It took Celine a great deal of self-control not to pace the length of the hotel lobby. Of all days to be late, she thought as she squirmed in an uncomfortable but aesthetically appealing, overpriced, modern accent chair and reread the same page in her digital book.Today, Sebastian was taking Grace to an OB-GYN of his choosing to get some answers. The first thing he wanted to know was if she was pregnant. If yes, he would ask Grace for the second time to take a Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity test to prove he wasn’t the father. So far, when he asked her to provide a blood sample for the test, Grace had refused, stating Sebastian’s accusations were baseless and she would not be humiliated.They fully expected Grace to refuse a second time, and if she did, they were prepared.Celine’s phone vibrated.SebastianHereCeline hurried outside, and Sebastian’s driver, Greg, waited to open the car door for her. “Good morning, Greg.” Celine said, trying to smile through her nerves. How is the n
It is not often that family court law protects the rights of a father, or in Sebastian’s case, the alleged father, except when it comes to paternity. No mother has the right to obstruct a paternity test. It becomes fuzzy if the paternity test is requested during pregnancy. Then the mother can say no—her body, her choice. At least, that was what Grace and Sophia believed. It turned out that Sebastian could request a court order to compel Grace to have a Non-Invasive Paternity Test if he was disputing paternity and Grace was publicly claiming he was the father, thus ruining Sebastian’s reputation and pressuring him into fatherhood.Apparently, Grace and Sophia’s ploy was so unoriginal that laws were already in place to prevent them.After Grace dropped her fake pregnancy bomb at the ice skating rink, Sebastian’s lawyers went to Family Court the next day and got a court date to ask a judge for a court order to force Grace to take a paternity test. Grace was notified of the court date i
After Sebastian’s lawyers finished, Celine thought all there was left to do was watch the death throes of Grace’s case. They had a recording of Grace threatening blackmail, for god’s sake. They should be watching the closing credits on this fiasco of fake paternity, but that was not how the law worked. There were always special circumstances or loopholes to get around or to delay a decision, and all Grace needed was a delay.When Grace’s attorneys began their case to quash the court order for the paternity test, they didn’t even bother to rebut the horrible things she said on the recording. Instead, they argued that Grace had a religious or moral objection to the paternity test.Grace’s attorney painted a picture of her as a devout Orthodox Christian from a family with a long, illustrious history with the Greek Orthodox Church on her mother’s side. In Orthodox culture, there is a lot of emphasis on family reputation and privacy, especially for families with ties to the church and thei
Sipping a cup of bitter coffee Celine walked down the hall to her mother’s room. She hated hospitals. They smelled like disinfectants and body odors. And they all had the same vinyl floors that no matter how much you washed them, they held onto dirt embedded in tiny scratches and crevices.This place was depressing. She wanted to take her mom home so she could be comfortable, but Mom insisted on staying here. She said she didn’t want to be a bother. We only had her on this earth for a few more weeks. How could she be a bother?"Cold Blue. Code Blue. Room 2114. All available staff. Cold Blue.", a speaker blared, startling her and scalding the back of her hand with hot coffee.People dressed in scrubs erupted from stairwells or around corners and ran past her. Realization bloomed and she began running. Room 2114, that was their room.She heard the alarms getting louder as she ran. She was going so fast that she had to grab the molding of the door to control her swing into the room where
Two bodies twisted in ecstasy her husband thrusting into another woman on their bed. Bryson Tiller was singing in the background. “Pull up the skirt, get in the ride. Left hand is steerin’ the other is grippin’ your thigh.”This is what he has been doing when she needed him the most. This cannot be happening. Why? Why? Why? She ran to the guest bathroom in the hall and vomited until she was panting, her head hanging in the toilet. Then she stood washed her face and mouth and looked in the mirror. Anguish was etched into every atom. She was startled when her phone rang. It was her best friend, Kim. Automatically she picked up, “Hello.”“Honey, I heard. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Of course, you’re not; stupid question. Where are you? I’m coming right over.”Celine sat heavily on the cool tile of their bathroom floor. Glancing around she said, “I’m at home.”“Is Phillip there?”Celine hesitated then responded in a monotone voice, “Yeah.”“Let me talk to him.”, Kim said and there was si
The wine glass wobbled in her hand and a single red drop splashed onto their pristine white carpet in solidarity with the single tear that betrayed Celine and ran down her cheek. No longer able to keep her emotions at bay she asked, "How long have you been cheating?""I have never cheated on you.", Phillip said staring directly into Celine’s eyes. Celine’s eyebrows rose sharply, and she blinked heavily a few times."Pardon?", Celine asked surprised by his denial.I never cheated on you.” He repeated as if she was slow and hadn’t understood him. He pursed his lips. “It was just sex. Celine, I don't love anyone but you. Look, I am sorry you had to see this. Especially tonight of all nights, but I am a man with needs.", he said nodding as if he was a third person agreeing with himself.Heat rose swiftly like a torrent throughout her body and fueled her next words. “A man with needs? What more do you need? We have sex every day. Have I ever told you no?” Leaning forward she continued. “I h
