Gabriel I frown in my sleep wondering why I'm bouncing. A little voice calls out to me then small hands simultaneously shake me awake and I groan. "Good morning daddy." Kary's cheerful voice sings. I want to turn on my back but can't and I soon realize that she's sitting on my lower back. That's probably why I was bouncing in my sleep. "Morning baby. Did you sleep well?" My voice is groggy from sleep and I have to force myself to keep my eyes open even though I'm still very sleepy. "Yes daddy." She says. "I had fun playing with my new nanny." "So, you like her?" I sound hopeful. "Yes. She's really cool." She replies. "I know we'll be good friends." "That's good to hear." I say. I'm happy that Kary likes Arian and all that talk with Gabi last night about Arian's relationship with her ex husband - though insightful - is something I've decided I will overlook. I reach behind me to tap Kary's leg and she climbs off me so I am able to turn on my back to look at her. She's dres
ArianI thought Ma'am Gabriella's house was grand... but I had yet to see Mr Cruz's house. Now that I'm standing in front of it, looking up and wondering how he managed to get this heaven built on earth, I'm in awe of the place. There's a gazebo not too far from the house and from where I'm standing, I can see a pool table, some comfortable sofas and an electric grill in the corner of the gazebo. To my left, there is a black gate leading to the side of the house where I'm sure the pool is located.I let out a sigh and lift my face to breathe in the fresh air but a moment later, I perceive a very expensive perfume in the air and I bring my head down. I gasp when I see a stunning woman dressed in a white shirt and white shorts paired with white gorgeous sandals glaring at me. She looks too expensive to be the help so I assume that she's Mr Cruz's wife."Good morning ma'am." I greet her. Mr Cruz told me to get here before seven am which is the time he leaves for work and it's six thirty
Gabriel The noise in the conference room grates on my nerves but I grind my teeth together to avoid yelling at them to keep quiet. I'd told Kim to call a shareholders meeting and now I'm regretting it. "Are you okay?" Gabi asks me. "I'm fine." I say then stand up and make my way to the stage and the noise dies down. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen." They all nod in greeting and I take that as my cue to continue since I have their attention now. Behind me is a projector and on the screen are faces of some of the employees of Emerson Cruz Group. I would talk to the rest of them much later but for now, they're the only ones I can manage. "I called this meeting to apologize for...what I did." Bile rises in my throat and I force myself not to puke. Lucille put me in this mess and while I would never raise my hand to beat her because my dad told me only cowards beat women, but I'll make her pay for this humiliation some other way. I am going to crush Lucille Kendrick's spirit. "It
ArianI am sitting on the wingback chair which I moved to face the floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the dawn and sunset reading one of the books Mrs Collins had given me permission to take along with me when a knock sounds on my door.I followed Kareena to school this morning in the car and then came back home with Micah who informed me of the time Kary's school closes so I'll have to make the same trip with him to pick her up, take her to her favorite ice-cream shop and then home as Mr Cruz had instructed Theresa to tell us.Another loud knock sounds on the door and I get up from my comfortable position and pad barefoot to answer the door. I gasp and move back when I see who it is and I hope she's not come to throw me out like she told Mr Cruz she would do."Good morning Ma'am." I greet and curtsey.She walks into the room and looks around then scrunches her nose as if she can't stand the smell in the room which is just my vanilla shampoo."How much did he offer you? I can triple it
Gabriel The next dayLucille was smart enough to know that it wouldn't benefit her to stay in the house which was why she left before I returned from the hospital. Theresa told me she'd hurriedly packed a bag and left without saying a word to anyone.I've been patient with her for years but after what she did to Arian, I have decided that I can't take any more of her behavior and I want out of this marriage. I call my father's lawyer and ask him to come over to the house so we could talk about the best option for me - annulment or divorce.I'm sitting in my home office going through some documents when Theresa comes to inform me of the lawyer's arrival and I tell her to bring him to my office. Fabian Chamberlain has been with my father for years and I know I can trust him to help me out with my dilemma."Long time no see Gabriel." Fabian says when Theresa lets him into my office."Thank you for coming at such short notice Fabian." I shake hands with him. "Please sit.""Oh well, you k
Lucille "Drinking won't solve your problems Lu." My best friend, Samantha snatches the glass of wine from my hand and dumps it on the table beside the sofa. "Maybe if I'm dead drunk, I won't see my life flashing before my eyes." I tell her.Sam rolls her eyes heavenward. She probably thinks I'm dramatic and maybe I am but she's not married to a man like Gabriel Cruz. She's not lived with him for seven years and she's definitely not wanted him so bad over the years that she ended up sleeping with someone below her standard just to scratch that terrible itch.I am the one in that position so I have every right to be dramatic any way I want."Don't be so OA." She says. "I'm sure whatever you did, wasn't so bad.""Wasn't so bad? I beat someone up and sent her to the hospital." I say.Sam lets out a beleaguered sigh. "What did you do this time, Lu?""Gabe hired a nanny for Kareena without letting me know. I told him I didn't want her in the house but he threatened to end my career if I t
