Chapter ThirteenCamilla ~~~~I’d already made up my mind that I was going to sign papers. It was clear right now that he didn’t love or respect me. I already knew the first part but this just confirmed everything.“So you’re keeping it?” Skye asked.“Yes. I mean it was a hard decision. I was conflicted on if I wanted to be reminded of him every day or just forget about him.”“You made a good decision Cammy. I want you to know that I’ll always be there for you.”“Thank you, Skye. I don’t know what I would do without you.”“So you’re not going to tell him?”“No, he doesn’t deserve to know. After the way he’s been treating me for the past three years and knowing that I know now. Nothing’s going to change anyways.”“You’ve signed the papers already?”“Yes. I just have to give them to him.”“What about the press conference that’s already scheduled?”“He should have a chance to clear his name. We’ll just say we weren’t compatible anymore and we decided to get divorced.”“So what’s the pla
Chapter FourteenCamilla~~~~“Raffael? What’s she talking about?” My grandpa asked.“I-I don’t know.” He stuttered.“What? Cat’s got your tongue?” I mocked.“Camilla, what are you talking about?” My grandpa asked.“Tori came to me, she said she wanted to talk. She told me how two months ago when he went on a business trip they ran into each other.”“Whatever she told you was a lie.” Raffael interrupted. He was already sweating.“Shut up and let me finish.” I retorted. “ She told me about how they slept with each other that night.”“Raffael.” My grandpa stood up. “Is what she’s saying true?”“I promise it’s all a misunderstanding.”“Everything’s a misunderstanding when it comes to you.” My grandpa said.“Is that why you gave me the divorce papers?” I asked standing up. “You felt guilty didn’t you?”“We didn’t sleep with each other, I promise.” He stood up also.“Shut up, you did. That’s why when you came home you were all over me. You felt guilty didn’t you?”“If you would just let me
Chapter FifteenRaffael ~~~~I left the house with my mouth wide open. I was still in shock after what just happened. I couldn’t believe she signed the papers.I got in the car by myself leaving behind the others. To think straight, I needed to be alone. This was my life now. I knew I shouldn’t have let Tori leave like that. She went to run her mouth to Tori.I took the divorce papers with me. Thinking about it now, I didn’t want to get divorced now.I drove to the house and circled the neighborhood for a few minutes. So many thoughts were running through my head. What would happen to the company now? Things were already bad right now. Confirmation of our divorce would only bring more damage. I couldn’t believe the power Camilla and her family held over my company.I finally drove into the compound and parked. I thought of ways to convince Camilla to change her mind. It couldn’t end like this.I went into the house and went to the bathroom to wash my face. I removed my tie because
Chapter SixteenRaffael ~~~~“That was you? You’re sick.” I spat.“Don’t act so self-righteous.”“Oh my fucking God. You’re so pathetic that you had to do that.”“I helped you Raffael. You should be thanking me. That woman is now out of your life. We can finally be together.”“Be together? Us? In your dreams. Get out.”“What?”“I said leave. I don’t ever want to see you again.” I dragged her outside.“You know that’s not possible.”“Stay away from me.”“I’ll tell the media.”“Do whatever you want. I don’t give a fuck.” I closed the door in her face.I went upstairs and hopped in the shower. I took a long hot bath. I came out feeling refreshed and got ready for bed. I tried my best to get a good sleep. I hadn’t had one in a long time. The next morning, I woke up early, got ready, and headed to the office. When I walked in, all the staff were giving me weird looks. Some were shaking their heads acting disappointed and walking away.I went into the elevator and went to my office. My a
Chapter SeventeenCamilla~~~~After Raffael left the house, it was just me and my grandpa.“Don’t you think he deserves to know about the pregnancy?” He asked.“Don’t judge me but I think it’s best I keep it from him.”“He’s the father, Camilla.” “He doesn’t care about me, Grandpa. He certainly won’t care about the baby.”“You’re an adult. I’ll leave you to make decisions by yourself.”“Thank you.”“Have you made up your mind on where you’re going to?”“I think I’ll move to California. I have some friends there. It’ll be easier to start my life up there.”“That’s good.”I stayed at the house for a few hours then I left. I sent someone over to the house to go get my things.Before I went to the hotel, I went to see Martha.“How are you doing?”“Ms Edwards, I’m doing good as always. What brings you here?”“I have a job offer for you.” I said. When I dismissed the staff, I found new jobs for them but Martha had told me she wanted to retire. She had been working for us for almost 30 yea
Chapter EighteenRaffael ~~~I’d signed the papers when they came and sent them back to the lawyer. It was truly over now. I spent the last week over-working to save the reputation of my company.I worked long hours to try and close deals that were threatening to fail. I hadn’t worked this hard in a long time. Maybe that’s one of the reasons my company wasn’t doing well.We were also going over the final proceedings for the divorce. The last day we appeared in court was the day the divorce was finalized.We both walked out of the courtroom. “Camilla, can we see tomorrow?”“Why?”“My mum and sister want to see you.”“Oh, okay. Sure.”“I’ll text you the time.”“Ok. Goodbye.” She said and walked out of the building with her lawyer.We also had to release official statements to announce our divorce. Most people weren’t shocked about it given the recent happenings.To be sincere, I felt ashamed that we had to end like this. Even though we gave the cause of our divorce as incompatibility,
