Coraline's POVBecca's surgery had been successful and she was recuperating nicely, She was the easiest convalescent ever according to the nurses. Mei and Tyler had come to visit us for the first time after her surgery. Tyler sat on the chair next to the bed and played a game with Becca on his iPad while Mei sat next to me pulling out the different things she had brought for us.She was quiet and for Mei, that was never good. A quiet Mei was a dangerous Mei. I had a feeling she had a lot she wanted to say but she was still piecing them together."Hey, babe, can you watch Becca for a while, Cora and I are going to get some snacks from the vending machine down in the cafeteria." Mei flipped her hair to look at Tyler as she spoke.He gave her a thumbs up, " Sure, take your time. Becs and I need to beat this high score." " Thanks, let's go, Cora." Mei stood and stuck her fingers in the pockets of her jeans.I stared at the bag of snacks that was on the ground. We had enough snacks to las
Coraline's POVThe duffel bag dropped from my hold and hit the floor with a full thud. It felt like time had slowed and I couldn't understand what the hell was going on."Eli, what crack are you on? What are you talking about?" " Coraline, you told me this place was shabby but that's an underhype, this is a dump. You can't stay here with Becca, I can already count fifteen health hazards in this room."Rolling my eyes, " Eli, I understand your concerns and they are very valid but I didn't plan on staying here more than a week and Becca and I have been in the hospital for over three days. We haven't been here. I was going to use the money from our agreement to rent a nice apartment." He shook his head, " I can't allow that, you're going to be carrying my baby soon, and I don't want you to go through the stress of living in a small space. You'll need all the help you can get when you're pregnant and I can't be halfway across town if you have a weird craving or just want to rant."I rub
Coraline's POVI patted my chest and coughed loudly, my throat burned causing my eyes to well up with tears. "Shit, Coraline, are you okay?" He stood and touched my arm. I shook my head and shot him a glare, did I look like I was okay?"Fuck, you're choking. Water, water, you need water." He hurriedly picked up a cup of water and handed it to me. I enclosed my lips around the cool glass and gulped down the liquid. My airways cleared up and my throat freed up as the water pushed down the bolus.I slammed the glass on the table, anger running through my veins, and twisted my neck to glower at him."Are you insane? How could you tell me that while I was eating? Were you planning to kill me?!" I forgot that Becca was at the table with us until we squealed."Sorry baby, don't mind Mommy, I'm just a little bit tired." I reached over and squeezed her hand then twisted my neck in a creepy manner and glared at Elijah again.He took a sip of his wine before talking, " That wasn't my intention.
Elijah's POV"You're in a good mood, what's up?" Tyler asked as my new investors exited the conference room."What? Why do you think so?" I narrowed my eyes. " Well, you've had a small smile and you didn't snap at your PA when she brought the file two minutes later. You even said thank you to her. I swear I saw her eyes roll to the back of her head, she almost fainted." Wow, was I really that easy to read? Why the hell was I even happy, it wasn't like Coraline was pregnant yet. "It's nothing, I just woke up on the right side of the bed today. Don't give it too much thought, tomorrow I'm going to be my normal grouchy self."Tyler gave me a skeptical look but luckily he didn't press on the matter."Elijah, I didn't want to say this since we've been busy these past few days but now that everything has been taken care of, I can speak freely. What the loving psychotic fuck is going on between you and Cora? Mei told me that you took care of Becca's surgery fees and paid all their hospita
Coraline's POV" Cora, are you even listening to me?" Mei tapped the painted wooden surface of the table, I was on my lunch break, drawing doodles on the table, trying to recollect my thoughts and figure out how I was going to survive living with Satan himself.I looked up and shook my head, " I'm sorry, what did you say?" Mei sighed, reached over, and palmed my forehead, " You don't have a fever so why do you keep spacing out?"" I'm sorry, I just have a lot going on right now. Is something wrong? Was there something important you said that I missed?" Her eyes dimmed, " Not really, I just wanted us to catch up. We haven't had any girl time since Blossom took back your house."" But you understand that I've been busy…" She raised a hand, " I understand, I'm not inconsiderate, I'm just worried about you. With all that's been happening especially Becca's sickness, I just want to know that you're not forgetting about yourself." Aww, damn, Mei was such a sweetheart, bless her. I rubb
Coraline's POV"Oh fuck, look what you did, I told you not to touch it and that it would hurt you but did you listen, nope. Fuck, stay still I'm going to put a cloth over the wound to stop the blood flow. Don't touch the piece, don't pull it out." Elijah growled, was he fucking being serious right now? He was the reason I was in pain and he was still blaming me. Gah, if I wasn't in so much pain, I would tell him where to shove the cloth he wanted to put over my wound.He pulled out the piece of ceramic in one quick movement, I screamed, and then he covered my bleeding palm with his blazer. I almost objected to the act but then I remembered he was the cause of my pain so I didn't. I didn't care if he ruined his Armani blazer with my blood, he deserved it.I hissed and bit my lip as he added pressure to the wound and then wrapped the blazer around my palm. He helped me to my feet and began to walk towards the door, " Come on, let's go, I have to take you to the hospital to get you tre