For generations, every summer, wealthy families from New York City invaded New Jersey and overran the eleven towns that made up the Hamptons. Popular for its beautiful beaches and perfect weather. These Hamptonites were like an invasive species that had no natural predators and crowded out and took over everything. The actual residents of the Hamptons, the native species, decided let’s make lemonade out of lemons. Businesses sprouted everywhere to accommodate the Hamptonites’ every whim. Anyone can tolerate just about anything for two months.The truth was, the Hamptonites and the Townies disliked each other but they had been using each other for so many generations they became dependent. Like a dysfunctional symbiotic relationship. And it turned out they sometimes had common interests that united them. Like their mutual hatred of The Billionaires Club.The Billionaire’s Club was exclusive and had only two thousand members worldwide. The entry f*e? Be a billionaire. Members of the B-Cl
Tension summed up the mood in the conference room. Even the way they were seated was adversarial. She and her lawyer owned the real estate of one side of the conference table and Phillip and his attorneys lay claim to the other side. Celine thought it was childish, but so were the men in the room with her.To her left was the projection of a PowerPoint presentation stating Bloombard v. Bloombard. This was what her marriage amounted to now, how sad. She met Phillip’s eyes. He was seated across from her. It was the first time she had seen Phillip since the night her mother died, and since she entered the room, he hadn’t taken his eyes off her. He looked how he always looked, disinterested.They were meeting to discuss the divorce settlement. She dreaded this meeting. She heard when there were hundreds of millions of dollars involved negotiations became bloody. She had no interest in fighting with Phillip and had a plan. A plan she hoped not to use because there was still time to stop thi
After Sebastian’s lawyers finished, Celine thought all there was left to do was watch the death throes of Grace’s case. They had a recording of Grace threatening blackmail, for god’s sake. They should be watching the closing credits on this fiasco of fake paternity, but that was not how the law worked. There were always special circumstances or loopholes to get around or to delay a decision, and all Grace needed was a delay.When Grace’s attorneys began their case to quash the court order for the paternity test, they didn’t even bother to rebut the horrible things she said on the recording. Instead, they argued that Grace had a religious or moral objection to the paternity test.Grace’s attorney painted a picture of her as a devout Orthodox Christian from a family with a long, illustrious history with the Greek Orthodox Church on her mother’s side. In Orthodox culture, there is a lot of emphasis on family reputation and privacy, especially for families with ties to the church and thei
It is not often that family court law protects the rights of a father, or in Sebastian’s case, the alleged father, except when it comes to paternity. No mother has the right to obstruct a paternity test. It becomes fuzzy if the paternity test is requested during pregnancy. Then the mother can say no—her body, her choice. At least, that was what Grace and Sophia believed. It turned out that Sebastian could request a court order to compel Grace to have a Non-Invasive Paternity Test if he was disputing paternity and Grace was publicly claiming he was the father, thus ruining Sebastian’s reputation and pressuring him into fatherhood.Apparently, Grace and Sophia’s ploy was so unoriginal that laws were already in place to prevent them.After Grace dropped her fake pregnancy bomb at the ice skating rink, Sebastian’s lawyers went to Family Court the next day and got a court date to ask a judge for a court order to force Grace to take a paternity test. Grace was notified of the court date i
It took Celine a great deal of self-control not to pace the length of the hotel lobby. Of all days to be late, she thought as she squirmed in an uncomfortable but aesthetically appealing, overpriced, modern accent chair and reread the same page in her digital book.Today, Sebastian was taking Grace to an OB-GYN of his choosing to get some answers. The first thing he wanted to know was if she was pregnant. If yes, he would ask Grace for the second time to take a Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity test to prove he wasn’t the father. So far, when he asked her to provide a blood sample for the test, Grace had refused, stating Sebastian’s accusations were baseless and she would not be humiliated.They fully expected Grace to refuse a second time, and if she did, they were prepared.Celine’s phone vibrated.SebastianHereCeline hurried outside, and Sebastian’s driver, Greg, waited to open the car door for her. “Good morning, Greg.” Celine said, trying to smile through her nerves. How is the n
