Lexi’s POVThe voice sounded so familiar that I just knew that I'd heard it before. Turning to the direction that the voice came from, my jaw dropped when I saw who it was.He carried himself with so much agility and confidence and he walked with so much grace, his hair scattered across his face and his suit fitted him very perfectly.At first I could swear that I saw Ivan but when I blinked and looked again, it wasn’t Ivan but Darren and I still remember his name because he’d introduced himself to me on the plane the first and last time we met.He placed his hands on my shoulders as soon as he got to me and I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it.“What were you doing?” He asked Bella who spluttered but couldn’t get any words out. Just some minutes ago she was acting like the world revolved around her and now she can’t even form a sentence?“You know how much I hate it when I repeat myself so do yourself a favor and start talking!” He yelled, making both me and Bella
Lexi’s POVHearing Darren call me his friends was kind of shocking because here I was already misunderstanding his kindness and our relationship when he only thought I’m his friend.“Thank you.” I said and he shrugged as he helped me get in his car like I can’t get in on my own. I gave him the name of the hospital and although he tried to make the ride there lively, it was a short ride from my house and I still wasn’t in the mood to talk.We soon got to the hospital and I followed Doctor Anna to the lab so that she was going to run a few tests on me to check the condition of me and my babies.“Lexi,” she started when what I assumed to be the last test results came out, “your condition isn’t getting any better and we really need to do something about it.” Dr Anna finished with a sigh.“I understand how connected you feel to your babies, I’m a mother too so believe me, I know but what do you do when you know deep down that keeping them inside you isn’t only endangering your life but the
Ivan’s POVReece and Ansel have been trying their best to help me since I asked for their help and I couldn’t have been any more grateful but it felt as though all of their efforts were nothing because as much as I tried I couldn’t remember anything.“Okay, just focus,” Ansel started as he placed charts in front of me, “do you remember that you created this with Lexi?” He asked.I took a look at the chart in front of me and it just doesn’t make any sense to me because I have never seen it before.They’d asked multiple questions about Lexi in hopes that it would help jog my memory but nothing they tried worked.After multiple questioning and talking, Ansel and Reece eventually gave up and decided to leave it to me to remember whenever I’m ready.Closing my eyes, the bright white light flashed across my mind again and I could see two people, a man and a woman, but I couldn’t make anything out of their faces.They were talking and laughing and I could feel their happiness, it felt as tho
Lexi’s POV“You have a meeting with Quinn’s distillery today and…” I paused to catch my breath, since my belly got bigger the pace at which I do the things has gotten slower.Groaning, I took a seat opposite Darren so that I’m going to be facing him. I couldn’t be any more grateful that the bond between us had gotten stronger.He has been more supportive than I could have ever imagined and over the month, he’s been so helpful and a great friend to me.“I don’t know why you’re so stubborn, Darren started and I rolled my eyes at him. I knew what he was getting at and where this conversation was leading to.“Your doctor asked that you shouldn’t be stressing yourself and I on the other hand have been begging you to take rest but you don’t listen, now look how tired you are.” He scolded me as he stood and walked towards me.“We’re going home right now and nothing you say will change my mind.” He added, helping me up. I opened my mouth to protest but Darren was done with me.Not paying me a
Lexi’s POVThings got even more intense between Darren and I and I couldn’t believe that I could be this happy. He took all of my pains away and replaced them with so much joy.Making me forget all of the terrible things that had happened to me and the heartbreak that Ivan caused me. I’d made up my mind to tell him about Ivan when the babies are here.“Why not move in with me?” Darren asked as we arranged the guest room in preparation for Camille’s arrival. She’d called and told me that she was going to be here soon.“It’s bigger and there’d be more space for you, the babies and even Camille.” He added, pointing out reasons why I should move in with him.He had a good point. I've been to his house and it’s ten times more comfortable than my apartment could ever be but I wasn’t ready to make such a decision.“I know,” I sighed, “I still need more time to think about it. I don’t want to make any hasty decisions and I really hope you understand.” I explained to him.Darren walked towards
Lexi’s POV“W… what… what do you mean your water broke?” Darren asked and as much as I wanted to keep calm everything just kept pissing me off.“MY WATER FUCKING BROKE!” I yelled, the pain coursing through my being. I knew being in labour was painful but I had no idea that it was going to be this painful.People were watching but at this point I didn’t even care if I was the circus clown.“I can’t do this, I really can’t do this.” I cried as I held Camille but she kept imploring me to breathe when really what I want to do is stop breathing.“We need to get her to the hospital, Darren, get the damn keys!” Camille ordered and in one swift, Darren stormed to our table for the keys.My legs ached, my entire body ached and my head was spinning, everything around felt as though it was turning upside down.“Don’t close your eyes, we’re almost there.” Camille told me, I squeezed her hand tightly as the pain gripped me.I felt like life was slowly leaving my body and I knew that the car was pr
