Even the mighty sky seemed to cry alongside Christine as the rain splashed over her sensitive skin, becoming one with her tears.
She did her best to shield the innocent baby boy, the vulnerable tiny human was weeping, each of his cries breaking her heart. The stabbing pain of being discarded by her own father would have been unbearable if not for the little miracle she held in her arms. She was a mother now, and she needed to protect him.
Her mind raced with questions and concerns. She had never before been in a position to be responsible for another being.
Truth be told, life had failed to prepare her for this situation. As a businessman, her father had taken good care of their finances, so she never had to lift a finger, let alone provide for someone. It was understandable; she was only 19 years old. If not for her pregnancy, she would have been attending her first year of college at this age.
Raw fear coursed through her veins as she fought against it, but exhaustion settled into her frail body, reaching a point where she believed her time had come.
However, fate had other plans for her. A black SUV stopped in front of the hospital, and a man in his forties walked over to Christine and her baby.
A glint of hope shone in her eyes. "Help!" she pleaded before blacking out, her remaining strength slowly fading away.
"Don't worry, nobody will ever harm you!" the man said as he gently took the baby into his arms and helped her into his car.
~~~~~
Her heavy eyes tried to blink away the dizziness that clouded her vision. As she finally managed to open them fully, she found herself in an unfamiliar room.
Uneasiness washed over her as she took in the sight of blinking monitors surrounding her bed, and even more so when she noticed the tube connected to her vein. She wondered if she was in a hospital room, but aside from the medical equipment, there was nothing to suggest it was a medical facility.
The room exuded elegance, from the meticulously chosen furniture to the adorned paintings, plush carpet, and luxurious curtains. Everything whispered of opulence.
Yet, amid this opulence, her heart quickened with a mixture of fear and longing as she realized her baby was nowhere to be seen. Her pulse quickened, causing one of the machines to emit a loud beeping sound. Without delay, a nurse rushed into the room.
"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked, her voice filled with genuine concern.
Tears welled up in Christine's eyes, anguish tightening her chest. "Where am I? My baby, where is my baby?" Her voice trembled with desperation, the fear that something terrible had happened to her child overwhelmed her.
"Let me check your vitals," the nurse responded calmly.
Without hesitation, she grabbed a flashlight and examined Christine's eyes, then placed a thermometer in her mouth.
"Leave me alone! Where is my baby?" Christine yelled, tossing the thermometer aside and attempting to remove her IV while tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Please, stay still, miss! You'll hurt yourself!" the medical assistant pleaded, trying to restrain her.
But she couldn't stay still. How could she when her baby was nowhere to be found?
"Where is my baby?" she cried out again, her voice filled with despair, her tone breaking.
"The baby is here." His voice rang out, strong and commanding. The man exuded power and authority, causing the hair on her body to stand on end. "Please, leave us alone!" he commanded, and the nurse silently withdrew.
Christine stared in awe at the man who had just entered the room, cradling a baby in his arms. She recognized him, but her mind couldn't quite recall when or where she had seen him. At least she realized he was likely the owner of the house and her benefactor.
The man, in his forties, exuded dominance. His black hair showed traces of wisdom, his deep eyes and well-defined jaw added to his commanding presence. He wore a classic black suit that gave him an aristocratic air.
He approached her bedside, leaning over to gently settle the sleepy baby in her waiting arms.
A surge of warmth spread across her face, blossoming into a soft smile as she caressed the tiny hands of her child. Her heart thumped with a mixture of anticipation and overwhelming love, witnessing the fragile yet serene figure nestled in slumber.
"My name is Loukas Blaine," the man introduced himself, his almond-shaped brown eyes brimming with kindness. In that moment, her thoughts involuntarily drifted to her dear father, whose eyes held a similar tenderness whenever they met hers.
A flicker of recognition crossed her features as she spoke, the puzzle pieces slowly aligning in her mind.
"I know you. You're the one I encountered outside the hospital earlier today."
His jaw clenched, his entire demeanor tensing as he internally debated the right course of action. Should he reveal the truth to her?
She sensed his hesitation, her nerves taut with apprehension. Breath caught in her throat, she waited anxiously for his response. Something within her told her that he held a secret, a weighty truth veiled behind his composed facade.
