DAHLIA'S POV “What is going on here?”Sunny's voice gets loud as her expression goes dark. She looks between Tristan and I, her lip twitches as realization sets in and she begins pacing. “Sunny, calm down,” I say, trying to ease her. Her reaction is perfectly valid, maybe Tristan might be oblivious, although I doubt that, but I know how Sunny feels about him. And here I am kissing someone she likes. But I couldn't help it, I was caught up in the moment. I shouldn't have betrayed her like that, still, the pull between Tristan and I was too much to ignore. The way he stared at me, the lustful look in his eyes. If Sunny hadn't interrupted, I wonder how far it would have gone. Maybe it's because I haven't been touched or kissed in a while, because why else will I give in? My thoughts are in a haze but with the growing fury in Sunny's eyes, I have to prioritize her feelings first. “Calm down? You're telling me to calm down? I walk in here, tired as hell from work, hoping to see that
DAHLIA'S POVWe have to get him on his feet at least. We'll help him walk to the car and the rest will be easy. One of Tristan's arms is draped over my shoulder, the other is draped over Sunny's shoulder. He is still in pain, and groaning as we push our way to my car. “Almost there,” I groan feeling bad for Tristan as he tries to suppress the pain and not groan. “It's okay, Tristan, you'll be fine. We are almost at the car,” I try to reassure him. Sunny is quiet throughout. We finally get Tristan into the car. “I have to do something, I'll meet you there,” Sunny says, sounding suspicious. She doesn't wait for me to reply before she walks away. Tristan groans again bringing my attention back to him. I'll deal with Sunny later, Tristan is my priority for now. I quickly enter my car and drive to the hospital. I finally found time to get my car from the mechanic shop. Tristan groans in pain the whole way to the hospital and I feel really bad for him. I try increasing my speed but
DAHLIA'S POV The morning is dull and the sky humid. I make sure the kids wear jackets and have scarves tied around their neck before dropping them off at school. Throughout yesterday night and this morning, thoughts of Tristan have been on my mind. Our kiss, seeing him in so much pain. I wish everything didn't go down the way it did. I have had time to think about it too, and I owe Sunny an apology, and a huge thank you for her impact on my life and that of my kids. So in a good spirit, I make breakfast for Tristan and Sunny and dish theirs in a cooler. I freshen up, drop my kids at school and head to the hospital. The hospital environment always gives me jitters. Seeing people walk in and out with one condition or the other, in pain, receiving bad or good news. It's almost overwhelming, so I quickly make my way past everyone and head to Tristan's room. The door is a little open and I can hear someone talking. I walk in to see the doctor speaking to Tristan about his condition. Bu
CARLTON’S POV It's been three days since my encounter with Dahlia at the hospital. She still asks about Andre's health and I admire her for being so invested in his well being, something his own mother can never do. But that's about it. She has no interest in reiterating the conversation we were having that day and I respect that. It's a sensitive topic for her and I will be as patient as I can be. My patience seems to be wearing out as I stare at her while she assesses the beet roots on the shelves. We are at a raw food materials store. It's one of our events to prepare for the physical classes. After this we will converge at the front of the store to take pictures. So far everything has been going well except the constant urge to speak to Dahlia. Ever since the day at the hospital, I keep getting intrigued by her. The little things she does, how her fingers gently caress the fruits, how her lips curve into a slight smile as she assesses vegetables. She must really like the thin
DAHLIA'S POV Again, Carlton has said something to implicate himself and me in the presence of Marigold. I should be elated but I don't feel like having a back and forth with Marigold. The look in her eyes shows that she wants to engage in a fight and any moment from now she'd have an outburst because of my presence here. My kids are here and the last thing I want to do is fight with Marigold in front of them. The last time that happened, it didn't end well for me. I'm not about to repeat it. So before Marigold can utter a word, I excuse myself from the situation. “I can see now is not a good time, we’ll just go.”I hold my kids by their hands and turn around to leave but Carlton stops me. He's suddenly beside me and his hands are on mine, holding me back. My eyes open in shock because of his actions. I don't know if he's trying to get Marigold infuriated because it's working. The look in her eyes shows that she could kill me right now. Her eyes are fixated on the contact betw
CARLTON’S POV Dahlia is probably the mother Andre wishes for. And I know that's an awful thing to say, but I've never seen react around any woman the way he does with her. He lets her speak, he listens to her and obeys her. Like Father, like son right?He sees something in her just like I do. I am still in awe at how Dahlia's kids were able to get Andre to laugh. I haven't seen my son laugh in months. And that speaks volumes. Am I a bad parent? Am I going about everything wrong?I'd have to get a parenting manual from Dahlia because how does she do that? Her kids bring a certain kind of joy with them that is just contagious, and Andre is no exception. When they live it always feels like the mood has been dulled, or the atmosphere is suddenly gloomy. Again, Andre is no exception, because since they left he has been salty and bitter. He went back to being the Andre that I'm used to but in a more intense level. I took everything in me to not call Dahlia and plead with her to bri
