Charlotte saw the flicker of fear pass the secretary’s face as she turned once again to her coworkers who stood at a safe distance to egg her on. Emboldened, she crossed her arms and faced Charlotte squarely. “What trap?” She asked with a snicker. “Aren’t you tired of showing up here and making a fool of yourself each time? You may have had some level of respect if you stayed home as a trophy wife, but no you just have to keep coming here and giving people more reasons to mock you. It’s not even like you could do your job right.” Charlotte’s eye twitched, but she managed to maintain her smile. She had heard all of this before, so it didn’t bother her as much it once did. It was obvious she was only trying to get a rise out of her, but she was prepared. A few people gathered around the hallway, pretending to be busy when it was obvious they just wanted to watch the drama unfold. Charlotte would never let herself become a part of something like this again, but she couldn’t just l
“What makes you think he’s working against you?” Charlotte asked. “He has been acting weird lately. I can’t put my hand on it but something seems off. I’m thinking of getting some other private investigator but Private is the best. He will figure it out,” Xavier said with a sigh. “Do you have anyone in mind?” She asked, her mind going different places. “Yes,” Xavier nodded, and that’s why I have to be careful. “I think he’s working for Laura. I started to suspect him when he told me he couldn’t find anything incriminating about her, like someone was preventing from doing so. I got my confirmation when the same videos I asked him to destroy found their way back into Laura’s phone. I don’t know how much Laura is paying him to make him think he can get away with stabbing me in the back but I hope it’s worth it because he’s definitely going to pay.” Charlotte nodded. No wonder he was so angry. “Thanks for the flowers,” she said after, hoping to change the subject and ease some te
“Is there anyone he talks to?” The therapist asked Xavier after Caleb’s session. “Is there anyone he’s comfortable around? His mother for example?” It had been almost two weeks of therapy and yet, Caleb was showing no signs of recovery. He was still as scared and quiet as he had been the first day Xavier brought him to the house and now, even the therapist was giving up hope. “There’s this woman at my house, Kate,” Xavier said, hoping they would take the lead from there and not have to invite Laura. The therapist nodded. “His mother?” “No. She’s not in the picture. We’re divorced and she does not have custody,” Xavier lied. He looked right at the woman who he suspected must have run her research about him and definitely knew all about Laura, but his gaze did not waver because he knew she wouldn’t dare to cross him by involving Laura. “Tell me more about this Kate,” she urged finally, going back to scribbling on her notepad. “She’s my wife’s sister. She has kids of her own and wh
Alone with Caleb in the waiting room, Charlotte remained silent while she watched the boy stare at the wall. It was obvious he was special, and she sincerely wished there was some way to enter his mind and talk to him, assure him she wasn't a bad person like he probably thought. She sighed and turned when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. It was just someone with a stack of papers in their hand passing, who reminded Charlotte of Xavier's secretary. Even though she hated her guts, Charlotte wondered if she could have done things differently. She had never been one to slut-shame anyone, but desperate times had called for desperate measures. "Ouch," Caleb's squeak of discomfort pulled her away from her thoughts. "What's wrong?" she asked him, placing a hand on the foot he had pulled up. He stared at her but didn't say anything for a while. She gave him a tired smile because his silence didn't shock her. "When I was little, each time I had a bumpy, my sister would always
Charlotte chuckled when she watched Xavier chase Caleb around the park. Whenever he got close enough to touch Caleb, he slowed down on purpose, so that the game wouldn't come to an end. Caleb screamed in delight as Xavier played with him, and when Charlotte wasn't bursting out laughing, she was marvelling at what a delight it was to see how great he was at being a dad. She took a few pictures and videos of them running around on her phone and uploaded them to her personal social media account. Xavier waved at her from a point in the park, where he and Caleb had stopped to rest from their running, and she waved back with a proud smile. She ignored her phone that was buzzing with notifications and focussed on watching the other people with their children in the park. It was a beautiful sight, and she was more than happy to be there. When she checked her notifications however, the proud smile on her face diminished entirely. What had she been thinking when she uploaded those pictures?
