Pursued

By C.S Francis

Sick and tired of his neglect Lauren ended her 5-year relationship with Eric. She was devasted but determined to move on.

As luck would have it she has a random encounter that introduced her to Cameron.  He was handsome, charming and attentive to her every need. He was perfect she thought until she uncovered a shocking truth. She soon finds out that he was a controlling, deviant and abusive liar who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.S. Francis2
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393537526

C.S Francis

Full time Project Manager daydreaming about guys and sex – so I wrote about it! Enjoy!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Lauren was on her last lap around her neighborhood. She lived in The Ridge Condo Community that spread across thirty acres of land. The community was located right off Route 202, the main highway that took you everywhere. There were 108 units separated into six sections. Each section had a massive pond that was surrounded by beautiful flowers and filled with fishes. Around the ponds there were four wooden benches that could seat four people, and those were always full—especially with younger kids, who were fascinated at the fishes in the pond. Along with the pond, each section also had a playground, dog park, and trails for running and walking.

The condo community attracted mostly young couples because the cost of the homes within that area was staggering. The cheapest you could find a home in the area was $450K, and it just went up higher after that. Finding a home at that price was also rare. The average cost of the homes in the area was $600K; that’s usually what you would see when looking. The condos themselves were not cheap; they ranged from $250K to $325K plus the month HOA fee of $250. They offered two floor plans of two bedroom, two baths, and 1500 square feet for $250K, and three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and 2500 square feet for $325K.

The condos were great quality—she never heard her neighbors, and she was in the middle unit. To the right of her lived Raj and Pooja and their two little boys, Aarush and Divit. Raj was a computer programmer; his company relocated him and his family from India to the US for a promotion. He worked full time, and his wife was a full-time homemaker. They were polite, quiet, and usually kept to themselves. They never really spoke much, except for the usual pleasantries when they ran into each other outside.

To the left of her lived Kevin and Brittany, who were really young. He drove a brand new black BMW X6, and she drove a brand-new Lexus LC500. When they initially moved in, she thought it was odd that they would live here since they could afford such expensive cars, however, she later found out that they got accepted in University of Pennsylvania medical programs; their parents paid for the cars and the condos because they didn’t want their children living in the city. She rarely ever saw them; sometimes the only time she knew they were there was when she saw their cars parked. Each home had two parking spots. Across from her unit was the visitor parking lot. To prevent visitors from parking on the side of the road and potentially blocking cars, each section also had a parking lot for visitors. It was always busy. The dog park and trails were popular. People outside the condo community would come by to walk their dogs or go running on the trails. Across from the condo was a golf course, and down the street were multiple shopping centers with popular restaurants and expensive luxury clothing and accessories stores. The condo was in a prime location—you didn’t have to go far to get what you needed, which was ideal.

This was her third lap around the pond. It was mid-May, and instead of mild weather, it was already humid and hot. Her shirt and skirt were soaked all the way through and clung to her sticky, sweaty body. Normally she would have gone back in her condo, but she needed something that would get her mind off Eric, and drinking wasn’t helping. She would end up crying and hung over the next day; plus she had to go to work. She also didn’t want to talk about it. She was sick of talking about Eric. Eric was all she was talking about for the past few years. Eric’s schedule. Adjusting to Eric’s lifestyle. Eric. Eric. Eric. She was so sick of it. After she broke the news to her parents, her mom was especially surprised and wouldn’t stop calling, but Lauren ignored her calls. She also had been ignoring Vanessa’s calls. Vanessa knew everything that was going on and supported her decision, but Lauren didn’t want a pity party. She just wanted everything Eric to disappear so she could focus on what she wanted, which she hadn’t done in a long time. The only other thing that she knew that could clear her mind was running. She felt free during a run; her mind and body wasn’t focused on her troubles, and she was free. The other plus side was that usually after a long run she was so exhausted that she would be able to sleep through the night instead of being up doing the last thing she wanted to do: thinking about Eric.

