DELIA HERRERA POV Kail had been quiet, too quiet and I couldn't help but worry. Why was he stalling after I gave him all that money? The only consolation I had was that before he completely went off the grid, he'd told me that our plan would have to be delayed since Belshar was still on the quest for his revenge. But that was three weeks ago. I could feel my knees jerking rapidly, but I couldn't help it; I was fucking restless and worried. I wish Xavier would just stop running so Belshar would kill him and I'll be able to have him all to myself.That bastard was ruining all of my plans and it was starting to get on my last nerve.Someone snapped their finger in my face, and I jumped, my gaze meeting those of Enoch's worried ones, and I let out a sharp gasp, my eyes widening.I'd totally forgotten that he was in my office. He said he came to check up on me and had probably been saying something when I zoned out on him as my thoughts took over. I sat straighter and slowly blew out a
CELINE HERRERA POV Belshar was looking for me just like Xavier said he would and I was starting to get curious about what his true intentions were. I had no memory to rely on except for Xavier's words, but there was a lot of evidence that left no room for doubt about what Belshar represented.Xavier said he wanted Belshar to suffer, wanted him to feel the same pain he'd put me through and he'd spent months preparing me for our revenge, and even though I didn't have my memory, his hate was enough to fuel mine.Belshar was a bad person; he'd married me against my will and then betrayed my trust by cheating on me with Bella, and just like he killed Crystal, he was going to kill me, too. The only reason he was looking for me was because he hated to lose; he hated to be challenged, and he hated for what belonged to him to be taken away. He was probably going to kill me himself, just like he killed his former wife. Xavier told me that I and Crystal had been best friends and the reason Bel
CELINE HERRERA POV "You shouldn't trust everything Xavier tells you, Celine," David said, his voice somber, and I glanced up at him in the mirror, my hands freezing in the process of putting on my lip gloss, my brows shooting up."What do you mean by that, David," I asked, genuinely curious. Xavier had been the one to tell me everything about my past and the gap he couldn't fill; he encouraged me to remember myself. But try as I might, I couldn't recall anything. All I knew was that I'd had a pretty decent life from what I saw in the news... there were occasions Jab at me being an illegitimate child here and there, but since I didn't have any memory of that time, I also didn't have the emotion that went along with it."Forget it," he started, and I shook my head and turned to face him."No, I can't just forget about it. Is there something Xavier is hiding from me? If you know something, you should tell me," I said, because even though I trusted Xavier, sometimes I felt as if he was o
BELSHAR NESSAR ABED POV I watched her expressive blue eyes widen as the words left my lips and I had so many questions, but I was only going to get my answers once she was back where she belonged. At home, with me. I could tell she was going to run and as she moved back, her body rigid as if she was waiting for me to whip out a gun and kill her, I grabbed her arm and yanked her toward me. "Are you going to run away again right after I found you?" I asked, both relieved and furious. With the way she was acting, it was almost like she'd planned the whole fiasco with Xavier. Did she fall in love with him while in captivity? Was that why she chose to leave me and fake her death? Just the thought of it had me clenching my jaw. "What, Celine, do you plan to run away? Perhaps back to Xavier?" I asked and watched as her eyes widened and she trembled. So she'd been with him. She'd been with him all this time. Just the thought, oh Gods! I wanted to fucking destroy everything. Instead, I ju
CELINE HERRERA POV "Xavier" I called, refusing to believe that I was staring at Belshar. Where the hell was I? Raising my hand, I rubbed at my eyes and when I opened them, my spine went rigid when it was still him sitting right in front of me "Yes, it's me Belshar. You do not have to look so shocked," he rumbled, his deep voice causing tremors to race up my spine as I jerked my gaze from his. The room I was in was huge and unfamiliar. Was he going to kill me? How could I have messed everything up so badly? The plan had been to run into him, pretend that I couldn't remember who I was and that I'd just woken up to find myself at Atlas and was barely getting by all by myself, but I'd gone to blurt out his name the moment I laid eyes on him.I probably also gave myself away by reacting too vividly when he mentioned Xavier's name. But I'd been so out of it with fear when I couldn't reach Xavier, I'd just reacted and even now, I couldn't help but wonder if he was still alive. He hadn't a
XAVIER POV"You shouldn't have let her go. You should have made her yours when you had the chance," David said, and I glanced at him before lifting the glass of wine to my lips."I could have, you are right, but I didn't," I said and took a sip of the hard drink, but it didn't quite take away the ache in my chest. I glanced at David who stood watching me, the grim look of disappointment in his eyes glaring. "Do you want to know why"He clenched his fist and moved a step forward as if he wanted to punch me, then thought better of it."Because you've grown weaker. You and Belshar, Celine make you both weak, and you can't fucking see it. We were good, we had our own territory, and we ruled like kings before you learned about her, and then everything came crashing down. We are on the run like fucking fugitives and the only pawn we had to protect ourselves, you let her go without a second thought. You had her, and not once did you touch her, even when you knew she wanted you. What did you
