mom.

I pray that she isn't the one looking for me as I stay rooted to my spot but who am I kidding? She makes her way towards me.

"Long time no see." She says with something close to an evil smirk on her face.

I don't think she is pleased with me right now because she was insulted by my boyfriend the last time I saw her.

"H-hello." I stutter when I finally got back my voice. Beads of perspiration form inside my shirt from my chest to my back. One thing I'm sure of is that this woman is dangerous.

"Took you long enough to come out."

"I-I.."

"It's alright." She waves her hand in dismissal. "I need to speak with you."

I don't want to speak with her, God please don't make me spend more than two minutes with this woman.

"Alright." I force myself to say.

"Let's go to my car."

No!

I hesitate.

"Don't worry, I'm not letting you inside my car." She states as she stares at me from head to toes. "We are just going to lean against the car and talk."

I breathe out in relief and walk behind her to the silver car.

"Let me get straight to the point Sasha Gibbs." She started the moment we got there. "I will give you the sum of $200,000 if you can leave Jace alone for Cassie because you are the only thing standing in her way of having her dream man."

"What?!" I say in surprise with my mouth hanging open.

"Of course I know she will say $200,000 is too small." She scoffs under her breath in a not too discreet way. "Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm telling you that I will give you $200,000 to leave Jace. You will run away from the Jeffersons Residence and start something new somewhere else, it's won't be too hard considering the fact that you are graduating in three weeks."

Wow. This woman has got some nerves, just how far is she willing to go for Cassie to end up with Jace. They are both getting more desperate.

"With all due respect ma'am, do you think I'm a gold digger to collect money from you just to leave Jace?"

"Enough with the pretense already young lady. I will give you $300,000 to leave him."

I clench my fist together tightly in anger as I listen to the nonsense she is spewing from her mouth. Just who the heck does this woman thinks she is?

"Sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, I'm not interested in your money. Jace is not some piece of meat that you can just buy from me."

"Think about what you are saying girl, $300,000 is no small amount of money."

I don't know why I'm still standing here talking to her. "As I have said earlier, I'm not interested. If you'll excuse me now I have a class to attend to in the next few minutes." I say and walk away furiously.

I can't help but control the tears that fill my eyes as what Cassie's mom told me to keep on replaying in my mind. Do they all think that I am only interested in Jace's wealth? Is that what she thinks? That if she offers me some huge amount of money I'll agree to leave Jace for Cassie? Is Jace's mom aware of this? After all, she is a close friend of Cassie's mom but I don't think Madam Emily can do such a thing though.

I watch my mom pace up and down in agitation while gripping her phone hard. Jace's birthday coming up soon, the merger between our companies will be nullified if he refuses to sign the marriage contract between the two of us before his birthday.

I have tried all I can to get this guy to like me but all my efforts proved futile because of that stupid Sasha. Oh how much I hate her for trying to take my spot in Jace's life. I really hate her.

"What are we going to do now mom? Time is no longer on our side."

"Do you think I don't know that already!?" My mom screams in pent up frustration that I had to cover my ears with my fingers.

"All your efforts to secure a place for us in that family will go to waste if Jace doesn't agree to marry me."

"This is your fault, Cassie." My mom turns to me swiftly. "Your fault."

"Oh, now you want to start blaming me? How is it my fault?"

"I gave you one simple task. Seduce him with all you have till he caves to all our demands but you couldn't even do it. It is what you can't do that their housemaid did and succeeded."

"I did everything you asked me to do! What else was I supposed to do? Point a gun at his head and force him to sign the papers or strip myself naked in front of him and coax him to sleep with me?" I also yell on top of my voice.

I'm sure all the staff in the house are all used to this already.

"Exactly."

"W-What."

"Strip yourself naked till he caves, what man can resist a hot naked woman?"

"Jace can."

"Nonsense."

"What do we do now? Are you going to watch the merger get canceled just like that?"

"Never. Since Sasha has refused to leave Jace alone the easy way, she will do it the hard way."

Bryan gives a sadist smile as he watches Jace get down from his car and enter the elevator that will take him to the tenth floor where his office is. Bryan has waited long enough, it's time to carry out his plan. He is tired of lurking around the corners before he can see Sasha, he is tired of sneaking into her room in the middle of the night and watching her sleep. He can't wait to have his hands on her, he can't wait to claim her as his.

Knowing fully well that after what he's about to do the CCTV surveillance footage will be looked into, Bryan dressed in an all black and he was able to conceal his face with a hoodie, a face cap, and sunglasses. He would have preferred doing this at Jace's house but the security there is too tight and he wouldn't have succeeded. He walks to the parking lot where Jace's car is parked and scans the cars parked there.

His sickly grin widens the more when he finally spotted the sleek black Benz.