016 JOANA'S POV He was about to leave when Caleb came in. " Is he disturbing you?" He asked. " He is, and I want him to leave me alone," " I do not think you should be coming here; she has asked that you stay away from her, and you should do so." he turned to Clinton and told him that. " I do not care what you plan to achieve by going after her; you are the one that should stay away from her," he said. I was getting tired of all the things he was saying, I did not want to hear any of them. I told him to leave because I was tired of him standing there. " Are you talking to me that way? You were the one who threw a divorce in her face, and now you shamelessly walk in here; you should be ashamed," Caleb said. Clinton turned to me. " I want you to trust me this time, I want to protect you from everyone that is hurting you. I want to guide you and ensure you are safe, " he said. " I do not want that from you; I have made it clear to you that I do not want that from yo
017 CLINTON'S POV I stayed in my room all through; I felt like there was no reason to be outside or to be in anyone's face; I was exhausted and tired of reaching out to Joana. I know she was still mad at me, but this was becoming difficult for me. I stayed in bed, there was a knock on my door, I got up and opened it. I had locked the door because I never wanted anyone to open it. Another reason my door was locked was because of Louisa, I had asked her to leave my house, and she had done so, but she would not stop coming over to visit me like I was tied to her or something. It frustrated me. " What is it?" I asked the maid who had knocked on the door. " I was worried about you and wondered why you had locked yourself in the room that way; it was unlike you," She said. Her voice was filled with concern for me. " Thank you, I'm fine," I said. I opened the door and left the room. I got under the trees, the garden path, and stood there. I was thinking of how best to l
018 CLINTON'S POV I called the private investigator that I had hired; he was the one who was watching over Joana's kids; I told him I wanted the kids safe and nothing should happen to them. I got there one day, and I wanted to be sure that he was doing what I had asked him to do. I got there and met his car parked at a distance, he was inside, watching. I was impressed with that. I stayed in the car and watched as the children came outside, they were heading to their car. I got to look at them so well. There was something different; I began to pay attention to the things they wore, their height, and how they looked. I took my phone and called my private investigator. " I need you to leave your car and come to mine; there is something I wish to show you," I said. " Where are you?" he asked. " The car opposite you," I said. He got it and got out of his car. He walked to where I was, opened the car door, and got in. " There is something I noticed. I want to know the
019 JOANA'S POV I got back to Henshaw Group and had the issue they were having sorted out. I was happy that he got back his stance on business. My brother has always helped me, and I was going to do the same. "Thank you so much," he said to me. I got into my car and left the place. I got to the office and attended to a lot of things; the time I had focused on getting my brother's issues sorted made work pile up for me. It may have been worse, but Caleb was the one who helped me make it less. " Why did you do what you did?" Caleb asked me as I looked at him. "What are you talking about? I have to help my brother, why won't I help him?" " That's not it; I'm talking about agreeing with me that I got you pregnant; you and I know that Clinton is the father of your kids," he said. It made me stop what I was doing, I hated to hear that. Part of me knew he was going to ask me about it, but I also thought he wouldn't mention it. "And? Do you want to tell him about it?" I aske
020 JOANA'S POV I got back into the showroom and saw that it was not all the dresses that this was done to. I picked up the ones they left behind for me. I took them out and kept them in my office. " Why are you bringing them here?" " I want to take them home; they will be safe in my house," I said. " Oh no, your house will not be a good idea to keep them. You know people do come to look at them" " Let them come to the house," I said. It was hard for me, but I had to do that; maybe it would be safer that way. The dresses that were tampered with were left that way. I had no plans of texting to fix them, even though there was something to fix about them. At the end of the day, I began carrying the dresses to my car, I was going to take them home. I asked my workers to leave before doing that. I did not want any of them to be around the place or know that I was moving them to the house. " What is going on here?" I heard someone ask just as I turned to go back inside
021 CLINTON'S POV I kept thinking about what she told me. There was no way Joana was going to go around with Caleb. She loved me, she loved me to a fault. She never disrespected me. She has always been there, always being loyal. It did not make sense to me that she had something to do with Caleb before the divorce. She has never shown any interest in Caleb as well. It came as a joke to me, and I did not want to take it lightly. It did not want to believe her as well. She loved me too much to have done that. I began to think of the many reasons she was comfortable with the divorce. Could it be that she had gotten my replacement, and that was why she accepted it that way? It hurt me so much that I began to regret all that I ever did to her. She never deserved it. And Caleb? I knew he had a soft spot for her, but I thought it was because she was now family. I knew they had been friends for a long time, and that explains their closeness. I got into my car and drove dow
