Marcus POV
My brothers started to make a racket.
They kept chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
Briana’s twins kept crying, “Gross!”
They would try to cover their eyes with their fingers, but you could see that they were peeping from the gaps between their fingers, waiting for me to kiss Martina before groaning.
“Ewww!”
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” My brothers continued to chant.
Their hecklings put a frown on my son and daughter’s face, but after a while, with a lot of prodding from their older cousins, joined in the merriment.
They abandoned their toys and stood from their playpen, hands on its padded fence for balance.
They were jumping, more like bouncing on their feet in time to the claps made by my notoriously troublesome brothers.
Martina shyly covered her face with her palms.
She was blushi
Brie POV“Congratulations, Mrs. Hunter. You are ten weeks pregnant.”I got out of the doctor’s clinic completely in a daze. Her words echoed in my head, making my heart beat fast. In the midst of grief and pain, finally, there’s some good news, I mused to myself. Ecstatic, I could not help the grin that spread across my face, feeling the slight lifting of the weight on my shoulders. With renewed vigor, I quickened my steps. The elevator opened. I walked out, passing the nurse station on my way to the ICU.“Mrs. Hunter.” The nurse greeted me. “Hi. How’s Noah?” I asked the nurse, feeling a little fatigued. “Still the same. Mr. Hunter has not woken up yet.” The statement dampened my enthusiasm. Still, I marched to my husband’s bed, took the chair, and sat down. The nurse left to give us privacy. I looked at the dearly beloved face of the man I loved, and longing pierced my heart. Involuntarily, my hand lifted to touch his face. I let the tip of my finger trace his eyelids bef
Brie POVTwo things came to my head at once. My husband is awake, and he is divorcing me. “It does not make sense,” I said to Mr. Langley who looked so much like he wanted the ground he stood on to swallow him. His body language screamed of guilt and pity. I can’t stand it anymore. There had to be a misunderstanding somewhere, and the only person who could clarify and explain the questions in my head was my husband, who, I believed, was still lying in the ICU bed. Immediately, I asked one of the company drivers to get a car ready for me, but no one was moving. It looks like everyone knew about Noah’s decision to divorce me except me. I could not help feeling bitter, seeing how these same people who used to bow down in my presence suddenly turned cold and uncaring. How have the tides quickly turned?I pivoted on my heels and started walking back to the hospital. But before I could do that, Uncle Matt called me. When I turned around to inquire, I was shocked when he upended a box
Brie POVAfter signing my name on the divorce agreement, I walked out of Noah’s room as if the devil was after me. There was something about the air in Noah’s hospital room that had me suddenly feeling suffocated. “Mrs. Hunter, are you alright?” One of the nurses asked when she saw me pressing my palm to the wall for support, breathing heavily. The nurse walked up to me and held my arm. “You looked pale. Do you want me to get the doctor?” She asked, sounding concerned. I shook my head. It was then that I realized I had been crying. “I am alright. Thank you.” I told the kind-hearted nurse and hurriedly wiped at my tear-stained cheeks. I winced, feeling a sudden overpowering sense of nausea.“I have to go,” I told her. “Your box.” She reminded. I looked at the box in repugnance and shook my head, my chest constricting in pain. That box represents painful memories of today. I cannot take it. “Can I leave it here? You can throw it away for me.” I said.The elderly nurse looked a
Brie POVNoah must have assumed that I had accepted his accusation with my silence because when he spoke his words were full of venom.“Facts won’t lie Briana. And the report said that someone deliberately caused the accident. Someone tampered with the car.” “It wasn’t me!” I argued in my defense. My voice came out harsh because I never thought that I would become a suspect in the accident. Not in my wildest dreams.“You have the motive.” “What motive?” “Don’t tell me you have forgotten about your lover? Didn’t you plan this whole thing with him so you would be left to inherit our family’s fortune once we were gone?” His voice held his contempt, and my brows furrowed, recalling when I had ever had a lover. “You know I can never kill them. I love Marsha and Danny too much!” I tried to grope for the right words to say to make him see that what he was suggesting was preposterous. I can never kill the two people who took me in from the orphanage when I was young. The ones who had
Brie POVWhen I came around, the overpowering smell of antiseptic was the first thing my mind noticed. I opened my eyes to be greeted by a white ceiling before my sight wandered to take in the white walls, door, and blanket covering half of my body.This time, I already had a fairly good idea about where I was.It was also by this time that I acknowledged the presence of a cannula tube connected to the IV drip and attached to my hand when I got up from bed to sit up. The door burst open, and in came four young handsome, and tall men I haven’t seen before, but their presence suddenly made me feel safe. Their presence was enough to make me feel comforted. I did not feel so alone anymore. “Are you alright?” One of them asked. He had black eyes and brown hair just like me, but my hair color was slightly paler.It felt awkward when I noticed the four of them looking at me, and all I could do was nod yes in response. Their faces looked strikingly similar. “I am Charles Ford.” The s
Brie POVTwo days later, I was discharged from the hospital.I could have left the hospital that day when I met my brothers for the first time, but my brothers insisted I had to stay for another day.When it was time for my hospital release, I was surprised because, outside my room, men in black were standing in attention.“Is there a VIP confined on this floor?” I asked Jenna, who only laughed and commented,“Your brothers are crazy.”Then, she gripped the handrail of my wheelchair to push me out of my room.At the hospital entrance, I was amazed at the number of similar-looking cars parked outside.When they spotted us, the first car moved forward until it stopped in front of me while the others followed close behind.I could not believe my eyes. “S*it! Are you telling me this is for me?” I asked the four men when it finally dawned on me that the cars and the suited men were in their employ.“No one but the best for our little queen.” My brother Marcus said before he lifted his arm
Brie POVI thought I had already tackled my worst nightmare. I thought since Noah had dealt me with a blow, he could never hurt me anymore, but this betrayal was the worst thing he could have done to me.To realize that he devised a seamless plan to get me out of his life for good and made me look like I was the guilty one in our marriage is a low blow.He even placed the death of his parents on my shoulders!No wife who served him faithfully like I did deserves what he did to me.To think that I even shunned all efforts of my brothers to reunite because I thought I already had a family in him.I almost laughed aloud at my naivety. What a shame!What a waste!I loved him! I trusted him!And what did he repay me?Betrayal!My chest felt constricted from the pain.How can Noah do this to me when all I ever did was love him?How can he be this ruthless?I gripped the sides of my seat, trying to control my anger, feeling sweat beading on my forehead.Now, I was thankful that I never men
Brie POVSeven months later.“Jenna. Please call Jenna.” I told my brother, Flint, gasping as I tried to hold back the pain shooting at my stomach.It was the middle of the night, and I was writhing in my bed. “What happened?” Flint asked on the phone, but I could hear the rustling of sheets. He was getting out of bed in a hurry.Footsteps sounded outside my room. The next second, the door was flung open, and my three single brothers came running.“Briana!” Marcus was the first one to reach my bed. He saw my sodden pajama bottoms, and his eyes widened in alarm.“I am going to have the babies,” I told him between pants.They looked horrified as they stared at me.It was Marcus who acted quickly. He grabbed me with the bedsheet and lifted me in his arms. He half ran out of my room while my other brother, Flint, held out the door.Even through my pain, I heard the sound of the engine starting as another pain gripped me.“Hang on, sis! We’re getting you to the hospital.” Marcus inform