POV: Victoria "I'm so sorry for what my mother did to you and your family. I can't change what happened, but I want to make it up to you. This weekend, there's a family gathering at my grandfather's estate. I want you to come with me and meet the rest of my family. I want them to see how amazing you are, and how much you mean to me."That is the kind of apology I expected, that is the kind of apology that any sane man would give to his woman after such an encounter with his mother. But Ralph only mentioned it and put it behind us as if it was nothing. Or maybe he was not informed that my mom and sister were present when it happened. Each time I want to get upset and bring it up again, I recall the shopping bags in the back seat of his car and I keep mute immediately. He may not have said the words, but this is one hell of an apology, it’s way better than words, trust me. He made me wear one of the outfits he got me from the mall. As I stood in front of the mirror, dressed in the re
POV: Victoria “W… W… What are you doing here, Nathan?What do you want?” I asked nervously. I had to clear my throat a few times to make my voice sound normal. He had this bright smile on his face that made me sick in my Tommy. He was sitting next to Mom on the same seat that Claire and I used to sit in to take care of Mom and feed her. He held Mom's hand as if he knew her before now, even Claire stood next to him, smiling like a fool. “Don’t be rude, Victoria. He’s such a nice fella. He’s been telling us beautiful stories about you and his brother and how he set you up to be with his brother. You are so lucky to be involved with such an amazing family.” Mom told me happily. I forced out a smile, I didn’t want to ruin the moment and put Mom and Claire in danger. “I see he took you shopping,” she scoffed.“Now, isn’t he a keeper?” he teased, causing Mom and Claire to laugh out excitedly. Then Claire frowned and looked at me in shock, “Oh my God, Vee, did he just drop you off?Why d
POV: Raphael “No…No…It wasn’t me, I have nothing to do with the Hawkins business, I didn’t even know that you had a contract with them. Tell him, Mr Hawkins, tell him it wasn’t me.” I called out to Nathan, but he shook his head and excused himself from the room, “This is obviously a family matter and I don’t think my brother would appreciate it if I get involved in this matter. I’m sure you’ll find a way to resolve it, you sure know how to get out of sticky situations,” he mumbled as he walked out of the room, smiling to himself.“Hurt her dad, she did it to destroy us, she is vindictive and wicked. Let’s beat her up and lock her up,” Cindy yelled in my direction, urging her dad to hurt me. Nathan turned to offer a warm smile when he heard her voice, I guess he loves her attitude. Birds of the same feathers always find their way to each other. His gaze was more like an invitation to Cindy, she stopped yelling and turned to her mom for guidance. Her mom nodded in approval and she
POV: Raphael “Boss, Your brother arrived a few minutes ago and he is in there with her family,” Felix told me when I rounded the corner and parked in front of the hospital. After Mom’s unexpected visit to the hospital, I had to think about Victoria’s safety and the safety of her family. I placed a guard on her without her knowledge. Call me paranoid, but I wanted to keep a close eye on her and know if and when she would try to betray me. I placed the guard in front of the hospital and asked him to report back to me or Carl in case something bad happened. When I say in case something bad happens, I meant in case my mom shows up again to threaten Victoria. I’ve told her to stop harassing her, but Mom never listens to me. The guard was supposed to keep watch on her and tell me if Mom showed up again, I had no idea that she still had to deal with my brother. I didn’t know they were so close that he even pays her mom a visit. I thought I saw a flicker of affection in her eyes tonight. F
POV: Raphael The moment I saw the timing, I realized it was done after I canceled his contract. He knows they have me now, he knows that with me on their side, they will fight for the company. That’s why he wants to destroy the company before they can get out of the hospital.“What do you need me to do?” Carl asked me as he got into my car and sat in the passenger seat.“Call the cops and go in there. Get that bastard arrested for hurting Victoria. Get her mom moved to a new room and place a guard outside her room. Let me know when it’s done.” I instructed Carl. nodded in understanding and stepped out of the car. I saw him making a call while he walked into the building. “Where do you want me?” Felix asked me after Carl left. He has been standing beside my car all this while, waiting for my instruction. “Get to the control room before anyone else does. I need the footage deleted. Make sure this incident is not published in the papers tomorrow.” I instructed him. He left as well an
POV: Victoria “There is no need to get into the car, I just came to thank you for…”“I said get into fucking car before Victoria!” he yelled at me, barking his order furiously. I don’t know how long he has been here, I don’t know if he had seen his cousin, Nathan coming out of the hospital, I don’t know what he has seen, what he had heard. I’m too ashamed to look at his face, I can’t believe I’d messed things up just a few hours after he gave me the best day of my life. I got into the car and sat down next to him, my eyes fixed on my thighs. I could feel his eyes on me and I dread looking his way, I just can’t look into his eyes without feeling so guilty.“Look, Ralph, I’m sorry I dragged you into my mess with my family. My father has been a bit ruthless with us, but he has never gone this far before. He only reacted this way because you attacked his business. By the way, why would you attack my family’s business without my knowledge. You are the reason he is so pissed you know. Go