022 JOANA'S POV I got back to the office after checking in the clothes that were in the other room. It has already been paid for, and I went to confirm how well-made it was. I was also making provisions for it to be taken to the house as there was no way I could leave it in my office. Someone might take it from me. I had called Michael, he was bringing the car that would take it home. Ken, my driver, came in. " He is here with the car," he said. I went back to the room and asked the ladies to carefully take it to the car that was outside. They carried it carefully and took it outside. " Thank you for coming," I said to Michael. " It's nothing; I told you I will always help you whenever you need help," he said. It warmed my heart. The dress was taken into the car. The moment I got back to my office, I saw Caleb there. There was a big frown on his face. " What is the problem?' " Well, I'm glad you did not call Clinton to come help you with that," h
023 JOANA'S POV I raised my head up and looked at her; then I knew that something was wrong from the way she looked at me; there were tears in her eyes; I rushed upstairs and went to hold her. I took her from there because she was not meant to see that. She was never meant to see any of that, and it was my mistake; I should have locked the door when I left the room. I trusted them enough to leave them in the room. Part of me was happy that it was only her who left the room and not her two brothers. " Can you promise me something?" I asked her. I know I was meant to be mad at her for disobeying me, but I had no time for that right now. " Yes," She nodded her head. " I do not want you telling this to your brothers, not to anyone as well. You should not dare say it to anyone." I pleaded with her, and that was because I was not sure she would keep our little secret; I asked her to go into the room, then I closed the door, and I made sure that I locked the door. I was not g
068JOANA'S POVCaleb brought out his middle finger at me and went back to his room. It was fun seeing him and cute and all.I retreated back to the room when I saw Mirabel lying on the bed sleeping again, I knew it. Her brothers must have woken her up since the two were up.But Japheth and Jake were already in the bathroom, splashing water everywhere. It was an annoying habit of theirs to fully wake themselves up.“Do you want your punishment to increase…”*“You're going to fall if you keep running around like that…”The kids were exploring the house while we waited for breakfast until Jake ran into Gates Senior.I immediately ran to him, but before I could take him, Gates Senior already had him in his hands.Jake looked terrified, “good morning, sir,” he said calmly.“Good morning boy, running around like that, you were going to hurt yourself,” he said to him softly.“Good morning, sir,” I said, reaching to my son, “I apologize. My son was just enjoying the house so much that he di
067JOANA'S POVCaleb wasn't happy that I was toying with his brains. He had no idea what I was talking about.“If she didn't have the child, then she would be panicking, but she's awfully calm,” Caleb asked, genuinely confused.I chuckled softly, “That's her facade, something she had been building for a long time,” I let out a tired yawn.“I need to head to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day in this house.”Caleb nodded softly, “Good night, have a good sleep.”Caleb slowly closed the door behind him. I slowly tucked myself, and a soft chuckle escaped my lips; Anita had been on top of this game for too long.It was time to make a triumphant return. Would I use my knight or play the games with my pawns?*I slowly flickered my eyes open, reaching out for my phone. It was barely 6am, I was hit with a terrible headache, and I needed some painkillers.Pushing Mirabel softly to the side, I made my way to the kitchen to make some warm lemon tea.I got closer to the kitchen when I heard
066JOANA'S POV“YOU SAID YOU HAD AN ACCIDENT, BUT ONLY FEW SCRATCHES!!!”Clinton quickly pointed out, his face cold with no expression on his father.“I… I didn't get into a nasty accident, just a mild one, that's why I have a few scratches,” she defended herself calmly.“And you fainted for over an hour,” Clinton attacked her again.She was trying her best to stay calm, but Clinton wasn't going to let her.“Clinton… you need to calm down, we should thank the heavens that she is safe and didn't get into a nasty accident. You would have blamed yourself for life.”I reasoned with him calmly that Anita may be smart, but she should learn how to cover her trails properly.One thing I have learnt so far about Clinton was that he hated being deceived.“I'm sorry… it was just too much for me to handle. Truly, I would have hated myself if anything should happen to you.”Anita smiled softly, “It's fine…” She darted her gaze in my direction. It was stern and deadly but still held an innocent lo
