ELLEN Thoughts of Oliver kept nagging at me, but I tried to push them to the back of my mind. Surprisingly, Tony had not called or texted me since that day. It was almost like he did not exist, and my anxiety was gradually fading away. But now Oliver popped up with this unexpected proposal. I was dying to know why he wanted me to marry him. From the tone of the letter, it was all business, a contract marriage, but why me? I was dying to know why, and I also needed the money; Sophie needed it too, but my resentment for him was beclouding my senses. “Hi, I am here!” Lily announced as she came into the apartment. We have agreed to go shopping when she returns from work. Sophie was already dressed and was in the living room, while I struggled through my closet to get a perfect outfit. I needed a change of wardrobe, but that was a luxury I could not afford now because there were other important things I could use the money for. The more reason I should get married
OLIVER I stared at the blonde woman speaking, hearing her speak, but was not really listening to her. She was the tenth woman I interviewed today, and yet none of them seemed to interest me. They had jumped at the offer for even $1 million, so why the hell did Miss Knight refuse $3 million? It was a week now since she walked away from me and never looked back, and I had been convincing myself that she would come to her senses and call me to accept the offer. But as the days went by, it looked like that would never happen. I had even promised her friend a double promotion if she could convince her, but to no avail. What manner of woman was she? Was she ready to let her daughter be at risk than spend two years with me? Was that how much she resented me? Why? “So, Mr. Montero, what do you think?” My gaze refocused on the woman in front of me. I did not comprehend even one thing from what she said. I sighed and sat straight. “I think I will have to cal
ELLEN A wave of panic hit me as we drove into the gates of his mansion. When I left here the last time, I never thought I would come back, especially not with my daughter. But here we are in this mansion with our belongings. I could not help but wonder if I was doing the right thing. Things might lead to other things and the truth of everything would surface, and I did not want that. How would Oliver react when he finds out that Sophie was his daughter? Does he know already and was just trying to confirm it by running a secret DNA test? Different thoughts ran through my head, and I could not help stealing a glance at him. He was busy on his phone and seemed uninterested in both of us. I was glad the contract said no personal questions about the other person’s life. It was fair that we would not be getting personal, and I would run my mission and leave like I was never here. The driver parked in front of the mansion to let us take our things in with ease. So
ELLEN Sophie's birthday was coming up in two days and she was so excited about it. It has been two weeks since we moved into Oliver’s mansion and since I was married to him. We hardly saw each other, except at work. He did not have time for Sophie and me and was always staying away in his room or the living room, staring at his laptop or tablet. We just lived in the house like familiar strangers, and I loved it like that. I was learning new things about him, and I before two years, I must have gathered enough information about him. Alejandro and Jerry were surprisingly friendlier than I thought. They adored Sophie and were around more often than I had seen them before. It was Saturday and we were not going to work. It was a perfect time to tell Oliver about Sophie’s birthday and ask if we could use his garden. Sophie has never celebrated her birthday, but she requested that she wanted this one celebrated and I wanted to celebrate her fifth birthday too. I d
ELLEN Flashback... I watched Sophie sleeping, thinking about the proposal Oliver made. Sophie was in a bad mood because of the bullies. I went to her school and reported those mean girls that called her a bastard and I would speak to their parents one on one to train their kids well. It all made me give Oliver’s proposal a second thought. What could make him want to marry me? My thoughts ran wide that night and I could not sleep. As I was about to stand and go into my room, my phone beeped. I looked at the screen and Tony flashed there. My heart sank into my stomach. What does he want again? Why can’t he die so that I will be free? I tapped on the notifications bar and opened the message. Come over to my place tomorrow by 4:00 p.m. I have a job for you. Come alone, and remember if you come with someone else, someone dies. Your love, Tony. I was aghast. I stared at the message on my screen and tears ran down my eyes. I did not know what to do. He is
ELLEN Sophie’s birthday arrived, and I did not ask to stay at Oliver’s place anymore because I was still mad at him for what he did. Lily offered us her apartment, and it was better for us because we were free. Sophie invited her friends from her ballet class they will dance at her birthday party. There was a total of fifteen people inside the room. About seven kids and the rest were adults. Everyone was excited as Lily, and I brought out the drinks and canapes. We all wore cones on our heads. Sophie was dressed in a pink ballet gown while I wore a black gown that hugged all my curves as suggested by Lily. I did not allow her to make me up because I did not want to look overdressed. Dante, Alejandro, and Jerry had promised to come, but they were not there yet. I did not tell Oliver about the birthday because I guess he would not come, so there was no need to invite him. Besides, I was still mad at him for calling Sophie a brat and for his errant behavior the other day
ELLEN We sang the birthday song for Sophie, and I could feel Oliver’s eyes burning me. Dante might have convinced him to come here and support me, but I knew he came here for other reasons. But I will not humor him. I was his contractual wife and not his servant. My phone buzzed as everyone enjoyed themselves. Lily was pouring wine for the guys and Sophie, as pecky as ever, was chattering with Alejandro and Jerry. Whatever they were discussing was out of my ear reach. I looked at the screen and saw Tony’s message. Call me. How could he just text me whenever he wanted? What if this phone was with someone else? I had thought about that so instead of saving it with Tony, I saved it with Kennedy 2 so that everyone thinks it was my brother. I excused myself, making sure no one noticed. I will call him quickly and know what he wanted, then I will get back to the party without hassle. I started to dial his numbers when I got to the balcony. Tony should
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.
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