AURORA“Come on, Carina. We are going to be late!” I yelled at her to hurry. Today is the grand opening of the children's hospital I have been building for the past months.Linda has outdone herself by creating a stunning facility and I can't wait to fully give myself and a lot of dignitaries the grand tour.“Here, I'm ready,” she said and I rolled my eyes, “oh, time for you to go munchkins,” I said to Olivia and Gabriel.I picked up their crawler while Carina held their bags.“You ladies look stunning,” Maria said as she got out of her car.“Are you pregnant again?” I asked and heard Carina chuckle behind me.“Wow, two goals for Braden then,” she said and Maria rolled her eyes.“No, I'm not. It's menstruation heating pads,” she said and I nodded.“Where is Sophie?” I asked as Carina handed the baby's bags to her.“She's in the car. She's beating herself up over you and Jacob,” she said and I sighed.“She doesn't know what happened between us,” I said to her.“That's exactly what I to
AURORAIt's been a few weeks since Linda's arrest happened. The hospital opened and I have been trying to juggle being there and also at Clinton Empire.Steven has been doing a nice job but he isn't fully qualified in the administration duties of a hospital like Linda. “The girls are asleep so we can talk,” I said to Madeline and Carina.“How are they holding up?” Madeline asked.“They both want their Linda,” I said and she smiled.“It's so surprising how Anne has gotten close to Linda in such a small period of time,” Carina said and I smiled weakly.“Linda made a mistake and she has paid her due,” I said then looked at Madeline, “I'm the one she offended, isn't there anything I can do for the charges to be dropped?” I asked her.“In an ideal world yes but someone is pushing for you not to testify,” she said and I sighed.“You said you were going to find out who, any luck?” Carina asked.“Not yet but I'm not going to give up, Linda is family,” Madeline said.“What about enemies of he
AURORAI got out of my car and took a deep breath. Being back here brings a lot of painful memories.I know this place is not as horrific as the cell in the Police Precinct but they are all the same. I walked into the building and came face to face with the Warden.“Welcome, Miss Clinton. It's a pleasure to receive you,” she said and I scoffed.“The pleasure is all yours warden,” I said to her. She directed me through the hallways of the prison until we got to a visitor office.I know she made this just for me because I was visiting today.“She will be here in a minute,” she said and I nodded.I placed my hands in my pants suit, lifted my blazers up and leaned against the window with my feet up the wall.I never planned on visiting Katherine. I already beat her, so there wasn't a need to. But these charges against Linda are not warranted and I will not let it ruin the life of a woman who decided to change.The door of the visitor room opened and Katherine entered with two guards and
AURORALooking at all these faces reminded me of what I had survived to get here. I don't need anyone to tell me they are proud of me. I am proud of myself.“She is a brilliant strategist, an intelligent woman, the best boss and above all my best friend. It is my honor to hand this award to you, Aurora Clinton.”The sound of my name brought a lot of applause as I walked towards the stage. Andre was by the stairs and he helped me on it. “Thanks Andre,” I whispered as I walked towards Carina.I took the award from her and kissed her cheeks, “you deserve it,” she said as she walked away.“Hi everyone,” I said, speaking directly at the microphone. “It's an honor to receive the female CEO award. This is one of the most important awards on the planet right now and I do not take it lightly,” I said and everyone clapped.“I'm grateful to my parents for finding me and entrusting me to take our company to the heights it has reached right now and to my best friend, Carina. You bring out the bes
AURORA“Do you think this is a good idea?” Carina said as she helped package my gift box for the employees in the company.“What good idea?” I asked her, and she signed. Standing on one leg.“I mean you just met him, don't you think having a date now is a little bit early?” She asked and I scoffed.“What on earth do you think of me Carina?” I asked her. She clicked her tongue, “I'm sorry. I just don't want you to make the same mistake,” she said.“Don't worry, I'm not going to sleep with him. It's just a date besides I will have Martin with me,” I said to her and she laughed.“Wow, you must think that man loves you more than his girlfriend whose brother is your date,” she said and I stopped walking.“Now, you just made it complicated,” I said to her and she laughed.“How's Andre?” I asked her, “I haven't seen him around apart from the office,” I said to her.“Oh, he's good. We are good. He's just helping his sister, Claire and his niece get settled in their new place. His niece is st
AURORAI honestly can't believe this. The only reason Sam came on a date with me is to find out about Sophie, Jacob's sister. Why does he try to ruin everything for me.“I'm sorry, I had to do it this way,” Sam said and I scoffed.“I don't think you are sorry,” I said to him, “because if you were, you wouldn't have done it in the first place,” I said, standing.“I can explain,” he stood up as well, “let me explain,” he said and I sat down.“You better have a damn good reason for doing this to me,” I said to him with anger in my voice.“I didn't know she was your ex-husband sister. If I had known that…”“What, you would have changed your mind?” I asked, cutting him off. He sighed and looked at me, “no, I won't have,” he said and I nodded.“That's good to know Sam. Very good to know,” I glared at him.“I just want to know my son, Aurora. That's all I ask for,” he said and I shook my head.“Why?” I asked him, “you said yourself, you sold your sperm to get money to buy drugs and I'm sur
