(Book 2 in If I Could series)
"What do you want, Lily!?" he yelled, his patience on the verge of snapping. "You keep telling me you hate me but clearly you don't, you want me but you won't accept it either. You're stubborn and crazy and I- just tell...
AN: Merry Christmas everybody!!! IT’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TIME OF THE YEAR. . . .
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Light, sparkly pink eyeshadow with matching blush accentuated the shape of both my double-eyelids and my high cheekbones, giving my jawline a sharp edge. I swiped a brown lipstick over my lips and strapped on my dark green pencil heels that pushed me from an elegant 5’9 to a rich 5’11.
I had put on a green bodycon dress that fell slightly below my knees, cinching at my sides as a slit drew deliciously up to my thighs, making my long, sleek legs look longer. I’d put on a matching, golden choker around my neck and a set of diamond earrings dangled down my ears.
I took a step back and examined myself, a slow smile tipping up my lips.
My brother, Kyst Archer, the owner of one of the biggest publishing houses in NYC, turned twenty-eight a week ago and like a family tradition, we were having a birthday party for him today where we had invited a lot of our business associates as well as family friends and so to put in short, it was indispensable to look like a lethal, unattainable beauty.
People could look at me, admire me, wish they’d get me but never actually be able to even come close to me. That was the price I had to pay as a woman coming from a very successful, rich background. And it didn’t help that my dad announced only a few months ago that on my birthday in December, he was gifting me the rights to our another project all the way in London.
London. A heavy ache started to bloom at that word as a montage of images played behind my eyes, all ranging from me laughing to having fun to feeling all kinds of giddy to terribly having my heart broken and shattered to pieces until there was nothing of me left to be picked up. Ice-like sensations prickled my entire body, goosebumps dotting my arms, rendering me lightheaded when a buzz sounded from my bed.
I took a deep breath, closing the doors on the stupid trail of my thoughts as I picked up my phone, my purse, my jacket and stumbled right out of my house and into the cab Kyst had sent to pick me up. Once I was in and had greeted the driver, I turned my phone on to check on the notification I’d gotten earlier.
And there were headlines. Multiple. All varied articles littered my notification box and the certain things they had in common were the words app, leaked, copied, trouble, loss and the name of some guy called, Miller Jones.
That name wasn’t a new one in the industry. Miller Jones aka the CEO of Jones’ Publishing house was our company’s rival. I didn’t know him, neither had I ever met him and yet I knew about his reputation more than I cared to admit.
While Jones’ Publishing house had a big name in the market, I didn’t particularly know of him because of what he owned. I knew of him because he used to be my best friend’s boss and by what she had said about him, I liked to think he wasn’t a very good individual.
