Fighting Destiny

by Annalisa Simon

  Fighting Destiny

  By

  Annalisa Simon

  Fighting Destiny

  Text Copyright © 2014 Fully In Love Publishing

  All rights reserved. Except for use in book reviews, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part, in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage or retrieval system in any form or by any means, whether electronic or manual, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author.

  All characters in this book exist only within the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. More information about the author and other books and media produced by the author can be found at her official website.

  This book contains material suitable for mature audiences, 18 years and older.

  Summary

  BEHIND EVERY HEART OF STONE IS A HEART THAT IS AFRAID TO LOVE...

  Darius Brogan is a handsome, rich, wildly successful, and highly admired hotel chain owner. He’s a billionaire who seems to have it all, and is on the guest list for every high society event, with the pick of any companion that he chooses. But, he would leave it all behind just for a chance to take back every callous word he’s said to his ex-wife Candasee and regain her trust and their once beautiful marriage. It’s now two years after their divorce and he can no longer hide the truth that letting her go, was the biggest mistake of his life.

  Losing Darius meant walking away from the first close-knit family Candasee ever had and away from the man who once inspired her to reach for the stars. Moving back to the land of her birth she started a new life, desperately trying to forget the one she left behind. This former attorney-at-law and now dance instructor has found the career she always wanted and the approval of a man who loves her.

  But when her job forces her to return to Derrien Island for one week to host an arts and media intensive on the island, everything she’s built looks shaky in the light of what both she and Darius are both hiding in their hearts.

  Above all things guard your heart because all the issues of life spring up out of it.

  Contents

  Summary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Note to the Reader

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  “Please remain seated and buckle your seatbelts, we are experiencing some turbulence at this time,” came the voice of the captain through the overhead speakers.

  Candasee swallowed painfully as she struggled to dislodge the ball of fear now painfully wedged in her throat. If the turbulence shaking this plane was a prediction of the kinds of experiences awaiting her on Derrien Island, she wanted this lumbering jet to turn right around and return to the familiar, safe shores in her homeland, Barbados! She refused to die this way, not when things in her life just began looking up again.

  The plane took another frightful dip, followed by a tooth grinding shudder and the pilot tried his best to calm the occupants with an amazingly calm voice.

  It wasn’t just the fact that she hated storms but she hated flying, period! To make matters worse she was flying back to Derrien Island, the one place in the world she vowed never to return. This would now be the twentieth time that she regretted coming on this trip in the last thirty minutes. But sometimes a girl had to do what she had to do despite her sometimes irrational fears.

  Candasee’s stomach flip flopped like a fish out of water and a headache the size of Africa was now pulsing erratically in her temple. She squeezed her eyes tight, in an unsuccessful attempt to block out the chaos in the flight cabin, taking deep slow breaths to calm her nerves. Every few seconds another passenger shrieked in panic and she was sure that she was going to be sick soon!

  This was absolutely ridiculous! The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and completely welcoming when the plane took off, and the trip had seemed so promising at the time. In a show of bravado, she’d even decided that today she would face her fear of heights and sit in the window seat. She had chosen the window seat to enjoy the scenery below, but now looking at the ominous display of the lightning flashing in the angry, dark clouds, she wished that she was sitting where her fiancé was seated, on the aisle.

  That earlier sense of optimism was rapidly fading, as mocking grey clouds billowed ominously outside the window threatening to dissolve all of the resolve she thought she’d built up. This would make anyone a believer in omens and signs. What on earth made her think that she could actually sneak back onto Derrien Island and remain unseen for the next eight days?

  As she thought about it now, the very idea was too laughable for words. It was as though the storm was mocking her and shaking her out of the pitiful fantasy that she could ever be so close to ‘him’ again without it totally dismantling the secure shell that she’d finally built around her heart and her life. He’d betrayed her and hurt her like no one else ever had and the very thought of seeing him again rattled her to her very core.

  Well, now there was no going back, Candasee thought silently. In a few minutes, she would be back on the island she’d called home for four years, hoping to escape the attention of the man she divorced two years ago. With his usually packed work and travel schedule and the elite circles he socialized in, staying out of his way was theoretically possible. After all, her hotel was more suited to a more budget conscious vacation, rather than the luxury with which she had become accustomed while living with him. Besides, he was probably still too full of pride to even consider associating with ordinary folk, she thought as her lingering resentment left a bitter taste in her mouth.

  As she continued to inflict a death grip on both of her armrests she felt a familiar warm hand prise one of them away gently giving it a reassuring squeeze.

