Lila held the phone in her hands till all of the veins in them were popping; she could only believe that this was how it all played out. She looked down at her phone as it chimed with a text message in her hand. Are you free?She looks down at the message and thinks it must be a mistake because she has no idea where the message is from. She deletes it and calls Gvain. "I have been waiting for your call," was the first thing he said. She could not believe that of all the things her mom could tell her to do, one of them was crawling back to her ex like he was a trophy. As much as she had loved him when they were together, she had self-esteem that was not going to let her do something as stupid as this. "You have been?" she asked, feeling her throat get bitter. "Of course, you called me last night, drunk, and I wondered if it was because you wanted to get back together." He asked and he could not believe how shameless he was. She knew that the only reason he was interested in her was
"You are here," Gavin said as soon as the door opened and Lila stepped in. The door closed behind her, and she moved into the room. "I hope I did not keep you waiting too long," she asked."Of course not. I got here early," he said, moving from where he stood to help her get the chair. She looked at him shocked at his actions; she wanted to ask him why he was acting like such a gentleman and standing up when she got into the room. Pulling out the chair for her? She remembered their dates as a couple and how he was always nonchalant towards her. She licked her lips and shook her head, trying to act as if it were normal for him to act like this. "Thank you," she murmured instead of asking him what had come over him. She slipped into the chair, and he put it on a bit before going back to the seat opposite her. She hated the way they had to sit opposite each other and stare into their souls as if nothing was wrong with it. "You are welcome," he replied, taking up the menu and giving it
"Why? I thought you two looked together," Gavin said. He was brimming with so much joy, but he could not show it. He was supposed to be a married man. How did he show so much happiness just because she was going to be with him if all went well? "We were a good match, but he liked me more than I liked him, and in relationships like that, it is hard to keep up, and as I said earlier, I still loved you; I liked you so much that I could not move on," she lied, and her throat felt itchy as she lied so much. "I am a married man," Lila wanted to call his bluff; he was acting hard to get, and to what end? He had been brimming from ear to ear, and now he wanted to act as if he were faithful to his wife. "I know this is wrong, but are you saying that all of the feelings you have for me are all gone?" She asked, and he stood there, watching her. "If you tell me that you do not have a single feeling for me again, I will not disturb you again." Gavin sat there and watched her without a word. "
"You are here with him?" Damien asked as if she had spoken in an unknown language. "Yes," she said We had so much confidence that it was even scary to her. Where did she see such confidence from, and how did she develop it?"With your ex? With the man who married another woman? Are you with a married man?" Damien's voice came out as a mixture of anger and concern for her. She could see that all was wrong, but she had to defend herself. What if Damien began to see her as a loose person who did not care about herself? "It is just a friendly date, and I do not think any of this is your business," she murmured, trying to look away. "You do not think any of this is my business?" He said, taking a deep breath as if to stop himself from exploding. "And what is a friendly date?" he asked with a puzzled expression on his face. "A friendly date; we just met to have dinner; what is so difficult to understand about that?" she asked. She knew she was not supposed to be there holding a conversa
Gavin is barely able to recover from the punch that Damien landed on his face when another one cuts across his face so brutally. "What do you think you are doing?" Gavin screamed, tasting blood in his mouth. He spat out what he had been able to pull and moved up to Damien. He knew that he would not be able to win against this man, but the pride he felt in his heart was not going to allow him to back down. "What do you also think you are doing?" Damien asked, closing the gap between them so that they were now touching chest to chest and their faces so close to each other that if they tipped a bit, they might be kissing. "I asked you first; why don't you answer?" Gavin asked. He knew he should not be doing anything like this, but maybe the confidence that Lila was beside him now was giving him some kind of push. "What?" Damien let out a surprised laugh. "You must think that you are a big shot now," he added. "You punched first, and for what?" Gavin's eyes darted around, trying to f
Gavin looked at his face in the mirror of his car before turning it off. He felt pain surge through his body. Damien had only punched him once yet but felt like he had gotten beaten up. He walked into the house, hoping that Evangeline was already asleep and he did not need to go back and forth with her that day."Why are you just getting back?""Since when did you care what time I got back?" Gavin was startled by her voice because he had looked around when he got in and had not seen anything, but mostly because the entire place was dark.She watched him look around like a criminal ready to steal something when he came in. She wanted to stand in front of him and rain down curses but held herself back.Tessa had called her and sent images of Gavin with Lila. She told her that she was against it, but her daughter was going back to Gavin. If Tessa had not told her to calm down, then maybe she would have gotten all riled up and thrown him out of the house.Tessa promised to get back at Gavi