Gabriel I've always considered myself to be a very patient person. After all, I waited almost twenty years to see Kareena again and I'm still waiting - even though I think there's something about Arian Macavinta that I can't put my finger on.That aside, I gave Vincent Harvey two days to do the right thing but I'm yet to see the result. He probably thinks I really don't have anything on him and he'd come out the loser if he did what I told him to do but what he doesn't know is that I have more than enough evidence to put him behind bars for at least a couple of years and his company - completely taken over by either the government or by me.I twirl the pen in my hand several times as I stare at my laptop screen then glance at the TV as the news highlights come on. It's the same old crap about politics, entertainment and whatnot so I pick up the remote and turn it off."You really want to know what I have, don't you Harvey? Well, here it is." I drop the pen, pick up the wireless recei
Gabriel I'm not very surprised to see Lucille waiting for me outside the main gate of the estate. I'd given the security guards instructions not to let her into the estate under any circumstance and I'd hoped they'd listen to me. Seeing her now... waiting with the afternoon guard in his office, I smirk and pull up in front of the gate and press a button for the window to roll down. "Good afternoon sir." The guard greets me. "Afternoon Josh." I say, glance at Lucille who has a petulant pout on her face and I flash a smug smile at her. "Have you been waiting for long?" "Yes." She spits. "My bad." I pretend to sound contrite. "You're here to pack your bags?" She huffs and makes her way out of the office to my car. She tries to open the passenger door but she can't. "What are you doing?" I ask her. "I want to follow you home. You refused to let me use the car and my dad didn't let me use his either so I took a cab here." She says. "My car is full Lu." I tell her. "There's no
Arian Six months later Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Not to be entered lightly, holy matrimony should be entered into, solemnly and with reverence and honor." The priest begins in Italian. "Into this holy agreement, these two persons come together to be joined. If any person or people here can show cause as to why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace." Gabriel and I turn at the same time to look behind us but no one speaks up and we face the priest again. Majority of the people here probably don't understand what he's saying so we're good to go. "Do you, Gabriel Emerson Cruz, take Arian Katerina Macavinta to be your lawful wedded wife and live together in the estate of holy matrimony? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or for worse as long as you both shall live?" The pri
Gabriel Two years later Dear Gabriel, Two decades ago, I was a little girl who had been abandoned by her beloved father and I'd thought myself unworthy of anyone's love but you saw me, took your time to get to know me and at the end of that day, I went back to the orphanage with the knowledge that I was worthy of being loved by someone. Months ago, I thought I was returning home to get far away from the clutches of my ex husband and I vowed never to get involved with any man but I met you and you turned my life upside down. You made me happier than I'd ever been in years and for that, I'll be forever grateful to you. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I am the girl you'd been waiting for and I didn't even realize it until you told me about your story. I'm sorry for leaving you and your daughter after I promised not to go, but I hope you can understand why I have to. Rafael is finally dead and I'm free from him forever, thanks to your father. I need to find myself again. I need t
Gabriel Arian probably thinks I'm out of my mind for challenging her ex husband to a fight. He's a dangerous man who has no qualms about killing someone in cold blood but I don't care. He made her life miserable for ten long years and even after being incarcerated in prison, he was still tormenting her in her dreams but it has to stop now. She was his and now she's mine and I will make sure I win this fight, then take pleasure in blowing his brains out with his own fucking gun. I have the upper hand in this fight and I don't give him an inch, throwing punches after punches making him bleed but he also doesn't give me an inch either as he throws a sucker punch that almost knocks me out. My ears ring from the punch and my vision becomes blurry but I shake myself out of it and attack him again and we end up rolling around on the floor trying to get the best of each other. My attention becomes divided as I see Lucille pick up one of the guns from the floor, turn off the safety and
