“ You can't live like this…hiding away like a coward all your life.”I inhaled heavily, letting her words to sink in but no matter how much I tried to brace myself…..tried to stand up again.. I just can't. I'm scared.I swallowed, forcing myself to keep a neutral expression. “All what you are saying is nothing but my past, Sophia. This…” Referring to the life and home I was now living in, “ Is my present, now and I really don’t want any connection to that world again. It's scary and I don't think I can… survive it again.” I rose, desperate to end this conversation, but her voice stopped me in my tracks.“Don’t you care about your parents? About the empire they’ve been trying so hard to hand against you? But you let it all in the hand of another man who is bound to destroy it?”“My parents?” I spat, feeling the bitterness rising up. “Sophia…” My voice cracked as tears pooled in my eyes. “They’re one of the damn reasons I’m in this mess. Their greediness and selfishness are the same rea
*****LANCE'S POV*****A heavy headache hit me hard as my eyes fluttered open. My mind was already heavy even before I woke up with this kind of headache that sat at the back of my skull and pulsed with every heartbeat. Squinting over at the bedside clock, its red digits glared back at me—11:04 a.m. I’d missed another morning.With a groan, I rolled over, reaching for my phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up, showing thsr Henry had called me for like 30 times.“ Did something happen?” I thought as I wondered but then I remembered Maya and wondered if he had found her because that's the only reason why he could have called my number urgently.I hit redial, pressing the phone to my ear, but it rang out—no answer. I tried again, and again, already feeling nervous at the news he's going to break to me.I had been searching for Maya all these months but just couldn't find any traces of her like before. I wondered why exactly she like disappearing without traces. I knew how she must hav
Maya’s voice softened as she continued, "Back then, I won’t lie..I knew about Lance and Ashley. I knew they had history since college days, but I personally witnessed how Ashley walked away when Lance proposed, saying marriage wasn’t in her plans right now.... she claimed she wanted to conquer the world first before thinking about marriage. And then she left..she left him alone and we never heard from her for years…not even after our marriage."Maya’s voice wavered for the first time, “ After we married, I faced rejection from his family. To his mother… his sister… I was always that ‘poor girl’ without a good background and nothing to contribute to the family. I was always mocked for my stature and even told that it's...shameful to them that their son married someone like me. I remembered how my sister-in-law even said she feel embarrassed to introduce me to her friends. I was never enough for their standards."As she said the last part, I heard a soft thud. Morgan had collapsed onto
“Oh, now you call me a monster?” Ashley sneered, crossing her arms. “Well, that's quite funny, because when I was paying for your trips, showering you with gifts, and even bought you a fucking car on your stupid birthday,” she turned to Mom, "and buying you designer bags, shoes, even jewelry…” Laughing bitterly, “You both didn’t seem to think I was such a monster. It’s only now, after everything, that you’ve decided I’m some kind of ‘demon in human form.’”Morgan didn’t back down. She fired back, “Did... did I ask you to do any of that? Hell no! You chose to do all of it because you wanted our support. You knew we’re never on your side, but we didn’t have a choice since you promised to save Lance’s company!”And just like that, they were off, trading barbs like they were each trying to land the final blow while mom tried to separate them. Ashley's video was already going viral. The video of the public, even her fans, turning against her and they were the reason why she came home loo
"But I'm curious about something, Mr. Wells.""What is it?""Well," she paused, letting the words lingers around. "You keep talking about a…child" She trailed off. "May I ask, which child are you referring to?"I sighed heavily, knowing exactly what she was hinting at. Yes, I knew that I had no right to ask and yet, here I was. “Maya, I know that I have no right to ask about her but..""Her?" she interrupted, her eyes widening in surprise, clearly realizing that I knew Bella was mine."Yes, her. Do you remember when we met at the beach last time? I clearly told you then… that ..that I saw a resemblance, something familiar about her. Damn, why didn’t I think deeper about it then? Why did I insist on my hunch?"Maya burst into laughter, a sharp, mocking sound that cut through the room. "Lance, what the hell are you talking about? There was no child…”“ What?”“ Yes, there's none and Bella isn’t yours. I already told you that day that she’s not yours so how could you even think that….” S
****ASHLEY'S POV****Sitting down on the floor of our bedroom, resting my back against the bed, I bit my finger nervously as scrolled through the endless sea of comments. My finger shook and my body trembled as each words…each comments just kept on searing itself into my mind like a burning brand;“ Omg! Can't even believe that I trust that slut and even wrote bad things against Ariel! I wish I can just rip her freaking lips apart for her lies!“ A home wrecker! She's such a despicable person and even go around playing victim.”“ From now on I'm no longer one of her fan. Infact, I'm now her anti-fan!”“ She better not let me see her face or else….” The comments on my pages just kept coming one after another. Through my years in being a celebrity, I had never for once had 2.5 millions comments on my page and now…I'm seeing something like that in which all of it are nothing but bad comments and even some laying curses.I will sue them all! I will make them rot in jail for cyber bullyin
Lance stood motionless for a while as he slowly turned to face me, his eyes narrowing. "What did you just say?""You heard me right," I spat back. "If you’re planning on throwing every single thing away; your company, your position, your pride — all because of some misplaced guilt over “her”... then I’m done. I want a divorce, Lance Wells. This..isn’t the kind of life I signed up for. I didn’t marry you to become the wife of your ex-wife’s lackey. Never!” I said in a determined voice as I would never be the wife of Ariel Rodrigo's personal Assistant.In their dreams.A dark, hollow chuckle escaped his lips, a sound that sent chills down my spine. He’s also mocking me. Now that I've got nothing else again, he's not treating me like trash.He stepped closer, his face inches from mine. "A divorce, huh?" He tilted his head, dripping sarcasm. "Did you just say you want a divorce?" I crossed my arms, looking away defiantly, and nodded."Then what happened to that same Ashley who sabotaged
I lowered the phone slowly, feeling a little but scared as I knew that my father must be angry with everything going on about me but I know how to calm him down. I drove in, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. Stepping into the house, I saw my father sitting in the middle of the room, his head bowed, both hands resting heavily on his cane. My two older brothers were there too. One lounged in a chair, watching me with a smirk, while the other stood rigidly by our father’s side like a guard dog. I'm sure they must have say something bad about me. Those two had always resented me, my sister and my mother since the first day we step out feet into this house. They were my father’s first wife’s sons, and they blamed us for their mother's death. They claimed their mother died when she found out that her husband had a mistress with a child outside their marriage. And the worst part of it was that it wasn't even up to a month after her death that my mother had moved in