SHAWNA“Are you all ready to go now?" Liam asked my mother and me. It's the morning after the incident with Phoebe.Grandfather had people on guard all night to stay with her so I didn't have to stay with her all night, I'm just on my way to the hospital this morning with Mom.Billy and Jasper have gone with their nanny this morning, they'll go to see their sister in the afternoon. But for now, it's just my mother and me.“Yes, we just finished," I answered him."Let's go then.” He walked out of the house with both of us behind him, we got outside and entered his car, zooming off immediately.“Are you going to a job interview today, Shawna?" Mom asked me when the ride started.“No, why did you ask?" “Well, you're dressed like that." She shrugged.Truth be told, I was dressed in office wear, but I tried as much as possible to make it look casual too. I wore a white pants trouser and a flowery shirt that was mostly black.“I took the heiress position from Grandpa,” I announced. I've be
EUGENE “I like that! I like that!" I grinned at Kyle, who beamed happily at me. I didn't even need to tell him before he knew he was meant to throw them out, and I like him for that. “Look at how helpless she looked, I like how today is just going for her," I grinned evilly. “I know right, let's just go to where you were going, they don't deserve this level of attention, they're low lives and it should remain that way." Kyle wrapped his arm around my shoulder. We walked towards his car and got in, his driver looked like he wanted to say something with how he kept glancing back. “Just spill it already, Frank," Kyle ordered him. “I just wanted to tell you that your brother was in the hospital too, I saw him go in.” He said. My heart skipped a beat when he said that, I felt the pressing need to be there already, I didn't want to go with Kyle before, but hearing that Damien would be there made me enthusiastic. “Really?" I asked out loud. Kyle glanced at me with the sudden shift
SHAWNA Phoebe's excited face when she saw me walk in warmed my heart a lot. I also went straight to her and wrapped my arms around her in a warm hug. “I've been waiting for you Mom!" She said out loud that my mother who was resting her head on the edge of the bed woke up. I broke the hug and looked into her eyes with a smile on my face, the color on her face and skin had returned fully. “I know baby, I'm here now. How are you feeling?" I asked her. "I'm fine now. I want to go home to see Billy and Jasper already, I miss them so much.” She pouted. "We're going to do just that, we'll get you out of here today, I know what it feels like to be stuck in a hospital room,” I said as I caressed her cute, chubby cheeks. "Did the doctor say she can go?” My mother asked with confusion in her voice. "I plan on seeing him in his office now,” I answered her. "Yay! I can't wait!” Phoebe squealed. "I'll go see the doctor now so we can start going home.” I ruffled her hair and stood up. Just
SHAWNA “What do they want this time? Anyways, I'm sure they'll leave when they get tired, I don't have any time at all today." “They look quite determined though, like they'll stay there till you come out even if it's night. I honestly wonder what rubs through their head, what do they want with the heiress now?" Liam asked me back. “That's their headache, not ours. They'll leave when they get tired. How's work today by the way?" I changed the topic entirely. “Everything is going smoothly, I got the best news from you today since I started my company." He smiled. I only smiled back at him, I've not even done up to half of what he has done for me, Liam is one of my biggest supporters and rock, he deserves all the good things in life. “You're closed from work right?" I asked him, seeing how relaxed he looked and his loosened tie. “Yes." “Good, can you please accompany me to my children's former school? I have one or two things to do there." I asked with a smirk on my face. He see
EUGENE I rushed into the house to see my parents pacing around the living room, my dad looked more conflicted. “Mom, I'm here now, what happened?" I asked as I dropped my bag on the couch, my heart was racing wildly in my chest, I knew already that something wasn't right. “Haven't you seen the news already or you've been out gallivanting around? The Lancaster empire now has a new heiress.” My father growled. This is not a trivial issue, my father rarely raises his voice, but when he does, it has to be that the matter is out of hand, there's no other way out at all. "I saw the news, but I don't understand what's going on, why are you both so riled up?” I frowned, "We're still struggling to get the acceptance of Mr Bryan Lancster into our business and he's not budging at all, finding a new heiress who's faceless as we speak will make this hard.” My mother butted in. "And the Lancasters are our only hope at rising again, so we have to get them to be partners with us, how do
DAMIEN I saw them come out of the building and instantly regretted coming out of my car at this point too. The last thing I want to do is talk to Eugene right now. “Damien!" She yelled out my name before I could avoid them, making me cuss it. Her mother turned too but Eugene walked towards me, making her mother come forward too. “What are you doing here?" Eugene asked when she got to me, I wanted to give a snarky comment that whatever I was looking for was none of her business but for the sake of her mother, I swallowed it. “I'm here to see someone,” I replied, trying as much as possible to not sound rude or anything. "Good afternoon, Damien.” Her mother greeted me herself. I didn't know if she was being normal or just because it's me but I answered since she's older and wasn't raised to be rude to anyone. "Good afternoon, ma'am. How's the family?” I asked her politely, pocketing my hands. "We’re all fine, you know, apart from the little setbacks we're experiencing in the
