Hello, my lovely readers! I apologize for the delay in updates. I took three days off because my husband was unwell and barely checked my phone. I always finish my books, as you can see on my profile. I’m required to update for 25 days, but I often write more when I’m enjoying the story. This February, I'll take two spaced-off days. No, we are back with triple updates! Huge thanks to Ava Wolf and all of you for your amazing support—the book’s views have skyrocketed from 4,000 to 60,000! Your support means the world to me.
~ANASTASIA~‘What? You think he's serious? Really, with all those earrings? Come on, Ana, you're better than this.’‘He's not you.’‘Exactly. I'm better; trust me, once he gets what he wants, he will leave you in the dust.’“Ana?!” Hudson's voice shook me out of my thoughts. I don't know why I was replaying my conversation with William in my head. He told me Hudson was not husband material, and that he had earrings. He made it sound like there were a lot. Hudson had one earring on his left ear. I didn't ask why he had it, but it looked good on him, too good that it would make other women want him, and William thinks he won't hesitate to cheat.‘I only cheated with Jimena, which I'm sure you understand, but Hudson, you are going to regret it, Anastasia; you should separate now that it's still early. Save yourself from the embarrassment, at least do it for our daughter!’I walked to the sink and fetched water into a glass.“I know you're worried about Ivy, but she is back home; she will
I swallowed hard, fighting to stay calm. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue because there was no way he was asking me such a question in that tone.“Did you know that Juliette is Mrs Grant's daughter?” I asked, changing the topic.“I asked you a question, Anastasia. Did you or did you not sleep with William?”“Okay, I'm not doing this,” I said, standing up, and he stood up too.“Doing what? It's a simple question with a yes or no answer.”“Which is not important. We have something more important to worry about. Our reputation, remember?”“I do not care about reputation right now. Tell me, did you sleep with William?”“You're being childish, I mean are we even supposed to have this conversation?”“Yes, we are… A man who happens to be my wife’s ex-husband tells me something amazing happened between him and my wife. He also says there's hope and that I should prepare for a divorce. Am I just supposed to ignore that?”“I'm hungry, do you want to do takeout? I heard you love pizza.”“Seriou
~WILLIAM~I was reading through the report as I waited outside the bathroom door for my daughter who was taking hours.Jimena didn't want me to leave her side, she looked so scared. I didn't want to leave her alone, but Ivy didn't like the smell of disinfectant, so I left and promised to return in an hour.I left Jimena? It was shocking, as never have I ever left her side, not especially when she was in a situation like this, but my daughter came first. That's why I didn't think twice about it.I couldn't be far though—Jimena was expecting my child, so I got a room at a nearby hotel. Ivy insisted she wanted to take a shower. She didn't come with clothes, so I asked a friend to take care of that while I waited for her. I wanted to help her, but she insisted she was a big lady and couldn't be bathed.“Is the lady here?” she asked from the bathroom and I told her almost even when I didn't know how far off she was, if it was not that she didn’t work for me, I would have fired her already.
I thought I was making up the conversation, so I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at the screen just to confirm. This man mentioned my name, so it must be true. It was clear I wasn’t imagining the conversation, but bacteria? Who would do that?“Doctor, I'm not following… this bacteria—how did you treat it, and why didn't you tell me?”“Like I said, I feared the woman might pass out; she's already pregnant and suffering from stress.”“Anastasia?”“Yes, she came for a checkup a few days ago. I knew how risky such news was, and as for bacteria, it's only found in Russia, so for it to be found in the little girl—”“Must mean someone injected it into her.” I cut him off, finishing his sentence, “I mean, did you find anything, a needle mark maybe, or—”“We did, but the needle used was very thin; it barely left a mark, but if you look at her neck, you'll see the dark spot where the needle was inserted.” He said, making me nod my head in understanding, “According to the results, it mus
I couldn't believe what James had just told me, “Alright, try to see if you can get the audio of the footage; I want to hear what was spoken.” I instructed, and he agreed; ending the call, I turned to my daughter, who was having a conversation with Juliette.“So?” Juliette asked, and I cleared my throat before I thanked her and told her she could just go, as I will be with Ivy. “That's okay, take care, okay?”“Thank you, Juliette.” I thanked her again as she bid Ivy goodbye, and after she left, Ivy asked for ice cream, but it was late, so I told her she could have that tomorrow.“Alright, Daddy, can we call Mommy now?”“Yes, of course, but we should get to our room first,” I said, and she agreed; as she stood up, I also stood, and holding her hand, we walked back to the room.Inside, I got my phone and called Anastasia; it was shocking that she hadn't tried to call to ask if we had landed or if Ivy was okay. I mean, the Ana I knew would have taken advantage of th
