(Sybil’s POV)When we finally got to the sitting room, John’s grandmother walked over to us. “There you are!” She hugged both of us, then smirked. “Still in the honeymoon phase, I see! You couldn’t even take the time to greet me before rushing upstairs,” she laughed.I could understand why she would think that. John and I were still a bit disheveled and out of breath from our argument. I started opening my mouth to protest, but John stopped me by squeezing my hand.“Sorry about that, Grandma,” he said, “but there was a reason why we were in such a hurry. We were going to wait until we actually had news to share with everybody, but I guess there’s no harm in telling you now.” He put his arm around me. “Sybil and I have decided to start trying for a baby!” He said this part loud enough for the entire room to hear, and there were startled gasps all around. I was equally startled.Why did he have to say that? This was even worse than pretending that we weren’t getting divorced.There w
(Sybil’s POV)“Oh, dear, what happened?” Grandma went over to where Willa was sitting and closely inspected her face.“Sybil hurt me,” she answered, sniffling. “I was just trying to have a civilized conversation with her, when she went crazy. It’s a good thing I got away from her in time, or she could have killed me!”John gave me a stony expression and sat down beside her, putting his arm around her. “I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. She was just upset about all the rumors going around about you and me getting married. That’s enough to get anyone worked up.”“Rumors?” Willa gave him a confused expression.John rubbed her back soothingly. “I’m sure she feels sorry for what she did, and that she wants to apologize.” He looked at me. “Right, Sybil?”I didn’t want to apologize for something I had nothing to do with. The only thing that I was sorry for was not actually scratching her myself. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, though. “I’m so sorry, Willa.”She just glanced at me,
(Sybil’s POV)John’s grandfather sat back down. “Let’s eat,” he said coldly. I had always thought that he and John were alike in so many ways. They had similar personalities. Now I noticed that both were prone to anger when things weren’t going their way.John was also his favorite. He clearly favored John over both of his sons, whom he considered to be useless.There was an awkward silence in the air as the first course was served. We were all shaken by John’s grandfather’s outburst. Willa had contributed to the awkwardness with her shenanigans as well.I looked down at the bowl of soup that had been placed in front of me, and realized that my appetite had gone. The soup looked and smelled good, but I just couldn’t eat. I concluded that it was probably due to all of the stress I had gone through lately.Grandpa broke the silence, in a much better mood all of a sudden. He turned to Willa. “How are you doing, kid?” he asked, patting her hand.“Oh, I’m fine now.” Willa gave him a small
(John’s POV)I saw Sybil get up from the table. “Excuse me,” she said, then walked out of the room. I couldn’t understand what her problem was lately. She’d been acting strangely ever since I got back from my business trip. I mean, there was the whole thing with the condoms, but that was no longer a problem. If she wanted a baby, I was on board. She didn’t have to be sneaky about it.I didn’t see why that would make her want to leave me. One little spat, then there she was, shoving divorce papers at me.I also was beginning to think that she misunderstood the situation with Willa. It was all an act. Willa had called me a few days before she came home. She told me that she was pregnant, but that she couldn’t go public with the news, at least not yet. She couldn’t tell me who the father was. I suspected that it was another celebrity who didn’t want the public to know. Maybe he didn’t even know.In any case, it wasn’t any of my business. It was her secret to keep.We had come up with a
(Sybil’s POV)I started feeling nauseous after leaving the dining room, so I ran straight to the bathroom. I dry heaved for a few minutes, then rinsed my mouth and splashed cold water on my face. Afterwards, I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering why I felt so bad.I knew that there was no way I could be pregnant. John and I were always careful, every single time.Well, not the last time, I remembered. That was just a few days ago, though. I wouldn’t be experiencing symptoms this early. He was away for a month before that. It could have happened before he left. I racked my brain, trying to remember the last time we had sex before his business trip. It was possible, I mused, especially if his mother had already started poking holes in the condoms. When did the doctor start talking about a bone marrow transplant? I couldn’t remember, but I could find out. Maybe just slip the subject casually into a conversation with John’s parents. They didn’t really like me, but I knew that they
