Olivia ~•~ “You know today is Jason’s birthday and you ditched him to be with her. Is that how you treat your own son?” I watched from the window as Sandra confronted Alexander. I had no idea it was Jason’s birthday or I would have declined Alexander’s help to help us with the moving process. I also had no idea how Sandra knew Alexander was with us or where we were. “I agreed to meet you at your house for his party later in the day, right?” Alexander said, trying to keep his cool. “You didn’t have to show up here. You always like to cause trouble.” Sandra’s expression turned furious. “So you would choose them over your son? On his birthday? I can’t believe you.” Alexander let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m not choosing anybody.” He replied, running his hands through his hair. “You need to leave now, I’ll be at your house when it’s time for the party.” It was her son’s party and she didn’t think to wait until later to confront her self-acclaimed man. Didn’t she have to prepare for
Alexander ~•~I was excited when I got a Maybach for my eighteenth birthday.I was excited when I met my favorite footballer and he signed on to my football.I was very much excited when my company was listed among the top three companies in America.But none of those moments compared to the sheer excitement I felt when my ex-wife, Olivia, agreed to return to New York. I spent more than a month in California, trying to convince her to move back with me. But Olivia was determined to stay back in California and I lost all hopes of getting her back. I couldn’t stop smiling for days when she told me she was ready to move back to New York. My friend Arthur joked that I looked like I’d won the lottery, but the truth was, that getting Olivia back in the same city as me was far more valuable than any jackpot.I spent the last years fantasizing about having her back in my life. I also spent the last months fantasizing about being a part of my children’s life. Now that she was here, those f
Olivia ~•~“I was really confused when I heard him call my daddy his daddy.” “Me too, I didn’t know we had a little brother.” Hearing the kids talk about their encounter with Sandra’s son made me laugh. It wasn’t funny but their reaction to the incident was funny. They had no idea Sandra and I used to be best of friends. I wasn’t even planning on talking to them about it. I was a little bit relieved that they finally found out about their half-brother. After chatting with them for another few minutes, I put them to sleep and went back to my room. I indulged in a long and relaxing shower because I had a really long day. I dried off my body and changed into my nightclothes. Just as I was about to get to sleep, my phone rang. I retrieved it from the bedside drawer and saw it was Amanda calling me. “Hey, sister!” Amanda’s excited voice echoed through the other side of the line. “How are you doing? I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with moving” I waved my hands dismissively. “It’s okay
Olivia ~•~“Who was that?” Alexander asked when he saw the shocked look on my face. “What did the person say?” He added. “I have no idea who the person was,” I said, my mind racing with different thoughts. “You’re messing with me and I’m going to teach you a severe lesson,” I repeated what the person said to Alexander. His eyes widened in disbelief and his expression turned serious. “Why did you hang up the call without saying anything else?” I shook my head. “I didn’t hang up the call. The person who called me hung up without letting me say anything.” “Was it a female or male voice?” Alexander asked, his voice filled with genuine concern. “Who would say something like that to you?” “I have no idea if it was even a male or female,” I replied, leaning into the car seat. I couldn’t even think of what I had done to warrant that kind of warning from anybody. Alexander extended his hands to me. “Give me your phone.” He requested and I handed it to him without asking any questions.