DAHLIA'S POV I am in the kitchen, making dinner, when Carlton's call comes in. It was shocking at first, why would Carlton call me by this time. Why would he even call me at all? As far as I know we've finalized all our plans for our classes. Except he has some new ideas, there's no reason for him to call me. I contemplated between answering the call or not. I was reluctant to answer it, especially since I didn't want to be caught off guard with what his reason might me. I did tell him about his mom's investigation. What if he's calling because she found something and he wants to query me. I let the phone ring for a while, weighing my options. It will be suspicious if I don't pick and I do have to go to work so whatever it is, he'll still find a way to ask me. Taking a deep breath, I swiped on call and put the phone to my ear. To my surprise, Carlton asked to speak with my kids for the sake of Andre. I was both relieved and agitated at the same time. But my kids will be sp
DAHLIA'S POV Why does Tristan have a picture of me when I was pregnant? He did say he kept tabs on me while I was in jail. But why is he showing me this? Did something happen?“Where did you get these?” I ask, picking up the pictures to examine them. I don't know what to think. Yes, these are pictures of my very pregnant self but why would anyone want these, let alone Tristan. “I got them from the investigator, Mrs. Stewart hired” He says with a satisfied look on his face. If only he knows how much he's comment is making me panic. My palms get sweaty and the pictures feels sticky on my hands. I drop them back on the counter and wipe my hands on my dress. “Wh…why would she want it? What is she doing with it?” I am stammering now. I stammer when I'm nervous or anxious just like every other person and Tristan notices. “Relax Dahlia. Remember I told you she was investigating your kids?”“Oh my God,” I gasp, interrupting him. That sneaky woman. Why can't she just let me be? “I int
Dahlia I wake up to an empty room not having any clue of anything. But just as I’m beginning to adjust to the setting, the door creak open making me snap my head towards the door to meet Carlton walking in. I react with a frown and then it clicks, i and Carlton had slept together in the lodge. “The sleepy head is finally awake,” Carlton sing-song, A radiant smile plastering his face as he approaches me. He’s carrying a tray of food in his hand. A yawn escapes me and I stretch out while rubbing my sleepy eyes. “Jezz! What are you doing?” I asks as I watch Carlton drops the food tray daintily on the bed, just beside me. “Where did you get this from?” “Breakfast in bed honey.” He muse and throw a wink at me that makes him look so cute. For a flicking second he dissolves into the Alluring face of my husband and to crown it up, he’s offering me breakfast just as he use to do in the early stage of our marriage. Christ dahlia! do you really have to think of that now? You are long g
Carlton My hutch didn’t fail me. The rain had continued increasingly and didn’t stop. In fact from the way it’s still pouring outside, thunder rocketing through it every now and then, I’m sure it’s going to span till the next day. However the Owners of the entertainment resort had made the lodge preparations for every occupants in the Museum. Dahlia and I were given one apartment as the lodges were limited. I have never seen dahlia in her most disoriented phases unlike the one I just experienced few moments ago. She was just panicked about her kids safety and nothing I said to her made sense. Worst, the School’s call line wasn’t pulling through, we kept trying until they finally respond and they assured us of the kids safety. That’s when dahlia finally relaxed. “So, what are you going to do about the scandals going on about marigold?” Dahlia’s voice pulls me out of the brief reverie I’m in. Currently, I’m standing before the glassed window. Hands tuck in my pockets as I’m obse
arlton’s POV, I was supposed to be giving dahlia a lift but when I arrived at the Address dahlia sent, which turned out to be an Entertainment complex, plans changed. The ambience is cozy and a pretty good place to clear my head so I had to plead with dahlia to join me in exploring the place. Turns out she and Tristian were the ones initially here together before he got an Emergency call. The knowledge of that awfully didn’t sit well with me but I tried my hardest not to make it obvious. Right now, I can say we are having a fun-filled Tour around the Aqua gallery. Dahlia seemed to have a bunch of knowledge about everything here as she’s a fan of Animal Documentaries. “Funny how we’ve never done this before.” I blurts out of the blue, withdrawing my eyes from the pretty View of the Aquarium to face dahlia. I honestly don’t know if I’m referring to mine and dahlia’s past or our present day. However dahlia shrug and with her gaze not leaving the host of fishes swimming in the Aqua