Lila wanted to check on Damien to see if he was hurt in the fight, even if it was most unlikely that anything like that would happen. She was still worried, but how would he believe anything if she was calling him up to check on him after brutally breaking up with him and even going the extra mile to try and convince him that she was done? "I never even got to tell him that I liked him," she murmured to herself. She did not know why it was so important to her, but she wanted to tell him at least once that during their time together she had begun to fall for him before she had to do what was right for herself and her family. THE NEXT MORNING"Damien is asking to meet with me," Tessa said as if she were giving morning updates to the group on the table"Why?" Lila choked out, trying not to sound too excited or curious to hear it. She had to first convince herself that she was capable of getting the job done before she could convince anyone else. "I don't know; I guess we have to meet
Tessa smiled at her daughter's report, and then she put the phone down on the table. She raised her head to meet Damien's gaze. "What do I owe the pleasure of meeting with Damien Calloway?" Tessa asked, leaning in and using her to trace the edge of the table. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" Damien said instead of answering her. "It's already past ten; I had breakfast," she replied and then added in a low tone. "I am not an animal after all." "I am yet to have breakfast. I guess I must be an animal, but I need breakfast, so I will get you a cup of water and a few pastries for the table," he said, standing up and going to the counter to order. Tessa wondered why he had so much confidence. She knew him and his father when they suddenly rose to fame and how he changed the history of everything around him. He had been so influential that his past suddenly did not matter to everyone around him. Those who would have nitpicked at everything were comfortable with it all. Damien
By the time Rosa had made sure they had enough cookies that their tooth hurt, Kevin retired to his room and then they went to the grave site. Kevin had stayed down not because he wanted to but because Rosa was suddenly herself and was now bossing him around as she used to do before. "It is going to be a long ride to the grave. Are you sure you do not want me to get anything for you?" "Anything to eat?" Lila asked, shocked. She had never been filled with cookies before; they say that there is a first time for everything and this was truly a first for her. "Yes, maybe some bread or just anything," Rosa replied and Lila shook her head. "Don't be shy and tell me; even if we don't have it at home, I will stop over at the store and get it for you." Rosa's offer sounded sweet but Lila was sure that she did not need to eat anything again. "I am fine," Lila said and then they left for the car. Lila helped Rosa into the car before turning around and getting in by herself. "We can go now," s
Lila stopped over at a flower shop and got two bouquets of flowers on her way to Rosa's place. She stood by the door her sweaty palms making it difficult for her to ring the bell.She pressed her hand against her clothes and raised her hand again. As if she was being watched she looked around to make sure that there were no eyes on her. As she raised her hand the door flung open and Rosa stood in front of her with a big smile across her face. "Hi, I was just about to ring the bell" she said taking a deep breath. "I know" Rosa said pushing the door wider and then stepped out. She pointed to the camera that Lila seemed to have missed and then she raised her phone and waved it to her. "I have been watching you for a while now" she added. "I am sorry, I am a bit nervous" Lila said licking her lips. She had licked it so much that all of the lip gloss she had put to prevent her lips from drying out was gone by now. "I can understand. My husband is a bit intimidating but once you get to
"Where do you think you are going?" Tessa asked as Lila descended from the stairs. Lila had expected a scolding from her mom because she allowed the plan fall through but insisted she just gave her a look and went into her room. This was the first time she was seeing her since she got inside last night. "To see Amber" "But Amber is dead" Tessa words came out without any form of remorse. "She is" Lila breathed out. "She is dead but I am going to her grave to say hello and apologize for making her leave this world earlier than she was supposed to. "Why do you have to be the one to apologize for that?" Aletta asked walking into the room and standing by the door frame. "If I feel guilty then don't you think that I need to apologize?" "So you are apologizing to clear your guilt?" Oliver asked coming out of nowhere and placing his arm around Aletta's shoulders. It felt as if they had ganged up against her. She gulped down the lump in her throat and shook her head. "I wish I could put
