•DARLA• "Please don't run, guys!" I warned the twins as they ran to their rooms as soon as we walked inside the front door. I scurried up the stairs, desperately trying to find Ethan so that I could tell him everything that happened at the hospital, including the part where Anthony commented that William looked like Elijah. It was already late when we got home, so I suspected that he was already in bed trying to sleep. But when I walked in and found the bed empty and the shower running, I headed to the bathroom and opened the door. "Hey, stranger. We are back," I announced as I went to peek inside the shower, and when I saw him in the shower with a woman, my handbag slipped out of my hands and fell on the floor. "Ethan?" I was in disbelief at the sight before me. I couldn't understand how he sneaked Rachel inside our house and dared to sleep with her in our bedroom. "Darla!" He panicked as he leaned back from her, grabbed his towel near the shower, and wrapped it around his
•DARLA•"What happened?" "His vital organs failed before the surgery was completed. I'm sorry, Miss Miller. Our condolences to you and your family." The lady on the phone said before she hung up the call. I laid my cell phone down on the bed and couldn't believe that he was dead. When I tried to remember my last memory with him, my eyes filled with tears because I never got a chance to understand why he never treated me like his child. I felt unworthy of love because the first man who was supposed to love and protect me failed when Belinda started to ill-treat me.When I picked up my cell phone to call Amelia and inform her of the news so that she could advise me about what to do, a text came through on my phone. Text: "As you know that Abigail and I are engaged, I want you to know that I love her as I always did when you and I were married. She's the only woman that I want and wouldn't want you to take my kindness for anything serious. I'd also appreciate it if you respect her a
•ETHAN•Email: "We are sorry, Sir, but the DNA you sent has no found matches. We apologize for any inconvenience caused." I read the email and groaned as I leaned my head back on the couch, feeling a light headache from trying to find the only sibling that I thought I had out there. "Did you find anything?" Chris asked on the phone when I called to inform him about the outcome of the DNA agency that he recommended for me to try out. "Nothing. It's just so weird, you know. I can't even ask my parents because they will do anything to conceal the evidence that's already there about the child that they had before me." When I went home and found a picture that had been hidden under a picture in our family album, I made it my sole mission to find out who the little girl was that my parents hid from me and didn't tell me about."Are you sure that they don't know that you saw the picture?""I'm sure. They would've asked me." "It's alright, we'll find out soon enough. I'm sure if we get s
•ELIJAH•On my way back to the house, I kept thinking of Darla and the children she was with. I couldn't stop wondering about the possibility of one of them being mine. But even at that, my mind kept reminding me that she was on birth control the entire two years we were together, and there were slim chances that she might have left while pregnant with my child. 'Fuck it.' I swore under my breath as I slipped out my cell phone from my pocket and texted her. The boy seemed older and looked a little bit like my late father. Before resting my mind on the possibility of having a child out there without my knowledge, I needed Darla to confirm that there was no way that the boy was mine. Me: "Hey, I'm sorry to ask this... But how old are the kids? Is there a possibility that one of them is mine?" Darla: "They are twins, Elijah. And no, they are not yours. I wouldn't have kept them from you if they were. These kids belong to Ethan." Me: "I'm sorry for asking, I just wanted to make sure
•DARLA•"Mommy, will be back soon, okay?" "Where are you going again, Mom?" Maddie asked, sobbing. I knelt before the twins and placed my hands on their shoulders, trying not to break down in front of them and tell them that their grandfather, whom we visited at the hospital two days ago, was dead. "I'm going to work and will be back as soon as I can. Penelope will take care of you and will call me so that I can talk with you whenever you miss Mommy, okay?" William nodded as he rested his head on my shoulder and hugged me while Madison sobbed. It broke my heart that I couldn't take the kids with me, but I didn't want to risk anything happening that I wasn't prepared to happen. "I will come back soon, and we will all go shopping, play games, and go swimming," I promised them as William leaned back from me. "Just like we used to. How does that sound?" "Are you sure you will be back soon this time?" Maddie asked as she wiped off the tears from her cheeks. "Yes, and I will take yo
•DARLA•"What are you doing here?" She asked after closing the door behind her and walked toward me. I quickly got up from the bed and hid the doctor's report behind me, trying to calm my racing heart from making it obvious that I was snooping around. "I'm sorry, Mom," I cleared my throat and pretended to wipe my eye with my free hand. "I was looking at Dad's pictures, and I kind of lost track of time. I'm sorry." She arched her eyebrows, clearly not convinced by my answer or perhaps suspecting that I was hiding something behind me. "Get out of my bedroom before I call security on you." She pointed her finger at me. "If I ever see you again in my house, I will make sure that you rot in jail. Do you hear me?" I frowned at her statement because even though she couldn't hide the fact that she hated me and everything that had to do with me, I was still Benjamin's daughter and had every right to come to his house. "But this is my father's house, and as far as I am concerned," I close
