Take My Breath Away

'Sounds like Carlos doesn't realize Stephanie's my kid, ' James thought to himself. He was relieved, but he tried not to let it show. Thinking of this, he pretended to be sad and dejected. "Don't even think about it. I didn't raise you to be a criminal. They're just two women. Leave them alone."

'Just two women?'

Carlos flashed a scornful smile.

'Stephanie hired someone to **** Megan, and tried to frame Debbie for Megan's death.

She hired thugs to kill me and Debbie while we were on vacation.

She even put Ivan and Debbie's marriage license on social media, an open invitation to cyberbullying.

She slipped me a mickey to try and have sex with me.

Just a woman? She's a vicious, evil bitch!

Her mother Glenda isn't any better. She's been James' mistress for years! She's the one who wanted me and Stephanie together, and James just gave in to her, '

Carlos thought to himself.

James, of course, saw the disdain in Carlos' eyes, but he could do nothing. He couldn't just come clean to the CEO. That would implicate him. "Carlos, listen to your old man. Just let it go," he pleaded.

"Let it go?" Carlos pressed the button on the mahjong table, and it began to shuffle the tiles. "Let's play a few more rounds. If you win, I'll leave them alone."

James had no choice. He had to sit down and pit his skills against Carlos. This was vital. If Carlos went after these women, they might blow the lid off the whole thing. The other guests started scanning the table, formulating strategies even before the tiles were revealed.

Before this, Niles and James were on top. But now, things changed. Curtis was the victor this time. Niles was already in a bad mood because of the stench. Now that he kept losing, his face grew even darker. "I bet you cheated," he spat.

Curtis smiled and said nothing. He was cheating, after a fashion. Carlos kept giving him the right tiles.

Beads of sweat appeared on James' forehead. The mere thought of his lover and daughter being raped by beggars made his heart ache. Of course, Carlos was doing this on purpose. He didn't want James to win.

As a result, James lost round after round.

Debbie and Colleen, on the other hand, went to the bathroom and retched after they left the living room.

Colleen washed her face and rinsed her mouth before saying, "That's messed up Carlos paid the bums to **** them. James can't be happy."

Debbie leaned against the wall and said, "Stephanie drugging him was the straw that broke the camel's back. She deserved it. Lucky she didn't succeed. It's a little poetic justice. Try to **** someone, get raped in return." 'Thank God Carlos was smart enough to figure it out!' she thought.

Colleen approached her and whispered in her ear, "I heard Stephanie hired someone to kill Megan. Is that true?"

The mention of Megan reminded Debbie of something. "I'm heading to ZL Group. Do you want to come with me?" she asked.

"What? Why?" Colleen was completely confused.

"Megan's diary is just sitting in Carlos' office. I've been too busy to go check it out. We're at loose ends. Don't you want to know what's in there?" But the hour was late, and she wasn't going to go there alone. She needed Colleen to keep her company.

Colleen immediately nodded her head. "Sure. Why not? Maybe I'll get some answers. Like why she tried to mess with me and my husband."

They left the bathroom hand in hand.

As they both had a few drinks tonight, Debbie called a bodyguard over and asked him to drive them to the ZL Group offices.

On the way, she called Carlos and told him that she and Colleen were going to take a peek inside Megan's diary. "It's about time," Carlos said. "I'll have someone standing by to unlock the doors."

When they arrived, two security guards were waiting for them at the entrance. They led them to the CEO's office and then waited outside, guarding the door. "Not very friendly, are they?" Colleen remarked, after the door was closed behind them.

"They don't have to be. They just have to be effective," Debbie said, looking around for the safe. While Debbie searched for the diary, Colleen walked towards the indoor golf court and set a golf ball on the tee.

Meanwhile, Debbie had located the safe, and opened it with the code Carlos gave her.

There were many important documents and a few rings of keys inside. Debbie was stunned for a while and thought, 'Carlos trusts me that much?

If I'm not wrong, any item here could be worth at least ten million. He just gave me the code without a second thought.'

Debbie was deeply moved. She started to tear up, and had to take a little bit to compose herself. She took several breaths to calm down and began to root around inside the box for the diary.

Soon, she found a thick notebook and thought she might have finally found it. She opened it and confirmed it was a diary. She took it out and locked the safe.

Colleen looked over, and was about to ask how she was coming along. She saw that Debbie finally held it in her hands, so she dropped the golf club and walked over.

They sat on the sofa and began to page through it.

Megan started her diary more than ten years ago. The entries were short and she didn't write in it every day. Some entries were jumbled, and referred to past events, some of which the women were unclear on. So they skimmed it, looking for the relevant parts.

Colleen and Debbie didn't know why Megan had written everything down, including how she felt about Carlos and Wesley.

It turned out that Megan got close to Carlos, Wesley, Damon and Curtis on purpose because she swore to mess up their lives. And she could use her feminine wiles to do so.

In order to make Colleen jealous, Megan flirted with Curtis. Megan would be delighted when Colleen and Curtis started fighting over it.

Megan screwed things up for Wesley and Blair. Blair had even gotten engaged to another man.

As for Megan's hatred for Debbie, she had also written it down. It read, "Carlos loves Debbie a lot. She gets all the love and affection he used to reserve for me. He even blamed me and asked me to be nicer to her. Well, fuck him! Why should I be nicer? My parents died saving Carlos and Wesley. I lost my parents, and these guys got off scot-free. Well, not anymore.

They'll pay for the misery they caused me. They'll wish they'd died then and there. I hate them! If I can't be happy, then nobody can. They'll pay. Believe me, they'll pay."

In the diary, Megan had confessed that she had deliberately caused trouble for Debbie in the Huo family's house in New York. It worked—they all hated her. She wanted to screw up everything and everyone in that family. It would be a pleasant surprise if Valerie hated Debbie so much that the old woman died because of it.