Chapter 1

Immediately after work, she drove to his place. She has been able to secure the divorce papers wthin a week.

She slammed the door open.

"Geez!!! You wanna break my door or what?!" He shouted standing up to face her.

"I want to know something. Why are you cheating on me?" She asked

"Because I want to " he simply said. Taking a deep breath, she spoke, "please stop cheating on me"

" who are you to tell me what to do? Have you forgotten your place in this marriage? I help you with your family issues, and you become my wife to make me look good" he chuckled

"Okay. Then i want a divorce"

He went to sit down and he spoke, " i'll call for a divorce when i deem it nnecessary "

"I have a say in this marriage too, you know" she stated

"Here are the divorce papers. Either you sign it or you meet me in court" she said, dropping the papers on the table.

He ignored her. She stood there a few minutes and he didn't make an attempt to even look at the document.

"I guess i'll see you in court. Its the same one we got married in. Its two days from now" she said and with that, she left; banging the door after her.

Although she was married, she and her husband never lived together as a couple.

She stormed home. She poured herself a drink when she got home.She was furious at her husband and at herself. How was she still in a marriage with a man who continuously cheated on her and called to tell her about it. She was furious at herself too because there was nothing she could do. She put herself in that situation, and also she saw it coming.

She has kept silent all this while because when her father died, her mother got traumatised by it and it was up to her to look after Bryce, her younger brother. During that hard time, it was Donal, her now husband who came through for them. After the death of her father, she placed her mother in a mental institution and struggled to keep her fathers company alive while caring for Bryce.

Bryce was always causing trouble for her. One time, he iintentionally hit another person's car with his and she was the one to pay for the damage caused. Another time, he got into a fight in school while playing soccer. He was almost suspended for two months but she pleaded with the authorities and it was reduced to four weeks. Another time, he injured a teenage boy with his car. The compensation the family was looking for, if she to pay, her father's company at that time, would go bankrupt. They were talking of suing her.

So it was at that time that she went to Donal. They were not the best of friends but they had known each other for a long time. Their family was rich. When she went to him with her request, that was when he also brought his proposal; a marriage of covenience. A win-win situation for both of them. Donal would pay the compensation and she will get married to him to make him, because she had the looks; but there were no feelings involved. She accepted his proposal without thinking twice and now, after two years of marriage, she was fed up

Two years was a long time to still keep paying off a million dollars

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At six AM, her alarm went off. She got herself a good shower. She then made an english breakfast. She wore a blue-black suit, let all her black hair fall back and then wore a black heel.

She got into her car and drove to Bryce' aapartment. She knocked on the door, and there was no response so she removed her spare key and opened the door.

His room was messy. Clothes were all over, leftovers, unwashed utensils and his room looked like it hasn't been swept for days. He was asleep on the sofa. She opened his curtains and the sunlight shone on him making him open his eyes.

"Good, you're awake. Get up and help me tidy up your room". "How can you stay at a place like this?"

"This is how i like it" he said, still laying in the sofa.

"I did not drive here to become your maid so either you help me out or you do this alone"

"Alright fine"

He picked up his clothes and his sister swept the room. She then packed all the utensils in the diswasher

"Was that so hard?"

"Yes" he replied

"Hurry up and get to work. You have about thirty five minutes"

"Okay i'll be right out of the bath so you can drive me to work"

" I'm not driving you. But make sure you get to work before eight"

"But Isla, its 7:25. My workplace is a forty minute drive from here and not to mention the traffic. It would take me an hour to get to work"

"You don't expect me to also set an alarm for you, do you?"

"That would be great" he said

"I'm not doing that. I'm teaching you to become a responsible adult. I pray you get fired to teach you a lesson"

"If i get fired it's your fault for not waking me up early. Also, if i get fired, i can come work with you in dad's company"

"My fault? I am your sister not your caretaker. If it were up to me, when you arrive late at father's company, i'll fire you on the spot. But being the good sister that i am, i listened. You told me you love arts so i found you a job at an art gallery. Don't make me regret it. Help me, help you"

After she spoke, Bryce dididn't utter a word and went to bath. Isla made him breakfast before leaving.

"Good morning madam, Good morning madam" her workers greeted as she walked to her office. She got to work at 8:10 am. She hanged her coat around her chair and took her seat ready to get on with work.

Knock Knock Knock

"Come in"

"Good morning madam"

"Good morning Caitlyn"

Caitlyn was Isla's personal assistant

"A package came in for you" Caitlyn said, handing it to her

"Who is it from?"

"It's from Bryce"

"I see. Thank you" Isla said,surprised. Caitlyn then left.

Isla begun to unwrap it. As she was unwrapping it, the telephone rang and she picked it up.

"Hi there sis. Did you receive my gift?"

"I did"

"Did your assistant tell you the time it came in?"

"No"

"Well sis, i got to work at 7:55 and since i know that if i tell you, you would think its a lie so i took the liberty to gift you something as proof"

Isla smiled

"Also, thanks for the food. I want you to know that i appreciate all you do for me and i won't make you regret helping me follow my passion".