Ivan’s POVIt’s been months and there still hasn't been any good news on the search for Lexi. I knew how big the city is and I knew that finding her would be really difficult but I was willing to wait even though it took me years.I’m going to find her and atone for my sins.She doesn’t deserve to be left alone, she doesn’t deserve to be abandoned especially by the person who she thought loves her.Sighing, I dropped the document I was working on and rested my back properly on the chair as I closed my eyes.Everything just seemed so draining without Lexi. Charlotte and Vladimir managed to make me concede to letting Celine back in with me and I’d do anything for them even if it’s to put up with someone I wish that I could kill in a blink of an eye.Living with someone else and knowing that I was going to leave my office and go back home to someone I don’t want to see was mentally draining and if it weren’t for the merging that my foster parents were searching for, I knew what I’d have
Ivan’s POVGetting home, I opened the door to see Celine setting the table and I was forced to check the time again.It was 11:35 PM and usually, she’d be asleep so what’s she still doing awake.Trying my best to ignore her, I walked past her and decided to go to bed, it wouldn’t be the first, second or third time that we wouldn’t be saying anything to each other and honestly, I love the peace.“I’ve been waiting for you all night,” her voice made me stop in my tracks and I clenched my fist before I continued walking away.“If it weren’t for the tracker on your phone, I wouldn’t know you were coming home.” I stopped completely and rage smothered me as I turned to look at her.“What?”“You didn’t know? I turned your location on and had an app installed so I was going to know where you are,” she proceeded to explain like I wanted to know.“You’ve not been eating well and so I thought…” she wasn’t opportune to complete her statement because my palm was already wrapped around her neck.Ho
Lexi’s POVTHREE YEARS LATER.“Food is ready!” I called out to the men while Camille, Reece and I set the table. I knew they weren’t going to answer me because of the game that they were watching.“I can bet you a hundred dollars that they wouldn’t leave that couch even if they were dying of hunger.” Reece sighed and Camille quickly agreed but I only smiled.“I’ll take that bet from both of you so if I get them to stand up, I get a hundred bucks each from you guys?” I asked and they agreed.Not calling them anymore, I went about setting the table and after a while I decided to lean against the wall, cleaning off the sweat on my forehead and rubbing my belly.“He just kicked! The baby just kicked!” I screamed with a wince as the men flew up from the couch, Camille’s boyfriend inclusive with Ivan leading the army.My eyes lit up and an eyebrow raised, Cassian caught on immediately and told the rest that I was lying, they were about to return to the sitting room when we insisted that the
Lexi’s POV“You can keep tapping your feet but that wouldn’t stop this wedding from taking place.” Reeces voice jolted me out of my thoughts as I turned to face her.“My offer still stands, I’ll rip this gown apart and take the kids and we’ll run away from here if you’re not sure about this.” Camille blurted but Reece smacked her.“She wants this,” Reece responded, “she’s just nervous and it happens to a lot of people.” She explained but Camille only shrugged.She was right, I was nervous and although there wouldn’t be many people, just a few of Ivan’s clients, people from his work, Camille and her boyfriend, Ansel, Reece and the kids.Those aren’t faces that I haven’t seen before but still the more I think about the fact that today is my wedding day, the more nervous I get.It’s a joyous day of course and I’ve been looking forward to it since Ivan asked me to marry him, I still didn’t know how to feel because I’ve always talked about this day with my parents.My father always spoke a
Ivan’s POV“Hi princess, Hey champ.” Andrei greeted with a smile on his face as he crouched in front of Adeline and Cassian.“I’m sorry it took so long for us to meet but Uhm,” he continued, lifting his gaze to meet “I’m glad we finally got to meet.” He added as he extended his hand for a shake but they hugged him instead.“If you’re brothers, how come you don’t look alike?” Adeline asked, I wasn’t expecting anything less than that from her.Andrei and I laughed before finally explaining to them that we aren’t real brothers but foster brothers. It took a while for it to finally sink in but they soon got it.“But despite that, he’s still family and I love him so much.” I finished with a smile and they both nodded. I could tell Andrei was holding back tears and I wanted to shorten the meeting but he insisted on getting to know them more.Moving away so that I was going to give them the privacy that they needed, I walked over to Lexi who was still admiring her ring. I’ve always wanted th
