KATERINA".. can I know the dress details? It looks stunning, really. I feel like I need to have it on me at least once in a lifetime." One of the trophy wives I had sat with gushed and I just forced a smile, trying to keep mg attention on them.I kept wondering if Vincent was going to show up for this party or he would send a representative. From what I knew about him, he would most likely send a representative; the man never liked to be stressed.But at the same time, he was full of surprises.I did not want him here. I did not feel like being confronted by him over the truth yet. I did not feel like explaining why I was not dead as he had thought.. why his plan did not work and how far I actually intended to go with my payback. But I had missed out on two major events in the past few days already because I was hiding from him, and I could not miss this one again.I answered the woman who was sitting across me, "Actually, my dress is custom made, but I can give you my stylist's cont
VINCENTHer eyes were wide with surprise at first, and then then they became angry. She was not wearing the contacts tonight. Almost like after I had seen her real eyes, she could not care less about anyone else.Just went further to prove what I already knew. This woman was an imposter; she was Grace. My wife was not dead as I had thought."Or should I call you Grace?" I asked quietly, slipping my hands into my pocket as I studied her face. She had changed a lot, but now I could see through all the changes clearly. Her face had lost fat, her body too. Her skin was tanner, and she had probably gotten a nose job done so her nose would look different. She had done a lot just to hide her identity from me.I needed to know why."What the hell are you on to?" She shot back, of course, not backing down without a fight.. or in this case, an argument.I walked closer to her and she just watched me move, her back pressed against the iron railing behind her."I know you are Grace. I want to kn
KATERINAI could not stop thinking about it. Even now, my stomach did a flip as I recalled his exact words;'… I would make you mine, just like I am yours."Did he really mean it or was he just playing with my feelings, since he suspected already that I was Grace.. he probably felt like the easily manipulated girl he used to know was still somewhere inside me.I shook my head while I stood in front of the mirror, as a means to get the reoccurring thoughts of the man off my head.I stared directly into my eyes as I said to myself in a hushed tone, "Stop thinking about him, girl.. what the hell are you doing?"Then with a loud groan, I rolled my eyes and started to storm off, towards my bed though.Today was the day Whitney would finally return from her forbidden affair with a whole Pope. It surprised me really, the kind of audacity that woman possessed. And why was Vincent confessing love to me when he had her?I could not wait to tell her all about it and watch him deny, deny, deny un
VINCENTShe sat across me in the bar; we were both seated at the bartender table and we had been silent for long minutes since I arrived after her.For the first few minutes, I was okay with just watching her face, amused that she had respected my choice and come without makeup like I had asked. Her skin was glowing under the dim lighting and her blue, sleeveless mini dress was glued to her body in such a manner that I momentarily wanted to take its place.Hell, fuck the 'momentarily' bullshit.I tore my eyes away from the thin straps of the dress that looked like they were barely hanging on for dear life due to the fullness of her tits, and I glanced back at her face."Are we going to talk or are we going to avoid each other's eyes all night?" I questioned, breaking the annoying silence. Of course, she was the only one doing the avoiding. I was not doing any of that shit.She shrugged, flashing me a fake, irritated smile, "Well, which one would you like to have?"I smiled back, then
KATERINAHis expression did not falter, but what did I expect? Kelvin said he knew already.I took a deep breath and asked after a few moments of silence, "You are not going to say anything?""The baby.. how did you lose the baby?" He asked and I froze with anger. Did this man really want me to start recounting the traumatic events of my past for his own pleasure, like he did not orchestrate it?"You know exactly how I lost the baby. You gave that order, so do not go there." I warned, slipping the glass towards the bartender again who glanced at Vincent as if trying to get a confirmation from him."Get me another fucking glass! I'm paying for my shit, not him! If I say I want another glass, give me another fucking glass, he does not own me!" I yelled at bartender who raised both hands up in surrender before going to mix me another drink."You will not be paying for a damn thing while I am seated with you tonight." Vincent's voice caused me to turn to him and I scoffed at that."Well,
KATERINA My back of my eyelids pricked with tears as I was completely stunned by every word that had left his mouth. I moved away from his hold, placing my palm on my forehead while shaking my head in disbelief."You are a liar. You are such a liar.. how dare you lie to me?" I asked, turning back to him, shaking all over. He had tears rolling down his cheeks at the same time I did and instead of melting my heart, it just angered me even more.I walked up to him and pounded my fists against his chest until I was sure I had caused a heartache. He stood there and took it, only now wiping his tears with a finger each under both eyes."You can call me whatever you want. You can hate me however you like.. for now, but I need you to believe me when I say I had nothing to do with what happened to you. I would never think of causing you such amount of pain. It was all Whitney and maybe Da'ana. I am willing to take down everyone who was involved in this if you would let me." He pleaded, but I
