Emerson chuckled as he pulled me back towards him on the bed. "We are not at war. There is no war going on," he said, his voice teasing.I frowned. "It feels like there is."" There is no war, okay? This is all in your head," he said gently, tapping his finger slowly on my forehead. "You see? No one is at war with you...""They are! Have you seen the news?""I’ve seen it," he replied with a shrug. "But you're the only one on this path for revenge. Whoever wrote this nonsense probably knows nothing about what's actually going on. I don't think they did this to start a war with you, it just happens to be a juicy headline."I shook my head. "But the rumours, the speculations… Saying that you're sharing women with Eric? It’s ridiculous!""Nonsense," he agreed, a smile on his lips."I know, right? I mean, there’s no way they could think that, right? And then all the stuff about us going behind Eric's back, it's… it's absurd!""It is absurd," Emerson said, still smiling. "People will say wh
Emerson sighed, looking at me, and there was some flicker of vulnerability in his eyes. I hated doing this, turning his idea down, he probably planned a whole day, but I was being practical. I didn’t even know where this sudden idea of a date came from.“Fine,” he said after a moment, his tone defeated. “You know what? Focus. On your revenge, focus on what you have to do. I... I just thought maybe you needed to relax, and have some fun. I thought maybe we could spend some time together. But it seems like you're not in the mood for that right now, so... whenever you change your mind, I'm here."I smiled, feeling a bit sad inside, I did want to spend time with him…. but I had to put on a brave face. “I understand, a lot. I just know that when I go back to work, with everything that’s been said... and knowing Eric, I have to be ready for it. We'll do it another time, maybe next weekend? After we get through this first week back at work.”He nodded, though there was still a hint of disap
Emerson's tongue moves with mine, our breaths mingling, and the kiss deepening. I open up to him, letting him lead, giving back just as much as I get. He pulls me closer with his hands on my waist as they wander towards my neck, pulling my hair to the side gently so he's able to take my mouth harder in his. Fingers threading through my hair like he’s gripping onto something fragile, pulling me closer to him so our bodies are touching. The pressure of his lips and the heat of him is magical. His hand is on my waist, massaging me, touching me, exploring me, sending a heat wave towards my core centre and I feel hot all over. My body reacts instinctively, one hand moving to his neck, holding him closer, the other sliding along his arm. I can feel my body shift, my desire cheering me on to climb onto him when suddenly….Crash!The sound is sharp, cutting all the sexual tension between us. We both freeze, our heads snapping towards the source. Madeline stands there, eyes wide and filled w
I got to the office early, as I usually did, though not as early as I had planned. A few people were already there. I smiled and waved, bringing back the old Mina, the one they all remembered. They greeted me back, but behind their tight, sarcastic smiles, I could see the judgment. They thought they knew everything, just because they had read a few articles about me in some magazines online. I took it in stride and walked into my office, shutting the door behind me.I started working on a document I had been working on before my leave. At exactly 8 o'clock, Eric walked in. His presence was unmistakable, and I could feel the air get charged immediately. I smiled brightly, expecting him to throw his first punch. He walked in with an air of confidence, his smile too big, too wide, too smug. There was a look in his eyes, one of triumph, that immediately put me on alert. He had something up his sleeve."Good morning, Eric. How may I help you?" I asked, keeping my voice professional, supp
The smugness on Eric's face faltered, and before he could find or gather something to say, I continued, "If you want to keep your job, I suggest you get out of my office and start working on the project I placed on your desk…..the one I’m sure you haven’t even touched yet. I am not doing your work for you anymore."I gave him a mocking smile, my voice filled with fake happiness and pleasantries. "I know you just got back from your honeymoon. Congrats on your wedding, by the way. But now it’s time to get back to work."I snapped my fingers twice. "Cha-cha, Eric. Please. Go. To. Work."His eyes widened in fury, his voice dripping with contempt as he spat, "Are you crazy or just stupid?"Unbothered, I calmly reached for the letter, handing it to him. "You might want to read this," I said, my tone as casual, calm and collected as ever. As Eric scanned the document, I could see the colour drain from his face. Whatever confidence he had walked in with was now evaporating, leaving him
