LANCE POV-“Lance.” Hannah stopped me.Hendrix lifted one side of his lips.I tightened my grip on his collar. “You and your brother, you both stay away from Celine.”“Don’t forget you’re not in your territory.”He seized my hand and released my grip on his collar.“Lance!” Hannah whispered loudly and pulled my suit from behind to make me sit up. “I will let this go, as compensation for what your men did in helping Lucian during your wedding,” he said while fixing his tangled collar.I turned to Hannah for an explanation. She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what Hendrix was talking about.“What are you talking about?” I asked him.“Lucian went to Fire-Hart Castle six years ago,” he casually answered.Six years ago, that was the time I got married there.“He is with a woman, which is why your man let him in.”He is with a woman; it’s possible that Celine was with him. That means that day she was there and witnessed it. I didn’t know she was there that day. Surely she herded every
CELINE POV - When I arrived at the hotel, I noticed that there were people working at the former Stellar restaurant's place. “Madame Celine, you’ve arrived here. I was planning to come to you at the cemetery.” “Ah, yes. I left there early it because—” Possibly he’ll tell Lance that Tristan and I met. “What’s being done there?” I changed the subject as I pointed to the former Stellar restaurant’s place. “Matthew’s restaurant is opening soon.” “Matthew’s restaurant? Hannah’s brother Dylan’s restaurant, right?” “Yes, Madame. Would you like to take a look?” “Is that okay?” I’m curious that Dylan agreed to have a branch here, from New York to Chicago. Christine and Astrid had told me before Dylan didn’t want Matthew’s restaurant to have multiple branches because it was too tiring for Dylan. “Yes, Madame. Let’s go? I’ll join you inside.” I nodded and followed Conrad. When we entered, it was no different from the main branch in New York; it was just a smaller place
CELINE POV - “Good morning, sweethearts!” Sabrina greeted us warmly as we entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Auntie!” The kids greeted back at the same time. “Are you leaving?” I asked Sabrina while supporting the kids to sit down. “Wow! You are a big girl and big boy.” Sabrina complimented the two of them then turned her attention back to me. “Yep. I’m going to go to the store I saw; I might run out of that book if I did not buy it right away.” “Do you want me to accompany you with the children?” I offered while sitting next to her. “After all, it's weekend now.” “Thanks, but no thanks. Conrad will be with me, other thing,” Sabrina leaned her face close to my ear. “Maybe you have a family bond.” I don’t think so. Since yesterday, I haven’t known what’s going on with Lance. He didn’t pick up the kids; he didn’t send a message if he was coming or when he was coming. I don’t think we’ll be expecting Lance today. “Ask him if he knows anything about next week.” He was
CELINE POV-“Wow!” Sunny pointed to the huge playground.“Wow!” Sunny pointed at the zip line.“Wow!” Sunny pointed at the pool.“Wow!” Sunny pointed at the sea.“Wooooow!” Skye and Sunny utter in amazement while looking at the large and spacious house.From where we stood outside the house, we could see what Sunny had pointed out.Lance took us to the private villa he took me to when he kidnapped me.I didn't expect it, I didn't even know that he would bring us here. A lot has changed in this place, there have been things Sunny has pointed out. There is also a large inflatable playground in the sea and I can see a speed boat. There is a kiddie pool around it with statues of Skye and Sunny’s favorite cartoons. There is also an open area cottage not far from the sea.The area looked like a private beach resort with fun activities and more relaxing because there were a few plants around.“Did you like it here?” Lance questions the two.Skye and Sunny turned to face Lance. “Yes!” they
CELINE POV - At this time we are here at the inflatable playground. We are in the part of the slide that goes straight to the sea. Lance is already in the sea; he slides first while holding a phone pointed at us. Lance slid first to catch Sunny. We are all wearing life vests, but it is still dangerous for Sunny if her vest gets stuck to her body, and she might have difficulty breathing in the sea. Sunny sat down, then raised her hand and, without hesitation, slid down. Next, Skye got ready to slide. “No!” Skye yelled so Lance could hear that Skye didn't want to be caught. “Okay!” Lance simply replied then effortlessly placed Sunny around his neck. “One! Two! Thre–” Before I could finish counting, Skye slid happily, while I almost felt my heart jump out of my body from the nervousness of what he had done. When I saw Skye descend smoothly into the sea, my heart rate returned to normal. I realized that I was next; my nervousness returned. This was my first time going into the se
CELINE POV - It’s been over an hour since I put Sunny and Skye to bed. After dinner and playing with Lance, I put them to sleep easily because of the tiredness. But, for me, no matter what, I’m tired too, and no matter how hard I try to close my eyes, I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, our laughter and what we did all day suddenly come to mind. What happened all day was like a dream. No. Even in my dreams, I wouldn’t have thought that these things would happen. Lance would be with us full of joy and happiness. I forget to think of anything like the fear of if he would hurt our children, if he would throw me out, if he wouldn’t get furious because I talked to him. For me, this is kind of magical that I don’t want to end. That’s probably why I can’t sleep right away; I'm scared. I don’t want to think about things like this in front of my children. I don’t want to think that even what Lance showed our children wasn’t true. I got up and made sure there were big pillows on bo
