•ABIGAIL•[15 YEARS AGO]"I'm sorry, Abi, but you have to talk to your Mom about this. I'm afraid that you might not qualify for college if your results continue to drop." "What am I going to say to her, Amanda?" I groaned. "Ever since my father died, she's been drinking every day. Kathrine and I always come back to the house dirty and messed up. Sadly, she had to quit school and find a job so that we could have something to eat." "I wish there was something I could do," she held my hand. "Have you tried talking with Mrs. Fischer? I'm sure she could be able to help you." "I don't want to trouble her. Besides, my mom would scold me for weeks if she found out that I told someone about our living arrangement." "But this is killing your future, Abi!" She disapproved. "You're a minor, and if social workers find out about this, they can find you a new home. That would be better than this, trust me. I really don't want you to miss out on the opportunity of getting out of this place." I
•ELIJAH•"May 2020?" Harper asked as she scanned the document that I gave her. "I honestly didn't know that the first child wasn't yours. What I know is that her current pregnancy might not be yours." "What do you mean it might not be mine?" I arched my eyebrows and felt myself getting angrier. Harper sighed as she got up from the couch. "I didn't know how to tell you this, but you have to get DNA tests done before you assume that the baby is yours. If she was able to convince you back then that the first child was yours, what more about this one?" "Harper, how do you know all of this? And how sure are you that she's not carrying Elijah's child now?" Poppy chimed in. "You have to talk with her and find out the truth yourself. I don't want to say some things that she might not have wanted you to know." "You have to tell me everything that you know, Harper. You're my sister, so you were supposed to reveal this to me the moment you found out whatever that you know." "The father mig
•DARLA•After Anthony left my hotel room, I sat in the same spot for 30 minutes and thought of everything that he said and revealed to me. I felt so robbed of a mother who could've loved and cherished me. What made it worse was that Belinda was the one who denied me that opportunity to know my mother.Giving the paper a second glance, I decided to call and hire a car so that I could go to the address and see my mother's family. When I was done organizing for a car, I drove to West Virginia, Beckley. I hoped that seeing them was going to be comforting and that at least I had met my mother through them. When I got to West Virginia, I looked around the place as if I was seeing little fragments of my mother that she left behind. When I drove inside Beckley and found the address, I stopped outside the driveway and looked at the house for a moment longer. I felt like crying all over again, wishing that Belinda could've been caught and arrested for such a gruesome murder of a pregnant
•ETHAN•"Was that Mommy, Uncle Ethan?" William asked when I got off the phone and placed my cell phone on the table counter. "Yes, it was, buddy. She told me to tell you to stop running around the house before you fall and break all your teeth." "Oh," he sighed as he slowed down. "But I wasn't too fast. I'm trying to save the world here. Please don't snitch on me." He whined as he jumped slowly until he disappeared from my sight. I chuckled as I watched him. I felt sorry for him for not having a friend around, but at least he seemed to be doing okay without one. I turned to my laptop and continued searching for Noah Cole. But I just couldn't find his profile because all the ones I found were of much younger boys."Hey, Mom. Do you happen to know where Noah Cole stays?" I asked after I called her because it seemed like I was going nowhere with my search. "Honey, are you telling me that you still haven't let this go, even after Eva told you to?" "I can't let it go, Mom." I sighed
•DARLA•"Mommy, Mommy..." "Mmh..." "Mommy, wake up." "Mmh..." I gasped as I woke up and groaned when I felt a throbbing headache. When I tilted my head, I saw an IV drip inserted into my forearm vein. When I tried to sit up, a pair of arms held me back. I was so confused about where I was or what had happened. Even my memory was blurry. "Darla, you will hurt yourself. Please, lay back. You're in the hospital. The doctor will be here soon." When I lifted my eyes and saw Elijah, it made me even more confused. "Elijah, what happened? Why am I here?""You were involved in a car accident. I was here in the hospital when they brought you in last night. How are you feeling?" He asked. "My head," I groaned as I scratched my head. "It hurts. I don't know what happened when I was driving." "They found alcohol in your system." He answered. Then it dawned on me that I had been drinking while I was driving. When I remembered everything that happened last night, I felt my heart breaking al
•ELIJAH•"How is she doing? Is she going to be okay?" I asked the doctor after he informed me that Abigail lost her child. I felt so bad and wished that I could've stopped her the moment she came back from the kitchen with the knife. I hated the thought that I was the reason she had lost her child, even though it wasn't my baby. "She's out of surgery now and resting. I am also concerned that she might need special care after what she did. A mental institution might be our best option than getting a therapist for her. They will monitor her behavior and find the best way to stabilize her. She's not only a danger to herself but to everyone around her." "You think she has a mental condition?" I asked. I couldn't believe it. Well, she has always had a temper and the impulse to do crazy things, but I never thought that she had a mental condition. I loved her once, and she was perfect. She was the woman that I saw myself with. She had never lost her temper or did anything to endanger h