“Excuse me, what?”, Celine asked. Her heart was hammering, actually hammering so hard that she felt a twinge in her calf and then a burst of warmth. Did she tear a stitch? But she couldn’t be bothered to look because she needed to make sure she had heard correctly because surely, she had not.Looking at Sebastian did nothing to help her stay calm. He looked so woeful. She had seen that look before. When she was in the hospital after the fire, he had come to visit her. That was the day she realized that no matter what she said or how she was willing to fight, he was going to marry Grace anyway. The day she asked if he had slept with Grace. He never did answer her, but she guessed from his dark face and how he wouldn’t look at her that he probably had. She didn’t want to relive that horrible day.“She said she was pregnant.”, Sebastian breathed out.The room went still, and she heard a ringing in her ears. The warm spot on her calf grew. She absent-mindedly touched her calf to see if it
With a chair, rolled-up towels, and choreography worthy of a Cirque De Sole act, Celine lowered herself into the bubble bath while keeping one leg dry. The doctor had been adamant that she could not get her stitches wet and had prescribed sponge baths. To hell with that. Nothing was going to stop her from getting a bath. So, what if having one leg out of the tub was awkward and uncomfortable, and she had no idea how she was getting out?She groaned in pleasure. She needed this. She could feel her aches and pains melting away, and the cold that had settled in her bones was gone. All that remained was a luxurious cocoon of heat and well-being.Except there was this niggly wiggly annoying memory of how she had acted like a whiny little jealous bitch, got stabbed in the calf by someone’s ice skate, stormed off bleeding everywhere, and then having to depend on Jameson, of all people, to help her.Shit, Celine, get it together. Where was the phoenix that rose from the ashes? Where was the w
She only fell twice when she skated the rink's perimeter to the secluded spot where Sebastian sat with Grace. By the time she got there, she was so exhausted that she could hardly summon a spark, much less the fire of indignation and anger that had fueled her impulse to give Sebastian a piece of her mind. If she hadn’t needed to skate back the way she had just come, she would have given up right then and there and gone home to have a nice bubble bath.She was here now. What was she going to do? She couldn’t cling to this wall forever. Why hadn’t she just sent him a text like a normal person? She looked over to where Sebastian and Grace were sitting. Sebastian’s back was to her, but she could see Grace, and her eyes were red and swollen. It looked like she had been crying.Sebastian was a sucker for tears. He had probably held her hand or hugged her. He never could stand to see a woman cry. She wanted to punch him in his stupid nose.Suddenly, she realized she could hear them talking.
It was official. She was an idiot. How many times was she going to fall for his fake sentiment? He really had her believing that he loved her the night he saved her from being abducted. What had he said? “We’re calling this off. It’s not worth it. We’ll run away. I’ll leave it all.” Hadn’t he begged her to believe him when he said that he would never let anyone hurt her again?But what did he do? The first time he had to choose between her or Grace, he chose Grace and left her alone to face the woman who had literally burned her life to the ground.The girl spoke, “Are you okay?” Snapping out of her reverie, Celine noticed the girl had taken her to a quiet window seat. She smiled, grateful to her unexpected savior, who flopped into one of the chairs and sighed noisily.“I’m okay.”, Celine said. She sat in the chair next to her and watched the pretty girl stare at the ice skaters with a mix of malice and envy as if they had stolen her lollipop and then kicked her puppy.Sparing Celine
Tonight’s event was for a charity called No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Its mission focuses on tweens and teenagers who get lost in the welfare system. Finding homes for teenagers is difficult. They are a forgotten group that has a high likelihood of aging out of the system at eighteen without finding a family. Statistics for adult teenagers left alone to manage adulthood are devastating. No Child Left Behind believes America can do better.NCLB planned an immersive event at Central Park’s ice skating rink. It was a matchmaking and a fundraising event in one. Pre-screened families matched with foster children could come and have a fun evening drinking hot cocoa, ice skating, and getting to know one another. Simultaneously, the foundation held a fundraising event where new and old donors could watch the match-making magic and open their pocketbooks for a good cause.This charity excited Celine, and she was in talks with NCLB and one of her equine foundations to match abused horses with f
*Trigger alert attempted kidnapping.His strength was terrifying. No matter how she fought, he overwhelmed her with ease. Not that she had a lot of options. She was pinned with no wiggle room, held in the vice that was his arms and chest. Only her legs were free, but he was dragging her, and the pain in her toes was unbearable. It was all she could do to get her feet underneath her.At one point, she felt someone try and yank her out of his grasp, and a struggle ensued. He held her with one arm and used the other to defend himself. Celine saw her chance and took it. Struggling, she took advantage of every weakness she found while he was distracted. But he managed her easily, even with one arm. The realization was terrifying.Suddenly, she felt his muscles bunch up, and then he struck and grappled with someone. Her toes were crushed in the melee, and then it was over. He wrapped both arms around her and continued. Where was he taking her? Somewhere away from prying eyes? No. Not that.M