William
Where do I even begin? Anastasia ruined my life. I had to marry her. My grandfather insisted that if I didn’t, I could have lost the company. Honestly, I didn’t care much about the company, but my child? That was different.
I was planning to pull out at the last minute when she told me she was pregnant. I was heartless, but I would never let an innocent child suffer for something they didn’t do. That’s why I went ahead and married her.
I sat at the table staring at the ring, remembering the day I gave it to her. How could she just take it off and leave it behind without my permission? Was she serious about this divorce? But that wouldn’t make sense. Anastasia loved me; she endured all these years, even when I ignored her. So why was she doing this?
I ran a hand through my hair, zoning out as Jimena argued about something. The only thing that snapped me out of my thoughts was the ringtone of my phone. I quickly reached for it and picked up.
"Speak!" I said, sounding more irritated than I meant. It was Vanessa, my secretary.
“I managed to call ten more, and they both agreed not to let Mrs. Rogers stay at their hotel,” she said.
“Good. Listen, I want you to look into where Mrs. Rogers is now,” I instructed.
“Alright, sir.” She hung up.
Jimena interrupted my thoughts. "William, what’s wrong with you?"
“What?” I muttered, a little too harshly.
“Why do you care where she goes? Do you love her?”
“No. Why would you say that, Jimena?” I stood up, slipping the ring into my pocket.
“Because you're acting weird.” She crossed her arms, and I felt an annoying pang of guilt.
“You’re the one acting weird, Jimena. You never cared who I called, or if I cared about Anastasia. Why does it bother you now?” I snapped. She was starting to act like Anastasia, always questioning who I spoke to, monitoring my every move like my boss.
“Well, that was before. Now I’m carrying your child. We’re getting married soon.” She gave me a pout, one of her many tricks.
“And so?” I raised an eyebrow.
“So it bothers me. I’m a woman. It’s normal to get jealous if you care so much for another woman,” she said, her voice slightly rising.
I suddenly wondered, when I was with Jimena before, did Anastasia ever feel the same way, dealing with this kind of jealousy and worry?
“I don’t have time for this.” I turned to leave, but she was quick to block the door.
“No, you’re not leaving until we finish this conversation,” she said, sounding ridiculous.
“Jimena, we can talk tomorrow. ”
“Excuse me? Are you messing with me?” Her voice cracked, and I could see her frustration building.
I exhaled sharply. “Listen, I didn’t mean it that way, okay?”
“Then what is it mean? William. Anastasia signed the divorce papers before you even said anything. I mean, you were going to divorce her anyway.”
Her words stung. I raised my voice. “Enough!” I was done with this conversation. “She only signed the divorce because I told her I was going to divorce her.”
“Exactly, or did you want her to fine you first?” she shot back, her sarcasm cutting through me.
I felt my blood pressure rise.
“You were with me on her birthday, William. Instead of celebrating with her, you were with me, letting Anastasia make excuses for you. So you regret it now?”
The words hit harder than I expected. I felt my chest tighten, my hands curling into fists. “I need her in my own way,” I muttered. “Now move. I don’t want to do something stupid.”
“Wait, what? Are you threatening me?” Her eyes widened, and I knew I was losing control. I didn’t want to do something I’d regret.
I pushed past her, heading for the stairs, not caring if she yelled after me. I needed to leave.
I grabbed the keys and closed the door behind me, locking it as Jimena pounded on it, demanding I open up. I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head, and walked to my car.
I didn’t care which one I took. I was so out of it that I picked the car I least liked. I needed to drive, but I knew I was in no condition to do so. My mind was all over the place.
As I drove down the road, I had no particular destination in mind. The only thing on my mind was Anastasia signing those divorce papers. If this went public, it could ruin me. I had to fix it somehow.
“Ivy, maybe she called Ivy,” I mumbled to myself, pulling my phone from my pocket. But just as I looked away from the road to get the phone, I heard a truck’s horn blasting.
I snapped my head up just in time to see the large truck barreling toward me. My heart raced. I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The truck was too close.