EUGENE I watched as Damien drove away, the window of his car was tinted so I couldn't see him at all, the only thing I saw was the dark window till the car joined the busy road. “What's that about? You didn't have to lie that much, Eugene. I even thought you'd let him know that you were joking before he left, but you didn't, you played on.” My mom said beside me. "I'm doing this for us, Mom. If the heiress doesn't want to be known, I might as well make use of the opportunity to get what we want for a little while." I shrugged. “No, you're not. We'll only end up in a bitter mess if you continue with this. The Lancaster empire isn't just something you can play with, we'll just get ourselves in a deeper mess." She said. "Why are you scared, Mom? This would be so fun, and even helpful to us.” I chuckled and turned around to go into the building back but she dragged me back, stopping me from going in. "No, we're going home now. I'm sure we'll figure something out with your dad,
SHAWNA “Have you seen how beautiful the new boss is? She's so pretty and just what you'd expect the CEO to look like, and her dress sense? Very nice!" One of the employees said to me as I walked into the office building. Did anyone publish anything about me already? But the more I walked further into the building, I realized that no one even seemed to notice me. Surely, if they had seen me, they'd have at least noticed that I was the person they were talking about, right? “She's currently sealing a deal too, I'm sure she must be hardworking and full of luck to have signed a deal on her first day." Another one said the person she was talking to urgently walked off, leaving me alone with her. I stopped by the lady who just said that I have a lot of questions to ask her already. The moment I stopped by her and she looked at me like trash, I knew instantly that there was a problem, she didn't look like she had seen my face. Who then is this new CEO they're talking about?
SHAWNA“What? What's she looking for this time around and how did she know this place?" I asked with a shocked expression on my face.“I also don't know, my assistant that I asked to keep an eye on her just texted me to tell me that," Liam answered.“What if she's just visiting someone in this building and not us, we're not the only ones living here," I said.As if on cue, the doorbell rang. We looked at each other with an alarmed look on our faces. She's right here outside the door! I looked at Damien first, he had to hide.“Come with me." I grabbed his hand and took him to my room. There's really no way Stacey would know he's here if he stays here.“Don't come out till I say you should," I told him, walking back to the living room to see my children gone too, they left with my mother so I'm just alone with Liam now.I looked at Liam and he nodded at me before I went to answer the door. Truly, Stacey stood at the other side of the door. I wouldn't just allow her to come in like that.
SHAWNAI stood rooted on the spot, Phoebe is now standing before me and she looks like she needs a response immediately. My throat suddenly felt clogged and I didn't know what to do or say next.Everyone before me was awaiting my response but I was too gobsmacked to let out any sound.“Baby, how about you go in to meet your brothers first? This is a grown-up conversation. I'll come and meet you all later." I told her, trying as much as possible to sound normal even though I'm a mess internally."No, mom. All I just need is a yes or no. Is he our father?” She asked, looking at me like a mother would look at her child when they want to go through a rigorous questions session."But now is not the best time to say this, just go for now.” I pressed harder but it seems she's just as stubborn as her father. It didn't even seem like it, she was as stubborn as her father."You're my dad." She said, facing Damien now. Neither I nor Damien debunked what she just said and that was enough for her
SHAWNA“So, you can take her home now. She's very fine now, the antidote worked wonders on her." The doctor told me.“Thank you, we'll take her home now." I stood up and walked out of his office with a warm smile on my face. I'm happy that Phoebe is back, I'm very happy she's fine but I don't think I regret saying those words to Damien.To think that I was contemplating what to do, I didn't want to tell him that kind of thing and at the same time didn't want anything wrong to happen to my daughter.I went to make all the necessary arrangements I had to make before I could take her out of there, we didn't need to pay since the hospital belongs to us.After that, I walked into my daughter's room to see her awake already, she looked at the door as I entered and smiled on seeing me.“Hey, baby." I smiled, walking closer to her. I'm happy to see her back and healthy, I don't want anything to happen to her at all."Mom.” She mumbled, smiling weakly at me."I was looking for you, where did y
