She held the couch firmly with such force that she left deep crevices in the fabric surface. Her heartbeats became a chaotic rhythm through anger and disbelief. “That witch!” Lisa blunted out. The strong emotions inside Nora shone brightly through her eyes as her anger mixed with pain and anger. Nora spat out these words with a pure acidic tone. “I hate Lisa!” Nora said. A deep breath failed to relax Sandra as she tried to gather herself. “Such evil,” Sandra added. Sandra ended her sentence abruptly as she shook her head and thought fast. She rushed from the couch to move about. “So let me get this straight. One cheating woman with two agendas prepares to marry another man while Eric remains clueless?” Nora said nothing in response. Nora held her fist tightly as she reacted with a strict expression. “And Eric has no clue?” Sandra asked. “Not a damn one,” Nora spat. She shook her head in disappointment. Sandra let out a loud mocking expression as she derived disple

Oliver exited his father’s office, the corners of his lips curving up with satisfaction. Victory felt good, but good felt even better when it was wrested from a man like Antonio Rodriguez. His father had spoken for him. Lisa would be his. Not that she had a lot of option left. As he fiddled with his cufflinks, rolling his shoulders with admiration of himself, he walked out of the room, only to run straight into……..Mrs. Rodriguez. His mother. She stood there in her neat navy dress, her dark, glistening eyes making him feel analyze him silently. Oliver's smirk sagged only for an instant before he smoothed it out again. “Mother,” he said smoothly. Mrs. Rodriguez arched a brow. “You seem quite smug, Oliver. Should I be concerned?” Oliver chuckled. “Not at all. Just had a good chat with Father.” Her expression didn’t change. “Must be that happy look on your mug?” Oliver stuffed his hands into his pockets and tilted his head. “I have his approval.” “Really?” She e

Eric was lost in thoughts. Eric accessed his valuables from an edge of his bed while holding the phone tightly in hand. His thoughts moved in chaotic patterns around the same points trying to interpret Nora's mysterious warning. Lisa presents different characteristics to those people who know her. Nora spoke with an immediate sense of desperation during that call. The phone call abruptly ended after she spoke her words. The moment Eric let out his breath his phone grip intensified. His unsettled mind suffered from confusion as the doubt started consuming him. During the past few days he noticed Lisa remained unperturbed about Oliver and effortlessly disregarded significant events along with showing constant cheerfulness about Oliver's wedding plans. Such insensitivity bewildered him. Nora's alarm during their phone call seemed impressive to me at that moment. Eric’s heart pounded. He needed answers. Now. The call button released a low buzz beneath his thumb which positio

When Nora looked at her phone's text a sudden wave of fear flowed to her body. “Meet me at Central Park at 11 PM for a meeting by yourself. Alone.” She read the message again. “Pizza Guy.” The name rang in her head. Flashback of events played in her mind, from mysterious men, to the strange delivery. Her stomach twisted. She did not hear that name again after many days except for those unsettling incidents. This couldn’t be real. It shouldn’t be real. Yet, there it was. The text in front of her demanded she trust its contents as she stared at her phone screen. A sudden deep inhalation pulled her from her thoughts. The text shocked both her and Sandra and we stopped what we were doing. Sandra reached for Nora’s phone. The sudden motion of Sandra taking her phone made Nora freeze. Sandra opened the text, and read it. Again. Sandra scrunched her eyebrows and her face turned strange as she tried to grasp what the text message said. “This is the Pizza Guy?” Nora swall

Nora was furious The man turned to leave. As Nora looked at the stranger turn away his figure vanished into the changing shadows of the park ward. She should have let him go. She should have chosen to depart on her own. An instinctive part of Nora pushed her to interrupt to ask him to stop. “Wait!” Her voice emerged as intense but trembling cries. The man halted mid-step. For a moment, he didn’t turn. He kept his back toward her as his stiff posture revealed his strong emotions. Nora put self-respect aside to take control of her emotions. She repeated herself askingly this time. “I need answers.” “Okay? I…. I’m just having a bad day,” Nira said. A heavy silence followed. Then, slowly, he turned. His gaze explored her face to figure out some idea his behavior did not express. After considering, Nora put the pepper spray back into her handbag. A silent truce. The man took her signal to proceed. From his starting position he walked forward one step before ind