One Night Stand Gone Wrong

Thomas arrived at his family Villa at 4 am.

He was slightly drunk and had the beginning of a headache. He did not want to go inside despite reaching the gate. He knew what awaited him inside.

Thomas had half a mind to take a U-turn and bring his grandmother along, but he did not want to disturb his elderly grandmother.

As soon as Thomas opened the door, a vase flew at him.

He dodged but barely.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He glared at his elder sister, Emma, who was clearly out of prison.

“You tell me, what’s wrong with you? How could you let some random bitch harass your sister like that?” Thomas was not surprised to see his mother speak up for Emma.

It was one of the reasons why Emma was that spoiled.

“Mom, first of all, mind your language. She is not a bitch. Emma was the one who went and provoked her repeatedly without any rhyme or reason.”

“I spent a few months and 300 million dollars to get her to audit our company which is a shell from the inside and would have been facing bankruptcy within the next three years. It needed a clean-up, and she was the best person for the job.”

“I understand why the Greens would try to sabotage her as they did not want us to flourish and wanted to reap benefits out of our collapse. But I don’t understand why Emma, who will directly benefit from Arielle’s work, would try to sabotage her?”

Thomas tried to explain the best he could without any impact.

“Are you trying to say a random bitch would have to save PGI, a golden goose? Have you lost your mind?” His mother exclaimed.

“Mom, that is the truth, believe it or not. Emma does not know how to discern between people. If she did, she would have seen Sophia’s manipulation and would not have ended up in jail either. She ruined her reputation in PGI with her own hands.” Thomas said indifferently.

The entire scene was not new to him.

“And you let that happen? How could you do that?” His father voiced his discontent.

“I had persuaded her to drop it when she poured boiling coffee over her and treated her like a servant. It’s not my fault she dug her own grave when I was outside the office. There was no turning back from there. Miss Ward would never tolerate an attack on her reputation.”

Thomas shrugged.

“Can you stop praising that bitch in every sentence that comes out of your mouth? She is a gold-digger who took my cheque to leave you alone. And the shameless hussy ruined your sister’s reputation even after that.”

His mother exclaimed. It made him gawk at her wide eyes.

“What did you do?” Thomas asked.

“What do you think I did? I only did what I should do to save my son from gold-diggers.” Mrs. Payne said arrogantly, clearly proud of her decision.

“Hahahaha!” Thomas laughed out loud.

That alarmed everyone present, but they were still angry with Emma’s situation to care about Thomas.

Thomas calmed down and suppressed his emotions before speaking.

“Send Emma abroad. Let her earn her keep by hiding her connection to Paynes. She ought to know how hard it is to make a living. It would teach her humility. At the very least, she should be remorseful for treating her staff and household help so inhumanly.”

He looked at his father and implored, “Dad, that’s what your daughter did all those years in PGI. The staff she hired were all worthless. They only took and took from the company without adding any value. I had to replace 30% of the PGI staff to save the company from solvency. Forget about making profits.”

He continued without a pause, “If you don’t want PGI to be bankrupt, do not interfere in anything related to it or my management from now on. I managed to save it once, but if this continues, I won’t be able to do it again.”

That got everyone’s attention as they were all used to the rich life and did not know how to live without extravagant means.

Emma, however, was not reconciled, “You are just lying to get rid of me, you bastard.”

Mr. Payne countered his daughter, “Do not be agitated, darling. He is not lying. When he first took over, he showed me the books. The company was indeed only a few years away from bankruptcy.”

That shocked everyone as their protests died down.

Emma’s matter got shelved.

They unanimously agreed to never interfere in his management. Emma went abroad, though it was to have fun and relax rather than learn and grow.

Thomas made his way to Arielle’s apartment with a heavy feeling in his heart.

He began to understand why she had resolutely broken up. Perhaps, she had waited for him to explain and apologize, but he never did. He did not even know about his mother seeking her out.

As soon as Thomas entered the code, he felt his heart drop. His worst suspicions were confirmed.

She was gone.

She must have called him for the last goodbye or perhaps to give him another chance, but he had deprioritized her despite being right at the gate and turned back.

No wonder she left.

He looked at a sealed briefcase which was locked. On top of it was a note, “The password is the date we met on the bar. DDMM format.”

He opened the briefcase, and the topmost was a 5-million-dollars-cheque given by his mother, and then there were multiple files related to work.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Beneath the cheque was a sealed envelope. Thomas opened it to find a simple Platinum band without any inscriptions.

With it was a simple note.

“I wanted you to be the first man for whom I bought a ring or any jewelry. You can wear it on your pinky if that’s not too much to ask. Until we see each other again, please be happy!”

Thomas tried to force it on his ring finger, but it was too tight and would not go. He had no choice but to put it on his pinky instead.

He vowed to find her, make her fall for him again, and spend a lifetime with her.