BELLA’S POVThe car swerved around another bend.Antonio was focused on driving, his grip was tightened on the steering wheel, but his face was pale. I could tell he was feeling the pressure, but he didn't show any signs of cracking. He was determined to get us out of this situation.The car swerved again, and my stomach lurched.Every once in a while, I heard the sound of gunfire, and I knew that the men in the black car were still following us.I was so sure that we had lost them and we were finally free, they were still after us and they weren’t giving up.I held on for my dear life and I kept repeating to myself that it was going to be fine and we’ll get away from them safely.Mateo’s movements were swift and sure as he changed his gun and began to fire outside the window, I was too scared to turn and look behind us, I just clung to the seat praying we would get out of this alive.I could hear the bullets hitting the car. Suddenly, there was a loud exp
MATEO’S POVI knew deep down that it was too soon to go to war with Alvaro but I couldn’t question Moreno’s decision. I had to trust that he knew what he was doing, he was never one to make rash decisions without a plan in mind.After our meeting to prepare for the war, I couldn’t sleep, I knew what we planned to do was very dangerous but I also knew that it was necessary. I was determined to stand by Moreno and do whatever it took to protect him.The next morning, Moreno left for the warehouse at the crack of dawn, determined to get everything ready for the impending war.He had given me strict orders to ensure that Bella was taken to the seaport, and I knew it was my duty to make sure she was safe, although I would rather go with him if I had a choice.I knew I couldn't let anything happen to her, no matter what. I would do whatever it took to keep her out of harm's way.But right now I’m torn between two decisions, take Bella to the port or follow Moreno’s orders. After I heard the
BELLA’S POVI could not put into words how I felt when I saw Moreno lying on my legs, unconscious. I did everything I could to keep him awake, to make sure he stayed with me. It was all I could do for him, and I felt like it was such a small thing. I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone and that I was there for him. I felt helpless and scared, and I tried my best not to show it. When the words, I'm pregnant, left my lips, I watched as his eyes were filled with love and happiness. But he was too weak to say anything back, and I could only imagine the happiness and excitement he must have felt inside. At that moment, I knew that everything would be okay, even if we still had to face whatever challenges that were yet to come our way.My main priority was for him now was to get well and be safe. I was willing to give him another chance, to give our relationship another chance, and most importantly, to give our baby a chance to have a father. I knew it would be difficult, but I w
BELLA’S POVI took a deep breath as I pushed open the door to Moreno’s room. As Mateo left, he told me he left someone in charge and that I should ask him for anything I needed. I managed to respond with a nod as I couldn’t bring myself to speak.As I got into the room, Moreno was lying in bed with his eyes closed. I sat on the bed and took his hands in mine. The room was quiet except for the sound of the beating of my heart and the machines in the room. I looked at Moreno’s face, peaceful and vulnerable, as I looked at him, he seemed like a different person now. I tried to search for the man who tormented me for months but he was nowhere to be found, I couldn’t help but imagine what our life would have been like if we had not meet the way we did. I took his free hand and placed it against my cheek, feeling the coolness of his skin against mine. I hoped that he could feel the warmth of my body, and know that I was there with him. I wished he could understand how much he meant to me,
MORENO’S POVI hated being in the hospital let alone being attended to by doctors and nurses. It made me feel weak and helpless, two things I did not want to be. I knew that with Alvaro out there, it wasn’t safe for me to be in the hospital, I needed to do everything I could do to protect Bella. The only way to end this madness was to put an end to Alvaro once and for all. I knew that he would not stop until I was dead. I had to find a way to protect my family and fast. I arranged a meeting with Mateo and some of my most trusted men. We had no leads in Alvaro’s whereabouts and it was driving me insane.During our search for Alvaro, we found something else. The woman who birthed me, the woman who had never been a mother to me, was seen on the CCTV footage from the house, but she had disappeared hours before the attack. It only meant one thing, she was alive and had escaped with Alvaro. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of them together.The other mafia dons withdrew from the fig
Moreno’s POV“The fuck did you just say?” I asked her, I was extremely pissed. I grabbed her by her hair so she was facing me and I tightened the grip on her hair, she was in pain, but I didn’t care, that was exactly what I wanted her to feel. I looked at her face which was filled with tears and I kicked the chair she was tied on so she was thrown to the floor. “You’re fucking kidding me right?” I asked as I pulled her up by her hair again, and she shook her head. “Please spare me,” she begged.“Do you think you have any right to tell me to spare you, you worthless piece of shit,” I said looking at her, my voice shaking with anger. I don’t know what was holding me back from hitting her but I knew the restraint was quickly slipping away. I looked at her one more time and then I stormed out of the warehouse, I wanted to go get a drink to calm down, but I remembered that I promised Bella that I would come back to her. I got to the car and told Antonio to drive me home. When I got home,
