I walked into a small building in Broadway which had the name Emetz scrawled across a yellow sign board with a two leaves next to it.

There was a desk in the middle of the room but no receptionist so I walked around, until my eyes fell onto the nameplate of Dorris Walters. I opened the door to a small white room with a modest office set up.

I walked up to the ebony office desk and the woman behind the desk looked up at me. I recalled from my Google search on her, she was an only child. Her father had retired four years ago, leaving her his start up and a legacy of unpayed debts.

"Real estate is a risky business...And you built a start up on it?", I asked.

"No wonder I have to sell the company now.",Dorris sighed,"You are a potential buyer, I suppose?"

"No actually. My name is Vanessa Catherine Hudson.",I stretched my hand towards the lady in her late twenties but the moment she heard my name, her expression changed.

"What does Blake's girlfriend want?", she spat, in a rich Spanish accent. That she got from her mother, a doctor from Venezuela and considering the condition of Emetz, the only earning member in the family.

"That is not my only identity.",I frowned mockingly.

"Well, it is the most important one to me. What do you want?", She said coldly, standing up and crossing her arms across her chest.

"I am here to broker a deal...a life changing deal."

"If it is regarding the purchase of Emetz, tell Blake that I won't sell it to him. Not even for a billion dollars.",she huffed.

"My my! Don't you just love your brother. Well, I won't waste time explaining, I'm on quite a deadline so, here. Read it.", I said handing over a file to her. This file had two seperate sets of papers. One was to brief her about my findings on Blake and the other was the contract that I had come here for.

Dorris set down the papers on the table after reading them twice and asked in disbelief,"Blake killed a man? For a business deal?"

"Hard to believe, isn't it? The golden boy...", I sighed.

"So now you want me to replace him as the CEO since his position is a potential risk for your plans to send him to jail?", Dorris enquired and I nodded.

"But why do you think I will do this? No matter our family disputes, he is my cousin.", She questioned.

"Oh! You will do it. Just like Blake's father and then Blake because in families like ours, blood may be thicker than water but it's not as thick as money. I learnt it the hard way, I am guessing you are smarter.", I arched an eyebrow hopefully.

"I need time to think about this."

"My contact number is on the last page, call me once you make up your mind. You have until tomorrow morning. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Walters.", I shook hands with her and then left.

■■■

"So I'm guessing she agreed.",Adrian, who was sitting across from me, said. Charlotte and Paula were there too. Cassandra and Kevin didn't have an appetite for handling a business conversation so they left early on.

"She did.", I said with a triumphant smile.

"How did you manage to do it? Make Dorris a CEO?",Paula asked.

"Oh! It was simple. Steven hacked the computer of Blake's secretary and sent an e-mail to the entire board for an urgent conference to which Dorris was invited as well. When they got there, Blake wasn't there because he was with me. Now, Bryan was supposed to e-mail Dorris, Blake's confession about his involvement in Matthew's accident but that was never recorded. So, as a plan B, Steven sent her the security camera footage..."

Adrian interjected,"Let me guess...you asked Dorris to tell them that you were gonna release it to the media and once Blake's reputation was tarnished, the market value of their shares would drop, followed by Blake's conviction and prison sentence causing further drop of the value of their shares so their only option was to vote Blake out and who better to run Walters Pacific than another Walters... that is genius!"

"And still you can't get the CEO position at your own company?",Charlotte frowned.

I laughed," In my company, I don't want people to comment that I hacked my way in. I want to be the only choice, not the only option."

"Wait! You didn't tell us what her end of the deal was.", Adrian exclaimed.

"All I wanted her to do was to take Blake's place, that was her end of the deal." I lied.

No trade is successful if it's one sided, she might have helped me by taking Blake's position but still, what I did for her was a huge favour and I had found a good way to make her repay for it...but at the moment, I wasn't very sure about Adrian's alliances and I didn't want to screw things up for myself.

Adrian murmured something but I chose to ignore it and went upstairs.