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, unsure if I’d survive this.
Suddenly, everything went still. My car stopped. The truck stopped. I opened my eyes, confused. How had that happened?
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself as people rushed to the car. I couldn’t let them see me. If I did, I’d be all over the news again.
I was about to drive away when a thought struck me. This might be just what I needed. If I could make this incident work in my favor, it would distract everyone from the divorce.
I rolled down the window and let the people around me talk, some offering help, others taking photos. I ignored the attention, focusing on those who seemed genuinely concerned.
“You’re bleeding,” someone said, pointing at my forehead.
I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a small scratch. It wasn’t much, but it would be enough for the media.
“Can you drive? I’ll take you to the hospital,” one person offered.
“No, I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head. I thanked them and drove off, fully aware of how they were snapping photos. I had a plan now. I needed them to believe that something serious had happened.
As I distanced myself from the scene, I sped up and drove straight to a club. I wasn’t in the mood for distractions, but I needed to unwind.
I walked in, ignoring the waitress who offered to escort me. I didn’t want company tonight. I was a VIP, and my table was already reserved. I wasn’t here for the usual entertainment. I just needed liquor to forget everything, even if it was just for a little while.
“Vodka,” I ordered, my voice rough.
I sipped the drink, trying to dull the ache in my chest. The world was blurry, but I didn’t care.
I reached for my phone and dialed James, my personal assistant. “Come pick me up,” I slurred.
He showed up soon after, pulling me out of my haze. “We’re going home,” he said firmly, not giving me a chance to argue.
I didn’t fight him. I was too far gone. “Take me to… Take me to her,” I muttered, realizing the truth just as the car pulled away.
"James, I know where she is now."
~ANASTASIA~ I didn't know how to answer Ivy’s question, and I was going to break when Trey took the phone from me. I could still hear my daughter asking questions, but I couldn't stand and listen; that's why I ran out of the living room and rushed to my room. Inside I climbed onto the bed and pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, tears streamed freely down my cheeks, lost in my emotions—it was suffocating. My daughter didn't deserve this; she deserved better. I… I failed her. I didn't bother cleaning the tears as I knew it would just be in vain as more would keep falling. I don't know how long I've been there, but it must be long, as looking at the clock showed me it was already evening time. I heard a knock on the door, and since I knew it was my brother, as he had been knocking there for the past hours, I didn't open it before but now I wanted him to go home as it was late, so I got up and walked to the bathroom to wash the dried tears; after that, I walked
~WILLIAM~ I couldn't believe my ears. Anastasia was calling me; she still cared. I knew it was an act earlier. Of course, she was pretending, but why did she have to pretend knowing I would never chase after her? I thought James was taking me to the Lancaster mansion only for him to drop me off at Harriot’s house. Vivi was not welcoming but in the end, Harriot managed to get me to bed in their guestroom, I was about to fall asleep when my phone started ringing, I struggled, and when I saw the caller ID I quickly picked up. I cleared my voice before saying, “Listen if you... If you called to apologize, then it-” “I didn't call to apologize, William.” She cut me, “I just wanted to make sure you are alive; I don't want to be a widow.” “W-what?” I intended to raise my voice but failed as my voice came out as a whisper. “It's impossible to sign anything six feet under, right?” “Wait, so you're saying—” “I'm saying I’d rather you sign the divorce than have people call me a wido