MORENO’S POVI sat frozen with my eyes glued to the screen as I scrolled through the news article. I stared at it in disbelief, who would have resolved to such childish tactics? I considered the possibilities and there were so many people who would have done something like this. Whoever it was was playing with fire and was surely going to get burned. It could be anyone, my business rivals, or even Alvaro, but he wasn’t one to resort to such underhanded tactics.It was clear to me that this sex scandal was no mere coincidence. Someone had engineered this entire scheme, and the faceless woman in the video was fortunate not to be exposed to the wrath I would bring down upon her and her conspirators. The puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place, yet the motive remained elusive. One thing was certain, I would not rest until I found out who was responsible for this.I called my secretary immediately. "I need you to arrange a press conference right now," I said. "This scandal has to be
MORENO’S POVI left the doctor's office with my head hung low, I couldn’t think straight and my head was spinning. How could I possibly tell Bella that I put her and our baby at risk because of a mistake I made in the past, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. I was terrified and ashamed. I slumped on the chair outside the room trying to gather my thoughts, but all I could think about was the horror on Bella’s face when she found out the truth.Mateo walked up to me, “How did it go boss?” He asked. “Everything is fine, she just needs to rest,” I could see the worry in Mateo’s eye, I didn’t want to lie to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth. I knew he didn’t believe me but he didn’t push the issue. I took a deep breath got up and walked into the room Bella was in. She was already awake when I saw her face, all I wanted to do was tell her the truth, but instead, I forced a smile. “Hey cupcake, how are you feeling?” I asked putting on my best smile to hide how I felt i
BELLAI called my secretary to inform her that I wouldn’t be able to go to work and that I wanted to take the day off to spend time with my son. Mateo didn’t try to reach out to me again, no surprise there though. I met with Sandra again and I made sure to ask for her name. To maintain discretion, I altered my appearance. I stared at Sandra, as tears streamed down my face. The revelation was crippling I had been with the enemy this whole time, and I couldn’t believe it. Sandra gave me some time to sob, she didn’t mind. She must have been through something too, because what she was doing was betrayal, I didn’t care, Mateo betrayed Moreno by selling him out to his enemy. “You have to be careful, Mateo can't know about this, about our meeting, and about what you just learned, is that possible Bella?” She asked and I nodded. She handed me a phone, “You can reach me with that, my number is already saved.” I nodded and thanked her. "Will I be able to speak with...with Moreno?" I asked desp
BELLAAs soon as Mateo left I couldn’t stop thinking, I was convinced that he was hiding something from me and it had to do with Moreno, I couldn’t trust Mateo any longer until I found out what exactly he was hiding and planning behind my back. He had been acting suspiciously and I plan to get to the button of it. I sat on the chair staring blankly at the wall, lost in thoughts. If I remember correctly, Mateo and Moreno went for the ambush together, Mateo came back barely touched and Moreno missing. Before I was informed of anything, the scene had been cleared and that fake body was found. I closed my eyes trying to remember the painful memory of when Mateo informed me of the bad news. I hit him and cursed him for letting Moreno be in the building when it collapsed, he claimed that he took some of the men out and he was lucky to be alive. There was no flaw in the story and it was difficult to doubt, I had no idea where I was going to start and I couldn’t shake off the fact that Mate
MATEOI had to find a way to convince Bella not to hold a press conference or make her say that Moreno was dead. It didn’t make any difference whatever she said to the public I just didn’t want her to believe Moreno was alive. It was going to make things difficult for me and ruin my plans. The next day I hurriedly went to the mansion to meet Bella and try to change her mind. The press conference was scheduled to hold by noon today and I was at the mansion as early as 6 am. I met her in the study already preparing her speech. “If you’re here to stop me, don’t bother.” She said without looking up at me as I entered the study. “I didn’t come here to stop you, I’m here to support you,” I said shocking her and she looked up and me for a while. “Okay,” “I need to know what you plan to say.” “Exactly what I told you yesterday, I plan to tell them that Moreno is still alive, our stocks are dropping, you know how people in this business do not value and trust women. Inasmuch as I’d love to pr
MATEOI tried to convince Bella to hand over the paper to me but she insisted that she hold onto it. The note was left here recently and there was no way Moreno could have written it, someone must have been playing a twisted game with me.To avoid raising suspicion, I wrapped up the conversation with Bella and offered to drive her home. As we pulled up to her place, she reassured me she was fine, but I lingered.“You're sure you're okay?” I asked, searching her face.“I'm good, Mateo. Go,” she said firmly, her eyes exhausted.I hesitated, then reluctantly left, my mind still racing with questions. Who could be behind this? And why?I went straight to where Moreno was kept, determined to uncover the truth. It was either him or one of my men."Who's been in contact with Moreno?" I demanded, my eyes locked on the guard."No one, boss," he replied, his expression unwavering.The silence was deafening. If no one entered, and Moreno didn't leave, how then did the note get to Bella's office?
