Niamh placed all her strength to leave a clear handprint on Kendrick’s cheek. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as breathing itself started to feel like a difficult feat. “I don’t want to see you anymore. I don’t… After tonight, Kendrick Waldburg, I won’t shed another tear for you. Not even in your death will I let my heart hurt for you again.”
She bit her lip to ignore the searing ache in her chest.
“I hate you! I hate you so much, Kendrick Waldburg! I hate the fact that you’re not atoning for my parents’ death right now!”
Niamh drove away.
Rooted in place, Kendrick waited until Niamh could no longer see him from her rear-view mirror before he let go of his facade. His slender fingers picked up the cigarettes on the ground.
These were custom-made cigarettes, a replica of the ones Lana gave him. However, they were not from her.
Someone had costumed these for him. They were made with ingredients that would balance the slow- acting poison inside his body. Although, he had to say that they were not very effective.
He thought of Niamh’s words. “Not even in your death will I let my heart hurt for you again.” He leaned against his car lifelessly, his peach blossom eyes staring dimly at the ground.
‘That day might just come sooner than you think, Nia…
‘But I sincerely hope that you would have completely given up on me by then so that at least you won’t be hurt by it.’
Leaving April Hill, Niamh had no idea what mindset she was in as she drove away.
Passing an intersection, Niamh had not noticed the red light and drove through. She almost crashed into another car.
The other person rolled their window down to curse at Niamh before driving off.
Parking the car by the road, tears streamed down Niamh’s face as she threw herself over the steering wheel.
Taking a trip down memory lane, it seemed like she had never been truly happy at all.
The happiest moment she could recall might just be the moment she first met Kendrick on April Hill.
‘I must have used all my luck in meeting you there and then, Kendrick. Everything afterward was merely misfortune.’
Niamh stared at the night sky from the inside of her car and raised her hand to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes.
‘This is the last time Nia will cry for you, Kendrick. One last time… No more after this…’
Niamh returned home and fell into a deep sleep.
Her mood was regulated by the time she woke. She then went to send the two children to school before making her way to Montgomery Enterprises.
The company did a lot of charity work when Sean and Eloise were still here, and with its subsidiary company’s annual charity gala in a few days, Niamh decided to place her attention solely on work so that she would not think of the man who had fully disappointed her.
As the new holder of Montgomery Enterprises, there were many employees who were dissatisfied with Niamh’s sudden appearance.
However, as Sean and Eloise’s only daughter, most of them were in agreement for her to take over the company.
Still, there was one person who hated Niamh from the depths of her heart.
Eve Garcia from the jewelry department.
When Niamh was looking for a job fresh out of prison, she had managed to find herself in Montgomery Enterprise’s jewelry department. As her superior, Eve used to gossip about Niamh behind her back which she had accidentally gotten wind of once.
Niamh could still remember Eve’s slander. “It’s a black mark on our department to have a woman who was an ex-inmate, a mistress, and had plagiarized someone else’s work!”
Back then, Niamh had thrown her work badge at Eve and resigned.
Niamh could still remember that mortified look on Eve’s face.
Yet Eve would never have expected Niamh to be the Montgomeries’ only daughter who now held the highest authority as the person with the most stocks in Montgomery Enterprises!
She was not in the position to offend her and neither did she want to resign, so Eve had no choice but to return to her station.
Niamh was walking past the jewelry department with documents in her hand when she suddenly heard one of Eve’s colleagues asking Eve with interest, “What if our new president takes revenge and fires you, Eve?”
Eve’s heart lurched, but she made sure to keep her expression disdainful. “Why would I be afraid of her? She can fire me if she wants, but I can still ask her to pay me five times my salary as compensation!”
She got up and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as well. “Not to mention that I’m our department’s representative with the press for every year’s annual charity gala. I’m in charge of an important segment. I’m also the only one who can do the segment. So no, I don’t think you-know-who would have the guts to fire me.”
