Hanna POV
When I returned to the private room, Jeff stood.
“I thought I needed to launch a search for you.” He joked, but his sharp eyes swept over my face, and the unexpected scrutiny embarrassed me.
I just had a bawling spree inside the women’s room, but of course, I don’t want to let him know.
That would be too shameful.
Jeff and I were not that close. I could count on my fingers the times we interacted at the office.
I eyed him warily, suddenly feeling suspicious.
“Why are you
Rowan POVThey say that if you love someone, you have to set them free.I set her free, but every day is torture.So many times in the past few weeks, I wanted to call her. I kept staring at her number on my contact list, hesitating, unable to press the call button because her words kept ringing in my ear.She told me to back off.I did, but not without Herculean effort.Even when she packed her bags and left my place, my hands itched to call her.My men were waiting for my orders, but I refrained
Rowan POVWithout thinking, I called my assistant.“Can you get me a chartered flight to Vegas? Need it ASAP.”I dropped the call right after and proceeded inside the house to prepare.“Are you going to see her now?” Marcus’s question stopped me in my tracks.In truth, I had forgotten about him because my mind was several hundred miles away.I looked back, surprised.“I thought you left.”Mar
Rowan POVIn the end, I realized what Marcus said made sense.I can not claim Hanna fully until Linda’s case is closed.I can’t have her doubt my words when I finally claim her for myself.With that thought, I grabbed my phone.“Aren’t you doing anything except to harass me?” I rudely asked Marcus when he laid his back on my bed, looking like he had no intention of leaving my room.“Go on. Just call whoever you wish to call. I am not going to bother you. I will just lie here.” He told me, acting nonchalant.
Rowan POV“What do you mean she is gone? Where could she have been? I thought you were watching her day in and day out!” I barked on the phone, frustratedly brushing an errant strand of hair that fell to my face.My glasses had gone askew, but I had forgotten about them.My mind was too focused on what Rico, my head bodyguard, was telling me.I righted the glasses, but they almost broke at the force of my hold.“I don’t know what happened, sir. She called in sick yesterday, and now, I received word from her office that she resigned at Hunters.”
Rowan POVIt had been two months, one week, and three days since Hanna resigned from Hunter Hotel Vegas. Since then, even if I turned Vegas and all the neighboring states over, I can’t find any trace of her. It was like Hanna had disappeared on the face of the earth. The airport and docks manifesto revealed nothing about her, so my conclusion was she fled Vegas by car. “You are all useless!” I cried to Rico after he reported that their efforts to find Hanna had all been fruitless.Then, I threw the empty bottle of whisky to him. Unfortunately, since I already saw double, it did not hit him.Rico, for his part, did not dodge the bottle. I watched in frustration as the bottle landed on the floor with a loud crack and glass shards splashed out in different directions. I grabbed another bottle to hurl it on the floor, but Briana’s voice stopped me. “Rowan, what are you doing?” In my blurry vision, I could see her looking horrified, standing just outside the door to my house. I gri
Rowan POV“You deserve it.” Briana scoffed when she saw me looking problematic.We already combined our resources, calling our friends in the business world to get enough leads on Hanna Walker, but all our efforts were futile.There was no Hanna Walker in their employ.“You cannot find a person who does not want to be found,” Marcus said sagely.I snorted at him. “I was still angry at you. All this time, you came to my house to badger me. You were getting information about Hanna and passing it on to our sister.”Marcus grinned and flashed me a peace sign with his fingers.“It’s your fault. Don’t pass the blame on us. If you came out clean and did not make Hanna overthink, do you think she would leave?” Marcus shot back.“I was on a mission. You know I cannot talk about it. My hands and mouth are tied.” I
Rowan POV“It was not her,” Marcus informed me. He held a copy of the forensic autopsy conducted on the charred body found in Hanna’s car. He read it out loud for my benefit. “The DNA did not match hers.” He added.I nodded and gulped the whiskey from my shot glass. “It only proves that she was alive, but it didn’t say where she was,” I responded dully after swallowing the amber liquid. Marcus sat on the chair next to me. I was in my home’s dry bar, sitting on a high stool. In front of me sat a bottle of whiskey and an ice bucket. “I am going crazy, brother. I can’t help worrying.” I told Marcus honestly. He took a fresh glass for himself and joined me. He poured whiskey into his shot glass and gulped down its contents. “What if the Bennetts got her? I don’t think I will ever forgive myself if something happens to Hanna.” My jaw clenched at the thought. I can’t imagine Hanna in the hands of the Bennetts. “Do you think the Bennetts have something to do with her disappearan
Rowan POVIt was over. The Bennetts had been accounted for.The authorities intervened and froze all their assets.Luke and his father were taken into police custody. They were awaiting trial at the Redwood Penitentiary.We were at the district office when Storm approached me.We shook hands.“Our men ripped the warehouse apart. They turned everything over. Unfortunately, they did not find any trace of your girl.” Storm informed me sadly.I nodded.
