Chapter 16

"Today my client here has managed to conquer and win back the love of his life. One advice to you Young men out there is to never leave the woman you love because when you do, someone else is willing to take your place",

"You'll have to spend eternity trying to get her and regretting. Remember no woman is a toy, give them some liberty but shower them with love constantly which is a significant promise that you will be there for her always".

As the words of the famous "Love Doctor", poured out graciously from the speakers of the Audi, Stephen fell into deep thoughts.

After soliloquizing to himself, he proceeded to park his car beside the bridge close to a famous FIVE STAR hotel, the Love doctor's words got him reminiscing on his ways and forceful attitude, his arrogance, selfishness, possessiveness and pride towards her.

Their first date and first time meeting was disastrous; he brought his work over while totally ignoring her presence which made her leave angrily.

Fate shone it's lucky face on him and he managed to see her once more as a worker in Calli's establishment, he promised to amend his ways but did nothing similar to what he promised, as he was always forcing, bullying and scaring her.

Now he understood that her sudden resentment and recoil towards him was all his fault.

His question now was; is it too late to write his wrongs and prove to her that he could be a better man?.

Quickly, he dashed back to his car, stepped on the brakes and drove straight to the garage where he threw her out.

On getting there, there were no traces of Veda except her necklace on the floor, he was thrown into a state of panic.

"Haven't you seen a tall and slender woman in a red short satin dress and silver heels to match?", Stephen questioned nearly everyone until he decided to go get information from the security guards.

"The one you threw out?", the bald and fat guard asked while munching on a sandwich.

"I didn't...", Stephen tried to defend himself but was interrupted when the other gestured towards the CCTV footage playing on the monitor.

"You did, look what you did right there", another in a ponytail said much to Stephen's disgust.

"Well she got a ride from Conglomerate Lance. He's a pretty handsome dude you know", the guards said before reeling into laughter.

Stephen sighed at the thought of how she must have been embarrassed and how she must have felt when he threw her out.

He decided to take matters into his own hands by tracking her , he had installed his company's new project, A tracking device that could literally track someone around any part of the world and pinpoint the exact location without glitches and right then it displayed that she was at a bar named "All Nighter".

While driving towards the location, he quickly memorized an apology he wanted to say to her but as he walked into the bar, the sight he saw was not a pleasing one but he watched on.

"Cry it all out so that you can forget all your pain and sorrows, you know, you don't always have to stuff up everything within you", Lance advised, seizing the alcohol from her grasp and enveloped her in a warm hug.

Veda couldn't hold it in for long and burst into tears, "I didn't do sh!t", she said wailing loudly.

He raised and tilted her jaw to one side, a position he could clearly see each emotions that she felt, at that moment Lance felt vulnerable as he looked into her eyes.

He looked lost and his cool demeanor melted, when he looked at her, he knew immediately that she was all he ever wanted. After seven years of not being able to fall in love, he was suddenly feeling strings pulled at his heart.

"Why..... Why..... Why don't you forget about him Veda?, Forget about him, I'll be there for you during difficult times and good ones", he said wiping the tears that dripped down her eyes.

Veda knew that it was impossible because she was bound to Stephen and getting along with Lance would be a disaster.

Both men were powerful figures, Stephen was only sent to work under Calli's firm gaze till he could be able to handle the workload of the family and also moving the family further.

Was it even possible for her to be with Amy of them?. As far as she knew, she has a terrible background and wouldn't be accepted among the high class and how was she sure that both men were serious about her.

"You look miserable right now, he's not even here for you. You suffered in the hands of your foster parents and till now you're still suffering", Lance said. He couldn't believe he could talk too much.

He had never spoken more than some sentences to anyone.

It was true that Veda has been through a lot, her dad, Ryan, a very prestigious business man, was brutally murdered on his way back from his business trip and his company crashed .

She was left to an orphanage home and later recieved news that her mother was no more and she was later sold to her foster parents at the age of eight.

They manhandled her and starved her, they were also planning to sell her to a rich man in marriage but she managed to escape only to be raped on the streets that same night by two thugs at the age of 13.

She was later found by her foster parents who exploited her sexually for money until she could take it no longer and tried to end her life by jumping off a bridge and that was when Ann came to her rescue, promising to take care of her and build her up.

Since then, Ann managed to turn her into the woman she was today, A woman of her own making.

"Look here Lance, you're a good guy but my heart belongs to Stephen, even though he treats me bad. I love..... I love him a lot", Veda said, it was more like she was trying to convince herself.

She didn't even know what true love was, she had not even felt true love. After being thrown into an orphanage at a young age by her relatives and her mother who never cared to check on her till her death.

She couldn't help but ask what true love was.