•ABIGAIL•"I'm not crazy! Let me go! Let me go!" I kept screaming and squirming as they took me from my hospital ward after a week. When we got inside a van in the parking lot, they shoved me into the backseat and closed the door. They didn't even say anything to me as they got inside and drove to the mental institution. If there wasn't any barrier between the back seats and front seats, I would've strangled them before they could get me to that place. I was so angry at Elijah for allowing something like this to happen to me when he knew very well that I wasn't crazy. My only sin was being in love with him. When we finally arrived outside the institution, the two guys hopped out of the van and opened the door to let me out. But I didn't want them to take me in, so I tried to kick their faces when they leaned over to grab me. "Does a crazy person look like me?!" I snapped as I angrily grabbed tight on the seat while just kicking when they tried to grab me. When they leaned back
•DARLA•"Hello?" "Hey, Darla. I heard about your accident, and I just wanna say I'm glad that you survived. Are you in a good space to talk?" Anthony asked on the phone. It had been a week and a half since the accident, but I was feeling much better. My broken ribs had also been healing, and so was the throbbing headache that kept coming and going. "Yeah, I'm fine. How are you?" "I'm good. I wanted to inform you about the autopsy report that I received of our father. I had his body dug up a week ago, and I just found out the name of the substance used to kill him." "Okay?" I got up from my chair in my home office and lit up for the information that he had for me. This was one step closer to bringing my parents the justice that they deserved. Especially my mother, who was killed without a cause."She used a poison hemlock. He offered him a few grams a day before she eventually used more than a hundred grams to kill him. The poison has been killing him slowly since she started fe
•ELIJAH•'Fuck,' I muttered under my breath as I inspected my swelled eye in the bathroom.That motherfucker punched me right in the eye and it was just starting to hurt. I quickly looked for first aid in the bathroom cabinet so that I could treat it myself. I took antihistamine eye drops to reduce the discomfort and then went back to my bed to lie down just a bit. I hoped that the swelling would be a bit reduced in the morning since I had to go to my office.I was about to fall asleep when my cell rang next to me, and I quickly picked it up when I saw that it was Billy. "Yes?" I answered the call as I sat up on the bed."The hand is not real. It doesn't belong to Miss Harper or anyone. Just a mannequin hand with realistic makeup. I don't even think that Abigail knew that." I stood up to my feet and was flabbergasted. Harper was alive, and that meant that someone else took her. Either to save her since Abigail had left her to die or was going to ask for ransom before they could b
•DARLA•"Am I interrupting something?" Ethan asked as he walked inside the cabin restaurant, and I froze in my steps for a moment. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say. I wondered for a second how he even found me and came at the moment when I couldn't even make up a lie for what he saw. "Ethan, hey." Elijah greeted him and extended his hand for a handshake. But he just looked at it and walked toward me.He looked pissed and I had no idea what he would do when he looked like that. "You said Amelia called and asked for you to come over to her place because her man was giving her some trouble. So, where is she?" He asked as he looked down at me. "Ethan, this is not what you think. I can explain. You don't have to be irrational," I answered as I tried to grab his hand, but he wouldn't take it. "Irrational?!" He snapped. "Bitch, I'm not the one lying so that I can go and see my ex behind your back! You left the kids with me just so that you can come here and dine with him,
•ABIGAIL•"Hey, where are you? I went to your place just a while ago and couldn't find you." Kathrine asked on the phone when I arrived at my hotel suite with Diego. "I just went for a short vacation. Is everything okay?" I asked as I changed into comfortable clothing. I didn't want to tell my sister that I was in Detroit to sort out my problem with Harper because she was obviously going to tell me that she told me so. "Jason came here to my bar asking for you. I didn't know what to say to him. Is there anything I need to know, Abi? You know that I'm your sister and can help you with anything. I just hate that someone from the police is busy going around asking about you.""Did he tell you what he wanted with me?" I sighed as I leaned against the dressing table. "He didn't say anything, but I'm sure we both know what he wanted. Elijah could be the one who sent him. I hope you made sure that nothing could lead to you. They can't ever find Harper's body." "I know, Kat." I groaned a