"What are you not telling me?" she pressed, her voice betraying her nervousness. Her breath hitched as she braced herself for his revelation.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I was debating whether to tell you or not. But the truth will surface eventually. That encounter you mentioned... it didn't happen today. It occurred two weeks ago."
She struggled to process his words, a wave of resistance washing over her thoughts. It couldn't be true. Unease knotted in her stomach, compelling her to scan the room for any tangible evidence that could either confirm or dismiss his claim. Yet, there was nothing concrete - no calendar, no clues to support or refute his statement.
In an almost trivial act, her gaze drifted to her nails, once neatly trimmed. Now, she noticed their subtle growth, a small change that mirrored his revelation in silence.
"You have your mobile phone by the bed. You can check the date and time there," he pointed out, and she grabbed it as if her life depended on it.
The date and time confirmed his words.
"How is this possible?" she asked, pure shock coursing through her veins.
"After giving birth, you experienced heavy bleeding and developed pneumonia from standing in the heavy rain. The team of doctors who attended to you were concerned that you might not make it. But you defied their expectations and survived. You've been mostly unconscious all this time, but you're a strong woman, Christine! And this little guy here patiently waited for you to wake up and take care of him," he explained, gently caressing the baby's little feet.
It all started to make sense.
But wait, how did he know her name?
"How do you know my name?"
"I know everything about you, Christine Carter. I am an old family friend," he confessed, emphasizing her last name, or so she believed.
‘Maybe he knows I'm not my father's real daughter!’ she thought to herself.
"My family..." she trailed off in a low tone, her voice filled with anxiety. "My father, he must be worried. Please tell me that you've informed him that the baby and I are fine."
"I sent a messenger to your house that same night, but your stepmother intercepted it. I don't believe my message ever reached your father. Then the unthinkable tragedy happened."
The atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy, the air grew heavy, and a dreadful silence enveloped the room. Her mind raced with a million dark scenarios, and she tried to shake those thoughts from her head.
"What tragedy?" she finally mustered the courage to ask, her voice filled with fear of the worst.
There was no gentle way to deliver the news, so Loukas just let it out. "I'm so sorry to inform you that your father has passed away."
It was almost dark outside, and she had lost all sense of time and space while crying her heart out.Loukas had left her alone after delivering that devastating news. He seemed to want to offer comfort, but no words could ease the pain she felt.There was simply nothing that could mend the loss of a loved one.Her heart ached with a profound sense of regret as the words echoed in her mind. "Your father has passed away."The weight of those words hit her like a tidal wave, leaving her gasping for breath. She couldn't help but imagine her father's devastated expression when he learned the truth, the pain etched across his face forever haunting her thoughts.Why hadn't there been another chance? Why couldn't she have seen him one last time, heard his voice, or felt his reassuring presence?She couldn't accept it. This was a horrific nightmare, something that couldn't be happening.‘Wake up, Christine! You're just having a bad dream!’ she kept telling herself, but this was not a dream. Th
"Are you scared of flying, miss?" he asked, his tone filled with concern. His captivating silver eyes stared deep into Christine's soul, and she feared he would uncover the things she had worked hard to hide. She nodded, indicating her fear, though flying was something she usually enjoyed. But today was no ordinary day. The man who had haunted her dreams for all these years was here, in the flesh, staring at her. The man who took her virginity and left her with child, without even being aware of it. Could she blame him? No, she couldn't. If there was anyone to blame, it was none other than herself. He was even more breathtakingly gorgeous than her memory had illustrated, especially now that she could see his mesmerizing eyes, the missing piece of his image. Though she should have suspected that Ethan had inherited the same grey shade from him, as her own eyes were hazel. "Have we ever met before?" he asked, causing her heart to skip a beat. She ignored his question. 'He won't r
Her knees went weak, and she struggled to maintain her composure. Avoiding this man for the rest of her life wasn't part of her plan. She had meticulously plotted her revenge against her stepfamily for five long years, anticipating that he might become entangled in it. But his unexpected presence was overwhelming, and she found it hard to breathe normally. "And this is Christine, my daughter," Loukas announced, jolting her out of her thoughts. Though he was her savior, she could never quite get used to being called someone else's daughter. After losing her family and her inheritance, Loukas had insisted on giving her his name and making her his legal successor. It took two years of persuasion before she finally accepted, and now she and Ethan proudly bore the name Blaine. If it weren't for the change in their last name, her carefully laid plans would have crumbled at this very moment. If Hunter had realized he was married to her stepsister, all her revenge schemes would have been in
