I was silently staring at her as I held back the tears that were threatening to fall. I felt really terrible for not insisting on seeing her before, as she seemed to have been going through it, and considering how she’s been there for me, it was only right I was there for her too.
“Wow, it’s really bigger than the videos.” She commented on my bump; yes, it was now fully showing, even in the loose dress, but what shocked me was how steady her voice sounded. I expected it to crack, maybe even tremble, because she’d clearly been crying. Instead, her voice came out confident, almost too composed, despite the dark circles under her eyes. It didn’t add up, and I couldn’t quite figure out why.“I’m so sorry, Vivi. I know it must be difficult considering how much you loved him.” I said and tried to touch her hands, but she moved away.“It doesn’t matter; we were getting a divorce anyway.” She answered, not showing any emotion, “It’s for the best; he’s a rapist.”“I… I don’tWASHINGTON, SEATTLE 2022~ANASTASIA~Most stories open up in pleasant settings, but mine started in a prison cell. Never did I imagine I’d end up here, especially for the man I loved. God, life is unpredictable!I was staring at the dirty ceiling, watching the spiders scurry around. How had I ended up here? Then I heard a voice, snapping me back to reality.“Mrs. Rogers?” A guard's voice snapped me back to reality. “You're going home,” she said as she unlocked the cell. A smile tugged at my li-ps. Finally, I was going home—my husband was here for me. I had feared he’d forgotten about me.A few months ago, he had begged me to take the blame for hitting someone while speeding. “You’re just a housewife; it won’t affect you,” he’d said. He promised to pick me up when I got out.As we walked to the reception, my heart sank. The man waiting for me wasn’t my husband. My bail had been paid by someone else. “Of course, it’s not him,” I muttered under my breath.The officer asked if something
I was speechless. Sure, the marriage never worked out, and I expected this after his grandfather's death, but today? How could he do that when I sat in that cell for his crime?“I will have my lawyer start with the process,” He brushed his fingers across his mouth, removing lipstick, the sight of it made my heart ache.“W-what… What are you saying, William, I-”“Aren't you tired of crying?” He spoke over me. I looked up, seeing the frustration in his face as he raked a hand through his hair. “Listen, you tricked me, and your time is over, or what made you think Grandpa would never die?”“But...why now?” I whispered, trying to understand, “We can talk about this, William; we can’t just…”“Just what? Get a divorce? God, you’re such a headache.” He started rubbing his temples; he always did that and always complained about how unhappy he was, but I knew marriage wasn’t easy; I knew he wasn’t himself, so I stepped closer and tried to touch his hands, but he flinched away.“What the fck? W
My head spun as I stumbled back to the bed, clutching my chest against the stabbing pain.“I did you a favor packing your bags. I could’ve just thrown your things everywhere,” Jimena sneered, her words slicing through the silence. I ignored her, desperately trying to steady my breath.“You… you can’t be pregnant. William won’t accept it.”“Are you calling me a liar?” she snapped. I held her gaze, refusing to show how much she was hurting me. I was William’s wife. She was just his mistress. It didn’t matter if he loved her—by law and to the world, I was Mrs. Rogers.“Yes,” I said firmly, rising from the bed. “You’ve always wanted my husband. I’m sure you made this up.”“No, Anastasia,” she said, stepping closer with a wicked smile. “Liam has always loved me. You’re the one who tricked him. You came between us—”“It doesn’t matter,” I cut her off. Her expression faltered. “I’m his wife, and that’s all that counts.”“He’s going to divorce you,” she said in a confident voice. “He loves me
I was shocked. Why didn’t William allow me to leave, and most importantly, what made him think I would listen to him?I knew I was still in love with him, but I knew when to stop. I broke eye contact and freed my arm from his grip.“You’re not leaving here, Anastasia.”“Why?” I sounded confident. “Why should I not leave?”“Because I say so.”“God…” I couldn’t believe him. I shook my head as I couldn’t find the words to respond. He was full of himself.“Now go back to the guest room before I lose my patients.” He commanded. I looked at him and then at Jimena, who was as shocked as me as she left the magazine she was pretending to read and fixed her eyes on us now.“I don’t know what’s wrong with you; I mean, sure, I was a fool to fall for you but to think you own me.” I hysterically chuckled.“I own you. I don’t know if your father told you, but the situation his company is in is not good, and without me, it wouldn’t be a company.”“Wait, you’re threatening me with my father's company?