Chapter NineteenCamilla~~~~Five years later“Rory.” I called out. “We’re going to be late. Get your shoes and come out now.”“I’m coming mummy.” She said and ran out of the room with her shoes.I carried her onto the chair and helped her wear her shoes.“Mummy, when are we going to see Pops again? I miss him.”“Very soon. He’s really busy right now.”“Awnnn.” She said and pouted.“You can call him this night and talk to him.”“Yay.” She said, a smile returning to her face.“Come on, let’s go.” We went out of the house quickly and went into the car. We were running a little bit late on time as I had woken up at 7:30 instead of 6:00.I drove out of the compound quickly to Rory’s school and dropped her off.“I love you okay?”“I love you too mummy. Bye.” She said and waved at me.“Bye, baby.” I said and walked back to the car.I drove quickly to the office because we had a lot to do at the office. I got there in no time and went into my office.My assistant was there waiting for me.“
Chapter TwentyRaffael ~~~~I had to fly in from New York to California. I was coming to visit, Sam. He also needed my help with a project he was currently working on. He was busy so he couldn’t come pick me up so I had to Uber from the airport to the hotel I would be staying at.When he was done with what he was busy doing and I had unpacked, he came to pick me up to go for a meeting with an interior designing company.His architectural company in California had grown and he was working on a project in New York. That was the reason I was here. His company, Dippers was going for a meeting with an interior designing company that had risen to fame in less than five years.We arrived at the company building in no time and went inside. It was time for the meeting and other people from his company arrived. We headed into the meeting room and the meeting commenced.It was an easy meeting, we understood each other really quickly and came to an agreement.“They said there’s a woman behind th
Chapter Sixty-FourRaphael's POV“Did you see the news about Camilla?” Sam asked as I came out of the meeting room.“What news?”“They leaked her address, her job back in California, and her phone number. Everything about the life she’s been living these last few years is on the internet.”“What the hell? Did they say anything about Aurora?”“No. They didn’t. But I’m sure they know about her too. They’re just kind enough not to put that out.”“She must be devastated.”“I know right? Have you talked to her? When was she thinking about going back?”“I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything. I’ll call her right now.” I said.“Ok, bro. I’ll get back to work. See you later.” He said and left. I went back to my office and picked up my phone to call her. It seemed her phone was switched off. Of course it would, it would be blowing up by now with messages and calls from random people.I went online to check for the news Sam talked about. It was kind of nasty. The comments said mean things abou
Chapter Sixty-ThreeCamilla’s POVAfter spending the whole night trying to figure out what my next decision would be, I finally made uo my mind to go back to California. I wanted to spend the rest of the week here before returning though.I got up and got ready for the day. I went to check up on my grandpa and took him out for a walk around the compound.“I’ll be leaving next week.” I announced.“That’s good. You’ve spent a long time here anyway. It’s time to return to your normal life.”“But this was my life though. Here in New York.”“And it’s not anymore. You started a new one that you can’t leave behind.”We continued the walk in silence. After circling the compound, we returned to the house. Rory was already up by this time. My grandpa was to return to work in a few weeks after the doctor cleared him. For now, he was taking a break and letting Jeremy handle the company.We had breakfast and then my grandpa headed to his study. He was invested in reading nowadays. Rory kept beggin
Chapter Sixty-TwoRaphael's POVI worked from home today so I could spend a little bit of time with Aurora. Camilla still hadn’t made up her mind about when to leave for California. To be honest, it was making me kind of nervous that I didn’t know when my daughter would be leaving me.Aurora was in the middle of the room playing with her toys while I worked away on my computer. “Daddy, when will Jason be back?” She asked.“He won’t be back for long, honey. He’s at school, remember.”“Why didn't I go to school? I miss my friends.” She said.“You’ll be back to school in a bit. When you guys return home.”“Are you going to come with us?”“Uhm. I don’t know yet.”“Well, I do want you to come. And Jason too.”“We’ll think about it.”“Okay.” She said going back to her toys.After an hour or two, I went to make her something to eat.“Daddy, can we go to the park and then go get ice cream? I don’t want to stay inside all day.” She complained.“I’ll have to ask your mummy first. We can’t go o
