BEATRICE:I was about to slam the door in front of my ex-husband, but Drake was able to stop me by blocking the door. Ugh. He was too strong. No matter how much I used all my strength, he would not budge at all. “What are you doing?”"Aren't I the one who should be asking that? Are you running away from me?" he asked. "Are you guilty?"Anger shook my whole system. The audacity!He had the guts to taunt me and what?“Let go before I will kick your balls until you would never be able to use your dick,” I threatened. With hesitation, he let go of the door. “Beatrice. Can we talk?”"I don't entertain visitors, Drake,” I growled. “So the best thing you should do is to turn back to where you’ve been and go back. Forget that you located me.”No matter what I do, he would always locate me, right? "Where is Grayson?" he asked and peered at the inside. Before he could fully see what was the interior of the apartment, I stepped outside and slammed the door shut. "Why are you looking for my
BEATRICE:That woman! I trusted her! I even bet everything thinking she would never say anything to my ex-husband. And now?Christina. She will regret this! How could she?"She said that?" I asked, my voice shaking at the end. Drake nodded. "She did. There is nothing to hide anymore, Beatrice. Why don't you confirm it? All I wanted is the truth coming from your mouth."I scoffed. Christina. You would surely pay for this. Whether it was true or not, I could no longer hide from my ex-husband forever. He had already found me and my son. "Fine. Grayson is your son. What's the point of hiding it when you already hired someone to investigate me?"He smiled. "He is indeed my son?" he asked, his eyes watering. Crocodile tears. I hated how he would use his tears just to gain my sympathy. I hate manipulative people like him. Those tears were not enough to sway me. Averting my gaze, I muttered, "I found out about my pregnancy the next day I signed the divorce papers. Did I think of telling
BEATRICE:I was stupid. How could I fall for Drake's lies? Damn him!I hated him!When my silence continued, Christina said on the other line, "Oh, no. Did that bastard lie to you using my name?"I fell on the edge of the bed. "I think that was what happened," I whispered, still in disbelief that Drake was able to fool me. How could I fall for his cheap tricks, huh?Stupid. I was so stupid!“Don’t tell me you told him the truth? You fell on his tricks?” Christina asked in disbelief. “Beatrice. Really? You trusted me that low? I'm not the kind who would betray you. You're hurting me, Beatrice,” she said, her voice coated with pain in her voice. “How would I know that you did not tell him? He mentioned your name. He knew we were that close.” The lies rolled smoothly on his tongue as if he were a liar himself. So you could not blame me if I believed him easily. “Drake, your ex-husband hired a detective to find the truth, Beatrice. He did a lot of background checks on you and on what h
BEATRICE: My heart plummeted upon hearing Grayson’s sleep talk. He wanted his Dad. Even in his sleep. Even if he did not know who his Dad was. My poor son. How could I stop him from getting to know his Dad? Was this the right time to tell Grayson the truth? If that would happen, what would be our arrangement with my ex-husband? Of course we would be co-parenting. But what about his girlfriend?Damn. Just the thought of him being with another woman made my blood boil in anger. He claimed he did not have any woman, Beatrice. As if he was telling the truth. Did he think I was easy to fool?“Daddy?” Grayson muttered again while kicking his legs. I wondered what he was dreaming about. I put my hands on top of my chest and felt the beating of my heart. It was screaming that I should give my chance to see his Dad.But what about my anger towards Drake? What should I do with it? What was inside my chest would always show. Grayson would know the status of my heart on how I treated his
BEATRICE:Why did my ex-husband have to come here? He had the perfect timing. Did he know this time was sending Grayson to school? Did his hired detective tell him about our daily routine such as this? "Beatrice."The audacityChristina's words rang in my head, especially the part where he used my sister-in-law's name to lie. Where did he find the guts to face me after lying and using Christina's name? The audacity! If only Grayson was not here, I had already slapped him. Did he think lowly of me?My hand shook, and I had to hide them at the back of my hand so that Grayson wouldn't notice it. "Why are you here?" I asked directly while my brows furrowed."How are you, Grayson?" he asked, not answering my question as if he did not hear my question. The heck?!"Mommy?" Grayson asked as if affirming if I was fine if he would answer Drake or not. “Your friend is here. You may say hi. You're not being friendly to him, Mommy.”Friend. Hearing that word was already funny. Drake and I had
BEATRICE:Drake's eyes were contorted with pain before he hid it away. “I was wrong for pressuring you to give me a child. Now I understand that you no longer have any control of that, Beatrice.” His head hung. “Please accept my apologies.”Very wrong. Especially if he made me feel that it was my fault for not being able to conceive after being married for how many years? He kept on wondering how he was able to impregnate others with ease, while it took a long time for his wife to do that. “You can act as if you're sorry, but you're not going to fool me into believing your statement.”He stepped forward and attempted to touch me, but I slapped his hands away out of reflex.I must not let him touch me or else, whatever I built for five years might crumble into dust. I did not trust myself if our skin touched. Inhaling deeply, I asked, "Do you even regret divorcing me? The kind of regret you felt not because of being pregnant with Grayson at that time, but because you really did car