POV: Victoria “He was here to remind me that he knows where to find my family if I dare to defy him. He gave me this phone, I’m guessing he wants to be able to call me anytime.” I responded. Now that I’ve told him the truth, it’s not so difficult to respond to his questions anymore. “Where is it?” He inquired, his voice still form and hoarse. I handed him the phone and he connected a USB cable to it and plugged it into his laptop. He tapped on his keyboard endlessly, cursing too loudly when he encountered anything that he wasn’t expecting to see on it. He handed me the phone when he was done with it, “Call him now. Call him and tell him you are not interested in his deal anymore. I want to hear you end your business deal with him. Do it now!” he ordered me. “What about the video of us that he has?He said he had my nude pictures and videos of us in the hotel room. What am I going to do if he leaks out those pictures and videos? What are you going to do?” I asked him.“I don’t giv
POV: Victoria The gravel crunched under the tires of Raphael's car as we pulled up the winding driveway to his grandfather's stately home. I could feel her heart pounding in my chest as I glanced over at Raphael, the man I was supposed to pretend to be in love with for the weekend.He was so rigid and stern as he sat next to me, oblivious of my feelings. He has something in his mind but I dare not ask so I don’t provoke his anger any further. He has done more than enough for me and my family, I should be grateful instead of nagging about his attitude towards me. I’m dressed in a red dress that is showing a lot of cleavage, and yet he hasn’t spared me a second glance since he picked me up from the house this morning. I could as well be considered a piece of furniture in this car, I mean, how can any man sit next to a lady as beautiful as I am and not give a damn. How on earth are supposed to pretend to be in love when he can’t even look at me for five minutes?"Are you ready for this
POV: RaphaelIt took a few days for the girls to get back on their feet. Turns out the poison Eloise used on them is a deadly chemical that could turn them invalid for the rest of their lives if not handled properly. If they had stayed there longer for her to administer another dosage, it would have been detrimental to their health. Good thing we got to them on time, good thing we took her out before she could hurt them more than she already has, especially Victoria who is a few weeks pregnant with my child. She had no idea she was pregnant, I had no fucking idea. It was discovered during her body exam at the hospital, and I couldn’t be happier in my life. This changes everything…It doesn’t just validate our relationship; it’s going to keep every other man away from her; it will be the one reason why I will fight everyone, including my grandfather, just to keep her. I couldn’t take my eyes away from her, even when she fell asleep on the hospital bed. It’s amazing to know that a lit
POV: VictoriaSo it turns out that Eloise Kendall was still lying and playing games with us down to the last minute. After the building exploded, Raphael got up as fast as he could and ran up to me, making sure I was okay. Miguel was here the next second, and they smothered me with love and care, checking to see if I was not hurt. “Claire…My sister…Where is my sister, where is Claire?” I managed to ask in my confused state, turning around to find her. They heard me asking for her, and they turned around with me, searching for her. We spotted her in Dominic’s arms as he struggled to get her to wake up.“No! No! No! No!Claire!Wake up!Claire!” I called out to her, struggling to get up but failing miserably as usual. Raphael took one look at me, and he turned in my direction, and he knew I needed my sister. “Stay with her; keep her safe!” he told Miguel as he left my side and ran to Claire’s side, administering mouth-to-mouth while Dominic called out to her, yelling at the top of h
POV: Victoria“Move away from here; she has a bomb; she is going to kill us all!” I yelled in Carl’s direction as I saw him approaching us slowly, thinking that my Mom was not seeing him. Of course, she is seeing him through the device in her hand; she knew the moment they took off the power grid that they were here. She came up to us and smiled excitedly, clapping her hands as if it were the happiest day of her life.“The guys are here to save you. Your Prince Charming has arrived, and they came prepared to save you. Are you not excited?” She asked us, smiling so happily. I turned to Claire in fear, and she had the same look of fear on her face, too. “Let them go, Mom; they don’t have to die because of us,” I begged her.“Of course, they do. Why the hell would you ever think that they deserve to live, why would you think that?” she asked me angrily.“I have been waiting for them for so long, they are the reason why we are still here. Of course, they would get what they deserve; the
