Shaylene

💌Chapter Eight

Annabelle Dilys Johnson

She stared at the sky through the floor to ceiling window, the next few months would be all about putting plans in action.

Becoming a part of URBANE Corp. was the easiest part. Buying enough shares from Demoré was going to prove difficult and she dreaded it.

She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. She would need to talk to Shaylene about the plans all over again.

Something didn't feel right.

It all started the moment Ethan gave her that piercing gaze at the restaurant. It was almost as though he could read her.

Mentally, she was prepared for the meeting with him but something had changed. Up close he was different from who she'd seen years ago though he still had traces _ obvious traces actually, of the guy Shaylene had described.

He was confident.

She looked down at the city. The suite she had lodged in for the night gave a great view of London. It was 8pm and lights weren't in the least dim. She shook her head and turned towards the bedroom.

No matter how much things had changed for her, she still felt like the small town girl who barely had enough to get through high school.

Her life had changed at age fifteen, after the accident that had claimed her mother's life and left her father with a broken spine.

She remembered there were days she had to depend on working double shifts at her part time jobs to get by with her Dad, till she graduated and got a university scholarship into Harvard.

Acting against the MacKenzies was tough. It wasn't like she owed them. But, just as she had been there for Shaylene at her lowest, Shaylene had been there for her also.

And she wasn't sure how she would react if she got wind of what had transpired between herself and Ethan. But he had been so close to figuring her out.

She shuddered.

While taking courses in Harvard, Massachusetts, she also volunteered at a non-governmental organization (NGO) aimed at supporting students with financial issues.

The Suaves had organized a charity gala at their residence a few years ago and the NGO where Annabelle volunteered at received an invitation as one the the beneficiaries of the proceeds gotten from the function.

She attended as a representative of the head of the organization which was where she met Shaylene.

Dressed in a Gucci A-line nude dress with accentuating nude heels, Shaylene smiled as she nodded at the words of a tall and overly bearded man who stood opposite her and looked like he was in his mid forties.

Shaylene looked like she was into the conversation but the dead giveaway was the way she held onto the young man beside her in a vice grip putting him in the same uncomfortable position she was in.

Annabelle recognized the young man as a Suave. Possibly Ethan.

She heard news about the MacKenzies only daughter and her relationship with the Suave sons but had never met either of them personally.

Shaylene looked down to earth and Anna had to give her credit for keeping the conversation with the man who was getting intrusive.

A waiter serving wine came up beside her with an array of drinks poised gracefully on a tray.

"Champagne, miss?"

Annabelle shook her head without taking her eyes off the trio.

"No. Thank you."