Belle's POV“Belle. Put on your crown!”I was unlucky enough to have a mother who was a show-off and an exaggerator. Deliberately ordering a diamond crown to force me to wear it on my wedding day. To make sure that the only daughter she had had managed to snag the last successor to the Davis family. My mom spent the money just to show off in front of her friends.“Wait. Aren't there too many guests?” In my hands, the guest list, which should have only numbered dozens of people, swelled to hundreds with the names of the first companies to send bouquets.“Mom!” I snapped at the old woman. “I told you this was just a private party! What do you mean you invited so many of our company's business colleagues? Do you want news of this wedding to reach Mattheo's ears?”The old woman, standing still in front of my bride's dressing table, was busy with all the expensive make-up tools. I'd had enough of her forcing me to marry Luke in the first month of our move to Japan.I can still vividly reme
Belle's POVI... don't want to answer.This marriage will go on for the rest of my life, endlessly, like a curse that binds my breathing if I don't let go soon. I know better than anyone how hard it is to separate from someone you don't like.Mattheo, is the one who knows it best. We've fought, hated each other, even when there was a third person between us, our marriage wasn't that easy to let go of. Whether it was me who wasn't willing to end it, or Mattheo who still had ulterior motives for me.I know for sure. As soon as I recite the same sacred vows at this wedding altar, I will repeat the same thing all over again. From the beginning. Marrying someone I don't love is tantamount to throwing myself into the deepest pit of hell.“Bride?” The priest's voice began to interrupt my empty thoughts. He gave me a puzzled look, as I remained silent for a suspiciously long time.“The vows, please,” he said again. The priest's confusion caused the other guests to exchange astonished glances.
Belle's POV“Madam. Your room is upstairs.” The guard ordered to escort me began to look uncomfortable. Since my focus was on the surroundings of the party, the two big men also followed my gaze. Their confused faces looking at each other showed that only I realized who was looking at me from a distance.“What are you looking for, ma'am?” one of them asked. “If you're looking for Mr. Luke, then he's in the middle of the party. There are a lot of guests and he's serving them there,” he tried to explain.And I'm not looking for him! I'm looking for the man who looked at me earlier! My feelings or not, or maybe this was just an illusion created by the tired eyes of mental depression. However, there was one thing that made me uncomfortable. The man who was looking at me from a distance had the same eyes as Mattheo.My goosebumps instantly bristled just thinking about it. The idea of Mattheo's presence at this party scared me to death. Quickly, I tucked my body between the two guards' bodi
Belle's POVMy jaw slid down accompanied by the sound of objects breaking inside my head; my disbelief. Those shoes, there was no way I didn't recognize them. As for the man smoking in front of my face, his hateful expression never changed. Even though it had been a year since we met.“You look well, Belle,” Robert said. His lips exhaled cigarette smoke at me, harassment as usual. It was as if he was deliberately testing my patience. “I was worried because the news of your marriage was so sudden. Who would have thought, you look better than I imagined.”I held my breath so as not to fall for his provocation. “What do you want?” I threw hard. Not giving him room to look down on me. “I doubt Luke invited you here. He doesn't even know you. Tell me, who told you I was in Japan?”His lips smirked at my words, treating me silly as his free fingers reached for something from under his black coat. “Who do you think invited me here?” He showed me an authentic invitation, our wedding invitatio
Belle's POVWith a thin cell phone thrust at me, it was as easy as that for him to turn my words upside down. It was just a screen, with a short conversation in the message history shown, last night at 7pm.“You can read it yourself, can't you?” chirped Robert. He threw the phone at me roughly. “You're the kind of woman who won't believe it unless you see it with your own eyes. It's like deja vu, isn't it? Back then, when I told you Mattheo was having an affair with your stepsister, you still wouldn't listen.”Robert continued to chatter about my past, patronizing me with his usual quirks. My focus, however, was more on this cell phone in my hand. I double-checked it very carefully, because it could be that the row of numbers I was looking at didn't belong to Luke.'Right. Why would he call Robert? It's not like they know each other. Right, you should be calmer than this, Belle.' I kept saying that in my heart in the hope that what I was seeing from this cell phone would disappear.Un