POV: Raphael“How is he?” I asked Miguel a few minutes later after he spoke to the guys he put in charge of his parents. We have been waiting for their report and for a minute there we thought that something bad has happened, we thought they were under another attack from Eloise. We were contemplating whether or not to cancel the mission tomorrow and go back to Havana to save the Myers and get them out of town before coming back to face Eloise. But the call came in just a few minutes before we made the decision to cancel the mission. Turns out that the guys are even more efficient than we thought. Immediately after Shaun came out from surgery, they moved him and the Myers out of the hospital and took them to a safe house outside the city. “You did good, guys; I’m proud of you. Where are they now? Where did you take them?” he asked the boys after confirming that they were safe. “I’m sorry boss, but we can’t disclose our location to anyone yet, not even you, Mr Myers.” They told him
POV: RaphaelWe were all awake all night, going over the plans over and over again, looking for any flaws. Dominic and I did not have any misunderstanding as we worked together, in fact, you will never know that we even had a fight before we started. Saving the girls is more important to us and that’s what we focused on.We could not walk up to the front gate together because that was where she was expecting us to follow. We flew a drone over the property, and we saw that half of her security guards were stationed at the entrance, waiting patiently for us. I’m sure that she must be expecting us to show up at her gate any moment from now. I mean, she wasn’t expecting us to back down, was she?“Get the helo ready, we leave two hours after the ground team,” I instructed Carl. We decided to split the teams into two so one team could create a diversion while the second team sneaks into the house and saves the girls. We agreed to use a helicopter to drop a few guys on the building while th
POV: Raphael“If you are here to give me attitude and make my job more difficult for me, I suggest you get the fuck out of here right now. I’m too busy to deal with your attitude, Raphael, I mean it!” He told me furiously, glaring daggers at me. It’s obvious to everyone looking that this guy is angry with me for a completely different reason. I mean, he cannot be this furious because I said I wasn’t helping, right?“I’ll do anything to save Victoria, even if it means putting up with your bullshit!” I told him, repeating my earlier response and ignoring his earlier comments about my attitude.“Are you testing my patience? Are you trying to piss me off?” he yelled at me, letting the others turn to us curiously as they wondered what was going on between us. I turned to face him and he came to stand in front of me, glaring at me as if he wanted to punch me.“If you have something to say, why don’t you say it to my fucking face, Dominic. You keep saying you have moved past my betrayal, but
POV: Raphael“Shaun, what is going on over there, Are you hurt?” Miguel asked him in a panicked tone as he got up immediately and viewed his body to see where he was shot. I’d already seen it when the nurse took his phone but I didn’t say anything because I don’t want to get him more worried and upset than he is presently. He was shot in the chest and stomach, and I could tell that he is in pain, but he is just faking it to put Miguel’s mind at ease. It would break Everyone if something bad happens to him. I know I only just met the guy today, but trust me, I would feel it too because he is such a great guy and he doesn’t deserve to die. I see him like Carl, he is loyal to a fault, just like Carl. I could see it in his eyes that he would do anything to protect the Myer’s, even putting his life at risk for them. He is still bleeding from the gunshots, the bullet has not been taken out and the bleeding has not stopped. He must have lost a lot of blood while waiting for Juliette Mye
POV: Raphael“If you had a way of getting them back all this while, why haven’t you done so yet, why are they still being held hostage, Mr perfect plans?” Dominic retorted angrily.“ It’s your perfect plans that got me into trouble with Carlos Gonzalez in the first place, remember?” He asked again, scoffing at my words. I wanted to refute his decision one more time, but he stopped me with a wave of his hand, dismissing what I had to say as if it didn’t matter. “Save it, Ralph, I don’t want to hear it!” He told me angrily, glaring at me. “Tomorrow, I’m saving the girls and bringing them home to their family and loved ones. You can keep planning and stalling for as long as you want, I don’t care. But I’ll advise you to stay the fuck out of my way before you get hurt!” he warned me, walking past me and heading back outside. He turned around when he got to the door and he turned to Miguel and said,“I'm going out there to make plans on how to save your sister and my woman. You can
POV: RaphaelI didn’t want to deal with Dominic now because I knew that he must be so furious with me for keeping him in the dark all this while. I have not been sending updates to him as he instructed. I’ve been too busy to even think about him. As expected, he was angry with me, and his tone was so rude when I called to inform him that Miguel and I were crashing at his house tonight. I thought he was just being unnecessarily angry. I mean, I know I didn’t call him to give him updates, but he should have called me to, right?When he didn’t hear from either me, Carl, or even Miguel, he should have known that something was wrong, and he should have called to find out what was happening. He knows the enemy we are facing is so cunning and evil. He should have called us to check up on us and see if we were okay. But he didn’t call either, and now he is pissed at me for nothing.I was getting ready to give him a piece of my mind, but when I set my eyes on him, I immediately felt guilt