ALINA PovRecently? What did he mean by that? Well, that certainly sounded a lot like something happened that made him too worried to concentrate. Just like what was happening now. And something had affected his work as well.“Hey, it's not that serious,” Ryder said, watching my panicked expression.“He didn't develop a stroke or something,” he laughed.“Ryder,” Marc warned from his place on the table without looking up.The latter threw his hand in the air with a lopsided grin.“Tell me all about it,” I said breathless. I had to know what the hell was wrong that would make him go as far as pretending in front of me, that would make him frown deeply when he thought I wasn't looking, or that would cause him to glare at his phone in deadly silence, like he badly wanted to throttle a certain someone, a certain someone that he refused to tell me about.God, it was so annoying.“Nah-uh,” Ryder wagged a finger in front of me, reminding me of his conditions.Fuck, I thought.My answers were
TRENT POV“Hey tiger,”Niguez ran up to me, jumping into my open hands as I picked him up, throwing him in the air a couple of times before setting him on one shoulder.He was playing with the rest of the kids in the playground.Their teacher looked up at me and picked his bags out of the rest.I walked up to her as she handed them to me.“She didn't tell me that his dad was coming,” The teacher muttered.“Dad?” I stared at her in shock.“No... that's not right, there must be a mistake,” I said with a nervous laugh, completely at a loss for words.“Oh,” realization flashed in her eyes. “Sorry, that must be really awkward,” she muttered, running her hand through her hair. “I should just keep quiet,” she said rather to herself.I smiled a little.So I looked like Niguez's father from afar? Why didn't the idea of that freak me out?Maybe it was because deep down, I was quite fine with it. A voice in my head replied.“I'm just one of her friends,” I said, still feeling the need to clarify
ALINA'S POV By the time I looked up, Trent had somehow managed to disappear.Hey, how could he do that?I distantly remember him saying that he was hurt in a playful voice, just like his way of convincing me to give him a hug because he was supposed to be moody.Surely he was joking, right?I glanced around the room, trying to see if he was still around and just playing hide and seek to give me a scare.I honestly would not put that past him. That was him: playful and unapologetically full of action.“Trent,” I called out, looking around.“You could come out now if you're hiding. I made something special for the both of you. My homemade Spanish dish,” I said, still looking around.On a normal day, that would be enough to get him out if he was hiding.He was beyond curious about anything that had to do with Spanish and me in the same sentence. I think he had a soft spot for Spanish-speaking countries altogether. And their people, obviously.“Uncle Trent isn't hiding,” Niguez said, pro
TRENT POVI frowned, shuffling between the files that were on the table. My expression was stressed out; a lot has been happening lately, and it was all I could do to keep myself from overreacting and to appear privately normal in front of people.Gilbert walked into my room and placed my usual cup of steaming hot choco on the table.This was the ritual now.I arrived home all stressed out, managing to survive another day in my head, and Gilbert observed me carefully by the side without saying a word.He would quietly slip into my office and put a hot drink on the table for me to calm down. It was hard these days, especially as I wasn't into drinking at all, but of course, I had faced worse.Yes, I had faced way worse than this."She's just a woman, get it together," I muttered to myself."You've been busy, master," Gilbert said, stopping just behind me. I didn't need to see him to know that he was peering over my shoulder at the files scattered on my table."What do you know," I snor
TRENT POVIt takes a lot of bottled-up hate, fucked-up emotions to save your family members from an unknown number.It's just that I didn't feel anything towards them anymore... Assuming that I did in the first place.I left the Creighton Mansion the moment I was eighteen, and anything that had to do with them too. Which was more than a decade ago.We were nearly halfway across the world from each other. That was it; we were that far away from each other, so they couldn't just stay there, could they?Do they have to torment me for the rest of my life too?“Just leave me alone,” I murmured.How about the unknown number flashing across my screen thought differently.“Ignore it,” I muttered, stuffing the last bite of salad into my mouth.Think happy thoughts instead, I said to my inner self, glad that the pep talk wasn't falling apart today.Happy thoughts, like Alina, whenever she threw back her head in laughter when she was around me. And the way my heart swelled knowing that I was the
Alina's POV— “Miss Amina Diaz,” After our lunch break, I received a call from the manager. I was promoted to the position of his personal secretary, and so far, I have been doing my job pretty well since there were no more distractions. He didn't usually just call me into his office. I shuffled out of my seat and headed for the door. “Yes, sir,” I stood outside with my hands behind my back. Clarence looked up from behind his laptop as usual and waved me inside. “Please sit,” he said, pointing a finger towards a seat with relative ease. That was one thing to call it—the way he moved about like he was in power, like your disappearance of the CEO didn't mean more to him; all his movements were fluid and impeccable, like his part of life was easy. “Now, we don't really do this in the company, I mean,” he began to speak. He shuffled through the files on the table and reached out for one of them, pulling it between his fingers and pushing it towards me. “But with the requ
