•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
•DARLA•“Don't worry, my love. I will get divorced from Darla. Just promise me that you will never leave me again.” I woke up from the bed with my pillow wet from my sweat. I sat up and gasped for air, and my heart raced against my chest.I was shocked at how real the dream seemed, and when I looked beside me on the bed and saw it empty, I felt my stomach sinking. When I had cooled down, I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes as the events of yesterday replayed again in my memory. Yesterday was my second anniversary with Elijah and also my birthday, of which he forgot and never bothered to celebrate either of the events with me. “Hey, Sadie. Is Elijah in his office today?” I asked when I called his secretary to find out from her if he had planned anything for the day. “Yes, ma'am. But he's attending back-to-back meetings. I'll tell him that you called when he comes back from the board meeting at 3 PM.” “No, it's okay, Sadie. You don't have to do that. Are you sure that he ha
•DARLA•I stood up from the couch when I saw how angry he was."Honey, what are you talking about?" I asked as I tried to get him to calm down because he was scaring me. I had never seen Elijah angry with me before, and it caused a knot in my stomach. "You know damn well what I'm talking about, and don't you honey me," he retaliated as he pointed his finger at me. His sister and mother stood up from the couch as well and stood behind me.I thought that they would have my back, but they just stood there and said nothing. "I didn't do anything to anyone, Elijah. If you're going to accuse me of anything without facts, then I suggest that you ask me nicely without shouting at me as if I'm a child." I shot back. "You think that I don't see through you?" He snarled as he leaned closer to me. "You're a jealous bitch, and if you think that attacking and hurting Abigail will ever make me see you any differently, you got to think again." "I am your wife, Elijah, in case you've forgotten!"
•DARLA•After a little while, things seemed to be going very well for Elijah and me.I was happy and praying that things remained the way they were. I found myself enjoying the little gestures he did to make up for what was wrong. We were spending time together and laughing together a little bit more than before. I found myself falling in love with him all over again. He was my dream guy, and I couldn't imagine a love greater than what I felt for him. Even though he had never expressed his love for me, I decided to be patient with him and wait for the day he would realize that he was in love with me. As for the baby part, I didn't allow it to ruin my mood every time his mother asked if I had my period or not.I decided to occupy my day with the study material that I received from Business College before my parents abruptly discouraged me from studying further for my business degree and told me that I had to marry Elijah and be a housewife.Although Elijah had no idea about my desi
•DARLA•"You're 6 weeks pregnant... Congratulations, you're 6 weeks pregnant..." The words kept replaying over and over in my mind as the doctor signed my discharge papers, and Amelia came to pick me up. I kept asking myself how I even got pregnant when I was on birth control, and Elijah was even making sure that we didn't have a child together yet. I wasn't sure if I had any slip-ups, especially now that Elijah wasn't hiding his unfaithfulness to me and was publicly displaying his affection for Abigail. I wasn't even sure that he would want me to keep the baby if I told him the news. He made it clear several times to me that he didn't want us to have a child. "I'm so sorry about yesterday, I didn't want to tell you on the phone about what I saw and heard." Amelia apologized as she pulled up outside the house. I looked at her and smiled. She was my best friend for 20 years now and I was happy that she always got my back. She and I had come a long way, and I trusted her more tha
•ELIJAH•"Hey," a voice greeted me at the door of my office, and when I lifted my eyes and saw Abigail, I straightened up with a smile on my face. "Hey," I smiled at her as she closed the door behind her and walked toward my desk. "We need to talk," she breathed as she sat down on the chair opposite mine. I tensed up at that because I knew that it wasn't something good. In my mind, I assumed that it had something to do with my wife. That bitch couldn't behave. I hoped that for her sake, Darla wasn't causing any trouble with Abigail and disturbing her peace. "What is it? Is everything okay?" I asked. "Yeah, but... There's something I have to tell you." She took out something from her handbag and placed it on the table contour in front of me. When I saw the positive pregnancy test, my heart raced, and I felt like I was sweating. 'Wait -' In my mind, I wasn't even sure that I nutted inside her, which explained the throbbing headache the following morning in our hotel room two m
•DARLA•One way or another, my life had to go on, and that meant that I had to let go of my breakup with Elijah. "Your husband called and told us about the divorce. Is it true?" My mother asked on the phone the following morning. I hesitated to answer because I knew how much she and my father wanted my marriage with Elijah to work. "Yes, Mom. Elijah filed for divorce, and we would be officially divorced very soon after his attorney finalizes it in court." "You can't get divorced from the Houston boy, Darla. Like the good girl that you are, I want you to go back to him and make things right. Apologize for whatever it is that you did to him and make sure that the divorce doesn't happen. Do you understand me?" I groaned as I got up from the couch in my hotel suite. "He divorced me, Mother, because he's having a baby with someone else. I can't possibly go back there and ask him to take me back after what he did!" "You can't go back just because he's having a child with someone else?
•DARLA• "Are you sure that you can do this?" "Yes, Ethan, and before I change my mind, I need you to run me over the whole thing again. I need all the details, including the business that you'll be doing with the Iraq men." "Of course, we can set up another lunch date, and I'll tell you everything that you need to know. And about leaving Atlanta," he paused for a moment. "I was going to suggest that we relocate to California. That's where I'll be working most of the time." I honestly didn't care about where we relocated to, as long as I was going to be very far away from Elijah. I was looking forward to finally living my life without being told what to do and when to do it. "That sounds great to me. As long as we will be out of Atlanta," I said as I packed the pregnancy report inside my traveling bag. "I'm sorry about earlier, I should've -" "It's okay, Ethan," I sighed as I sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm over that now. Once you and I leave this place, we won't tal
•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