DUAL POVMORENO“Can you hear me,” I heard Sandra ask. And I was too weak to answer or even shake my head. What was going on with me? Why was I unable to move my body? “Blink if you can hear me.” She said. And I blinked, “Oh! Thank God, you’re fine, you’ll be fine. It’s the drugs, just stop taking them. You have to stop taking them, no matter what.” She said in a hurry and left the room immediately without giving me a moment to process what she had just said. Ever since the day in that room with Mateo, I was injected with a drug every single day, and it drove me crazy every single time like I was going insane. After taking the shots for 5 days, I was given a pill to swallow every day, they said it was going to help alleviate the symptoms I had and I always took it under the scrutinized gaze of a doctor. So it was the drugs all along? Mateo was trying to drive me insane. Fuck! At this rate, I would not be able to get to Bella in time. The next day, the doctor came in with the drug aga
BELLA’S POVI hadn’t seen Mateo since last night after he somehow ended up in my room. I didn’t know what had gotten into Mateo, he had always kept his distance from me before even after Moreno’s disappearance. I tried not to think about it, but it was so difficult not to. I took a deep breath feeling exhausted, my secretary came to inform me that Mateo was here to see me, and I told her to let him in. Mateo never came to my office, I just prayed it wasn’t about last night.I heard a knock on the door, “come in,” I said calmly taking a deep breath.“Hi,” Mateo said giving me a look I tried so hard to ignore. “Hi, you never come to see me. I guess this must be urgent.” I said.“No, not really, and I’m sorry I haven’t been around here much.” He said as he started walking towards me and he sat on my table like it was the most random thing to do. I took a deep breath trying to ignore how close we were.“You don’t have to apologize, we all have a lot on our plates right now,” I said and wa
The takeover was a lot easier than Mateo had expected, everyone naturally followed him because he was Moreno’s right hand man, while some men left because they didn’t want to be under Mateo. Mateo had thought that Bella would be easy to win over but it was taking too long for her to run to him for help and he was getting impatient.He expected her to run to him crying and depending on him for everything, but instead she had become a strong independent woman. He was there for her even when she claimed she didn’t need anyone. He looked after Gustavo like his own son, deep down he loved Gustavo but he hated the fact that he was Moreno’s son and the thought that Moreno was still alive irked him so much. He planned to use Gustavo to get closer to Bella, but she built up a wall around herself making her unreachable, but she loved Gustavo and she wasn’t going be able to get rid of Mateo easily if Gustavo got used to him. Which was already happening.He did everything a father would do for Gu
SANDRAOn the day I turned 18, the door opened and my name was called out. I quietly got out and walked out of the room. I met a lady outside the room and I was ordered to follow her. She took me to another room where I showered and changed into clean clothes.“What have you always wanted to become?” She asked taking me off guard with her question. “A nurse,” I said quietly and she nodded. I followed her outside the building and into a car, I didn’t ask any questions. While I sat in the car, I looked as we passed buildings, people, trees, families. I closed my eyes to stop the tears from running down my cheeks. It’s been three years with these people and I told myself that I wasn’t going to cry anymore. We got to another building and I followed the lady inside, ignoring the men around. It looked like we were in a hospital but from outside, it looked like an abandoned building. No one spared us a glance as they continued working. She took me to an office and handed off a file to me.
SANDRAI kept begging my father as he pulled me out of the house, hatred visible on his face. “Please don’t hurt me, I won’t tell anyone.” I cried. I was just 15 and came home from school to find my mother’s lifeless body in the kitchen. My dad used to always beat us when he was high, he must have beat my mother so much that he killed her. But he sat on a chair with a white substance which he sniffed on the table. I tried to back away slowly but he had already seen me. “Come here!” He ordered and I shock my head, “If you don’t want to join your mother, do as I say now!” I tried my best to hold in my tears so I wouldn’t annoy him further, but I knew that no matter that I did he was still going to do what he had in mind. Immediately I stood next to him, he pounced on me like I was a prey and he was the predator, I tried to get away from his grip but he was too strong. He subdued me on the floor as he tried to rip my clothes off. “Please father,” I begged, but he didn’t listen. Then I