~WILLIAM~ Mom looked confused like there was nothing wrong with what she did. “I'm confused, William; you always complained to Mom about Anastasia and that nuisance daughter of-” “Don't you dare refer to my daughter as a nuisance, Nicole?” “Why not? I mean, she's the reason you married Anastasia in the first place.” “Her name is Ivy, and stay out of my business,” I warned I've had enough of her. “Alright, I'm not saying anything again.” She raised her hands in the air and walked to the sofa. She picked up the glass of juice and crossed her legs, and after taking a sip, she placed the glass down, picked a magazine, and started paging. I turned to Mom, who was still confused. “I want you to leave, both of you.” “What?!” “I will deal with the divorce myself,” I said, and without turning back, I walked toward the stairs and headed to the bedroom. Yes, I always complained about how unhappy
~WILLIAM~ I cleared my voice as I impatiently waited for my daughter to speak, but she didn't say a word; it was just silence, and I started to wonder what was happening. “Baby? Are you there?” I asked. “Yes, I'm just making sure these media people got it right,” she said, and that's when I heard the tapping of the keyboard keys, so she was busy searching on the internet. I mean, wasn't she too young for that? If I remember correctly, she was four, even though I haven't attended any of her birthdays. I always made sure I bought her an expensive gift so I knew she was four; in fact, she had just turned four a few days ago, and that was the reason why Anastasia and I got into that fight that led her to be locked up. “They say mom asked you for a divorce.” “W-what?” "Yes, and I asked Mom, but she didn't tell me this; that's why I called you.” She said, and I groaned and rubbed my temples as what I'd feared had happen
~ANASTASIA~ I was lost in my thoughts looking out the window when my phone started to ring. I quickly reached for my purse and picked it up.“Ana, are you sure? I can still come.”"I'm sure, Vivi, I've got this.”“I know you've got it, but... I'm worried.”“And you're worried for nothing,” I cleared my throat. “It will just take a few minutes, and then I will be done with it, okay?" I sounded confident but it was far from what I was feeling. I was terrified, if I had an option I could have avoided today, but I figured out there was no way, and I was prepared to face it.“Alright, please call me if you need anything or if they give you a hard time.”“Thank you,” I said and then ended the call, as I knew speaking to her for a long time would trigger tears. “Okay,” I said as I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. “I'm ready,” I said to myself, but Scott responded. “We can try to postpone it if you're not-”“I am ready.” I cut
~ANASTASIA~ I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I let out a chuckle because this was absurd. Why would William change his mind now? He never loved me; our marriage was never meant to happen, so why on earth did he refuse to let me go now? “Is this a joke?” I turned to him, but he wasn't looking at me; instead, he was looking down. “Ms. Anastasia, please have your seat.” “I'm sorry, what? I mean, we both signed the divorce document; I'm here to get my copy, not to have second thoughts.” I said as my heart was now racing. “Ms. Anastasia, please sit down.” “I’m sorry, your honor but can we just get over with it.” “And I refuse to go through,” William said he sounded calm, which was the first as he had never been this calm, only when it came to Jimena. “I'm not signing it; I'm not giving up on my marriage.” “You’re sick. I mean…” I stopped myself as I realized what William was trying to do; he wanted me to
~WILLIAM~ “What do you mean you lost her?!” “I'm sorry, sir, but Ms. Anastasia’s driver is full of tricks.” “And who's Ms. Anastasia? She's still my wife, so address her as Mrs. Rogers.” “Understood sir.” “And you mean Scott is smarter than you?” “I didn't mean it that way, sir, but I promise to find the address before the end of the week.” “I just don't know how I employed a useless creature; you know what? I will hire a private investigator to get me her address. Come and pick me up.” "Alright, sir,” he said, and I ended the call before running my hand through my hair. James was really getting on my nerves. I had him follow Anastasia and her driver last time, just to find out where she was staying. But he failed, Scott was too clever, giving him the slip somewhere along the route. Today, I asked him to follow them again and somehow he managed to lose them all over again.I stood outs