Belle's POVRobert showed me some snapshots from his conversation history. With Mattheo's contact name there, the same number that I still remember today, even though it feels so far out of my reach. I still remembered his number, but my freedom to contact him was not the same as before.“You can guess where he lives now,” he said, holding up his cell phone for me. ”I can't tell you, right now. I don't know, unless you ask him directly. It depends on how Mattheo decides for you.”It was a picture of Mattheo's honeymoon with Natalia, on a beach. Very unfamiliar to me, I could never really get a proper honeymoon throughout our marriage. Natalia was wearing a bikini on that beautiful beach, her stomach still looking flat.I suddenly thought of something that really hurt me. The moment Natalia became pregnant with his child, that's when Mattheo would completely dump us. Right now I still had a slight connection to him just because I was the only woman who gave birth to his child.'Once he
Robert's POV/The wedding of Mattheo Sinclair & Natalia Starling//A few days before Luke & Belle's wedding//New York - 10:00 PM/“What are you doing here? I told you your job is done. Get some rest.” Mattheo catches me off guard, in front of his room where I almost managed to break the security with the spare key I brought.“I heard something in your room,” I retorted. Lying, of course. But I couldn't let Mattheo know that I'd actually almost broken into his room without permission. “So I thought I'd better check it out before you went inside.”“Is that so?” Mattheo took off the black tie around his neck as he walked over to the side of the door and looked at the electric lock button. “I didn't notice any break-in, though. You might have heard wrong. The party's still going on downstairs, so it's possible that the noise is echoing up here.”“Could be,” I replied looking calm in front of him. He waltzed inside, using the electronic key he had brought. When he entered, I let out a lon
Robert’s POVMattheo's cell phone in hand, I immediately searched for what I wanted. My fingers moved wildly searching for the contact in Belle's name stored in Mattheo's cell phone in my hand, trying to be as fast as possible so that everything I was doing at the moment would be finished before Mattheo the owner of the cell phone woke up from his stupor, although it seemed like it would take a long time for him to regain consciousness.Just like a thief who enters without being stealthy, I couldn't neutralize my heartbeat and tried to appear normal because I was really very nervous at the moment, so nervous in fact, that I was trembling and my hands were covered in cold sweat as I held Mattheo's cell phone in my palm.'Damn it! Come on, do everything quickly, buddy.'The pounding in my chest grew louder as I thought about Mattheo's current condition, praying silently that Mattheo would be safe and that what I had done to him with the sleeping pills wouldn't have a negative effect on
Belle's POV“Nggg~” Raven whined in tears when I separated him from his soft pillow. Not much different from her brother, Christ, who had already cried when his deep sleep was awakened. I really couldn't bear to wake them up in their unhealthy state.'However, Mattheo is already in Japan. It's only a matter of time until he finds the location of this hospital and my nightmare will come true.' I reminded myself not to let my guard down for a second in this critical situation.“Forgive your mother, my dear. I'm sorry.” I repeatedly apologized to my two babies who had to become victims of their parents' problems. I had to do this now or never.While Robert was still talking to someone on his phone, while the hospital was still too quiet for the guards to find me. Once again, I had to leave everything behind for my two babies. I'm not sure I would have survived if I hadn't hurried now.As soon as I found out Mattheo had reached Japan, the stitches in my stomach were excruciating. My stoma
Natalia’s POVI never expected to get a surprise like this, Mattheo's coming to the hospital and seeing me alone had managed to make my heart beat.I never imagined that Mattheo would even give me another surprise that was even more shocking than the previous one, not only did it make me do heart exercises, but it almost made my heart fall out of place because I was so surprised to see Mattheo in front of my eyes when I was just a few steps away from getting into the car.It was even more shocking that he was waiting for me there, like he already knew what I was going to do after this. Mattheo, he couldn't possibly know that I was going to leave and escape through the back door of the hospital and he couldn't possibly know that I kept a car in the backyard of this hospital either, right?''So, what are you going to say again this time? What are you going to explain about everything that has happened this time, where are you going and what made you decide to escape from this hospital?'
Natalia’s POVWho would have thought, a few moments after the phone call with Ragen had been disconnected, the doctor came back into the hospital room and he again checked my condition, which was still lying weakly on the hospital bed even though it had been assisted by drugs and also an IV tube that was still attached to my wrist.I will not waste this good opportunity. I will ask the doctor if I can get out of the hospital right now, so that I can meet Mommy Ragen without getting suspicion from anyone, including Mattheo if he finds me out there again.Unfortunately what I hoped for didn't really come true, the doctor stuck to his decision of not allowing me to be discharged from the hospital. My body that was still weak and not fully healthy was used as an excuse to keep me here.But I also can't stay here like this, I have to go and see Ragen before she does something much worse, she could tell Mattheo and twist the facts so that Mattheo only hates me.No, I can't let that happen!
