“This again?” Skylar scowled at him, her face a mask of frustration. Deceptive frustration. “What the hell is wrong with you, Luca? Look, I don't know whatever your mum told you, but you've got to get it out of your head. Austin is not your son!”“Oh, do tell me, Skylar. Just what could my mum have told me?” He tipped his head sarcastically, his chest constricting at the lies she was still continuing to tell.“You know what? I can't deal with this. Leave me the hell alone, Luca.” She screamed and immediately turned to get back inside.But of course he wasn't going to allow her to do that. He grabbed her by arm, keeping her in place as the lid over his rage threatened to flip off.“I fucking know he's my son, Skylar. I have a paternity test to prove it!”That got her. Spinning around, she jerked her arm from his hold, her eyes widening. “What the hell are you talking about?”“This." Luca hissed through gritted teeth, reaching into the inner pocket of his tuxedo and pulling the envelope
Hello guys.So I've seen some complaints about me updating only once a day and I just want to clarify something.I write very long chapters. Some of my chapters can go up to 2800 words. And while other authors would rather divide that word count into two, I chose to publish it at once because of the cost of chapters on the app nowadays.When I divide the chapters into two like other authors do and publish 1400 words for each chapter, the app charges 35 coins for each, making it 70 coins. But when I publish the 2800 words in one chapter, the app only charges a maximum of 50 coins. I've been doing this to help you guys cut down on the cost of chapters but it seems like the complaints about me publishing only once a day is becoming too much. I can do what most authors do if that is what you guys prefer.And no, I don't plan to keep this book going on for too long. I'll be ending this soon. I just don't want to rush things though. I'm very grateful for the love and patience you guys have b
Several minutes after Luca had left, silence was still reigning in the room, the air thick with tension and unuttered thoughts. Skylar slowly made her way away from the door and sunk into one of the couches.For several minutes, she did nothing but stare at the floor, just where Luca had crumbled and broken down, her mind racing with all kinds of emotions, more conflicted than she'd ever felt in her life.“Wow!" It was Nicole who broke the tense silence.Skylar looked up to find her sister's mouth opened in wonder, and she was stunned to see tears shimmering in the eyes of her normally nonchalant little sister. “I don't... I don't think I've ever seen a man cry so hard.” She added with a wince.Skylar looked away and shut her eyes, willing the memory to recede from her mind, but like a malevolent parasite, it refused to go away. God, she'd never seen Luca so gutted and shattered.His sobs had been so gut-wrenching that it'd sent goosebumps scattering everywhere along her skin with the
Skylar didn't sleep a wink that night. She only forced herself out of bed when her mother knocked on her door to check up on her. After brushing her teeth, she went downstairs to put something in her stomach like her mother insisted on.They were still having breakfast when the doorbell rang. Skylar got up to go see who it was, needing an excuse to get away from her mother's stern insistence that she eat when she didn't have any fucking appetite.Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest when she opened the door to find Luca and Cornelia. While the woman looked somewhat neutral, her son had nothing but coldness in his eyes.She focused on Cornelia, expecting an outburst, for the older woman to rip into her for cruelly hiding her grandson, but Cornelia surprised her with a small smile.“Hello, Skylar. How are you doing?”Skylar blinked. “I'm fine.”An awkward pause, before Cornelia spoke again. “We came to see my grandson.”Skylar nodded, having already expected that. “Please come i
Cornelia ripped into Luca the moment the door closed behind them.“Luca Mathews, that was no way to speak to Skylar. You shouldn't have spoken to her like that!”Luca whirled around, glaring at her. “Oh yeah? How else was I supposed to speak to her? Fall at her feet and thank her for keeping my son away from me for three fucking years?”“You hurt her first, Luca.” His mum began to say.“That's beside the point mum. I've apologized for everything I did to her and I'm still trying hard to make up for it!” He scoffed as his chest ached anew. “What about her? Not a word, mum. Not a sorry. After keeping such a big thing from me, she hasn't even offered me a single apology!”“So your problem is that she hasn't yet apologized?” She jammed her hand on her hip. “Tell me, Luca. How long did it take you to apologize for everything you've done to her?”“I apologized the moment I found out the truth!” He bit out, glaring at her. “And she forgave you." His mother pointed out.“Well that's quite so
Alex knew something was wrong almost immediately Skylar opened the door to him. First was the fake smile she plastered on her face, and second, was her lukewarm response to his kiss which hadn't been so in a while.“You look radiant.” He complimented, hoping for a more tangible reaction.“Thanks.” She answered simply as she ushered him, and his unease shot up immediately.He told himself he was just overreacting as he followed her inside, but the response of everyone else as soon as he said hi was very telling.“Hi.” All three–Skylar's mum, her sister and Laura– said back.He was more surprised by Emily's reaction because normally she would say more than that and try to engage him in an animated conversation that would almost make him forget about Skylar's presence.Turning to Skylar, he asked quietly, “Is everything alright, babe?”Instead of answering, she looked towards her family in a wordless request, and without a word, they all began making their way out of the living room.Aft
