(Karis's pov) I was confused by Skyler's words, but one thing I have learnt about men from my husband is that you shouldn't stretch your brains to understand them. My mood was instantly lifted by that thought as a bright smile hung on my lips. Today was a great day. Sapphire praised my designs, and Bertha's operation was a success. The only thing left was for my divorce to be completed. I grabbed my drink, bringing it to my lips to enjoy the flavour that wrapped around my tongue. I planned on going back to the hospital later, and then I needed to talk to Xander concerning our divorce proceeding. Time was running fast, and two months were over halfway through. I couldn't wait for my freedom. My smile fell when I heard an annoying laughter from my side. I didn't need to turn to know who it was. "Dear sister, are you going to pretend you didn't see me earlier." A particularly cheesy voice spoke out. Great, my perfect day just got ruined. Ignoring Emma, I grabbed my
(Karis's pov) Up till now, I had no idea why Father had called me. He took his seat at the head of the table while Miranda sat by his side dutifully like a good wife. "How have you been dear? You seem to be glowing after you got married." Christian started to butter me up. He had a creepy smile on his face that made me feel something was off. "I have been doing great; the atmosphere at the De Marco estate is better than being surrounded by you pretentious bitches." I sneered, not sugarcoating my words. Father started to cough, understanding what I was implying. "That is no way to talk about mother and sister." Miranda butts in, her face marred with fury. "Mother, I had no idea my dead mother Hazel had another child. Why don't I have any idea of this father?" I acted oblivious to what she meant. Miranda's face flushed further. It was enjoyable to see her mad. Dad looked at me with his mouth agape, stunned by my behaviour; I was never the type to talk smack about peo
(Xander's pov) This week has been hectic, all thanks to an annoying fly who I have been trying my best not to snap his neck. Skyler has been trying to poach my partners and future deals. I didn't take him seriously at first because most of those deals didn't affect me much, and I didn't feel the need to fight after a couple of irrelevant people that don't understand the meaning of loyalty. Whenever he poaches one, there is always a replacement ready, but his games have started to get more annoying. I was also occupied with figuring out how the hell my father got poisoned amidst all this chaos. It was hard to pin the blame on anyone because the De Marco name has its fair share of enemies. The board room was in chaos. Most of the shareholders and top managers were quite disturbed about the threat of the Crest conglomerate, but I wasn't bothered. No matter how they fuzz about it, I controlled over 80 per cent of the shares, holding the absolute deciding power, so in the end, e
(Karis's pov) The entire ride back home I had this feeling something was off. My mind was plagued by a lot of thought at the moment, making it hard to figure out what the problem was. I packed my car in front of the house and gave the keys to Sam to pack it properly. Immediately, I alighted from the car; a piercing gaze was locked on me, which gave me goosebumps. My eyes glanced up in a particular direction and it caught the sight of a tall figure blended in the darkness dressed in all black. I recognized it to be Xander immediately; he was standing on the balcony that led to our room smoking. The lit cigarette was between his lips while his hand held a glass containing alcohol.' was he waiting for me?' I swallowed hard because fear twisted my stomach for a strange reason it seemed Xander was mad at me. This was the second time, I had seen Xander smoke, he was not a chain smoker and I had a gut feeling he only smokes when he is pissed off. His eyes briefly lo
****Trigger warning, you can skip this chapter. The scenes might seem dark to some readers****(Karis's pov) Xander became creative with his punishments, but I had no idea why I was being punished. The pit pattern sound of raindrops on the soil echoed throughout the woods. It was dark, and I was lost in the woods. This was an acre of land that had been passed down for generations. I was always scared of this area, so I had never ventured into the woods. Chills and shivers crept up my skin; my entire body was soaked with my clothes clinging to my body. I could not run any deeper into the woods because I had no idea what might be hiding in the eerie place. My heart was beating fast, thudding in my chest with my breath haggard. A twig snapped close to me, and my eyes shot out. He was close. I pressed my body close to the tree trunk hoping he would walk by because running would expose my location. Xander's movements were nibbled and cautious. He was like a
*** Trigger notice, dark scenes ahead****(Karis's pov) I was shaken to the core; in front of his large frame in the middle of nowhere, I felt so vulnerable. I hated this feeling more than anything in the world, but in front of him, I felt powerless. I was not weak by any means, but I was never given the chance to grow. My second chance was for me to grow and get back at them, but his very existence was my curse that made all my efforts seem useless. Xander was just too powerful, and the worst thing was that my body was drawn to him. I should hate him, but there was a part of me that couldn't hate him. Xander's hand was still on my mouth, stopping