CHAPTER 20***FLASHBACK***FOUR HOURS EARLIER“Our flight is being delayed due to bad weather conditions. Seems like we’ll be flying in later than expected,” Veronica said over the phone to Lloyd as he stepped out of the meeting with the management staff.There was a lot he didn’t know about the hospitality business but he understood finance and numbers and from the books of the hotel in the past years, they have been consistently turning in good profit margins so he was counting on duplicating their efforts here over at Coral city. It would seem that Nancy wasn’t the only staff that he would need to have transferred if the other franchise was to be successful.“Alright mom, just let me know when you’re finally able to fly,” Lloyd replied.He wanted to still talk to Nancy but he didn’t want to disturb her work. The restaurant had a lot of guests at the moment. When she told him they could be friends, his joy knew no bounds. He wound up hugging her so tight and the urge to kiss her wa
CHAPTER 21“Kaleb Trevor, where can I find him? I got a call from your hospital some minutes ago that he was brought here,” Nancy said to the nurse at the hotel reception.The whole drive to the hospital, she was in a panic. The last time she felt such fear and panic was when she was being chased by Lloyd after she went to give him Lex.“Kaleb Trevor…..” the nurse trailed, looking at her laptop for a while. “He’s been moved from the emergency ward. Take the elevator on your left to the third floor, room 12B.” “Thank you,” Nancy replied as she ran off.When Nancy saw the state Kaleb was in, her heart ran straight into the pit of her stomach. Her purse unconsciously slipped out of her hand as she clutched her chest and ran to his side with tears instantly running down her cheeks. Who could have done such a horrible thing to her beautiful Kaleb?He had a cast around his neck and his right eye was swollen shut. He had a huge cast on one of his hands. His fair face has turned red in so ma
CHAPTER 22Lloyd was quick to reach her before she could reach for the vase. He held her arms and her skin crawled at his touch. She shoved him back and attempted to follow it up with a slap but Lloyd caught her hand in the air.“Whoa! Relax,” He said teasingly but his expression quickly turned serious when he saw the venom in her eyes.With her free hand, Nancy grabbed the vase but before she could strike, Lloyd caught it again, wrestling it off her and as it shattered upon impact with the floor, He tackled her to the bed.“What’s wrong with you? Calm down,” he said. His tone laced with surprise and confusion.His body pressed against her and he had her legs trapped between his, while his hands held hers in place. Their eyes met. Nancy glared at him, her eyes full of disdain for the man above her. Lloyd only admired her feistiness. His eyes dipped to her breast cleavage sprawling out of her V neck gown briefly and he gulped before looking away.“Get the fuck off me Lloyd, you monster
CHAPTER 23“Luke, do you still have our man following Kaleb?” Lloyd asked his PA over the phone as he drove him and his mother to the penthouse of their hotel.“Yes Boss,” Luke replied.“Send him to my hotel.”“Tonight sir?”“Right fucking now Luke!” Lloyd barked “Okay sir,” Luke replied with a tremble in his voice.“Does this have something to do with Nancy?” Veronica asked as soon as Lloyd ended the call.When Lloyd came out of Nancy’s room, he only told her and the kids that he had to leave for an emergency and that Nancy was a bit under the weather so Veronica would have to wait till tomorrow to talk to her. It was only in the car that he told his mother the truth that Nancy was angry at him but he didn’t mention her asking them both to leave.“It’s nothing to worry about mom. Just someone trying to mess with me when I’ve been trying hard not to mess him up,” Lloyd replied, flaring his nose and squeezing the steering wheel tighter.“The Kaleb guy?” Veronica asked. Lloyd had told
CHAPTER 24Last night after Lloyd left, Nancy took a quick shower and crashed almost immediately, drained both physically and emotionally.She planned to go see Kaleb first thing in the morning as she couldn’t leave her kids to themselves even if Diana and Emily were in the house.She woke up the following morning to the sound of her kids’ voices. They were praying just after waking up. It wasn’t unlike Leo to do that. If he woke up before her, he would normally pray alone but now he was doing it with his brother.Her heart warmed at the thought of it. She was grateful for her little bundles of joy. She wanted to join them but decided not to interrupt them as she heard Lex who she had been teaching this past week lead the prayer.“Dear God, Mommy said in the Lord’s Prayer that you forgive us as we forgive the people that offend us. Can you please forgive mommy so she can forgive our daddy?” He said in his little voice that was filled with a genuine sadness.No…..Not this…… Nancy’s hea
CHAPTER 25Truth? What Truth? Why was Lloyd offering money to this person for this truth and why were they texting Kaleb?Nancy glanced at Kaleb with a completely confused look on her face and she stared back at the text.Suddenly she remembered Lloyd’s words from yesterday and Lex’s words today. Could it be that Kaleb was indeed hiding something from her? She needed to find out.She clicked on the text to reply to the person to try and find out more information but the phone was locked.Her first thought was to try her birth date but it didn’t work. She tried his own birth date but it was the same result.She looked at him and he was still fast asleep but his face was in no state for the Face ID to work. Quickly, an idea struck her. She had a perfect passport picture of Kaleb on her phone.“Please work, please work,” she prayed silently as she gave it a try.She zoomed in the picture to perfectly fit her screen and she held it a little distance away from his phone and voila…...it open