Natalia’s POV''Mattheo, can I talk to you outside? There's something I want to talk to you about,'' Robert said which made me turn my head, wondering to myself what Robert was going to talk to Mattheo about?Was he going to say something very important that I shouldn't know so Robert asked Mattheo to leave?Shit, why can't my brain think properly? Even if Robert asked Mattheo to talk outside together, I was sure that Robert wouldn't tell the truth. Yes, he is also the one who has always helped me, if what I hid from Mattheo was revealed, it would also drag his name and Robert would not do that, I'm sure.Never mind, I should just trust him for now. Trying to convince myself that Robert will definitely not do anything wrong, he must have thought about it and considered it carefully before doing something.''Talking together? What do you want to tell me, is there something important?''Robert without hesitation immediately nodded to confirm what Mattheo had questioned, confirming that
Natalia’s POV''Why does your face look so pale after seeing me? Your reaction is so exaggerated, it's like you're seeing a ghost.'' Mattheo mocking me again while I was still trying to convince myself that what I was seeing was real, that Mattheo's presence in front of my eyes was not a hallucination due to the effects of the medicine I had taken.But his coming to the hospital and visiting me was real.He was really in front of me and was even looking at me intently, my palms were getting wet when I saw the way Mattheo was looking at me. With my nerves getting the better of me, I tried to act casual despite the fact that my heart was almost out of place.I'm afraid that Mattheo knows the truth about me, I'm afraid that he knows what I'm hiding from him, and I'm also afraid that Mattheo knows what makes me here now.This stress that I'm feeling, I'm sure it has something to do with Mommy Ragen's request that told and forced me to follow her will, assist her to seize custody of both M
Natalia’s POVI never thought that things would never go as smoothly as Mommy Ragen wanted, the process of taking custody of the child that she wanted was not as easy as imagined.'There was too much drama to be done, too many lies that needed to be prepared in order to get everything that Mommy Ragen wanted.'However, the fire of desire that has been burning so big inside her makes she completely unadvised in any way, she still imposes her will and insists on doing everything possible so that her goal can be achieved immediately.Even I could only stay silent and pensive staring in disbelief at her in front of there who was still talking to the Lawyer to discuss what they would do next so that the custody of Belle's two children could fall into the hands of her grandmother who was none other than Ragen.I did not expect that her ambition to control all the assets inherited to the two babies would make her desperate to do anything, even to the point of trying to seize the custody of B
Ragen’s POV''Robert, no matter what happens. I hope you will keep your mouth shut from everyone, I don't want all this to leak out to others and put me in danger. Mommy would immediately suspect me if what she is planning to do is leaked to others, you want to help me right?''Robert immediately nodded his head, agreeing to what Natalia said to hide everything he knew. To keep everyone's mouth shut so that what was happening here wouldn't leak out.''Of course, you don't have to worry about me leaking it. I will definitely keep my mouth shut with everything that has happened, just relax.'' he reassured Natalia and managed to make her smile with relief, at least Robert could be trusted for now.''That's good, for the time being, we should hide everything that happened from everyone, especially Mattheo, he shouldn't know what his mother is planning. I myself am also reluctant to get involved with that oldman madness, I don't know what the end will be, but I can guess that things will d
Ragen’s POVFrom where I was sitting, I could see Natalia shaking her head, looking very distrustful of me who dared to go against the law to get what I wanted.Of course I dare because it's not the law that I will fight against that I have in mind, but the property that will belong to Belle's two children that will also belong to me if I manage to get custody of the two children.Whatever she thinks, I don't care what she thinks here either, I'm not asking for her opinion. But I'm just forcing her and the lawyer in front of me right now to do what I want.Yes, not just the lawyer. But Natalia must also comply with what I want, whatever I tell her, she must obey!''Why are you shaking your head like that, Natalia? What are you thinking?'' I asked her, furious too because more and more Natalia seemed very out of line with my mindset.''Nothing, Mom. Just.. I think I need to go to the restroom first, You just continue the conversation with Mr. lawyer.''Natalia immediately rose to her f
Ragen’s POV''Natalia, I only asked you to accompany me to the legal counsel. Why are you so scared of being found out by Mattheo? After all as long as we keep quiet and don't tell anyone then it will all be safe right, or do you really want me to do something to you first so that you will listen to what I say and make you want to obey my orders?''I stared at Natalia's two eyeballs so intently, giving off an intimidating aura that was so strong as to pressure Natalia and make her give up on her initial decision to refuse my orders.“Please, I can’t do this,” She’s still rejecting me.“You certainly know what I mean, Natalia. It's not a difficult thing to influence Mattheo to hate you by bringing up his children's names, I can do that if you continue to refuse me. Ah, how about I tell Mattheo that you secretly want to harm his children?''Natalia looked surprised when I suddenly turned my head to look at her, I also saw her body jumped up when I suddenly turned my head and looked at h