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
BRENT’S POVI yawned and stretched my neck, feeling the stiffness that came from sitting at a table all day long, when there was a knock on my door and the next interviewee walked in. I sat straighter, both feeling and seeing the difference from the others I’d interviewed.He walked towards me and stared at me until I gathered my wits about me. “You may have your seat.” I said, gesturing to the chair that was in front of me that everyone had automatically sat on even before I’d said anything. While I wasn’t strict on that culture of being the God to the people I was interviewing, I was happy and feeling ecstatic about this person.I opened the file and went through his resume. “Sylvester, is it?” I asked and he nodded. “Yes. I’m Sylvester.”Even his voice sounded more refined. If I was being honest, I had my idea of what I wanted my business partner to look like, and this man was nicely fitting into that image. Young? He was twenty-five according to his resume. That was very nice. I
“Chloe.” I called and, hearing her voice from my office, headed there. “What are you doing here?” My voice faded off as I saw what she was holding. I grabbed the package of toy she had been opening, seeing the others that were already opened on the floor. “What is your problem?” I asked in fury.She continued staring at me wordlessly, and I dropped the package I’d collected from her. “Chloe.” “What is this? I’ve not heard from you in a few months, and now I’m seeing children’s toys in your house. Are you planning an orphanage visit?”I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic question. We had a team for things like that, and she was part of it so she definitely knew that wasn’t the case. “Why did you have to look through my things then? I’ve told you to stop it.”She crossed her arms and glared at me. “You keep on ignoring my calls. You don’t answer mom’s either. I’m worried about you and I want to know what’s going on in your life. The only way I can find that out is when I go through your t
SYLVESTER’S POV“Sylvester, please stop pacing around. You're making me feel lightheaded with your movements. I know you're angry but please sit.” Donna said to me and I sucked in my breath for the hundredth time. I slammed my hands on the table, causing some of the things on it to spill over. “Now you're just going to start creating a mess.” She sighed and picked up the fallen items. “Would you believe she did that to me? She's my woman yet she had them throw me out.” I rambled again and Donna sighed almost in frustration. “You knew she never liked you from the start, she only agreed to be with you for selfish reasons. None of this is your fault.” She tried to placate me but I was too angry, too bitter to care. “It's all his fault.” I suddenly muttered after coming to the realization of it. “What?” Donna's eyes exposed her confusion. “He's the one making her do this. She loves me, she'd never do that to me if he wasn't in the picture. I have to find a way to get rid of him.” I
BRENT’S POVI finally felt free. After that confession to her, it felt like my soul had been set free, her smile lightened up the room and we went to check up on the kids when they'd woken up. They were both excited to see their mother and I could see the joy and relief in her face as she hugged them both. In the past, I used to think people often did too much by acting like their kids were some sort of lifelines but after this incident, I realized why people held on to their kids like life. I couldn't imagine losing my two kids in a night, my life would totally be over.“Daddy, we miss you at the house.” Aiden suddenly spoke, drawing me back into their conversation. I smiled and ruffled his hair, they'd been taken out of the ER into a VIP room same as Priscilla because I made the request so they'd be comfortable. “I miss you both too.” I responded and Avery smiled deeply. My little girl. She'd been so startled to not have found their mother when she woke up that it took several mi
PRISCILLA’S POV“I don't care what you think about me, all I know is that we belong together. You're mine, Priscilla, you're mine!” His words did not only sound threatening, the words sounded real especially with the fury blazin hot in his eyes. I was getting scared to my bones that he'd pull a crazy stunt as he kept approaching the bed with a glare in his eyes. I could see the hurt, anger and criticism in his eyes but none of our fears could stop him. “Get away from me, Sylvester. Don't you dare come close to me.” I tried to put up a bold front but couldn't. My voice was trembling while my hands started to shake constantly. “You belong to me, I own you!” He muttered bluntly, still strutting towards me. I had a feeling he would do something crazy so I screamed. “Help!!! This man is trying to kill me! Somebody please help me!!” I screamed with everything in me and he rushed to put his hands over my mouth, leaving me to struggle and gasp for breath under his tight hold. Luckily eno