Olivia ~•~ Alexander dropped me off at my parent's house before heading back to wherever he was headed. Even if he said the phone call must have been a prank call, I was still worried about it. But I just shoved away my thoughts and focused on my mother. When I arrived at the house, she was in the kitchen preparing a delicious meal. The amazing aroma of the food filled the air. My mother was a good cook. It was one of the things I missed the most when I moved out of my parent's house after college. “Olivia, how are you doing?” My mother asked with a wide smile on her face as she heard me walk into the kitchen. I returned the smile, grateful to see her happy. “I’m doing great, mum.” I threw my hands over her, pulling her into a tight hug. “How are you doing?” “I’m good, baby.” I was happy with the way my mum and I interacted with each other. Compared to the other years, we would have been upset with each other because of our different opinions about everything. “Alexander and
Olivia~•~I made my way to the familiar classroom where I had dropped them off earlier. However, the teacher's uneasy expression as I approached sent a shiver down my spine. “Where is Rowan?” I asked when I saw only Riley sitting beside the teacher. “We can’t find Rowan.” My heart flew out of my chest as I heard those words leave her mouth. “You can’t what?” I asked, hoping to hear a different answer. She must’ve probably made a mistake. “Where is Rowan?” “We’ve contacted the police and the school security are all searching for him.” The teacher said, her voice cracking slightly. My emotions were all over the place and I was trying to process what I had just heard. I began pacing back and forth around the classroom. “So you mean I dropped up my child in the morning? At a new school. And in less than six hours, he has gone missing?” I asked, incredulous. “I’m sorry, I had no idea who took him.” I took a deep breath and turned over to Riley. She was already crying profusely. I
Olivia ~•~My hands started shaking uncontrollably and my phone fell off my hand. “What’s going on?” Alexander asked as he picked it up from the ground. “Oh shit!” He exclaimed after he read the text from the phone. “It wasn’t a prank call after all.” He said, running his hands through his hair. Someone had taken my son as an act of revenge. I had no idea what I did or who the person was. My heart was racing and I was really scared. I could only hope they didn’t hurt my Rowan. “Can we see the head of the school or something?” I asked the crowd of teachers who had arrived at Rowan’s class. “He is in a meeting, he would…….” Alexander cut the teacher off before she could complete her statement. “Have you heard of Alexander Burke?” He asked, his voice low and threatening. “If you don’t get me whoever is in charge right now, you all will end up in jail.” Were they actually serious? My son was missing and the supposed head of the school was casually sitting in a meeting. A few of t
Alexander ~•~After I dropped Olivia off, I drove down to the tech company as fast as I could. For the first time, I even ignored the traffic lights and drove recklessly, my heart racing with every passing second. Arthur was already there waiting for me. He was the one who made the arrangements with the company to fly in a specialist from China. After a short drive, I pulled up in the parking lot of NovaTech. It was owned by a good friend of mine, so he didn’t hesitate to help me when I told him about the situation. “Hey.” Arthur walked over to me as I made my way into the building. “The man coming from China won’t arrive until tomorrow.” I let out a defeated sigh as he informed me. I was so caught up in finding my son and didn’t realize that it was going to be a long flight to New York. “Can’t the other workers here try to track the number again?” I asked as Arthur and I made our way to the elevator. “You already tried before, right?” Arthur asked I nodded.I didn’t know how s
Mason Craig~•~A few moments later, I heard a loud bang on my door, followed by my mother’s angry voice. “Mason Craig! Why did you choose to betray our family?” I had no idea how long I had been asleep for but I jerked back to reality after I heard those words come out from my mother’s mouth. I stood up from my bed immediately and walked to the door. My mother had a disappointed look on her face as the door swung open. “What are you talking about?” I asked, my brows etched in confusion. “So you decided to tell your little girlfriend about what we did? You decided to snitch and betray your family?” She questioned, her voice laced with disdain. My eyes were still thick with sleep and it took me a minute to process what she was talking about. “What do you mean? What girlfriend? I didn’t say anything to anybody.” I responded, my tone defensive. “Oh please!” She waved her hands violently in the air. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Follow me downstairs, your fa
Riley Burke ~•~After I was done talking to Mason, I went to meet Rowan because he asked me to meet him after my class. We were meant to go back home together. He was waiting for me in the driveway. I settled down in the front seat of the car and fastened my seatbelt. As we drove back to the house, I contemplated telling Rowan about the situation with Mason. But I wasn’t sure if I should say anything. Rowan would be so upset and probably tell my parents about it. I didn’t know if I wanted anybody to know what I knew Mason personally. It was best if I kept it away from them for a while. After an exhausting drive, we arrived at the house. “Is Belle still pissed at you?” I asked Rowan as we both stepped out of the car.He shook his head. “Yes, I messed up big time and I’m not sure she’ll forgive me easily,” Rowan admitted, running his hands through his hair. My lips parted and I blinked. “What? How did you mess up?” My curiosity got the best of me and I couldn’t resist asking him
Mason Craig~•~After Riley left, I remained in the office for a few more minutes. I needed some time to think and clear my head. I was certain that Riley didn’t believe anything I said and I had no idea how to make her see that I was being completely honest with her. Even if she eventually comes around, things will still be weird between us because of my parent’s behavior. After meeting so many shallow people, I finally found someone worth starting something with again. But it was already crumbling before it could even start. I didn’t have any other classes, so I decided to head back home. I locked the office and made my way back to my car. My uncle was a professor at the university, so he gave me a spare key. He asked me to go there whenever I needed a break from the crowd. He was one of the reasons why my father allowed me to attend Columbia University. He wanted me to go to a different country for college, but I didn’t want to go far away. Most times, I do regret my choice. I
