The drive to Alexander's house had been pretty long, it was almost noon now and I knew that time was gradually running out. The more I waited, the tighter the knots in my stomach became.The journey finally came to an end when I pulled up in front of his brown cabin. I rushed out of the car and grabbed Bella from the back seat, she seemed to have slept throughout the drive and I was grateful for that because I didn't know one thing about caring for children. After three solid knocks, the door opened to reveal an exhausted Alexender who seemed to lose all his exhaustion at the sight of me. "What happened? You are here? So soon?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow and I passed Bella over to him, she subconsciously curled into him. "I have to go somewhere and I need you to promise to take care of Bella," I asked and glanced from her to him. Alexander's forehead creased and he frowned."What's going on? Where are you going and why do you look so worried?" He asked and I licked my lips
I shut my eyes and held my breath in resignation, if this was my fate, I would accept it with open arms. I did not have it in me to fight or struggle anymore and I was genuinely tired of living with the weight of the mistakes made by everyone but me.“Do you know one thing about you that I always liked when you were a child?” Alice asked but I kept my eyes shut, “I know you won’t answer, but I will say it anyway.” She continued.“You always knew when to give up Danielle. And now is most definitely the time—”“Please don’t!” A voice cried. My eyes shut open and I spun around in the direction of the voice and my breath hitched. “She's your daughter and the love of my life! Please don’t hurt her —”I had so much going through my mind at that moment, how did he find out the truth and what was he going on here? He sounded so desperate and sure, but this was the same man who abused my trust and life when he walked down the aisle with another woman and gave her the rights he had promised me.
"You've always done this ever since we were kids!" She roared and tears rolled down her cheek. "You were always keeping secrets and playing with everyone's lives under the pretext of doing what's best!" Alice continued and ram her hand through her hair in what I assumed was frustration."You—" Alice sucked in a sharp breath before she continued. "This was why we lost our parents! Because of your secrets and lies!" The words rolled out of her mouth and I realized that Charlotte had visibly flinched. "Even back then, I forgave you. I forgave you when Belene died. I forgave you when our parents died. I even forgave you for your relationship with my husband, the one you still have now," My eyes widened at her words, Alice was aware that Charlotte was with Elliot. But if she forgave her, then why was the basis of the fight they had? "Even when I found out that you wanted to take everything away from me, even when you manipulated Elliot into believing that I needed to be in that asylum in
"How could you?!" I yelled in Emily's face the moment I stepped on the soil of our mansion."What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and it seemed like she had been waiting for us at the entrance, her forehead was creased and her eyes narrowed at me with much confusion I doubted myself for a moment."You think I would not know? Did you think that I would not find out?!" I demanded. I was not having it today. She had no right, absolutely no right to do anything. I knew that it was not Charlotte who had told Tyler the truth, she simply had nothing to gain from it and the last thing she would have done is jeopardize her relationship with Alice.If Isabel did not tell him before, then I am sure she had no reason to do so now. Mrs. Amber, Daniel, and Elliot. They were too neutral and Daniel wanted me to start afresh with Alex, so it wasn't him, that left only one person.Emiliana. "You a
The person staring back at me had amber green eyes and a perfect jaw. Her blush was light but evident, her eyes were spooked with eye shadow and her lips pursed into a straight line. I groaned and loosened my bun again, my face fell for the millionth time and I grumbled something unintelligible under my breath. I glared at my reflection in the mirror again, this time my forehead was creased and my mascara was ruined. I had never had issues putting on makeup until now. Even though I had never actually been overly obsessed with it, it was never really something I had to worry about or think too much about, so I let it be half of the time. Yet today, when all I wanted to do was put on some light makeup and get this over with, I found my hands trembling and chest tightening awkwardly, the room temperature was suddenly over the top and my mascara kept smearing as if someone was purposefully ruining it. “You still have time to call it off” Emily’s voice rang in my head and I froze. It t
They stopped me.Gun blazing, multiple shots, fireworks, the alarms going off, the yelling, ear piercing scream. The blood. Oh. The thick freaking scent of blood. I felt like I was thrown from the aisle to some blood-sucking horror movie where all I could do was watch, because that I was all did. I didn’t have it in me to move, not even when Alexander got shot and Alice took a bullet for me.“Danielle! What are you doing?!” I heard someone pull me to the ground, I almost smacked my head on the ground and when I raised it to see who had pulled me down, it was Tyler, his perfect dark hair was a mess and his eyes held panic. I parted my lip to speak but the sounds of gunshots silenced me. It went on for a few minutes before it stopped. Everywhere was a mess.I gradually stood to my feet. The flowers that decorated the aisle were scattered around with blood on them. The red carpet was wet and the chairs were turned upside down. Straight ahead the walls had writing on them, I took two s
