“I think he's going to be floored when he sees you.” Skylar gushed, scanning her best friend in awe as she twirled stylishly in her wedding gown.It was a stunning dress. A mixture of trumpet and fishtail with glittering embellishments and dazzling embroidery that hugged and emphasized Ella's curves to perfection. Skylar had no doubt that Abhishek was going to fall more in love with her best friend. Which said a lot because the man was already so in love with Ella.After all the angsty anticipation from Ella, her wedding to her fiance was finally coming off in two days. The couple had agreed for the wedding to happen in California where Ella was born, and Ella had left Chicago two weeks ago to take care of the final details for her wedding.Skylar had only been able to shirk work responsibilities enough to join her best friend three days ago. And what a crazy three days it had been; Ella was uncharacteristically anxious and wanted not a thing out of place so it was one detail-checking
Skylar's heart sank as Cornelia looked her from her face to her feet and then back, eyes filled with disdain she didn't bother to hide.“I can't believe you even had the audacity to show your face here.” The woman spat venomously. “How are you even here? What are you doing here?”“Aunt, calm down. You're causing a scene.” Ella hissed. “And don't speak to Skylar like that. She's my best friend and my maid of honor.”“She's your what?” Cornelia's mouth dropped open. “When? How? Don't you know what she did to your cousin, Luca?”“Excuse me, lady.” Her mother stepped in front of Skylar protectively, squaring her shoulders as if preparing for any confrontation that was sure to come. “I won't just stand by and watch you humiliate my daughter like that. What the hell is wrong with you?”“What the hell is wrong with me?” Cornelia sneered. “Your daughter is nothing but a loose woman who cheated on my son even after he disregarded her promiscuous past to give her a stable relationship. How dare
Standing some distance away and twiddling with her fingers, Cornelia looked more nervous and mellow than Skylar had ever seen her.“Cornelia.” She whispered, standing up.Nicole instantly shot out of her own seat, her voice filled with antagonism. “What are you doing here? Are you here to insult my sister some more because I swear to God...” “Nicole." Skylar prompted her sister to calm down. Nicole shut her mouth, opened it, then shut it again.“Don't worry, Nicole. That's not why I'm here.” Cornelia assured Nicole softly before turning beseeching eyes towards Skylar. “Can we talk, dear?”Skylar didn't miss the use of the endearment. It meant the woman finally believed in her innocence. She expected a surge of pride and anger to fill her up, but sadness was all she felt as she nodded.“Okay.”“Skylar...” Nicole looked at her incredulously.“It's okay, Nicole.” Skylar silently pleaded with her to let it go.Finally, she relented. “Fine. But I'll just be in the kitchen. Call me if she t
When Skylar told him that she wanted things to be civil between them, Luca hadn't expected her to take the word so literally. From greeting him and responding to his greetings to answering his questions and asking him some without a hint of hostility, Skylar had been nothing but polite following his departure from her house a week ago.But that was exactly the problem; that she'd been too polite, too civil.He'd thought that he could take advantage of her decision to stop being hostile towards him to get closer to her. But he realized very quickly that not much had changed. Skylar was still putting distance between them. She'd just changed the method.But things had still been looking bright. Until yesterday. Until his mother had hurt and humiliated her so badly in front of their family members.After what happened yesterday, he knew he'd been shoved right back into the dark zone.He knew it the moment she shrunk away from his touch back at the chapel. The resentful gleam in her eyes
“No.” His mother shook her head. “They said it will be ready for pick up by afternoon, but I was too anxious and couldn't hold off talking to you about it.”Luca ran a hand through his hair. “Mum, this is ridiculous and crazy. I don't know what you felt when you held him, but Austin's not my son. Skylar told me so herself. Several times.”“What if she lied?”The question caught him off guard, a sudden lump rising up his throat. He forced it back down with a hard swallow, shaking his head to dispel the useless suspicions that were trying to grip his mind.“Skylar wouldn't lie about something so serious, mum. She... She's not that cruel.”His last statement hung over them like an ominous cloud. A cloud that rained gut-wrenching suspicions and thoughts of possibilities Luca didn't want to think about. Skylar wouldn't have lied to him if Austin was his. There was no way she would've lied.“Let's wait for the test result, son." His mother finally said softly like she could read his thoughts
Luca couldn't breathe. The weight of the emotions pressing down on his chest was too brutal. From disbelief to joy to betrayal, they all crashed on him like an avalanche, leaving him breathless.His tie was definitely not helping him with the suffocation so he grabbed at it and furiously tugged to loosen it. And for what seemed like an eternity, he just stared ahead of him at nothing in particular, focusing on breathing and clearing his disconcerted mind.He had a son. With Skylar. They had a son. He had a two-and-a-half-year old baby he hadn't even seen before.He suspected it from the start when he found out about Austin. And yet despite the suspicion that had always been in his gut, nothing could've prepared him for this brutal truth because it came with the realization that Skylar had not just deliberately kept his son away from him for three years, she'd also lied to him every time a chance arrived for her to tell him.But it also came with the brutal realization of how grave his
“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
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