~ANASTASIA~I slapped my forehead, which caught Scott’s attention as he turned to me with a curious look.“Is-”“Drive.” I cut him.“Ms. Anastasia-”“I'm not Ms. Anastasia!” I clarified, though I was choked up as I said this., “I mean, I guess now—agh, just drive, please.” I was choked up as I said this...It was hard to face the truth that I was not married to William anymore.Scott nodded his head and then started the car. I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself.I rested my head on the seat and closed my eyes, as I knew it would calm me because I needed to be as calm as possible. I scratched my arms as they were a little itchy—I hadn't had a proper bath in days.Even with my eyes closed, I didn't miss it when the car came to a stop, I quickly opened my eyes, and without waiting for Scott, I assisted myself out of the car.“My apologies Ms Ana-Rogers…” I bumped into him as he was about to open the door for me.“Just give me my bag.” I sniffed, and Scott without wasting time ru
~ANASTASIA~ “If you're here to make fun of me, then I advise you to leave now, brother” I said and walked back to the couch while he remained frozen. “I know, yes, I was wrong, and yes, I'm in big trouble, but trust me, I know how to solve my problems, okay?” I said as I picked up my bowl and started eating, the person still didn't respond, and I, not wanting to force anything, ignored him and focused on my food. "Ana?” he finally said after a long moment. “Just get over with it Trey, what are you going to say now? That you warned me? Well, I'm sorry for being-” “I'm so sorry,” he said, surprising me. I turned to look at him, and he nodded his head and then came to me. "Listen, I'm not interested in your pity.” “I'm your brother; if I don't pity you, who will?” He asked as he sat next to me, and then he placed his arm on my back and started running it in a comforting manner, “This bastard hurt you so much. I'm sorry, sis. I really am,” he continuously said, but I didn't respond
~WILLIAM~ I took a swig of my drink as I impatiently stomped my feet. What the fuck was taking her long to get back at me? “Just a small task, and it's taking hours," I complained as I stood up and walked to the window, my fingers tracing my jaw. I couldn't believe Anastasia's audacity; what made her think she could divorce me? She's the one who begged to marry me; I should be the one to sign the divorce papers first, not her. I punched the wall, but as pain shot up my arm, I grunted in pain. "Fuck!" I cursed as I tried to soothe the pain. I couldn't wait for her any longer, so I walked back to the table and took my phone. I dialed her number, and she picked up the first ring. “Mr Rogers?-” “I always ask myself how I employed such an incompetent human; I say do this, and you take hours to get it done.” “But sir, it's over ten hotels.” “And so? People get that done in less than ten minutes.” “I'm sorry, sir.” “Whatever, how many have you contacted so far?” “Seven s
WilliamWhere 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 irrita
I was silently staring at her as I held back the tears that were threatening to fall. I felt really terrible for not insisting on seeing her before, as she seemed to have been going through it, and considering how she’s been there for me, it was only right I was there for her too.“Wow, it’s really bigger than the videos.” She commented on my bump; yes, it was now fully showing, even in the loose dress, but what shocked me was how steady her voice sounded. I expected it to crack, maybe even tremble, because she’d clearly been crying. Instead, her voice came out confident, almost too composed, despite the dark circles under her eyes. It didn’t add up, and I couldn’t quite figure out why.“I’m so sorry, Vivi. I know it must be difficult considering how much you loved him.” I said and tried to touch her hands, but she moved away.“It doesn’t matter; we were getting a divorce anyway.” She answered, not showing any emotion, “It’s for the best; he’s a rapist.”“I… I don’t
~ANASTASIA~I watched my assistant walk toward the door but stopped her when she reached it by asking her to forward me a copy of the order of pieces that needed to be shipped outside the USA. Yes, we could now ship outside the USA; we had an account on social media, but I wouldn’t say it was doing well, but we just started, so there was time.“Right away, Mrs., anything else?”“Oh yes, push my meeting to three tomorrow; I have an emergency,” I told her, and she nodded, then after that excused herself.I had to see Vivi; I hadn’t seen her since I got back. She kept making excuses, but today I wasn’t taking that.The only reason I hadn’t barged in her room was because with how things got with Mrs. Frost, I knew she wouldn’t allow me at her home, but I was now done; I needed to see Vivi; I needed to make sure she was okay; if it meant breaking into the Frost mansion, then so be it.It’s been a month since I returned to Seattle as the whole competition thin
~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.”