"You could have just sent a text or something, and I would have taken it down immediately," Charlotte said and brought out her phone from the picnic basket where she had dropped it. She wasn't in the mood to argue or exchange words with someone like Laura who apparently enjoyed it. "I'll take the post down right away." "I didn't come here to ask you to take the post down, you skank!" Laura snarled. "Why on earth would you show my baby's face in public without my consent? Who the fuck do you even think you are? If I had known you were still around Xavier, I would never have let him take my son. I don't need you corrupting my son..." "Now, that's enough from your uncouth mouth," Xavier yelled, making all of them jerk in surprise. “What's the point of this stunt you're pulling now? Insulting my wife in public? What exactly do you intend to gain from it. She has already agreed to take down the posts, so what's your deal? I'm sick and tired of your shit!" "Xav, I..." Laura began in a
"Your guest is here to see you ma'am," Laura's assistant announced to her."He's not a freaking guest," Laura muttered to herself. "Bring him in.""Hello," Private greeted, coming along with the assistant, but Laura completely ignored him. The assistant pointed to the other chair in the room and he nodded and sat there. When Laura saw that he was sitting and that the assistant had left the penthouse, she threw the bottle of vodka she had been drinking on him, but he moved right before it could reach him and watched it shatter hard against the floor in a loud crash. His eyes widened, but he maintained his composure and straightened his tie. "Good morning to you too," he said sarcastically. "Don't 'good morning' me!" she snapped. "Will you tell me why I can't find the pictures I had of Xavier's wife? Why have they suddenly disappeared from my phone? You're the only person I know with the ability to make things like that appear and disappear, so care to explain?" Private furrowed hi
"I can't find the pictures anymore," Charlotte said, alarmed. She was holding her phone in her hand, refreshing her page over and over to verify if it was a technical problem. It wasn't."What do you mean?" Xavier asked, taking her phone from her. "Look at my page. It just disappeared. Right now. I don't know how. I didn't delete it," she said. "Hmm. I'm sure Private must have had something to do with this," Xavier muttered under his breath. "What do we do now?" she asked, feeling afraid. The fact that someone could just delete a post she had made a few hours ago from her own account without her consent was so scary. It made her feel like she had no privacy. If someone could do this whevener they wanted, what else could they do? If someone like Laura had the power and the means to do soemthing like this, what else would she try next? Xavier stood up."Where are you going?" she asked him."I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago.""Xavier, wait," she called, r
“It’s time for bed, Caleb. Let’s go,” Charlotte told Caleb with her arms crossed over her chest, giving him no room to argue. “Just let me win this game…” he argued absently, more focused on the game he was playing on his iPad. “You’ve spent your extra fifteen minutes,” she said, taking the device out of his grasp. He frowned, but conceded in the end. “Fine.” As Charlotte tucked him into bed, she couldn’t imagine how the times had changed. It had been six months since Laura had been taken away, her parents had been released and since she had started running her own business. Caleb had started therapy again, and it had definitely worked. These days, he spoke so often and did whatever he wanted to do that it was hard to believe he had been the same mute boy from months ago. He had just turned four, but the topic of his birth mother never came up fortunately. He seemed to blend right in, just as sweet and annoying as any other four year old boy. “I love you mommy,” he wh
When Charlotte saw Jonah being led out by a prison ward officer, she froze and started to wonder what she had been so scared about. He looked nothing like he did before. He had slimmed down to an almost unrecognizable state and his face looked like he had permanently lost the ability to smile. He walked with the slouch of someone that had given up on life in general. Charlotte doubted that whatever he was going through had happened in that prison in such a short time. “You can wait for me,” Charlotte whispered to Carlos who reluctantly left her side when he understood. “Hi,” Jonah said when he was sitting opposite her. He tried to smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace. He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Hi,” she said simply. She couldn’t let him see she pitied him. “How have you been?” He managed to ask. “You look good.” She couldn’t say the same for him. “Why did you call me here, Jonah?” “Straight to the point like always, huh?” He said with something she suspec
Xavier could only relax comfortably when they were back on the jet and on their way back to California. He could finally let himself be convinced that his dream had been nothing more than that. It hadn’t been a sign of anything, because it had gone on perfectly with no dramatic appearances from anyone. Unfortunately, the thought of one day running into Laura again came often to him and disoriented him. However, he always pushed that possibility away to the back of his mind. He had run a background check on the psych ward Don had placed her and from his research, it was a very exclusive place, so her chances of leaving were lower than zero. It was like a madhouse for wealthy people to drop off their family members who had lost it through drug use of whatever means. Their security was so prioritized that it was practically impossible to get in or get out unless the very owner of the establishment permitted. There was also no possible way Laura could bribe anyone there. It was afte
“Xavier, wake up! Wake up!” The sound of the female voice calling out to him sounded so distant at first, but the hand violently shaking his shoulders brought him back to consciousness. He was breathing fast, as his eyes got accustomed to the light around him, his chest heaving rapidly. “Are you okay?” Charlotte asked him, peering into his eyes as she touched the sides of his face. He could see the fear in her eyes as she studied him. “Charlotte,” he whispered, holding her arms and wrapping her in a tight hug. She was alive, here in front of him. “You’re alive.” “Yeah,” she said uncertainly, hugging him back. “Did anyone kill me?” She asked with a chuckle. He finally pulled out of the hug and glanced around. They were still in the jet, on their way to Orlando. He had just had a bad dream. “Where’s Caleb?” He asked. “Right here,” she said, pointing at a part of the jet where a small makeshift bed had been made for Caleb to lie on. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah,
After bidding Kate and her family goodbye, Xavier and Kate had to take the journey back, while consoling Caleb, who couldn’t understand why the twins had to leave without him. It was a Saturday, and for the first time in such a long time, Xavier had a free day. They all decided to spend the day together, to make up for Caleb’s friends leaving. Charlotte was extremely happy. She chatted and laughed all the way to the four seasons Orlando, where they decided to spend the day with their son, since he had seen a video about it online and wouldn’t shut up about going there. She held Caleb’s shoulders during takeoff in Xavier’s private jet, more to distract herself than him. No matter how often she rode in the jet, she still got jittery when they had to go anywhere in it. She had made an appointment with Dr Anna that morning and she couldn’t wait to finally carry out the surgery the week after. “Are we really going to Orlando?” Caleb asked, peering out of the window of the jet.
