Gabriel had managed to schedule a meeting with Alicia despite how difficult it had been. Tyler had been almost sure that Gabby wouldn't be able to get through to her and get her to agree to the meeting but once again, Gabby had proved himself by somehow managing to convince Alicia to sit and talk to Tyler for not more than thirty minutes.Tyler was to meet her in two days yet he still couldn't help wondering how their interactions would go off. He hadn't seen her in a very long time and he had no idea how or what it was that she was doing then.He raised his head away from his laptop to Sophie who was lying on the bed invested in a book. She had started on it immediately after she had woken up and she was yet to take a break. Tyler on his path had needed a distraction as early as possible which had prompted him to work on his laptop that early morning. But suddenly, he was feeling overwhelmed and felt the need to go out for some air.But he didn't want to go alone or be alone.“Let's
Tyler had thought of the very moment he would see his sister again but nothing had beat his expectations. The reality was staring him in the face. He hadn't seen her in years and even without her blonde hair, she still looked exactly the same. Only a few features were different about her.She just stood there, leaning against the chair while she watched him. She appeared to have been there for a while, just watching him. A small smile settled on her beautiful face and she adjusted her clothing. Tyler sat there and watched her walk toward them, his pulse throbbing.“Hello,” her voice was laced with a firm edginess to it that only Tyler took note of. Sophie, who had her eyes still glued on the children running around the cafe, turned at the voice. “Hi,” she smiled, uncertain.“My name is Alicia and this is my place,” she pointed at the place. Then, her gaze flickered to Tyler's unnerving one, calm and collected. “And, hi, Tyler.” She let out a low chuckle.Sophie whirled around sharpl
“What the fuck were you thinking, Ty?” Gabby snapped for the first time in ages as he glared at his friend who had just finished relaying everything that had happened to him earlier.“I was thinking; If Alicia wants to play this game then I might as well just indulge her.” He scoffed as he shoved his hands into his beige shorts. Gabby was pissed and he was right to be pissed.“You know that you can't let anything go wrong, right?” Gabby's brow raised at him. “Shit is not even funny. Nothing can go wrong, Ty. You and I both know that. She is our only link so you better be…” He trailed off as the others reached where they were both standing.“Yo, are you guys ready yet?” Gus asked with his hand shoved into his pocket. If he noticed the energy the duo were exuding, he didn't act like it. “We have everything we need,” he added as he raised the cooler he had packed with his wife.“Right, let's bounce then.” Gabby nodded as he took the lead. Tyler watched him go before his eyes found Sophie
Tyler found Alicia after minutes of searching. She was with a group of children, indulging them in the act of face painting. About five or six children sat down attentively around a table she must have set up while she painted their faces into what they wanted. Tyler had almost forgotten that she painted.It was the one thing they both shared in common besides being siblings. As he joined them, Alicia barely glanced away from what she was doing to answer his polite awkward greeting. She finished with the face of the kid in front of her before she took off her painting gloves to answer him.“Where is your girlfriend? Trouble in paradise?” Her tone was mocking as she steered him away from the kids to somewhere else, somewhere private.“Sophie is anything but clingy,” Tyler's voice was surprisingly calm unlike what Alicia had expected.“Of course, she seemed like a very lovely person.” Alicia smiled, waving at a group of women calling out to her. Tyler stared at the group as they passed
Harper laughed when she saw Tyler approaching with two children. It wasn't the kids crowing at him that made her laugh. It was his painted face that made her almost choke on her cold mocktail which she was slowly sipping. His face looked like a mash of colors had been poured all over it.“What the hell happened to your face?” She screamed, grabbing the attention of everybody else in their group. Nick and Gus had set up their little place. A small tent they had rented with lounge chairs spread out under it. They also had a table nearby with all kinds of food laid out on it.“The kids happened,” Tyler laughed as he let go of his niece's hand. Harper turned her attention to the kids after laughing at her fill. “Hey, kids. I'm Harper,” she introduced herself to them.“Amelia,” the female one and the oldest, offered her hand for a formal handshake which made Harper laugh as she shook their tiny hands.“And I'm Noah,” the younger one with the adorable face chipped in.“Aww, aren't you ador
Harper took a long look at Quinton for the first time that night as they approached the drink station. His big gray eyes were filling in the scenes around him, his hand shoved into the pockets of his jean pants while his brown wavy chestnut locks dangled down his head. Harper itched to run her hand through the long hair.Her steps were slow and he seemed to have noticed as he moved even slower to match up with her speed. The first time she had met him at the bookstore, she hadn't known what to think. And how had she missed that he wasn't married? Maybe because her eyes hadn't strayed to his fingers.Quinton noticed her staring and when he turned his face around to probably talk to her or flash her a smile, she turned her head real quick and feasted her eyes on the Ferris wheel that had been set up at the other far end of the beach. She let out a small sound as she listened to the screams of the kids on the wheels each time the wheels made a spin which was every second.She had remembe
