《A Trade Of Hearts |✔》CHAPTER 5: The Price To Pay
Advertisement
The moment Adrian told Paula that he'd be in a sauna, a mischievous idea popped into my head.
I discreetly followed him to the sauna and waited for a good five minutes for him to settle in before putting my plans into action.
This was my chance to settle scores.
I increased the temperature by five degrees twice, trying to draw his attention and put a wiper between the door handles jamming it shut.
Within a minute, I heard a tug at the door handle, followed by another.
"Hello, Is anyone there?" He yelled.
"Casey is that you?"
"I don't have time for your pranks."
My heart was thudding, anticipating what he would do if he found out this prank was my doing.
"Open the door."
"Someone?"
"I said open the bloody door!" He said with a hard push against the door.
By now I was running on pure adrenaline. I switched off the sauna, switched on the air ventilation system and sneaked out.
No, I didn't open the door. I thought it would be fun to make him suffer a wee while longer.
An hour later, I went back and started up the sauna again, slipped out the wiper and placed it near the sink. I knocked on his door and then dashed out of there, running for my life.
I went up to my room, opened my laptop, pretending to work like it was just another day but it wasn't.
My freezing hands were still shaking, my heart felt like it would escape out of my chest and my face was hot.
Once I had calmed down I tip-toed downstairs to check on the subject of my prank, pretending to speak to a client.
The guy was a mess. Adrian's coat was hanging over his unevenly buttoned up shirt with a tie draped around his neck like a scarf. He was bent over, picking up some paper on the floor that I bet he must have dropped in a hurry.
Advertisement
Adrian stood up, putting the fallen papers in a file and then turned to face me. His nose and cheeks were red from the heat and I would have laughed had he not given me a bone-chilling glare, saying,"I'll see you later."
He knew.
An unsettling feeling made it's home in my stomach, determined to not go away before I met the consequences of my ill-conceived prank.
I tried working but my nerves got the better of me.
Who knew pulling off a prank could be this stressful?
I decided to go to bed early that night, hoping sleep would help me escape my inner turmoil but after a futile round of tossing and turning, I went down to the study to work on my laptop.
I had just replied to two mails when the door creaked open and Adrian entered.
I kept my eyes glued to my screen as I heard him walk in. From the corner of my eye, I saw him take off his coat and hang it over a chair at the other side of the room.
"Vanessa, right?" he asked, nearly making me jump.
"Yes," I replied, glancing over the mail I had sent, for the third time, my eyes glued to my screen.
"It is pretty late. Something keeping you up?"
"Only the thirty five unread emails in my inbox," I said as calmly as I could, looking up at the clock striking two, conveniently avoiding his stormy blue gaze.
I had this inner urge to get up and ask if he had fun in the sauna today but I was sure the consequences for that would not be fun for me so I kept my lips sealed.
He slowly walked up to where I was and leaned against the edge of the desk, making me feel uneasy.
Advertisement
"Something really interesting happened today. My mother was with this girl when I told her I'd be in the sauna and the next thing I know, I am locked in there for over an hour. Any wild guesses as to who might have locked me in?" he forced a smile but his clenched jaw gave away his real feelings.
I am an idiot!
Except his mom, I was the only other person who knew he was in the sauna. Of course he found out.
I got up from my seat, trying to create some distance between us and then with a deep breath I feigned concern,"You were locked? Oh no! What about that important meeting of yours? Were you late? I was late to a meeting once, by fifteen minutes and the client I was meeting bailed on me after humiliating me in front of his co-workers. I hope the guy you were meeting wasn't such an asswipe."
Adrian drew in a raged breath, "Apologise."
"For what? Calling you an asswipe?" I furrowed my brows, "Oh right! Poor toilet paper must be offended on being compared with you."
"You don't want to get on my bad side Vanessa," he said, inching closer to me.
"That is assuming you have a good side, right?" I moved two steps back.
His face was flushed with anger as he moved closer to me, trying hard not to yell,"You want to play this game, right? Fine. Let's play."
I backed away again, trying to come up with a snarky reply but my back hit the wall and a gasp left me.
I was sure that I had seen Adrian's lips twitch into a small smile as he placed his hands on the wall beside me, caging me in.
So this is what he meant by playing the game.