The ride home was mostly silent, with Xavier at the backseat, pondering on all that had happened that day while Carlos drove them home, shooting glances at his boss from time to time. “How was your break?” Xavier asked all of a sudden and Carlos cleared his throat. “Great. Thanks again for it. I really needed it,” he said with a smile. “How did it feel to have an actual conversation with her after so long?” Carlos sighed. “Not as bad as I thought. I actually feel better. Thanks for advising me to do it. We cleared some things out. She was mature about it and that’s that.” Xavier nodded and looked out the window at the trees that were zooming past. He remembered when Carlos had come to him for help when having to see Kate after the history they had was threatening to drive him insane. He had advised him to take a break, and then discuss with her when he was ready. It seemed to have worked. Carlos looked like himself again. It had been weird to find out that there had been a
“When will you come back, daddy?” Caleb’s little voice came over the phone and Xavier smiled. He could picture his son standing next to Charlotte and holding the phone to his ear with both his hands. “I’ll be there this night, I promise,” he replied. From the corner of his eye, he saw Private trying to get his attention. “Take care of mom for me, okay? I’ll see you soon.” “Bye daddy,” Caleb said and Xavier nodded before he ended the call. “What’s up?” He asked Private. “She’s causing a scene, boss. She’s yelling at everyone and she even pushed her brother and broke a glass on the doctor’s head when he tried to sedate her,” Private told him. There was an urgency in his private investigator’s voice as he reported to him, but there was also a hint of amusement in his tone. Xavier rolled his eyes and walked past him toward the ward he had left to answer his wife’s call. “Why was there glass next to her in the first place?” He asked no one in particular when he enterrés t
“My daddy used to beat my mommy before that woman took me and told she’s my real mommy,” Caleb explained the best way he could. “He told me he’s not my real daddy and that my mommy sold me to him.” “Wait, wait,” Charlotte told him. She had no idea what he was talking about and the more he spoke, the more confused she became. None of what he was saying made any sense. At this point, he was just throwing the words ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ around. “Laura, the woman that brought you to us, she’s your mommy, isn’t she?” She asked him slowly, hoping his answers would make sense to her this time. He shook his head. “That’s what she told me and then she brought me here after,” he said. “So you had other parents before she came?” She asked and he nodded. When Charlotte realized he wouldn’t give her an understandable answer, she decided to stop asking him so that he wouldn’t confuse her more. Since Xavier had gone out to find answers, this one might be one of them. She would ask him wh
“Mommy!” Caleb squealed when he saw Charlotte and ran up to her. She carried him up and enveloped him in a tight hug. She was still not used to him calling her ‘mommy’, but hearing it was so natural and calming. Whenever she was with him, she secretly hoped something would happen to Laura or that she would say she didn’t want him again. She didn’t think she would be able to move on if he had to leave to go back to his real mother. “Did you miss me?” She asked, tickling his tummy. “Uh huh,” he replied, laughing and trying to get her hand away from him. Charlotte kissed him on the forehead and carefully set him back on his feet. She held his small hand and allowed him to lead her into the house. She had been in a sour mood after the meeting with her parents, but just a few minutes with Caleb had softened her up. Kate looked at her and smiled. With a playful frown, she nudged Caleb and asked him why he didn’t notice her. He started to laugh. “What did you do today while we were g