BEATRICE:It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. I was already late in fetching Grayson at his school, but I could not leave the baby alone without her mother. I've been trying to reach Jamie Finnerty, the baby's mother, through the phone but still there was no sign of her. She said she would be back in the afternoon, but now… she won't answer her phone which she never did, especially if she was not with her daughter. I hoped Jamie was safe.If she took longer than what she had promised to me, I hoped she was fine wherever she was.I stopped thinking when the baby reached my hair, as if silently telling me that there should be nothing to be worried about. Cassandra Finnerty. The baby did not look after her mother. Even if I did not see her Dad, I had an idea that the child took after the father. I smiled when the baby reached my hair. I had no problem if Jamie would take longer than what she had promised to since the baby was already well-feed. I had given her smashed po
BEATRICE:Drake did say that he won’t leave in the morning. He did what he had promised. My chest tightened as I continued to watch the two. Grayson…there was no hesitation on him as he played with Drake. It seemed that he already felt that the man he was with was his real Dad. Cassandra flapped her tiny hands wildly as if she was trying to reach out to Grayson and Drake. “Gray,” she said.“Yes, Cassandra. That's our Grayson. And he will be playing with you later when we get home, okay? Do you like that?” I coed. She squealed in happiness as if she understood what I asked. My gaze went back to Grayson and Drake as the latter pushed the swing back and forth. I sighed as I continued watching the father and son. They easily jived as if this was not the first time that they were playing like that. And my son’s happiness was plastered all over his face. Would he be able to smile even more if I told him the truth? Realization hit me hard.He was looking for a Daddy’s figure and no
BEATRICE:The next wedding, huh? Am I ready for that one? I did not think it would happen any moment from now. “You're overreacting, Everette.”He gave me a half shrug. “Am I? Could you blame me when I always put you two together. Your closeness is different from the past, something has changed between you two.” I heaved a sigh and stared at him for a long time. How could he insert anything about Drake when he already had a lot of things on his mind? “You're imagining it,” I denied. If I told him the truth, he would ask more questions. Despite having a lot on his plate, he was still asking about me.Besides, whatever we had right now, I wanted to keep it to ourselves first. Just to make sure. “Am I? Or you're only hiding it?”I averted my gaze and stared at Christina's sleeping form. After crying for so long, this was the first time seeing her face become lighter, as if she had released some of the weight she was carrying.“Why would I hide anything?”“Precisely, Beatrice. Why
BEATRICE:Doll…The words kept on ringing in my head.Doll.It brought happiness to my heart. You like hearing him say those words, right? Who would not?This was the first time Drake had called me into something else aside from my name. Doll. Why choose that endearment from the rest? Did he believe I was a doll? I was far from being a doll. There were already some additional fats all over my body. Has everything changed between us? Well, for starters, you two were already making out in the elevator and you almost gave yourself, alright? Second, you’re already envisioning a future with him. That is a good sign, Beatrice. “Old people are usually like that,” he said all of a sudden.”My heart jumped at the sound of his deep voice.“Like what, actually?” What was our topic once again? I already forgot since I was focused on him. I already forgot about the old woman. “Cranky. My grandmother is usually like that. Don’t let her words affect you. We did nothing wrong.”Making out in the
BEATRICE:Why should I react to Sarah's statement when it was the truth? My ex-husband had married me because I was rich. He could use our family’s influence. Wasn’t we the reason why the investors kept on trusting him? That was the reason why. “Drake. All the women whom you had relationships with were wealthy and influential. You use us to your advantage so it will never be a surprise if…” she trailed off. Sarah. She was an example of an annoying bitch. She minds the other’s business.But what she said was true, right? You were married to each other. He agreed because the Watson family was wealthy. Most of you were already billionaires. And some zillionaires even. That was one of the reasons why your mom was confident to marry you off to someone else because no one would be able to say no.Men and women practically wanted to be with us because of what we could offer. Prestige. Power. Money. Anything that you could name."Watch your mouth, Sarah," Drake growled. "I respected you a
BEATRICE:Drake and Sarah had a past. I should have known. The woman would not be acting like this if the two did not have any relationship at all. That was why she was acting as if he owned Drake. I wondered what kind of relationship they had?Images of the two of them in bed flashed inside my mind. Damn it. It was all in the past, yet why could I not move on? Why did I feel irritated towards the woman? Drake smiled nervously, while I pretended to not care at all. “I know if, Drake. There's no need to hide.”I was not envious or anything like that, okay? I don't have to react because that was the truth. "It's all in the past, Sarah.""That's why I am reminding you about it. I want the world to know that my ex-boyfriend in the past is now a billionaire. Nah. If only I was not stupid before, I should have not let you go. I was stupid and foolish."I folded my arms in front of my chest, while debating if I would walk away or not.Listening to ex-lovers was not really my forte.
