CHAPTER TENMaria woke up very early in the morning, she wouldn't be going to her office because she now had a new job. She had a family now to take care of. She climbed down from her bed and walked into the bathroom to wash her face and hands. After washing, she walked out of the room, heading straight to the kitchen. On getting to the kitchen, she met Henry in there, preparing breakfast already. She walked into the kitchen, trying to avoid making any sound. She stopped right behind him and hesitated for a while, then she walked even closer and hugged him from behind. She tilted her head to the side and kissed his cheek. "Good morning love", Henry greeted her."You are awake so early?" She asked him."I have to make breakfast for us before getting Dylan ready for school," he replied."Let me join you. I know I cannot make up for the lost times, but at least I would try to do one or two things, "Maria said.Henry closed the pot and turned around to face Maria. He held her both hands
CHAPTER ELEVEN It was a cool Sunday morning, and Maria was having fun with her family. They had just finished their breakfast of pizza and ice cream that was delivered about two hours ago and were playing games in the sitting room.Dylan was having a good time. He held the ball tightly in his tiny hands and threw it upwards to his mom who caught it, and when Henry tried to get the ball from her she put it inside her dress. He tried to take it out of her dress and the both of them fell to the floor. Dylan rushed to them and jumped on their body."Dylan, you can see it now that your mom is cheating. The both of you against me, yet you can't play fair?" Henry nagged."Was there a rule in the game in the first place?" Dylan asked."Oh, I see", Henry said. He stood up quickly to his feet, hit the ball off Maria's hands and ran off to the back of the chair. They tried to chase after him, and when they caught up with him, he dipped the ball in his trouser. Maria and Dylan tried to get the
CHAPTER TWELVE"How dare he? What gave him the audacity to_" Maria was saying but kept quiet and sat down beside Henry. "What is going through your mind?" Henry asked her."I don't know. But we have to find a way forward, maybe eloop or something, "Maria replied."Where do we go?" Henry asked."I am helplessly in love with you, Henry. I can't let them take you away from me," she said and held his hand with her heart beating really fast."Do you really want to elope with me?" Henry asked."I love you, Henry. I would die if they rule this case against us, and the court hands me over to them, "Maria insisted. Henry hugged Maria tightly and pecked her forehead. Dylan figured out what was going on and fell ill. Maria kept assuring him that she wouldn't leave him no matter what. She tried to avoid anything that would make her think about the court hearing as the day kept drawing closer. Maria and Henry knew the atmosphere wouldn't be good for Henry, so they decided to take him on a vaca
CHAPTER THIRTEEN"Maria, please, do not create a scene here. Listen to your father, and let's leave this place peacefully, "her mom pleaded. "You both are not my parents!" She shouted. Clifford's hand was still raised in the air, his wife turned around to look at him, and then she helped bring down the hand. "You will not hit our daughter, I beg of you," she pleaded. Clifford signaled his security, and the both of them stepped forward. "I am sorry, but we just have to do this," Clifford apologized. The huge security men grabbed Maria by both arms and lifted her legs. They opened the back door of the car and helped her sit in. Her mom quickly climbed into the car and sat by her side, while her dad and the other security left the car behind. The first guard climbed the driver's seat and zoomed off immediately. The other guard drove the other car with Clifford in the back seat, and they drove home together. All Maria's screams and pleas fell on deaf ears. She tried severally to op
CHAPTER FOURTEENMaria woke in the morning feeling a bit feverish. She decided to call on her doctor to come check up on her. It's been a week since she got locked up in her room forcefully.After calling her doctor, she turned on her mobile data to check a few things on the Internet, and the first thing she saw really dropped her jaw. She saw pictures of Henry and Dylan in Disney, and it was tagged. "The popular Billionaire Mugols son and grand son were seen somewhere in Disney after losing a court case recently." Maria wiped her eyes and glared at her phone again. She thought Henry was just a normal rich guy. Her parents thought so too, and everyone around did. She never knew he was the son of a billionaire. Why, then, did he not use his influence to save her?She thought that the bloggers could be lying just to draw attention to themselves. She decided to check Henry's profile, and he also posted pictures of himself and his son in Disney. "They could be in Disney for real, but H
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Maria turned around and saw her parents, Fred, his dad, and the securities that were assigned to her room standing behind her. "Bundle her back inside," Faith ordered. The security walked up to the fence and pulled Maria down. They began dragging her back into the house while she heard her father on the phone requesting that he needed five extra security to be sent to his house immediately. While they walked in, Maria saw two event planners in the sitting room with a long list in front of them. A dummy with a wedding gown stood at a corner of the sitting room, while one of them admired the gown, the other one penned down words in a note in front of her. Their eyes caught Maria, and they shifted their gaze to her. Her mother walked up to the one who was admiring the gown. "I am sure we all know my daughter Maria. But probably seeing her for the first time in person, you think this gown would fit her, right?" Her mother asked. "Of course, it would. Maria has a very