•ELIJAH•"Miss Hayes!" The doctor squealed when we walked inside his office and sat down. "It's a pleasure to see you again. Is this the new father?" He asked as he looked at me. Abigail's smile almost reached her ears as she grabbed my hand and caressed her lower belly with her other free hand. "Yes. This is my fiance." "It's a pleasure to have you here, Mr. Houston." And so he knew me. "I am sure that Miss Hayes was very kind to speak well of my services and how I am very dedicated to making sure that you both bring a healthy child into this world." I smiled at the doctor as I gently slipped my hand from Abigail's hand, irritated by the fact that she always wanted to display a happy union to people when she knew that I was no longer interested in making our relationship work. "Thank you, Dr. Jones. We are here for Abigail's check-up and to make sure that the baby is well." "Of course, let me take you guys to the ultrasound room to have a look at your baby." When we got to the
•DARLA•Early in the morning, I woke up and prepared myself for my meeting with Dr. Jones, who had promised to get my father's report from the hospital, so that we could find out what might have happened to him. I was willing to pay him any amount of money that he wanted just for me to get to the bottom of what happened to him. Even though I wasn't close to my father before his death, he was still my father, and he and I were very close before Belinda got between us and poisoned the relationship that we had.After getting out of the shower, my cell phone rang and I rushed to pick it up, thinking that it was Dr. Jones, but it was Ethan. I rolled my eyes and released an exhausted sigh as I answered the call. "Yes?""Darla, my love. How are you?" 'My love?' I scoffed. "I'm fine, Ethan. How are you?" "I miss you. It's been two days now, and I'm getting very anxious about what's happening between us. I honestly do not want to lose you over anyone. It took me so long to gather the cour
•DARLA•"I think I might know who did this," Elijah replied as he got up from the couch. "I think with this new evidence of him trying to tarnish your name with nonsensical theories, we have a chance to get him in jail.""You know who did this?" I asked as I wiped off my tears. "It's Ethan, of course. Who else would've leaked the information about how you got the Millers Properties Lifestyle? Or how you inherited everything from your father and banned your stepmother and brother from the company? It seems pretty obvious to me." I looked at him and realized how much sense he had made. Yet again, I failed to see Ethan for who he truly is. "Then what now?" "I know how to get him to confess to this and also get him to get this article off the internet. So don't worry, I'll take care of him for you. He will never bother you again." For the first time in forever, I let down my guard and decided to trust Elijah. Even though it was hard for me to admit that I needed his help when I came
•ABIGAIL•"Don't worry, I'll call you. Yeah -" My heart skipped a beat when I heard Diego on the phone when I walked out of the restroom. We were in New York and had withdrawn the money for our fake passports, which made it weird about who he might be talking to on the phone. He made my mind and heart uneasy because of his constant attention to his cell phone, which wasn't a problem until a few hours ago.'Fuck. He better not be cheating on me,' I groaned as I walked back to the bathroom and went to look at myself in the mirror and reapply my makeup. I sure wasn't going to let Diego use me to get a fake passport and then turn around and want to bring his whore with us. I had to make sure that he didn't even think about stabbing me in the back after all the things that he did with me and to me. When I was done patting myself on the back, I walked out of the restroom and found him waiting for me. He looked a bit agitated. "Is everything okay?" He asked when I walked toward him as
•ELIJAH•"I want your best flowers and the best gift box you got. Make sure that they are as romantic as they can be. I want them delivered to the address that I sent you. Yes. Thank you." I hung up the call and sat down on my couch. I was in one of my apartments so that I could have my own space and also get my mission accomplished on time.After receiving a file from my private investigator about Ethan's fraud with his former Arab business partners, I realized that it was going to help me get him under my control, and also get him to pay for kidnapping my kids.My cell phone rang, and when I realized that it was Harper, I got up from the couch and answered the call. "Hey, Jason sent me a text that Diego called and told him that you found them. Is Abigail with you?" I asked. "Yes, she's here. We are still keeping her in our hotel room. Jason hasn't called his cop friends, has he?" "No, but they are waiting for something. Abigail has to be captured, and since they had a lead, it h
