The three of us watched in silence as Eva hurried away with Mickey until she disappeared through the dividing doors and then we saw each other again without knowing how to proceed.
"Hmm, okay, what just happened?” The man who just arrived questioned.
"Miss Brooks and I were talking about the case when her fiancé arrived unexpectedly,” the tadpole that moments ago had taken Eva's hand in his began to say.
Said hand was now shaking visibly thanks to the fact that its owner didn’t take his eyes off me.
"My client and his... fiancé,” the other guy started looking at me for a second before continuing to talk to the other. “Not long ago decided to change the status of their relationship.”
I watched the man in question feeling a bit unsettled by what I saw.
It was the same man who had hugged and kissed Eva the day she had broken up with me and oh yes, I felt completely confident in
In my very well lived thirty-seven years, I have never had a fit of jealousy.N.E.V.E.RHad I been the recipient of attacks of jealousy? Ugh, of course. I could even accept that not only did I received jealousy from the women I dated because more than one had given me a nice and painful punch to the nose, I had received at least a dozen slaps and I think my head was the recipient of more than one high heel.And when I finally become interested enough in a woman to make her jealous?I was ignored.Totally, and completely ignored by her.I had wandered whenever I could with every woman who came at me in front of her nose, and although I could notice certain changes in her features, I didn’t get the reaction I wanted from her.Ah, but that wasn’t all, no.The worst of all was that when I barely see said woman being touched by an insignificant man... boom! Jealousy attack in sight.And what had my first jealousy
"Good morning, miss, how’s your morning?" "Too early for my taste,” I replied to the doorman with a fake smile as I put my hands into the black leather jacket I was wearing. The poor man was just being nice to me, it wasn’t his fault that my fiancé demanded me last night before he left to wait for him at the front door of the building at nine in the morning to deliver the documents that Matt had demanded of us. You noticed I referred to him as fiancé, right? Louis requested me to refer to him like that; at least until we were married. Then he would be my husband. The strangest of all? He seemed calm about all this, me? Not so much. I had always appreciated my freedom, not having to explain anything to anyone and doing whatever I wanted was something I loved, now? I would have to live with a complete stranger to get the power of my two godchildren. Yes, Louis was a complete stranger to me, because the fact that we were f
"You can do this,” I said to my reflection, "You’re strong, determined and you will be independent again, maybe not in a few months, but in a few years."I finished putting on the gold earrings and decided to remove the rest of the piercings from my ears.They wouldn’t be seen because the loose hair would be covering them anyway.I’ve put on my septum with fake diamonds I only wore on special occasions and stepped back to look myself up and down one last time.I looked... like a bride not at all determined to be one and the subtle makeup I had chosen helped to accentuate the panic in my eyes.The rest? I looked like a heart attack.To be something not serious at all, Louis had taken the subject of the wedding very serious; He’d taken me shopping on Fifth Avenue where he dragged me from store to store until we found the dress that, according to him, was perfect for me.Said dress was white and reached belo
“Hmm.”I reached out looking for her without success as her side of the bed was empty.“Eva?”I looked at the darkened room with my eyes narrowed in sleep and realized that I was alone, which made me get up to look for my new wife when I saw it wasn’t even three in the morning.Dammed woman.After the sex-marathon we had through until midnight, I’d have thought she wouldn’t have the strength to get up for the rest of the night, but apparently, I was wrong.I rubbed my eyes hard with the palms of my hands as I walked down the hall to the living room and stopped short as soon as I saw her.There she was, lying across the modular sofa with her laptop resting on her stomach, looking focused on whatever she was doing.But that wasn't what had stopped me; Sansa was at her side being caressed by my wife's free hand.I approached without being able to avoid it and I noticed that she tens
"It's okay, Aiden. Sansa’s not going to do anything to you,” Eva explained as she tried to get him off her back.“What's that?” He asked without leaving his place, although following us out of the elevator."That's a dog, and her name is Sansa,” I answered seeing that Milena looked at my pet with curiosity, so I bent down for her to get a better look.At least the girl was curious.“Get her away from that!” Aiden exclaimed taking the baby out of my arms and making her start crying and Sansa barking again thinking they were playing with her.Yes. I recognized my dog's barks.I looked at Eva not knowing what the hell was going on with the boy and shut the dog down with a signal, leaving us only with Milena crying and Aiden breathing hard as he walked back to the elevator without taking his eyes off Sansa.