"I have to say you are pretty good with kids," Rosa said as they approached them. Damien and Jason had played so much that Lila was afraid that the boy was now attached to him in just a few hours. It kind of made her feel bad that the thing that took her weeks to do just took him less than an hour to achieve. "You doubted me," he said, and he felt the need to impress. "I used to volunteer at an orphanage every weekend until I got too busy," he said with a proud tone. Both ladies did not miss that he was trying to humble brag but it was obvious that he was terrible at it. "You should go back to volunteering there; I am sure that you were making such a great impact; it would be a shame if they had to let you go," Rosa said. "I should?""Of course you should; I think you are better as a volunteer there than as the chairman of your company." "Oh, come on, Rosa, I thought you were trying to comply with me but it sounds so much like an insult." "Is it?" Rosa asked, turning her face a b
"How did you find me here?" Lila asked. Did he put a tracker on her? How was it possible for him to find her here? "Did you put a tracker on me?" she voiced out her thoughts as they filled her head. She wondered if she did not have a filter to take out those things before they got out of her mouth."No, I did not put a tracker on you because that would be illegal.""Yeah," she nodded but somehow was not convinced by his legal or illegal speech thing. "So..." she trailed off as she demanded an answer."I asked your mom and she sent me your location." Lila blinked. Her mom sent Rosa and Damien here? Why would she do that?"My mom?""I told her that I wanted to speak to you and she allowed me to come here," Rosa said, taking a step forward so she was closer to her. "Can we talk for a few minutes?" Rosa was sure that speaking to her would bring closure for both of them. Lila did not need to feel guilty when she had done nothing wrong and Rosa wanted to let go of all the resentment she car
"Hello Mom" "Have you been able to get rid of him?" "Yes, I have but I don't think this is a good idea now." "What are you saying? Are you having second thoughts? Don't worry; it is normal to have second thoughts about things like this. But I promise you that once this passes, you will be glad you did this." "I don't know Mom; kidnapping him just seems a bit too cruel. I mean, he is my son and what if he remembers this moment for the rest of his life and he does not want to talk to me about it? What if it ends up as pent-up emotions on the insides of him?" she asked. "I want to do this the right way, the way that would not hurt anybody," she added in a murmur.Tessa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Lila was making sense but still, how could she stop when she had already come this far? If she could just take a step further, this would be over before they knew it. "Lila, we have come this far and all we have to do is just take a step more and all of this will be over." "I kn
By the fourth time of meeting her son, Jason has began to bond with her better than the first time. "He really likes you" Gavin commented. "Of course he does. I am his mother" Lila replied. She could not believe this guy was not still comfortable with leaving her alone with the boy. They had planned to have the boy kidnapped today but he was not going away. She knew that if he stayed with her then the plan was going to fail and she could not have it fail. She would be in great trouble if it did fail in her hands. Since she could not get him to leave her alone with the boy, Tessa made Oliver to call him out. He was to act as if he wanted to take him out for drinks to accept him into the family and then that was when disaster would strike. Lila was not sure it would pan out the way they wanted since he had been careful with leaving Jason with her. It was as if he was picking up on what was going on."That true" he said slapping his thigh. His phone began ringing and Lila held her b
Lila stood in front of Gavin's house and swallowed hard. She had been standing for a good moment; she wanted to run away. She could not bring herself to ring the doorbell. "I have come this far to back out now," she said, taking a step forward and ringing the bell. She heard shuffling from inside the house and then the door flew open in front of her. "Hi there," she said. He took her by surprise and hugged her tightly, her hand to her side. "I am so glad that you could make it," he said, leaving her, and she was glad he did because if he held on longer and she did not hug back, she would seem strange. They were supposed to be lovers but she had not thought of the fact that they might want to do intimate things. What was she supposed to tell him? It was not like she was one to say no to things like that; that was the way she ended up pregnant and he knew her. Could she say her values had changed and she was waiting for marriage now? She knew that she had to come up with something to
"Hello?" Lila said into the phone. She had been ignoring the unknown number but it had been calling her and she knew that she might need to hear what it was that they wanted to say. "Hello, Ms. Carson." The voice was a bit familiar but she could not place it on a face. "Who am I speaking with?" she asked, not waiting for him to introduce himself. "I am Grey, Mr Calloway's assistant" "Okay? How can I help you?" She knew she was not supposed to be on this call but one thing she wondered was why he was calling her. Did Damien put him up to it?"Mr. Calloway has no idea that I am calling," he said as if he were reading her mind. "Do you read minds?" she murmured in a very low, inaudible tone. "I did not quite get that, ma'am," he said and she cleared her throat. "I was mumbling nonsense to myself so you don't have to worry," she said and he nodded and cleared his throat. "Why did you call if Dmaien did not ask you to call?" "I might be intruding or overstepping by saying this and