CELINE POV - “Is something bothering you?” Lance intruded on the noisy silence between us. “You’re a heavy sleeper, so it’s just surprising you suddenly woke up in a short period of time.” I swallowed hard. “I just... suddenly woke up.” “Do you want me to believe your reason?” He sounded sarcastic yet concerned. My vision gradually blurred as tears formed. I saw the rise and fall of his Adam’s apple while he fixed his gaze at me. "Lance,” the moment I mentioned his name, my tears fell. “Hmm?” He questioned softly. How can I tell him the things that are bothering me when he himself is bothering me? And I shouldn't think about this matter because, after all, we both have an agreement. I shook my head. “I’m going back inside,” I said in a hurry. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked before I even took a step. “I want to know how you feel; I want to know if I’ve done anything else that you didn’t like. This morning, I know I hurt you, but no matter what I think,
CELINE POV-Along with my puffiness and redness, my eyes felt dry, especially around my eyes from crying so much. I continued to cry even though there were no more tears coming out of my eyes and they were already hurting. Lance tried to calm me down from crying, and now we were sitting in the cabanas while his hand was holding my hand.Looking at my hand that he was holding, I couldn't help but cry… out of joy.“Hey,”When I looked into Lance’s eyes, he folded his pointer finger and gently wiped my cheek.“You’re about to cry again.”“I just can’t believe it,” I confess.“I also can’t believe your hands are so small.”I quickly glared at Lance.“I was just trying to lighten your mood—but, wow!” He brought his hand closer to my face. “Your face is small in my hand.”“Because your hands are big.” I laughed softly as I said it.Even though my mood was light at this time, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of being tired from crying so much. The joy I felt was still overwhelming.“You’r
CELINE SALVATORE POV-Everyone came near the table where the birthday cake was while everyone sang happy birthday and Lance lit the seven birthday candles on each cake.After Lance lit all the birthday candles, we stopped singing ‘happy birthday’.“Make a wish first before we blow out your birthday candles.” Lance sweetly reminded our kids.Skye and Sunny closed their eyes together with a smile on their lips.Lance and I looked at each other and smiled at each other while waiting for our children to finish making their wishes.“Are you done making wishes?” Lance asked our children after they opened their eyes.Skye and Sunny giggled while nodding.“Let’s blow out your birthday candles. After counting to three, we will blow out your candles together.”Our children affirmed with a smile.Lance and I moved closer to our children and then our friends and family counted.“One! Two! Three!” As mentioned the three, we simultaneously blew out the birthday candles one after the other. When
CELINE SALVATORE POV-I just want to cry in elated. In the past few hours, our children’s birthday celebration has gone smoothly.Benjamin had prepared a short program he hosted, while he had someone take pictures while he was busy. He prepared children’s games, which everyone took part in except Don Charles, Sir Frederick, Yuichi and Giovanni.Giovanni wanted to take part in the games, knowing him he would do anything for his nephews, but in his condition, he pretended to cry on the side when Skye and Sunny looked at him.For now, we have given everyone time to rest after the games, and now I am sitting at the table with Christine and Astrid.“You should have told us what Lance did, so we burned him inside one of his hotels.” Astrid asseverate in a frustrated tone.Christine just mentioned that she had just found out from her husband about what Lance had done when I disappeared without saying goodbye six years ago. She mentioned that not because she wanted to bring up the pain I was
CELINE SALVATORE POV-“Mummy, I saw Skye and I’s cake.” Sunny said in amazement when she returned to our room after drinking water downstairs. “Our cake is so big, it’s bigger than daddy’s height.”It was our children’s day. We made their birthday an early dinner party because most of the attendees were close friends of Lance and I. My family with Ashley were coming from Italy who had just landed here thirty minutes ago and the Morgan family was coming from San Diego.“My cake is yellow and Skye’s is blue, just like daddy and Skye’s eyes.” Sunny continued with her story. “Is Uncle Lucian coming?”In six years, except Lucian was with us, he was never absent from Skye and Sunny’s birthday. So they got used to Lucian attending their birthday, especially Sunny.“Yes, sweetheart.” Lance answered. “Your Uncle Lucian is coming.”I told him yesterday that our children can look for Lucian on their birthdays, and he said he understands that. What’s important to him is that our children no longe