BEATRICE:Yeah. I should not answer it, not because Drake said I should not. But because I wanted it. I needed to set things up with him.Josh…I needed him to be removed from my life. But could I face him right now? The thought of seeing him right now brought shivers down my spine. He murdered his own wife? And he lied with a straight face. There should never be hesitations again. “You think he is that bad?”I said no hesitations, alright? You need to make up your mind this instant!“He is the worst, Beatrice. He is the most dangerous person that you would encounter.” How sure was he, actually? Very sure that he asked someone to tail your suitor.“There is nothing to argue about that. I am totally happy that I removed him from your life. Not because he is my competitor, but because he is dangerous. You understand me, right?”Did I? Back in the past, I was stubborn. I was not listening to him. I did not listen to any of his words, thinking it was because he was jealous. But it was
BEATRICE:"YOU...You believe me now?" Drake asked, in disbelief while staring at me with wide eyes. “Do you believe that all I wanted from you is to keep you safe, Beatrice?”This man was willing to do the extra mile just to keep me safe. He was willing to splurge all his money in order to protect me. And how many times did I ever see how much he was willing to do for me? I saw everything. What if everything was because of Grayson? What if you're just the excess baggage and he was only forced to protect you because he did not want Grayson to be motherless?He said he loved me. I would like to start with that. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. As of the moment. "Yes. I believe you now. But I hope you will only tell me the truth from now on."His eyes smiled. He looked so dashing. If what he claimed that he loved me was true, why did it have to be me? There were so many beautiful women surrounding him.Why not? You were the mother of his son.I did not want to be conside
BEATRICE:“Are you okay, Beatrice?” Drake asked as I sat in the passenger seat. I was about to sit in the back seat, but he told me that I should sit beside him so that he would not sleep while he was driving. Which I did. To stop him from saying anything anymore. I opened the door and stepped into the car. The first thing that I smelt was his expensive phone. Until now, everything that was said, did not fully sink into my mind. I meant….Josh? That man whom I thought would be the best future husband? That man who never said anything bad against me? How could I forget about him? This kind of pain was difficult to remove. It felt as if my boyfriend had broken up with me.I just wanted to be at peace. With his eyes on the road while he kept on glancing at me, he asked for the second, “Are you okay, Beatrice? You can tell me everything that is running in your mind right now. You're not alone, okay? I'm just here.” I scoffed and threw my head on the window. “Do I look like I am okay?
BEATRICE:My breathing labored while my mind internalized what Drake had said. Josh? The one whom I started to get my trust, just fooled me? Why? What could he get from it?Trust?But after what he did, I did not think he would be able to make me trust him again. You are not yet sure, Beatrice. You still wanted to learn the truth, right? “Answer me!” I demanded.My head felt like it was going to spin as I waited for Josh to explain his side. Each passing moment felt like hell. “Little One…”When my strength left me, I leaned heavily on the car.What else will be the cause of my death again?I laughed at the irony of the situation. The man whom I kept on defending from my ex-husband was the same person who wanted to make a fool out of me? Did he think I was that foolish?“What did you say, Drake? Maybe you need to say it again since Josh seemed not to hear your previous statement.”Drake heaved a long sigh. “I only found it yesterday. This man. He was the one who paid the burgl
BEATRICE:Drake fell silent at my statement. "Beatrice…"Staring at the sky, the stars had slowly twinkled right at us. It was so beautiful, and I wished I could stare at them and enjoy them. Not something like this. Not when I was facing some kind of problems. It's because of the men you allowed to enter your life. What if you keep on closing your doors, Beatrice? Do you believe you will still have some problems like now? Heaving a long sigh, I said, "Why are you here again? I did not tell you to fetch me or something like that," I muttered under my breath. It was better to change the topic than dwell on the topic about Josh. It will only create conflict between us.He cleared his throat, and I could see that he was thankful too that I changed the topic. Damn it. Using the back part of my palm, I wiped the imaginary sweat on my forehead. What am I doing, actually? I was what? Arguing in the parking lot while others could witness us? Besides, Drake was not some ordinary person