BRENT'S POVI swallowed down the frustration I was fast losing control of and held my hands down to help Priscilla up, which she ignored.“Why don't they like me? Have you said something about me to make them decide that?”She sucked in a breath and stood up by herself. “Why would I do that? They usually take to new people easily. Maybe you should have a look at what makes two 5-year-olds not like you.” She replied, angry fire filling her eyes.I took a deep breath to control my anger, regretting the words as soon as they came out of my mouth. “Then I'll have to wonder how you've been raising them.”Priscilla turned to him, and her palm would have landed against his cheek if he hadn't been fast. “Don't you dare tell me how to raise my kids. I've taken care of them for the past five years without your help, so you have no right to tell me how to raise my kids. You should be grateful I decided to move here. Any more insult and I may just disappear, just like before.” She added, the hate
PRISCILLA’S POV“As we’re well aware that the fashion show is in one month, please, I want us to hurry up and focus on our preparations. Nothing must go wrong. Please, let’s put all our plans into action, is that understood?” I urged my employees via a Zoom meeting.My fabric manager, Lexi, raised her hand to say something and I focused on her, giving her the chance to talk. Since I moved to New York a month ago, we’ve had to meet virtually, which honestly wasn’t bad, but nothing could beat our physical meetings. I’ve then learnt not to complain, as it didn’t change anything. “About the materials and patterns we agreed on, I went to see some of the suppliers here but some of them have been bought so it won’t be enough.”I pulled the laptop closer to myself. “Didn’t you make a reservation for it the last time?” I asked, confused. Those were our regular suppliers.Lexi nodded from the screen. “I did, but they said someone also made a reservation for that same pattern, and they had misca
BRENT’S POVI dropped the file I’d been reading, looked at the time on my clock and decided to call Priscilla knowing she would be home alone since the kids would still be in school.I was about to dial her number when my secretary, Evelyn, knocked and entered my office.“Sir, your next appointment is in thirty minutes time.”I checked my calendar and saw that I had a meeting with some potential business partners. I was looking to expand my business into technology in addition to our diversified products. Originally, the company had been built by my grandfather and he had majored in resorts and hotels, as well as some luxury products like sunglasses. When my father had taken over, he had added some brand management to the business as well as restaurants and when I’d taken over, I’d added fitness products, health supplements as well as arts into the scope. Now I wanted to expand more into sustainable technology and I wanted to work with someone already established, however small. As lo
I shuddered out a breath and shook my head. “That’s not what I was after.”Brent smiled and nodded. “Sure. I just thought you might have been feeling that way. If not, then, that’s also okay. So are we in?” He asked, referring to the insurance plan.I needed a moment to think about it, which was all I’d done since he’d mentioned it on the phone. He had sounded pretty sincere about not wanting to take the kids away from me but rather fulfilling his own paternal responsibility, so I could trust him on that, at least a little, but I still had some things to worry about. The most important issue on that list was Avery’s hearing aids. Since Avery was still growing, she had to change her hearing aids often to suit her ear size and improve comfortability and while I wasn’t in any way ashamed of my daughter’s hearing inability, it still sometimes made me feel like I’d failed her as a mother and God forbid I admit that to Brent, so I did the best thing I could, accept his offer.“Sure. We can
CHAPTER SIXTEENPRISCILLA'S POVI was setting the table when the timer I'd set for the pizza started ringing. I rushed to the kitchen and turned off the oven, a little tired from all the running around I'd done that day.“Mom, is he coming today?” Avery signed to me and I signed back answer.“Yes baby.”She smiled, a huge smile, and rushed to where her brother was cleaning their playroom.I sighed and started on the dirty dishes I hadn't been able to wash before. After I'd embarrassingly broken down in front of Brent, he had sent me a text saying he was giving me time to be mad at him, and he wasn't coming back until I could bear to look at him again.Annoyingly enough, I wasn't the one that had decided on this dinner as the right time for him to come back. The kids had missed him and after giving them excuses for almost a week, I'd had to swallow whatever pride I thought I had and invite him to dinner. Even though he had hurt me and all, I couldn't sever our relationship because it w
BRENT'S POVIt felt like everything including air froze as I tried to make sense of what was happening. I looked at Priscilla, who had the poster guilty expression, and knew I hadn't imagined what had just happened. I looked at Avery, casting my mind back to all our interactions. Of course, I was knowledged enough to know that people with hearing disabilities could talk, butt she had responded to me when I talked to her giving no hint she couldn’t hear me.There was nothing else I could do about it, so I tried remembering what little I knew about sign language, but from Avery's expression, I was making a mess of it. I really should have learned sign language back in high school instead of postponing it for Mandarin and never learning it.I turned back to Priscilla asking for help with my eyes since I knew it was rude to talk in third person about a deaf person.Priscilla tapped Avery and signed something I didn't understand, but Avery did since she nodded, glanced at me with no expres