PRISCILLA’S POVIt's been several hours since Brent left me and the kids in the hospital. Sylvester has been smothering my face with all sorts of boring talks about his business trips and how heartbreaking it was for him to hear the news of the incident. He barely gave me a chance to speak and all through the entire time, all I did was nod and pretend like I was listening to him when all I wanted was to be away from him. “I can't do this for much longer.” I thought to myself. “I also have an upcoming trip to Singapore but I'm not sure I'll want to leave you all alone in this condition. Will you come with me?” He asked and I rolled my eyes, despite the intense pain I was feeling in my head. A part of me wanted to snort and ask if he was just being sarcastic but I resisted the urge to do that. “I'm literally tied to a bed, I can't come with you.” I responded curtly, hoping he'd catch the drift but typical Sylvester, he didn't blink an eye. “Brent would've sure as hell picked up on
BRENT'S POVTo be honest, I wasn't expecting her to pick me over Sylvester. He came in here and was acting all lovey dovey either. I couldn't beat watching them but the torture reminded me of how much I needed to be with her as soon as possible. She finally returned her eyes to the doctor, while avoiding contact with either of us.“Can't you just speak with all of us? I don't want to have to choose.” Her voice was low and uneasy. I could tell she's uncomfortable and I hated that I was contributing to her uneasiness.“I mean, it's fine if you want to have them listen in. I just want you to be comfortable.” The doctor remarked and Sylvester turned to her.“I think you should choose, baby. I should be the one with you right , not a random person.” He said. I didn't miss his snide comment and despite wanting nothing more than to punch him in his face, I had to respect Priscilla too.“I…I don't want to choose.” She said, more like a whisper. Her eyes held fright and uneasiness.I noticed S
SYLVESTER’S POVI just stepped out of the shower when I started getting calls from one of my undercover guards. The one I sent close to Priscilla's pov, only with the mission of keeping her and the kids safe. It may sound strange but I could be quite overprotective of people I love and Priscilla was top on that list. I just couldn't let any harm get to her. I dabbed my head with the towel and picked up the phone to answer one of his calls. “What's going on?” I asked, expecting a full rundown of her daily activities but he sounded out of breath as he tried to speak. “Sir, there's a fire at her house. She's trapped inside the fire with the kids. I'm not sure she can make it out alive.” He rushed and fear gripped my heart. “Well, do something about it fast.” I yelled and rushed to my closet to pick an outfit. “There's nothing we can do. Half of the neighborhood is outside the door and we've tried all we can to break in but the door is locked from inside and won't budge under pressu
BRENT’S POVThe day slowly wound down to an unnerving evening for me. The production at the new facility cost a lot more money, time and human labor than we bargained for so all hands had to be on deck to work through it. I've managed to stuff my face with enough work that I barely had time to think about Priscilla. I was either in a meeting or leaving one, I also had to work in the factory when we got understaffed. “You know we can just hire someone to do what you're doing.” Evelyn said to me while I programmed one of the machines. I ignored her comment and returned to working, pouring my heart’s content into it. By the time we finished for the day, my muscles ached so badly that I knew I needed to take several days off. I made sure to be the last person to leave, well, I tried to be the last to leave but Evelyn insisted I had to go before her. “You know you don't need to do all these, Brent. You can just leave.” She insisted while I continued working until I could no longer bear
PRISCILLA’S POVAs I drove the kids back home, I couldn't get the thought of how messy things might get if they found out about the situation between Brent and I. All through the ride, I only listened to their talks absentmindedly while trying to figure out a way to get things together before they got out of hand. We got home and I hurriedly got the kids ready for dinner, they wanted an early dinner and I was glad they did too. “Aiden, get it together so I can brush your hair already.” I groaned in frustration while preparing them for the evening. “Mum, what are we having for dinner?” He asked, fiddling with his pajamas while Avery stared at her coloring book. “Potatoes and chicken.” I answered and Avery’s eyes turned to me in delight. She hugged me without saying anything and I hugged her back. I finished with them and went into the kitchen to start making the meal. They insisted on being in the kitchen with me and when I refused, Aiden broke down in tears while Avery sulked re
SYLVESTER’S POV“I can't believe she did all that to you right before the guards. Did you do something to caution her?” Damien asked, pouting me another glass of whiskey. I turned my eyes away from him in shame, the urge to rewind and go back to do things she won't forgive me for came rushing at me. “Wait, don't tell me you just let a woman talk down on you because of her two minions.” He said and I could gear the slight mockery in his voice. I looked back at him and found a teasing smile playing on his face so I shrugged. “What would you have me do? Whip her like a child? I doubt so.” I said gulping the content of the glass in one go. I passed the glass back to him and watched him fill it again in silence. However, this silence was filled with a lot of unspeakable words. “I used to look up to you, y’know. You're literally good with every single woman I've seen you with but this one, this one seems to be an exception.” He had a disappointing look in his eyes as he passed the glass