"I have faith in you, Bryce"

"Thank you. Goodbye"

"Bye" she ended the call.

Bryce gifted Isla a painting. She hanged it on the wall with a smile on her face. She now had three paintings from Bryce.

One from when he was just ten, one from wen he started to work at the art gallery, and the last one to proof he got to work early.

Ever since the accident with the teenage boy, Bryce hasn't been able to drive his car because of the fear that he might murder someone when he drove again. He has been trying really hard to turn his life around.

Isla sometimes gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was only sixteen and she was eighteen when their father passed away. She knew it was a hard time for him since he was the closest to their father.

Before their father died, he registered two of his cars in Isla's name. In order to motivate Bryce to learn, Isla told him that if he got good grades in his final exams, she would give him one of their father's car- although she knew it wasn't the ideal thing to do.

He did surprisingly well and so Isla registered the car in his name. Since he was eighteen, he was qualified to drive- that was until the accident. After completing senior high, he went to college for a year and then decided to take a gap year( a year break from school).

Bryce told Isla he wanted to do art for his gap year. Thinking about it, she realised it was actually not a bad idea and found him a job at an art gallery.

Knock Knock Knock

"Come in" Isla responded

"Your schedule for today is ready" Caitlyn said

"You have a two hour meeting with the board, you have a general meeting after that and then comes your break. At 1pm, you have a meeting with our publisher. After that you're free. Before i forget, you have two documents to sign and that will be all."

"Alright"

Caitlyn layed the documents on her table and left.

Isla signed one document and left the other. She called Caitlyn on the telephone

"Is Mr. Emrys in?"

"No"

"Let me know when he gets in"

"Okay"

Isla got out of her office and went to Caitlyn's desk.

"At what time is the board meeting?"

"At 9AM"

"Once it's nine, please let them meet me at the conference room. I'll be waiting".

"Yes madam" Caitlyn replied .

Isla went to take her seat in the conference room waiting for the others. She sat there close to two hours, and four out of six were present.

After thirty minutes, the remaining two joined.

"Good morning everyone. This was supposed to be a two hour meeting but since you were late in coming, and i'm sure you have your reasons, i'll make this brief"

"I've noticed that we're at the verge of losing our spot as the leading magazine publishing company here in London. So it's either our workers are slacking off or we're not publishing news of needed attention or we need more workers"

"I don't think our workers are slacking off" Cresida said

"I also don't think we need more workers" Joash said

"Of course we publish important news" Emrys said

"We do? Caitlyn brought me the file you compiled to be published; asking for my signature. I don't see the need to sign it so i haven't"

"And why is that?" Emrys asked

"I respect you Mr. Emrys, but what you've compiled is nonsense".

"Nonsense??"

"Yes, nonsense. Nobody cares about some toddler who has started to walk, or someone who lives in a dumpster or someone who has wore trousers his whole life, or someone who eats nothing but leaves. Nobody cares about that. There are major things happening in the world and even in this city"

"But these are things people would like to know"

"I know that; but these aren't important"

"Your father would've appreciated me for bringing in such news"

"Like i said before Mr. Emrys, i respect you a lot. I even look up to you. But if you're expecting me to sign you a fat check or give you a hefty bonus for work a common floor member can do, i'm not going to do that. I am not my father; and don't you ever use my father to gain something from me ever again".

"How dare you speak to me in such manner. I've been here longer than you have. And you, just four years of managing this company you think you're my equal?? I won't take such disrespect from you" Emrys shouted and was about to leave when Isla spoke, "I apologise if i made you feel insulted, Mr. Emrys; but these four years that i've worked wth you, you should know this about me. I speak the honest truth"

Isla was the youngest among the board but she was the head. She dealt with them like any CEO would. Otherwise she would be seen as incompetent and her position would be given to someone else.

"Before you leave Mr. Emrys, i want to say that, please do a better job going forward" Isla said and he left angrily.

"Does anyone else here have something to tell me about my father? Or something they want to clear off their chest?"

"No" Cressida said

"I have something to say" Joash said

"Proceed" Isla said

"With how we operate now, we're slowly drifting away from your father's style of doing things. Not that it isn't good, but, do you want us to forget your father's legacy? Or are you trying to set a new legacy?" Joash asked, being careful with his words.

"I'm not setting a new legacy. My father's style of doing things suited his time. If we are to continue like that, we wouldn't be at the top; we would gradually have to close down. I'm following the trend. That's how come we all still have our jobs"

"Okay. For what is worth, i trust your leadership" Joash said

"If anyone else doesn't have anything else to say, then the meeting is adjourned"

"I want to add something" Price said

"Okay, go on" Isla said

"I think we should motivate our workers more"

"We already give them their monthly allowance and their yearly bonus; what else?"

"Just a token of acknowledgement . Not that it would be monthly, or weekly, but just once in a while"

"I see" Isla nodded

"What do you guys think? Isla asked

"I'm in favour" Cressida said

"Me too" Quinn said

"Me too" Holly said