The days went by very fast. Anna had already assigned an agent to Hazel who would take care of her moving process.
Hazel was getting ready for her last day at the office as she would be working from her new place.
She entered her closet to pick out an outfit for the day. She decided on something simple yet attractive. Nanny Nora was too busy in the kitchen to help her choose something nice.
She scanned through her corporate gowns and settled on a white one that hugged her curvy figure and stopped below her knee. Then, she picked a big coffee brown bag that matched her brown stiletto heels.
She straightened her shoulder-length chestnut brown hair into a bob that sat beautifully on her slender shoulders. She wore her favorite perfume, took one more glance at her dressing mirror, and nodded in satisfaction.
She grabbed her car key on her bedside table and left for the office. Hazel's assistant already filled her in on the details of what she had to do for that day.
Hazel sat in her office, going through all the documents and files on her table. She had a lot to do since she had not been showing to up work.
Her assistant called her to let her know she had a visitor. She fixed herself up and arranged her messy table.
"Let him in, in five minutes"
"Okay ma'am"
****
Ethan was staying at his mother's place in Ravenna, a small peaceful town. They were quietly having breakfast in the kitchen when Ethan broke the silence,
"Mom?"
She gazed at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"There's this woman I like"
She had always hoped that her son would bring up something like this, so it caught her attention.
"Go on" she probed.
"She is a single mother"
Her heart sank as she heard her son's words. She had hoped he would find someone without any baggage, someone who could give him undivided attention. But now, knowing that the woman he likes is a single mother, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment.
"Are you sure about this son?" Her voice was filled with concern.
"Yes. I love her so much and that is not the issue here"
"There's more??" She asked, shocked.
"Last Sunday, I just randomly showed up at her house in the night without telling her beforehand, and guess who I saw her with"
He spared the details to avoid making it sound worse than it already did.
"You know I'm not good at guessing boy!" She said, impatiently waiting for him to give her the details.
"Damon. Damon Miller" her eyes grew wide in shock as that was the last thing she expected to hear.
She and Damon's mother were never on good terms. George Miller, Damon's father, was in love with Ethan's mother, Elizabeth.
George and Elizabeth were in love for years before they got married and had Ethan. They lived together happily until Annabel, Damon's mother came into the picture. She was a very gorgeous woman with dark long hair and a slender figure. Her beautiful ocean-blue eyes would light up the room, her beauty would bring any man to his knees. Even with how beautiful she was, George never paid attention to her because of the genuine love he had for Elizabeth and Elizabeth was not aware of how much it hurt Annabel.
Annabel and Elizabeth used to be best friends but little did Elizabeth know that Annabel was after George's heart.
Annabel set Elizabeth up and managed to turn George's heart away from Elizabeth. George began to disregard her and it got worse when Annabel had her first child for George, Damon.
George never stopped loving his son, Ethan. Damon always caused trouble and blamed Ethan just so his father would focus on him and not Ethan but nothing stopped George from loving his son.
As they grew older, Ethan showed more responsibility in handling his father's company while Damon squandered money. George appointed Ethan as the heir to his empire and that was when Damon knew he had to think fast. He set Ethan up with his father's rival company. Ethan was smart enough to know what was going on and in the process of trying to escape from the bad people, he mistakenly ran into a car, which led to an accident that killed a man and his wife, fortunately, their daughter was the only survivor. He rushed her to the hospital and ran for his life.
Damon knew about the accident and used it to blackmail Ethan to get everything he wanted.
A few years later, George Miller fell sick and died. Ethan and his mom left the empire for Damon and his wicked mother.
Elizabeth stopped answering the name, Miller, because it reminded her of the pain she went through. She answered her father's name, Foster.
"What do you think she would have to do with that son of a witch?" She asked furiously, she was always careful to never use curse words.
"Honestly, I do not know" he stood up and began pacing around the kitchen.
"You did not ask her?" He stopped and responded, "She asked me to leave her house and we haven't spoken ever since".
His mother shook her head in disgust while she said, "Isn't it glaring that she's not the one for you? She is probably having a thing with that crazy boy and doesn't want you to ruin her fun".
Ethan wasn't ready to agree to her point. He did not think Hazel would do that to him.
"She's not that kind of person, mom. I know her too well to do that. I have a feeling there is something wrong"
"Please be wise son and stop acting naive. There are too many beautiful women in the world to be worried about this one" She continued eating, disappointed that nothing good came out of the situation.
"Eat and stop overthinking." She pleaded. He gulped his glass of water and said,
"I'm going to see Damon." He left without waiting to hear anything from his mother.
She sighed and shook her head.
Ethan stood in front of the Crimson Syndicate. The last time he set foot there was when his father passed away. He never thought he would be back again but his crazy love for Hazel would make him do anything.
"I'm here to see Damon Miller," he told the security guard.
"Who are you and do you have an appointment with the boss?" The young security guy asked.
"I'm Ethan Foster, his step-brother" He strongly disliked the words that escaped his lips. Despite his reluctance to be linked as a blood relative to Damon, he felt compelled to take necessary actions to see him.
The security man made some calls before he allowed him in. Ethan walked through the corridors and could not deny that Damon did a good job with the office decor. He quickened his steps to catch up with the elevator. He stopped the door with his hand and got in.
As he reached the first floor, he encountered the front desk officer, who kindly pointed him in the direction of Damon's office. With anticipation building, he made his way towards the office adorned with a gold door plate engraved with the name, Damon Miller. He heard a muffled noise coming from inside the office. Curiosity getting the better of him, he couldn't resist the temptation to eavesdrop. What he overheard sent shivers down his spine and left him utterly speechless.