“Alice, I need you to breath and stop talking about the past, okay?” I croaked out and glanced ahead. I wasn’t sure where we were or what hospital we were going to, I just hoped we would get there soon.“I was... I was frustrated with life and... and I thought you were dead and I would never get to see my other children. That was why I was so brutal... I decided that if my child could not be happy, then neither would hers and that backfired” She put her oxygen mask back on and gasped for air. “I-i’m so sorry,” Alice begged as she strained her eyes on me. “Alice now is not the time—”“No, I am so sorry Danielle, I’m sorry for everything.” She begged. “For all the abuse, pain, and humiliation you had to go through as a child.”She apologized and I looked away. A tear rolled down my cheek.It was one thing if someone else tried to understand my pain and another thing if the person who inflicted it and who had gaslighted me for years, was admitting to my face that she did it, to be hones
"Aiden," I growled and he smiled. He had a fun held up straight to my face and I was almost thrown off by the audacity of the man. Here, in broad daylight, he was pointing a gun at me, a smug grin plastered on his face as if he had just been given hot coffee on a stressful morning."Danielle" His voice was calm and held no remorse at all, his eyes narrowed at me and rested on Alice's body which was behind me. I watched as Aiden's grey eyes darkened for a bit before they returned to their previous form."For the first time in my entire life...I'm sad I was right about something." The words were not directed at me, rather it was where his gaze rested. Completely fixed on Alice. "If you cared about her, you would have stopped this a long time ago." I shot a glare at him, and he scoffed and stared at me with a piercing gaze. "It's because of her, I did this!" He snapped and shot one of the medics, I stumbled on the side of the van, my eyes went wide and I clenched my fist."That's a li
5 years later. “What happened here?” I sucked in a sharp breath as I glanced around what was supposed to be the children’s room but seemed like a battleground. World war three happened here. “It was him!” Bella cried in her high-pitched voice, I cringed at her tone and glanced in the direction of her voice. My heart skipped a bit when I could not find her, but if the mop of blonde curls that peaked out from beneath the bed was anything too go by; I was definitely on the right track. I took tentative steps toward her and crouched down to her height, “Baby, what’s going on?” my voice trembled slightly with worry but that was not the only thing threatening an anxiety attack from me at this moment. It was already 10:00 am and I wasn’t even dressed — forget about dressing up, Tyler wasn’t even around to handle the kids and he promised me. Today was my big day and he promised he would fill in, but as always, he just runs off with his burger. Bella reluctantly reached out to me and
You know how you can spend your entire life walking on the wrong path. You can feel like you have it all figured out even though you are just starting and struggling to be a good version of yourself. There are some memories, that don’t die when dawn comes barging in. Some dark times that even the sun can’t chase away. My point is: They are too many things out of our control and the last thing you want to do is get stuck with the guilt of not fixing or doing things that were never in your control, to begin with. As I ran my hands through my soaked scarlet hair, a lone tear crawled down my cheek and I swallowed sharply. I bit hard on my bottom lip as I thunderstruck and pierced my skin. It was almost scary how three years had felt like decades, how much I had linked to come here, all the promises, the guilt, everything that had built up to this exact moment. I wiped my tears which were mixed with rain. I found to hear the hesitant footsteps from Rye, but I did not turn. My fists cle
“There’s still time for us to run.” I glanced at Emilia as if she had grown two heads, but she had a serious expression on her face and I knew that she was freaking out deep down.So was I.“Run to where exactly?” I decided to humor her risky thoughts with a raised eyebrow, her stance deflated and she let go of my hand. We were outside the church now. It was crazy how much time had passed and how things were happening so fast.Until two weeks ago I was at Alice’s grave. Now I was walking down the aisle. I frowned and breathed. “When did Rye say she was going to get here?” I asked Emilia, the blonde seemed to be too engrossed in starting anything but the church that waiting for her. Her blonde hair had been styled in a perfect bun and Isabel had performed magic with her makeup. Her dimples were visible and she wasn’t even smiling. Emilia took a hold of my hand again, a small smile broke out on her plump lips.I held my breath as she stared me dead in the eyes before she broke out into