Chapter Sixty-OmeCamilla’s POV“I really don’t need the wheelchair. I can walk fine on my own.”“Not according to the doctor. You don’t need to strain yourself.”“I’ll use the cane. I don't want them to see me as weak, going in there with a wheelchair.” He protested.“Fine.” I gave up. “You can use the cane, only for this meeting.”“Thank you.” They put the wheelchair back in the car and handed the cane to him to support himself while he walked. He has been out of the hospital for two days and today he had a meeting with the board of directors.I insisted on accompanying him even though he didn’t want me to. We finally agreed on me escorting him to the office and going back to the house.“Bye.” I said waving at him.“Goodbye. See you later.” He said.I got back in the car and was on my way back to the house.When I got home, I went to lie down for a bit. It was only me in the house apart from the staff. Rory was at Rapheal’s house. She has been spending a lot of time there as we did
Chapter SixtyRaphael’s POVAfter my call with Camilla, I began to think hard and long. I didn't want them to leave. Not just yet. They had only been around for a few days but I liked the fact that they were close to me.I sent a text to Emily instead of calling her and went to get ready for work. It was going to be a long day. I said bye to Jason and left the house. The driver was going to take him to school today.I went to the project site we were working on instead of the office. They were already working by the time I got there so I joined them. I didn’t usually go to sites unless it was an important client, which this was. After an hour or two, Mr Edison arrived.“Hey.” He said.“Hey.”“How’s it going?”“Fine.” I responded. That day he came by the house, he asked me so many questions but I didnr give him a reply. I told him the person he had to speak to was Camilla.“So I talked to Camilla.”“You did? She answer all your questions?”“Yeah. So you’re Rory’s father, huh? And Cami
Chapter Fifty-NineCamilla’s POV“Why didn’t you want them to tell me?” I asked my grandpa.“Because I knew I’d be fine. See, I'm still alive.”“Stop with the jokes, Grandpa. I would never have forgiven you or myself if things had gone wrong.”“I just didn’t want you to worry.”“You need to think about yourself first.”“Enough with all this talk. Fill me in. What’s going on?”“So the board made a vote today. Jeremy Steel is acting CEO.”“That little fucker.”“Pops. Watch your language. Who is he anyway? Why’d you curse at him?”“Oh, nothing. His father is Carson Steel. You remember him.”“Oh. I do. He’s the boy you tried to set me up with before.”“Yes, he is.”“Oh, wow. Maybe I have taken that offer then.”“Then, you wouldn’t have Rory.”“That’s true. Glad I passed on that.”“Where is Rory anyways?”“She’s at home. With Skye. I call her to bring her over even though I told her you were on a trip.” I said and he laughed.I stepped outside and called Skye. She was happy to hear the new
Chapter Fifty-EightRaphael's POV“Daddy for my birthday, I want a Spider-Man cake.” Jason said while we were playing.“Ok. You’ll get a Spiderman cake. Do you want anything else?”“I want a bouncy house and I want to see Spider-Man.”“Ok. That’s not a problem. I’ll get you all those things.”“I also want to see my mummy. I miss her.” He said and I paused.I didn’t realize till now how much of an impact her absence would have on him. Even though she was hooked up on drugs before, I made sure she showed up for him whether or not she was high out of her mind.“Mummy still hasn’t gotten back from her trip you know.”“So she’s not going to come back for my birthday?”“You know what, I’ll tell her to come back.”“Yay.” He said.“Do you have any homework?” I asked.“No. Tamara helped me with it.”“Okay.”We continued playing with his toys and im an hour he got tired and was sleepy. I went to put him to bed and went down to the living room to watch TV.I got a call. It was from an unknown nu
Chapter Fifty-SevenCamilla’s POVAfter I left Rapheal’s house, I went back to the hospital. I knew he wasn’t awake yet but I wanted to be there for him. I just sat next to him holding his hand praying he would wake up.The board of directors some how found out I was around and were asking to see much. We scheduled for a meeting for tomorrow. I hadn’t had this much pressure out on me in years. Running my own company back in California was very different from handling this one.This was an empire built from the ground many years ago that still stood in the business world. I never thought about the fact that one day I would have to come back to all of this. When I packed up years ago, I thought I would leave it all behind forever.My thoughts were pushed to the back of my head when I got a call. It was from James. I stepped outside the room to take it.“Hey, how are you doing?” I asked.“I’m fine. I just saw Rory at your friend’s place. Are you in New York? This is all so confusing. I h
Chapter Fifty-SixRaphael’s POV“They’re on their way.” I announced.“Oh, okay.” My mum said.“Please be nice.” I said.“Did I say I wasn’t going to be? I was the one who asked to meet with her.”“I know but you weren’t a fan of her before so..”“Come on. I’m over all that. The last time we saw each other things were good between us.”“If you say so. Audrey, how do you feel?”“What’s that supposed to mean?”“I don’t know. Just try to be nice to her. She’s going through a lot right now.”“Okay.”I went to the kitchen to get water to drink. I was a bit nervous about her meeting them. I went back to the living room. I hadn’t told Jason yet, he was playing with his toys on the floor. I wasn’t sure he would understand the concept of a sibling. I got a call from Camilla telling me they had arrived. Then I heard a knock on the door and went to open it.“Hi.” She said.“Hey.”“Daddy.” She hugged me.“Hi, baby.” I said picking her up. “Come on.” I opened the door a little wider for her to pas