I passed him the third plate I’d washed before having the gut to talk. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about Avery. I was looking for the best time to bring it up, and the best time never came.”He paused briefly and continued rinsing the plate, keeping quiet, and I could imagine what was going through his head. We’d had so many times, I could have brought it up. His silence was making me even more nervous, so I blurted out. “Actually, I know I could have told you before you had to find out like this, I was just too nervous about it and kept on postponing it.”Brent glanced at me and turned back to the plate he was drying. “Since when?”“Since birth. She was born like that. The doctors said it’s most likely hereditary.” I replied.He picked up another plate to rinse. “I’m sorry you had to go through that all on your own. You should have called me rather than battling it alone. You had the right to do that regardless of what you’d endured from me.” He turned to me and I saw the pain in
BRENT’S POVI nodded at Evelyn as she escorted yet another person out of my office. I’d interviewed not less than twenty individuals, and I’d become even more disappointed after each one.“You’ll get back to me, right?” He asked as he left the room, and I nodded with a frustrated smile. He obviously knew I wouldn’t be getting back to him, as he’d bombed the interview. His resume had been less than impressive, but I’d wanted to interview everyone that had shown interest in the partnership opportunity. He’d known nothing about my company, didn’t even have a business plan for the business he wanted to partner with, and hadn’t been able to stay two months on a job since he’d entered the market. Did I also forget to mention he was sixty-three years? To say I was tired was a severe understatement.Evelyn came back into my office and dropped yet another file on another prospect. “Just two more to go, and you’ll be done for the day.” She comforted and I shook my head.“Why did I think this wa
Third person's povTwo days later.“Give a round of warm applause for the beauty and brains behind this show and awesome designs, Priscilla Sinclair!!” The master of ceremony announced and everyone in the hall both in New York and California rose to their feet with an outstanding ovation for her.Priscilla walked out onto the stage with tears at the brim of her eyes.Watching how much her work had succeeded made her emotional, especially as she had come so close to losing her life just a few days ago.She stared across the room to the crowd in attendance. Dignitaries, notable people from all walks of life, fashion icons from New York, California and beyond were standing, clapping and cheering for her beautiful work.The live show at California was airing through a big screen so the audience in both locations could see things getting done in real time.Journalists, fashion bloggers, lifestyle influences and members of the media were all present to witness one of the biggest fashion sho
BRENT’S POVThe minute she bolted for the guest bathroom, I knew I'd caught her red handed. She didn't seem to have suspected that I was aware but I was well informed about all of her plans. It took a while for me to accept that she could do such but I wasn't going to let my woman get hurt due to my assistant's psychotic behavior. “I need everything ready.” I said to the intercom before leaving the room. I headed to my security room to watch the spy camera installed in my room. Seeing how frantic she'd been while trying to get rid of the camera she installed in my room, I guessed that would keep her hooked for the time being while I got the rest of her punishment prepared. I was yet to decide what I would do to her but torture was definitely top on my list. No one messes with me and gets away with it. She rushed back into my room and started calling out for me. When she saw that I wasn't in, she proceeded to start viciously attacking the camera like I'd predicted. My hands clen
EVELYN’S POV “This is the last time I'll be saying it. You either take her or kill her. I don't care what you have to do, take her or kill her.” I instructed my men before leaving home. Something told me to do this, just in case things try to go out of proportion. “What are we to do when we take her, ma’am?” One of the men asked. “What else? Kill her, of course. Do you think I care if she lives? The goal is to have her dead and out of my way, so you'd better do your job well.” I said and dismissed them. “Where are you going in such a frenzy? Are you okay?” Ruby asked as I threw on some clothes. My heart was in pure panic but I couldn't let that reflect on my face. “I had to be at Brent's. There's something I can't let him find.” I responded, grabbing my car keys. I sped out of the house in my car with my hands trembling on the steering wheels. “You've got this, Eve. You've got it.” I muttered to myself. The minute I pulled up to Brent's house, I rushed in without parking p