CHAPTER SIXTEENHenry and Dylan had so much fun in Disney land, and when they had exhausted all the fun there, Dylan asked that his dad take him to atlanta. He wanted to see the ocean.They visited different places after seeing the ocean. Henry was happy that his son was strong and happy again. He sat in their hotel room watching their pictures while Dylan was asleep. He noticed the smile on Dylan's face in the first pictures, where dad smiled and that his face got brighter by the day. In recent pictures, Dylan had a cute and sincere smile all over his face, and it impressed Henry so much to see that his son was happy again. He had doubts about taking him back to the city just yet, but Dylan needed to attend school. He had missed classes for almost three weeks, and he didn't want his son to keep missing out. He had promised the school that they would return in a week and kept postponing, making the school question their reason for giving them the short break at first.Henry knew his
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN After pleading with Henry to eat and he bluntly refused, insisting that he had to see his mom first before eating any food. Henry got frustrated and lay on the couch in the sitting room with his stomach facing the ceiling. He found tears dropping down his left cheek against his wish, and then he began to laugh like a madman. Dylan had been hiding behind the stairs, leading to his room watching his dad for a while, and this particular action scared him to his marrow. He rushed out of his hiding place and went to kneel in front of his dad. "Daddy, please don't run mad. Don't think this to me, don't leave me as well, I would just go crazy, "Dylan pleaded with his dad as he knelt in front of him. "I promise to obey you, I will eat whatever and whenever you want me to eat, but please do not leave me I beg of you."Henry surprised at his son's reaction, pulled him to himself and hugged him tightly. The both of them lay on the couch together with Dylan lying on top of He
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND _ FOURClifford removed his phone from his pocket and texted an unknown number. "Close your eyes for five minutes, " he told them and walked over to the door.He returned with two men, twin kids, and two lawyers. Mary stood up to her feet, screaming at the top of her voice while she rushed to the man who held twin kids by his side. She hugged him passionately and sobbed in his arms. Henry stood up with his eyes and mouth wide open. "Dad," he called out. Fredrick opened his arms wide to receive his son. Henry walked into his father's arms and hugged him warmly. "I am so sorry, dad."Henry's voice sounded as though he was going to cry. "It was my fault that we ended up this way. I should have let you choose your life and your wife.""No, father. Every disappointment is a blessing. You helped me find true love when I thought what I shared with Mary was true love.""Okay, can we do something fun and forget all of these ever happened?" Maria asked. "Not bef
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND _ THREEMaria and Henry continued walking down the stairs but got startled when they saw Clifford and Faith seated on the couch with Mercy and her mom. "What is going on here?" Henry asked. Faith rushed to Maria and hugged her tightly. She began sobbing silently while hugging her daughter. Maria softened as well and began to sob. The rest of the parents stood up to their feet to watch the unfolding drama in front of them."I am sorry, Mom. I know, I know I promised never to leave you but the pressure was too much. I didn't want to marry Fred, I didn't want to go to florida. I wanted to stay somewhere safe. I wanted a place their was love. I never told you this mom, Fred hits me. He would turn me into a punching bag in florida, and their wouldn't be a single soul I would report to. I couldn't stop myself from running away mom, he would definitely kill me if I married him."Faith hugged Maria even more tightly and patted her hair. "I love you so much, honey,"
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND _ TWOMaria ran upstairs with Henry following swiftly behind her. She began packing up her things. "Maria, please don't leave. Don't do this to us. You know you have to give us another chance, right?" Maria ignored Henry and continued packing up. He walked up to her and hugged her from behind. He tightened her hands in between his, and she tried to free herself, but of course, he was stronger than she was. "Maria, please. I would die if you ever leave me.""What will you have me do then? Tell me. What do you expect me to do?"Her voice cracked. It was pale and weak. She sounded as though she was going to cry. "You can't give up on us like this. Okay, you know what? Let's leave together," Henry suggested. "What? What about your son?" Maria asked.She wiped her face. Henry let go of her hand, and she walked up to the bed and sat on it. She sighed softly and raised her head to look at Henry, who was still standing where she left him. His hands were placed on