me from talking further. He crooked his face on my hair. My hands pressed against his chest to push him away, but he was an immovable wall. The sky rumbled, followed by the bright lighting flash that made Xander look more intimidating. I was trying my best not to fall on my knee. " Why do you keep on lying to yours
**** Trigger notice dark scenes ahead**** (Karis's pov) The mansion was dark because it was probably very late in the night; flashes of lights showed around whenever lightning struck the sky. It was very eerie, and I was being trapped by a devil, but yet I felt excited about a very strange reason. Yes, I had lost my nuts at that point. My plans during this second chance were to push Xander to the edge, but seeing how he reacted concerning Skyler, struck terror in me. "This is absurd. You can't force me to stay with you, Xander. Why are you so adamant about tormenting yourself with my presence when you can have Emma or even Benita?" My voice came out sharply at first but broke into a cry. My emotions were a mess as a mixture of terror and excitement ran through my veins. "As much as I love hearing your voice, dear wifey, I love it better when you don't talk. You just love pushing my buttons. Don't you?" He said, wiping my tears away with his thumb; he then reached out to kiss
(Karis's pov) I thought the madness ended that unfortunate night but I had no idea what was waiting for me online. The next morning the entire X was flooded with images of Skyler and me together. There was this particular one that seemed like we were kissing. Who had taken these pictures I wondered? It kept me on my toes the entire day. Xander was pissed, that was one thing for sure. I didn't even catch a glimpse of him when I got out of bed this morning which was great. It would only remind me of my shamelessness. As he had promised, I was indeed prohibited from leaving the estate without protection, he said, but it seemed more like he was caging me. My hands clenched to the side when I saw Xander's car drive into the estate. I was peeking through the window of my bedroom. Xander got out of the car, and his eyes were drawn to my direction as if he sensed my gaze. I was unsure if he saw me or if he was just glancing at the prison cell where he kept his wife. Xander averte
(Xander's pov) Karis was completely taken aback, but it was the truth. If possible, I wanted to reveal the truth about Vance that he might be hers, but I think it would be absurd at first. I needed the maternity test results. "Xander, please, I don't need this. I was desperate for the supplies, but if you think, I would sit here and listen to this. I am out of here." She suddenly declared getting off her seat. She wasn't going to believe me, and I expected it though, but at that moment I panicked. I stood up after her, then held her hand, pulling her further. She yelped. My eyes met her hazel eyes, and if I had not exercised every control in my body at that moment, I would have kissed her, but that would only push her away. I let go of her hand and then drew in a deep breath, "You should learn how to mask your emotions; if your emotions get ahead of you, that will be the beginning of your failure ." I advised her, when what I was doing was letting my emotions get
(Karis's pov) His office was still the same as the full-length ground-to-ceiling windows, the lounge area made with finely selected furniture all white, his desk was black, the floor was black, and the walls were white. It was still his neutral-coloured office, I remembered. He had just a few colours from the pictures hanging on the wall. There used to be some flower vases in here, which I ordered in my past life, but I guess that never happened in this life. The only thing that was out of place from my memories was a small picture frame on Xander's desk. It was our wedding photo, weird. Why did he have a picture of me in his office? I questioned myself but I didn't want to think about it. Xander was puzzled. I could never understand. His lips pulled into a sad smile, "I guess I will have to send you flowers every day to make up for it." He said walking away from his desk. Where did that come from? "You honestly don't need to bother; I have a fiance who can do
(Karis's pov) I know if Bertha or Skyler found out about what I was about to do, they would chew me raw, but I was running out of options. The production has to start and Xander played an evil move by monopolizing the market and cutting off the black market. It was fine, I just had to feed his ego for now. The car arrived at the Van Diaz building. I didn't carry Lavender with me because I felt it was better to come alone. After taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I alighted from the vehicle. It was no big deal; we were just here to talk. At most, Xander might bring up what happened four years ago. Walking through the door, it took me a minute to reminisce; the company had not changed a bit. I remembered how I walked my ass out to escape this place and now I was back here in the name of negotiation. Even the front desk receptionist was still the same. Things didn't change from my past life for them, maybe, but they did for me. I made my way to the receptionis