Cocking his head to the side, Quinton put his drink away too like they were going for an interview of some sort. “Thanks,” his lips lifted a little. “What are you doing back here?” He asked.“Here?” Harper frowned.“Here in Hawaii, I mean. I understand that you are one of the visitors.” He expatiated and she nodded, understanding where he was going.“My friends and I were going through stuff and we needed to unwind badly. Plus, another of my friends just got engaged and she was having her wedding early. Like quickly. We all need to be in the right headspace to plan a wedding which was why Tyler and Gabby suggested a vacation. And we hightailed it here all the way from LA.” She sighed.“Interesting,” Quinton nodded as he took his time to process her words properly. He had his curiosity turned up a notch higher. “So—”“My turn,” Harper cut in and he nodded, giving her room. “What do you do?” She thought of the first question she could think of. Picking up her drink, she took a slow sip
Harper didn't think that the night could get any more fun but she realized soon enough when they arrived at the Ferris wheel. Quinton had taken her to the ticket stands to get a ticket for them and even as she had told him that she was going to pay for hers, he had refused.“Two tickets, please.” He grinned as she dropped the bills on the stand in front of the man serving the tickets.Harper frowned as she stared at him, wondering what was wrong with men and their huge egos about not letting ladies sort out their bills themselves. But she didn't question it because even though she felt that way, she secretly enjoyed it when people did things like this for her. As she looked toward the man on duty, she noticed the lingering stare he passed them while he sorted through their tickets which was taking longer than expected. They had a queue right behind them and even though Harper didn't appreciate cutting lines, Quinton had done that for her and the people on the queue hadn't even compla
Tyler was nervous. He had been since he saw her in that beautiful dress at the hospital. He had known it was her opening night at the gallery and even though she wouldn't want him there, Tyler had gone anyway. He was proud of her. He was proud of everything she had done and became with or without him.But he needed her now and more than ever.He wanted her now more than ever and he was going to get her.She had looked seemingly unaffected by his presence at the hospital the night before but he knew it had touched her as he had touched him too. He hoped she would wear that dress she wore for her gallery opening. He also wished that she wouldn't. He wished she would smile at him when she arrived but Tyler was close to losing his mind. It was an hour after the arranged time yet she wasn't here. He had refrained from texting her so as not to appear too pathetic. He wanted her but he also had to play his cards right.When his phone buzzed in his pocket, Tyler took it out to answer the cal
Kristen folded her arms against her chest as she stared at Sophie. She wasn't complaining about having her in her house but Sophie could be exhausting. Especially in moments when she was this stubborn. And she was done, she couldn't deal with this attitude of hers anymore.“Do you need me to call Willow because I will. Oh, I know. Joyce would get here quicker than Willow would.” She tsked, eyeing the woman in pajamas lying on the floor of the living room to Netflix and chill.“You wouldn't dare,” Sophie barely glanced away from the screen of the TV as she grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in front of her and poured them into her mouth. She munched cheerfully like she didn't have a worry in the world.When in fact, she did. She had a lot running through her mind but she would never say it.It was only a day after the opening of her art gallery. A day after she met Tyler at the hospital. A day after Harper's birth to Baby Ivan. It was the date night Tyler had scheduled for her
Sophie didn't get a breathing space that night as she wandered about, talking to her guests and the families of her featured artists. She had almost let herself go into worry about Harper but Joyce had handed her a glass of non alcoholic wine that had put her at ease.So, with a glass in hand, Sophie had wandered around in her gallery and attended to guests. The number of people that had turned up were more than she had expected but she was glad that she had enough resources to handle them. She had just finished selling off a beautiful glass piece to a man when Joyce pulled her aside for a break."Heard anything from them yet?” she whispered as Joyce pulled her away from the scene to a corner.“Not yet,” Joyce whispered back with a hiss. She was equally very worried but that wasn't what she wanted to talk about.“Okay, so what's going on?” Sophie asked when she saw the look on her face.“I just saw Jasper and Olivia.” Joyce confessed trying to look past her friend's shoulders toward t