~JIMENA~“I can walk on my own,” I said, pushing the nurse who tried to help me; I just couldn't stand the thought of doing all this for nothing.“I'm sorry, Mrs. Rogers, I'm just doing my job.”“I didn't ask for this.”“I know Mr. Rogers insisted; he wants to make sure you won’t harm yourself or the baby.”“Harm myself? Do I look crazy to you?”“No, Mrs.”“Just… give me a moment alone, please; I want to put my thoughts together,” I said and faked tears, as I knew crying always worked.“Alright, Mrs.,” she said and moved a distance from me. She had brought me outside for fresh air. I couldn't believe William traveled back to LA, leaving me in this condition, not even a text knowing I was carrying his child—it was not the truth, but he didn't know that.I ran my hands into my hair as I tried to think of what to do; the plan I had involved him being here, but now that he disappointed me by not showing up God, I have to think fast before I lose
~ANASTASIA~I was in the kitchen making a sandwich as I spoke with Carmen on the phone.She was telling me about her daughter; she was just as beautiful as in the photos. She went to see her but didn't dare to approach her and tell her the truth, but she was positive she told me she was going to see her again today, and this time she was going to tell her the truth.Carmen then, after I asked about the family—especially Dad—asked if I told Hudson about the kiss. I explained to her that William already told him about it, and he started behaving so weird—acting like I cheated on him.Well, I regret telling Carmen that as she gave me a lecture about how I owed Hudson the explanation, how everything I had to do I had to think of how it was going to affect Hudson first; according to her, I'm supposed to consult with him first as he was now my husband.I didn't want to argue, so I just kept agreeing.“And I think you should give that young man a chance; he loves you, he found my daughter be
I wish I could say I didn't want to talk to William, that I had nothing to say to him, but I had a lot; I wanted to set it straight that the kiss was a mistake and call him out for mentioning it to Hudson—making sure he understood that we were never going to get back together and that his little plan failed as Hudson understood it was a mistake.Nodding my head, I turned to Ivy and asked her to get me my phone in the bedroom even though I knew I left the phone in the kitchen—I wanted to buy us some time.Ivy listened as she walked in and headed to my bedroom. I walked in while William followed me behind. I mean, this was like his home too, so I didn't need to invite him in.“Before you start, I want to make it clear to you that the kiss was a mistake. I didn't mean to kiss you back and trust me, your confession meant nothing.” I said, and he nodded his head, “I asked you to keep it between us; why did you mention it to Hudson?”“I told him before you asked me to keep
~ANONYMOUS~I was silently staring at my teammates, who were now giving solutions to the mess we had created; as usual, all their ideas were just useless. No doubt I was the only one with a brain here. Yes, I'm the one who injected the bacteria into Ivy. I thought it would bring William and Anastasia close. I mean, that's the only reason I used a harmless one, but only for it to turn out like this? Not only did it now make Anastasia and Hudson close because now she trusts him with her daughter, but it also made William give up on Anastasia, settling to be her friend. “Why don’t we drug William and Ana—” “Last names.” “I apologize.” This one was new; she joined a year ago and was still confused about everything. “I was saying, Ms. Lancaster and Mr. Rogers are both in LA, and not only that, but they share an apartment and are close. Why don't we drug them and have them sleep together, then we can take pictures and send them to Mr. Frost
~HUDSON~The other one took over from Rowan and explained how they might have tampered with her fingerprints, “with one word that Maddison is not alone and whoever she's working for must be powerful.”“Of course, I… Are you sure Gabby isn't behind this?” I asked, as Gabby was my friend, but she was also part of the team when I worked for that politician, so she knew a lot, but for her to betray me like this? No, I doubted it as she had changed; she didn't want anything to do with that life anymore. None of us wanted it anymore; even Rowan and the rest were now just there working for me, and I didn't ask them to do things that were sinister like before.“We will check on Gabriella just to be sure.”“Yes, please do that, and if you find anything, let me know. For now, I have to confront Maddison.”“I don't think that's a good idea, Hudson.”“My family is protected, and we are ready, so I don't see why we should be afraid.”“We are not afraid; we just—”
“Oh come on, Huddy, I know you enjoy things like this; can't you just for once let me—”“It’s dangerous.”“You did the same for him, and you were never caught.” Vivi said, reminding me of the past, “Do you really want me to do this?”“Vivi?”“Fine, if you don't help me, I will call Ana and tell her all about the past, seven years ago?”“You wouldn't.”“Trust me, the way I desperately need to monitor these people, I will.”“Why?”“You will soon find out for now; get your men on it because I want to know what my husband is having for dinner without me physically being there. I'll send you the IP of my computer; you do need that, right?” She asked, knowing well that if she sent her IP, then the camera screens would be shown on her computer. I sighed, as I knew I couldn't say no, then I asked her to send her computer IP.“But you have to tell me why you're doing this by the end of whatever experiment you're trying.”“Sure, sure, one last thing: ca