Later, Charlotte walked into my room with a blue envelope.

She said,"Well there is a New Year Eve party that I have been invited to."

"Who is hosting?", I asked.

"The Crawfords. They are good friends of ours. I have a plus one you know.", she waved the envelope eagerly as she sat on top of my bed.

"I'll pass. People will know what happened. I don't want their pity."

"I think they will be more scared than sympathetic, to be honest. You just dethroned the businessmen of the year."

"Ex- you mean. His title is being revoked.",I said with an eerie satisfaction.

"Oh! See, you just proved my point."

"I really don't feel like it and can't you just take Bryan?"

"Bryan is Adrian's plus one.",she rolled her eyes.

"What?", I chuckled,"You sure your boyfriend i..."

"Shut up, Nessa!",Charlotte threw a pillow at me as I burst into laughter.

"I have a dress for you.", She batted her eyelashes.

"What colour?"

"Black. Suits your current reputation.", she grinned.

"Please tell me it has sleeves.",I sighed.

"It doesn't. Why?", Charlotte asked, confused,"There will be a central heater inside. You know, right?"

"It's not because of the cold. Its...I will need a lot of concealer.",I smiled sadly.

"Oh! So...",Charlotte sighed.

"I'll go."

"What?", her eyes lit up.

"Yeah. I will be sulking here anyway so I'll go."

"I'll get the dress.", She sprang up from the bed and left the room.

■■■

I walked up the stairs, alongside Charlotte. She handed the invitation card to the gatekeeper and then looked back at me. She looked beautiful in the tea rose dress with a flattering sweetheart neckline. Her blonde hair cascaded down her shoulder, perfectly framing her face. She placed her hand on my arm and said,"Everything is going to be okay. You shouldn't be ashamed or scared. You stood up for yourself and brought a man to justice, you are a badass. You should be proud. Understood?"

I smiled and the next moment, she turned around and was gone.

I walked inside and took my position at the top of the flight of stairs leading to the party. I told my name to the guy supposed to announce each guest's arrival and the moment he announced mine, all heads turned towards me and I froze, my nails digging into the small handbag with my phone, wallet and other essentials, that I had insisted on bringing just in case I wasn't feeling up to it and I wanted to leave.

I looked down at all the faces staring at me, some already whispering while others boring holes into me with their questioning eyes and I felt my confidence draining away.

I tried to calm my nerves, repeating under my breath,"Fake it till you make it" as I put on the most believable smile and walked down the stairs and through the crowd.

It wasn't long before the people forgot about me...or did they?

I got myself a glass of champagne and looked around the room for people I knew. I spotted Charlotte but she was with Bryan and Adrian was talking to the host but even if he was free I wouldn't have talked to him anyway.

He was horrible.

Then I saw someone familiar,very familiar and extremely dear to me. I quickly went over to say hello.

"Hello cupcake!", I smiled, picking up a vanilla cupcake with fancy blue icing on top of it.

Since there was no one I could or I really wanted to talk to, I began treating myself to the delicacies from the buffet table.

"Leave some for me too.",Charlotte chuckled, picking up a plate for herself.

"I'm bored.",I sighed.

"Well, you aren't talking to anyone here. One of the best part about these parties is meeting people."

"Not when you are making the headlines.",I said, gulping down a chocolate cookie.

"It is still two hours to midnight.", Bryan checked his watch.

"You both go enjoy, I'll be fine."

"You sure?", they asked in unison.

I smiled,"Yeah, go."

Who was I kidding? I was going to be miserable.

Maybe they were right, I should go talk to people. If I can avoid people for so long, how difficult could avoiding a topic be.

I pulled down my short halter dress and ran my hand through my beach waves, which had taken me an hour to perfect and then walked towards the crowd, scanning for potential acquaintances.

Once I began talking to people, I actually felt better. I almost forgot last night had happened, I felt confident until a couple came up to me. They introduced themselves and then went on to ask if I was fine after what happened.

