POV: Victoria Mom knelt in front of them sobbing and begging, ignoring Cindy’s ranting. They still hadn’t spotted Carl and I because we were standing so distance away and the flowers were hiding us from their view. From their talks, I discovered that Cindy told Dad about the diamonds and now he is threatening to sell off the company if he cannot get his hands on the diamond, my diamonds. I couldn’t see Dad from where I was standing and I wondered if he was aware of what his wife and daughter were doing to my mother. The annoying part is that mom is just kneeling and begging like a fucking urchin. That is very disappointing and annoying, to say the least. She is not acting like herself, she is not acting like the mom I know and love so much. She has always been tough and strong, she has always stood up to dad and she taught us to do the same too. She has always planned to take back the company from her dad and she is seriously working hard towards it. She has a team of lawyers worki
POV: Victoria It’s the audacity for me, like, is she trying to infuriate me to death?“You know, I thought I could pretend as if you do not exist and just move on with Mom and Claire. But it seems you have suddenly gone insane. If you think for one minute that I would ever kneel before you ever again, then you are even more delusional than I thought.” I yelled at her, hearing furiously at her. She smiled back at me, then turned to gaze at my mom, “Are you going to make her don’t, or not?” She asked Mom in a rude tone that made my blood boil. My mom looked so confused. It’s as if she doesn’t want to make me do it, but she couldn’t say anything to Cindy either. She just kept mute and started on the floor sobbing hysterically. “I’ll do it if that’s what it would take to get back my daughter, I’ll do anything you want. Just leave my daughter out of it.” Mom sobbed. She was already kneeling on the floor and she reached out to hold her feet and kiss it. But I pulled her back immediately
POV: Victoria “Austin, please!Don’t do this, please, not here, not now,” Mom sobbed, begging him, feeding his ego. He beamed with joy, enjoying every moment of it. “You should have thought about it before you brought her here.” Vera lets out rudely.“Tell her dad, tell her she is a bastard!” Cindy let out once more, smirking evilly as she did. I could sense that there was something mom was hiding from me that they knew about. But that notwithstanding, my mother does not deserve this treatment. I don’t care what she has done wrong, she just doesn’t deserve this.“You are all cowards!Cowards!” I screamed in their faces, glaring at them. “I don’t care what she has done, there is nothing you would tell me that would make me hate my mother. She doesn’t deserve this!” I yelled once more. Dad frowned deeply when I said that. I guess he is just realizing that I would never fall for their tricks. They are trying to put enmity between me and my mom, but I won’t let that happen.“You foolis
POV: Victoria “I have nothing to hide from you Victoria. I love you so much and that is all you need to know. Now answer my question immediately!Does he have anything to do with Claire’s disappearance, is he using my daughter for his business transactions?” She asked again, sounding more firm and furious. I refused to look into her eyes because I didn’t want her to see my tears. I know she doesn’t like him and she had never approved of my relationship with him. But that is not enough reason to accuse him of something so despicable. He has done nothing but rendered assistance to us. If he ever hears that he is being accused of using my sister for his business, it would infuriate him even more. It’s bad enough that I was going to pawn his diamond ring to save my sister. Now this!“That is absurd, ma’am!My boss would never stoop so low to involve himself in human trafficking. If you know anything about Raphael Hawkins, then you would know that he is a disciplined man who has fought
POV: Victoria “I know, I know…It was so stupid of me, I don’t know what I was thinking, I just wanted to get Claire out. I should never have lied to you, Raphael. U was so stupid, it’s all my fault!” I confessed, tears prickling the corners of my eyes. “I didn’t think. I was just… lost. I still am. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, I don’t even know who I am anymore. I thought I had it all figured out, I used to think that am strong enough to handle any challenge that life throws at me. But I don’t think I can do it anymore, I’m tired and broken. I’m hanging on a thin thread here, I’m barely holding it together as it is. If I happen to face a more frustrating event alone, I may lose my sanity, Raphael. I don’t know how you do it, I don’t know how you do everything for your family without complaints. How do you don’t?” I asked him, my voice calm but curious, with a bit of seduction to my words. I think I’m beginning to love and appreciate him more and value his presence even mor
POV: Victoria As I hung up the phone, I felt a flicker of relief mixed with the heaviness still clinging to me. I sank onto the couch, drawing my knees up to my chest, staring at the empty spot where the diamonds had once rested. It was a hollow reminder of what I had lost. And it’s not only the ring but the trust between me and Dominic. I hope in my heart that he forgives me for being such a burden. I’m pretty sure that if he had known that my family would turn out to be so troublesome, he would never have asked me to be his pretend girlfriend. All I’ve done since is cause him trouble and heartache. It’s as if I am troubling myself because it seems like the issues in my family have no solution, I am surrounded by unending problems and I am so ashamed to even look into his eyes and ask for forgiveness.Minutes turned into an hour, and still, he was not there yet. I thought he changed his mind, I thought he decided to teach me a lesson by not showing up to be with me. But finally, a
POV: Miguel “Have you found her Miguel, have you seen your sister?” Mom asked me as I stepped out of my private jet and walked towards her.“I’m fine mom, thanks for asking,” I responded in a sarcastic tone, throwing my arms around her and chuckling excitedly as I pecked her cheeks on both side, hugging her tightly. She chuckled with me, realizing her mistake and kissing me back excitedly. “I’m so sorry, Miguel, I’m just so worried about your sister. It’s your twenty-fifth birthday next week and I still have no blue where she could be. It’s twenty five years already, twenty five years without my beautiful baby girl,” she sobbed in my arms, bringing tears to my eyes. Ever since I could understand words, my parents have never stopped talking about their beautiful baby girl that was stolen in the hospital. Since i found out that I has a twin sister, I have not stopped searching for her. All I have is a picture from my moms phone, a picture of when she was just two days old in the hosp
POV: Miguel “Oh, I can help! What’s her name?” she asked excitedly. Her enthusiasm was infectious. I couldn’t help smiling along with her. Looking closely, I don’t think she is the same age as me. She is younger than me, way younger than me. Just that she is looking so unkempt and hungry, I wonder if he is starving her on purpose. “Marisol,” I replied, the name bittersweet on my lips. The smile disappeared on my face as I mentioned her name. I can’t believe I’d wasted my time to come here, she is obviously not the one I’m looking for. Although if I must admit, she is quite cute and cheerful.She has the same round face as Marisol, the same dark, curly hair, and cute dimples. I’d used pictures of her that were sent to me to recreate her picture as a baby. She looked so much like my sister as a baby, it’s hard to imagine that I’m making a mistake again. As I looked at her, I tried to see if I could find any similarities between us, no matter how little. But there was none…Mom had sa
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