It had been exactly two weeks since the whole episode with her father. With the help of her friends, Sophie had gotten back on tracks with her dream art gallery. She had channeled all her emotions into setting up the perfect gallery she wanted.In two weeks, she had set up the podium and given the place the taste it deserved. Countless times, Joyce and the rest of the girls had dropped by to help her set up. And when she wasn't setting up, Sophie would lay down on the floors of the place and imagine what her future would be filled with.In everything she had pictured, there had been Tyler. It has been more than a while. Since the day she had ordered him out of her hospital room, she hadn't heard back from him. Although she felt extremely bad for treating him that way, she'd been hurting too. She hadn't wanted to see him. Now, she didn't know.She missed him. She missed everything about him but that wasn't the topic for the day. It was her gallery's opening night. Her friends had he
When Sophie got the call from Willow asking her to come to the police station the morning after the day she was released from the hospital, her mind had conjured up different thoughts that she didn't think were appropriate. Willow had sounded calm yet very worried. Like she was very close to killing someone off which had made her extremely worried.Kristen had driven her to the police station because she hadn't been strong enough to drive. Although she had been properly taken care of in the hospital, her wound hadn't completely healed off and her body still sometimes ached her. She still couldn't believe that someone had almost succeeded in killing her.The thought still paralyzed her whenever she thought if it. What if the bullet had gone straight to her heart? What would have become of her? So many if's and possibilities always left her paralyzed.“You are going to be fine,” Kristen had told her repeatedly before she walked into the police station. Everyone around her seemed to know
"Congratulations, Tyler.” Willow shook his hand when they stepped out from the court. His smile was wide, big yet very much incomplete. This had been his dream for the past few years; To put Manuel and Andy away for good.It had been simple yet very difficult.But Willow had made it happen. She had gathered all the obvious evidence she could find and made him set up a meeting with Adelaide on the guise of getting her to confess to what she had done alongside Manuel and Andy. His half-brothers were very smart and intelligent but one thing they all had in common was their pride at their winnings which always led them to gloat and talk about everything they weren't supposed to.All it had taken were a few bottles of drinks to get them put behind bars. Now, he had custody of the little girl he was starting to call his.“No, Willow. You made it happen,” he smiled genuinely at her and she smiled back with ease. Willow was a beast when she was in court and that much was apparent. She had pu
Joyce pushed past the crowd in front of her when she sighted Harper and Willow waiting ahead. She had almost lost her mind when she had gotten the call from Harper telling her that Sophie had been involved in an accident. Joyce had thought that Sophie had refused to pick her calls or answer any of her texts because she was trying to give them space.She knew Sophie and she wouldn't put that past her.But the call from Harper had almost destabilized her. Already, she and Nick were already planning on returning back to LA after being in New York for close to a month now but Harper's call had sped up the whole process.“Slow down, baby.” She heard Nick say behind her. She knew that if it wasn't for the bags he was juggling, he would have rushed toward her. Joyce finally got to where her friends were standing and without any warning of some sort, she plunged them into a hug. Well, that was if Harper's large baby bump allowed her to hug her properly.“Joyce,” Harper pouted as she struggle
Tyler hummed as he flipped the pancake on the pan. It was late into the afternoon yet he hadn't had anything to eat all day having been busy. Taking Adelaide and his half brothers down had been a lot harder than he thought and everything was messin with him more than he thought it would.He barely had any time for himself to breathe and do all the things he needed to do. As if that wasn't enough, Tyler had had to deal with Giovanni when he went to the office the other day for an official meeting. The beast of a man had barged until his office without knocking to talk to him, being all rude to everyone around.Tyler hadn't been surprised when he saw him. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Giovanni De Luca figured out who he was. He had played enough and to him, he thought that he had taken more than enough time to figure him out.Too slow.“Well, this is late,” he'd said when he walked in, leaning back into his chair as he gazed up at the man. “Let me guess, somebody tipp
When Sophie opened her eyes, everything seemed fuzzy and out of focus. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, but everything remained hazy and indistinct. Slowly, she became aware of a dull ache in her head, and she realized that she must have hit her head during the accident. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her and she slumped back down onto the bed. Everything was a blur, both literally and figuratively. As she struggled to regain her senses, the memories of the accident began to come back to her in flashes. She remembered the screech of the tires, the sickening crunch of metal, and the blinding pain that had followed. It was all a blur, but slowly the details were starting to come into focus. She tried to sit up again, this time with more success. She took a deep breath and looked around, trying to get her bearings. Where was she?It wasn't until she finally registered the antiseptic smell that came with hospitals and the white walls that