sides because of emotions." I said turned my back at him as I hear a bitter laugh.
"Funny that it's coming from you. And that's also regarding me. Lets see how you handle her. But careful, if you push too much, you might never get you answers Rafe. I'm warning you because of how serious this is." He said and left me to my thoughts. Thank god for that. Because or else he'd have made me throw him out. He's too much observant nature will never grow on me.
That woman, from the moment I met her, she infuriated me. Like she was the foreshadowing of trouble all together. But the heated desire I felt for her cannot be denied either. I've never wanted a woman as I've wanted her. Desire or game, I'll have that woman if that's the last thing I do.
Welcome to my world, Miss Viviana Lee or should I say Anna Pierre.