apter 11
Chapter 11
“Over here please,” I heard the paparazzi scrambling to say amid all the flashes in my face. I almost smiled as I walked into the shareholders meeting. None of these people knew who I was, or that I was the face behind the leading brand Helen–cah.
When I found out I was pregnant, my fear of the Devon family caused me to conceal my identity, thinking they would come after me at my lowest, with all their power. But now, I did it for the protection of Helen.
Yet the paparazzi were flashing all their cameras my way, without knowing who I was.
“I must look so damn good tonight,” I commented, I was in an unreleased collection of mine, a brown fuzzy, curve hugging dress.
You do.” Max agreed, watching warily over my shoulder as if he expected someone to come right at me, “I still wish we would have stayed back at home.”
“You ordered like a billion people to come watch me, 111 be fine,” I rolled my eyes at him.
my
“Yes but the police still have no lead at all on who tried to shoot you that day,” he leaned in closer but I shoved him off.
“You’ll ruin my hair,” I fixed my hair together, it was in long waves that fell all the way down to my waist.
We walked into the room and Max held his arm out so I could lock my hand around him. I did just that.
“Stay by my side the whole night okay?” He had that genuine worry just like the first time I’d met him.
“Yes sir,” I nodded teasingly. “I care about my life too, don’t worry, this is such a protected party, it would be hard for some outsider to sneak in here, okay? This is going to mark a huge leap in my career, I can’t miss out on it, I said, hoping to assure him and make him feel more at ease.
That seemed to do the trick because he calmed down a little.
I looked around. Almost everyone was in pairs, this was the biggest shareholder meeting of a lifetime. The hall was decorated with real gold plates lining the walls around us. I smiled at myself, loving how far I’d come.
I continued to look around and that’s when I sensed the intense gaze on me. I almost dropped my jaw open to see Neil staring at me, his death grip around the rim of the wine glass, seemed like it would cause it to break in seconds.
I squinted my eyes, realizing he wasn’t staring at me, but instead glaring at Max, like he wanted to strangle him.
Next to him, like glue was Ella, in a fancy dress, another design of mine.
Max’s phone beeped, he reached for it and frowned, “it’s the security team, I’ll go check it out,” he said, “please don’t go where I can’t find you, okay?”
I nodded, loving the thrill of things.
I never expected that Neil would be back on his feet so soon, let alone bump into him at this meeting.
I made my way forward to take my designated seat when Ella’s voice stopped me.
“How did you manage to sneak into the venue?” She asked. I was going to ignore her when she added, “or was Mr Ali not the only one whose whore you were?”
I was going to strike her hard across the face when Neil suddenly stepped between us, “that’s enough Ella, you can’t make a scene at an event like this, you’ll get so much media.
I burst out laughing. “I can see you’re still doing a good job with defending your lover after all these years,” I inched closer to
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Chapter II
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him, the distance between us so small, I could practically feel his breath on my face, “well,” my suille faded, “Te advised you tell your wife to watch her mouth if she doesn’t want to get kicked out?
I turned around to leave but he caught my wrist. I stared at his hand before looking up at him, “have you lost your fucking
mind
“We have to talk,” he started, attempting to pull me away when Max came from nowhere, holding, my other hand, stopping
Neil
“What are you doing” Max frowned, “we are on the top of the VIP list, and the biggest shareholders here, it wouldn’t take a second to kick you off the list, he warned, pulling me away from the two.
“Why is that hastard here again? Mas wondered, “wasn’t he shot like a week ago?”
“Seeing how he’s here to torture me, the surgery must have gone well, I rolled my eyes. I pulled free from Max’s grip, “we just got here and I already need a break, just great.”
I stared at him. “I’ll go outside to catch some fresh air and-”
“Leah-
“Don’t even try to stop me, I need to mentally prepare myself to understand what just happened right now,” I shook my head, “Tll be back.”
“No smoking Leah, please?”
“I’ll try to remember,” I nodded at him before heading through the VIP exit of the huge hall.
How on earth was he here?
Why!
I had so many questions all at once.
I walked away from the chaos of the event, disappearing from the music and the loud party and I could finally feel my mind clear up. I headed into the parking lot to get a new batch of cigarettes from my car.
Then I heard it.
Footsteps.
And they were heading in my direction.
I tried to maintain my pace as I walked. On a normal day I’d defend myself. I’d spent so much time learning self defense in the last few years but if this was the same masked man from the funeral, he would take me down easily with one bullet.
I couldn’t let him figure out that I knew he was following me. I just needed to get to my car and alert the security team.
My daughter crossed my mind and I realized how foolish I was to have gone against Max.
Ihastened my steps and that’s when they got louder.
I finally got to the car, barely reaching for the door handle when a huge hand clamped over my mouth, my back pressed against his chest.
In seconds, he’d pulled me backwards, maintaining the same position, before slamming my back against the wall behind us. not taking his hand off my mouth.
My widened eyes stared at the silhouetted figure hovering above me, ready to hit him as hard as I could but that’s when I
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Chapter 11
slowly made out his face.
“Neil
“You have to come with me, his deep voice filled my ears, “now”
Without waiting for my response, he rugged my hand, pulling me away from the parking lot.
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