(Sybil’s POV)I let out an exasperated sigh when I opened the door to find my husband and his cousin on the floor, beating each other up. I could see that John had a gash on his jaw, as well as a few bruises. It looked as though Alex had punched him.Alex didn’t look much better. He had a black eye.“I can’t believe this!” I shook my head at the sight of two grown men behaving that way. “Honestly, you guys can be such children sometimes!”John glanced up at me. “Well, he started it!”“Did not!” Alex protested.“Did too!” John grabbed Alex by the collar.I rolled my eyes. They had fought like this all the time in high school. I could see that even though they were older now - chronologically, anyway - nothing had changed.John was two grades higher than me and Alex, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he’d behaved back then. Or even now, come to think of it.I’d actually had a bit of a crush on John in high school. I’d found him much more attractive than boys my own age. Two years ca
(Sybil’s POV)Bewildered by the sudden change in John’s personality, I struggled to find the right words to say to him. “Why won’t you sign the papers?” I finally managed to ask.He looked at me. “Come here,” he said, pulling me down onto his lap. Then he held me close and tried to kiss me.I pulled away from him, grabbing his injured jaw and squeezing it. He winced, but didn’t let go of me. “Is that your answer to everything these days? Sex? Can’t you be a little less obvious?” I sighed. “Look, I know how much you love your little sister. I love her, too.”He gave me a confused look at the mention of Amelia. Had Willa been giving him acting lessons? “What does Amelia have to do with this?” He was very convincing. You’d think that he really had no idea!I went on. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I completely understand why you think this is a good idea. I just don’t feel right about bringing a life into this world just to…”John cut me off. “What are you talking about?”“Just
(Sybil’s POV)As John led me out to the car, I could see that almost everybody was leaving the house and getting into their own cars. I felt like laughing at the image of an entire convoy following the ambulance to the hospital. All of this for Willa. If I were the one in that ambulance, would the whole family insist on going to the hospital to support me? I seriously doubted it.I glanced over at John, who looked tense. He didn’t seem to want to say anything, but that was fine with me. I didn’t even want to be with him at the moment.I understood why he would want to be there for Willa. She was his fiancée. I still wasn’t sure if her baby was definitely his. Either way, he would be the father in every way that mattered.What I didn’t understand was what I was doing there. John had insisted on my going with him, but why? It certainly wasn’t for Willa’s benefit. He knew that Willa and I hated each other. He’d known that since our school days.There was one way that I could be useful i
Sorry it’s been a while! You may think that this story has been abandoned, but fear not! You can still follow the adventures of Sybil, John and the others in the sequel–Hidden Heiress: My Ex is Addicted to Me. The story will start a few months later for our characters but the drama is even more intense! I am still working on it but don’t worry, it will come.
(Sybil’s POV)I walked into the hospital, going over what I would say when face to face with Charlie. I had known the truth for over twelve hours now, but it wasn’t any less of a shock. The Worthingtons had been so supportive the night before, promising to give me space until I was mentally and emotionally ready to deal with the fact that I was their biological daughter. I didn’t blame them for anything, because as they had told me, they’d only just found this out themselves a few days ago. They had also been shocked, which was why they had kept it to themselves until now.I wondered if Willa knew about any of this. She had always accused me of wanting to be her, ever since she got her hands on the story that I wrote. Now it turned out that, if things had turned out differently, I actually would be living a similar life to what she was living now. I would have grown up in a loving household, with parents who loved me.Unfortunately, thinking about Willa reminded me of when I had hea
(Sybil’s POV)The next afternoon I decided that I should turn my phone back on, just in case someone was trying to reach me for reasons other than the scandal or John. I didn’t want to miss anything concerning Charlie, for example.I saw that I had a message from the Worthingtons, so I phoned them back. It did me so much good to hear Mrs. Worthington’s voice, especially now. She had always been a comforting presence, and ever since I was a child, I enjoyed spending time with both her and Mr. Worthington.“Hi, Sybil. We just wanted to see how you were holding up. Whoever wrote that nasty article doesn’t know you at all!”“I’m still in shock, but just talking to you makes me feel better.” I smiled. “I’m sorry it took a while to get back to you. My phone was turned off for much of yesterday, because I just needed to take a break.”“That’s understandable. Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?”“That sounds wonderful!” I grinned. “I could use good company.”***A few hours later,
(Sybil’s POV)The day after the meeting with John and our lawyers, I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone or go anywhere. Emma had taken me to Darcy’s as promised yesterday, which was a nice distraction, but I knew that it was only temporary and that I couldn’t run away from my problems forever.I couldn’t stop thinking about the way that John had looked at me at the meeting. His eyes had been full of hatred. I knew that he was hurt by what he assumed to be true. I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way, but if he had just given me a chance to explain that what the article said about me wasn’t true, maybe we could have talked things through. Then he wouldn’t have signed the divorce papers impulsively.Or would he still have refused to believe me? Probably, knowing him. He could be very stubborn at times, not willing to change his way of thinking, even when there was actual proof that he was wrong.Still, I would have liked an opportunity to at least try to clear up the misun
