Fabian's POV.For the first time, in my own house, I feel uneasy. As I walk down the stairs, the only thing I think of is how to face My wife.Even though she did me dirty first-only God knows how many times-but I can't shake off the weight of fear in my chest.I meet an empty kitchen as I step inside, which is unlikely but that's not the problem, my gaze lands on the paper, and I see she's already signed it. I thought she was going to make things difficult for me, that's why I brought my secretary to spite her. It worked. I shouldn't feel bad. She cheated first. She violated our vows and made a fool out of me publicly. I tried to give her a chance she didn't deserve but she didn't want it, she still wanted to lie. Keeping me in the dark about her escapades. I've released my hold on her wings. She can fly the way she wants now. I'll not hold her down anymore.I go to the coffee machine and make a quick coffee. It took me summoning so much courage to come out of my room this morning,
Pearl's POV.“The police station I called is thirty minutes away from here, if they drive faster they’ll get here in twenty five minutes. You have a chance to leave before the police comes and I'll tell them the criminal ran away. Your choice.” My father goes back to lifting the dumbbells. Obviously unbothered after calling the police on me. Not like I expected much from a man who has confessed too many times that I can count that he doesn't like me. I just wonder what he really sees when he looks at me.I've thought about that a lot.“I'm not leaving, even if the police comes. I'll go with them. I'll still say what I said earlier, I want you to take me back, I'm ready to be the daughter you want,” I know I've confessed something shocking when he drops the dumbbells.“What do you know about the daughter I want?” “A smart, brave, confident and attractive woman, that can represent the Hughes family,” I roll on my knees as it starts hurting.“You think you have all the qualities to be a
Pearl's POV.My brother insisted that I enjoyed my last ‘Normal’ weekend with him, so we snuck out to his penthouse that was located in the suburbs of town. He said it was his hiding place, away from Dad and the rest of the world.He said my Dad doesn't know about this place, which is shocking to me. My brother has his ways of getting away with things. He was coming to see me for seven years and he was never caught. The contract came earlier than I expected and some of the rules my father added were mean, things like; I wasn't allowed to use any of the family properties, like jets, houses, anything that belonged to the Hughes family without his consent or permission. It's not like those rules mattered to me. I've lived like that for seven years and here I am, breathing, living. Why can't I do it here? I just felt a little awkward when I saw the phrase in the contract. I'll live like a stranger in my own home.“I can't remember the last time I did this,” I say. The scorching sun heate
Pearl's POV. My First day at the office in Dad's company is more chaotic than I envisioned.Everyone is so busy, my brother slips into character and I must say I admire him. I know he is smart, but I didn't know he was wicked smart. “Ms. Pearl, are you paying attention?” my brother snaps his finger at me.“Yes, Sir,” I nod, uncrossing my legs. He shoots me a fleeting smirk before putting back on his facade.My brother keeps elaborating on the recent project of the company, he assigned roles to each worker, only a handful of workers are in this meeting, this meeting consists of only senior workers. According to him, there's a board meeting in thirty minutes.He wanted to orient the workers about their new roles to enhance the project.After the meeting, everyone starts leaving and my brother calls me back.Since no one is here I can call him Paul, “What's up, Paul,” I ask. His features are stern.“I want to give you a real chance to shine. This meeting I just held wasn't really neces
Fabian's POV.“Welcome sir,” My secretary greets me as I head back to the office.I just wave her off.“Is everything okay, Sir?” She asks following behind me.I snap my neck at her, “I'm good,” The firmness in my voice makes her flinch back in fear. I walk through the door of my office. My cheek is still hurting from the slap my wife gave me.I don't know who is stealing the air in my lungs or is my tie trying to strangle me, I angrily pull off my tie and toss it to the side.She has no remorse, did she even love me? She moved on so fast! I can't walk freely in my house without seeing her everywhere. In my head, in the kitchen, on the bed, our separation has taken a toll on me. And she doesn't even seem to care! I cough, I quickly get my handkerchief and clean off the blood off my mouth. I take out my pills from my pocket, throw them inside my mouth, gulp some water from the water bottle and swallow.I hear a knock and I look up, when i see who it is I look back down, “Hello, you'v