•ELIJAH•"Sir?" "Yes, Billy?" "I think I found her." "You did? Where is she? Is she okay?" I was so happy when he told me that he had found her. "I found a body." "What?" "I found a hand. I think it belongs to Miss Harper. Abigail and her bodyguard just left, and I decided to inspect the place. I think they left her here after they killed her. I'm not sure if it's her hand, but I'll take whatever I can get and do DNA tests." My whole world shattered, and I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how I was going to tell my Mom the news. They were going to break her apart. But since Billy wasn't even sure that the hand belonged to Harper, I was going to wait until DNA tests proved otherwise. I hung up the call and turned to Darla at the bench. I didn't want to leave her just yet, but it seemed like I didn't have a choice. "Seems like I have to be on my way home now." She got up from the bench and looked at me. "It's alright, I hope they will find your sister." "I think they'v
•DARLA•"Lily..." I whispered under my breath when I arrived at the orphanage center that Elijah had kindly turned around and made it a more comfortable home for the kids who weren't lucky enough to find their happily ever after home."Miss Darla!" She squealed as she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. "Did you come with Elijah? He told me that he'll be coming with you the next time he comes to visit."I sighed as we sat down on the grass at their park. It was easy to spot her since they were having a sports day. "You only got me, unfortunately," I chuckled as I pulled out a diary book for her from my handbag. "This is for you." "What is it?" She asked as she took the diary. "I had one when I was your age. It helps to write down the chaos in your head and keep them inside the book. That way, things don't get into you very easily. I know how chaotic things get when you're 15." She gave me a brief hug again. "Thank you, Miss Darla." I wrapped my arms around her and rested my
•DARLA•"Elijah, what are you doing here?" I closed my office door, and he walked to the table and sat down on the edge. "I didn't know where to go. I couldn't sleep or do anything. My mind is all over the place, Darla. I don't know what to think. I think I've lost my sense of direction in life." He vented as I walked toward him with my arms folded on my chest. "What's wrong?" I asked. I didn't want to throw him out. Not when he seemed like he needed to talk. He chuckled as he got up and walked toward me, and that's when I realized that he was fucking drunk. It was 10 in the morning, but his breath was reeking of alcohol. "Can you believe that my mother, the one person that I deemed to be perfect in everything that she does, cheated on my father and fell pregnant with my younger sister? The one who disappeared?" "Harper?" "She lied to us all our lives when she knew very well that my father died because of her. He died from a cardiac arrest because of her. I'm sure he couldn't ta
•ABIGAIL•"Who do you think you are?" I scolded. "You can't come here and threaten me in my house." "I just want to ask you a few questions, Abigail. You don't have to be so defensive." My goodness, I couldn't believe that Jason dared to come to my place and ask me useless things. Harper was probably dead wherever she was, but this guy was still bugging my ass about her. He texted and called me several times last night to ask me if I knew anything about Harper's disappearance, but despite telling him that I didn't know anything, he decided to come to my place and interrogate me.It was clear that he and Elijah were convinced that I was the one who kidnapped Harper. But fuck. I was the one who made him suspicious of me from the beginning when I threatened to hurt Harper because she ruined things for us and made me kill my child.But no, they weren't going to prove anything. "I'm not defensive." I scoffed. "How would you feel if I showed up at your house at this time of the day an
•ELIJAH•"I gave you an order to find my sister!" I punched Enzo in the face after Jason called me to his garage when he found him having a drink at the club and having fun. Jason had recommended him because he had good reviews about his competency in finding lost people. He was praised by many and had a lot of success cases. But when Jason found him slacking, we had to teach him a lesson. Every hour that he wasted by putting Harper's life at risk and anything could happen to her. It had been 4 days without any lead to her, and we were starting to be more worried and on edge. We couldn't afford any little mistake. "If you knew that you weren't capable of finding my sister, you would've declined the offer and stopped wasting time and my money!" I was angry and felt like beating him up just like they were beating up Harper on the video."I'm sorry, Sir, it will never happen again. I swear that I did my job and went to the club because I just wanted to clear my mind before resuming m
•ABIGAIL•"You will always belong to me, Elijah. No one is ever going to take you from me unless they want to deal with me." I looked at Sonia, who rolled her eyes at me."That's never going to happen." "Alright, if you say so." I looked at her and scoffed because she clearly had no idea what I was capable of, but she was about to find out."Listen here, and listen very carefully, Abigail," Sonia scolded as she closed the small gap between us. "If you know what's best for you, I would advise you to stay away from my business with Elijah. If he wanted to be with you, he would've made that clear by marrying you instead of breaking off your engagement." "Bitch, I still have his ring on my finger," I cocked my head to the side and smirked as I showed her the diamond ring. "So, as far as this is concerned," I pointed to the ring. "He's still mine." "Leave my house, you two, right now!" Elijah escorted us out of the house, and I didn't have a problem.When I got inside the car, Diego roa