He placed it on the highest counter of the kitchen and made sure to put it in such a way that Madeline’s hands would never get there. He saw her gawking at the sweet and scanning the place it was kept. He sure didn't know Madeline as much as he thought. She would still be able to get that sweet if she wanted this instant. He might have hidden it on the highest counter of the kitchen which he knows her hands couldn't reach, but she wasn't someone to give up on what she wants that easily. If she really wanted those sweets right now, she could wait until he was gone before showing her true colors out and carrying the highest and tallest dining chair. She would have used it as a ladder to climb upward and take whatever sweets she wanted. Ten, twenty. She can do all of that if she so pleases. “I've given you sweets. What are you waiting for?” His voice ranged in her ears and she quickly snapped her gaze from the sweets to him. “Ahh... I was waiting for y..you.”“Or you were waiting for
“Well, Brother Elias informed me about it. I heard about all that happened this past few weeks and come on, we’ll have a lot of gisting today now that I’m finally here. I couldn’t visit earlier because my damn father forced me on a business trip. I should get married soon because I need to have a free life.”“Really? You think marriage would make you free?” Madeline asked in a shocked tone. “Of course. At least marriage is going to lead me away from the nagging of my parents every single day. Or should I just look for anyone and get married as soon as possible? I can even pay him,” Pondered Genevieve. Madeline stared at her in disbelief. Funny how she thinks that she would be free after getting married. She wouldn't like anyone to get married in the same way she did or even face what she was facing in her marriage. She should get married with love. “You shouldn't get married to just anyone, Genie. You should fall in love first before you two get married. It's not nice to have a love
The door of the condo opened and the girl's eyes widened as two masculine figures walked in engrossed in their conversation and stopped after noticing their presence. Madeline’s eyes widened as she stared at the masked Elias and his friend, Aiden as they walked into the house. They came this early? She had thought that it would be late before he came back due to the incident that happened the previous day. But he was back this early when it wasn’t four hours since he left? She was sure it wasn’t even past eleven right now. Well, maybe he came to have breakfast. Homemade. “Elias. You came early,” she started, watching him pull off his cloth gold-colored mask and keep it in his breast pocket. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere today and I’m going to work from home. I just went running an errand.” “Oh..”On the other hand, Aiden and Genevieve were having a staring competition as they kept staring at each other. Genevieve's eyes were wide as she stared at him, more like a glare. Her e
“Genevieve, wait, Vieve,” Aiden called, running after the girl who was walking so fast to avoid him. She kept up with her fast pace and even walked faster every time he called her name asking her to wait. She was trying to run away from her biggest nightmare. Who wouldn't? He was the last person she wanted to see or even have a conversation with. It's better to flee from danger when sighted. Finally, she got to her car and opened it intending to get in and drive the fuck away from there but before she could do that, a hand closed the door again and pushed her against it. “What the fuck do you want? I asked you to leave me alone,” she yelled at him, trying to break herself free from him as she glared at him in anger. Although her attempt to break free from him would be considered rough and unladylike, she still couldn't break from his hard hold on her. “I'm not going to let you go until you tell me what's wrong. Why are you ignoring me, huh?”“Just let the fuck go of me. I don't want
Madeline walked out of her restaurant building and headed for the parking lot of the building. She could see the other cars her security were in turned on, getting ready to leave as she walked into the backseat of her car. It has been war coming out today. She and Elias had fought again because of her safety. He had insisted she stayed at home even after staying at home all through the previous day mainly because of her cold. It's been a long since she last came to her restaurant and she has been worried about what her employees would think of her if she was so irregular. This irregularity started when she got married to Elias. After they had fought about her staying at home and she won, he had insisted that she take cars of guards with her or he was going to lock her in a room. She had no choice but to agree to take two cars of guards even if she knew that there were still shadow guards. He had also forced her to go with a driver who would drive her around and notice if there was an
“Don’t lie to me. I know I look haggard right now. I even got away from home without applying makeup. My hair surely looks like a bed nest,” Genevieve frowned. How could she look beautiful when she didn’t even look in the mirror since she woke up? She had come here in haste and had even run away from her own condo. “I don't think you look haggard as you put it. Even with your messy hair, you still look beautiful,” complimented, Madeline. “Okay, okay. I've heard you. You shouldn't praise me that much. Unless you want my cousin to become jealous as hell.”They both laughed before Genevieve handed her the menu for coffee go order and Madeline ran her fingers through the words of the menu book. This place was really so cozy and comfortable and she most liked the atmosphere around it. It was welcoming and all there is to have in a coffee shop. She really admired this place and wouldn't forget to put it in the back of her mind to have a coffee shop like this too. It would be nice for rela