Pearl's POV.“That's him right there,” Paul points to a corner in the restaurant.“He looks serious,” I say. I stop myself from saying the obvious; that the guy is more handsome than I expected. Warm, Copper Brown hair like his brother, but his is longer and bonded in a small ponytail, brooding shoulders. Razor sharp jawline, fixed nose.“He plays a big role in the family business, he should be serious,” “I’m so nervous about this arrangement, Paul,” I rub my arm with my palm.“I wish I could help. Do you have any idea?” “Set the restaurant on fire?” I say looking out the window.“You want to burn your future husband to death, I think you're the serious one now.” He takes my hand, “Don't worry, go I'll stick around, when you're done just text me,” “Thank you. You don't know much your support means to me,” “Stop thanking me silly, and please be nice to your future husband and my future brother in-law, he might be a better guy than you think, a guy who's early to his date in my own
Pearl's POV.The past couple weeks haven't been all rosy, but I could cope. Even when my dad gave me overload, difficult tasks to handle, I smashed it.Told myself that if he wants to see me fail he'll wait forever. I didn't faint when I was told I'll be making my first public appearance with Philip as his girlfriend. Not like I cared about what Fabian would think of me, he'd already called me a liar and a cheat. I wasn't just comfortable with the idea for my own sake.But now, looking at Him, in his arms the same secretary that he brought to our bed, I'm having murder thoughts. And if I ground my teeth harder than this I may not have one by the end of today.“Here,” Philip comes in front of me blocking my view of Fabian, he hands me a glass of wine, the bastard is too busy chatting with his assistant he doesn't even realize I'm staring at him. I immediately gulp the wine.“Woah, woah, woah, You're not supposed to drink that at once,” “I'm sorry,” I berge. Philip grimaces. “Are you
Fabian's POV.Swiveling in my chair, I know kissing Pearl was a bad idea, but that's not the problem, it's the consequence. The unwanted attention from the Media. The emotional turmoil when I remember she doesn't give a damn about anything I go through. I shouldn't have crossed parts with her in the first place. I sigh.“Sir,” My secretary's voice draws my attention.“What is it?” “There's a man here to see you,” She states.“Do I have an appointment with him?” I inquire.“No, but he said it's urgent,” “Urgent? What's his damn name?” “Philip banks.” An alarm blows in my head. What is that fucker looking for in my office? “Let him in,” Maybe I need to give him some good advice.Not more than two minutes, the long-haired prat walks through my door.“Take a seat Mr….Philip or should I say banks,” “I don't have time for pleasantries,” He grinds his jaw, his hand unmoving in his pocket. I stop myself from thinking he is hiding something in it because he'll be checked by my security b
Fabian's POV.“What is wrong with you Fabian? Why can't you get over this girl? You keep getting into continuous scandals with her and you don't even care what it's doing to your reputation or your Stephanie,” I pretend not to hear what she's ranting from across my desk.I stick my head in the paper before me, going through the files. “Answer me, Fabian,” She slams her hand on the desk. If I raised my head a second before she would have put her hand in my face.“What do you want me to do for you mother?” I ask. Offended by her distraction.“I want answers? What do I not know about you and your ex-wife that makes you crawl back to her even at her engagement party? Don't you have any shame? You had me panicking, looking for you! You weren't even healthy and yet you ran to her.” “Mother, I'm 34 years old. Old enough to make my own choices and be with whoever the fuck I want to be with. I'm busy right now and your noise is distracting me, please leave.” “I think I've given you enough ti
Pearl's POV.“I…I…that wasn't…” forming a proper sentence becomes difficult. Not sure I thought about what I'd say to him at that moment. “I was really scared. That's why I sent you the text,” “What text?” He asks, with slight irritation in his voice.“The…text I sent to you a day before,” “Pearl, we are both adults, and you have to own your mistake and stop lying to cover up because It makes me want to hate you even more!” “I'm not lying Philip, I sent you a text.” I defend myself.Philip breathes out exasperatedly, puts his hand in his pocket, takes out his phone, taps on the screen a couple of times, and hands me the phone. “You can check if your ‘sent’ message is there,” I scroll through the messages. I'm sure I sent it to him. Why is it not here? I keep searching.“Did something happen?” Philip mocks me, “You didn't see the message you sent? And you expected me to see it.” He abruptly takes the phone from my hand. “Let's face the truth, Pearl, you still love your ex, so much.