CELINE SALVATORE POV-This was probably one of the shortest days of my life. If my phone alarm hadn’t rung when it was time for our kids to eat dinner, we wouldn’t have noticed the time.After we finished swimming, Lance and I took our kids around the mansion, then let them play in the indoor playground and accompanied Sunny to her art room.For our kids, the mansion house had renovated a few of the mansion’s rooms, but most remained the same. Lance also introduced us to all of his personnel here at the mansion house, some of whom were new and some who weren’t new and didn’t know us.We also moved some of our clothes to our room.I spoke to Mommy on Face-Time and asked her to bring our important belongings when they arrived tomorrow.“Who’s excited about your birthday tomorrow?!” Lance queried our kids with delight. All three of them raised their hands while Lance raised two of his also his two feet. “You’re more excited than our children.” I carefully remarked as I climbed onto th
CELINE SALVATORE POV-“Daddy, you did wrong. You did wrong too, Skye.”“What’s wrong?” Lance and Skye asked at the same time.Our children’s voices, as well as Lance’s voice, were the ones that woke me up.I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet. I could sense Lance was the one who started the trouble between the three of them.I yawned before opening my eyes.Lance and Skye were facing Sunny, while Sunny was looking at her reflection in the hand mirror she was holding. From what I could see, they tried to braid Sunny’s hair in two but Sunny’s hair only got messier.Lance had a book next to him. It was a book about hairstyles for women.“Skye and I followed the instructions here.” He said while looking at the book he was holding. Skye nodded agree his father, also looking at the book.Lance looked at Sunny and his gaze passed over me. “Celine.”Our children turned to me then they came to me to give me a hug. Lance also came to us and wrapped the three of us in his arms.The warmth of my chi
CELINE SALVATORE POV-“I’m so wrathful about what you did. I’m slowly getting used to being without you, and the next thing I know, I might lose my love for you without listening to your explanation, or maybe I won’t lose my love for you–but it’s getting to where I’ll get used to not having you until I don’t care about you anymore. Why didn’t you tell me what happened to you, that you were comatose, and about your rehabilitation?”“Who told you those things?”“I want to know everything. I want to understand, because if you regret the times you weren’t with us, I would do even more. But the anger in my mind still prevailed because I knew nothing.”Lance closed the photo album before speaking. “Butler Arthur and Conrad, they betrayed me.”“What? Why?” That was the last thing I could think could happen.“I don’t know and my half-brother mentioned nothing either, that our father is Butler Arthur’s brother. I didn’t even know Conrad was Butler, Arthur’s son. They wanted to overthrow me, th
CELINE SALVATORE POV-The third floor and the private room full of Lance’s toy collection were the only places we went. After that, we went to the dining room.I noticed that the long table was new, but the memory of the last time I went to the dining room still came back.The chairs were heavy for our children, so Lance helped them sit down. I sat next to Sunny, while Lance sat next to Skye on the other side.“So much food!” Sunny said in amazement. “Can I eat all of this?” she asked.“Yes, Ma’am,” Benjamin replied as he was about to take a vegetable dish. “You can eat all the food that is on the table. I made sure each dish was not harmful to you.”Skye and Sunny clapped together.There are many forbidden foods for Sunny that Skye goes along with, so it seems that there are also many forbidden foods for Skye because she understands Sunny’s feelings first.“I want that! That too!”Skye and Sunny couldn’t hide their excitement that they could eat more dishes, while they pointed to the
CELINE SALVATORE POV-I can’t believe this will ever happen. I don’t know how to let go of my love for Lance, but there have been so many times I’ve come to the point of almost giving up that he’ll come back and be with us.I broke away from the hug. Smiling, I wiped both of his cheeks while his ocean blue eyes looked into my hazel brown eyes.I stopped wiping when Lance grabbed both of my hands and gave a quick kiss. “Thank you, Celine, for giving me a chance repeatedly. This time I’ll never waste it.”“I know.” I replied softly, while holding back my tears.I looked at Skye and Sunny, who were innocently looking at us. I could see the wonder on their faces why Lance was still crying.“Skye, Sunny, can you give daddy a super hug, so he’ll be happier?”It was a new and thrilled feeling that I could tell our children that Lance was their daddy and that they could call him daddy.Without hesitation, our children quickly approached him and gave a tight hug while showering him with kisse
THIRD PERSON POV-As soon as Lance woke up, the first thing came to his mind was his recurring dream where Celine left him. He let out a sigh, trying to get that dream out of his mind, until he became aware he couldn’t hear Celine’s voice, that he played before falling asleep.The two things were working, which made him wonder why they were both off. He dismissed that puzzle after realizing nine hours had passed since the scheduled time he should have risen.He impetuously moved. He was about to run to the bathroom, but he was again surprised to find his suitcase missing.“I’ll just buy some new clothes.” Lance uttered to himself.He went out first and hurried downstairs.“BENJAMIN!” He called out loudly to the person who was in charge of his mansion whenever he was not there.Lance called Benjamin several times. He even went to the kitchen, but before he could enter, Benjamin was already in front of him.“I told you to wake me up at nine in the morning.”“Ah, Sir Lance, about that–”