“What is it, darling?” Eva asked, her eyes inquisitive as we turned to him."Nothing,” he murmured solemn before stretching his arms towards the baby, "I’ll bathe her, that's my job."“Your work?” Eva asked confused. "Aiden, your job is to do well in class and keep your room clean, children are adults’ job, darling."Aiden looked away swallowing hard before lowering his arms."Elisa always made it clear that my job was to take care of my sister,” he muttered uncomfortably."Well, you don't have to take care of anything but yourself, boy,” I replied patting him on the shoulder, trying to take the weight off the issue. "What do you think if we go to the bathroom and you explain how you do it, okay?"He nodded swallowing hard and followed us into the bathroom.As we entered the bathroom t
God... it felt like the numbers on the spreadsheet would never make any sense. How many hours had I been working on the same columns and how many times had they given me different results? How many cups of coffee could my body take before I hit the floor from a caffeine overdose? How many days had it been since I could sleep more than two hours in a row in the same night? Ah, I did have an answer to that question; Five fucking days had passed since I had last slept well. Five days since my life had become totally chaotic when I got two dependent people. I mean, I’d thought the previous weeks had been rough with the whole adoption process and the move and the realization that not only had my life turned 180 degrees the day Elisa died, but I also needed to put on my big girl’s panty and face the fact that I had to pretend that everything was fine for Aiden's peace of mind, since Milena was barely a baby and everything would be more adapt
“What's up, doc?” Alex asked ten minutes later. "His pupils are responding well and the bleeding has stopped,” replied the doctor Alex had called when he’d seen what was happening in the room when he arrived. True to his word, Alex had arrived a few minutes later as he lived one floor above us. The surprise of finding myself next to a very pale Louis and holding a towel to the wound on his head had vanished after a few seconds and then he proceeded to call the doctor who was now carefully evaluating said wound. I was grateful I had reacted to dressing and fixing Louis's underwear before anyone else arrived, although Aiden hadn't had the same luck since he had seen every part of both Louis and me. “So what, doc? Why isn’t him reacting?” Alex asked looking carefully at the unconscious man on the bed. "Because, although the blow was not strong enough
New York, 10 years after the previous epilogue. “And that's when I decided to trust him and tell him about the things those people had made me live, and boy, was it not the best decision I made in life, little one, because he sought the help I needed, and when I faced Daley? Incredible, there I felt like the strongest superhero in the world. "Do you realize she's asleep, right?" I looked away from my daughter, who was born a few hours ago, and fixed it on my wife, my lover, and my best friend. And who just now was looking at me amused from the hospital bed. No matter how tired she looked, Amanda would always stop my breath when she laid those green eyes on me. Even when I met her at thirteen and she posed her sad and regretful look because of the amount of harassment she received for being red-haired and shy. Harassment that I had ended up by defending her, and that fact, had helped develop our friendship. Frie
New York, three years later. My son's blue eyes were watching me intently. As if it weren't three in the morning and I wasn't dying of sleep. “Why don’t you sleep?” I mumbled regretfully, noticing that his eyes shone with joy at my misery. "No, Jake, it's not time to play, it's time to sleep." "Maybe if you didn't let him nap so late, this would stop happening." The air caught in my lungs when I saw my splendid wife leaning against the doorframe. My goddess. "I’ll start doing it tomorrow, babe. I promise you.” But she just laughed in amusement before coming into our youngest son's room and taking him in her arms. “You've been promising the same for months, sweetheart. By now it would be a miracle if you did.” I marveled once more at how incredible my wife looked with a baby in her arms. Maybe that's why we kept having more and more. Oh, right you don't know what I'm talki
Who would have thought a thirteen-year-old girl scared with life would end up making her dreams come true. Definitely not me, and now I wanted to cry when I saw one of my biggest dreams come true. I didn't know how to handle the emotions that gripped my entire being. I heard everyone around me toasting and celebrating the restaurant's opening, but I couldn't take my eyes off the name before me. Lucie was written in italics, neat and clean on the front of the building. My writing. Scripture I wouldn’t know I had if the owner of that name hadn’t welcomed me twenty-four years ago. If she hadn't taught me to write and add or subtract, if she hadn't taught me to fight for what I wanted in life. One night while in Hawaii, I commented to Louis about my desire to honor her at the restaurant, and that my initial idea had been the counter in the bar, which ended up in shreds thanks to the idiotic workers; so he was the o