TRENT'S POVI watched her go with a frown.Was she faking it just to get me to talk? I wondered.That didn't sound quite like her anyway. And besides, there was no way she could have faked that look of worry, like her worst nightmare had finally caught up with her.It was okay if my mind wasn't at rest, but I could not bear it when it was her.I had to figure out what the hell was wrong with her.Surely it wasn't about her son... I knew how touchy she could be when it came to him.“....No... He couldn't. He had no right to after abandoning us. Besides, he won't know that it's me, remember,”I recalled her sentence perfectly. Every damned last word of it.It had to be some family issues. Did she finally want to go back and confront them? Just like me, she barely talked about her family.We knew each other for so long now. Damn it, why did she suddenly feel like a stranger?I hated the feeling of finding out that you knew so little about the person you thought you knew so well.“Then im
TRENT POV So this is one of the times I actually ditch my plans of spending the night at Alina's, especially when she sounded a bit down in the dumps over the phone earlier when I told her that I would have to pass concerning the dinner we had planned in the evening.I felt even extra guilty about it and promised to make it up to her and Niguez after.If I wasn't so exhausted after whatever the company party over someone's promotion or another was, then I could even come later on to see the kid Niguez and tuck him in.Maybe even buy him a toy as a peace offering if I had to. Actually, maybe I would go with that.As for Alina, we could have some exquisite dinner or something tomorrow. I would choose the beach if it were up to me. And who knew, I could make the scene all romantic and touching, so maybe if I asked her to be my girlfriend, she would not have much thinking to do about it and just say yes.I mean, it was necessary to always think positive, right?So yes, that may or may no
Epilogue | Two Years LaterNiguez sprinted down the stairs and skidded to a stop in front of Trent. "Hola, Dad," he grinned. "¿Cómo estás, hijo?" Trent leaned down, giving the kid a fist bump as they did their signature handshakes. Niguez frowned a little, finding it hard to understand Spanish. Trent grinned with a knowing smile. "Don't worry about it; you're in Colombia, so it'll come naturally."Trent had married Alina two years ago and adopted Niguez, vowing to take care of them for as long as he lived. He had amassed wealth, ensuring Alina's financial security. He still traveled to America for business but built mansions in Colombia, where they resided. At Alina's request, he started a small company in Colombia and sent her back to university to study Business, hoping she would become a CEO in a couple of years.The doorbell rang, and Niguez rushed to the door, hoping Alina was back. A tall man in a bright red suit, stood at the doorway with a small smile. — Clarence. "Hey,
—Alina pov I work in beside Trent. He give his sister Evelyn a hard stare and proceeded to enter the room, slipping into the chair opposite her. This is the first time that I met with her and for some reason, I didn't like the superior look she gave him. Did she even know who he was?He was CEO Alexander, everyone in America had heard of him. Who gave her the right to even stare directly at him?Then I reminded myself that she was his sister, and being directly related to him gave her that kind of leverage. From what I heard of her, she was a pain in the ass. And meeting her now, I didn't exactly have any reason to think any different. He promised me that this will be the last time she would come between us and I believed him. It was time we settled this matter for good.I already the basics about his sister she was beautiful and deadly with her brown hair and cunning blue eyes. I also knew that she was dangerous and mafe his life a living hell until he was forced to leave Britain
TRENT povI managed to control my emotions and look away from Alina. My eyes roamed across the hall and fell on Gomes Allen. The latter glared at me and I could see his muscles clench. Oh I was sure he could do without my presence. It made me smile a little. He should be shaking in his boots at the sight of me. His eyes narrowed on my expensive clothes that match his, my identity card as CEO Alexander in full view. That's right, enjoy the view mother fucker because I'm not hiding anymore. “Can I help you young man?” the judge looked up at me with a flicker of surprise. “I have evidence that changes everything. ” my hands tightened around the document in my hand. I had it printed out in the jet and made copies of it. Clarence was a real genius and I couldn't wait to see the look on Gomes' face when I pulled off his mask in front of everyone. I might have hidden my identity but he was the real fraud.I marched forward and stopped in front of the witness box. My eyes locked with