VINCENT"Don't you think you are going too far with this? I mean, we released Kelvin… and now you are saying we must help her fight you? Just because you realized she is Grace?" James asked, arms akimbo.I slammed my fist against my desk then started to walk towards James with intimidating steps. He stood his ground, staring me dead in the eye, even if I saw his throat bob once. I had corrupted the fucker too much."She is not just Grace. She is my wife—was my wife. I never stopped loving her. I need to make things right. From now on, you do as I say when it comes to her. When it comes to her, we are not friends. I am your boss and you are my personal assistant. No questions. Do you understand?" I asked, and he looked like he had a lot to say… even opened his mouth to speak but eventually scoffed and kept his mouth shut."Noted, Sir. What do you want me to do?" I wanted to comment on his attitude but I was already speaking too much today, so I just decided to let him know just how mu
KATERINA"Kelvin! Oh my God, you look so—" But he ran past me, right into Reina's wide arms instead and the babe had not even uttered a word since he entered.. which was barely ten seconds ago, but still.I brought my arms down to my sides, still backing the couple, my throat bobbing up and down once. I checked my watch in my moment of embarrassment too. It was 6:27pm. Great time.I tried to think of how he had looked when he walked in. He looked like shit. He looked tired, mostly. But his clothes were new and I even saw some brand tags. He had probably gotten a change somewhere before coming home because as usual, the man never liked to be caught unfresh."I missed you so much, my love." I heard his unfaithful, annoying bitch of a girlfriend say, breaking off my train of thoughts. "You cannot imagine how much I have missed you." Reina's voice would have melted the heart of the hardest man on the surface of the earth if he were here right now.She was the definition of an innocent you
EPILOGUE KATERINA Forever and a long ass day; that was how long I wanted to be with Vincent. It was finally happening today, our wedding, and I was the happiest bride. Ava stepped into the suite where I was getting my makeup done, all dressed and looking every bit of the princess she was, and I could not help but fight back tears. Within the past few months since she got here, she had grown so much. She was so beautiful, looked happier now and more healthy. I loved this child so much… She had a single rose and a box in hand as she walked towards me and I shook my head, my smile refusing to leave my lips, "Vincent, right?" I questioned. She nodded with a wide smile, "Daddy asked me to give this to you, mommy." Yeah, she called out me ‘mommy’ not too long ago, and has not looked back ever since. With a grin on my face, I took the gifts off her hand and then tore the box open to reveal a blank cheque which read; THANK YOU FOR MARRYING ME… AGAIN. And I would do it o
VINCENTI could not believe what I was hearing. That fucking nanny had almost killed my wife-to-be, and her death was made that easy? I could not let my driver take the wheels on this one, I took hold of the steering myself, heading straight to the hospital I had been directed to.Katerina was not picking up any of my calls and I hated it. I wanted to know how she was doing, how my daughter was doing too. I wanted to make sure they had not ingested that fucking poison in any manner. If by any chance that poison had gone down any of my girls' throat, next believe I would be killing that bloody woman all over again.The drive to the hospital was long as hell, but I finally got there and practically jumped out of the front seat, heading straight inside the building.The moment I walked into the hospital room and saw Katerina sitting there, alive and well, I felt like I could breathe again. There she was, her face pale and tired, yet still the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eye
KATERINAThe house was quieter than usual that night, and I was starting to get that uneasy feeling again.I sat in the living room, reading a book while waiting for Ava to finish kissing her nanny goodnight so we could go to bed together.Vincent was out for the night handling some business, and I was left alone with Ava and the domestic staff. That's when I heard it—hushed voices from down the hallway. I couldn't make out everything, but the tone caught my attention. It was sharp, scolding. The words became clearer as I stood and crept toward the kitchen. "How could you mess this up, Ava? I told you to make sure she ate the eggs, not the chicken!" Her nanny hissed. "I—I thought she ate everything. I saw her do. I didn't know." Ava's small voice quivered, her words barely audible through the door. I could not then laugh at her little grammatical blunder at that moment, as I froze where I stood, my stomach twisting into knots. The eggs? What was she talking about? "Your mommy
KATERINA "Can I speak to mommy on the phone?" Ava asked quietly, looking up at me with desperate eyes. This was not the first time she had asked it, and it broke my heart for her that I could not give in to her request. "Sweetheart, I told you many times… mommy is out of reach. You cannot speak to her yet, but you will, I will take you to see her one of these days. I promise." I did not care if Whitney wanted her to see her like that or not, they'd have to meet, I decided. "Alright, K. Thank you." She muttered. The nickname always filled my stomach with butterflies. Fun fact; she had come up with it herself. In fact, she had requested to call me that. Though I secretly hoped she would eventually call me mommy, I decided to make do with this. We sat there while she colored on a new drawing hook I had bought for a while, until the smell of roasted chicken wafted through the room, and I looked back, noticing the nanny walking towards us. I almost moaned in relief. Finally. "So
KATERINAWhitney refused to tell us anything more after that. We stood there, threatening her with all manner of things, but she never budged. She just sat there, smiling crookedly and laughing occasionally.I finally convinced Vincent to leave there and we both went home, hoping to figure out what exactly Whitney meant with everything she said about Ava ourselves.This morning, I woke up in his arms and peered up to see that he was awake already, focused on his phone. He had wrinkled lines in his forehead and dark circles around his eyes, and I could not help but feel a twinge of worry for him.The man had been working so hard these days and somehow, I knew that it had something to do with what Whitney had said about his child.Ava was acting… well, she was still detached from her father but she was every bit the bubbly child around me. Her nanny lived with us now, and continued to take care of her, in better living conditions… it was what she wanted, and she had been very grateful.