~WILLIAM~ Jimena was now holding me by my belt; I'd never seen this side of her. “You're hurting me.” “I don't care, William; answer me, then I'll let you go.” "Aah, didn't you figure it out already?” “No…” She shook her head. “You can't do this to me, William; you can't be falling for her.” She sounded like she was about to cry. “She refused to go through with the divorce, and the judge gave us two months.” I lied; I didn't want her to cry, I knew what came after that, she would tweet it to her followers since she had a fanbase and they would start a rumor. “That’s ridiculous don't tell me you did nothing about it; I mean-” “I had no choice, Jimena, but it's just two months after that I will separate from her and marry you.” I needed her to calm down; I couldn't deal with her as I was dealing with a lot already. She seemed to buy it as she loosened her grip on my belt. “Two months is a long time. What will happen when my bump starts to show? You know I'm a model; so
Carmen wiped her tears while staring at her daughter's photo. She told me her name was Daniella, or Dani for short.Hudson was explaining the details about her life; “She works at a restaurant, never went to college, has no kids, and has no friends. She rents an apartment in town and doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Everything Hudson said sounded so sad; Daniella's life seemed lonely. No boyfriend or friends? I mean, he didn't need to add that she had no family, as that was obvious.“This is my fault.”“Carmen…”“I abandoned her; it's because of me that she doesn't go to college, that she's this lonely.”“None of it is your fault, Carmen.” I said as I rubbed her back in a comforting way, “You made a mistake; no one is perfect.” I said, and it seemed to make her better as she wiped her tears even though more kept coming—at least she was trying.Hudson was truly helpful as he explained how kind the daughter was; if I hadn't followed the details from the reports, I would think he knew her as a
Carmen and I were now in the living room; Ivy asked for William, and I showed her to William's room, so she went to him. “Should I get you coffee? Tea?”“No, we already had breakfast. We arrived last night; Mrs. Grant gave us a guest room.”“Oh, with Ivy?” I was just curious about how Ivy didn't insist on coming to me.“Yes, she was asleep when we arrived. Now tell me about you. How are you?”“I'm fine; it's not the first time. I'm used to it. Comes with being a heiress, your life is everyone's business.”“I know…” she looked around before she whispered, “Mrs. Frost was at the house; she was very upset.”“She called me.”“I'm so sorry, Ana. I know this is not what you pictured your married life to be.”“It's okay, I'm on it. How's Dad? How's everyone?” I just wanted to focus on spending a day with my daughter and Carmen.“They are all worried about you. Santiago is stressed; you know this is all on him.”“I know, I actually don't know if I sho
~ANASTASIA~I turned as the voices disturbed me; I kept turning and turning, trying to ignore the voices for a moment. I thought it was a dream, but when I heard Hudson’s voice, I quickly sat up—Hudson had never appeared in my dreams before, so it wasn’t a dream.“You’re not coming in. I told you she’s not here.” Okay, that was Williams' voice. I don’t know if Hudson was really here; I mean, he could have called me; he could have texted to ask if it was okay for him to come, so getting out of bed, I walked toward the door, picking the robe that was on the couch; and putting it on, I exited the room.“She’s my wife. I have every right to be here.” I could see William standing at the door, clearly stopping someone from entering, and with Hudson’s voice, there was no doubt it was him.“What’s going on here, Hudson? What are you—what are you doing here?” I asked, shocked, as I fixed the robe.“I came to see you; you’re my wife, remember?” He sounded awkward as he kept looking at William.
