~SIERRA~I couldn't believe it. How could Gilbert steal from me? No, maybe he was threatened or something; Gilbert was not that kind of person. “Is everything okay?” Sam asked, and I shook out of my thoughts. I looked at her and saw that the detective's eyes were now on me. I faked a smile and nodded."Well, the…the call...”“Thomas!” Sam stopped the detective from asking questions, and I was glad she did. I was not ready to tell them about Gilbert yet; I could be wrong.“I need to go,” I said, and they both nodded and asked me to call if I needed anything. “Thank you,” I said, then walked out, refusing their offer to walk me outside. I went straight to my car and instructed my guard to drive home. I took my phone and dialed Gilbert's number, and when he didn't pick up, panic set in. What if he was in trouble? “Can you speed up, please?” I said to my guard, and he nodded and sped up. I kept trying Gilbert's number, even when I got the same answer.Finally, after like forever, the car
~SIERRA~She reminded me of the time I forcefully went into Damian's office; she was the one trying to stop me. I forced a smile and then asked Gilbert to call me back, but he refused. He told me to watch my back, as he was not going to protect me anymore. “I'm far enjoying my luxurious single life; have a good life, Sierra, and I really, really wish you all the bad things life has to offer.” He cursed and ended the call.I gave the telephone to Lana and asked them to excuse us. After Beatrice closed the door, I asked Jane to sit. Yes, Jane was the one against me in court, saying all sorts of things, even knowing that Damian was wrong, but I was curious to know what she wanted, so I let her. “I don't have much time,” I said and asked her to start talking."Okay, I know I'm the last person to defend Mr. Winters, but I want you to know he's a good man. I know him too well, and I know he didn't do it.”“Do you have proof?” I asked, not that I was interested in helping but to show her tha
~SIERRA~I couldn't believe Nana was accusing me of killing my father. Yes, he was not a good father, but still, I loved him; he gave me life, and even though he mistreated my mom, he was still a good father as he provided for me. “Of course, how else did you find him?”“He texted me.”“At two, why would he text you so early? Why didn't he text me? I was his mother.”
~SIERRA~Well, even a child would tell the fakeness in Ethan's tone, but that was not enough to assume he did what Jane said, so I cleared my throat and told him I had a proposal: “You're the acting CEO, right?” I asked, and he confirmed with a nod.“Not long till I become permanent,” he added."Oh, you want to be CEO so bad; I mean, Lily, why didn't she take it?” I was just curious.“Wait, are you here to question our decision or talk business?”“I mean, even you would admit it's kind of weird, from finance manager to CEO?”“I'm the only suitable person, and it was already decided.”“Without consulting me, I own ninety percent of this company.”“Which is going to change soon.” He sounded like he had it all planned, well, I didn't really care about what he would do with the company; I only wanted to find out the truth, which was the reason Damian killed my father, so I changed the topic to business.“I know we were in the process of terminating the contract, but I thought of it and ch
~SIERRA~To say I was in shock would be an understatement. I really didn't know where the world was going; everyone was just a liar, including my grandmother. “He's gone,” Jane whispered, and I shook out of my thoughts before I followed her out. “I hope you heard what I heard; he's definitely behind everything,” she said, and I nodded, although I didn't believe he was behind my father's death as he was not around years ago.Jane suggested we continue looking, but I knew there was nothing that could help us. With the way Ethan sounded, I could tell he was smart and had everything planned; he wouldn't leave evidence lying around. I bid Jane a good night and left her in the office. She said she would go through just once more. I wasn't even surprised at why she was determined to help Damian. I knew Damian would do the same for her. They worked together for years, and I knew her job depended on Damian.My driver was waiting outside; he opened the backseat door for me, and I told him to pa
~SIERRA~His voice was barely loud, but I could hear him. Gosh, why was I feeling pity for him when he was a criminal? He deserved to be here; this is what is supposed to happen to him. Well, I guess the fact that he was the father of my children made me feel this for him. “You can't be here; please, you need to be with our kids,” he got off the bed and came close to me. I cleared my throat, trying to find my strongest self, as I knew I could just stutter if I didn't first carefully think, “Sierra, I...”“How are you?” I sidestepped him, he looked shocked as he didn't respond. I could tell he was not expecting me to greet him, “Damian.”"Sierra, please, you…you need to be with the kids, you can't leave them.“I know, but I need answers, Damian. I need to know if you really killed Cassie.”“Sierra.” He avoided my eyes by looking down. “They found her dead in my house; I was about to dump her body; isn't that proof enough?”“No,” I firmly said, and he looked at me confused. I don't know