Riley Burke ~•~I was already pissed when I saw Mason walking into the class. But his stupid text only fueled my irritation more. He still had the guts to ask if he did something wrong. Whenever I was upset and couldn’t do anything about it, my legs automatically started shaking. Liam noticed and tried his best to calm me down.I hated the fact that I was about to crash out in public. At first, I didn’t want to respond to his text. But out of annoyance, I responded to him and then blocked his number afterward.I didn’t want him to contact me anymore.After what felt like an eternity, the class was finally over. At one point, I even wanted to walk out of the class, but Liam persuaded me to stay. As everyone left the class, I wanted to rush out before Mason could get the chance to speak to me, but he was faster than me. I knew I wanted to have a conversation with him to demand answers but I wasn’t interested anymore. My daddy was going to take care of everything. “What do you want
Mason Craig ~•~After thinking about what to do for a while, I decided to tell Riley about it. I could imagine how devastated she would be if she found out about it from someone else. I didn’t want her to think I was part of it in any way. I knew telling her was me betraying my parents, but I didn’t care. The truth was going to come out eventually. I didn’t want it to look like I was enabling their behavior. At first, I wanted to call Riley and talk to her about it over the phone, but since we had a class together later in the day, I decided to leave it. I would have a conversation with her after our class. A few hours later, it was time for me to leave for school. I was already running late, so I grabbed my keys and bag before rushing down to the car. While I was on my way to school, I couldn’t stop thinking about the damage my parents had caused. They were so hungry for power and success, it wasn’t healthy. Even if they were giving me the silent treatment, I was still determ
Riley Burke ~•~As I got to school, I contemplated going back to my dorm room or going to class. I wasn’t sure I was in the right head space to see Mason. My mind was spinning with different thoughts and I was laced with anger. I couldn’t believe someone would betray me like that. I felt so stupid and used. I didn’t even know what to say to him. As I stepped out of the car, I decided to call Harper first to ask if she was in the room. I didn’t want to go to meet in an empty room, it would just fuel my frustration more. Harper didn’t answer her phone. I was guessing that was in class and couldn’t take the call. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I decided to call Amelia instead. I let out a relieved sigh when Amelia answered on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up? Are you in class?” I asked with a hint of urgency in my voice. “No, I’m in the dorm room.” She replied. “What’s going on?”I didn’t want to talk on the phone. “You’ll see me soon.” I ended the call and made my way to the dorm
Riley Burke ~•~It was finally time for me to leave for school.The driver was already waiting for me downstairs. I took one last look at my reflection in the mirror. I was satisfied with my look and my outfit for the day. I wore a pink sweatshirt and a short leather skirt with boots. I grabbed my coat and bag and then arranged my hair before heading downstairs. I only had one class, so I was kind of thrilled about it. Plus, I’ll also get to see my friends and Mason. As I walked down the stairs, I ran into my mother and Caroline discussing seriously in the living room. They were so engrossed in the conversation that they didn’t hear me walk down the stairs. “What’s going on?” My voice diverted both of their attention to me: I was able to hear some of what they were saying, so they didn’t see the need to keep it away from me. Plus, I deserved to know. I asked my father to keep me in the loop and he agreed to do so. “They finally found the people responsible for tarnishing the com
Mason Craig ~•~I could barely get any sleep the previous night because I couldn’t stop thinking about what Tristain had told me. He confirmed my fears about my parents being the ones responsible for Burke’s company’s rumors. I was highly disappointed. A part of me was also scared. Why did it have to be them? How would Riley feel if she eventually found out that my parents were the ones who were responsible? My mind was spiraling with different thoughts. I contemplated confronting my parents but they were already not speaking to me. I wondered if I should call Riley and tell her about it, but that wouldn’t be a smart move. It would be as though I was betraying my family. I hated that I was in such a position. I couldn’t even think properly. I didn’t know the right step to take. I didn’t even want my parents to know that I was friends with someone from the Burke family. I had no idea how they would react to it. Even if I wanted to keep the truth away from Riley, nothing stays h
Riley Burke ~•~“Stop asking because I’m not coming with you.” “Riley, please.” “Rowan, no. I don’t have any class until noon and I’m not ready to wait in the dormitory. I’ll just go with one of the drivers later.” “I’ll do anything you want, please.” Rowan had classes in the morning but I didn’t have any class until noon. Normally, Rowan would be pleased to go to school without me, but this time he had his girlfriend over and they got into a big fight. They were meant to drive back to school together but he wanted me to accompany them because he didn’t want the drive to be awkward. I always asked that he should stop putting me in the middle of their problems, but he never listened to me. It was always like this with them. They’ll have a big fight, ignore each other for a while, then make up again. Even when I mistakenly suggested that they part ways, he made it seem like I was just being a hater. I liked Belle, even if we weren’t exactly friends. I liked her as my brother’s g