I watched him Eric leave, a smirk playing on my lips as I leaned back in my chair, already knowing how this was going to end.I took my time, instructing my secretary and Wendy, the nosiest woman in the office, to start clearing out Eric’s belongings. Wendy, who had a talent for poking her head into everything, was all too eager to get involved. The two worked silently, putting Eric's things into boxes while moving my belongings into the corner office that had once been his. I sat in his chair, turning it around, letting my eyes watch over the view and admiring the space. As much as I knew this position came partly due to my relationship with Emerson, I also knew I had worked damn hard for it. I deserved this and I didn't care how I got it. I would have done the morally right thing by waiting for Eric to clear out his own office, but considering how he had treated me this morning, he didn't deserve it. Plus I knew he was going to make a fuss. As they continued setting up, I couldn't
Eric’s eyes shifted towards me, his eyes sharp, accusing and hostile. "You," he hissed, "humiliating me, using him against me!""Eric, you need to calm down," I said, trying to maintain composure as he began walking toward me. His movements were tense, deliberate. There was something dangerous in the way he carried himself, something that told me he wasn't thinking clearly and he might do something he would later regret."Eric, stop going after her," Emerson's voice interrupted, still controlled, but I could see a slight irritation or maybe fear in his eyesBut Eric wasn't listening. He was in too deep. "You're telling me you can't see through her? You can't see through what she's doing to you?" His voice rose with desperation. "She doesn't love you. She married you to hurt me!"Eric's voice cracked. Betrayal and disbelief in his words. "You are my father. I can't believe you're standing with this woman to get revenge on your own son, to hurt your own son." He pointed to himself, h
I glanced between Emerson and Eric, at them both. Emerson looked at his son, and then back at me. I could see the struggle in his eyes, the battle inside him. When I asked Emerson to marry me that night, after he proposed to me, I never expected it to reach this far, to be standing at this crossroads. To destroy Emerson's relationship with his son, his only child.I know Emerson didn’t grow up with any siblings, and Eric is the only family he has left in this world. Eric knows this too, and that’s why he’s using it as a weapon, trying to force his father’s hand.Eric and Emerson are not very close, But They’ve always had a good relationship, at least as much as one could expect given everything they’d been through. When Eric was younger, he used to be his father’s shadow, always by his side. The two were like peas in a pod, Eric looked up to his father. But after Emerson's marriage fell apart and he caught his wife with another man, it created a rift between him and his son. Eric h
By the time we turned back towards the room, we noticed that the doctor had already left. I guess there had been too much crying in the room. I found myself laughing. "I'm so happy, Emerson." He grinned, his excitement evident. "I'm even happier. You don’t know how I’m feeling right now. I want to—" He let out a breathless laugh. "I want to dance. I want to jump with joy. I want to scream it from the top of this building. I'm going to be a dad, Mina!" "And I'm going to be a mom," I said, my voice breaking as fresh tears welled in my eyes. Emerson's expression softened. "Oh my God, why are you still crying? I don’t think it’s good for the baby to cry so much." "I know," I sniffled, wiping my eyes. "I’m going to try. I really am. But I don’t know how to stop—I’m just so happy." At that moment, my stomach let out a loud rumble. Emerson chuckled. "Looks like our baby is hu
The doctor’s expression remained calm. “Did you drink every day?”I shook my head quickly. “No, not every day. Just occasionally.”Guilt flooded me. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I—I didn’t know I was pregnant.” My voice cracked, and the tears returned, burning the back of my eyes.The doctor placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “Mina, it’s okay. You didn’t know.”I hiccupped on a sob. “But what if I—”“Listen to me,” she interrupted firmly, “You and the baby are healthy. Tomorrow, we’ll do a full examination, and so far, everything looks good. The important thing is that you know now. And because you know, I trust that you’ll take better care of yourself from here on out.”I sniffled, nodding, still feeling the weight of my mistakes.“But I need you to stop panicking, Mina,” she continued. “Stress will raise your blood pressure, and that’s not good for the baby. Right now, I just need you to focus on resting and
I just sat there, staring at Emmerson. My tongue felt heavy like it was weighed down by all that I couldn’t bring myself to say.“Come on, what is it?” Emerson urged, his voice softer now, careful. “Tell me whatever it is. We can go through it together.”But there was fear in his eyes. A fear that told me he was bracing himself for the worst.I opened my mouth, but no words came out.Before I could even attempt to find them, Trey spoke up. “We’re still waiting for the results. There hasn’t been a concrete answer yet.”Emerson exhaled, his shoulders losing a fraction of their tension. “What do you mean, concrete answer? What did the doctor say? What could it be?”“It’s fine,” I said quickly, nodding as I squeezed his hand. “Just wait for the results.”He looked at me, then at our intertwined fingers, and for some reason, my hands were trembling.Then he turned to Trey. “Treyson, can I talk to you aside for a minute?”Panic spiked in my chest. I clutched Emerson’s hand tighter. “No.