But like I mentioned earlier, I was a man who had gone through a lot, so this was not as scary as it sounded, although meeting my real mother was a scenario I never pictured. She never wanted me, but I still wanted to see her. I wanted to ask her why she gave me up, and why she risked my life.Taking a deep breath, I walked in; everyone seemed to have left, and from here, I could see a man, to be precise, a priest, by the end of the room; he was facing the other side, so he didn't see me.Swallowing my saliva, I walked up to the front, and reaching there, I again swallowed my saliva before I called his name.“My son,” he answered without looking at me, he thought I was just some random church member, “we had closed for the day,” he said confirming my thoughts. “Do you need prayers? I…” his jaw dropped as he turned and faced me, he didn't say anything for a moment and I remained silent as well.We stood there without saying anything to each other for a moment before he pointed for me t
~HUDSON~I won't lie. I was impressed; I never thought Maddison was this cunning, but for her to think I would give in because she threatened to take me to jail? I mean, sure, she said she was going to lie that I forced her to sign the contract, and the public would obviously believe her, but I was a man. With what I've gone through, prison didn't scare me, not even a bit.“Leave.” I said, and she looked shocked like she expected me to shiver hearing prison, “Now. Before I change my mind.” I said in a warning tone, and she said I was making a mistake.“You have seventy-two hours to decide; this is only because you're too handsome, and I want you in our child's life. Don't take it for granted.” She said before she turned and left, I waited for her to close the door before I yelled; I didn't want her to think her little threats were getting to me.But shit, Mom and Maddison were now working together. What if they tried to harm Anastasia or Ivy? I knew what my mom was capable of, and for
~ANASTASIA~I still couldn't believe William was here on his knees begging for my forgiveness. I felt disgusted and, at the same time, confused that I almost left when he held me back by my leg, begging that I hear him out.“William?”“Please, Ana, please.”“The baby is not yours,” I said, looking away from him as he was still on his knees, he looked like he meant it, and I didn't want to pity him. “It's Hudsons’.”“W-what?” I slowly looked back at him and saw a smile on his lips; William never smiled, so I was shocked. “There is really a baby,” he sounded unsure, he then raised his hand and almost touched my belly, but I quickly moved away.“I'm saying it's not your baby. Why are you here, William?” I asked, looking to the other side as I calmed myself.“I know it's mine; you can't get pregnant; your marriage is not even a month old, and besides, you can't let any man touch you; you—”“You think I still love you?” I slowly turned and faced him; the smile had now widened. “News flash:
~HUDSON~After hearing Williams' voice, Anastasia ended the call which left me feeling uncertain as I ran a hand through my hair.I didn't want to overthink it, Anastasia admitted to not wanting William to know of the baby so it was alright, if William was there she was going to tell him the baby was mine and she would do anything to get away from him, she was Anastasia, she wouldn't cheat on me even if the man was who she loved.“Shit.” I cursed under my breath and then dialed a contact.“Mr. Frost?”“I asked the reporter not to publish anything without my permission; I was going to ask Anastasia for permission first.”“I understand, but you know how untrusted reporters are; a little gossip like that looks like clicks and paid pages; they can't just take your word for it,” Juliette said, and she was right; I shouldn't have mentioned that in my interview, but the interview was a few weeks ago. Why did they wait until now?“It doesn't matter; I know that the reporter wouldn't mention a
~ANONYMOUS~I took off my coat and gave it to the guard waiting by the door before I stepped in. I went straight to where everyone was, and reaching there, I found that they were seated, already discussing ideas, so I walked to the head seat and joined them.I remained silent as I listened to their ideas, but none were impressive, so I asked them to keep quiet.“How far are we with the girl?”“She's ready to step into the world,” one of them answered.“And she knows what we want?”“She wants the same.”“But you know only one can get it right?”“Yes, we use her; after she gets what we want, we take it from her.”“By holding something against her while she's still on our side.”“And do you have anything?”“Not yet, but we will soon. If we don't find any, we will create our own.”“Good, an update on Ms. Lancaster?”“Still in Los Angeles, she hasn't fallen for Mr. Frost, but her love for Mr. Rogers is dying.”“Why do you say so?”“She doesn't look at him the same way, and with the way she
Years back I would immediately cry; whenever Carol said something bad to me, I would cry—cry to William, who never did a thing about it. Well, I thank God for my experience because now I know how to defend myself; calming myself, I cleared my throat and asked her what she was talking about.“It is not a joke.”“I know it's not; that's why I'm confused. What do you mean by my baby is my ex-husbands’? Did Hudson say that?”“Hudson is a fool, but I'm not. There's no way you got pregnant when you rarely spend time—”“When I was in Sedona, I met Hudson.”“W-what?”“How sure are you that we were not having an affair? How sure are you that we didn't sleep together, Mrs. Frost, or do you have cameras installed in his apartments?”“No, it's impossible.”“Hudson and I are expecting our first child. Yes, Maddison is pregnant too, but I'm his legal wife, and the public will support me.” I really didn't want to do this with her, but if I had to defend myself, this was the only way.“No, that baby