OLIVER “Bullshit! That is bullshit! You thought me to always stick to the fucking plan. I do not want you here...” A burst of soft giggles made my words trail, and I walked out to my balcony. My eyes locked on the little girl Sophie laughing heartily while Miss Knight tickled her on the lounge by the pool. Her laughter resonated with genuine happiness, and I found myself staring and forgetting the anger caused by my father early this morning. I watched them with enthusiasm, forgetting about my father still on the line. Their laughter rose with the morning sun as they played around the pool. I wondered why they were so happy this morning and I pictured them as Sara and my unborn child. If only Sara was alive, our baby would have been as adorable as Miss Knight’s child. Her birthday night, she caught me off guard and I never imagined I would play and laugh that much. There was this burst of happiness kids transfer, but it would have been better if it was my kid.
OLIVER “There is nothing special about her except that some years of her life are missing. She was born and brought up in Houston, Texas, and that was where she grew up. Her father was a banker while her mother was a teacher. Her father died when she was younger and her mother was diagnosed with asthma, so she stopped working.” “What else?” Dante pushed the laptop towards me. “There were no records of the college she got admitted to and she transferred to NYU for the last two years of her program, but dropped out after a year because she got pregnant.” “Her baby daddy? No records of him?” Dante shook his head. “No record of him.” I rubbed my temple. Could it be a coincidence that we met, or should I be wary of her? The latter was more likely. I do not believe things happen coincidentally. Why are the records for two years of her life missing? Who is Sophie’s father? What is her mission? Now I know why Dante was getting close to her. He was seeking inf
ELLEN I followed Oliver and Dante up, holding Sophie in my hands and asking her to keep mute and walk on tiptoes. Sophie obliged and played along. I carried Oliver’s mug of coffee with me just in case he caught me eavesdropping on them. When Oliver pushed the door to close, I did not let it close well. I stuck my leg between it. I listened to everything they said about me and was careless enough to let the spoon from the coffee mug fall off. I quickly dragged Sophie away from the door and put my finger between my lips. She nodded and handed her the mug. “When he comes, tell him he forgot his coffee. I was never here, alright?” Sophie nodded like the good girl she was, and I ran off and went into the Kitchen before Oliver came out. A few seconds later, he was in the kitchen asking me about it. I snapped to cover up my nervousness, also because he kept bringing Sophie into this. I did not like it at all. We had our own fit that morning and got a little too perso
ELLEN I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I did not know how many seconds or minutes passed us there. But his deep voice jerked me out of my silent reverie. “Miss Knight, did you forget that you stay here in my room now?” He left my hand, turned his back to me, and sauntered toward the luxurious bed in his room. I heaved a deep sigh and tried to calm my racing heart. He was in his pajamas already and there was no need to freshen up again, so he lay down on the bed and drew the blanket to his chin. “Leave the lights on when you come to bed,” he said. “I cannot sleep with the lights on.” “You should adapt,” was his reply before he turned to the side, shutting me off. I inhaled and puffed out the air. Do I need to sleep here tonight? “I think I will manage the guest room tonight until your father comes.” “You are sleeping here tonight.” He muttered in a tone that indicated he was not interested in the conversation I wanted to have
OLIVER My father was a pain in the ass. The way he cast glances at Miss Knight made me wonder if he knew something about her, I did not know, or if he wanted her for himself. No doubt the woman was beautiful. I saw her struggling to remain firm in his presence. Pablo Moreno has that effect on people. He always sets people on edge with his bizarre looks and comments. But most times, his comments were true. But asking Miss Knight if she wears makeup was an unnecessary question and even asking her to put on makeup always was weirder. Since I met her, she has never been on makeup, and I did not care about that. I could understand when he said she looked familiar; I had the feeling when I saw her in my office. There was something about her that was off. But if anyone should find out about it, it should be me, not my father. Speaking about her child looking like me and a Moreno. I think he was only right in one suggestion. She had a Moreno look but not my look. I