MARTIN— AURORA HEAD OF SECURITY“Where to, boss?” The driver asked as we drove out of the driveway of the ice cream stand.“Fourth Avenue,” I said to him and he nodded. I looked at my phone to see if Madeline had tried to call me again. We were both talking more like arguing when she ended the call abruptly. I need to know that she is okay.We have been arguing about the same thing for weeks now and honestly I don't see her point.“Boss, we are here,” the driver said, bringing me back to reality.“You don't need to call me boss, Martin is just fine,” I said, getting out of the car. “Find out where Miss Aurora is and pick her up,” I said to him.“What about you?” He asked.“Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine,” I said and he drove off.I took a deep breath and walked through the pavement and stood in front of Madeline's door.“Who is it?” Her beautiful voice filled my ear immediately I pressed on the doorbell. I'm glad she is okay.She opened up the door, rolled her eyes when she
MARTINMadeline looked at me with shock and confusion on her face then it turned to smile. “You are making fun of me, aren't you?” She asked and I shook my head.“I'm not. I have the DNA document to prove it,” I said, searching for it on my phone. “Here,” I said, handing my phone to her, walking towards her. She took the phone from me and began looking.In one swing, I took her phone from her hands and tried to delete our conversation.She looks at me and back at my phone, “it says here that Aurora has one other sibling,” she said, looking at me.“Yes, our sister and Aurora's twin, Aubrey,” I said to her and she gasped slightly.“Aurora has a twin sister?” She asked and I nodded my head.“Yes, she does and I don't know where Aubrey is,” I said and she looks at me with pity.“Don't do that,” I said, walking away from her. I walked towards the window and tried not to replay my childhood in my head.“Don't do what?” I heard her voice and turned around.“Look at me like that. Like a bro
AURORAI have been in a moving vehicle for the better part of ten hours. Wherever my captors are taking me, they don't seem to have an idea what they are doing.This can't be LeVert, he won't make such a mistake by hiring amateurs, even if he is doing it by himself. He has enough experience to do it right.Suddenly the vehicle stopped moving, the back of the vehicle opened and I was brought out. One of them was about to speak when the other one shut him up without speaking.I kept my mouth shut, I need to be brave, for myself and for my family. My wedding is in a few hours along with Carina's and there is no way I'm missing it.They tied the blindfold around my eyes even tighter, causing the darkness to engulf me.The rough fabric of the blindfold pressed harder against my eyes, sending a jolt of sharp pain across my temples. Darkness was absolute now, not just the absence of sight but the weight of uncertainty pressing down on me. I tried to focus on my breathing, forcing myself to s
JACOB“I can't believe you are getting married!” Braden slammed into me. Trying to ruffle me up a little.“Says the married man,” Andre said to him. It's funny how we are all friends now and we have Aurora to thank for that. She brought all of us together. That's my future wife.“What are you smiling about?” Grey asked me.“You better not be thinking about my sister in some certain way in front of me,” Martin said and we all laughed.I have asked all of them to be mine and Andre best men including Michael, Ryan and Clay. Liam insisted on being the DJ for the service. Right now we are having our bachelor party and having loads of fun. “Thank you for allowing Aurora to do this with Carina,” I said to Andre holding his shoulder.“Are you kidding, Carina will have my head if I don't agree, plus we get to give the world the wedding of the year,” he said and I smiled.“Good man,” I shook his hands and walked towards Grey. “Hey bro,” he turned around and placed his phone in his pocket.“Th
AURORAONE YEAR LATER“What about this?” I walked out of my closet in a black gown filled with diamonds and a white off shoulder handle.“Perfect,” Carina squeaked. I rolled my eyes and walked deeper into the room.“People see me on this, they might think tonight is my rehearsal dinner,” I said to the soon to be bride.“Oh come on, you are the chief bridesmaid, you are meant to dress as elegant as the bride,” Aubrey said, adding her own wisdom to the situation.“Well, apart from that, I will think you guys are just playing dress up with me for me to impress Jacob,” I said to them and they both laughed.“Why are you laughing?” I asked them.“Nothing, just remembering how you blunted out I love you to him,” Carina said, still laughing. I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my blushing face.“Aubrey smirked, “Oh Aurora, you were so abstract about it. It feels like you have been bottling that emotion.”“Maybe I was. I guess my body moved before my mind,” I said to her.“And your timing couldn'