The blaring sound of her alarm jolted Skylar awake. Not ready to get out of bed, she reached out and slapped it to shut it up. The alarm usually rang again after a thirty minute silence but it felt like only a minute before she was being jolted awake.Glaring at the offending device, she finally forced herself to sit up on the bed before she could be tempted to disobey its wake-up call. It was six o'clock now. She had to get ready for breakfast and work. Groaning, she carried herself out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower. Afterwards, she changed into casual clothes and headed out of the bedroom.Laura was already up so they prepared breakfast together. Just as they finished setting up the table, the doorbell rang. It was still early in the morning and that made Skylar grimace as she went to get it.Her heart leaped when she found Luca on her porch looking devilishly handsome in a body-fitting grey suit, a new, fitting haircut, and a well-trimmed lig
Alex rushed out of his bathroom, quickly making his way over to his closet. He cursed softly under his breath when he looked towards his wall clock. He'd only meant to nap for an hour after the exhausting day he'd spent running errands for his father but an hour's nap had turned into three in what seemed like a twinkle of an eye. He was definitely going to be an hour late picking Skylar up for their date.A smile split his face as he thought of the woman who so had his heart, a thrill shooting through him. It didn't matter how many dates they went on, spending some time alone with Skylar was something he always relished, and he always found himself looking forward to it.More so in the past two weeks.He stiffened, realizing he was about to allow that bastard to penetrate his mind again.It'd been two weeks. Two fucking weeks of having to tolerate that guy's very intruding presence in Skylar's life and his.
Hey guys,This has been a long journey of a little over three months, and I know that reading this story must've been a bit frustrating because of my unscheduled updates where you never know when to expect the next chapter in a day. But y'all stuck with me, and I'm so grateful for that. Thank you so much for the patience.There were times I wanted to give up because writing was so stressful but all your comments kept me on my toes, along with all those beautiful gems you gifted me. They're truly appreciated.A few of you might not agree with some directions I decided to take, but I realize I can't satisfy everyone. I do believe in second chances as long as the other person is remorseful and willing to change. And I tried to be as realistic about the whole thing as possible.That being said, this is my first story on here, and I'm not perfect. There's always room for improvement for my future books, so do let me know; Where did I lack? What could I have done better? Were there issues yo
The first clue read: YES! YES! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE A DAY OLD, SO LOOK FOR THE FIRST TREASURE WHERE THINGS GET COLD.So Skylar did remember. Grinning like an idiot, Luca figured the first one out easily. It was obviously the fridge. But they had two. One in the kitchen and another at the corner of the wall near the dining table. He took a chance on the one near the dining area, and he was right.His first treasure was there, a somewhat rectangular gift wrapped up so that he couldn't see what it was. Attached to it was the second clue.It read: A MAJESTIC THRONE THAT NO ONE WANTS, YET WE ALL HAVE TO RULE OVER EVERY OTHER DAY.His brows drew together. A throne? Since he was standing around the dining table, his eyes went straight to the chairs there first. But the clue said no one wants it, so it definitely couldn't be those chairs. It took him five minutes of running all around the ground floor before he finally figured it out. When he did, he burst out laughing. What the heck? So the t
ONE YEAR LATERLuca was pissed.The day hadn't gone exactly how he'd envisioned it, and he'd been complaining the whole evening. The unfortunate listeners of his lashing out were Caleb and Abhishek.“How could she just forget?” He grouched. “Everyone remembered. My mum, Ella... Heck, even you guys remembered. And she forgets?”“Uh, with all due respect, your highness, your mother gave birth to you. She's the most inclined to remember when it's your birthday.” Abhishek had the very salient idea of mocking him, becoming the recipient of Luca's very unhappy glare.Caleb wasn't fazed though. “Dude, why are you making this a big deal? I'm sure Skylar had stuff on her mind and things to do, and she must've forgotten. Just remind her when you get home. No big deal.”Luca transferred his glare to the other man. “No big deal? It's not like we're 60 or something. We've just been living together for a year! How the hell does she forget my birthday? She didn't have to remind me when it was her bir