PRISCILLA’S POVNo! No! No! This can't be! No!” I exclaimed in shock whilst staring at the pictures on my phone. When I opened the message at first, I thought it was a random mistake from a stranger but I found the video and my heart crumbled. Tears were already gushing out of my eyes while I held my hand over my mouth to prevent my cries from making it out. His face had pleasure all over it as she bounced on his throbbing member. “How could he do this to me?” I thought, still in shock. I recalled it to have happened on the night of Evelyn's party, which means he saw her at the party and hid it from me. More tears rushed out of my eyes as I skimmed through the pictures of the pregnancy test kits. It had blue lines, meaning she was pregnant with his baby. “How could you do this to me?” I cried silently and broke down to the floor. My body shook violently with tears. My vision was clouded by the tears rushing out of my eyes but I couldn't stop myself from staring at the pictures
PAMELA’S POVAfter the call with Brent, I felt heat rising up in every part of my body despite the air conditioning in the room. I paced around the room as worry and fear filled up my chest. I tried severally to reach Evelyn but her phone was surprisingly off. “Oh goodness, don't tell me I'm in this mess alone. What should I do?” I groaned loudly. I sat on the bed with my head in my hand while tears hung at the brim of my eyes. His words echoed in my head again and each time, it gave me the thought that he had found out the truth. “I can't lose like this.” I muttered knowing I was either alone at this point or dead if Brent found me. I rushed to my door and locked it tight, in fear that one of Brent's men could burst in through the door and kill me. “Calm down, Pamela. You have to think this through.” I whispered to myself again. I was losing my mind so everything felt strange to me, like I was in the middle of a burning maze with no escape route. I tried calling Evelyn again
PRISCILLA’S POVThat was strange.” I muttered and returned to working but I couldn't get the thoughts off my mind. His words felt like a soothing balm over my wounds, I smiled a little, letting myself fall for him all over again. “What's making you smile so hard?” Claire's voice appeared from the kitchen. I turned and found her smiling as well. Her hair was ruffled and she had eye bags heavy enough to hold water. She clearly eiffored a boatload of jet lag.Claire gave me a surprise yesterday by coming into New York without informing me. I had no idea that all these while she'd been claiming to be busy, she was putting things in place for her arrival in New York. “Is it who I think it is?” She asked with a bigger teasing smile. “Girl, please, I'm just trying to cook.” I refuted, despite smiling hard. “The smile on your face is saying an entirely different thing. Did he make you smile again? Or are you just obsessed with thinking about him?” She asked and I laughed. “It's either
BRENT’S POVI got terrible news from my private investigator and I've been struggling to accept it. I woke up with a heart as heavy as gym equipment. I struggled to believe that someone I'd trusted with my entire life would stab me in the back in such a dangerous manner. The morning was dark and gloomy for me because I just couldn't bring myself to accept the truth. “Are you sure about your research? Will you take some more time to confirm it?” I said. I wanted to avoid the truth by all means if it was inevitable. “No, sir. I've been trailing this person for a while now, I'm very certain it's the truth. There's actually a lot more to be uncovered but this is just to give you basic knowledge of what has been happening right under your nose.” He'd responded. How? Why? When? Several questions bugged my mind at the same time but there was none I could provide answers to. I picked my phone to call Priscilla and reveal the truth to her. I wanted to tell her about Pamela's pregnancy be
EVELYN’S POVAh! You must be wondering why I finally got to show my point of view. It might be a little late to explain how much I matter in the equation of things here but I'll try as much to make a recap. First, from killing Jack. That bastard always tried to make himself seem smarter than he really was. He was constantly trying to prove his intelligence and tried to make himself superior over the course of our partnership but he wasn't as smart or sleek as he thought. I'd always known that he was bound to betray me or at least try to. It was obvious when he started making more attempts to reach me and get in on one of my plans with Pamela. One night, he offered to pay me to get him Priscilla but that was not part of our agreement and ever since then, I've never missed the glint of hatred in his eyes whenever he looked at me. I saw the raw, brazen desire to get rid of me and I figured he couldn't take me out personally so he was bound to pull something stupid. I'd cloned Pamel
PAMELA’S POVI won't lie, since this whole pregnancy thing started, I'd never felt as terrified as I was when Brent threatened to make me disappear without trace. Heck, I knew what he was capable of and if he was still hesitating to get my ass picked up and thrown away, it meant that I had some influence over him. Or Evelyn did. Anyways, I took the easy way out by saying something dramatic before ending the call. I immediately called Evelyn. “I think Brent is getting suspicious of my words. He threatened to have me killed just now.” I let out to her with a sense of fear hanging over my head. My heart was beating so fast and I could almost hear myself breathing. “First, you need to stay calm and stop fretting. He doesn't suspect, he's either crashing out or trying to bait you and make you confess. You need to stand your ground. I'll suggest to him tomorrow to get a test done, then you can put your mind to rest after that.” She assured me with a soothing voice. “I guess that coul