CELINE HERRERA POV Belshar was going to fucking kill me if I didn't find a way to end him first and as he let go of me to pace the room and punch at the wall until blood seeped down his hand, I couldn't help but watch him with bated breath, my lips tingling and throbbing."Are you in love with Xavier? Is that why you left with him," he asked, his hand grazing through his hair in agitation."I don't know what you are talking about," I said, and he turned to face me, looking calm and collected, but I could see the pain in his eyes, and it made my heart twist viciously beneath my ribs. Why did his pain hurt me this way?"Tell me the truth, Celine. I know you hate me because of everything I did to you in the past but it's different now. I know why you refused to tell me about Crystal; you didn't want me to hate her; you wanted to protect her till the very end. I know you didn't push Crystal off that building, Celine. You were telling me the truth and I refused to acknowledge it. I treate
BELSHAR NESSAR ABED POV I watched her run, my heart burning darkly. I'd wanted to test her, to see if she was going to stay with me even if she saw an opportunity to escape, but I should have known she was going to run. No one wanted to stay by a fucking monster anyway, but that didn't mean I was going to let her go. Celine was mine and I refused to let her leave me. I already lost her twice, to lose her a third time was a call for insanity. I thought that she was starting to warm up to me, especially since she'd been a bit more agreeable than she was before. I should have known better. She was just waiting for a chance to go back to him, and no matter how much I racked my brain, I just couldn't understand why she would want to be with Xavier.But I noticed something strange, though; Celine was totally convinced that I'd been the one to arrange for her to be kidnapped and killed off and that I was just pretending not to know about it because I wanted to mess with her head. She was
BELSHAR NESSAR ABED POV "We need to join them at the table," Celine murmured against my chest, where she had her face pressed against."But I quite like it here. Just the two of us, dancing under the moonlight"Her arms wrapped around me. "Me too," she sighed, then glanced up at me.Her eyes sparkled, reflecting the iridescent glow of the moon. I wanted to get lost in them."It feels so good to get away from everything, doesn't it""Yeah," I nodded, then caressed her cheek. "How are you feeling. Has it been difficult with Sadie""Not too hard since you help out a lot... Antonia has also been a good help to her. Thank you for getting her. You were right, she's really good at her job"I grinned. "I am happy to hear that. If it gets too hard, tell me okay"She nodded. "I will"Celine gaze darted to the hall as the music coming from inside changed."Do you think they'll notice that we've been gone for a while?" she asked, meeting my gaze."Kail is keeping them busy with his MC skills. We
CELINE HERRERA POV Giving birth was a nightmare, but as I stared at my beautiful baby girl's face, I couldn't help my heart filling up with joy and love. I glanced up at Belshar who was grinning down at the baby in my hand."She's so tiny" he got out, his voice filled with awe. "I know, right? After all that food, I thought she'd be a lot bigger"His grin stretched, his eyes crinkling at the side. "She's perfect," he said, then looked up at me. "Just like her mother"Color filled my cheek and I leaned toward him. "And she's strong just like her father," I said and pressed a kiss to his lips.His eyes were moist with tears when I pulled back.My heart squeezed; the feeling of too much happiness in my chest suffocating. But I loved it. I loved everything I felt when I was with Belshar."You're going to be a great father Belshar"He took my hand. "I promise to always be there for you and our daughter. And our other kids that we are going to have very soon," he grinned."Hey, what's tha
KAIL NESSAR ABED POV "Oh," Karen gasped, then pulled away from the kiss.I stared at her, my heart pounding as I took in her flushed face and swollen lips."What's wrong?" I asked as I watched her try and catch her breath."Celine. Celine and Belshar are here. They were the ones who told me about where you were. I was scared to come alone, so they came with me"I shook my head as I sucked in a deep breath. "I know," I said, then turned, and pointed to where Celine's phone was peaking through the hallway by the side of the wall.The phone soon disappeared and I chuckled. She probably noticed me staring and pointing at it."You two can come out now! Your cover has already been blown" I yelled and waited.Celine was the first to come out. She smiled as she gave a small wave. "Oh my God, Kail, it's been how long since you vanished," she said, The guilty smile on her lips stretching the closer she got to Karen and I. Belshar followed behind and stopped by Celine's side when they reached u