Speechless! This word best describes what I was feeling right now. Do you know that you were amazing readers? Yes, you who stayed with me until this page. When I first started writing this story, I had so many trepidations. I did not think I would be able to pull this through. First, it has a little similarity to my previous novel, Billionaire Ex Wants Me Back, but my editor believed so much in my draft that she encouraged me to consider doing this. (My heartfelt thanks to Lyra Pinter, who had been a constant source of support.)My feeling of uncertainty magnified when I received so many attacks when the story was first published. Too many detractors lashed out at my characters that I had a hard time concentrating.I know what I wanted to do, but the first people who were vocal about the story did not give me enough encouragement. They did not give my characters a chance to redeem themselves as the story progresses. Fear grips me everytime I face the blank screen of my computer
Briana’s POVThe soul always knows how to heal itself. I had often heard that phrase before but it was never more gratingly obvious til now. After I volunteered to be Charles and Jenna’s surrogate, I had not counted on the pain the act would invariably inflict on me. At the start, it was all too easy. For 40 weeks, I would be carrying their baby in my womb, and that was it. Jenna and Charles will have that baby they desperately wanted. Of course, Noah and I submitted to counseling before I did this, but I never expected that when the time came that I had to turn over baby Amira to her parents, it would hit me so hard. I had not counted on how my self-sacrifice would backfire on me. It hurts so much. I was so heartbroken when I realized that Amira would no longer be a part of my life. Noah took me to several sessions of counseling, and with his support, I was able to get past the hurt and accept that Amira was not mine.The rest of the family helped. My brothers hovered over me
Hello my loves, Jenna and Charles’ story was one of the most painful stories I had written so far. It was because I had to dig up long-forgotten events in my life.But I had to do it for you to be able to understand the motives behind Jenna and Charles’ actions and the pain they invariably inflicted on each other. Jenna and Charles were both non confrontational. They keep things in stride and hope for the best, but sometimes even with the best intentions, our pain could not lay hidden for too long. It needed to be addressed and voiced out, not because you wanted to lash out at your partner or give them the same pain they were giving you.Sometimes, our silence is our cry for help. Or it was a way to protect ourselves. We retreated into the inner recesses of our soul to find solace and comfort because the people we expected to comfort and provide solace for us could not hear our cry for help.But all’s well that ends well. Am glad for those people who had requested me to do a story
Charles POVOne year later…I was standing behind the french windows of the room I was occupying at the Rosewood Hotel, eyes looking outside toward my wife.This past year was a crazy one.Just as Briana predicted, Jenna and I barely had time for ourselves. The kids were growing, and they were beautiful to watch.Jenna’s laugh made its way to where I was.As I watched Jenna play with our children, I could not help comparing her to a rose in bloom.I could not help feeling proud of the changes in her.&nb
Charles POVWe placed our babies in a customized baby carrier that could fit the four of them, and Jenna and I walked out of the suite that had been our temporary home for the past month.At the lobby, we looked like we were on a parade with our nannies in tow and bodyguards, but that’s a small price to pay for the security and safety of my family.“Jenna! Charles!” Beth called out to us.We stopped when we neared her.“Where are your kids?” I asked after she and Jenna hugged each other.I learned this past month that Beth chose to be a stay-at-home m
Charles POVThe next day, our other two babies were born one after the other.Jenna and I were also there to witness everything and become part of our children’s birth.Jenna’s eyes were puffy when she held our two other newborns in her arms. She had been crying nonstop since yesterday because it still had not sunk in that she was a mom of four babies.When we visited Briana, she and Jenna had a long talk.Briana was smiling, but I could see that she was at a loss when it was time to take the baby away from her.I realized that this ordeal put a lot of strain on
Charles POVThe phone in the delivery room rang, and a nurse went to answer it.“Dr. Martin, it’s delivery room 2.” She said from across the room, allowing us to hear.Dr. Martin went to answer it. Her face was serious when she placed the phone back in its cradle.Then, she turned her head back to her medical team.“Are you still up for another delivery?” She asked her team.Their high spirits rubbed off on Jenna and me. We were smiling when they shouted, of course.
Charles POVIt was a crazy day.We were having a meeting when I heard that Briana had been rushed to the hospital.“Brie is having our baby,” I told my brothers and friend after I dropped the call.It was Jenna. She, Noah, and Biana were already in the hospital because Briana's water broke.My face contorted as emotions I could not name assailed.A mix of fear, excitement, nervousness, worry, and happiness barraged me.Briana, my baby sister, was going to deliver my and Jenna's baby right now. 
Jenna POVThe days quickly passed by.Though we did not talk about it, it seemed as if Charles and I were in tacit agreement to take things slow concerning our careers and concentrate more on each other.We go out of town and do things we had never done before as a couple.It was marvelous.“It’s good that you spend more time with each other because I tell you, once the four babies arrive, you won’t get even a wink of sleep,” Briana told me when I came to her house that afternoon to catch up and to check on her.It’s the baby’s