When she was done, Milton’s lips twitched a little, and she knew he was having a hard time staying in cop mode. "Go on, laugh," she dared him with a pout. "But I don't care about the other stuff, it's the jewelry that is upsetting me, some of it belonged to my grandma and it's gone." Milton placed his hand over hers. "Do you have photos of the missing stuff?" "My father was a prosecutor, remember? I took photos of everything. I keep receipts and insurance records, too," she said in the mocking tone her father would use. "Oh, speaking of insurance, Derrik canceled my car insurance. I only found out because I had a flat tire and called them, and they wouldn't send out roadside assistance because I was no longer a customer." "Was this before or after the restraining order?" "Both, it was six weeks ago, so after the temporary one, when you arrested him, but before the more permanent one." Milton hummed. "I'll still be speaking to him about it, make sure all your bank accounts, home,
The entire time she typed, Milton called and yelled at her through the bathroom door.[Hi, this is the Jane your brother-in-law was mentioning in his last message. For what it is worth, I am truly sorry for the cruel pranks he is playing on you. If you do want to get him back for it, you should know people in government jobs get into an embarrassing situation far more easily than us civilians. A good batch of spiked brownies should do the trick, in my opinion. If you want to really screw with him, put the fake wife he gifted you in the trunk of his car. Anonymously report that you saw someone put a girl in a truck. That way he will get pulled over. I would personally love to see how he would get out of that one. Just so you know, I am deleting this text so he can’t see it. If you do respond, make it quick. You have three minutes. I am on your side, brother-in-law.] Pandora bit her lip as she started to watch the time. After two and a half minutes, she started to feel a wave of sadnes
Her brain, of course, went on to lecture about how he was out of her league as well. Her heart relented, reminding her brain that a guy who was even half as attentive as Benjamin had been would be amazing and she sighed again. "You alright?" Benjamin asked, picking up on her sadness. "Yeah, it's just the hormones," she replied, wiping a tear that escaped her eye. Benjamin walked around the store with her and even walked her back to her car. As he put her shopping in the backseat, she noticed a motorcycle parked just down from where she was. "You going straight home from here?" he asked and she nod at him. "Okay, I'll see you on Monday?" Again, she dumbly nodded in agreement before getting into her car. She pulled out and drove toward the street. Looking back, she saw Benjamin standing exactly where she had left him.Smiling, she turned back to driving, losing sight of him as she pulled out of the large lot. She got stopped at a red light and glanced in her rearview mirror. She sa
"That looks nice," he hissed, "but I think it's just carpet burn, and bruising." He carried on his inspection of her leg. When he got to her ankle it was by far the worst of her issues. "This is badly sprained. I'll get my bag and wrap it up for you. Is..." Benjamin stopped talking and seemed to swallow back the words. "…your husband due back soon?" He had to force the words out "No, he's not," she replied calmly. Benjamin returned a nod with the same intensity."Just give me a few minutes."Benjamin came back with his bag and wrapped up her ankle and then placed an ice pack over it. "I'm going to listen to your heart rate, take your blood pressure then we'll look over Jack and Micheal?" Pandora nodded, loving how he was so much like her in the way he called the babies first by the pet names she gave them and now by the names they would have after birth. "Your blood pressure is a little, up," he sighed and then moved back to her bump. "Boys you need to stop giving your momma scar
"I love feeling them move around," she whispered as her head rested on his shoulder. "I know that I am going to miss this, but at the same time, I can't wait to meet them face to face." She felt Benjamin's smile as his breath ghosted over the side of her head. "It is amazing.” Pandora hummed as she thought over what he said. "Do you have kids?" she asked. Benjamin cleared his throat loudly a few times. "No, not yet." "Do you think it will feel the same for you when your wife is having your baby? You must deliver so many do think you'll still feel the magic?" Benjamin seemed to be quiet and she turned to look at him. "It's always magic, but I hope when it's my own, I would feel a connection, unlike anything I've felt before." They fell into their usual stare but her stomach grumbled loudly, breaking the moment. "I'll get you breakfast." "Can't I come down for it? I swear I'll stay on the couch," she begged, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. He chuckled and moved back to her.