AURORA“Okay, alright. Be safe,” I said and hanged up the call.“Is everything alright?” Carina asked me. I looked at her with my puffy eyes. I can't believe I asked her to move her wedding date all because of LeVert. I feel so sad and heartbroken.“No, don't do that,” she said, hugging me. “Everything will work out. We just need to protect Anna and Mary and we all will be safe.”“But your wedding…”“Can wait,” Andre said, standing beside her. “We all need to be together right now.” He took my hands and I nodded.“Okay,” I exhaled, wiping my face with my other hand. “Let's do this then.”“The girls are pulling up,” Aubrey said to me. We raced towards the car to stop the paparazzi from taking pictures of them.“How come there are so many paparazzi?” Madeline asked as we moved through the crowd.“LeVert probably called them here to witness whatever he had planned,” I said to her.We finally got to the car and help Linda protect the girls from the cameras.“Aunt Aurora,” Anna and Mary hu
JACOB“What does Christina has to do with any of these?” I asked her.“I'm sure you heard from your stepbrother, Grey?” She asked.“Lara, what are you doing?” Aurora asked her. “Grey is not to be trusted.”“I was the one who told Grey to meet with you,” she said looking at me. “He is trying to make amends. You should let him.” I looked at Aurora, who just shrugged her shoulders.“So what about Christina?” Amy asked, standing in front of her. “You can't just drop a bombshell like that and not say anything to it.”“I was getting to it,” she handed her USB drive to Liam, “here, input it to the system,” Liam looks at me hesitant to do it. “Do it Liam,” I nodded.”A lot of files displayed on the bug screen. “These are all of the operations I could find that can be linked to LeVert, including serial killing of high profile women.” “Which one involves my step mom?” I asked, and a more detailed document displayed on the screen.“Wait,” Aurora scoffed. “You have this much evidence and LeVert
JACOBI kept pacing around, it's been almost two hours since Aurora left and she isn't back yet.“Martin is with her,” Madeline said to me, “he won't let anything happen to her.”“But if he can't,” I said and she looked confused. “Whatever is going on is beyond his power,” she sighed and shook her head.“Hey, you have to think good thoughts bro,” Amy said, holding my shoulder. “Aurora didn't come this far to give up or jeopardize everything.”“She is right, J,” Braden whispered, standing beside me. “You have to be able to trust Aurora, trust that she knows what she is doing,” he said and scoffed, “because she has been doing this long before she returned back to her life.”“I just want to protect her, want to keep her safe,” I said to him.“I know bro, but she got this and you know it.”I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down, even though every fiber of my being screamed to go after her. Braden was right, though. Aurora had proven time and again that she could handle herself.
AURORA“Thought I would recognize you?” I asked her.“Hoped,” she said, jerking her hands from Martin who was still looking shocked.“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked her with gritted teeth.“I don't know, hiding from my brother,” she said and I scoffed.“You are not that bumped into me,” I said to her. “You were at the precinct.”“No, you only saw me at the precinct when I came out, not before,” she said and I looked at Martin.“I will prove it to you,” she said and I turned to her.“How?” I asked, folding my hands. She tried to move but Martin stopped her. “Let her go, Martin. She knows she needs us,” Captain Marlow scoffed and walked deeper into the room.“Here,” she placed a material over her head and I could see the face of the woman we saw in the CCTV camera video.“Unbelievable,” I whispered. “Have you seen something like this before?” I asked Martin.“Heard of it but haven't seen one this real,” he said as Captain Marlow took it off.“Spent almost all the money I co
AURORA“You know he is just scared for you,” Martin turned around in the car and said to me.“If you are referring to Jacob then don't. I don't need a lecture right now,” I said and he sighed.“He just wants to protect,” I glared at him and he raised his hands in defense. “That's all I'm going to say,” he turned around facing the traffic.“I have been on my own for a while, I can handle myself,” I said out loud.“I thought you guys have moved past that?” Martin asked me.“Move past what?” I asked, feeling confused.“Move past what he did almost ten years ago?” He asked and I sighed.“We have but he has to know that I didn't have him or you protecting me then and I was still able to survive Copper and being kidnapped,” I said to him.“I get that but he is here now and from the look of things he wants to protect you at all cost.”“Why do you think I brought Michael with us?” I asked and Micheal smiled. “At least Michael can report to him if anything happens.”“We are here, Miss Aurora,”
AURORA“Hey,” I kissed Jacob on the lips as I took off my jacket.“I miss you,” he said, kissing my neck. I bit my lips smiling.“I know but we have work to do,” I pushed him slightly and walked over to the workstation he had set up in his penthouse.“Are you sure this place is secure?” Martin asked him as he walked in.“Yes, nobody knows about this place, not even Christina,” he said and I sighed.“Does Grey know about this place?” I asked him, for a while he has been having a blind spot when it comes to his step brother.“Jacob?” I called his name when I noticed he was hesitant to answer the question.“Yes he does,” he said and I dropped my hands loudly against my laps.“Why would you do such a thing? Grey is not to be trusted,” I said to him.“Look, Grey might have done a lot of things in the past but he helped us back in my airport.”“Or he brought you there to set you up along with Martin,” Braden said.“I agree with Braden,” Amy said and Jacob glared at her.“Don't do that, they