Perfect Revenge (Revenge Series Book 1)

by Catherine Edward

  “Come on, you’re even wearing black and white now,” he said, pointing at her black skinny jeans and the white blouse. “It’s pretty obvious, panda.”

  “Are you calling me fat?” Samantha scowled. The corner of her lips twitched slightly as she bit the insides of her lips to control the laughter.

  “No, you’re cute,” he defended just like her brother, which had her burst out with laughter and she hit his shoulders playfully.

  “Okay. My turn. I know your favorite color is blue. So, what’s your favorite food?”

  Axel grinned, his eyes crinkled with laughter. “Spanish cuisine. Because mom mostly cooks Spanish dishes. I do like to try new food.”

  “I like Indian, Chinese, Italian. Pretty much every type of food,” Samantha grinned.

  “What is your most favorite place in the world?”

  “Home. Then, I like India, my grandma’s home. I’ve always wanted to travel around the world. What about you?”

  “I like Spain. I’ve never been anywhere else outside the United States, except Spain,” he replied. “What’s your favorite movie genre?”

  “Pretty much every genre as long as it keeps me hooked. What’s yours?”

  “You wouldn’t believe,” Axel grinned.

  “Let me guess,” Samantha tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… Action?”

  “Nope.”

  “Romance.”

  “Nope.”

  “Stop popping the ‘p’… Thriller?”

  “Nope.”

  “Come on, Axel. What is it?”

  “Animated movies.”

  “What? No way.”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, God!” Samantha burst out with laughter. “Seriously, I never pegged you for a guy, who enjoyed Disney movies.”

  “What’s wrong with that? They are pretty awesome.”

  “Can’t disagree with that. I love them too,” Samantha commented, her cheeks ached with all the amount of laughing, she did and she was enjoying the trip so much.

  It felt so good to see Axel’s genuine smile, which looked so attractive. Samantha wished that their happiness lasted forever as she looked out of the window.

  Chapter – 39

  The sun has settled down for the day and the carnival lights lit up the entire area, making it look like a Christmas night, minus the stars.

  “It smells delicious,” Samantha stated, inhaling deeply. As soon as she exited the car, she could smell all sorts of cooked food from different flavors of popcorn to hot dog and she couldn’t wait to get in.

  Axel bought the tickets for them both and they made a beeline to the entrance. The place was huge with all sorts of exciting rides for children and the adults. Small shops and food stands littered the place. The cosplayers entertained the children and were taking pictures with children.

  A wide grin made its way to Samantha’s lips as she took in her surroundings, which brought a lot of warm memories from her childhood. Back then, her parents took them to the fairs in different places. As a child, she’d always looked forward to those trips. She missed those days and couldn’t thank Axel enough for bringing her here.

  “What do you want to do first?” Axel asked.

  “Hmm… I don’t know. Maybe we should try a few rides before eating something,” she suggested and Axel led her towards the rides.

  Happy couples and excited children buzzed around them, spreading their contagious joy. Excitement vibrated throughout Samantha’s body as she looked at her surroundings, trying to decide the ride she wanted to go first.

  “Axel! That one, please.” She tugged at Axel’s blue T-shirt excitedly.

  Axel looked at where she pointed and his grin widened noticing the bumper car ride. “Sure.”

  They spent the next hour riding several rides, excluding the giant wheel. Samantha felt like she would explode with all the amount of foods they were trying. Axel chuckled and held out his hand for her to take when she ditched her empty ice cream cup.

  “I think that’s enough for today,” he stated with a smile. “Come on, they’re about to start the fireworks.”

  Samantha nodded excitedly at the word. She loved fireworks and never missed a show on July 4th. The crowd was gathering around for the show that was about to start and several couples surrounded them. The entire place vibrated with happiness and so much of positive energy.

  Everyone cheered when the fireworks lit up the dark sky, one after the other, spilling rainbow stars and little hearts on the sky. The booming sound of firecrackers was something Samantha always loved and this event was the highlight of the entire evening.

  One of the guys in the front got down on his knees as his girlfriend burst out in happy tears. The girl nodded furiously when he popped the questioned and the crowd swooned when they kissed with fireworks on the background.

  “Sam, look up,” Axel whispered and Samantha’s breath caught in her throat when huge red hearts started lighting up the sky.

  Another firework went up the sky with a boom, this time it lit up the sky with letters forming four beautiful words.

  I love you, Samantha.

  Samantha gasped as the letters registered in her mind. “Oh, my God!”

  Axel embraced her from behind kissing the bare skin on her neck.

  “This is beautiful,” Samantha sniffled with unshed tears as she turned around, unable to take her eyes off the sky as more little hearts lit up the sky.

  “Not more than you,” he whispered capturing her lips in a soft gentle kiss. “I love you, Samantha. I now know the difference between real and unreal. What I had with Alicia was never love, it was just an infatuation. I allowed it to ruin my life, but you saved me. I will love you and cherish what we have between us for the rest of my life.”

  “I love you too, Axel,” she whispered and held him close as they once again looked up at the sky, admiring the fire stars that decorated the night sky.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  It had been a week since Alana’s scandal and Alexander’s press conference.

