EDENBelle was crying when I entered the room.Dropping everything in my hand, I rushed to go and meet her, kneeling before her and looking at Quinn in confusion.“Hey baby, is everything okay?”I tired to remove her had from her face but she was till sobbing.“Belle, look at me."She finally put her hands down and looked up at me.“What is going on?. Why're you crying?”“The dress."I frowned.“What dress? The purple one?”“Yes. Princesses didn't wear purple. No princess wore purple. I'm not going to be pretty."I smiled a bit and pulled her I to a hug, slowly soothing her.“You’re right. But do you like the dress?”She looked at it as it lay on the bed and then nodded.“Then you are going to wear it. Besides, you are a princess. You can wear what you want!xI ticked her a bit to make her laugh and she wiped the tears away from her eyes.“Belle, your dress is pretty.” Coco commented.I'd completely forgotten that she was there..Belle smiled.“Coco! You came!"She pulled the girl int
EDENIt wasn't very hard to get angry at Roman. He was naturally infuriating and if he had any gifts, it would be his ability to piss people, especially me off.He had picked me off from work as we had planned.“Hey, remember everything right?”I nodded, even though my heard was thumping loudly in my chest. I felt like I was about to go on a mission.“If you keep looking like you're about to give a speech in front of the entire nation, he's going to know that something is wrong.”I rolled my eyes and ignored him.“Take that over there and put it in your ear."He pointed to something on the dashboard and I picked it up and put it in my ear.There was a static before it became clear.“Can you hear me? Eden?”“Oh yes, I can hear you. This is really happening."I saw Roman roll his eyes again.“Well, I'm sorry for being nervous but you're not the one who has to go out into the open and pray to fall into the arms of the man who's after their life.”“Can you guys just cut it out for one sec
EDENI ran out of the cab to meet Alicia who was standing with a couple of teachers and some police men.“This is her mother.”Everyone turned to look at me as I met up with them.“Alicia, what did you say happened to Belle? Where is she?"“I don't know. I came to pick her up and she wasn't there.”“Ma’am, I assure you we are doing everything we can to find your daughter-"A car and up to the driveway and Roman stepped out.“Roman, Belle. They say she's not here.”We both knew what that meant. The reason why Ryker didn't nahe a move on me even though I was all alone, was beaking I wasn't the target. Belle was.“Excuse me sir, who are you?”“I’m her fat
RYKERShe was pregnant?For a Lycan?That ungrateful bitch had the guts to betray me and open her legs for a beast! I was patient with her, even when she told me that she wasn’t ready but she went ahead and got pregnant for that beast.I should have known she was a promiscuous whore. That baby...that child is a bastard and I would never let her give birth to it. Eden is mine and mine alone and nothing will change that?That stupid father of hers is so greedy tha he willingly gave it to him! How could he? How could he extend his hand to the enemy just because of money? If it was money that he wanted, I would give it to him.After that Lycan bastard left, I went into the room to look for Een to have a word with her and tell her that I would never allow her to marry him.I couldn't find her in the house so I went to the back of the house but she wasn't there either.“How could you allow this to happen?!”I paused.. It wasn’t Eden’s voice but I still want to know who it was.“What do you
EDEN“What do you mean? What do you mean by that? Roman, what's he talking about?”lI was trying very hard to keep breathing properly but the more I tried, the more I lost my breath.Roman had broken out in a sweat and he was avoiding eye contact.“I need an explanation, goddamnit!”“An explanation? I think it's pretty easy. As a matter of fact, it's very relatable to you. My slut of a birth mother cheated on my father with another bastard. And they had me.”He wasn't making any sense. How was it possible?“Roman, did you know about this? Quinn?”Neither of them could say anything. Roman had suddenly become dumb. Then it hit me.The day Quinn brought Ryker's file. When Roman was going through it… this is what he was hiding from me. He knew all this while… .“That stupid mother of mine had the guts to deny it.” The more Ryker spoke, the more I realized how more unstable he really was. And it bothered me because Belle was still at his mercy.“My daughter has nothing to do with what hap
EDENIt's been a week since it all happened.Roman had been the one to fire first.He'd shot Ryker in the foot but the latter still managed to get away.It wasn't until Roman wanted to chase after him that we had seen that Rykers shit had actually hit him. He was bleeding profusely from the side and I called for Quinn to call the ambulance.Ran almost didn't make it to the hospital because he's lost a lot of blood. I wonder how he didn't know that he had been shot but looking back at that night, I understand why now.The police ended up catching Ryker a few blocks down. Turns out Quinn had called them while we were still inside and he got arrested.When I heard the news, I wasn't very happy. I had hoped that he would die from his wounds.It felt unfair to think but I couldn't help it… for the safety of Belle.Ryker wasn't going to give up any time soon. But right now, I had more pressing issues to face.Roman was hospitalized but at least, he wasn't in a coma. He had lost a lot of bl
EDENI tucked Belle in for the night. She'd caught the flu somehow and it had dragged her down.I wanted to take her to the hospital but she was being such a baby so Roman somehow convinced me to leave her here and call the doctor.Belle was responding to treatments but she was still Ill.“If you keep checking up on her like that, she'll never actually sleep.”Roman's voice startled me.“I just went to tuck her in to actually get some sleep.”He nodded. And then the awkward silence that I had been avoiding for days settled in again.Once he got out of the hospital and came back home, I avoided him because I wasn't ready to have that conversation I knew he wanted to have.First off, I was afraid of what I'd said. I was afraid that I actually meant it. I know I did but I didn't want to admit it to him.Second of all, I was afraid he was going to say it back. Roman wasn't the kind of man that understood what love meant.“I’ll get some sleep now.”As I walked away, he did the one thing I