065JOANA'S POVWe arrived at the hospital as the kids waited with Caleb and Clinton, and I went into the doctor's office.“Luckily, there's nothing wrong with Japheth. Everything seems to be okay. He's a strong boy.”The doctor smiled, passing the documents to me and Clinton, “Doc, are you sure? It took us some time for us to get him out of the ball pit.”“The pit was truly deep, but there were no pressures on him, so thankfully, there are no internal injuries.”I let out a sigh of relief as we headed back to meet the others. Clinton got a phone call and excused himself.We headed to the parking lot when Clinton rushed to me, “I'm sorry, I won't be able to drop you and the kids off; I have an emergency.”He bent to the size of the kids, “Hey guys, Daddy is really sorry, but I can't drop you guys off. I promise to take you to school tomorrow.”“Pinky promise,” they stretched out their pinky finger to their father, who smiled and snuck his bigger finger pecked their foreheads and left
064JOANA'S POV“Mirabel…”My mother instinct kicked in, and I rushed to the sound. Mirabel was seriously crying; then I noticed that Japheth was missing, and Jake was removing some balls while crying.“He pushed Japheth,” she pointed to a boy who was hiding behind his mother. A tall man pushed them behind him.“Stop accusing my boy,” he growled at my girl. Clinton rushed him, grabbing him by the collar.“If anything happens to my own boy, today would be the last day you would see life,” he threatened.Caleb managed to bring Japheth. He was struggling to breathe properly.“Why wasn't your kid under parent supervision?” The man tried to defend his child.“Since your child was under parental supervision, why didn't you stop him? Oh wait, he's a child of a bully.”The man wanted to punch him, but Clinton dodged, folding his hand behind his back.“The dog who barks the most can't bite,” he pushed him away, “who's the manager of this place? I want the camera footage of this place asap, or
063JOANA'S POVI sighed deeply, entering the car, Japheth and Jake still had a long face while Mirabel tried to make them smile.“Don't put on such a long face; see, we're finally in Daddy's car,” Mirabel tried her best to cheer them up.Clinton shook his head, sighing, starting up the engine, and heading to the ice cream parlour.“Japheth… Jake, cheer up, remember I promised you ice cream, so if you don't smile, I'm turning this car back home.”The boys slowly raised their heads, putting up a small weak smile. They were still devastated, but I wanted to teach them a lesson.Nothing should ever make them throw their fists no matter the age they were.“Those are not genuine smiles, okay, I'm turning the wheels,” he made a fake turn, and the boys quickly shook him.“We're smiling; don't go back on your promise,” I was about to scold them for their tantrums, but Clinton gave me a glare.“Alright… you win, ice cream here we come,” Clinton cheered loudly.I didn't like the fact that the k
062JOANA'S POVClinton stopped talking. He was quite shocked by my behaviour, but I honestly don't blame him.“Funny how the old Joana couldn't say half of all you are saying,” he finally spoke up with a tiny smirk plastered on his face.I opened the door slightly. “Funny, right? Because the old Joana is dead.”I alighted from the car, walking slowly to pick up the kids when I saw my kids bowing their heads and a woman flaring with anger.Mirabel slightly raised her head and saw me immediately, Mommy…”I rushed to her, confused about the whole situation.“So you're the mother who can't train her children properly?” I raised a brow at the lady opposite me.Her son was standing by her side, I noticed my boys refusing to look at me even when I had arrived.“Japheth, Jake, I want you to raise your heads now,” I said in a commanding tone as they finally lifted up their heads.My boys had a black eye, and my sons had a freaking black eye.“Can somebody explain why on earth my boys have a b
061JOANA'S POVLouisa launched towards me but was stopped by Caleb, “The only reason I haven't beaten you up to a pulp is because you're a lady; don't try me.”Caleb growled as I chuckled lightly. Louisa, fuming with rage, ran to Clinton's side, but Clinton removed her hand from him.“Are you really doing this to me?” She yelled angrily.“You caused it. Besides, when will you stop ruining yourself? You're an adult. Act like one.”Clinton pushed her aside and walked to me. She screamed loudly, drawing attention to her.“Joana, mark my words, you will pay for all these, I promise you.” She picked up herself and left the place with her supposed minions.“How do you survive with this girl all the time?” Caleb scoffed, heading to his car.I chuckled softly, heading to Clinton. He tried to open the door for me, but I stopped him, “I agreed to ride with you. It doesn't mean I'll let you do all these shitty things.”Clinton's face turned cold. I don't know what he was expecting, but I hoped
060 JOANA'S POV The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine. It was cool, soft like he was trying to tell me something from the tone of his voice. I gazed into his eyes deeply. It felt like a spell was cast upon me because I was too immersed in his sight. “Joana…” Caleb cut me out of my trance, “huh?” “Tell him not to pick the kids. After all, he said, "You have the final say,” I chuckled at Caleb's jealousy and over-protectiveness. “Unfortunately, I can't. I already promised him, so I can't go back on my words, and you saw how the kids are always clingy to him, so my dear, I have the lower hand here.” Clinton snickered, “Oh well, I guess I need to get the car ready, Caleb. I won't mind you joining us. At least they would have their uncle around.” It was kind of funny seeing these two bicker, I had honestly forgotten about the situation that I was under. For a minute, I hoped my life was as peaceful as this meeting. What if I and Clinton never had any issues