  Samantha didn’t wait for Alicia to do anything to Axel or Alexander. She’d leaked Alicia’s video online and the media went ballistic over it.

  The media cornered Alicia McKenna and she wasn't seen in the public since then. No one knew her whereabouts. The police have managed to identify the man in the scandal video. Lorenzo Valtini was the most wanted criminal and the Interpol have even offered a bounty for his arrest dead or alive.

  Samantha browsed through the newspapers with a satisfied grin.

  “Is there anything else you want me to do?”

  Samantha looked up to see Kenley, who sat opposite to her in her office.

  “No, Kenley. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Samantha said in a sincere tone. “Here, take this check.”

  “I – uh… I can’t take this,” Kenley pushed the check towards Samantha with a look of guilt.

  “No hard feelings, Kenley. I am paying you for your job and I do not expect anything else from you,” Samantha stated and pushed the check towards Kenley.

  “But…” Kenley chewed at her lower lip, unable to say no and at the same time, she couldn’t accept the check from Samantha. She’d done a lot to her family and even got her a permanent job with Daniel Santiago’s company. What more could she expect?

  “Take it, Kenley. It’s something I give you as a token of appreciation for your loyalty,” Samantha stated once again.

  Kenley had proven useful in the past week. She was the one who leaked the scandal videos to the media and she even went as far as to track Alicia’s sexual partners and a few agreed to sell the photos to the media for a good sum of money.

  Samantha was overwhelmed with Kenley’s sincerity and she couldn’t have expected more from her.

  “Thank you,” Kenley accepted the check with a small smile. “Is there anything else you want me to do?” She asked again.

  “No. That’s all.”

  “Thank you. I will never forget your act of
kindness. My mother is recovering well and the doctors said that I could bring her home soon,” Kenley replied with unshed tears that warmed Samantha’s heart. “I said awful things to you, Ms. Sinclair. I-“

  “I’ve already forgiven you, Kenley. Take care of yourself and your family.”

  “Sure. Thanks for everything. I will be forever indebted to your family,” Kenley sniffled, getting up from the chair.

  Samantha watched Kenley leave her office with a warm smile and went to see Axel, who was buried deep in a file, not even noticing her arrival. While Samantha was busy with the revenge plans, Axel busied himself with the upcoming projects, working overtime to finish the work on time.

  “Hey,” she called softly and he looked up at her from his file, his face immediately lighting up with a dazzling smile, she’d come to love.

  “Come here,” he called and she went to him willingly. Axel pulled her towards him and placed her on his lap, burying his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. “You look so beautiful today,” he crooned in her ears.

  A soft chuckle left her lips as she relaxed in his hold and leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder. “You’ve said that eight times since morning,” Samantha teased.

  “I’ll tell you as many times I want to. It’s the truth and every time I see you, I feel like I am looking at you for the first time.”

  This had Samantha double up with laughter.

  “Okay, I went overboard with that one,” he agreed with a sheepish smile. “But, it's refreshing to see you every time. You make me forget all these tensions and pressure around me,” he spoke honestly.

  “I do?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded.

  “That’s a good thing. Hope I can be refreshing all the time,” Samantha purred.

  “You’ll always be, Sam. Now, are you hungry?” He asked, looking at his watch.

  “I’m Famished.”

  “Come, let’s get some food then.” Axel allowed her to get up and got up from his seat before taking his phone from the table.

  “We can ask Denzel to order lunch,” Samantha suggested.

  “Nah… I am in here since morning and all these files are suffocating me. I need to get out and this way we can spend some time together,” he grinned.

  “Sure.”

  After a few minutes…

  They were at a nearby restaurant. Samantha watched Axel browsing through the menu with a relaxed look. He’d never once asked what happened with Alicia. She knew he was seeing the news, but he never paid much attention to it more than a few minutes.

  “So, Kenley came to see me today,” Samantha started.

  “Mhmm… What did she want now?” Axel asked, sipping his water, his blue eyes paying complete attention to her.

  “She’s working with Daniel and she was the one, who managed to collect all those details about Alicia,” Samantha explained.

  “Okay.”

  “Are you not happy with the revenge anymore?” Samantha asked curiously. “You never once asked anything about it since the party and I feel like you didn’t even think about it.”

  Axel smiled softly. “I was once blinded by the need for revenge. It pushed me to work harder,” he told her. “But not anymore. I’ve found my new inspiration and it's you. I don’t care about anything else as long as I get to see your smile and hear your voice every day.”

  “Axel–”

  “Revenge is sweeter, but it also turned me colder, emotionless and arrogant. They called me heartless. I hated the person I’ve become over the years. My parents were not smiling with happiness anymore. I could only see the worry on their faces when they saw me.”

  Samantha swallowed the invisible lump that formed in her throat.

  “You showed me the light, Samantha. You made me fall in love again and my father made me realize, the best revenge is to live happily in front of the people, who tried to push you down. I am doing just that. I asked myself a question and when I was scared that I might lose you if I continued on the path I was going, I decided that I didn’t want to lose you.”