RomanI watched her as she slept, listening to her silent snores.Last night, I felt something, something I thought was dead. Something I didn’t think I could feel again.Eden really was the one for me. It wasn't a coincidence that she bore the only child I have and it wasn’t a mistake that I had found her and we had ended up together.I just wish she had things easier earlier on and I wish I had made things easy for her as well because I also had a hand in the things she went through.But I’m glad that we’re here now, with her in my bed.She was still sleeping soundly so I decided to check on Belle. She’d fallen sick as soon as I got into the hospital and I didn’t want to take her back there so I somehow convinced Eden to keep her here.I knocked lightly before I entered her room. When I pushed the door open, I expected to see her in bed being just as miserable as I was when I came down with the flu but she wasn’t.In fact, she was nowhere near her bed.“Belle! Belle!”I walked out o
THIRD PERSON POVWhile everyone back home was looking for Roman, he was on the other side of the town, looking through his pockets and swearing that he carried his phone.The minister noticed that he was distracted.“Is there anything you need? Are you looking for something?”Roman looked up.“Yes, I'm sure that I carried my phone but now, I can't find it.”Roman knew that he would have gotten so many calls. He'd left the house very early and no one knew where he was.He didn't take any guard with him either.“Maybe it fell on the way."Of course, it did. With all those bullets raining on his head, why won't it fall out?It had been pure luck that he had escaped. He was almost at the minister's house when he noticed a car that he was sure he'd seen when he got off the highway.He'd rolled his eyes, not wanting to be involved in any of this today.“Can we do this in a week? I have something to do today.”What should he do now? He knew he couldn't avoid them.To make sure that he was ri
EDENIT was already seven pm and I still couldn't find him. I was ready and so was everyone else but he was nowhere to be found.I'd called him and so had Quinn but he wasn't picking up his calls at all.“Edem, are you sure he didn't tell you where he was going?”I thought back to last night and scrolled through our conversation.“No, I don't remember him saying anything about going anywhere. After I told him about the officiating minister, that was where the conversation ended. Nothing more happened.”Quinn came back.“His phone is switched off.”Wonderful, just great. Roman was missing on no other day than our wedding day.Where could he be? Even if he was stuck in traffic, he could at least pick up his phone.Or maybe he truly wasn't interested in getting married to me.But then he would have just said it then when I brought it up. Why didn't he say anything? He had the choice to reject me last night but he didn't.”Eden, don't worry. We'll find him in time for the wedding.”Alicia
EDENI woke up early that morning.Well, we didn't sleep after that.. we stayed up the entire night talking about everything we'd been through and it touched me.Eventually, I fell asleep on his shoulder and I didn't even know. I was sitting in his lap and I woke up on the bed.Alicia was standing above me .“Hey, wake up. Let's get you ready. Roman left the house really early this morning and I have to go back home to get a dress for myself. I mean, I can't wear this.”She had eye bags and her face was very dim. She has started crying again sometime during the night.”Alicia, sit down. We need to talk.”She was avoiding my eyes.“Eden, there's a lot to be done today. I mean, you don't even have a makeup artist or a hairstylist either. Your dress isn't here yet and the food isn't ready. There's a lot to be done.”I knew that all that wasn't truly her concern. She was just trying to avoid talking about me.“Alicia, please -”“Eden, there's no time. We need to get ready."I had to get
EDENWhen I finally got into the house later that night, I couldn't sleep so I just stared out the window at the stary night.Alicia had fallen asleep while feeding the kids so I would break the news to her tomorrow.I'd had to tell Quinn what had happened.“Really?! Was that why you were staring into the dark?””Yes, she was standing there. I'm not going to die, Quinn. I'm going to be here with my kids.”She pulled me in for a hug and held me tightly.“I'm so happy, Eden. You don't know how terrible I felt when you told me that. How can you die without watching your kids grow up?"I was just happy that I hadn't rushed to tell Roman anything that was going on.He was clearly exhausted because he didn't even wake up when I entered the room and when I got in the bed. I was equally so tired because I had spent a lot of time getting things ready today.My body was tired but my mind was still awake and buzzing.I was going to get married tomorrow. I should have told Quinn that we should ju
EDENWe got back home late that night.Mostly because we needed to pull ourselves so that we won't show that we've been crying.Everytime we finally stopped crying, Alicia started again and we started another whole process of consoling each other.“Please stop crying. I don't know what I'm going to do if you're like this.”She finally pulled herself together and we got into the car and drove back home.“Are you really not going to tell Roman?"“I don't have a plan to. I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to tell him. He will be shattered, Alicia.”She still wasn't fine with it but she didn't say anything else until we got home.Alicia went into the house to check in on Roman and the kids while I went to the back of the house to check in on what Quinn was doing.She was actually on a chair and table with her legs up while eating everything she brought from the restaurant.“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”My voice frightened her.“Sorry about that.”“You guys surely took your time..