(Xander's pov) My car sped up to the office, today I was in a great mood because the paternity test was going to be out. Without a doubt, I was more than Certain Valeria was my daughter, but I had to be thorough. These past few days I made sure to pick Vance from school personally so that I could spend a bit more time with Val during practice. Unfortunately, they couldn't go to the park again because Karis instructed Juliette to keep Val away from me. She had gotten smarter in the business world but she was still as naive as ever to think that would be enough to keep us away. I made a quick turn in the underground car park then alighted from the car. My eyes immediately caught sight of a familiar car that instantly ruined my mood. Ignoring its presence, I made a straight line for the private elevator to my office, but it was hard to avoid some pests. Emma got out of her car and ran towards me as fast as she could. Stepping into the elevator just before clo
(Xander's pov)I needed samples one way or the other I would get it. It was a random idea to get Vance involved, but now I thought about it that way, it might have been a bad idea. I was so excited at the thought that Karis and I had a child together that I didn't think about things thoroughly. That was when I came up with the second idea to get the class teacher involved to cut Val's hair if Vance fails, but to my surprise, I didn't expect the plan to work. That was part one of the plan. The next step was to get the witch's DNA sample, which was not hard to get Emma's sample. I was not cautious about it; I just got my men to knock her out to get what we wanted. I was scared and excited if things would go the way I envisioned. To my surprise, Vance succeeds in convincing Val to come to him. I was genuinely surprised when I saw they arrived at the hospital. "You gotta be kidding me. Is she Karis's daughter?" Kyle was completely stunned at the resemblance. "I guess I am
(Xander's POV) Karis was lying, I just knew that as a fact. From my guess, if Val was truly my daughter, Karis would try to keep her away from me. "Did you get to see Val's mum?" Vance asked me curiously after I got into the car. "Mmm," I hummed, then beckoned the driver to start. A small smirk was on my lips, knowing that I had discovered Karis's home. My eyes trailed back to Vance, and now more than ever, I knew something was fishy. The resemblance between Vance and Valeria was too uncanny. The closer you look at Vance, the more subtle resemblance he has with Karis, and this gives me an uneasy feeling. I felt Vance thug my clothes drawing my attention back to him from my thoughts. "Daddy Val forgot her hair band in the car," Vance informed me. I picked up the hair band from his hand. It had some strands of hair on it, but I couldn't afford to make any mistakes. "Vance, can you do Daddy a favour, and if you succeed, I will attend your competition?" I
(Karis's pov) I slammed the door behind me; my emotions were all over; I was both mad and scared. Mad that Xander was messing up with my life and business. Mad Juliette took a ride from a stranger, but then again why did Xander offer to give her a ride? He was not a saint who would love giving rides to random people in a snowstorm. Xander never bats an eye for someone who holds no worth in his eyes. That was the bastard I was married to for 5 freaking years, but amongst all the emotions I felt, the one that shook me the most was fear. Fear of what Xander would do if he found out the truth. He could not take away my only happiness. I didn't care about my revenge and getting justice for what they made me suffer compared to losing Valeria. She was the child I wanted in my life, and if anything happened to her, I might lose myself all over. My feet made soft sounds as I made my way to Val's room. She must be mad because of the way I spoke to her earlier, and honestly,
(Karis's pov) Why is murder illegal? How I wished it was legal to off people because, for the first time, I had the urge to unalive someone. A couple bullets to the heart would suffice. "Calm down, Karis. You can handle this. Don't lose your shit because of Xander." I tried to gather my thoughts but how could I when that man was driving me crazy? He monopolised the market, and then Skyler came up with the idea to source the black market, but my goods suddenly disappeared. Skyler might be saying it was bad luck but I was sure it wasn't bad luck but the work of the devil. My devil Xander De Marco, I was seething in anger when my phone buzzed up again. It was a file sent by an unknown number. I opened the file and froze. My phone almost slipped out of my hold. It was evident of dealing in the black market and threats were being reported for carrying out illegal business operations. There was one person I could think of at the moment Xander De Marco. I was sit
(Xander's pov) I don't know why Vance and Val wanted to come out to play in the park when the temperature was freezing in December. Frost covered every branch, creating a dazzling white layer that sparkled in the fading afternoon light. The ground was frozen and crunchy underfoot, and the air was biting cold, nipping at my face. I sat on a chilly wooden bench, wrapping my scarf tighter around my neck as my breath from fogs in front of me. In the distance, Vance and Valeria played in the snow near the swings, their lively voices piercing and brightening the atmosphere. Vance excitedly called out to me, waving his arms to get my attention, his joyful sound warming the cold winter day. He had successfully built a snowman with Val and seemed to be having a lot of fun. It reminded me of when me and the boys did similar things during our childhood then Karis would want to join in to enjoy the fun. I wasn't particularly nice because I always stopped her from