Chapter 1 Where Is My Love?

• Evelyn stood outside the apartment door. It was thundering, and the rain was pouring down hard. She had forgotten her umbrella at home. Clutching her stomach, she pounded on the door.
• “Oliver? My love? Let me in; I have something important to share with you.” She cried out to no avail.
• She moved the doormat on the floor to find a spare key, and she opened the door to a silent apartment. To her surprise, the apartment that her boyfriend had lived in was completely empty. She took out her phone to call her boyfriend.
• “Hello?” A crisp and monotonous voice answered.
• “Oliver, where are you? And why is your apartment empty? “Evelyn asked frantically.
• “I’m sorry, Evelyn. I wanted to tell you this earlier, but I didn’t know how to. My grandmother fell ill, and I needed to go take care of her, so I moved away. I hope that you can be free in your life and forget about me.”
• Evelyn struggled to breathe. “No, no, no! This can’t be! Oliver, you promised to start a family with me; you promised to love me!”
• “I do love you, and I always will. Sometimes things change. I wanted to create a family with you, but I have to take care of my grandmother.” Oliver explained, “I think that it’ll be better for both of us to move on with our lives and not contact each other anymore.”
• “Oliver, you can’t do this to me. I’ve loved you each and every day; if I have to move across the country to be with you, I will. Where are you? ”
• Oliver sighed. “Evelyn, you need to move on. I’m not telling you where I am; this is the end of our relationship. Please don’t contact me.”
• Three loud beeps rang in her ear. Evelyn clutched her stomach and fell to the floor in a heap, her tears blending in with the sound of the rain as they hit the floor. She opened her purse and grabbed an ultrasound picture. Evelyn wiped her tears as she stared at it to see her two-week-old fetus.
• “It’s going to be okay, little one.”
• ***
• Evelyn groggily got out of bed as she rubbed her belly. She was now 9 months along and was about to give birth at any moment. Evelyn slid her feet into her slippers and went into the kitchen, where she saw her best friend, Sophie Adams, waiting for her. She sat down and looked at the stack of bills lined up on the counter. She held her breath as she looked through them; they were all past due.
• Sophie snatched the bills from her hands and said, “You shouldn’t look at those; it’s bad for the baby.”
• Evelyn groaned, “It will be even worse for the baby if we don’t have a place to lay our heads at night.”
• “Don’t worry about that; I’ll figure it out.”
• Evelyn shook her head. “It’s not fair for only you to be responsible for the bills. I’ve applied for a job, and I have an interview on Wednesday.”
• “But they won’t hire a pregnant woman!” Sophie argued.
• “You’re right, but I’m due tomorrow, so I won’t be a pregnant woman any longer.”
• Sophie sighed. “You’re so stressful. I told you that I could handle this; I don’t want you working two days after giving birth. I won’t allow it.”
• Evelyn smirked. “Try and stop me.”
• ***
• Two years later, Evelyn found herself speed-walking towards the EcoEnergix office with a tray of 10 coffees in her hand after being transferred to headquarters. She raced into the building without spilling a drop of coffee, and then she raced towards the elevator as she saw a man about to push a button.
• “Wait for me!” She screamed.
• She ran into the elevator and exhaled a sigh of relief. Evelyn turned to see a tall, sinewy man. He was pale with brunette hair. His lips were thin and a soft pink, and he had a cleft chin. Evelyn scanned him up and down and then met his eyes. The man had low-set eyebrows and steel-gray eyes. Evelyn couldn’t help but admire his beauty, but then she was snapped out of her head and brought back to reality when the man cleared his throat.
• “Can I help you?” He asked enigmatically.
• “Uh no, I’m just trying to get to the meeting room; what about you?” She asked. The least she could do was try to talk to this handsome gentleman and not let the opportunity pass.
• “I’m also attending a meeting. Are you a director of some sort?”
• “No… I’m an office assistant!” She chirped.
• The man nodded. “Are you working under Secretary Victoria Harrington?”
• Evelyn chortled, “Oh, how I wish. I’m a generic office assistant; anybody higher than me who has a deliberate job purpose can just call on me, and I’ll do their bidding. I have a team of people who I work under. The ones that haven’t advanced far up in the company yet and don’t have their own assistants.”
• “Do you enjoy your work?”
• This time Evelyn could not hold back and let out an unbridled guffaw: “You are a comedic man; of course I do not enjoy my work. I only work to survive.” She explained.