“I know you’ll say that. I can see almost five of your guards in this cafe right now. They’re so cool.”Something suddenly ranged in Madeline’s mind. Didn’t Genevieve call her to this coffee shop to say something? She hasn’t said anything as to why she called her here since she came. She was only talking about irrelevant things and things that don't even give hints as to why she called her here. She had suddenly called her during noon and asked for a meet up by three pm. It’s going to be twilight soon and she’ll have to see to be home before then as she wasn’t ready for a punishment from Elias who would be home soon. “Hmm…Genevieve. Didn’t you call me here to talk?” She asked. The atmosphere suddenly became tense at Madeline’s words. “I mean it’s going to be twilight soon.”Genevieve’s face dropped as she realized that what Madeline said was true. It’s going to be twilight soon and she’ll have to leave. If possible, she’ll like to borrow Madeline for the night and probably the next
Genevieve doubted that anyone would be able to tolerate this girl. Wasn’t she as spiteful as Evelyn? She was sure they would be great friends if they meet. They were so alike and from the news she got about this stepsister of Madeline, she might be even worse than Evelyn. Pathetic beings. “Haha. So funny. You know, I’ll take that as a compliment,” she smiled at her. The smile looked so genuine that if you were actually a fool, you would have mistaken her for an angel sent from heaven. Such a pretender. She sure plays her cards very well. “Not like I asked you to.”“We didn’t ask you to sit, did we? As the all-so-cultured and perfect daughter of the Crayon family, you should know proper manners, right? Don’t tell me your etiquette teacher didn’t teach you not to sit when you’re not asked to,” Madeline spat earning a peal of loud laughter from Genevieve. How dare she comes here to their space intending to cause trouble. She wasn’t going to let her trample on her this time or be the fi
She searched Elias’s eyes for truth but found nothing. She doesn't know if to believe him or not. “Is she alright, doctor?” Elias asked. “Ahh, yes. Everything is fine.” The doctors decided to leave the couple alone and walked out of the hospital room. “Stop crying okay? Adalyn is alright.”“I'll stop crying.”“I'll bring her to you, hmm? Don't cry anymore.”He cleaned her tears before getting off the bed and walking to the other side of the room where little Adalyn lay with her eyes closed. She was obviously asleep. He carried her carefully in his arms and brought her to Madeline who readied her hands to carry her baby as tears of joy filled her eyes. “You’ll fall sick if you keep crying like this sweetheart.” Before she could take the baby from him, he retracted his hands. “Elias, give me my baby,” she whined. She was so eager to carry her baby in her arms knowing that she was fine and everything would return to normal. “Not until you stop crying. Clean your tears and I'll give
They all stopped at the realization that a cliff was right behind Anny and one step from her and she would be gone along with the little baby girl in her arms. Madeline almost fainted at the sight in front of her. She could feel her tears flowing freely and her eyes closing on her. If Genevieve wasn't holding her right now, she would have dropped on her knees as her legs were weak. “Anny please, don't do this,” she begged. Anny swallowed. Behind her was a cliff. She might die if she makes one wrong move. The thing is that, whether she gives them the can't or not, she was going to die. If she gives them the baby, Elias surely won't let her be. He was going to make her life a living hell for daring to kidnap his half day old baby. If she didn't give them the baby, she was also going to die as her feet were at the end of the cliff. One move and she was gone. She wasn't going to die alone. If at all she does here, this baby was dying before her. They must feel pain for their baby and re
“If you move any further, then I won't hesitate to shoot you,” Elias warned. He watched as the woman stood still as he pointed his gun at her while moving slowly closer to her. Abruptly, she turned the situation around and placed her hands on the child's neck while staring at Elias causing his eyes to widen. “Move any further and I will not hesitate to kill you daughter,” she warned. The child was crying very loudly by now and Elias stopped at her warning. Abby laughed at that. Now he would know who was the boss here. She was holding his crying daughter and that made her the one with the upper hand. Any move of his now, she was going to throw the baby to a side and while their focus was on the baby, she would run away. At least to save herself.“Who are you and what do you want?” Elias asked. “I guess you can’t recognize me. Look deeply. Stare at me for minutes and you would know who I am. I was really so close to you guys. Look, come on.”Elias’s mouth fell open as he did as she