•DARLA• "I can't believe that you had sex with Elijah," Amelia commented after I closed the door behind Elijah. I rolled my eyes as I turned around and walked to the living room where the kids were happily playing together. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's so crazy that you think I did such a disgraceful act with Elijah. I'd do that with anything walking around with a dick, but Elijah. My goodness," I answered when we got to the kitchen. "I'm sure you think that you're fooling me right now, but I can literally smell and see a person who just had sex." "Oh, yeah?" I chuckled after pouring myself and her a glass of apple juice. "Your pregnancy does that?" "Yeah, and your shirt is turned over." I gasped as I looked down at my shirt and instantly felt overwhelmed with embarrassment. I was so sure that even the housekeeper and Penelope saw that and knew what I did when Elijah was in the house. "That -" I sighed as I tried to think of an excuse. "I didn't see it
•ETHAN•"Morning, beautiful." I smiled as I brought Meghan a cup of coffee in bed. She looked so beautiful, and I couldn't believe my luck in bringing her home from the bar after a failed attempt two nights ago. "Fuck," she groaned.She didn't look so impressed when she saw me. She got up from the bed, dressed up, and took her handbag from the floor. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hit the road. I'm sure we had a lot of fun last night, but I'm not the romantic type to do breakfast in bed, talk, or whatever you thought was going to happen." I placed the cup of coffee down on the pedestal counter and turned to her a little disappointed. She didn't seem like someone who only did one-night stands.I was even thinking that maybe she didn't like me as much as I thought she did when she came home with me. "Wait, what's wrong? You were happy when we came home and you seemed interested in me. Did I read all that wrong?" I asked as I leaned toward her. "It's not you, honestly. But I can't do
•DARLA•"Say it again, Darla. I want you to tell me that you don't love me anymore, but I want you to look me straight in the eye this time when you say it." "What difference will make it, Elijah?" I scoffed. "It won't change the fact that I don't want to be with you anymore. Getting me the cool pink car, jewelry, bags, and shoes is never going to make me forgive you for all the shit that you put me through!" "Are you going to say it?" "Fuck you!" I snapped. "You left and abandoned me when I was pregnant with your kids! How dare you think that you can come back into my life, and I'll just forgive you as if you didn't leave me to be with another woman?! You're a motherfucking cunt, Mr. Houston!""I know that I lied, cheated, and divorced you on claims that Abigail was pregnant! I know that I was an asshole who doesn't deserve sympathy from you, but I love you!" He sighed. "I love you with all my heart, and nothing makes sense to me right now than you." He breathed. "You're the only
•HARPER•"Hey, are you okay?" I breathed, packed my bag, and took a sip of my lemon juice on the table. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired of being here and not getting anywhere. Abigail seems impossible to find." Alec smiled as he came to sit down next to me on the bed. "Don't you trust me anymore? I brought you here with me because I know that we can find her. I know Abigail and how she thinks. Chicago is not big enough for her to hide." "Yeah, and we've been here for a day already. We should be getting somewhere, but it seems like we aren't getting anywhere, Alec. What if she's no longer in Chicago? I don't think that I can stay here any longer chasing pavements!" I snapped and then sighed. "Something's going on with you. What's wrong? You know that you can talk to me about anything." "There's nothing wrong! Stop with your interrogations, Alec, and get me, Abigail!" I snapped again as I stood up from the bed. "I'm starting to feel like you don't want me to find your bitch anymor
•ELIJAH•"This better be good," I sighed after answering Diego's call in the morning. I was sleeping when he called me at 5 AM. I had a long night and slept quite late because of a research that I was conducting. "I'm with Abigail, Sir. We met last night in Chicago and will be on our way to New York this morning for some cash. I just need a little more time before turning her in." "My sister and her friend are in Chicago searching for her. When you come back from your New York trip, please give me a call. She has to be captured tonight. That's how much time I'm going to give you." "Yes, Sir. That's okay. I'll make sure that she's captured. I just want to make sure that Harper gets back the remaining money that Abigail took from her." I got up from the bed and sighed. "Alright, give me a call when you're back." "Sir?" "Yes?" "Does our deal still stand? You get Abigail and let me go? You promised not to harm me or my family if everything goes your way. Please, I hope nothing wil
•SONIA•"Hey, Mom. It's me again," I sniffed as I sat down on the carpet floor in the basement. This was where I spent some of my time whenever I needed to feel close to my Mom, even though I didn't really have any memories of her.Before my father had his life devoted to his work, he and I used to have a weekly tradition whereby we would watch videos he took with my Mom before she died. They looked so happy and in love together, which made sense why my father never remarried after her death. She was the love of his life."I know that we barely know each other, but I have no one right now. You're the only person who can listen to me without any judgments, and I really need to vent right now," I sighed. "Was it ever this hard when your parents wanted to get you married to someone else when you were with Dad? Was it this hard because they didn't want you to be with someone who wouldn't be able to take care of you?" I silently cried and wiped my tears before they could reach my cheek