Licking her tongue down his neck, Skylar groaned along with him as she stroked his hard-as-granite dick. God, she loved how his dick felt in her hand. So warm and meaty and hard and just so damn good. She found herself salivating, her mouth's wish to get reacquainted with his delicious member.Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees, sliding his pants and boxers down to the middle of her thighs. His erection bounced out, the huge member bumping against her face Grabbing it, she licked him from the base up to the tip, reveling when he let out a sharp sound of pleasure."Fuck, Vanilla." He groaned. "Open that mouth of yours. Just like that."Taking the tip in, she swirled her tongue around it for a bit before taking him further. Just like she remembered, she could only get half of him in without gagging, but almost four years of not doing this didn't mean she'd forgotten how to work within her limits.She had Luca groaning and gasping for air as she bobbed her head up and down, let
Once Alex left, Luca refused to talk about anything having to do with him. He claimed he wasn't upset, but his actions afterwards proved contrary.He drove her to her house so that she could get dressed for work, but he barely said a word to her.Laura was horrified when Skylar told her about what Alex did, but the nanny ended up also concluding that Alex definitely didn't have bad intentions. That only seemed to tick Luca off some more.He drove to the company in brooding silence and didn't even give her a goodbye kiss when he parted to go check out some issues with Brandon Wood, the new branch CEO.Then again, Skylar was definitely not prepared for any PDA that would blow up the secretaries' group chat with gossip. She knew most of the people in the company thought she climbed up too quickly and had always linked it to her having an affair with Hector Lancaster. She didn't want them seeing her with Luca and making all sort of bullshit up to suit that narrative again. Luca didn't say
Alex caught the swaying of Nicole's body before she let go, so he had enough time to react and catch her in his arms."Hey. Nicole? Nicole?" He called out softly, realizing she'd passed out.Lowering her onto the couch, he held her cheek in his hand and tried to shake her gently, but she didn't react in any way.Panic shooting through him, he gathered her into his arms, ready to take her to the hospital. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he wasn't about to take the chance of waiting for her to wake up first.Getting out of the apartment, he was just heading towards the elevator when she finally stirred in his arms."Nicole, you're awake. Thank God!" He said but he didn't stop the journey to the elevator."Alex, where are you taking me?" Nicole groaned."To the hospital.""I'm conscious now. I don't want to go to the hospital." She said and began squirming in his arms just when they got to the elevator, wordlessly demanding to be placed down.Alex obliged and placed her on her
Chewing on a bowl of popcorn, Nicole sat on her couch, fast-forwarding through scenes of the K-drama she was watching on her TV. There was only so much of the goofy, cute banter she could enjoy before she got tired of the lack of story progression.Just when she got to a scene that looked to be exciting enough, her doorbell rang. Pausing the film, she set her bowl of popcorn aside and went to get the door.Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she opened the door to find Alex. Partly because she hadn't expected him and secondly because his face looked like a mess. He had a black eye, other bruises, and stitches marring his face."Hey, Nicole." He flashed her smile and winced like it hurt him to do that."Alex, what happened to you?!" She exclaimed, scanning his face in horror."Uh, I got beat up?" He chuckled a bit, obviously trying to deflect the gravity of the situation with humour."I can see that!" She said, "But who did that to you?""Can I come in first?""Of course, of c
The muffled sounds of a screaming match yanked Skylar out of her deep sleep. Groaning, she snapped her eyes open and tried to focus on the altercation. She couldn't hear much, so she slipped out of bed and approached the door, the voices getting clearer the closer she got."You have some fucking nerve showing your face here, you imbecile!" That was Luca, and he sounded very angry.The sudden sound of screeching couches and painful groans snapped Skylar into action. Realizing she was just in her underwear, she quickly grabbed the dress she remembered wearing yesterday which had been thrown on the bedroom sofa and slipped it on. Opening the door, she rushed out of the bedroom and came to a startled stop at what was going on.Luca was beating the hell out of Alex who was lying helplessly on the couch. His body was vibrating with aggression, and he seemed to be channeling that aggression into every punch. Alex's face already looked like a bloody mess, yet his blows were so heavy that she
Before the tentacles of doubts could bury its roots inside his mind, Luca held himself firm and shook his head, slicing through it until it was completely dead.No, he refused to believe it. He refused to believe that Skylar had done this to him. It just couldn't be.She loved him. Over the weekend, she'd shown him that with so much passion he'd felt it within his soul. There had been nothing like uncertainty about her love.Besides, during their fight regarding his marriage proposal, she'd told him that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him too. She wouldn't have never said anything like that if she didn't mean it.And he believed her. He wasn't going to make the mistake of jumping to conclusions again. He'd been there before, and where had that landed him? In hell, for four fucking years. There was no way he wanted to go back there.There had to be some plausible explanation as to why she was in Alex William's house sleeping in his arms in that state. An explanation that