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Ninety
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2021-11-26 07:03:00Vincent’s message snaps the little restrain I have on my temper. I don’t bother with a reply. Holding his gaze, I place my phone face down so he knows not to send another text. The wanker thinks we are best friends now. Not in this life. I only brought Brianna here. I don’t give a rat ass what he wants to tell me.
“Brandon,” he says when my gaze redirects to Brianna. I help her up and my arm slides down her back. He palms his glass of water, his food untouched. No idea why he ordered it. “Please. It’s important.”
Brianna tugs on my sleeve, I believe that’s the main reason I pause. I sigh. “What is it, Vincent?”
His jittery gaze scrolls over Brianna’s face, he picks his phone and mine pings again. I stare out the window. I can walk out right now and nothing will happen. Brianna groans. I finally pick my phone.
Vincent: I’ll only be a minute. It’s important and we need
maramarthaAt one point when proofreading this chapter, I had to ask myself, “What in God’s holy name did you write?” What are your theories?
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Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-one
Brianna insists on using her Rollator to get inside the house. It relieves me because the last thing I need is any form of body contact. Numb, I help her to her room and rush past El but barely get past the twins.“Daddy,” they scream and jump on me, forcing me to stop.El stares at me worriedly but I don’t offer her an explanation. I barely remember hugging and kissing my babies, everything is a blur as El ushers them away.I jog up the stairs to my room and stop in front of the wardrobe. A second, two second, I’m not sure how many seconds pass. Vincent’s confession plays in my head like a broken record and my breath hitches.Oh, God.I grip the door of the wardrobe.I didn’t do it.His words soak my being. It can’t be. The death certificate stated the accident as the cause of death. My hands run through my hair, I should have put my fingers in his mouth th
Last Updated : 2021-11-29Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-two
“I’m sorry I ruined us,” I say instead. El smiles, a half-smile that lifts only a corner of her lips. “You didn’t do it alone. I broke my promise to you.” Retracting her hand to hide them inside her—my shirt, she adds, “Do you want to talk about it?” “No. I want to talk about us,” I reply. I shift towards her, she inches away from me until her side hits the headboard. I grin evilly, she pouts and hugs herself, batting her lashes like a puppy. “You’re too cute, El.” Dragging her to my laps, her squirming ends when I trail a finger on her inner thigh. El sucks in a breath, her gaze lowers to my lips and everything slows to a stop as we wait for the first person to make a move. Desire blankets her eyes, same as it does mine. I don’t make a move, neither does she. “I want to fix this, Elna.” Her silence spurs me on. “I can fix this.” Her lips part, she remains speechless. “I am not taking no for an answer.” Her lips t
Last Updated : 2021-11-30Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-three
Once the door to Brianna’s rehab centre closes, I change gears and start for Sophia’s clinic. El asked me to wait but I can’t keep still. I need answers lest I do something crazy. I send Sophia a text to hurry out. Moments later, she walks out of the back door and slides into the passenger seat. We sit in silence until her fingers drumming on the dashboard breaks the quietude. Sophia cocks her head so she can size me up. “It’s possible but I won’t advise it,” she says in response to the text I sent before coming. My nails dig into my knees. “Why not?” This is the last thing I will do behind my family. After this, I can move on with my life knowing I didn’t kill Brendan. Sophia is aware I am thinking of exhuming somebody, she just doesn’t know who. Well, I didn’t tell her but I believe she must have figured it out. The timeframe must have given me away. “Eleven years is a long time.” It is. A lot can happen durin
Last Updated : 2021-12-01Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-four
El will be mad. I know it. I feel it in my bones as I tiptoe up the stairs. The house is quiet, everyone has gone to bed. It was a long drive, the traffic made it worse. I open the door to our bedroom and pause. It’s empty. No fucking way am I sleeping alone. I want to cuddle. Until last night, I had never been spooned from behind. I like it very much. I spin on my heels and cross over to her room. It’s locked. I knock. I get no response at first, then the shuffling of someone behind the door and the handle finally twists open. El yawns. She stands in the way so I can’t get in or even hug her. I pout. I want my wife. “Baby.” She slaps my hands. “I’m not your baby.” Laughter trickles out of my lips. She’s cute with her bonnet and scowl. I rest one hand on the door while the other tries to draw her in for a hug. She slaps my chest, once, twice till she’s raining punches on me. “I told you not to go anywhere and you le
Last Updated : 2021-12-02Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-five
“Baby.”A smile curves my lips. I roll to the side without opening my eyes to reach for my wife.“Good morning, baby,” I mumble through the haze in my head, giving up on the search for El.I wait for the kisses, the hugs, her warm body pressing to mine but nothing happens. I touch something soft, one eye opens and I sit up once I see the twins. Her side of the bed is still warm but El is missing.Someone said baby. I’m sure of that. Squinting at them, I ask, “What did you call me?”“Baby,” Wyn answers.She is sporting the same gown as Bren. It has been months since they matched outfits and my heart warms at the sight. I inch closer to pull them in for a hug, they break away from it fast with a frown.Bren sits on one side of me, Wyn takes the other side. I am blessed among girls. “Why does Mummy call you baby?” Bren looks so serious asking
Last Updated : 2021-12-03Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-six