“This was the last place I thought I would ever come,” The words rolled out of my mouth and left a bland taste in my mouth, I could feel the heat from the ground tear my skin apart, and my eyes stung with fresh tears and my fists clenched.If anyone had told me, years ago, or even a month ago that I would do this, I would have laughed in their face and given them a fitting reply, yet here I was, tears pouring down my cheeks with a void in my heart that I was not sure time could heal.“It wasn't supposed to end like this, Alice. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn't the freaking plan,” I whispered and I could barely see from my clouded vision. “You always hurt me when it was alive and I always used to think that I would be happy when you died...” I trailed off and wiped my tears.“I’m not Alice,” I admitted. “I’m not happy at all ad it feels like my heart got ripped out. You took a part of me with you and it space you left stings a lot.” I swallowed and sucked in a sharp breath. I ran my
Tyler chuckled and his hand went to his neck for a nervous moment. “I don’t think you have realized it but… Alexander is in love, and it’s not with you,” I blinked in confusion.Tyler laughed at what seemed like my facial expression. “Alexander is madly in love with Lee.” My eyes widened and I immediately clicked the dots.Lee’s strange behavior ever since Alexander came into the house, her sudden change of heart, the reason she begged me to stop the wedding, why she was so devastated during the shoot-out, why she kept her gaze on Alex, and most of us, why she was bosses with taking care of Bella. “But she’s just a child and he- he’s twenty-five or something! This isn’t right!” I informed him.“She’ll be eighteen in a few weeks, by then she will be an adult, right?” Cole asked in a calm tone.“Well yes, but…” I trailed off and walked past him, I turned and continued. “She’s still a child, he’s five years older than she, and I don’t know, I’m just not comfortable with the idea.”“It’s
"Are you okay?" Tyler was standing at the doorwhen I came out, I nodded and walked past him. "Where's Gemma?" I asked with a straight face and glanced around the place. "She left," Tyler informed me absentmindedly. "She asked for a divorce." He added."Why? Did she finally realize that you are nothing like you claim you are?" I spat at him and he shrugged."She was pregnant for someone else," He continued. My eyes widened and I shrugged. "Oh wow." I chuckled. "You sue to surround yourself with the best kinds of people," I informed him and he relaxed on the wall"You don't seem okay, do you want to get some rest?" He asked and I rolled my eyes at his fake concern."I want to leave. Why did you bring me here?" I demanded in a sharp tone."You fell unconscious, I had no other choice," Tyler admitted bashfully and ran his hands through his hair. His lips were pursed into a straight line and he kept his gaze firm on me."Want some coffee?" He offered and walked towards what I assumed w
"I never thought you would come here." I heard a voice as I sat on the closest rock.From the view I had, the lake was breathtakingly beautiful, it had been months since I came here and I was dying for a breath of fresh air."Do you remember the last time we came here?" the voice continued on a steady pitch, I rolled my eyes at the tone and turned away. "Danielle, you are going to have to face me at one point or the other." Tyler finally confessed in what sounded like a defeated tone, I scoffed at his words. "There's nothing to settle." my voice came out strained. It had been one entire month since Alice was murdered and Aiden died at my hands. The memory still sends chills down my spine and for many days I refused to leave my home because I was terrified of the outcome, I sucked in sharp air and glanced at him."You ended this, remember?" I added in a soft tone, my eyes stung with tears but I blinked them away. Tyler sighed. He broke the small distance between us and sat beside me
I lunged at him. With all the force and anger I could muster at that moment. This was the moment I had waited for so many years. Three long years — I lived with that guilt and pain for three long years. I was broken, I had to deal with the pain and nightmares and the intense feeling that I could not protect the man who did nothing but love me. The only thing I had consoled myself with back then was that I would avenge his death.And only when I had avenged his death, would I visit his grave. Today, I would fulfill that promise.Aiden lost balance in shock, the gun went off immediately. My eyes widened when we hit the ground. I was basically on top of him, dangerously close with the gun between us and my breath hitched.My heart raced and it took me a few seconds to register the fact that the bullet had not hit me, rather it was stuck in Aiden who was bleeding from his nose.I must have taken too long to connect all these dots because the next thing I knew was hands around my neck, c
"Aiden," I growled and he smiled. He had a fun held up straight to my face and I was almost thrown off by the audacity of the man. Here, in broad daylight, he was pointing a gun at me, a smug grin plastered on his face as if he had just been given hot coffee on a stressful morning."Danielle" His voice was calm and held no remorse at all, his eyes narrowed at me and rested on Alice's body which was behind me. I watched as Aiden's grey eyes darkened for a bit before they returned to their previous form."For the first time in my entire life...I'm sad I was right about something." The words were not directed at me, rather it was where his gaze rested. Completely fixed on Alice. "If you cared about her, you would have stopped this a long time ago." I shot a glare at him, and he scoffed and stared at me with a piercing gaze. "It's because of her, I did this!" He snapped and shot one of the medics, I stumbled on the side of the van, my eyes went wide and I clenched my fist."That's a li