The imposter ran with all her might away from the hospital when she saw that she was found out and Elias’s guards were coming after her. She ran with all strength in her. If she passed the road, they were going to get hold of her. Worst, the road was kind of secluded that day and cabs were not passing through the road. How was she going to get away from the guards who were almost getting to her? Her legs took her into the bush and she clutched the head of the baby to her chest and ran into the bush that has thick trees and roughy. Her feet moved quickly as she was desperate to get away from the men on her trail. “This damn baby. I should just strangle it to death,” she muttered as she kept on running. “But if I do, I’ll remain broke and won’t make any money. But with this baby, I’ll make a lot of money and pay for my plastic surgery.”Suddenly, she stopped and pulled her wig and face mask that was making her uncomfortable and her eyes hardened. The lady’s head was bald with no inch
“Okay, that's good. Talk to him and call me later.”Elias finished his call and slipped his phone into his pocket before walking back into the hospital room. His eyes scanned the room for the nurse who just came in and he frowned. Where the hell was she? The tray she brought in was there lying on the side of the bed and the nurse was not in the room. These nurses these days were surely lazy. Feeling something off in the room, his footstep accelerated as he walked to the baby’s crib and his eyes widened in shock. “Goodness! Fuck.”He immediately opened the door of the room and asked. “Did the nurse come out?” “No boss, is something wrong?”“Fuck! The baby is missing.” Their eyes widened as they heard what the boss said and immediately, they ran to the room and one of the guards called for backup. “Search every nook and cranny of the room.” Sweat broke out on Elias’s skin as he ran his hands through his hair. How exactly did this happen under his watch? There was no way that he cou
“Adalyn Johan,” the grandfather muttered. The focus of the family was solely on the baby that they didn't notice when Madeline fell asleep after watching them banter about her baby. “Grandfather already fell in love with the baby, I'm sure in years, Adalyn would be running around him.”“That's true. See how carefully he is carrying her.”“Adalyn is so cute that father can't help but love her.”“Grandfather is now a great-grandfather.”The people in the room remarked on the care with which the grandfather held the little girl. He held her like a trophy. A special trophy. He resisted the urge to thank the mother of the baby for giving them such a cute bundle of joy. Adalyn Johan was a bundle of joy that brought the whole family together and ended the animosity between them. Her birth was a blessing. He made a mental note to thank the mother of the baby after this ends. He was going to thank her and ask for forgiveness for his wrongdoings. The baby passed from the grandfather to Elias’
“Date of birth, November 16, 2022. 4:18 pm,” the doctor declared. “Wahhhhhhh, the baby’s cries were the only noise in the room as the nurses cleaned him a little before placing the baby on the chest of the new mother who patted her back and bend her head to stare at her before turning to look at Elias who was smiling at her. Their eyes gave many expressions as they smiled at each other while staring at the baby who had stopped crying. Elias stared at the baby on Madeline’s chest and his heart filled with indescribable emotions. Their princess was here. Their own baby. The baby who they were going to give all their love and affection to. Their very own firstborn. The nurses came to Madeline’s side and took the baby from her to go wash and dress him up. “You did well, sweetheart,” Elias whispered into her ears and cleaned the drop of sweat from her forehead before. He could see that she was tired but still wanted to hold her baby and feed her before succumbing to darkness. “Our bab
“Isn’t it time yet? It’s been hours already,” Madeline cried as she rolled her hips on the big pregnancy ball that helps with childbirth. It’s been a month already and her water broke some hours back when she was sleeping. Elias was the one who noticed it and asked her so they rushed to the hospital. But here they were, fourteen hours already in the hospital but the doctor was still saying that it wasn’t time for her to start labor yet and she still has to wait for a few more contractions. She has been having contractions for fourteen hours now and the doctor still tells her that. The cramps and pains were making her almost go crazy. “Just some more contractions ma’am. It’s not yet time,” the attending nurse answered. Few more? That was what they have been saying for hours now. And this stubborn baby refuses to start coming out. Just as she was about to lash out at the nurse, she saw Elias coming towards her with a can of water in his hands. “Here, have some sweetheart,” he opened
“Want me to show you the gift I got for you?” Elias asked, walking Madeline out of the house, her eyes tied with a white cloth. Their guests were gone already and just the two of them in the condo. Elias held her hands and guided her steps as she couldn't see. “Where are you taking me?”“You'll see.”He guided her to the open garden at the back of the house and stopped. “Ready to see your gift?” “Stop wasting time already and show me the gift.” Her curiosity was top-notch right now and she so much wanted to see what exactly he got her that was different from the others that he had to bring her somewhere apart from inside the house to display. She was so curious to see what it was. “Okay then, are you sure you're ready?”“Elias... I am. Open my eyes already.”“If you say so.” His hands moved to her eyes and removed the white cloth. “That's your gift.”Her eyes widened as she stood frozen on the spot and stared at her gift. Goodness. This was what Elias got? Her mouth opened agape