Advertisement
- In Serial29 Chapters
Mourning Glory
A year and a half after Elizabeth's suicide, Sara Mera's life settles back to normalcy from a battle of depression. Sara's life is thrown back into that pit of darkness when her hand in the suicide is exposed to the world. In a negative state of mind, she meets the girl who was Elizabeth's best friend who is still suffering from her death. Afraid another tragedy will happen, Sara selfishly becomes friends with the girl but never expected that she would be the one who light's up Sara's world in the darkness. Bound by fate and desire the two develop a friendship they never expected and fall in love despite their wishes. - This is also a side story of another novel called Petrichor I've written so a lot of elements are left unexplained. I recommend reading my other Novel, In The Grass for the story of Elizabeth's Character.
8 152 - In Serial26 Chapters
Romance - plus Judgemental Powers? Completed
Blue was a red headed boy who desperately wanted a girlfriend. So he asked the class beauty to walk home with him. She very nicely refused him. So he asked another girl in the same class, one with an average rating in the social status ranking. She also refused him. So, still desperate, he thinks – “I’m probably at the bottom of the ranking for boys in this class, so how about I ask the girl who is also at the lowest ranking?” The girl’s name was Pink. She said yes. Gulp. “What do I do now?” was his reaction. Well, obviously, have a romance. And, along the way, they get one hell of a lot more than they bargained for. Like, for example, supernatural Judgemental Powers. How did they get those? And that was only the start. The two most insignificant students in their class become famous. Not just in their class or even in their school, but to the population at large. They end up breaking and making the top politicians and rulers of their country. But finally, of course, they get what they wanted. A committed relationship. This is an Esmeralda the Angel of Death story. It follows on from my previous novel “Maybe it would have been a good idea not to wish for a harem?”, however it is a totally separate story with only a minimal overlap in the characters. There is no need to read the first story to enjoy this one. Although you just might enjoy the first story also… This story has multiple characters and multiple Points of View. Every POV change is clearly marked with a new header. Inside each POV section, the POV character’s thoughts are in italics. This story has about 105,000 words (about 380 RoyalRoad pages). It is fully written and proof read (the poor man’s proof read using Word). It has 25 chapters, and will be published at the rate of roughly one chapter per day. The front-page photo is by Valentin Antonucci from Pexels
8 71 - In Serial51 Chapters
A and D
Nerdy Dakota Evans makes the biggest mistake of her life by falling in love with her best friend, Aaron Ford. Despite coming from entirely different cliques in school, will their relationship have a chance?***In a high school where everyone belongs to cliques, nerdy and boyish Dakota Evans' friendship with basketball jock, Aaron Ford, becomes a big issue. Aaron's highly protective of Dakota and doesn't realize that she's in love with him. With their friendship eventually going on the rocks, will Aaron finally realize his true feelings for Dakota before it's too late?[[word count: 90,000-100,000 words]]
8 256 - In Serial8 Chapters
My best friends younger brother
EDITED "It was always a comfort, it showed silence and hidden warmth, I've always loved silence... it showed me that I can rest without being scared"
8 189 - In Serial45 Chapters
Thicker than Blood - Book One (Watty Awards 2012)
Book One in the Soul Seeker Series.At fifteen Amelia is forced to move in with her birthfather when her mother passes away. A man she's never met before in her life, stern and unfair, he is almost never at home and forces his family to move whenever his job calls for it.For three years Amelia has looked after herself and her younger brother Hayden but when she tranfers to Riverwood High everything changes. She finds herself friends there despite the efforts of her stepsister.One teacher in particular takes an interest in her, the 25 year old Nathaniel Flynn. The first time he laid eyes on her he knew, he just had to have her.At eighteen Amelia has to look after her baby brother, hold her own against a stepmother and mean stepsister and battle feelings she's never felt before. After all... Dating your teacher is forbidden, not that Nathaniel seems to care about that.Add into the equation that both her new found friends and teacher aren't who they say they are... Their diet consisting mainly of blood.
8 152 - In Serial23 Chapters
The Emperor's General
"I vow to be loyal and sacrifice my life to my country." This was the oath he made when he first joined the army. Now here he was surrounded by hateful gazes of his own people for murdering their country's Mother Empress.He was once a mighty general known as the God of War and now instead of dying a prideful death, he was convicted of treason. A traitor to his own country.Su Ying only wanted one more chance to make things right. He wanted to prove himself as the trusted General of the Emperor he had once been. He wanted to go back to the man he loved. He wished he could go back to the time where he could watch the man silently."Only if I knew things would end up like this, I would have already confessed my love to you." This was the last thought of Su Ying before he was beheaded.He died full of regrets but never did he think he would get a second chance.
8 224