Trey looked at me, his expression unreadable, but there was something in his eyes—sympathy, maybe even sadness. His voice was quiet when he spoke again.“You’re pregnant, Mina.”I stared at him. The words didn’t make sense. They bounced around in my head, refusing to settle.“It’s not possible,” I said, a hollow laugh escaping my lips. It carried no joy, only confusion. “What are you saying, Trey? I can’t be pregnant. I… It’s impossible, okay?”I didn’t even know what I was saying anymore. My mind scrambled for explanations, for reasons..... This couldn't be true.Trey didn’t argue. He simply took my hand and placed it gently on the bed between us. His grip is grounding.“The doctors just confirmed it. You’re a hundred per cent pregnant.”“But how?” I whispered, shaking my head violently, as if denying it hard enough would make it untrue. If I accepted it if I let this idea take root in my mind, only for it to be ripped away later… I wouldn’t survive that. I couldn't.“They’re wrong,
I exhaled and looked at him. "Eric, you're just a bad human being. You slept with my sister, got her pregnant, and you were about to marry her. And not once did I attack you. Not once did I go to the papers and say, 'I broke up with Eric Blackwind because he slept with my sister.' That would have made headlines. I could have made a lot of money from your Betrayal. But I didn’t."I shook my head, disbelief coursing through me. "But the minute you found out I was with Emerson, you—" I scoffed. "You acted like I had committed murder... As if I had done something that deserved a death sentence. You acted like the real person that, deep down, you really are."Eric bowed his head, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not a good person. I'm selfish and arrogant. I'm all those things. I'm evil. I am all that you accuse me of and more"His fingers curled into fists, his jaw tightening before he spoke again. "And you know I didn’t want to divorce you.
"You!" Rita’s voice sliced through the air like a dagger, her finger trembling as she pointed at me. "This is all your fault!" She accused, her voice filled with bitterness.I blinked, frozen. "What did I do?""You did this to me!" she screamed, her face filled with rage. "You turned Trey against me! And now you’re turning Eric against me too! You’re turning everyone against me!" She cried bitterly.I stared at her in shock and disbelief. "Are you serious?"Her chest heaved. "It was always you. Always you!" she spat. "Mom always complaining about you. Dad would always talk about how smart you were, and how nice you were. It was always Mina this, Mina that! It was almost like I was invisible."Oh. So that’s what this was about.I exhaled sharply, shaking my head. "So this is about our childhood?" I asked, arching a brow. "About how you felt ignored while mom never spared me a glance? Did we have the same childhood? Mom adores you.
"Don't say that," Rita cried, her voice cracking with desperation. "Please, don't say that."Eric’s face remained cold, without any emotion. "You destroyed my life." His words were sharp, cutting through the air. "You told me you loved me. You promised me a family because you knew how much I loved talking about having a baby of my own, about having a family. But you? You were never who you pretended to be."Rita shook her head violently. "No, Eric, please—""What were you after, really?" Eric went on, his voice filled with disdain. "Always speaking ill of Mina behind her back, always trying to turn me against her. Now I see your true colours. I don’t know if it’s the hate you have for her or if it’s the money you were after. Because you spent more money than Mina ever did while we started dating until we got married, you spent ten times more. And I let you—because I wanted you to be happy. But to realize this about you now....?"His jaw clenched as he exhaled."No, Eric, stop saying t
It was Eric. How did he get in here? How did he even find us? I didn’t hear the door open. But perhaps it didn’t matter, as I had been so absorbed in the heated argument between Trey and Rita that I hadn’t noticed anything else.Then, I heard Rita screech. “Eric, what are you doing here?”“I followed you, darling,” Eric answered, his voice dripping with mockery. “I wanted to know where you would go. And I had a feeling. And I was right. You fucking stupid—”Before I could react, the sounds of stomping filled the air, then a groan. Rita screamed, “Stop it! Stop it! Get off him! Get off him!”The sound of fists meeting flesh followed, making my stomach churn. I couldn’t stay in the hallway any longer. I turned and ran toward the living room, my heart racing.What I saw when I arrived left me frozen in place.Eric and Trey were going at it, their fists flying as they threw punches, pushing each other down, slamming each other into furniture. Their anger was evident in the room.Rita wa
“Are you breaking up with me, Trey?” Rita’s voice pitched higher, full of disbelief.“I’m not breaking up with you because we were never together, to begin with.”“Then what was all that?” Her voice grew louder, more frantic. “The way you flirted with me, the way you used to compliment me, the way you and I were so intertwined with each other. The way we fucked... You can’t tell me that you didn’t feel it.”Trey was silent for a moment before answering. “You’re right. We didn’t make love. We fucked. We had sex. It’s done. I regret it. Now it’s over. I would really advise you to start focusing on your marriage right now.”The room went silent for a few seconds, and I leaned closer, straining to hear what they were saying.Then, I heard Rita’s voice, screeching in fury.“Are you fucking kidding me, Trey? Are you stupid?”I winced.“My marriage is gone. My marriage is over. Eric doesn’t want to fucking see me. He told me that the next time he sees me, he’s going to kill me. I signed a pr