KAIL NESSAR ABED POV "What the hell do you want?" I groaned as I stumbled out of bed, my feet studding against the bedframe and jarring me awake as pain shot up my body. "God damn it"I grumbled as I walked out of the room. It was probably room service. My head throbbed and I barely managed to avoid tripping on the bottles that littered all over the floor. Just how much did I drink last night?"I told you not to fucking bother—" The words died on my lips as I yanked the door open and came face to face with Karen.I stared at her, my heart stopping for a beat."Karen—" her name escaped my lips as my heart kicked up in my chest, and then I clenched my eyes shut. "God, I am going crazy," I groaned, then chuckled under my breath as I rubbed my hand over my face. "I must be drunk out of my fucking mind. How long am I going to keep seeing your face, Karen," I muttered to myself, then pulled my hand away.My brows furrowed as I stared at her. Why was she still standing there? On a normal da
CELINE HERRERA POV "Absolutely not," Belshar said, then faced Victoria, who quickly looked away and shrugged. "You cannot travel in that condition""Why not? I already gave Karen my word that I was going to be her wingwoman," I pouted, and he scoffed."You are not going to be traveling, Celine, and that's final. Call Karen and tell her that you won't be able to go with her." He said then paced for a bit before turning to face me. "Did you forget what you went through in the past months? The doctor said no stress"I crossed my arms, my brows furrowing hard as I frowned. "Travelling is hardly any stress and you owe me this much after everything that happened"Belshar let out a sigh of frustration and then glanced at Victoria again. "Are you not going to say anything. Tell her just how dangerous traveling is in her condition" he said and I looked at her, my eyes daring her to say anything that was not in my favor She sighed as she dropped the towels she was folding. "If it's just for a
CELINE HERRERA POV THREE MONTHS LATER "What's wrong. You've been spacing off for a while now" Karen turned to face me and then shook her head, her eyes squinted to avoid the glare of the sun."Nothing's wrong," she answered, and I gave her a look because even a blind mind could tell by her aura that things were not right."You know you can always talk to me right"She forced a smile. "I know that"I couldn't help becoming more concerned. "If you're still traumatized about the whole thing you went through, I can fix you an appointment with the therapist that helped me when I experienced something similar"She sighed and came to sit beside me. "No, you don't have to do that at all. I promise I'm really fine."I nodded even though I wasn't convinced. There has been something off with her ever since the rescue and her refusal to talk to me was starting to make me worry.I already felt bad that she got dragged into our family's mess and had to go through something so horrible, so why wa
KAIL NESSAR ABED POV I watched as they wheeled her away, my heart burning in my chest.Belshar walked toward me; his face was grim and emotionless. He stopped in front of me and my jaws clenched, the anger in my chest poisoning my blood."You sure took your time, Belshar"He scoffed, his gaze moving over me. "That's what you think but I didn't take a rest for the ten days you both were captured, kail. I did everything possible to make sure you didn't have to die In this dump""If it was Celine, you would have made sure you rescued her in time" I roared and grabbed his shirt. "Do you have any idea what Karen went through in there? She's probably going to be traumatized after this" I gritted and saw red when he smirked."What the hell is so funny" I gritted out, the urge to punch him in the face becoming impossible to resist."I didn't think I'd see the day you would be concerned for someone else. I thought you were angry for yourself, but it turns out it's for Karen. You're down that
KAREN POV I started to get up and stopped when he reached out, his gaze intent on mine."Don't" he started, then swallowed, his gaze darting away from mine. "You don't have to get up"My face flushed and the prickly feeling in my neck intensified despite the frigid air. "Don't you like me anymore?" I asked and he shook his head, even though the action caused him a bit of discomfort."I like you a lot, Karen. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to have you so close and not be able to do anything" he said, his gaze pinning mine. "From the moment I laid eyes on you at the cafe, you consumed my thoughts. I couldn't help but watch you... I must have scared you"I bit down on my lips. "You did scare me at the start but I knew you weren't going to hurt me"A flicker of a smile ghosted across his lips, then he became serious. "You told me at the cafe before all of this happened that you loved Enoch. I told you how I felt about you and that was your reply"I twiddled with my thumb,
KAREN POV "I used to really hate Belshar, you know," Kail got out as he turned on his side to face me."Why?" I asked, staring into his grey eyes. "Because father and mother used to pay more attention to him than me. It was almost as if I didn't exist back then. They always had their eyes on him, so I had to go the extra mile just to get them to notice me."He paused, and I watched as a wry smile played on his lips. He looked so sad, it hurt my heart."I started to bully him because of that. I took pleasure in causing him pain since he took all my joy away. Father and mother soon noticed, and instead of getting in trouble, they told me that they were proud of me. So the pattern formed. It was only when I hurt him that Mother smiled at me, so I did it more times than often. But that feeling of finally being noticed soon faded because it was still because of him. I hated him so much all I thought about was killing him""And Belshar never fought back," I asked. It was a bit surprising