~SIERRA~I struggled to open my eyes but kept trying, and when I finally did, I was shocked to find a small hospital window. I quickly sat up as I took in my surroundings, and with the little stretcher bed and disinfectant smell, I easily figured to be at the hospital.“Ms. Reid,” Sam quickly ran to the bed as soon as she noticed that I was awake.“Sierra, just Sierra,” I told her since she insisted I called her Sam, then it was only fair that she called me by my name too. “Am I at the hospital?” I asked an obvious question, although the answer was not as expected.“Prison hospital, we’re just a few feet away from the station,” she said, and I nodded. Well, I was feeling okay, so I fixed my hair and got up from the bed. “I think you need to rest.”"No, I have a lot of things to do; I need to be home before lunch,” I said, and she nodded in understanding, then the door opened and the detective walked in with two cups of coffee."Ow, the patient is awake,” he said in a joking tone as he
~SIERRA~I felt like the car wasn't fast enough, so I asked my driver to speed up, and he did. I couldn't wait to reach the company and face Ethan. Taking Damian's position was one thing, but speaking dirt on his name, wow, he must have something against Damian. I mean, everyone will now believe him because he is Damian's friend, and who knows you better than a friend? And they don't know that Ethan is a fake friend.The driver alerted me that we had arrived. I told him to wait in the car, then ran straight inside, ignoring the employee's eyes. I didn't even bother to check in with the receptionist as I went straight to Damian's office, as I was sure Ethan was there.“Sierra?” Ethan looked shocked to see me. He seemed to be on a call as he pointed at his ear, clearly asking me to wait.“I don't have the whole day. I know you tricked Damian into signing the contract, and if someone should be arrested, then it's you.” He quickly ended the call and stood up. The receptionist had arrived
FLORIDA, ST. AUGUSTINE 2023~DAMIAN~Ingrid did a good job keeping Sierra out, as it has been over two hours and they haven't returned to the house yet.The sun was setting and everything was perfect; we didn't need to do much, just the colorful lights, as the house was clean already.“Bottle is here,” Nathan excitedly said as he brought the bottle of juice. The bottle was the same as the one for champagne, and since they were too young for alcohol and Sierra was in that condition, we decided to settle for juice.“They are coming,” Atlas, who had been at the window, alerted us, and I quickly stood to my feet and hid the little box."Okay, wish me luck,” I said, and they both nodded, then Atlas switched off the light so that the candles could stand out.“Let us know when she says yes,” they said in unison before they hid behind the sofa.I was nervous. I've never been this nervous, even when I was handling court cases. I never got nervous, but Sierra, God, her reaction scared me.As I
FLORIDA, ST. AUGUSTINE 2023~DAMIAN~Whoever said love was a drug was damn right because I was high on it. Watching someone sleep for over an hour and simply enjoying the view is crazy because for the past week that's all I've been doing—watching Sierra sleep. It somehow gave me peace.After Sierra was released from the hospital, we stayed a week so I could sort everything.Ethan took over the head at the Winters, Sierra, and Thomas caught up as he left the detective work since Sam was not happy with it. Sierra gave them one of her restaurants in Texas, and they moved there—living in Sierra's home while Jane and her family moved into Sierra's mansion, the one in Georgia. Beatrice and Lana took mine as I wanted to express my gratitude for helping Sierra raise my children.After sorting everything, I booked tickets to Florida for a vacation since the holidays were in a month. We were still choosing a place to settle and start a family, as Georgia and Texas held bad memories, so we were
~DAMIAN~The first days we used protection, but after a few, we just couldn't control ourselves as we would get in the moment and only think of protection afterward. I didn't need protection; Sierra was my wife, but she always brought it up.Well, I was just so happy that we were going to have a baby—that Sierra gave me another chance.I walked to her bedside, kneeled, and started apologizing.“I'm sorry, I...”“It's okay; I know you did it to protect me.”“Still I hurt you; I should have told you; I shouldn't have pushed you away like that.”“And I understand; I forgive you; I do.” She was now holding my hands. “Please get up.”“Sierra I…”“Now Damian,” she demanded, and so I was left with no choice but to get up.“I'm really sorry; I promise that was not my intention; I was just trying to protect you and our kids. Ava called me; she threatened me.” She nodded her head in understanding and then squeezed my hand in a comforting manner.“Do you want to feel her heartbeat?” she asked, a
~DAMIAN~ “I was not planning to kill you, but...” Ava said as she walked close to Sierra, the burning matchstick still in between her fingers. My hands were now in the air, pleading with her. “Please… Whatever I have done, please just... Just let Sierra go, punish...punish me.” "Oh, sweet Damian, my cousin is in love,” she mockingly said, “but this is not about you; it's about her, her mother!” she yelled. “Actually,” she calmed herself, “it's about the both of you; your father did my mother dirty and her mother did my mother dirty, and so you are both going to pay.” It was not the Ava I knew; this woman sounded crazy. “Ava…” “Kneel!” I didn't want to argue, as I knew trying to reason would not work, so I kneeled my eyes on Sierra and the matchstick between Ava's fingers. “Good,” she mockingly said and blew to the matchstick so the fire could go as it was below her finger. “Do you want to hear a little story?” She asked as if I had a choice. Then she started talking about h