  Axel took hold of her hands in his. “I decided to let go of my need for revenge. I let go of everything that happened in my life before you. The revenge doesn’t thrill me anymore. Alicia deserves everything that happened and I want to leave it at that.”

  Samantha felt overwhelmed with his response and nodded mutely with unshed tears. “I love you, Axel.” She couldn’t agree more with everything Axel said. She had to let it go before it got to her. Their happiness was more important than anything else.

  “I love you too,” he replied softly.

  “You’re right. Nothing is important than what we have now,” she agreed softly and Axel kissed her knuckles.

  Their food soon arrived and they talked about the things they had to wind up before they took a break for their winter wedding. Keith has agreed to step in to help during their absence. Axel will be signing a power of attorney to Keith, who’ll be running his company with Eric’s help until Axel gets back.

  The sun smiled brightly upon them as they toasted for their new beginning.

  Chapter – 40

  Alicia fumed as she paced the parlor for the past two hours.

  She couldn’t show her face to the public. There were reporters everywhere and her association with Valtini didn’t end up well. She’d become a fugitive for associating with him as well.

  What she’d gotten herself into?

  When Alexander kicked her out of his mansion, her first thoughts were to contact her mother. But then, the reporters surrounded her and started shooting her with several questions. Fortunately, the cops, who were already there to escort her, came to her rescue and got her into one of the taxis.

  She didn’t know what to do now.

  One second her life was at the peak and the night after the party changed everything. She woke up to see her mom’s life being torn apart by the media and not less than two hours later, her life was turned upside down by Alexander.

  She was still licking the wounds when the next bomb came in the form of her sex video. The BDSM footage had gone viral in less than an hour and when she learned about the scandal, it was too late to repair her damaged reputation.

  They didn’t know who leaked the scandal video to the media and if that was not enough a few photos of her past sexual escapades started revolving around on the internet. There was nothing she could do to stop them. There was no way Seemus would give any more shares to her in the company.

  Valtini had been furious when he found out about the scandal. Their conversation in the secluded club had led the police to reopen the Kaufman’s case and soon they would be connecting the dots. It would clear Kaufman’s name of the crime. Valtini had threatened that if he were to go to jail, then she would do too because of her association with him.

  Why?

  At first, the media portrayed her as promiscuous, later when they learned about her involvement with Valtini the case took a different direction. She’d flood her apartment in the wee hours of the morning with Valtini and made it to this shit hole.

  Her face was plastered in every news channel as a wanted fugitive and for the first time in her life, she didn’t have control over anything that happened to her.

  Alicia screamed internally and pulled her hair. She’d been holed up in this creepy underground place for a week and she didn’t bother to sleep or bath. Her brain was always thinking with a hope to find a loophole to escape her issues.

  Valtini offered to take her away with him the last time they met. Alicia stopped him by saying that they’ll have to wait until she’d married and divorced Xander, so she can have access to a huge sum of alimony, which would keep them going for years. She was also planning to get her hands on her father’s wealth.

  She was never once afraid of his shady business and she liked having a powerful person like him around. There were a few times, she used her status in the society to finish his drug dealings. Now, she was ruined for the rest of her life.
r />   “Alicia!”

  She was distracted momentarily by Valtini's booming voice.

  “Valtini! What is it?”

  “I’ve made all the necessary arrangements for us to go to Mexico. We’ll have to stay low for a while, but we’ll be fine.”

  Relief flooded Alicia and she grinned happily for the first time in a week. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, Valtini! I won’t forget this favor forever!” She squealed.

  “Yeah, right. We have four days to prepare everything. I am going to take care of a few things before we leave. Don’t go out of this place until I come back,” Valtini warned and pushed her away with a disgusted look on his face.

  “Sure,” she promised with a huge grin.

  Her face lit up like a Led light and her spirit lifted considerably. She didn’t have to go to jail anymore. She did the right thing by trusting Valtini. They’ve always felt like they belonged together. Her plans might be ruined, but no one can stop her from escaping now, she did a mental happy dance as she watched Valtini climb up the metal stairs and exit the room.

  With a happy smile, she hopped towards her room and stopped in front of the mirror. She almost had a heart attack when she noticed her appearance in the mirror. She’d been so absorbed by her thoughts that she didn’t bother to take care of her beauty.

  Alicia hated her look and wondered what would’ve Valtini thought when he saw her like that. This explained the disgusted look he sported when he saw her. Without wasting further time, she got to work on her grizzled hair, which now looked like a bird’s nest.

  She’ll have to apply her hair mask to bring back the soft glowing look. A soft sigh left her lips as she unpacked the bag, Xander packed for her. She couldn’t give him her address so she wasn’t sure what all he packed for her. She could only hope her toiletries and makeup accessories are there.

  A happy squeal left her lips when she found all her toiletries and makeup accessories dumped carelessly in her second suitcase. With great care, she lined up her toiletries on top of the small sink in the bathroom they had.

  She stripped out her clothes and wrapped a soft towel around her body, getting ready for her little spa time. Alicia poured the bath bubbles and a few drops of essential oil into the bathtub. A refreshing aroma of lavender started to fill the small walls of her bathroom and she sighed deeply missing the spa treatment.