VINCENT I slammed my car door shut before I went over to the other side to open up for Katerina. "Thank you," she muttered, looking as eager to see Whitney as I was. She looked even more eager, but then again that was probably because the woman literally wore her emotions like a sleeve. We walked briskly inside the prison walls without really saying anything else to each other; we had talked enough on our way here. It was only when we were getting to her cell, that Katerina turned to face me, telling me, "I am going to let you talk to her. You are the one who is mostly affected by this, I would let you question her and whatnot without any interruptions but I also want to say stuff to her too, just so you know." She informed me, and I nodded, not wanting to say anything in response at first, except that nod, but after a quick glance at her face, I could see the desperation in her eyes for me to be okay and just like that, I just couldn’t keep to myself any longer. I threw m
KATERINA"Oh God, Ava!" I cried out as the little girl bolted away from the living room as we all had reacted too slowly because of course, no one had expected that from her.Vincent was the first to run after her, and also the first to recover from the shock. He was behind her in no time, and I was next, followed by the nanny.Luckily, the butler was quick enough to stop her. Ava was crying and kicking in his arms, demanding to be set free, but he was not having it."You aren't going out of here without adult supervision, woman!" He yelled, but she was not having it."Let me go! My mommy will hurt me, she says he's the bad guy, I cannot be around him, please…" She continued to cry. My heart broke in pieces for her. What kind of a mother was Whitney for crying out loud? "Your mother hurt you, and you still think your daddy is the bad man?" Vincent blurted out and I pinned him with a look, but he did not spare me a glance, his eyes were still transfixed in his daughter who refused to
VINCENT Katerina pulled the door open for me, mumbling to the butler, "Never mind. I got this." And then she smile widely at me after opening the door, wrapping her arms around my body in a tight hug. Her smile was nervous as fuck, as if she had something to tell me, and I knew that she did. A child was in here, at the living room. I had peeked through the surveillance, because my girl sounded nervous as fuck and I had to know what was making her like that. It was either that or me storming out of the meeting I was in. There was a nanny with the little girl too. She was claiming that the child was mine, and Whitney was her mother. But how the fuck did that even happen? Katerina pulled away from me, her face twisting in an offended frown, "You don't want to hug me back?" She started to step aside, but then my hand gripped her waist and I pulled her to me with force so her body collided with mine. Katerina gasped, then burst into a fit of giggles as I planted kisses al
KATERINA There was some commotion outside the front door. I had just heard it as I got out of the bathroom, trying to prepare to go shopping at the mall for a few essentials since I did not have work today. I ended up just throwing on Vincent’s T-shirt and a pair of shorts before heading downstairs to see what the noise was about. The noises grew louder as I approached the door and I pulled it open at once on reaching it. When my eyes met with a little girl's with her dark curls falling softly around her face, clutching a worn stuffed bunny, I almost thought she’d stopped at the wrong house. But then I noticed her eyes—a striking, familiar gray. The same piercing color that belonged to Vincent, with a touch of softness that reminded me of Whitney. Next to her stood a woman, exhausted, holding the little girl’s hand firmly, as if afraid she might lose her any moment. Our butler was asking questions, his gaze shifting between the woman and the little girl with polite suspicion.