Elijah's POVI burst out laughing, I laughed so hard that tears rolled down my cheeks, " Wow, that was a good joke, I haven't laughed that hard in a while." I coughed and wiped my eyes, my shoulders were still shaking with amusement.Her expression remained stoic, " I'm not joking. I'm being honest, I don't want to get pregnant again. During my last pregnancy, I almost died, I could barely keep in my food, I wasn't eating well, was on bed rest for most of it because my body was too weak. Becca was breached and I had to give birth using a cesarean section," She stood and raised her shirt, exposing a long scar on her abdomen. " This is proof of how hard my pregnancy was. I don't want to ever go through that again." I sat up and crossed my legs, about to descend on her with all the anger in me but then I remembered Becca was sitting next to me. She had stopped eating and was watching her mother and me. I turned to her and gave her a smile."Hey, Becklebee, are you done eating? Do you w
Coraline's POVTwo lines and my life changed. Two lines on ten pregnancy test sticks, I collapsed on the bathroom floor, rested my head on the tiled wall, and wept. How did I get here, you might want to know, it all started this morning before the cafe opened when Mei handed me a plate of fresh brownies."Hey, can you give these brownies a taste? It's a new recipe that I'm trying and I want to know if it's good before I add it to the menu."" Sure." I picked up the brown square of delight and took a bite out of it. My throat clogged and my stomach immediately churned. I dropped the half-eaten brownie on the plate and spat the other part out into my palm."Oh my goodness, what the hell was that? It tastes disgusting." I grabbed a napkin and wiped my soiled palm. I walked to the trash can and tossed the napkin in it.Mei gave me a confused frown, " What! How is it disgusting? It tasted perfectly fine when I took a bite of it." She picked a brownie and ate out of it then moaned a bit. "
1 year laterCoraline's POVIt was a balloon mayhem in the Warren mansion. Today was the twins' one-year birthday and it was already off to a disaster. I didn't know who had come up with the genius idea to blow up ten giant balloons and tie the hand of my son, Judah, to it. Now I had a semi-heart attack when I saw him floating in the backyard. Okay, he wasn't actually floating but his legs were no longer steady on the ground. Warren and his ridiculous friends, one whom my son had been named after had been in charge of getting the balloons ready but it seemed that had something else in mind. Something life-threatening and death-worthy, they just laughed and took pictures of him floating. They were having way too much fun with the helium pump and I was not having it."Elijah, bring my son down this instant. Get those ridiculous balloons off him before I get there." I shouted from the backdoor, immediately they swooped into action, Elijah grabbing Judah while the other guys found the sci
Elijah's POVJudah, Kia, and I were in one car, three of my men were in another car behind us, and Tyler and Gavin had stayed back. Gavin was still tracking Coraline's location, he was on the phone so he could tell us immediately if the location changed.Kia pulled up in front of a shabby bungalow on the outskirts of town, if Judah and Gavin hadn't shown up, I would never have been able to trace Coraline to this place.We got out of the car and approached the front door, every man had brought out their guns and we were ready to shout at anyone who wasn't Coraline. That had been my order, shout first, ask questions later.I tried to open the door but it was locked, I moved back a bit and then opened the door with a resounding right kick, breaking the lock.I rushed into the house, Judah and Kia following closely behind me, the living room was deserted, and I spotted Coraline's black purse on the crummy sofa which was a good sign that she was here. "There's no one in the kitchen," Juda
Elijah's POVIt had been six hours since Mrs Smith informed me about Coraline's disappearance, I had my men out searching everywhere for Jeremy. I was reviewing all the places he usually frequented when I had my men watch him and he wasn't at any of them. It took Kia who was my hacker about an hour to track Coraline's phone. It had been tossed on the road, a few blocks away from the cemetery. I had moved Mrs Smith and Becca back to my grandfather's house, I wanted Becca somewhere I could keep my eyes on her. I had a feeling Jeremy was going to come after her and Coraline would never forgive me if Jeremy could get Becca and I would never be able to forgive myself. Right now I was lost, I had no leads on where Coraline was, I had exhausted all the clues I had and they all led to dead ends.Kia and my men were in the kitchen that was now our makeshift conference room. Tyler was here as well and had no idea who Kia and the other men were, he just assumed they were my security. My grandfa