~HUDSON~I was standing by the window watching as my guards escorted Maddison out. I called her here. I thought we could agree. I even had my lawyer draw up a contract for us where I would be present in the child's life as the father but not her husband, just like Ana suggested, but what did she do? Tear up the contract demanding that I divorce Ana and marry her. She didn't even care that Ana was pregnant too. She said her baby was the first child, and if I couldn't marry both of them, then I should leave Ana.Something was wrong with her, as not only was she breaching the contract but now threatening to go on that show with Mom. Yes, after Ana told me the call was important, I got on the phone, and that's when Juliette told me that my mom had announced she was going live on Sunday and that she had something important to share. I didn't need to guess as I knew she was going to expose me, so the next morning I came here with Ivy as she had to start school—I dropped
~ANASTASIA~ I was still waiting for William to answer my questions—why he took my daughter to the hospital, why she was injected, and why he didn't tell me. Because clearly if Ivy hadn't mentioned it, he could have kept it from me. He asked me to sit and then told me it was just stress-related, that it wasn't actually a needle, that Ivy was just exaggerating. Well, I knew my daughter well, and if she said a needle, then it was a needle, but I didn't have the time to argue with him since he said he took her just for a regular checkup and that taking her there after five days is just for a checkup. I let it go but made a mental note to go to the hospital and speak to the doctor because something in me told me he was hiding something and I had to find out. Ivy returned just in time, saying she was tired of looking at the wall. I didn't ask her to look at the wall; I just told her to go to the bedroom. I didn't punish h
~VIVIENNE~Ever since Harriot and I had that argument about him wanting a surrogate, things have been crazy. Yes, I was the problem, but why did he think I would be comfortable with having another woman carry my child—our baby?He made it worse when he told me his parents were asking for grandchildren, in as much as I wanted a child. I knew it wouldn't receive the same love as Hudson’s children because, to Mom, Harriot was a man after her wealth, so for him to say his family wanted an heir and suggested that we find a surrogate hurt me. After all, what if Mom decides to disregard the child—it was already bad that he would be the father but another woman carrying it would be something else.I was so upset with him that I left that night and went to Mom. I knew she was not the best person, and usually, I would go to Hudson, but he was married now, and with what Ana was going through, I knew she needed him more than me. That's why I risked going back to Mom.I wasn
Mom had now removed the lollipop from her mouth, smiling as she whispered I was doing the right thing; well, the smile faded when she heard me mention the name.“I'm giving you ten minutes; if you don't get here, I will release the photos,” I said, and without waiting for his response, I ended the call and sent him my address.“What was that?”“What was what?”“Don’t play smart with me; I asked you to call William, not that little doctor.”“I’m not getting a divorce, Mom; I have another plan,” I said as I sat down on the bed after pushing the stretcher from my sight, I asked for a comfortable bed, and they provided it; that’s how much power William held in this State, and I was not willing to let that go.“Harriot will do nothing, or what do you think? We can survive on a thousand every week?”“You should get a job, Mom; stop depending on me for your survival.”“I’m retired; I worked on grooming you to be the best.”“Yeah, sure, at deceiving man.”
~JIMENA~I was pacing around in the stupid hospital gown; gosh, I was a celebrity. If any of my fans saw me like this, I would kiss bye-bye to my career because not only did the gown make me look crazy, but my tangled hair went extra as I looked like a psychic patient.I still couldn't believe that lady. I mean, what made her think I would work with her to break Hudson and Anastasia up? I'm not stupid; I knew if that happened, then William would go running to her. She told me she planned to kill Anastasia, but I was not a monster; I couldn't kill anyone. Sure, I mentioned doing anything to get Ana out of my way, but murder was not one of them.I asked her to leave, and she left her contact number with me, telling me to call if I changed my mind, and that I would play a big role in the plan.“If only the stupid doctor had diagnosed me with cancer as I asked.” I said out loud before I turned to Mom, who was seated on the chair sucking a lollipop, unbothered, “You won't be sucking that l
I was honestly confused; yes, I loved William, but not enough to be with him. Even now that he was confessing to loving me, it didn't change the fact that I wanted nothing to do with him. The fact that he cheated on me multiple times, that he treated me like trash, that he sent me to jail and didn't give a shit about my whereabouts.So clearing my throat, I thanked him for telling me.He mentioned Julliete telling him I also looked drugged. Yes, it was four years ago, but I still remember someone whispering in my ear that the handsome man wanted to speak to me. The man was William, and since I had seen him on Gianna's phone and was the reason I went there, I just saw it as destiny as I walked up to him.It happened so fast that I was walking with him to a hotel room, and the next morning we woke up naked—trending on social media. Well, that's when his grandfather suggested the marriage thing, and since I wanted to piss Dad off, I accepted that even when he later changed