ELLEN Oliver did not come back that night and I got worried. I saw him leaving his father's office in a fit of fury yesterday and almost bashed his car into the gate while leaving. I did not know what got him so upset but I knew it was something his father said to him about Sara. Could it be his father found out who killed Sara? Was it Tony? I was agitated and curious. I did not see Mr. Pablo Moreno throughout that day too. The house was quiet. It was usually quiet, but there was an aura hanging in the air that made it eerie. I wanted to speak to Tony because I do not know what I got myself into. I do not know how deep this thing ran. I was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Mr. Moreno the senior already suspects me. I had to make sure he did not already have something on me. I went into Sophie's toilet and sat down. That was the only place I could trust in the house. I was scared that Oliver tapped everywhere in his house. I did not want to continue th
ELLEN Oliver looked like a mess. There was a shiner around his left eye, his lower lip was cut and his hair which was ever so sleek looked disheveled. A drunken grin was plastered on his face. Dante gave me a sympathetic look. "What happened?" I asked again, inching closer to them and helping Dante to lead him to the bed. "He got a bit of bad news and he got drunk and got into a fight." I stared at Oliver who was now lying on the bed, on his back, mumbling some nonsense I could not understand. His shirt was stained with something crimson. I stared at it for a while hoping it was not blood. "I can take him to the living room instead of bothering you with his mess." "No, do not worry. I am his wife, I should clean up after him," I said, emphasizing 'wife.' Oliver began to whimper as if he was crying. I looked at him and shot Dante a curious stare. Dante hiked his shoulders. "He is hurt. But he is definitely going to regret this in the morning. Please, just try and underst
ELLEN My head hurt. My body ached and I felt heavy to even lift a hand. A jackhammer. Someone must be pounding my temples with a jackhammer at this moment. There was no other logical explanation for this horrendous ache in my head. I shifted slightly and the pain in my head almost made me crazy. My eyes fluttered open slowly and I was facing an unfamiliar ceiling. The air around me smelled so clean and I turned my head slowly to the side to see Oliver sitting on a seat beside me. Relief crossed his face as he saw me. "You are awake," he said and held my hand. I stared blankly at him, unable to remember what happened. He waved his hand over my face and peeked at me. "Ellen, can you see me?" he asked. "Yeah..." I tried to speak but my voice was hoarse, so, I cleared it. "What happened?" "You got into an accident." The memories came flashing back at me and I shut my eyes as I heard the sound of the crash in my head. Oliver placed a hand on my fore
ELLEN I met Dante and Jerry waiting at the reception when I was allowed to go home, but there was no Oliver. I searched around for him with my eyes, but he wasn’t there. I did not know what to feel about that, but I knew he had a very good explanation for not showing up at the station. “Where is Oliver?” I asked Dante, noticing his mood. Something was off about the way they looked at me. “He wants to see you,” was Dante’s calm reply as he took my arms gently. “You are now free from the police, and we are glad.” He flashed me a smile that I knew was fake.Cold shivers ran down my spine. Dante was a terrible actor, and I knew something was wrong. Maybe Oliver has hurt himself. I was so uncomfortable with the atmosphere around them. “What is going on? I want to speak with Oliver,” I demanded, my voice cracking with emotions. “Calm down, Ellen. There is nothing wrong. Oliver has a surprise for you and would like to meet you somewhere,” Jerry said with a much more
OLIVER “What the fuck just happened? Why the heck is my wife being arrested?” I asked, glaring at Nicholas. “I was involved with Antonio, not my wife.” “Oliver, you have to calm down. Your wife was the last person Antonio texted. They have been talking. I am sorry, but your wife might not be as innocent as you think.”I clenched my hands and glared at Nicholas. I was only stopping myself from punching him right now because I did not want to make things worse. “The good thing is, you can bail her out since she is just a suspect. She was taken for questioning, and I will make sure I do the questioning.” “Do whatever you have to do. I want to watch when you question her.” I grabbed a bottle of drink and poured it into a glass, gulped it down, poured again, and gulped it again. I was torn in two. One part of me was thinking about whether Ellen was as innocent as she appeared. She had been jumpy lately, but there was no way she would have killed Antonio. He died
ELLEN "Okay, I don't know what this is all about, but I am getting curious as hell, Oliver," I said, waving my hands in front of me. Oliver was behind me, leading me carefully to whatever surprise he had for me. I was blindfolded, and my heart was already racing. "Just a little more time, mi amor." He carefully led me until he came to a stop. I sighed. We were finally at the surprise, and I held my breath because I did not know what to expect. Oliver put his arms around me, hugging me from behind. I could feel his breath on my neck. "Are you ready?" he whispered in my ear. "I am curious. Oliver, show me already!" I whined. He slowly took off the blindfold from my eyes. I blinked twice to get my eyes accustomed to my environment. I gasped when I saw what was in front of me. "Oh, my God, Oliver," I said as tears pooled in my eyes. "Do you like it?" Oliver asked. I walked away from his hold, reaching out for the beautiful flowers.