"What do you mean empty?" She tilted her head at him. "It's empty, as there's nothing in there– nada. There's not even carpet in the room anymore," he said slowly with his eyes staying on hers. "No," she said, shaking her head. "Benjamin slept there last night," she carried on but Ron just gave her a sympathetic look. She jumped up, but fall back down as a pain shot through her ankle. "Hey, sit back down," Ron pleaded as he rubbed her back. "I want to look; it has to be there!" "It's not," Ron replied, clasping her hand. "I may be a twat at times, but there's no way I would miss a whole bedroom set." She turned and looked at him. "Where the hell is it and who put this up?" she asked, pointing at the computer. "There's more," Ron whispered. "What?" she asked and he sighed. "This was a bad idea," he said under his breath, pulling at his hair. "I was on a dating site the other night putting up a fake profile for Keira." Pandora gave him a displeased look, but he chuckled lightl
She shook her head. "As long as you know there will be no pillow fights in our underwear, we're all good." "Can't we just pretend there will be?" Pandora chuckled and rolled her eyes as he picked her up. "Now show me the room." "You sure you want to see it?" he asked her, stopping outside the spare room. "Yeah." Ron kept a hold of her as he opened the door. Just as he said, the room was empty; not only was there no carpet but the wall hangings were also gone. "We should call that police guy you know," Ron commented as she nodded in agreement. Ron helped her back downstairs and she send Milton a text asking him to drop by. Not even an hour later, Milton was walking through her door. "Hello," he greeted as he eyed up Ron. "Milton, this is a friend of mine, Ron. Ron, this is Milton, he's the detective I told you about." "How are you?" Ron asked confidently. "I'll show you the room." Pandora pulled her eyebrows down in disbelief as Ron swaggered out of her living room. "He's not
"But just... he was slowly destroying it. He has taken years from me. I can't look back on good memories anymore because I see now what I failed to see then. I can't even make new ones." She rubbed her tummy as Jack and Micheal started to move around. "This is meant to be a happy time for me. A good time, but I have spent so much time feeling tired, sad, and so goddamn alone. I'm scared shitless of how I am going to cope on my own with two babies. On top of all that, what he's doing to me is cruel beyond words.""It is, but mark my words, he will slip up, and I will arrest him. It may take time, but you have my word. As for this house, I know that you worked hard on it, and spent a lot of time building this up, but it's just a house. You can make a new home anywhere you decide to live. Maybe you should consider selling it." Milton leaned over and hugged her. "As soon as I've got this prick dealt with, you'll need another cop to deal with, because my ass is already in over the line w
"Looks like you are going to have a baby," Emily said, showing her the test. "Or maybe two. Knowing you and Benjamin, it will be twins again," she laughed. "Hush," Pandora gritted out and glared at her. "Hey, you never know, it could be three this time," she smiled. Pandora snorted and slapped her arm. "No, thank you! Now, not a word about this to him. I want to surprise him!" Emily nodded. "Just glad I know someone that's having a baby who will be around this one's age," Emily rubbed her tummy as she spoke. "Maybe you'll have a boy and I'll have a girl and they'll get married," Pandora joked. Emily’s eyes lit up and Pandora knew her joke backfired when she got a big smile on her face. "That would be so awesome," she said. Pandora heard Benjamin yell her name and Emily winked at Pandora. "I better get back to work. Text me when you tell him!" "I will," Pandora replied and she opened the door and ducked out. "Give me three minutes, and then you'll be free to get out of here wi
"It was just some homeless man. I really don't know why they even followed up on it. But I was blamed, and then put in jail. JAIL! When I got out, I was a laughingstock. No one wanted to know me. No one, not even the people I had made great. They all left me to rot. My daddy left with all the money he had and started over in another country. I had nothing. I have nothing and it's all your fault." At that point, she stood and charged at Pandora again, but Pandora easily deflected her arms, grabbed her, and held her down as Raegan hissed and growled at Pandora. "Oh shit!" she heard Milton say and he moved quickly to her, restraining Raegan. "I told you to stay away from this place," he said. "This is all your fault. You and that bitch took my life. I was meant to be Mrs. Parks—it was my life!" she yelled and Milton sighed. "Handcuff her. We have to drop her off at the hospital again," he sighed to the female officer as Pandora watched her place handcuffs on Raegan. Pandora stood, a
Their imperfections, and the fact that they didn't want to be perfect, or have a perfect marriage made them able to cope when one of them made a mistake. Thankfully, Pandora was very kind, and since it was Benjamin that normally screwed up, that made him lucky. Benjamin glanced at Pandora who was hugging his mother, and he noticed she had a warm glow around her. He had always seen it, but it had become more evident to him since they renewed their wedding vows. Benjamin wanted—needed—to marry her again, not because they were both drunk the first time, but because he needed her to know that he meant it all and that he wanted her to be his wife. Pandora looked stunning in the wedding dress that Maisey had made her, but he thought she could have worn a trash bag and still shone like a star. She was so happy and cheerful that he made it his vow to make her that happy at least once a day. He hated to let her dance with anyone else at their reception, but it did give her a chance to hold