CHAPTER 26Lloyd was having a great time with Leo and Lex after he picked them up from the house. He had their day planned out. He originally wanted Nancy to also be a part of the day he had planned but with what happened yesterday he didn’t dare mention it to her.His only hope was that the men Dominic was in contact with would agree to tell the truth even if it cost him about 3 million dollars.Their first stop was the Kiddies Planet, a fun mall and park for kids and adults alike but was mostly curated to fit the needs of kids.As soon as they stepped into the place, all eyes easily turned to them. The sight of such a handsome man with two cuties that shared striking features with him easily caught everyone’s attention and to top it all, they wore identical outfits.Blue Gucci denim pants with a black Versace short sleeve shirt and the same brand of black Zara leather loafers that Lloyd had custom made to have each of their names embedded on the soles.The female attendants of the ma
CHAPTER 27Nancy felt her heart pound with desire as Lloyd’s brown eyes that were hooded with lust peered into hers. She felt an unfamiliar urge in her core as her eyes dipped to his lips. The urge to take them flooded her senses and her stomach fluttered but she pushed him away.“I’m serious Lloyd. I didn’t think he would go to such lengths,” She said to a disappointed Lloyd who pursed his lips in a small frown and said nothing.“How did you even know he paid someone to beat him up?” Nancy probed as she sat on her bed.Lloyd slumped into the bed beside her, laying flat on his back with his feet touching the floor as he stared at the ceiling. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” He was confused, not only at how she found out what Kaleb did but she also knew that he knew.“Stop lying…..I know you were willing to pay a million dollars to someone to confess it,” Nancy retorted, raising a brow at him.Lloyd instantly sat up. “What! How did you know that?” He asked, his confusion an
CHAPTER 106FIVE YEARS LATER“Stop it Harmony, give it back,” Kayden screamed as he chased after his sister who had taken his legos. Harmony giggled as she ran circles around their playroom and Kayden chased after her giggling as well.“Catch me if you can, catch me if you can,” Her little shrill voice filled the air.“Got you,” Richard grabbed her and Kayden pulled the lego out her hands, baring his tongue at her.“Not fair,” She folded her arms and frowned at him. “Richard helped you.”“Who wants hot chocolate?” Leo stepped into the room with four mugs of hot chocolate on a tray.The triplets chorused. “Me, me,me.”He handed them one each and took one for himself, before he sat in front of his gaming console and someone who looked exactly like him appeared on the other side of the screen.“Ready to get your ass kicked bro?” Lex asked. He was spending the weekend with his favorite uncle Kyle and his favorite aunt Emily. Actually, if you ask him, he would say he’s babysitting their th
CHAPTER 105It was 3am when Lloyd woke up a few weeks to Nancy’s due date. He heard her crying and he thought something was wrong.“Hey…...what’s the matter,” He asked softly, cupping her face. “I’m hungry,” Nancy replied, still crying.Ever since she entered her third trimester, her hormones have been acting up and had her all over the place. She cried over every little irritation but Lloyd understood perfectly. The books he read actually did a good job of preparing him for the journey. He found it amusing how almost everything he read about pregnant women seemed to be evident in his wife.“What do you want to eat, anything, I’ll have the chef make it for you,” He said, wiping her face and pecking her cheeks.Nancy pouted but she kept silent. Her cravings these days have become weird and absurd and this was one of those moments.“What is it? Tell me, what do my babies want?” Lloyd asked again, rubbing her stomach and peppering it with kisses.“Ice cream,” Nancy replied. Lloyd glanc
CHAPTER 104“Don’t put that there Kyle, bring it this way,” Emily was dishing out instructions left and right, organizing everything for Nancy’s baby shower and gender reveal party.Nancy was now in the middle of her third trimester and heavy. Her bump was really big because of the three she had in her.“I’m going to work you so hard later tonight for working me so hard like this,” Kyle replied, taking the ladder and pinning the ribbons up.The thing about Emily was that even if she hired an event planner to organize events, the creative ideas were exclusively hers and if she didn’t like something, she would change it.“I look forward to it,” She replied, pecking Kyle’s cheek and blushing.They were having the party at the backyard of their mansion. Everything was almost ready and a few guests were already arriving.“I’m telling you, he is not just president in name but in other departments, if you know what I mean,” Veronica said, winking at Nancy and Diana.Both ladies laughed at her