One would be completely out of their mind and definitively mistaken to think that Christine wanted to impress someone in particular by applying more makeup than usual that day. And she couldn't be blamed for looking stunning in everything she wore, her perfectly fit figure worthy of a fashion model. The only reason she had chosen to wear a mid-thigh black dress that hugged her body in all the right places while still maintaining a sense of class was because it was her first day in the office, nothing more. Laughter rang through the air, captivating her attention and drawing her towards Ethan's room earlier than expected. The scene before her left her momentarily stunned, her stomach tightening with a whirlwind of emotions. Hunter stood beside Ethan, helping him get dressed for school, while the boy's contagious giggles filled the room. Ethan gleefully expressed his desire to emulate his father's style, and Christine couldn't recall the last time she had seen him so elated. Without
The little boy lay on the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn't comprehend how cruel his new classmates were, taunting him for not having a father. But was it Ethan's fault for not having one? No, it wasn't. There was no one in the world who longed for a Daddy more than him. "What's so special about him that the teacher praised him so much, making us look like fools?" one classmate sneered. "Yeah, there's nothing remarkable about him!" another chimed in. "My mother told me he doesn't even have a father!" "That's true, my mother said his mother had him when she was 19." These words pierced through Ethan's heart, fueling his pain. Despite knowing that his mother loved him dearly, he yearned for the embrace of a father's love. Suppressing his vulnerability, he summoned his strength and rose from the ground, shouting, "I do have a father! He's the richest CEO in town!" "We don't believe you!" "You're just a liar!" The bullies continued to laugh and mock him, their word
One could reach an agreement that the scene unfolding before everyone's eyes was undeniably inconvenient, and Ethan was surely bound to have his share of suffering from it. That's why Christine's heart twisted in pain and her stomach muscles clenched, not because of some sort of jealousy. It was out of genuine concern, nothing else. The man held no such power over her, so why would she be jealous of a cheating bastard? The only thing he deserved from her was hate. It wasn't even her he cheated on; it was Martha. For what it was worth, she should have felt rather grateful if her stepsister got to taste the pain of betrayal. Even if a tint of jealousy might have coursed through her veins, she was quick to brush it off, maintaining a dignified demeanor. The same couldn't be said about Hunter; his absurdly handsome features were crossed by different emotions. One could spot embarrassment, confusion, anger, and distress, not particularly in that order. He muttered a curse, while Christi
Time slowed down as his words resonated in her head. Her mind raced, attempting to grasp the meaning behind them, yet her brain couldn't have chosen a worse moment to deny her its cooperation. The instant he leaned his head on her shoulder was the same instant she snapped out of the trance she had fallen into. She blamed her fluctuating hormones for her lack of basic self-respect. All her analytical thoughts seemed to have vanished into the heavy air, likely due to the tense circumstances and her practically nonexistent sex life. There were no other reasons. The confined space and the memory of the night Ethan was conceived surely played a part in stirring up her feelings, mixing them and leaving her confused. What could he possibly expect from her by undressing in the elevator? Certainly, he wouldn't dare to believe that she would strip naked and jump into his arms just because he unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his amazingly fit body. There might be other women who would do just
In his dimly lit room, Ethan tossed and turned, unable to sleep a wink. His mind raced with unlikely scenarios, keeping him awake. For the past two days, he had tried everything he could think of to bring his Mommy and Daddy closer, but his attempts had failed miserably. A frown twisted his adorable features, making him look even more cute than usual, if that was possible. Since the unfortunate incident with his teacher, Christine had avoided any unnecessary contact with Hunter. She managed to outsmart every effort Ethan made to bring them together. At least things had settled down at school. After his Mommy had a conversation with the principal, which probably included some unspoken threats, or so he believed, the teacher apologized in front of Ethan's entire class for the misunderstanding she caused. She claimed that she had mistaken his father for another man, but even the little boy knew it was a lie. She had to comply with this request to keep her job, enduring only a three-mo