Suddenly, everyone I had small talked with wanted to know just one thing,"What happened to Blake and did I do it?"

People began swarming around me like reporters wanting just a piece of information to blow it out of proportion and form a new story, only these weren't reporters, they were people in the social circle I was going to be associated with so I couldn't avoid or ignore their questions. I had to answer them.

Suddenly the whole party was about me and not in a good way.

It wasn't long before I felt completely overwhelmed and my typical response,"I'm fine. No I don't know anything about Dorris!", started to become less and less believable.

Everyone here hated Blake with a passion, they all either belonged to the rival group of companies or were neutral and trusted their friends' opinions on Walters Pacific. None of this helped me forget what a monster Blake was.

The memories of last night came flooding back into my head and the voices of the people around me began to fade.

I recalled how I sat with a gun pointed to my head, how Blake called me a bitch over and over again, how he got distracted when the police arrived and I punched him using the opportunity, making the gun fall out of his hand, how the police then grabbed hold of him and handcuffed him, how every part of my body ached. It still ached, I almost wanted it to.

I had flushed the painkillers given to me. It helped me forget the mental agony and that one horrid thought but it was here now. I was thinking about it again, just like I had a minute before the police had arrived.

I tightly clutched the skirt of my black halter dress as a sudden uneasiness began to develop in the pit of my stomach and I could feel the beads of sweat forming on my forehead, trickling down the side of my face.

I didn't want to think about it, I didn't. I didn't want to die, I was afraid that if the police had been a minute late, I would be dead but that was not what scared me the most.

The thought that frightened me was what if I did die...who was going to grieve for me? Nate would be happy that his competition was gone, Dad wouldn't have to choose anymore, Jennifer and Jacob could get rid of the awkwardness whenever they had a family dinner, Kate would eventually forget me too, Adrian was anyway lying to me, he'd be happy he wouldn't have to explain things to me and Charlotte and I at that point of time were not in a good place. As for Eric and Sarah, they could find a new friend...

So who the hell would grieve me? People would be happier if I was dead. So was Blake the monster or was I? Should he have killed me? I...

"Excuse me, guys. Vanessa, could I speak to you for a minute?", a hand grabbed my bruised one and I winced, breaking my train of unfortunate thoughts. Before I could turn around to see who it was, I was being drawn out of the midst of the crowd.

I just walked, shutting my eyes to avoid all the questioning glances when out of a blue, cold air hit me. I gasped, crossing my arms and my breath changed into mist as it rose up into the night sky. A warm jacket was put on top of me and I quickly wrapped myself in it, only to realise that it was the same jacket I had arrived in.

I looked at who had helped me and I found a pair of lying blue eyes next to me. I averted my gaze and mumbled,"It's cold out here."

There was so much silence in comparison to the party inside, with the music playing and the people talking that he easily heard me. He replied,"Its noisy in there. I don't understand that with everything that is going on, why would you want to be here?"

I leaned on the white rails of the spacious balcony and sighed, "To forget everything that is going on."

"What's bothering you?",he asked before murmuring,"God, that is a stupid question."

"I'm fine, Adrian.", I said, with a mechanical smile.

"So you are going to lie to me just like you lied to the others?"

"Well, you lied to me just like the others, so why not?",I narrowed my eyes.

Adrian sighed,"About that. I still need to explain."

"Save it. I don't want to hear why, despite his fraud, Nate was a better choice for being a CEO. My being gullible enough to believe you was all the proof required, wasn't it?"

He widened his eyes in horror,"Nate? What? Hell No. No, no, no. No wonder you hate me. Vanessa, oh god! I am not...I repeat, not helping Nate, I never was."

"Don't lie to me, Adrian. I am sick of it.",I yelled, exasperated and exhausted.

"I was going to help you get the CEO position, just not in the way you wanted.",Adrian said, calmly.

"What do you mean?",I lowered my pitch.

"I was going to expose Nate during the conference."

"What? What happened to not doing that as it would affect the employees and dad?"

