I hesitated for a second looking at the handkerchief he stretched to me, then chuckle at his bold action. "Thanks," I said, taking the cloth from him.As I was drying my hands, he spoke up again. " Is that your fiancé? She looked beautiful in her wedding dress. Was it a love marriage? Because that's what's common this days."As I heard that, my hands stops moving and my grip on the handkerchief tighted, my knuckles turning white.I knew what he was trying to say but the reason why he would Intentionally came her and try to provoke me with his presence here, was something I had no idea of.But seeing him like this, with the expression on his face, I did know one thing; the guy before me had no idea that I knew about his shitty past with the woman I was getting married to and just trying to get some shit out of me.But two can play at this game. I forced a smile onto my face. “Oh yeah, we've been in love since childhood and been stucked together for a while. Soulmates, you might say.
The car stopped at the edge of the old forest path near our penthouse, which wasn’t far from where we were. As Maya and I got out if the car, I told the driver and Almond to stay behind while Maya and I walked to the spot where we buried the time capsule. Back then, we wrote a message to our future self and I didn't really think I remembered what I wrote again as it's been years already. We reached the giant oak tree in Whispering Meadows, the one we used to call our "Secret Fortress”; we named everything here and Maya’s face lit up with a mix of excitement and nostalgia as she searched for the exact spot where we buried it while I just stood still, watching her. "I can’t believe our old hideout is still here after all these years because I remember your dad saying he wanted to turn it into a resort." “That’s true, but that's back then because now…I own it,” I replied, feeling proud as I recalled what I went through to acquire this place, filled with so many good memories. “R
~~MAYA'S POV~~The color drained from my face as Kingsley mentioned Lance's name. I had no idea that Kingsley knew about my marriage to Lance all those years ago, and never once had he called me or even met me.When I went to Italy and pretended to have lost contact with him, I found it hard to believe that he would just accept that so easily without even doubting my words."But... how...?" I stammered, my voice barely above a whisper."I have my ways, but that's not important right now. What's important is that you should be honest with yourself... and with me, for once. So, do you still have feelings for him or not?" Now that I thought about it, it seemed quite weird for the Bane family not to have found out if I was actually in Italy or not in all those years I was married to Lance. And with the way Kingsley knew about him, it seemed like he was the one who had been helping me and hiding it from his parents."I understand your silence more than you think. Your heart... it's not wi
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, trying to calm my happiness down. A smile spread across my face as my mind drifted off to my conversation with Kingsley at the penthouse the other day.Finally, everything was now falling into place. We are having our engagement party in two days and getting married a week after. Soon, Bella would call me "mommy" for the first time in my life; something I had been dreaming of since the day she was taken from me. This was the best thing that had ever happened to me as I never even thought this day would come so fast. But thinking about her now, my fingers trembled as I fastened the clasp of my necklace and I imagined Bella's expression when I confessed everything to her.I knew Bella might hate me for a while once she learned the truth as I had already planned to tell her once we were ready to adopt her. But I just hoped that she would forgive me and understand that I only wanted to protect her as I couldn’t bear the thought of her being take
Arriving at the venue, the red carpet stretched out before me like a shiny ribbon as my car door opened. Immediately I was spotted, reporters attention was now directed onto me and they all swarmed around me.The flash of their cameras was blinding, and their shouts as they rushed at me were deafening.But through it all, I plastered on my best smile as i mentally told myself, "It's okay, I can do this.""Miss Roderigo! Miss Roderigo! Over here!""Miss Roderigo, a moment of your time!""Miss Roderigo, how does it feel to enter the celebrity world with your images all around the countries?"Many questions were thrown at me at once and I took a deep breath, trying to remember each one. Turning to the reporter who asked how it felt to enter the celebrity world, I responded."It's surreal," I said in a steady voice. "I feel like a bird that's been let out of the cage it had been living in. Seeing my name and images everywhere is surreal and amazing and I'm particularly grateful to NEXT Em
I looked around the room searching for Lance, but he wasn't anywhere next to Ashley. But where exactly was he? I thought he'd be here, mingling with everyone as he always likes things like this. "Wow, Ashley Miller! It's nice to see you!" I exclaimed, pretending to be surprised by her presence. For her, this was our first meeting. But I'd seen her plenty of times in college whenever I was secretly steal glances on Lance; they were always together. And also, I saw her on the same day the Wells family kicked me out and she was welcomed in. I still remembers that day like it was a day before. "The pleasure's all mine," she said sweetly, moving closer but I saw an evil smile on her friends' faces. "I just had to congratulate you on your... What should we call it? Your big debut? And that speech you gave earlier was so touching and it really moved me." She placed her hand on her chest. "Thank you so much. I really do appreciate someone like you noticing a beginner like me. It's such
“ And for the MEgan3 contract, it was offered to me based on the merits of my proposal, not because of anything."Ashley laughed nastily. "Oh, come on, Ariel. Even if what you say about Mr. Wayne is true, we all know why you really got that contract. It's amazing how doors open when you're marrying into the Bane family, isn't it?"“Believe me or not but I earned that contract through my own efforts. Who I'm marrying had nothing to do with it."“Of course, of course," Ashley said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the contract originally slated for me suddenly went to the fiancée of Kingsley Bane. How... fortunate for you.""I'm sorry you feel that way," I said, trying to sound understanding. "But everything was done fairly. Maybe if you focused on improving your own work instead of tearing others down, you'd be more successful."Ashley's eyes narrowed, and I saw real anger beneath her polished look. "How dare you-""Is there a problem here, lad
~~~LANCE'S POV~~~“Lance, are you crazy?” Henry’s voice blasted through the phone, so loud that it felt like my ears would burst out. “Borrowing money from Billy, that shark? Do you even have any fucking idea what you’ve gotten yourself into?”I sighed heavily, running a hand through my hair, trying to stay calm. “Henry, relax. I know what I’m doing. I’ll pay him back, no problem.”“No problem?” Henry scoffed, disbelief dripping from his words. “Lance, this is Billy we’re talking about. He’s not just any guy—he goes crazy with anything call money. What if you miss a payment? He’ll take everything you’ve worked so hard for! How could you make such a decision without even consulting me when I’m your lawyer?”I could feel him burning with fury and seething in anger from whereever he was. I glanced back at the crowd behind me, my stomach twisting into tight knots as I tried not to raise up my voice at where I was.I knew Henry was right, but what other choices did I have at that time? “I