  “We are going to be fine, just relax, I’m here with you!” whispered her fiancé Nathan into her left ear. Feeling too stiff with fear, she didn’t turn her head or speak, but kept her eyes closed and swallowed deeply willing herself to be calm and to enjoy the warmth of the hand now holding hers. But not even that comfort could erase the torturous memory of Darius’ face from her mind’s eye; the man she’d unsuccessfully tried to forget for the last two years.

  “We have begun our descent into the Derrien Island International airport. Things are a bit choppy up here but we are going to do our best to get you all to your destination safely. Try to relax and keep your seatbelts fastened. Would the flight crew please prepare the cabin for arrival!” instructed the captain over the speakers.

  Candasee took a deep breath, it would all soon be over. She was a survivor and this was not the worst thing she’d faced in her life. This plane would land safely, she would make it through these next eight days and then she would go back home where she belonged.

  “Forty more minutes ‘til the next meeting!” Darius yawned and s
ighed aloud, to himself. He loosened his tie slightly before reclining into a sleek, black, leather armchair and sipping on a cold glass of water. Placing one shiny black shoe onto the foot rest in front of him, he admired the fierce display of the thunderstorm as the lightning etched itself into the clouds with violet fury. He had always admired the raw power of an electrical storm and today was no different. A thunderstorm was the display of nature’s power at its best and for him it was pure inspiration. A billion dollar fortune was made by staring the impossible in the face, taking risks and bravely going the extra mile to make one’s name known around the world in business. Success had to be seized forcefully or else no one would take you seriously. Power was a big part of his life.

  This freak storm wasn’t uncommon in the tropics at this time of the year and the weather had been unstable these past few weeks. Long rivulets of water raced across the fifteen foot, floor to ceiling glass wall like mini-streams, outside his penthouse office suite located on the top floor of the Derrien Island Grande Spa Resort. The transparent wall charged the room with the effect of being on the zenith of the world. So, whenever he looked outside, there was only the promise of expansion as far as the eye could see and new opportunities to be seized. It was like having VIP balcony seats to all that happened in the skies and on the earth beneath and he loved it.

  As he continued to watch the storm, his thoughts drifted to his wife, well ex-wife, as he recalled just how much she’d hated these storms and this particular window to the world. They were complete opposites, fire and ice, and maybe that was the reason for the fierce attraction they shared when they first met. Four years of marriage was the result of that passion, and when it ended Darius swore he would forever close his heart to the notion of love after that! But despite his best efforts to distract himself by working long hours and travelling the world to cut business deals which increased his fortune, her memory only became more and more entrenched in his system.

  Darius’ cell phone vibrated suddenly on the table, startling him out of his thoughts and for a moment he wondered if he should bother to answer it. After checking the caller ID he changed his mind immediately and picked it up.

  “Ramon, what’s up?” he asked the man who had become one of the few men he considered a close friend within the last year. In fact, he’d become his best friend.

  “I’m doing well, what about you?” Ramon replied.

  “It’s hard to complain when you live and work at the top of the world on a day like this my friend!” said Darius smiling and reclining against the chair.

  Ramon shook his head laughed as he pictured his friend looking out over the landscape from his office suite. There were few men he knew who willingly faced risk and danger with such bold indifference. It was one of the things about Darius which both scared him and won his admiration at the same time.

  “Only you Darius would say something like that.”

  “True but it’s just who I am,” Darius replied with a smile as he pictured the disapproving frown on Ramon’s face. “So do you have good news for me?” he asked changing the topic.

  Ramon was the CEO of Belham Event Planning and he had the reputation for planning events which were elegant, unusual and smoothly executed. Darius hired him to plan and cater his mother’s engagement party.

  “Yes and no. We managed to secure all of the helicopters for the party but now the owner is trying to squeeze some extra money out of the deal. I tried to get him to see reason but he somehow got word that you are the one organizing the event and the price has now gone up.”

  “How much extra are we talking about?” Darius asked lazily tracing his initials into the condensed beads of water on the side of his glass with his thumb.

  “Another fifty thousand! Can you believe the nerve of that man?” Ramon exclaimed with a snort of disgust.

  “Okay, I’ll contact my accountant to add the extra funds to the event account,” Darius replied without hesitation.

  “Darius you spend money like a tap running water! I am sure I could’ve gotten him to back down,” Ramon protested.

  “No it isn’t worth it. Besides, he is the only provider in the area and he’s smart enough to know that we don’t have any other options. With the party only three days away I can’t afford to have our only transportation messed up. It’s fine!”