ELLEN I had the sweetest dream in months and woke up with a smile. I ran my hand beside me at the part Oliver was supposed to lie in but found it empty. I opened my eyes and saw that it was really empty. I will not be happy if Oliver goes without saying goodbye again. Panicked, I sat up, only to see Oliver standing in front of the dressing mirror, all dressed up. I sighed with relief. "Good morning, my queen," he greeted and stalked toward me. "I hope you have a good night's sleep?" He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I clutched the sheets around me and blushed like a teenager. He sat beside me and ran his fingers over my ruffled hair. "Has anyone told you that you look prettier in the morning?" he said, flashing me a sensual smile. "Okay, you are flattering me now." "I am not. I am serious." "Well, I got a little job done on my face; you cannot attribute it all to me." I looked down at my fingers as I spoke. Oliver moved closer to me and curled his foref
ELLEN I was lying on the lazy boy by the pool when Oliver came rushing back. I could not contain my laughter as he came back down almost immediately. "Are you sure you went to the room?" I asked, eyeing his bulging muscles. He wore a black vest that showed all his perfect chest and arm muscles and grey sweatpants. "I needed to be with you," he said, dazzling me with his signature smile. I stood up, walked up to him, and took his hands. "I made a special dinner for us and hope you like everything." "I love whatever you make, Elle." The table was set behind me, and rose petals were scattered around the poolside with candlelights surrounding the table. A bottle of wine was on the table with tall wine glasses and the wrap of my meal. I led Oliver to the table and made him sir. "Tonight is a special night," I whispered in his ear. It was a special night for me. It was the only night I had felt free in a year and a few months. My troubles might not be over, but I wanted to s
OLIVER Antonio Romano is dead. That phrase lived rent-free in my head. I had seen the bastard only a few hours ago, and now he winded up dead in his apartment. All fingers would point at me, no doubt. I was the last one to get physical with him before his death, but I did not kill him, even though I would gladly have done that without hesitation. I left the house hurriedly so that no police would arrest me in front of my daughter. The police would come for us soon. Tony's father would not take the death of his remaining son lightly. Our source told us that police were swarming his house, looking for evidence. Nicholas was already in the company, and he wanted to get information from me first before the police saw anything. I walked into the meeting room. Dante, Jerry, and Alejandro stood when they saw me, but Nicholas remained seated, regarding me calmly. I ignored him and turned to Dante. "What's up? What is this I hear?" "Oliver, you should be speaking to me right now."
ELLEN I made sure to wait for Oliver and his men to come home. It was way past midnight when they came back to the mansion. Once I saw their car, my heart lurched in my chest. I knew this was the time to get out with my secret. I had already braced myself for what would come next, but part of me still maintained that t was not the right time. This was past midnight, and Oliver must be stressed from wherever he came from, considering that he left so early in the morning and came back this late. I wanted to heave this off my chest, but I did not want to be selfish. I should consider his mood before breaking such news to him. I had waited for the perfect time to say it, but none had presented itself. When he was happy, I didn't want to ruin his mood. When he was sad or cold, I feared what his reaction would be. In as much as I told myself that I considered his mood, I knew that I had held back so much because I was scared of losing him. When he came into the room, looking all bloo
OLIVER MORENO Antonio Romano. The bastard. He was already out of his car, tossing his keys to one of the men that would park it for him and hopping into the club. A few other vehicles followed the direction of his car. We got out of our car and started toward the club. One of the men we planted inside notified us that he was there already. They had gone there as harmless clubbers and took in every detail we wanted and knew where his men were positioned. We walked to the front of the club. The bouncers recognized us and let us pass. But I was sure they had notified Antonio, and if he didn't already know that we were there, he would probably be waiting for us. Loud sensual music hit us as we stalked into the club. A wave of booze and alcohol wafted toward us. I was in front while Dante and Alejandro followed closely behind me. A few heads turned towards us, especially the ladies, but I was not there for any of them. We stood by the entrance, my hands tucked into my pockets wh
ELLEN I woke up alone. I knew that I had slept alone last night. I knew when Oliver came in last night. I didn't understand the feelings that were running inside me. I knew he was the only one I felt safe around after my attack, but when I was calm enough, I didn't know if I wanted to trust him that much. I still didn't know how to face him with a clear eye. I wanted to tell him about Tony, not to get even, but to remove this heave from my chest. Tony texted me last night when I was still in the living room with Lily, and I did not even tell her about it. I headed straight into the room, feeling worse. I thought about suicide, but I also thought about Sophie. I could not let her go through that pain because of my mistakes. I wept a little in the bathroom, with the showers on, so that everyone would feel I was taking a shower. I contemplated using the razor on the counter to cut myself until I bled out, but I couldn't. I tried Oliver's number, but it was switched off. I wanted to s