Trent pov A day had passed. I sat in the board room with Clarence by my side. We were around a big round table where about six powerful figures sat, trying to engage me in a conversation. I was dressed in a half a million dollar red suit and black pants, the CEO look complete with cufflinks and I might have taken extra time styling my hair that morning. I checked my swizz watch for the fourth time since the meeting. I maintained a fuck off look with an expressionless gaze that could pass off for bored. Your darling CEO Alexander was back. “Shouldn't we at least have an explanation for your disappearance for almost three years?” one of the men demanded. I seemed to remember him to be one of my long term partners... Now let me check if I gave a fuck. I looked up from my phone. It was still on my chat with Alina. I had been staring at it all morning, expecting a word or two from her. I would even go with “fuck you Trent.” Her silence was worse that her an
TRENT povWe sat in the restaurant, an unmistakable tension building up in the air. I wished that she would say something instead of looking at me with her lips slightly parted in confusion as she waited for me to drop the next bomb. I couldn't believe that I was taking Clarence's advice. It just seemed to be the best thing to do at this time. I knew that I could keep the truth away from her for as long as I wanted, but bit forever. For one thing, the company needed their CEO. Clarence never failed to remind me of that fact and the investors were starting to think that I was ignoring them. Nasty bunch of people that won't let me live like every normal human. I might have shrugged it off but Gomes fucking Allen could strom into the picture any time from now and I wasn't going to let him be the one to tell her about my true identity myself. “So... What's the matter?” Alina asked, breaking the silence between us. I took a deep breath. The waiter came back with our orders and pl
Alina PovI couldn't stop thinking about Niguez's birthday. My whole world has flipped from the minute he stepped a foot into the house and he would see me in court. Like hell he would. Who did he think he was, trying to take my son away from me?I was more protective of Niguez now, and it broke me everytime he went through the school gate because I knew that Gomes could come around now and steal him away whenever he fucking wanted. Everything was staring to seem real now. I stared at the last text I got from Gomes Allen just a few minutes ago. I never replied any of his texts but just left them on read and poundered over them, wishing that could slam his face against the wall. Just once. Just this one time so that I would watch in satisfaction as the smug look was wiped off his face and he saw what if felt like to be a human for once. His new text is not as threatening as the previous ones but I feel more scared, just by scrolling my eyes through it. It said that the day of
TRENT'S POV —I glare at the documents in front of me. Working from home and having Clarence over was the worst idea I had ever came through with. I left Alina at my apartment. It was safe to say that she needed some space. Plus I badly wanted to strangle the mother fucker Gomes Allen for daring to show the fuck up at all. I went to one of my mansions instead and Clarence was here to make sure I attend to the matters in the company since he won't let me off the hook even if I'm supposed have disappeared... Hastag no where to be found. Gilbert was here too. To make sure I had my usual does of coffee and didn't resort to smoking. Ah... Bad habits. As though on cue, Gilbert walked into the room with a glass of coffee. He placed it on the table in front of me. Clarence and I looked up at the disturbance and I might have glared a little. “Anything for you mister?” Gilbert asked turning to Clarence. “I'll have what he's having,” Clarence said, passing me some paperwork. “It's not
ALINA'S POV —Nothing was happening... That's usually my cue to figure out that there is something terrible going on in the background and I just don't know all about it yet. It was hard to actually think that Gomes was smart enough to heed to my warning and stay the fuck away from us. Not that I was complaining. After I deleted his number, I made a bold job in deleting him out of my mind for the second time, no questions asked. But I can't shake off the gut feeling at the pit of my stomach that something is still seriously off. “Happy birthday baby!” I hug Niguez to my chest and scream in delight. He blew off the candle on the cake sitting on the dining and grinned, revealing a pair of sparkling white teeth. “I'm a man now!” He puffed up his little chest, grinning with pride at the intimidating four drawn on the cake. I pulled back from him with a laugh. “Where do you think you're growing so fast to huh?”“Hell yeah,” Trent slip into the room and pick up Niguez, not without
TRENT pov“Alina? ” I called out walking into my apartment. She had suddenly disappeared during work and won't even answer my calls. I was starting to get really worried. I had already called Clarence and sworn a lot on the call warning him that he would lose his fucking job if he sent her somewhere else that was near Gomes Allen, the CEO of Star labs. I looked around and spotted her sitting on the chair in the dining, a plate of pasta in front of her. “There you are. Why did you take an early leave from work?” I took off my suit and dumped it on the sofa before walking towards her. There was no reply and I noticed the blank look in her eyes as she stated at the wall in front of her. She was shaking like she had an encounter with the ghost of her past. I stiffened, sensing the tension in the room. “Alina,” I tapped her shoulders, panicking a bit. Okay, a lot. She blinked and turned to me forcing a smile. “Sorry Trent, I didn't see you there,” she muttered, still looking shake