• They had reached the third floor, and as much as Evelyn wished she could wallow in the handsome comedian’s presence, she had work to do. Evelyn strutted to the meeting room and set up the table. She watched as the men piled into the room, only to realize that the last man was the man that she was in the elevator with! He sat in the CEO’s seat—it was Chairman Alexander Sterling!
• Secretary Harrington came waltzing into the meeting room and dismissed Evelyn. Evelyn gawked at Chairman Alexander for a few more seconds before she turned on her heel and left.
• Evelyn leaned onto the building as she pulled out a photo of her and Oliver. She missed him dearly. She held her breath and exhaled as the tears brimmed up in her eyes. Evelyn hadn’t allowed herself to mourn her relationship yet; instead, she was in constant survival mode. A macilent woman with tight blond curls and plump red lips shook Evelyn out of her thoughts as she snapped her fingers at her.
• The woman had multiple shopping bags lined up on her arm, and she shook her finger in Evelyn’s face and said, “Excuse me! Don’t you hear me talking to you? Take me to Alexander, right now!”
• “Ma’am, if you would like to make an appoin-”
• “I don’t have to! Alexander is my boyfriend. I demand to speak to him immediately!” The woman cut Evelyn off.
• Evelyn sighed. “Ma’am, can I have your name? Maybe there is an appointment in the system for you, and I can bring you to see Chairman Alexander after his meeting.”
• The woman scowled. “How can you not know my name? I’m Sienna Hartman. You’ve probably seen me on TV.”
• Realization suddenly dawned on Evelyn. Chairman Alexander was known to have many mistresses, and Sienna Hartman must’ve been one of them. It was well known that he would only pick the most attractive and elite woman to wear around his arm for a day.
• “Right this way, Miss Sienna.” Evelyn spoke as she ushered Sienna Hartman into the corridor.
• She called up Secretary Harrington only to be told that now it was her job to send away the mistresses and tell them to never come back. Evelyn frowned as she looked at Sienna. She knew that Sienna would be outraged by this and would react angrily. She put on her best smile.
• “Miss Sienna, it seems that Chairman Alexander will no longer need your company. If you’d like, I can grab someone to escort you back outside.”
• “What do you mean!? He’s my boyfriend, and he loves me! You’re mistaken!” Sienna Hartman started to shout. “I’ll tell him to fire you!”
• Sienna started to draw a crowd towards them with her unwarranted howling. Suddenly, Chairman Alexander came up behind Sienna and tapped her on the shoulder. Sienna dropped all the bags that she was once guarding and hugged Chairman Alexander tightly.
• “Oh honey! This wretch of a woman told me that you didn’t love me anymore!” She cried.
• “You can leave now.” Alexander Sterling spoke listlessly as guards came to drag Sienna Hartman out of the building. “Come to my office.” He said this as he stared into Evelyn’s eyes.
• Evelyn gulped and then nodded. She couldn’t even muster the courage to imagine what he would say to her. In her mind, she was already fired and was being given a verbal beating. Evelyn followed behind him as he headed up to his office.
• As soon as he shut the door, she sat in one of the seats and started anxiously shaking her leg.
• “Don’t worry, I’m not going to punish you.” He exclaimed as he pushed the paper on the desk forward towards her.
• “What is this?” Evelyn asked as her eyes scanned over the piece of paper. On the paper, she could read ‘Marriage Contract’ and she was stupefied.
• “I’ve had my lawyers look over this. I’ve been looking for someone to marry to appease my parents. I have no intention of loving you; I just think that you’re someone who will keep them happy and distracted. If you choose to sign this contract and marry me, you’ll have to live in the same house as me, and whenever we go anywhere with my parents, you will have to pretend like we’re a happy couple.”
• I gulped once more. “Sir, how will this benefit me?”
• He smirked as if he were waiting for this question: “You’ll receive an allowance of $250,000 a month. Not only that, but you’ll live quite an exquisite life. Well, for the duration of the contract anyway.”
• “And how long will this contract be?”
• “This contract will be 3 years long. The salary is $3,000,000 a month; if you’re not happy with that, then I don’t know what will bring you joy.”
• Evelyn quickly grabbed the pen and signed her name, unwilling to let this opportunity pass. With this contract, she could quickly get herself, Sophie, and her daughter out of the crappy apartment they had been living in for the past two years.