Lexi’s POVCamille squealed before I could bring myself to say anything, her voice jolted me out of my own thoughts and I turned back to look at Ivan.Excitement washed through me, I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn’t form a coherent word so I just shut it back.Ivan’s eyebrow raised, he was waiting for my answer, “I believe the word you’re looking for is, Yes, Ivan, let’s get married.” Camille whispered behind me and I shoved her away.I wanted to get married too, getting into a real marriage with Ivan would definitely mean my biggest dream had come true but I didn’t want to make the decision alone.I knew that they loved him so much and they’d literally ask if I’m insane to be asking them a question like that but I turned in their direction and knelt in front of them.“So?” I asked, tears welling up in my eyes and I was trying all of my best to not let the tears fall, “do you think your dad is worth marrying?” I asked, laughing.Cassian and Adeline also bursted out laughing bef
Lexi’s POV“I missed you too.” I responded as I hugged him, I didn’t want anything to interrupt this moment and I just wanted to be holding him forever.“Want me to show you how much I missed you?” He asked and I smiled, I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me what he meant by that and my god, do I want it just as much!He took my face in his hand and kissed me, slipping his tongue between my lips, teasing and making me shiver in pleasure.He nibbled at my tongue and I moaned in his mouth, my hands moved to his chest as I felt his heart pounding. He caught my hand and began to move it down until I could feel his hard cock.“You probably already know this,” he whispered into my mouth, “this is what you do to me, you know how hard it was for me to not be able to do things that I want to you?” He asked and I smiled.Leaning against him, my hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they began to unbutton his pants. All I could feel right now was waiting and urgency as I undid his trousers
Ivan’s POVAndrei, Reece, Ansel and the undercover policemen came right in just about the same time that I knocked the gun off Darren’s hands.“What the hell took you so long?!” I snapped as Andrei made a call for paramedics. Cassian and Adeline’s eyes were closed and even Lexi had passed out already.We got into Andrei’s car, leaving the police at the scene of the crime while we followed the ambulance to the hospital.I was in pain but the pain was nothing compared to the kind of relief that I felt knowing that everything was finally over.“Will they be fine?” I asked, my eyes not leaving the ambulance in front of us and Andrei nodded. I never would’ve thought that he was actually going to help me out in all of this.“I just thought you should know that it also took you so long to call for help.” He rolled his eyes as he stepped on the accelerator when he noticed that he was losing the ambulance we were following.Smiling, I rested my back against the chair and closed my eyes. It's f
Lexi’s POV“What? No! Darren, you can’t do that, please.” I begged, wanting to crawl over to my kids but the men’s knives on both their necks and Celine’s gun pointed in the direction of Adeline caused me to stop.“Don’t pull that trigger, Celine, you got what you want and they’re innocent, they’re still too young, they don’t deserve this.” I sniffled, Cassian and Adeline’s eyes closed and they both looked tired.It’s been a week and the only thing they’ve been taking since I joined them was water, my babies were weak and seeing them in that situation caused fear to ripple through me.What if they died now? What if Celine didn’t pull the trigger and they drop dead out of weakness.I shook my head to get the horrible questions that were racing through my mind, an act I regretted almost immediately because my head started pounding.My vision had become blurry and I could barely see or hear anything clearly. My stomach hurt and I tried to apply pressure on it so that it would at-least st
Lexi’s POVI watched as Ivan handed all of the papers he came with to her. I had no idea that this was going to happen, that he was just going to give away his blood and sweat because he wanted to save us.The pain I was feeling was starting to become unbearable and I clutched my stomach as it felt like someone was twisting my insides with a very sharp dagger.“Why?” I finally asked as I lifted my gaze, stopping the exchange that was about to happen between Celine and Ivan.“Why are you both doing this?” I demanded, it all just didn’t make any sense to me that Celine was using the kids and I as leverage to get Ivan.The fact that she asked him to propose to her and threatened to kill us if he doesn’t just to prove that she could get him too.It all just seemed stupid but I also knew that sensible would’ve never really been a part of a psychopath’s dictionary.“If you aren’t going to think about me, Darren, at-least think about the children.” I continued, I have no idea what I think I
Ivan’s POVThe closer I got to the location, the harder my heart pounded and the more difficult it got for me to breathe.Checking my phone to be absolutely sure that I was in the right place, I lifted my gaze to take a good look at the old building in front of me.My phone chimed and I looked at my side mirror to see Andrei’s car and four other cars packed behind me. I recognized Ansel’s car too.No one would have known that they were with me so I summoned all of my strengths, drew in a deep breath and got out of the car to see a man waiting for me right outside the old building.“Your phone?” His voice was husky and slightly intimidating and without any questions, I handed him my phone.I’d already cleared all chats between me, Andrei, Reece and Ansel and I’d already cleared my call logs too just in case they wanted to go through my phone.“Where is my family?” I asked, swallowing the lump that had formed at the back of my throat as I forced it down with saliva.Not saying anything,