Tristian’s POV, “Now how do you intend to get Casandra off your back?” Benjamin Asks, his voice barely Audible as the club music is blaring so loud. After surveying my company, Benjamin and I Decided to hang out somewhere. It’s been a while. I fetch myself another round of whiskey and take a sip from it before responding to Benjamin’s question. “I won’t do much. I’ll just let her do her thing but as far as I know, I’m not responsible for her pregnancy.” I spits out aggressively. Benjamin looks at me like I’ve just said something out of the ordinary. I ignore him with a snort, my eyes gazing above him and it lands on the stripper performing on the stage. She’s making sensuous moves which is evoking intense Arousal in the atmosphere. I watch as she makes seductive trail around the pole, and then she pause. With her hands still gripping the pole, she slowly raise one knee up against the pole and pulls back till she’s hanging against the pole. Her naked nipples pointed upward an
stian pov“What the hell Casandra?!” I fire, my eyes seeing nothing but blood red. My muscles are rock stiff and my veins are threatening to tear out. I’ve never had this degree of anger for a very long time now… The intense heat radiating around me can burn hell. Infact, the only thing stopping me from strangling this woman before me is because I needed explaination. Why the hell she would pull this expensive stunt with me. My warehouse wasn’t in a fucking flames. It was all Cassandra’s little plot to get me to L.A and even coming to L.A isn’t completely my problem. It’s how she had effortlessly lure me to her house and I had no idea. Few minutes ago, When I arrived at L.A, The first thing I do was call Benjamin, my Agitation at its peak. I could drive straight to the warehouse myself but I needed to know which one in particular as I had quite Alot. When Benjamin picks, I rush him with questions at once but he gave me a different story. He told me that he was kidnapped and he
Tristian’s POV, “Why have you been ghosting my calls Tristian? You’ve to come to LA immediately. I’m pregnant with your child.” After reading the Text that just dropped from Cassandra, my blood freeze in my veins and I’m pretty sure it drained off my face. My muscle stiffen as my pulse paused. Im not shaken by the Text exactly but I just got thrown off guards for a moment. Like I’ll expect every silly antics from Cassandra but pregnancy? “What’s that?” Dahlia’s voice jolts me to reality, making me realize we are two here in the car. I immediately comport myself and turns towards her. She has a concerned and questioning look on her face, as she ask again. “What’s wrong?” A little pause. I stare at her for a brief seconds like I can’t make sense of she asked then I gyrate with a laugh that sounds so fake even to my hearing. “It’s nothing serious dahlia.” I adds anyway, now smiling. “It’s Just a message from Benjamin Telling me about some stubborn client who refused to strike a deal
Carlton “How could you Marigold? How could you be so devilish to pull up such a stunt on me and dahlia?!” I vibrates with visible rage radiating all around me. Right now we are back at my mansion. Andre is upstairs in his room as I’ve instructed him to do so before I began lashing out on marigold. After Tristan explained all that had transpired in Marigold’s party leading on to how the table turned, I had been in shock. Honestly, I know marigold is capable of the worst things but guess I have underrated her way too much. I could never imagine that her obsessive insecurity over dahlia would ever push her to framing dahlia up to get her sex tape and spread all over the net. She even involved me! Her husband. I’m seriously blowing off steams and I can’t control my fucking temper. It’s taking my will power to restrain myself from slapping marigold. “You caused it Carlton!” Marigold dares to yells back at me. Her eyes glistening with aggressive tears. Anyone who walks in now would th
Carlton’s pov “The hell was that for?” That’s marigold. Her voice booms the whole place as I approaches the place that slapped just came from. And turns out in the kitchen area. I burst into it and I meet the ugly scenerio of my mother and marigold in a heated fight. With the way marigold is rubbing her reddish cheek, difinately she’s the one that just received the slap from my mother. I release a sigh of frustration. “What exactly is going on here?” I asks and that’s when they apparently notices my presence. “What does it matter? You would definitely take your mother’s sides anyways!” Marigold yelled as she speaks first, undiluted anger brewing all over her. “Carlton good thing you are here. It’s high time you come back to your senses and realize the kind of snake you are married to!” “What happened?” I groan, honestly not in the mood to accommodate their banter. “Do you know your wife was telling someone over the phone that she’s going to steal from the company’s funds?” M
Carlton’s pov “The hell was that for?” That’s marigold. Her voice booms the whole place as I approaches the place that slapped just came from. And turns out it’s the kitchen area. I burst into it and I meet the ugly scenerio of my mother and marigold in a heated fight. With the way marigold is rubbing her reddish cheek, difinately she’s the one that just received the slap from my mother. I release a sigh of frustration. “What exactly is going on here?” I asks and that’s when they apparently notices my presence. “What does it matter? You would definitely take your mother’s sides anyways!” Marigold yelled as she speaks first, undiluted anger brewing all over her. “Carlton good thing you are here. It’s high time you come back to your senses and realize the kind of snake you are married to!” “What happened?” I groan, honestly not in the mood to accommodate their banter. “Do you know your wife was telling someone over the phone that she’s going to steal from the company’s funds?”