We are in our cocoon of happiness when El says, “I like you, Brandon.” She brings my hand to her chest and I touch my forehead to hers. We still need to talk about the diary, Brianna’s future. “I really do.” “Love,” I correct. “You love me, El.” “I love you, Brandon.” Her eyes close, she breathes me in. I feel like an ass for ruining the moment but we cannot truly move forward if she doesn’t know the truth. I fear she will reject Brianna. But I shouldn’t be scared. This is El. “I owe you an apology too,” I say. My fingers run through her hair and she hums in approval. El wraps herself around me, hides her face in my chest. My jaw rests on her head, the position lends me strength I didn’t know I needed and my shoulders fall in relief. This shouldn’t be hard to talk about. “For what?” “For what I said. You were not the reason my life was falling apart at that point.” It was as a result of my mistakes. If I didn’
Last Updated : 2021-12-06Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-seven
“So Vincent gave you this?” El holds up the worn-out diary. I nod. She stares at it in shock. “Wow.”“He wanted to see Brianna,” I explain.“Because he’s her uncle,” she finishes for me. “I cannot believe this.” Neither did I at first.She flips a few more pages and raises her head. “He has seen Brianna, right?” Another nod. Her curiosity is cute as she devours the content of Nicole’s diary, something I have not been able to bring myself to do. I know the most important bit already. “Do you need to seek his permission before adopting her?” “Dunno.” But I will most likely not be doing that. El adjusts her legs on my lap and pushes herself up the pillow with one elbow. I don’t know why I’m reluctant to tell her the truth of his death. “Are you done?”She raises the diary and shrieks. “Done?
Last Updated : 2021-12-07Mrs Reluctant Billionaire Ninety-eight
Our first stop is Joshua’s house. El presses the horn so hard I have to plug my fingers in my ears. She’s one wild woman. My wild woman. The front door of Joshua’s house flies open. He doesn’t look happy.Why is he at home anyways?Joshua storms to our car. “What the fuck, El?”She opens the door for him. “Get in.”Joshua sends me a careful look. We don’t get to meet bossy El often. We don’t know how to handle her. Joshua slides into the backseat without a word, he fixes me a stern frown through the rearview mirror. I shrug. I have no idea what’s going on yet except for our location. Yeah, she is driving us home.We resume the drive, at intervals, El’s eyes dart to the GPS. I should be driving but the stubborn woman won’t let me. Joshua’s eyes bore holes into the back of my head but I’m uninterested in putting him out of his misery. He didn&r
Last Updated : 2021-12-08
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ElnaI shut the door to our bedroom and tiptoe inside. Brandon doesn’t stir. He’s dead asleep. Or so I think till I near the bed and drop the package—his valentine gift on the nightstand. He puckers his lips for a kiss and I gladly indulge him. His hands grasp my butt, he pulls me up to straddle him and I move slowly against his erection without breaking eye contact. “Are they asleep now?” “Yeah. Finally. Alleluia,” I reply with a laugh. “Maybe I shouldn’t have given them the day off.” Silly me thought it would be great to give the twins nannies Valentine’s Day off so our family could do something special. Bad choice. With two one-year old attention demanding kids, I need all the help I can get. To make it worse, this year’s valentine fell on a Sunday and most of last night was spent trying to quiet the babies. “Maybe.” Brandon captures my lips. The kiss is lazy but it soon grows urgent. His tongue searches for mine, twirlin
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire In the end (II)
The girls are dancing in a circle. Wyn is in the middle of the circle trying to perform a break dance. I laugh at her failed attempts, holding El closer to me as we sway gently to a rhythm in my head. El wrinkles her nose in disappointment, her fingers intertwine with mine and I spin her in a lazy circle.“You’re not supposed to be laughing at them,” she says as their mother dearest. “You cheer them up.”True. But it was funny. Wyn waves, Bren does the same. Brianna does not spare us a glance. Like me and El, she has two left legs. She can’t dance but she is better than us. I wrap my arms around El from behind, tucking my head into her shoulder. She smells delicious. I can’t wait to have her alone.The music filters into my ears, I close my eyes and the lyrics wrap around my heart.“What’s Josh doing?”My eyes fly open. Josh is at one of the two canopies with Joy. Most of the g
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire In the end (I)
It’s today. Our vow renewal. To be honest, it feels like we are getting married again. This time, we have the people we care most about to celebrate the reunion with us and it makes me anxious. Joshua claps my shoulder. “Relax.” It’s so easy for him to say that but he doesn’t get it. The love of my life is out there. I haven’t seen my wife since yesterday because her mother believes it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. We stare into the floor-length mirror, our matching charcoal grey suits are differentiated by our ties. He’s my best man. “Is Joy coming?” he asks. Sophia will be in attendance but I can’t speak for her friend. I don’t say a word to him but I know this won’t work. Joy is older than Joshua. If her attitude towards him on my birthday is a sign to go by, she doesn’t like him. Some parts of me feel like this is an infatuation that will die soon. It is taking too long for him to get over her but I hope
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and ten
The cries of our newborn babies snap me out of my sleep. I jerk up and check the time on the alarm clock. 7 pm. I groan into my hands.My life has changed since their arrival. My sleeping pattern has worsened and my knowledge about babies has increased.Babies poop a lot. They cry too damn much. They don’t need a reason to cry, just existing is enough reason for them to cry. It is exhausting.Brandon Langalethu Stark is the louder one. Brendan Lelethu Stark is quieter. Annika gave them their middle names with approval from their godfather, Joshua. Lelethu means ours while Langalethu, short for Langa means our sunshine. I must admit, he hasn’t been a ray of sunshine for a while. He’s a big ball of noisy energy. El rouses from her sleep at the incessant sound of her crying babies. I love my sons but they cry too goddamn much. Their cries are coordinated. Once one of them starts crying, the other twin is bound to join in.