EDENWe'd ended up at a restaurant because the bar we wanted to go to was closed.Roman had already called me four times to ask Alicia questions about the twins and he sounded like he was about to lose it.“Let’s eat so much that we won't be able to walk again.”And that's what we did. I think we ordered everything in the menu and we basically had the chef at our call to make anything that we wanted.That was the first time I would be eating so much food in one day and it felt so good.“I don't think I can eat anymore. I'm so full.”Quinn had been the one to bring us here and now she was already full. Alicia's mood had changed and she wasn't speaking anymore.Quinn's phone rang and she stood up to answer it.“Alicia-”“What’s going on, Eden? And don't even tell me not to ask questions. Because you can't keep doing this. I'm your best friend. You have to be truthful.”What was sj to do at this point? I had no other choice than to tell her the truth.She deserved that much.“Balari came
EDENAlicia did come over that evening.And we stayed in the room throughout.“It’s fine. I'll take care of the kids. You guys just do what girls do. Whatever it is that you do.”Roman took the twins and left us.“What in the world happened? Why did you faint?"I acted like I had no idea what was going on.“I mean, I don't know. I just felt weak and tired and next thing I know, I'm waking up in a hospital.”“Woah, that is crazy.. but you're fine right? I mean, yorie okay?"“Yes, I'm fine.”I needed to change the topic.“Hey, about Henry, I've spoken to Roman about it and he had no idea that Henry wasn't home. He said he was going to help track him down.”I actually hadn't spoken to Roman about it but I just needed to say something that would make her forget about the previous topic.“Thank you. I just hope we won't have to go through everything we went through back then. He'll surely come back.”Surely, he will. He's probably just busy.Speaking of Roman doing things, I still needed t
EDENI'd come home the day after that. The doctor said that I was free and healthy to leave but I didn't feel free.“Why the long face? Aren't you happy to come home?”I turned to Roman who was driving.”Oh no, it's nothing like that. I'm just tired."What was the point of being happy when I knew what was coming? And I couldn't tell him. I didn't want him to feel responsible for it.Roman is very quick to blame himself and I didn't want him to. I should just die peacefully so that he would have the guts to move on from me.If I told him that it was because of him I was going to die, then I would mess things up.I recalled my last conversation with Balari.“Are you sure it's what you want, Eden? Men are not worth it. You can live with your kids and raise them in your own way. You don't have to do this.”But it seemed like the more we spoke about it, the more determined I was to do it.“I do, actually. I love Roman, I can't let him die for something he has no hand in.”“And you have a
EDENWhen I woke up, it was dark.Why was it dark and where was I? I knew this wasn't my room, and it surely didn't smell like this.I tried to move my hand and when I saw the IV line shake, I sighed. The hospital.How did I end up here and why didn't I remember anything?Me being here meant that something had happened to me but for the life of me, I couldn't bring myself to. I felt so weak so I just relaxed in my bed.I didn't even have the strength to call for help and eventually, I slept.The next time I woke up, the sun was out thankfully and my eyes didn't feel as heavy as a boulder.My stomach was hurting badly, partly the fact that I hadn't eaten in a day and half. I needed food or else I might actually die this time around..I sat up in my bed, clutching my stomach tightly. I also needed to pee. I've never been to the hospital before.Roman was born in the pack and Belle?Well, Belle was born at home because I had no idea I was in labor and since Alicia and I had never been mo