(John’s POV)After signing the divorce papers, I just had to get out of that room. I’d had just about all I could take of Sybil sitting there pretending that she hadn’t paid that guy to take pictures of us. Just recently, she’d acted horrified when I told her about the indecent photos of us. She’d claimed not to know about any of that, and she was so convincing that I actually believed her and felt awful for telling her everything. I was such an idiot! How could I let myself be fooled like that?I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when I woke up on her sofa and decided to check my phone to see what was going on in the world. I went on a news website, and there was one of the photos. At first, before I read the article, I was afraid that the photos had resurfaced for some reason, despite my family’s efforts to keep that from happening.I wasn’t really afraid for myself, because I was used to being in the spotlight for both negative and positive reasons. Because of who my family
(Sybil’s POV)I was extremely grateful that Emma had shown up when she did. I really didn’t want to deal with all of this on my own. Now that I knew, or at least suspected, that John had read the lies that were being spread about me and the reason for our marriage, I had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t believe me if I tried to explain that none of it was true. I didn’t know what I would do the next time I had to face him.After a while, I knew that I should get ready for my meeting with Jane. “Sorry to cut this short,” I said to Emma, “but I should get dressed and go see my lawyer.”“I can drive you, if you want.” She gave me a supportive smile.“Would you?” I looked at her. “That would be great. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to sit in on all the legal stuff. Believe me, there are times when I wish that I didn’t have to listen to all those complicated terms.”She laughed. “I completely understand that! I actually have a book in the car that I’m in the middle of reading. I’ll be able
(Sybil’s POV)I woke up the next morning, my head still spinning from both all the drinking I had done and the excitement of knowing that my story would soon be published. There was a sense of optimism that I still wasn’t quite used to, but I finally felt as though my life was heading in the right direction.I got out of bed and left the room to go and see John. He had promised me that he would spend the night on my sofa and be there when I woke up, and I had no reason to doubt that he would keep his promise.When I went into the living room, however, he wasn’t there. I wasn’t too concerned, because I knew that things came up sometimes, like an emergency meeting or some other reason for him to have to leave right away. If I was still asleep whenever he had to go somewhere, he was always careful not to wake me. He was considerate that way. Also, I knew that he would usually explain everything later, when he had time.I’d be lying, though, if I said that I wasn’t a little disappointed t
(Alex’s POV)I phoned Willa as soon as I stepped out of Darcy’s, looking behind me to make sure that nobody from our group was following me. I didn’t want Sybil to know what I was up to. “You were able to get the photographer to change his story? How did you manage that?”“Yes, it’s all taken care of,” she replied, “I had my private investigator track him down. It was fairly easy to find the guy, apparently. I was able to talk to him and persuade him to paint Sybil in a more negative light. Can we meet somewhere to talk about this? Somewhere where we wouldn’t run the risk of bumping into anyone we know?”“Sure,” I said, “where did you have in mind?”“We’re not going to a bar.” She sounded annoyed when she said this, which brought a grin to my face, remembering how pissed off she had seemed the night before when I’d ordered a drink in front of her. I stifled a laugh as I thought of the look on her face before she had left.”“Okay, fine.” I had just had enough to drink anyway, with Sybi
(John’s POV)Sybil didn’t seem to mind me accompanying her to her apartment. In fact, she smiled at me gratefully when I helped her out of the car and put my arm around her to steady her as we walked into her building. She leaned against me, putting her head on my shoulder.When we went into her apartment, she gave me a small smile. “Thanks for bringing me home, John. I think I had a tiny bit too much to drink.”“Just a bit,” I chuckled, “but it was no trouble at all. You know that I would do anything for you.”She looked at me with slight skepticism. “Would you?”“Of course I would.” I smiled and held her a bit tighter. “Why would you think otherwise?”She didn’t answer, but she didn’t try to get out of my grasp either. I could tell that she was softening toward me. It seemed lately like our conversations would usually end in an argument, and sometimes with her threatening yet again to divorce me, but she was behaving differently right now. Of course, it could have just been the fac