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND _ ONEMaria was about to answer the question when a slight knock was heard on the door. Henry excused himself and walked towards the door, while Maria continued towards the dining. She went on her knees in front of Mary, and folded her clapped her hands together in front of her face. "What are you doing here?" Mercy asked again coldly. "My parents were going to sell me off and send me to florida. I needed somewhere to hide pending the time they would change their mind." "And you think that this is the best place to hide? Is this the best way to behave when your sister is rotting behind bars? Why are you so inconsiderate Maria? Or you want your parents to come here and gundown everyone because of you? I guess that is the only time you would learn."Maria shook her head continously, as her mom spoke. Mercy didn't bother to look down at her. She kept a straight face, and kept her gaze fixed on the food she was about to eat. "Mom, please. I do not want to mar
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED Maria was stool staring at the little girl with her eyes and mouth wide open. She was still wondering if she was still in hallucinations or not."Ma'am? I know I have asked this before, and you didn't respond. Are you sure you are fine?" "Yea, of course I am fine. Please repeat what you just said earlier. ""Your parents are here, Ma'am, " she repeated innocently. "You mean, you mean Mary's mom and grandma, right? I mean our parents and the kid, right?" Maria asked. "They didn't come with any kid. Henry called them Mr and Mrs Clifford. They said they wanted to be sure that he wasn't hiding Maria here." "Shit!" Maria exclaimed. She pulled the girl by the hand and walked straight to the kitchen with the girl following steady behind her. They got into the kitchen, and Maria locked the door. "What did you say to them?" Maria asked, resting over the girl whose nack was rested on the wall of the kitchen. "I didn't talk to them. I pretended to be dumb and asked s
CHAPTER NINETY _ NINETime flew by real quick and the camp days were finally over. Henry and Maria had prepared a banquet for the family. She hadn't figured out yet where to stay, and she hoped on convincing her biological mom, and grandma to let her stay even if it meant moving to their room with them. She wouldn't want to bother Dylan in his room, and Mary's room would be a no go area. Of course, they wouldn't want her to stay in Henry's room, so the best thing was to either move into theirs. Or she could even manage with the housekeeper, afterall she's human..The both of them were busy setting the dinning and exchanging kisses when they heard a soft knock on the door. The housekeeper walked over to the door to help get the door, while the two rushed the work to quickly finish it before the three would walk in. They already concluded that it was grandma, Mercy, and Dylan. The two laughed immediately they were done, and Henry hugged Maria. "You know they shouldn't see us this wa
CHAPTER NINETY _ EIGHT Henry lay in bed thinking about Mary. He once loved her and still did, although not romantically anymore. He wished there was something he could do about her, but there was absolutely nothing. She was guilty of the case charged, and although Maria hadn't pressed charges yet, she would as soon as Faith succeeded in convincing her. Henry was so worried for Mary's safety. It was so early in the morning, and Henry hadn't had any sleep yet. The wall clock that hung on the wall facing him read the time to his face. And it displayed 5am.Henry sighed, as he remembered Mercy, Dylan and granny. The three were in Dylan's school camp. He felt bad for the kid, none of his parents could attend the camp with him. Henry would have gone but Dylan insisted he shouldn't attend the camp without Mary. He didn't want to create a scene in the school by going there against the kid's wish, so he decided to just stay back at home. He heard the door bell ring and jerked from the bed
CHAPTER NINETY _ SEVEN The day was a very stressful and yet very successful one. Everything the Clifford's planned on achieving for that fay they did before dusk. Everyone was exhausted and just retired to their rooms to sleep. Maria lay in bed with her eyes closed as thoughts flew freely in and out of her mind. Tears rolled down her left eyes, dropping on the sheets. She heard a light knock on the door and wiped her face immediately. "Come in," she managed to say and sat up in bed. She was too tired to stand to her feet and thanked her stars she didn't lock the door yet. She saw her mom walk into her room with a sad smile on her face. She sat on the bed beside Maria and held her jaw up. Maria understood that her mom was only trying to make her happy. She didn't like that all her life revolved around a man who was married to her own sister and wished that she could help. This was her best way of helping Maria move on from Henry, but she didn't want to. She couldn't forget the l
CHAPTER NINETY _ SIXA FEW WEEKS LATERMaria stood behind the door of her parents' room. She could hear them talk in whispers and laugh. Soon, their tone increased, and she realized they were talking to someone or some people on the phone."We should just fix the wedding, and they would come together, get married. It is not like they have a choice after all. "That was Faith's voice. She knew the meeting they held was about she and Fred, and she also knew it was Fred's parents on the other end of the call. "Maybe you would just come over to the house so we would plan the wedding properly," Clifford's voice sounded. She felt betrayed that her dad was part of the plan. Why would he? She thought he was on her side and would help her achieve whatever she wanted. Why would he switch sides all of a sudden? She sighed sadly and returned to her room. She sat in bed and banged the door against the wall. She was breathing heavily and fuming at the same time. She stood up.from the bed and wa