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and nine
Chaos breaks out. Everyone is all over me and El, saying so many things at once. The smile sitting on her face disappears. Tears fill her eyes, her nails dig into my shoulders so hard I’m sure it will leave a mark.She is hurting.Annika is speaking so fast, asking about the baby things. Mother is telling everyone to calm down. El is crying, she doesn’t want to go to the clinic with a wet dress. I don’t know what to do. I wasn’t present for the first pregnancy. Mother pushes me aside and helps El to her feet. I almost scream. Is she allowed to stand? What if our kids fall out?I rush to El’s side. Mother guides her through a breathing exercise as what she calls a contraction hits El. It must have really hurt. She balls my shirt and makes a pained sound that stops everyone in their tracks. More than six pairs of worried eyes pin her in a stare but she focuses on only me. My baby.“I’m okay,”
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and eight
Choruses of happy birthday fill the air. I am dragged away from El before I can kiss her back or utter a reply. I was so worried she would forget about today I forgot it myself. Mother nudges me with her hip and grins. Well played. Even the girls were in on it.Joshua claps my arm. “Happy birthday, brother.” This idiot. He called me during the day and didn’t wish me anything. “Many happy returns.”We cheers to my new age and Bren pulls me to the living room where the real party is happening. The place has been redecorated. There are balloons tied to the wall, a table with a bigger cake on it and the words, “Happy Birthday, my love” written on it.There’s another cake. Well, there are three more cakes. Instead of my love, one has son, the other has brother and the last one has Daddy written on it. A cake from each of the most important people in my lives. My wife. My kids. My brother and my parents
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and seven
El sneaks an arm around my waist. Her belly is bigger now. Our babies will be showing up soon. She leans on me for support while we wait for the private elevator. It was her idea to get out of my office to buy crackers. A little fun fact: We have boxes of crackers at home. If she wasn’t pregnant, her attitude would have been suspicious but with pregnancy, anything goes. Rule number 123432444: Never argue with a heavily pregnant woman. It will end in chaos. We enter the elevator with my hand on her lower back. Our reflections on the metallic wall smiles at us and El laughs. I set my suitcase on the ground and palm her face for a proper kiss. With the pregnancy due, her office has become mine. She spends more time with me than anyone else. I love it. Her lips taste like donuts. We ordered some an hour after she arrived to “pick” me. I will never let her drive in her state but she enjoys using that term even if she was brought here by a driver. She r
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and six
El won’t stop staring at her ring.We are in the backseat of the car heading to the hotel for dinner when she reaches up to give me a kiss. Leaning on me, she smiles at her ring again. I think I did right by her. Her mother will be happy. We had a long, loud, argument about this. About the vow renewals too but that will be after El delivers.“I have two rings,” El says, hand stretched out in front of her. She rolls Mother’s ring on her middle finger. “Does that make me Lord of the rings?”“Lady of the rings, maybe.”My phone vibrates with a text from Joshua. He wants to know if I did it. I facepalm at his request of a picture. It’s one more thing I have to get better at. Capturing the memories on camera. I nudge El with my elbow to show her the text. Her hand eventually lowers, she nods eagerly and strikes a pose, flashing her teeth in all the selfies. She knows she is pretty.
Mrs Reluctant Billionaire One hundred and five
I tilt the laptop and the girls’ faces occupy the screen. Wyn is on top of Bren but her twin doesn’t seem to mind. Brianna is on one side of the bed, smiling at the camera. They are all lying on their stomachs. El settles down beside me, I prop the laptop on my knees and slip my hand into her shirt from behind. She shoots me a warning look. I bat my lashes like the cute baby daddy I am.“I miss Mummy,” Wyn says.My back meets the headboard and El rests her head on my shoulder. “What about me?”Again, she and Bren are rocking the same gowns. Wyn frowns. “I miss you too, I guess.”El bellows out a laugh. Evil girls. In a few months, I’ll have my boys. She wraps an arm around my waist to soothe me. It works for only a second before my attention returns to the laptop. Bren is grinning.“How are you?” El asks.“Fine,” three of them chorus.&