“You see? My son is smarter than your daughter.” “I just saw your son putting his finger in his mouth after holding it up his nose, Alex. You really think that?” Alex sighed heavily. "Nothing’s perfect, Louis." And I should know. I settled into my chair and continued to watch the children playing with Sansa and Erick. This had been my life for the last two days because now I was a guest at the Hardy house since, although I had left the apartment, I hadn’t been able to leave the building. My plan had been to return to the boat, but it was impossible for me to go to that place when everything reminded me of my wife and the times we had there the two of us or with the rest of the family and friends. And alone? Much less. Before, I had Sansa to distract me, but now the dog was no longer mine, but Milena's. How could I take her teddy bear away from my daughter? I just didn't. Therefore, I had
My God, I was going crazy. Louis was driving me crazy! Shouldn’t I supposed to be writing his name with hearts? Or daydreaming about how we'll look together twenty years from now? Well, no. Actually, I had started a list on how to kill my husband without raising suspicions and end up in jail. It had been three days since we declared our eternal love and that he didn’t leave me due to the fact that I walked through life without a uterus, and since then, he’d dedicated himself to showing me every video on IVF that he found, or the most prominent specialists money could buy, or every surrogacy program that appeared on G****e.” And I wanted to kill him. Don't take me the wrong way, I was pleased and flattered that the man wanted to have a child with me, but honestly? I felt like he was going too fast. Just a few days ago we said our first I love you, a fact that I had loved and hated at the same time because my surprise had
My wife loved me. Damn, I felt invincible in life thanks to that woman. I was Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, and Babe Ruth in one body. Actually, Eva hadn’t declared her love to me, but she saying she didn’t want to separate from me? That was enough declaration of love for me. What's even better… I couldn't help but smile like an idiot. My wife was preparing a surprise for me, and I couldn't wait to see what it was all about. I dropped the keys on the kitchen counter, and headed into the living room to take advantage of the incredible silence in the apartment today. Aiden had asked permission to go visit his red-haired friend to tell her about our trip to Hawaii and Eva had taken Mile with her to the bar since I had to go at some important meetings in the morning. And Sansa? Sansa was being walked by Alice at this precise moment; I noticed the dog had gained weight in the time we weren’t her
Well, this wasn’t the way I expected to end my first day back in New York. Five minutes ago? I’d felt in the clouds. I couldn't believe the man I loved had given me the most beautiful experience of my life. Oh, yeah. It was getting easier and easier for me to think of Louis in that way. Spending two amazing weeks in Hawaii with your friends and family would be a tough thing to beat. Days of sunbathing by a beautiful beach or by the pool, biking through history-filled roads, driving the Hana Road, and exploring every waterfall we saw. Diving, paddle boarding, visiting museums or, in Louis's case, swimming with sharks (only he dared to do it) while the rest of us watched him from the boat. And when everyone found out about Gena and Pierre's engagement? Yeah, things got out of control. My body was still recovering from the amount of alcohol I ingested those days. But the memories I will treasure the most, will be A
“Look, aunt! I'm swimming!” “Excellent, darling! But don't go too deep!” I yelled in amusement when I saw he dipped his head back into the pool and began to swim hard. It was reassuring to know that Louis, Alex and Mark were in the pool with the kids and that nothing would happen to them. I was in a chaise longue with Abbie, Olivia and Elizabeth, while the rest of the group was in other activities. Never in my life did I think I would be living this experience. To find myself drinking a piña colada by the edge of a pool in an exquisite resort and unable to take my eyes off my husband's beautiful tattooed body. Son of a bitch. I had a husband. "Oh, I want to know more about that sigh,” Olivia said, turning to her side to look at me. “I didn't sigh.” "You definitely sighed,” Abbie agreed, sitting at the foot of my lounger, "And you did it while making puppy eyes at Louis." I saw the two women with
“Did you tell her you have the children’s parental rights?” I growled in annoyance when Matt sat down next to me, so I couldn't help the sarcastic comment that escaped me. “Do you see her professing the unconditional love she feels for me?” "I'm just saying it's not fair for you to put her through this process unnecessarily...” "Oh, because I highly enjoy having one of my ex-lovers offering me sex in exchange of the kids’ custody in my wife's office." He turned to look at me suspiciously. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked. “Our caseworker is on leave due to family problems, so they sent a substitute I met last year instead.” He cursed. “Did you sleep with her?” I couldn't help but look at him bored. “What do you think I used to do with women in the past, Matt? Play Uno cards? Scrabble? Of course I fucked them, why else if not?” "I swear you’re all beasts,” he growled in resp