CHAPTER 103A week after Lloyd and Nancy returned from their trip, Lloyd had a final surprise for his family. He was moving them to a bigger house, a mansion he had been building since he reunited with Nancy.It was meant to be completed before their wedding but a few delays along the way happened so he had to wait a bit. It was the morning of the day he wanted to take them to the house and the family was having breakfast together. It was just Lloyd, Nancy and the twins.Thelma and Theo had returned back to Emerald Bay, Diana was at home but in her room, Emily was on an engagement honeymoon with Kyle In Dubai, according to her.“We’re moving to a new house soon,” Lloyd announced out of nowhere. He had not discussed it with Nancy before so she was shocked, the spoon of eggs she held to her mouth couldn’t go further than her lips.She dropped it back on her plate. “A new house?” She asked Lloyd, giving him a light scowl.“I like this house,” Leo said.“Is it a big house like our old man
CHAPTER 102“Here goes nothing,” Lloyd whispered, taking off her blindfold.It took some seconds for Nancy’s eyes to adjust but when they finally did, “Wow,” was the only word that escaped her mouth as she took in the breathtaking view of the city of Paris at night.It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, the lights and ambience were out of this world. She could see the famous Eiffel Tower in the distance, standing in all its glory and its marvelous light, and the atmosphere smelled of such delicious food that her stomach growled.Lloyd had brought her to the rooftop terrace of the hotel that had a 360 degree view of the city. It was called the Eiffel penthouse. They were both casually dressed but they still looked as sweet as ever. Lloyd wore loose white pants with a black shirt, he left the top three buttons open and his sleeve was rolled to his elbow. He wore black suede loafers on his feet. Nancy on the other hand wore a long white evening gown that could easily pass fo
CHAPTER 101“I’m going to miss you mama,” Leo said as he hugged his mother tightly.“Me too. I’m going to miss you,” Lex added, joining his brother in the hug.“We’re only going to be gone for three days, I’ll be back before you even know it,” Nancy replied as she hugged her boys back.It was the following day after the wedding, they were flying to Paris for their honeymoon. It was supposed to be a two week vacation but because of Nancy’s condition and not wanting to be away from her kids for too long, she had Lloyd cut it short.Their entire family had come to see them off at the presidential Villa. Kennedy had given them the presidential jet as private transport to Paris.“Don’t I get a I will miss you hug too?” Lloyd enquired, smiling at the boys.“We will miss you too daddy,” The boys ran and hugged him too.“Can’t we come with you?” Lex pouted and Nancy gave Lloyd an inquiring look but he shook his head. These three days were going to be for them and them alone.“This trip is for
CHAPTER 100“The first time we met wasn’t the first time I saw you. It was three months before then.” Lloyd was surprised and his jaws literally touched his feet. Nancy chuckled amidst her sobbing, seeing how shocked he looked.“As a young hustling girl who was just through with high school, with dreams to become a world class chef, I was baking and selling treats at a construction site not very far from our home to the local laborers when one day, Lloyd came to visit the site. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen and I immediately fell in love with him. I made sure to stick around till he left and then I got his card from one of the engineers.”“Here’s something I've never told anyone before,” Nancy chuckled slightly, remembering the lengths she went to, to secure Lloyd’s attention the first time.“I lied, gathered what savings I had then, left home and tracked him down to coral city. I spent over a month stalking this man, learning everything about him, knowing everything a
CHAPTER 99The venue for the wedding was a private garden within the high brow areas of the city. The garden was big enough to serve as the wedding venue and the reception area. Both settings were already beautifully arranged.Lloyd stood on the podium, under an arch that had pictures of his and Nancy’s favorite memories printed on it. They had a total of forty to fifty invited guests. The seating arrangement was set with about 20 seats on each side, leaving the aisle open with Lily petals all over it. The number of security personnel at the venue was almost twice as many as their guests. With the president openly attending the event, no chances were taken. There was no press present and the media crew hired to cover the wedding were the only people that weren’t friends or family aside from the security.The venue of the wedding had a pale pink and white decoration and almost everyone was seated and Lloyd was waiting for Nancy’s arrival. He was very nervous. His palms were sweaty, h
CHAPTER 98ONE MONTH LATER“I’m nervous, mom,” Lloyd said to Veronica as he adjusted his bow tie in front of the mirror. It was their big day. The day he would finally say I do and be married to the most beautiful, most amazing, sweetest, most wonderful woman in the world. The love of his life, the woman of his dreams, his heartthrob, his sweetheart, his amor.The events of the past month were still fresh in his mind. Nothing would ever take away the dread that he felt at almost losing his child, but he was grateful. Grateful that it was all behind them. They could finally look forward to the future and hopefully never have to keep looking over their shoulders for where the next trouble may come from.Kennedy, using his powers as president, convinced Lloyd not to try and press any charges. He had a much better way to make Allison and Marla pay. Their arrest was never documented. It never went into the books. In fact, in the eyes of the nation, they were still wanted for kidnapping the