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Jack asked. "The zoo," Amy answered with a roll of her eyes. "We can't all be great at remembering stuff," he replied, making the rest of them roll their eyes at him. "It's on the family schedule on the fridge... Oh wait, that's right, you don't look at that because then you would need to do your homework," Beth was quick to point out. "You're just jealous that I can do it in five minutes flat and still pass," Jack boasted. "That's not always going to work, and you will no longer be doing the work moments before it's due to be turned in; do you understand me?" Pandora asked him. "But, is it more important to get it done right or promptly?" he asked, making Benjamin stifle the chuckle that was starting to bubble up, knowing he just stepped into it. "No, mister smarty pants, and you'd be wise to use those smarts to mind what you argue. Getting your work done promptly and done correctly are both important and if you keep doing it at the last minute,
"They must have been naughty, they're back to being just mine," he said with a chuckle, knowing full well that they had been fighting all day. He gave her one last kiss before walking away. "Okay, Amy, you're up first," he said, pointing in front of him as he sat down. He took them one at a time, listening to what they each had to say. As it turned out, this was just a fight about whose turn it was to pick something to watch on the television. So as a punishment, he removed their TV time for the rest of the day and the next. "I can't believe I am going to miss watching golf!" Jack tutted. "What am I going to do now?" "You could read, like Amy," Beth told him with a touch of attitude. "I am not reading one of her silly books!" he bit back. "They were Mom's books," Micheal reminded him. "And Dad said he read them, too." "Yeah, I guess, but what about tomorrow? No TV tomorrow and I planned to watch the tournament. I wish school started already." "Jack, we have plans for tomorrow–
Benjamin took his time looking at the screen. He looked over all the measurements and made sure the spine was straight. Next, he paid close attention to the beating heart and found that it, as well as the other organs, were seemingly perfect. He let out a soft breath when everything looked good, and looked up with a smile. "Mackenna," he said softly as she had her eyes tightly closed. "Come on, open your eyes and look up here at the monitor. She's fine– everything looks great," Benjamin whispered. Mackenna had four miscarriages in the past ten years, and where Benjamin couldn't prove that they were caused by the mistreatment that she received at the hands of Derrik, he stood firm in his belief that the drugs he had given her had some long-lasting effects. About eight years ago, Pandora and she ran into each other while out around town. They got talking and Mackenna accompanied Pandora to the tattoo store Benjamin frequented. The couple had planned on getting matching tattoos on the
“On the twelve counts of Identity Theft Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the four counts of Attempted Murder, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.”“On the three charges of Breaking and Entering, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the five counts of Mortgage Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the six counts of Aggravated Assault, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” The reading went on, covering all the different charges. Meanwhile, Miriam was wailing. Pandora closed her eyes, feeling a sense of relief, as each charge came back guilty. "Mr. Preston, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers; you will be remanded in custody and sentenced on Friday at ten a.m.—" "No! No, not my boy! You've made the wrong choice, you stupid people! I'll end you all for doing this to my baby
Benjamin and Pandora arrived just as the court was starting up. First up was Derrik, who sat there for almost three hours, trying to paint himself as the victim. It was hard sitting there listening to him spew out how Pandora was trying hard to ruin him, and she did all that herself to set him up. Miriam was the next to take the stand and she just glared at Pandora as she was sworn in. "I would first like to ask you about your son, who is he?" Derrik's lawyer asked. "Oh, my sweet Derrik is such a good boy. He was a star football player, but she..." Miriam hissed with a nod in Pandora’s direction, "made him give up his dream. She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and what to wear. He wasn't allowed friends, and she even tried to stop him from talking to me. But I wouldn't allow that to happen. I would walk through hell for my son." "So, Mrs. Preston, you are saying that Mrs. Parks was controlling your son?" "Oh yes, he wasn't allowed to work because she was af
During her testimony, Pandora learned that she was also known as Brownie. As she continued through the questions she was asked, Pandora had to bite her lip to stop the sobs from coming out. She told the court how she was paid to pretend to be Pandora. It was one thing to hear how she pretended to be her, but then she told the court how Derrik had sex with her several times inside Pandora’s home. She talked about being in Pandora’s bed, and it just about broke her. For the first time since all of it had started, Pandora was grateful that she had sold her home. "We have one more witness, Your Honor," the District Attorney said and with a nod, the Bailiff walked out. "We call Hannah Song to the stand." Pandora looked over to see a girl who looked like a teenager walking in with her head down. She was sworn in but her head remained down. "Can you tell the court your age?" the District Attorney asked. "Nineteen," she answered quietly, so the Bailiff adjusted the microphone in front of