  “Okay then, well that was the first point, now the second. The weather has been pretty unstable these past few weeks. I want to put together a back-up plan in case we get bad weather that night. I want everything to be perfect.”

  “The weather wouldn’t dare pull any stunts like this then. My mother deserves to have her wish come true. It’s been a long time coming,” Darius growled defiantly.

  “Yeah I couldn’t agree more, but do consider it though! There are some things not even you can control and the weather just happens to be one of them.”

  The weather and Candasee, thought Darius sadly as he recalled just why she’d divorced him. He exhaled loudly before replying.

  “Okay, if we run into problems with the weather we can host the party in the grand ballroom here at the hotel instead but I know we won’t need that option.”

  “Okay, I’ll bear that in mind. I will send someone over tomorrow to make some preliminary measurements just in case we need to make a quick switch over,” Ramon replied.

  “That’s fine, just let the events department know.”

  “So Darius, I don’t want to pry but how are your plans to reconcile with Candasee coming along. Is she going to be at the party?”

  At the mention of his ex-wife’s name Darius felt his heart contract painfully. He would love nothing more than to see her right now and to tell her how much he wished things could be different between them.

  “I put those plans on hold again. I was thinking about visiting her in October for her birthday but I don’t think she would appreciate that. I guess I’m still stalling!”

  The only time Ramon ever heard a tinge of resignation in Darius’ voice was when he talked about Candasee. Even after two years he could see that she still had a strong hold over him. Usually he was the kind of guy to see a challenge and run straight at it, but with his ex-wife that part of him didn’t seem to exist anymore.

  “You’ve been stalling for almost a year now. You do know that she will eventually move on with her life!”

  “I know and sometimes I think that might be the best thing for her too,” Darius confessed.

  “Where is my man Darius and what have you done to him?” laughed Ramon in disbelief. “Are you telling me that if your ex-wife were to tell you today that she was getting married to someone else that you would just accept it!”

  The thought of Candasee marrying someone else added a twist to the painful contraction he’d felt earlier. That would probably finish off what was left of his heart, he thought silently, unable to respond.

  “Your silence is enough of an answer for me friend,” Ramon replied. “Look I have tons more to deal with here at the office and then I am going home to my lovely wife. We’ll talk later.”

  “Yes, enjoy and say hello to Courtney for me!” said Darius as he clicked off the call.

  His thoughts were already drifting further away. Being with Candasee was the best thing that had happened to him in his adult life and that was an understatement considering that opportunity always tended to flow easily toward him. His lifestyle was one that many people envied intensely. But with Candasee that wasn’t the case! He found out that she wasn’t as predictable as an investment nor as eager to please him as his business partners were. She had her own mind and although he loved that about her, it was that very desire of hers to be independent of him that had rubbed him raw to the core.

  Ever since their divorce and even more since the Belham’s second wedding a year and a half ago, she’d played a starring role in all of his daydreams and night dreams too. His Candee, his Candasee. If only he could turn back the hands of time, there was so much that he would have done differen
tly!

  Shaking his head to clear away the memories, Darius stood up and walked over to the glass wall to look down upon the surrounding grounds below. His office was situated on the eleventh floor of the hotel, so he was far away from what was transpiring below. But this elevation did offer him a panoramic view of the Caribbean Sea to the right and the tropical inland regions as he panned his vision to the left. What met his sight wasn’t surprising at all! The ocean, instead of being its usual sparkling turquoise was now a murky grey, as soil and sand washed into the pounding surf. The beaches were deserted and there was no sign of activity there. The roads surrounding the hotel property showed signs of flooding though and he immediately thought to call down to the front desk to ensure there were no immediate issues with the guests.

  Candasee had always said he could be quite self-centred, mulish and what was it, oh yes myopic was the word she’d often used. Maybe to some extent she was right! After all here he was upstairs enjoying the storm while the rest of the island was surely under some kind of flood watch by now.

  Striding over to his desk, Darius sat and dialled the number at the front desk of his hotel. After speaking to the on duty reservations manager he was assured that the property had suffered no damage and all of the guests heeded all of the warnings to stay inside and be safe during the sudden bad weather. Breathing a sigh of relief at that good news, Darius hung up the phone and began to prepare for his next meeting.

  For three days, his hotel would have the pleasure and prestige of hosting a world class travel and tourism show which would be travelling all over Derrien Island to capture its beauty. It was none other than, “Where In the World Is Sally Flanders?” the most watched and highly rated travel show on one of the major North American cable networks. Sally Flanders only came to luxury destinations where the visitor reviews were highly rated. So, it was a definite honour for her production team to consider making his hotel her base of operations during her time on the island.