Elijah's POV"Well, you royally fucked up," Judah said from the other side of the call. I sighed and ran my hand over my face, tell me something I already didn't know."I told you then, I reminded you constantly that getting your revenge was going to end badly. Trust me, I've been there, it never ends well for the parties involved." He continued.I kissed my teeth, "I know, dude. I never knew I was going to end up falling in love with her. Everything is so messed up, I hurt Coraline so bad that she couldn't look me in the eye." I was seated on my childhood bed in my childhood room, I looked completely out of place with the grunge band posters on the wall and the large poster of Metallica covering almost half of the wall. God, judging from the kind of music I used to listen to, I must have been such a difficult and troubled teen. How did my grandfather and Mrs Smith survive living with me?I heard Judah shuffling paper from his side of the call. It was already evening here but it was s
Coraline's POVI cried myself to sleep that night. Mrs Smith came over, she said Elijah had asked her to come and stay with us as I would need help with Becca. According to her, Elijah had shown up at his grandfather's house with a suitcase in her, looking like a puppy that had been kicked repeatedly.Janet made sure to emphasize that Elijah was sad, regretful, and wallowing in shame. I acted like I was hard of hearing and couldn't hear a word she was saying. Janet completely took over the operations of the house, she let me get the alone time that I needed and took care of Becca. She brought me food and although I had no appetite, I knew I would be punishing my babies by not eating so I forced myself to eat. Elijah called but I had handed over my phone to Janet so only she and Becca spoke to him. For two days, I was a complete shadow of myself, I barely got out of bed except to eat and pee, I realized that I was gradually falling into a depressive state and I hated Elijah for doin
Coraline's POVI raised my hand, I was not in the mood to hear his excuses because I knew Elijah, he was a sweet talker, he would always have something to say. "Stop. Stop it please, it's exactly what it looks like. I'm not stupid, neither am I blind. I can't believe I ever trust you. I can't believe I actually thought I was falling in love with you. What a big joke. Did your grandfather really say he was going to cut you out of his will or was that just a lie to get me involved with you? You know what, I don't care. I'm done." I snatched my phone from his hand, turned, and rushed out of his room as fast as I could. I entered Becca's room and slammed the door, I hurried to her wardrobe, got out a suitcase, and began to fill it with clothes, toys, and everything Becca would need for some days. I grabbed a backpack and put in some extra things. I wore the backpack and began to roll the suitcase out of the room. Elijah was waiting outside, his eyes widened when he saw the bag in my han
Coraline's POVI hadn't heard anything from my stalker in about two months and I was starting to think he had forgotten about me and had moved on. Jeremy had been away for over a month now and we were holding a welcome back party for him. He had gone back home to stay with his mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Luckily it was quickly detected, she had gotten surgery and was now better. So both of our pastry chefs were out, Mei had to call in a favor from one of her culinary friends and they came with a staff and helped out for the month.I was now eight months pregnant and Elijah had officially banned me from working behind the counter as the barista so my new role was being the manager. Elijah preferred if I didn't work at all but I refused, I couldn't just leave the cafe when Mei was absent and Jeremy as well, it would have been too hard on Louise to keep the cafe running. We had hired no hands to help out in the cafe and increased our coffee stations as the cafe was
Elijah's POVFriday rolled by and we were currently seated in the courtroom listening to the lawyers use legal jargon as they went back and forth with each other. Coraline was shivering next to me but I held her hand tight and drew circles on her lap to calm her down. I had my gaze fixed on Reginald who was clad in a black robe looking regal and supreme but I knew better. He made eye contact a few times and I made to smile at him, acknowledging him. He always looked away quickly and stared at the papers on his desk.I tuned out the happenings in the court at some points as I had no idea what they were talking about and also since I knew there was no way we were going to lose. I came back to reality when Coraline began to shake my shoulders, crying. My heart sank, my first thought was Reginald had pulled a fast one on me, my second thought was to get my assistant to send out the videos of Reginald's son, and my third thought was to call Kia and get him to dispose of good old Reggie.Co
Elijah's POV"I got the information that you wanted," Tyler announced as he entered my office, he waved the file in his hand. He got to the desk and dropped in front of me."Thanks." I collected the file, opened it, and flipped through it."Why do you need it? What are you going to do with the information of the judge in charge of Coraline's case?" He sat down and crossed his legs.I lifted a shoulder and dropped it, "Nothing much, I want to run a background check on him and see if he's reliable. For what it's worth, Blossom could have bribed him to rule in their favor. "Tyler frowned, " I highly doubt that, Judge Reginald is an upright man from what I've heard. I don't believe he can be easily bribed."I snickered, oh how naive Tyler was. I picked up my phone and shot a text to Kia to investigate Judge Reginald, I needed a full background check on him and his family, I wanted eyes and ears on them every minute of the day. I also wanted to know if he had met with Blossom recently. Ki