~DAMIAN~“Speed up!” I yelled, and Thomas agreed with me as he asked the driver to drive faster. Each second we were wasting was ticking as Sierra's life was in danger.When Atlas returned, he told me about the people who kidnapped him and how they told him that I was his father. I knew it wasn't the right time, but I took him upstairs to his siblings and told them the truth—that I was their father and that Sierra and I were once together.I didn't tell them about the contract as I thought it might be complicated for them, and so I told them about making a horrible mistake that made Sierra walk away. They were understanding, as they didn't judge; instead, they were happy that I was their father.I was not in a better mood, so I forced them to eat and helped them get ready for bed before I left Mrs. Woods with them as Jane had to get home to her baby. Sam and Thomas stayed downstairs with the officers, who came to help check for clues, and waited in case the kidnappers called—they thou
~SIERRA~Ava explained planning Damian’s parents' deaths because, as she said, the company and everything the Winters owned belonged to her. She explained how she got Damian on a drug so he would have terrible headaches. “I haven't been giving it to him lately, so he seems to be overcoming it,” she added. Then she explained using Carl to have her revenge on Mr. Reid since Damian’s parents were out of her way now."Oh, and the second man who left my mother couldn't be found. Turns out my so-called father wasn't useless as he took him down, leaving his son and wife in the streets.”“Son?”"Yes, your brother.”“What?!”“Ow, don't tell me the detective hasn't told you that you're his sister; that's why he has been protective over you; it's because you're his little sister.”“What?!” again I asked, as this was too much. How was it possible that Detective Thomas was my brother? Okay, nothing was making sense.“The man your father was cheating with was Thomas’s father.” She said, but I shook
~SIERRA~I haven't seen Ava since forever; she said to be in New York working with patients. How was it that she was here? My eyes roamed the room, and I realized, unlike where Lily took me, this place seemed like a home as I was on a sofa. I was almost relaxed, but when I saw that both my legs and hands were tied, I panicked.“W-what's going on? Why am I here? And…”“This is not the time for questions, Sierra; trust me.” Ava cut me as she picked a glass of wine on the table and took a sip before she placed it down and then stared at me.I still didn't understand what was happening, but something was clear: Ava tied my legs and hands, which meant she was the one who caused that accident; she was the one who kidnapped me.“Ava I…”“I will shut your mouth for you if you don't shut it; it's me to talk, not you.” She calmly said, and I nodded my head. Then she stood up with the glass of wine in her hands and said, "See, years ago, Rosemarie was just an innocent girl who didn't know the w
~SIERRA~I cleaned my cheeks and then walked toward my car. My driver was standing out as he opened the door for me. “To the station,” I told him as he waited for my instruction."Yes, ma’am,” he said and then started the car.Again, I found my hand traveling down to my flat belly. I never planned for this, and now that Damian didn't want the child, I was not going to keep it. I haven't seen myself pregnant for over five years, especially with Damian's child again.Or maybe he knew that I fell pregnant and he was doing the same thing he did years ago, running away. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. No, I couldn't let this distract me; I won't let it get in my way of finally having peace.“Ms. Reid,” the driver's voice shook me out of my thoughts. I then realized we had arrived at the station. “Should I come in with you?” He asked as he opened the door for me. I shook my head and told him to wait for me there; he just worked for me; I didn't need him to mix with my problems.When I
~SIERRA~No, this was not happening; I won't let it happen again. So I banged once more and the door flew open, and Damian, who looked healthy like he was not just in a coma, opened and asked me to come in. I could tell by his facial expression that something was wrong.“Do you want anything?” He asked as I took a seat on the sofa. No, I was calm. I was not the same Sierra from years ago who burst when he started acting like this. I was a mature, respectful woman. I couldn't act on my emotions, so I asked him for a glass of water.He walked away to the kitchen, and my eyes couldn't help but roam the area; it was just the same as I left it, in Cassie's style.“Water,” Damian's voice made me turn to him. I took the glass from his hand and thanked him, then placed it on the table.“Okay,” I cleared my throat as he looked restless like he wanted me to leave. “The doctor called me and told me you left without his consent.”"Yeah, I'm feeling fine; why should he keep me there?” He sounded r