Arian "She has a gun." The voice in my head whispers fearfully. "She has a fucking gun!" I feel the cold sweat that has broken out on my face and I have trouble breathing. I hate guns, hate seeing them because I've had to live with gun-toting, knife-toting men like Rafael and his men for ten years. I'd prayed to God to keep me away from guns when I came to this country, but I'd ended up taking a bullet for this man in front of me and now his ex wife wants to exact revenge on him. Gabriel moves to stand in front of me, shielding me from his ex wife's murderous glare, all the while trying to placate her to drop the gun so they could talk calmly about this, but his words fall on deaf ears. "Did you think I was joking when I told you that I'd kill you and the woman you choose to leave me for?" She asks. "How stupid of you to think I'd just accept defeat like that, Gabriel Cruz! You're mine and no one else's." I don't know why Mrs Cruz and her daughter aren't here to see a certifiable
Gabriel I leave my car running, the automatic gear in Park and the door open as I race up the steps to Lucille's front door and I press the doorbell incessantly until the housekeeper appears to open the door for me. I don't give her the chance to say anything as I march into the house and head straight for the living room. She calls my name but I don't answer until I walk into the living room and my steps falter when I come face to face with my wife - soon to be ex wife - having sex with an unknown guy on the sofa. "Mr Cruz!" Helen stops beside me but she turns her back quickly, unlike me, as Lucille and the guy break apart. "What the hell, Gabe?!" She snaps. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. I tried to stop him but he barged in before I could." Helen apologizes. Lucille picks up her discarded dress from the floor and puts it on as the guy hastily dresses up but he doesn't quite finish and hurries out of the living room with his shirt and shoes. Good for him that he had the good sense t
Gabriel Six weeks later Walking out of the High Court with the knowledge that in a few weeks, I'll be a single guy once again has me grinning from ear to ear. The judge had listened to both sides of our story and even as Lucille had laid it thick on her tears for the judge to rule in her favor... He hadn't and had declared our marriage irretrievable, but it hadn't been his final decision and that was good enough for me. I'd wanted Arian inside the court with me but she'd refused to go in, saying it reminded her of her own divorce and I'd not pressed her. Seeing her waiting for me on the steps of the building makes me very happy and my smile widens when she looks up and sees me. "How did it go?" She asks. "I'll be a single guy in a few weeks." I reply. "I don't know why he didn't just give a decree absolute instead of a decree nisi. It's all good, though, because I have finally beaten Lucille at her own game. She won't be Mrs Cruz for much longer." "It's fast." She remarks. "Min
Lucille Gabriel has finally done it. He wants to get rid of me so he can have a good life with that bitch and my stupid daughter who wouldn't know a good mother from a bad one even if it hit her in the face. She has forgotten that it's because of me, because of my love for her father that she's alive today, but I'm going to let it slide with her because she's just a little girl.I'm sure Gabriel has been feeding her lies about me, which was the reason why she'd not wanted me at the party. One thing Gabriel Cruz doesn't know is that inasmuch as I love him, my love could easily turn to hatred and I did promise to never let him be happy with any other woman. If killing him or her would ensure the end of their budding relationship, then so be it. I'm game."Are you really letting him go?" Samantha settles down on the single wingback chair with a drink in her hand. "It's unlike you.""I'm making him think he has won, Sam." I send her a smirk. "He may win the case in court and we'll get d
Arian"This is so surreal." I mutter. My head is resting on Gabriel's chest after our intense love making. It was better than the previous times. Although, it could be because we'd both gone two months without it and we'd been so starved for one another. All I know is that I'm not so sure I can say no to this man anymore."It is, isn't it?" I can hear the smile in his voice. "Being here with you, like this again. I feel like I'm dreaming.""Then, we're both having the same dream." I chuckle."I love you, Arian." He bends his head to plant a kiss on my hair. "It feels really good to let it out now.""Will you be okay with me saying I like you?" I ask in a tentative voice. "I can't go any further than that.""I'm more than okay with it." He squeezes my shoulder. "Half bread is better than nothing.""Do you think... Kary will hate me if I tell her I don't think I can be her mother? I mean, legally?" I look up at him. "What do you think?""I think she'll love you either way, Arian." He re
Gabriel "I'll go away." Lucille says. "I just came to say goodbye to you."Kary's gaze slides to mine in excitement, as if she's already guessed why her mother is saying that. "Does this mean... She won't be in our lives anymore?""Yes, baby." I nod. "We're finally getting a divorce.""Yay!" She claps her hands excitedly. "Thank you, daddy!" She wraps her small arms around my neck."I guess this is my cue to leave." Lucille's voice cracks with emotion as she finally realizes that even her daughter doesn't want her around. "Goodbye... Kareena. Can I hug you?"Kary literally recoils from her, burying her face in my neck. I stroke her back to calm her down and gesture for Lucille to leave. Thankfully, she listens to me and walks away."Is she gone?" Kary asks."Yes, baby." I reply. "You won't see her again if you don't want to.""I don't want to see her again." She reaches for Arian and I hand her over to Arian. "I love you, Arian. I want you to be my mother."Arian's wide eyed gaze sli