‘You-know-who’ obviously referred to Niamh.
Eve’s expression turned arrogant at the mention of the annual charity gala. “Not even Mrs. Montgomery made me leave back then, so who is Eveline to do so? Does she really think that she’s the president just because she has taken over the company? You guys might not know this, but she used to be an inmate…”
Eve lowered her tone slightly as the female colleagues in front of her widened their eyes. In the midst of listening to Eve talk, they stared at the figure behind her.
Eve had not realized Niamh’s presence just yet, so she got more enthusiastic as she spoke. “You guys joined late, so there are some things that you might not know. I’ll let you in on some of them now. Take it as a bonus.”
“…”
“Eveline Montgomery used to be Niamh Delgado, but she was so stupid that her biological parents ended up mistaking another woman, Nevaeh Delgado, as their daughter. Honestly speaking, I think
Nevaeh’s a lot smarter than her!”
“…”
“That’s not all. Do you guys know why Eveline went to prison before?” Eve smiled as she urged their curiosity.
The group of colleagues gulped and shook their heads as they stepped backward.
It only fueled Eve’s pride. She was about to tell when a voice drifted from behind. “Then do you know why you’re about to go to prison? Will it be defamation or slander of reputation?”
Eve had met Niamh a few times and heard her speak during meetings before, so to hear that same voice at this moment, she felt the soles of her feet chill.
Turning around to see Niamh standing elegantly in front of her, Eve grew frantic. “Ms. Mon- Montgomery. Good morning. You sure go the extra mile, supervising departments so early in the morning.”
Niamh took in Eve’s alluring smile and replied calmly, “Relax, I’m not the kind of person to let my private life affect my work. While I may not fire you because of what happened between us, it does not change the fact that you’ve slandered my reputation. I will have my lawyer follow-up on this. You can wait for my lawyer’s letter.”
“…”
Eve’s smile froze.
Niamh simply placed the documents down and turned to leave.
Eve spent the entire day in discomfort, and at the last minute before she clocked out, she indeed received a letter from Niamh’s lawyer.
With the letter in hand, Eve left the company while muttering angrily under her breath. She was about to call a cab when a car stopped in front of her. “Would you be interested in a partnership?”
A woman’s voice drifted from the car window.
“Who are you? Why would I want to partner with you?” Eve rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“You don’t need to know who I am. All you need to do is follow my orders and this 100,000-dollar cash is yours. I can also help you get back at Eveline Montgomery.”
Eve had her eyes on a few branded purses lately but found herself too broke to buy them. To have such a great term of condition presented to her, she agreed without a second thought.
The sky darkened and night began to fall.
Almost everyone had clocked out, leaving Niamh alone to work in the office.
The day of the annual charity gala was closing on her, and as the person in charge, she would do her best to make it perfect.
She did not want to be a disgrace to Sean and Eloise.
Niamh was just about to save a document when the entire building’s lights were shut off.
Confused, Niamh took her phone to call the building’s manager when she heard footsteps approaching her office…
Not knowing who it was, Niamh turned on her phone’s flashlight and shone in the direction of the footsteps. “Who is it?”
Niamh asked, only to have the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her explode. The glass shattered everywhere.
She shouted reflexively and heard the sound of glass exploding again.
“Watch out!” A man’s worried tone sounded by her ear.
Niamh did not have the chance to take a look at the person when she found herself being pulled into a warm and strong embrace. The musky scent of ebony infiltrated her nostrils.
While it was not a familiar scent, Niamh did not find the scent especially new.
The sounds of explosion only stopped after a while.
However, the building’s lights remained switched off.
“Are you alright, Eveline?”
Only then did Eveline realize it was Ryan.
She shook her head and stared at the broken floor-to-ceiling windows. They were on the 28th floor, so to have the windows broken and the evening wind blowing violently inside, it was dangerous.
Why would the windows suddenly shatter for no reason? Not to mention that these were hardly normal glass.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.