DAMIENI drove us around the city before I realized that I didn't know where I'd take her.“Do you have anywhere you’re going?” I asked her.Instead of replying to me, she started sobbing. I had to pull the car into a mall I saw.She was sobbing so loud that anyone who saw her would think I had done something to her. Tears flowed freely down her face as she sobbed loud.“What's wrong? Why are you crying?" I asked her, a frown etched into my face. She kept crying even more as I asked that question, and the frown on my face deepened even more.“Are you going to talk or what? You're scaring me at this point, why are you crying?” I asked things as much as possible to not sound like I was mad.She stopped crying a bit, hiccups took over the sobs in no time.“Can I have a tissue please?" She asked, her voice sounding cracked. I took some tissues from the ones I have in the car, I have such necessities with me here."Thank you." She said, dabbing her face with the tissues. I watched as she j
DAMIENI just wish life wasn't this hard, I wish things were different and it's just a world where I live in peace with Shawna and my children.My children, that just sounds right. I honestly should be happy about that information, but I'm mad because our world isn't in any way normal.This just feels like a fairytale or something, but in this context, my fairytale is just me and my family. I imagined a world and situation where it's just me and them.I drove out of Liam's premises and went to the flower shop. I picked one of the random ones I could lay my hand on. It's not like they're not all beautiful.After paying for the flowers, I drove to the airport straight up. I just hope there's no traffic or anything that'll slow down this journey at all.I just want to get this over with already, I don't know if I'll still be able to stand Stacey after everything I heard from Liam, I don't even think I'll be able to do that.With a hardened mind, I got out of the car after getting to the
LIAMShit, that was a very hard slip-off, I shouldn't have said or let that out at all. He released me immediately I said that, glaring very hard at me. I looked at him, fervently praying within myself that he wouldn't ask me anything.“What did you just say? What do you mean by believing that trash” He asked me, looking at me pointedly. I swallowed thickly and tried to come up with a response, I needed to reply to him."Forget it, I was just spewing rubbish. You also weren't helping matters with how you held me up by the collar.” I tried to divert the topic.He surely didn't believe that, I racked my head to think of another response to that. He glared hard at me at my last response."Don't even try to tell me that, it wasn't a mistake. You're hiding something from me.” He said to me. I let out a very deep sigh and ran my hand through my hair.To say that I'm frustrated would be an understatement, I should have just calmed down and allowed him to leave.If I hadn't replied to him, he
DAMIENThis can't be true at all, there's no way this is true, I don't just know what to believe, but what Shawna said just made me believe that it's not true at all.“No, no, no! Shawna can't cheat on me." I shook my head repeatedly as I tried to grasp the fact that she said it herself.I've known her for years since we got married, and the little time I spent with her when we got back together wouldn't make me believe that she did that.She wouldn't cheat on me with anyone, maybe what she was trying to say was that she got together with him when we were divorced.Even at that, I don't want to believe that she got with him. Was she under pressure to say it? Could she have been forced to say it?Do I have to do something? I'll try to see if I can get something from my end. I mumbled as I brought out my phone. I immediately called my private investigator.He picked up the call almost immediately, he's just one investigator I am newly employed, and he's pretty good through.“Boss, good
SHAWNAHis face crumpled into one of disappointment, then it turned into hurt. I honestly felt like telling him the entire truth right there, I don't just want to lie to him at all.“Have a nice day, Damien." I don't even know why I said that, I just want to say something to him before leaving.Seeing the heartbroken look on his face before I eventually turned around was another big deal for me. It took everything in me to walk away from me.I just want to hug him, hug him tight, and forget my worries for the moment, or even tell him everything that's bothering me.Knowing that I caused him pain is another level of dejection, I'd have gone for other options if there were any. But at this point, the only thing I had to do was just that.And maybe, just maybe if there's a chance or anything, we're able to come back together and communicate. All that matters right now is that I get the antidote, my daughter's life is in danger.I walked back into the hospital to see Liam waiting for me,
SHAWNAI left the restroom and went back outside with my mother who was waiting for me already.“How do you feel now?", she asked me, looking into my eyes.“I'm okay, has the doctor said anything else?" I asked her.“No, he hasn't. Are you sure you're okay? You look mad."“I'm okay, you don't have anything to worry about. You should leave, I'll stay here till morning, you should go home and rest." I told her.“I'm not leaving you here alone, I'll stay with you." She said, shaking her head.“You won't be comfortable here at all, I'll order a ride for you to go home with now. It's just better if you leave and come back tomorrow." I told her with a tone of finality.“But I don't want to leave you alone here." She said, sounding sad.I brought out my phone, “I’m ordering the ride now.” I said as I opened the app and looked for the nearest driver close to us. I ordered the ride for her.“So, I'll see you all in the morning. I'll be here till then." I told her."You're sure you'll be fine a