It had been a week since she broke up with Eric after five years of dating, but for some reason, every second felt like years. It was the toughest decision she had to make in a long time. She honestly never entertained them breaking up. She actually saw a future with him getting married and starting a family. Now she just felt silly for thinking they had a future.

Eric was wonderful, almost perfect, except when it came to making time for her in recent years. He was caring, very attentive, gentle, and sweet with her. Her mom and dad loved him, and every time she talked to them, they always asked about Eric. They already considered him their son. Both their parents were on their case about getting married because they wanted grandkids. It was their favorite tune whenever she visited or talked to them on the phone. Her best friends, Vanessa and Brian, were huge fans of Eric. They all practically hung out every weekend at the bar and took vacations together. Those first three years with him were fantastic. She missed their double dates, their vacations, and just hanging out.

That all changed when his dad’s company began to expand. The expansion of his dad’s investment firm resulted in a lot of responsibility for Eric, plus he was also being groomed to take over for his dad. His dad was ready to step down and take a less active role in the company’s decision-making and direction. When Eric found out about this, he was very ecstatic and honored because his dad had started the company from scratch. He could have given the opportunity to Eric’s older brother Tom, even though they didn’t get along much. Tom was more rigid in his approach to business; he was known as being a hard ass, but he always got the job done. The company was his father’s baby, so the fact that he felt that Eric was capable of handling such a big role said a lot.

Eric wanted to make his dad proud. He worked extra hard to ensure that everything was smooth. That was one of the reasons she stayed so long. She knew the stress he was under, as well as the additional stress he placed on himself. Eric’s sole purpose slowly became work. The trips started off short, but then days would turn into weeks then months. In the little time they spent together, he used half of it checking his phone. She tried to be supportive because she knew he didn’t want to disappoint his dad, and he had a lot on his plate. His dad worked hard to build the company from scratch and was very proud to hand over full ownership to Eric, but she had reached her breaking point. Even her mom and Vanessa assured her that she had given him enough chance—it was time to let him go, and they loved Eric. In the beginning, they both told Lauren to give him time to adjust to things with the company expansion. She thought it was just a minor issue that would clear itself up. She tried to work with his schedule and with him, but at twenty-seven she was looking for a more stable relationship. She had envisioned them together in the long run, but that had changed. She tried everything she could to adjust to his new schedule, including rearranging her life. Admittedly, it took her a long time to get to that point, but she finally realized that his work was always going to be number one. She felt awful about how she ended things. It wasn’t her intention to be so cold and dismissive, but there was no other way. She wanted to go out and have fun again instead of sitting around, waiting for a call or text and scheduling her time. That’s what her relationship had become; it was work, and she finally decided to quit.

She was mad at him, but she was madder at herself. She felt like a fool. Over the last three months they only saw each other twice. He would break so many plans with her because of work, and the last meeting she had had enough. He canceled on the way to the restaurant because he had last-minute business, and he had to travel. He was very apologetic and had a valid reason for doing so, but then again, he always did. There was always a good reason for work, but not a good reason to spend time with her, it seemed. She was already seated at the restaurant bar waiting for him because he was running late, and then he canceled. After a few drinks, she texted him it was over and blocked his number. She didn’t know what it was that night (granted, it may have been the alcohol), but all she knew was that deep down in her soul, she couldn’t do it anymore—something in her broke. She was done.

Chapter 2

Eric was in Phoenix , Arizona, for the week to interview for two tax consultants. He was involved in all hiring decisions, and even though it would have been easy to talk via Skype, his dad would never approve. His dad believed that you could tell more about a person when you meet them in person versus talking to them through video. He believed it so strongly that it was an actual policy. As much as it was a pain to travel at times, Eric had to admit that his dad was right, as he usually was—there was just something different about meeting someone in person. Luckily, they didn’t have a problem losing people, so he didn’t have to travel much, unlike two years back when they just expanded; he was there almost every two weeks. He didn’t realize how long and drawn out the interview process was until he had to be a part of it. He and the rest of the hiring team