Pearl's POV.My brother and I are sitting at the ends of our plush sofa, in my Father's home office. My hands are intertwined between my legs, my heart is drumming erratically in my chest, it could Pop out.I know. I know I fucked up, I'm not blaming anyone, I shouldn't have let him get to me. I should have ordered him to leave, and not ruin my day. But I just couldn't, I told myself I needed to talk to him. I thought it was going to be a quick conversation and I'll run back in and no one will know I spoke to him, that was the plan but I didn't know when I hugged. It was so soothing, it felt like home. It was peaceful like I was back to being my old self, with my Man–but he is no longer my Man. And it has landed me here, under the scrutiny of my father by seven am in the morning. My brother has refused to talk to me since last night. I know he's mad at me. He has the right to be. Maybe when he falls in love with someone genuinely one day, he'll see it's not that simple to detach. Y
Fabian's POV.I can't go through the front because of how I'm dressed, so I sneak into the restroom area.When I start feeling dizzy again, I go into the men's room to pour some water on my face and rest a bit. But my adrenaline is pumping madly in my veins if I don't get to talk to my wife in the next few minutes. I'll lose my mind. When I come out of the men's room, I absentmindedly look sideways before setting my eyes on the path that leads to the….Wait a second! My eyes get sight of a man, standing at the entrance of the women's room. There's no one else in the hallway. Despite the strong urge to see Pearl, I feel this nudge to get close and know what's happening there. As I approach him, I notice he's talking. While talking to the person inside, his tone is hushed from a distance but as I get closer the words become clearer. I'm stunned when I realize it's Pearl's brother from a close distance.“Make me get this properly, 'cause I want to, How would you feel if I was getting ma
Pearl's POV.It's been really hard to keep up with the expectations of the people gathered here today. They're all like Dad, they narrow their eyes at you, searching for the tiniest bit of imperfection. Philip has been great at keeping my emotions afloat, but there's the lingering unsettling feeling I've been having. Has he read the letter and he chooses not to talk about it? That's impossible for me but I expected him to say something since last night, but he hasn't said anything. I checked my phone first thing when I woke up this morning and I was surprised to see no message from him was lying in my message box. Also, no missed calls or anything. I'd waited all night for a response. I wanted to be alert, holding my phone when the message came but I fell asleep and even when I got up, nothing had happened.“Pearl, Take this,” Philip hands me a glass of champagne he retrieves from the passing waiters. “It'll help your confidence,” he points to the people around, “It'll make you see t
Fabian's POV.My phone alarm rings. Signaling that it's time for me to go to bed. I set it to lessen my work time as my health condition has started getting worse and even if I'm afraid I don't have up to the time the doctor told me I don't show it.I close the paperwork on my desk and pack up, despite wanting to go home earlier, I'm still the last person who gets out of the office. Thank God it's Friday, I'll just have to take some time and rest before continuing anything.I use the elevator that leads to the garage. When the elevator dings, There's a spin in my vision, and I stop before I make the wrong step. Once everything settles, that's when I realize blood is coming out of my nose, at the same time a blinding migraine hits me, and breathing becomes a barrier.I try to find the nearest pillar–anything for support. My knees give out and I fall, clutching my throat as I struggle for air with eyes that can't see.I hear a voice in my head. I try to shake it off because of who it be
Pearl's POV.“Okay!” I say. Dragging my feet, I don't even realize I stopped.Settling in the backseat with my Dad, our driver takes over the steering and we start moving to God-knows-where. It takes me a lot of courage to turn and face my Dad, “Umm…” I try to make my voice polite, “Where are we going?” He swivels to look at me, “We are going to the venue of your engagement Party,” He says, almost excitedly.Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Why are we going to the venue tonight? I can't help but think my dad is up to something, Wait–has he found out? “Is something wrong?” He says. “No,” I reply sharply. Showing him a forced smile.He turns his face away as if irritated by the smile. The silence from then on puts me on the edge and makes me anxious till the car pulls to a stop, I immediately come down from the car. I don't even know if we have gotten to our destination.The air in the car is so suffocating that if I inhale one more time, I may fall sick. Or worse, colla
Pearl's POV.It's Friday already, I wish so bad that it's not but there's limited power to what I can control. Standing at my room window, I've seen the night snatch light from the day. And I can only wonder what tomorrow holds for me. Tomorrow is my engagement party.Tomorrow, I'll stand before people and pretend to love a man. I'm not so sure how I feel about him, and I'll have to tell him about my baby eventually. Running away is not an option for me. I've thought about it countless times. It'll only make things worse for me and the baby. I can only hope he doesn't take the news negatively, I'll never tell Fabian that the baby is his. Philip and I will care for the baby, he'll be my child's legal father. That's if he accepts the baby.I stand back from the window and turn, going straight to my table. The letters I'd written two nights ago are lying there.One for Philip, one for Dad, and one for Paul. He'd be the most disappointed, I don't know why it's hard to tell anyone I'm preg
Fabian's POV.After picking my Mom from the cell, I don't need to ask her why she did what she did because she won't give me a reasonable answer. I just drop her off at her house and head back to the office. It's already enough headache I'm dealing with in my life, I can only try to reduce my headaches.I toss my suit jacket on the desk as I walk into the room. I pick up a bottle of water from my mini fridge and drink. It's been so distressing and annoying how much I have to worry about myself and my Mom too. I throw some pills into my mouth and use the water to wash it down.There comes a soft knock on my door, “Come in,” I say. Stopping myself from thinking about whom it may be.Stephanie walks in, her pretty face is in order, but there's an edge of something…concern, Maybe.“What happened?” She asks, ambling close to me.“Nothing I couldn't take care of.” I reply, casually.“Do you have to be like this all the time with me?” By this time she's standing so close behind the desk. I