"Well, since I was going to reveal it to the board, they would put pressure on Nate to step down. The word wouldn't go out, they are well aware of the consequences."

"And what about dad?"

"He would never know about your involvement and as for his relationship with Nate, I know you love him but he needs to see how stupid he was to prioritise a traitor over you."

"I wanted this on my own merit, not because of someone else's fault."

"You will still have to prove yourself. Since you will be the only other option left, the board will have to take a vote, whether to stick with you or look for other alternatives. That is why I had been putting emphasis on your rapport with them."

"I am not convinced. You and I didn't get along that well, back when you lied to me. You wouldn't do this unless you had something in this for you.",I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, poking a finger at his chest.

"I...",Adrian began but I interrupted him, as a realisation dawned upon me,"Oh my God! This isn't about me or Nate, it is about you. You were going to withdraw your investments!"

Adrian clenched his jaw.

I was right!

"I read the contract between Hudson Enterprises and Greys & Co. thrice. There was a clause that in case any mishandlings were found, you would be able to withdraw your investments and you were going to use this to your benefit, weren't you?"

"Nate would return the money back, there would be no need for my investments.",Adrian explained.

"If you didn't want to do this, why agree in the first place?, I asked furiously.

"Do you think I wanted to do this? My relationship with my father has always been on edge and his forcing me to help his friend out didn't make things better. What do you think my recent disagreement with my father was about? Even though I am the CEO, he always somehow gets to decide what is best for who.", He said in frustration.

I recalled the fights between Adrian and his dad from the day we had the snowball fight.

It all made sense now. Dad was Matthew's friend, Adrian didn't really have any profit in this investment, he could have used the money to invest n companies like Montexo. That would guarantee a promising return. Our partnership was purely sentimental and Adrian wasn't one for sentiments but then what about what I had with him...

It couldn't be fake, could it?

"What about us? Is whatever you and I have a part of this plan too?",I asked hopelessly, sinking down to the floor.

Adrian knelt down to my level and cupped my face in his hand,"Don't you ever think that way! Except for not telling you about my plan to expose Nate and withdraw investments, I have been honest with you, always. I swear."

"You swear? How can I trust that you mean it.", I said, turning away.

"You tell me. Do you really think what we have is not real?", he sat down next to me and entwined his hand with mine.

I looked back at his bright blue eyes, thinking of all that had happened this past month.

Him coming over to check on me after Rebecca spilled wine on my dress, him allowing me to drive his Lamborghini...that was even before we talked about Nate's mishandling...

I had told him about Jacob and Jennifer, something I had never done before, he took me to Hudson Estate when I was reluctant to, we dozed off drinking wine at his penthouse, he...

This had to be real, if it wasn't, I don't know what was.

"Why didn't you tell me about this, is that how much you trust me?",I asked, looking down at our entwined hands.

"You didn't tell me about Blake, why?"

"I was afraid you'd react."

"I was afraid of the same thing and anyway, when you told me about Nate's fraud and that you didn't want to use it, I was honestly shocked. That was not a very business sound decision but I got where you were coming from, the respect of the the board and the employees means a lot to you...however, there was no straight path to your destination. We had to take what we had in front of us and I knew how stubborn you could be, so I thought that if you didn't agree to it, I'd just do it myself. As for my interests, I had been looking for a way to get out of the partnership, even before I met you, so when you told about this, I grabbed the opportunity. It was strictly business. Whatever happened between us was...unexpected and very unplanned."

I nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

"By the way if it makes things better, I am not going to withdraw my investments now, not until you feel comfortable to run the company without the financial backing."

"Why not?",I frowned.

"Because things changed. It was just a business deal before, something my father had forced upon me but now, it is not just that, is it?",he smiled, before standing up and lending me his hand to get up off the floor.

I dusted my dress and then deadpanned,"So basically, you are going to let me exploit you as we have a thing going on?"

He threw his head back and laughed," That sounds really bad when you put it like that."