LILY’S POV
After Scarlet dropped me off at home, I crawled into my room in fear. I took some of my pills and slept off only to be woken up by Caster later in the day. He had learned it was my birthday from Mrs. Miller and asked me to go downstairs with him. He brought out a birthday and told me to make a wish. I joyfully did, a part of me was also glad that at least two people knew it was my birthday and that made me wonder why Mrs. Miller didn’t tell Derek.
As I cut through the cake, Derek walked in through the door, holding a wine bottle. Our eyes met and he quickly looked away from me. His demeanor was different despite the fact that I didn’t have the chance to look at his face. I could still totally tell that something was wrong with him.
“Derek, It’s Lily’s birthday,” Caster’s voice drew me out of my thoughts and I smiled at Caster before turning to Derek.
D
LILY’S POV“Derek, what are you doing here?” I asked as soon as I spotted him walking into the office. He grabbed hold of my hand and walked me outside the office.“The fact that I get to learn about this from a total stranger is annoying and embarrassing, don’t add more fuel to a burning fire, Shortcake. Stay here,”Derek walked back into the office and closed the door shut behind him. I looked around me to see Scarlet cowering in a corner, hiding beside Brandon. Why am I seeing Brandon everywhere around me?“Scarlet! What did you do?” I yelled as I walked toward them. Brandon quickly blocked me before I could get to her. “Back off, big guy,” I spat.“You need to calm down, Genius. I was actually the one who advised to let Derek know. If you want to go crazy on someone, that should be me,” Brandon explained.
DEREK’S POV “What is going on exactly, Lily? Talk to me,” MY heart crushed at the sight of her crumbling to her feet in front of me. I bent to her level, my knee against the wall as I held her arm. She looked away from me, holding on tightly to the shirt that she was holding.“Shortcake!” I called as she struggled for me to let go of her arm.“Don’t call me that,” She spat. Lily stood up, and dropped the shirt into the bag she was packing her clothes into. She sighed loudly and walked into the bathroom.“You realize if you don’t tell me what went wrong, there’s no way I can know, right?” She didn’t bother to look back at me. Instead of locking the bathroom door as I’d thought, she walked up to the sink and opened the water.“Let’s get a divorce, Derek,” She said.“On what b
DEREK’S POV When Q saw me as I marched through the waiting room door, he quickly stood up as soon as he spotted me and walked closer.“What happened? Has the doctor attended to her already? What did they say?” I asked all at once, taking some deep breath.“Please, calm down, Boss. The doctors are still attending to her and they’ll soon be here to give us feedback,” I ran my hands through my hair and paced back the forth in the lobby before walking toward Q again.“I can’t really think straight right now but I need to know why she’s here. What happened to her, Q?” “I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud noise, I think she tripped but when I got there, she was unconscious. Maybe she hit her head against the staircase or something,” “Was there blood? Was she bleeding?”“That was the craziest thing. She wasn’t
LILY’S POV When I opened my eyes, I had to close them back because of the blinding light that penetrated them. I groaned as I tried lifting my hands to cover my eyes but something was holding it back. I turned my head sideways and finally opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the back of a woman pouring some water into a cup. I blinked as I took in my surroundings, I looked down at my hand to see it was a syringe holding it back and that was when it all came back to me.“Lily dear, you’re awake,” Mrs. Miller was the woman I saw. I smiled as our eyes met.“Yes, Mrs. Miller,” I answered.“Do you want some water?” She worriedly asked. “No, thank you. I’m good. I just need to sit up,” I knew I’ve had enough rest more than my body could ever need and I felt so weak.“I’m so glad you’re fine
LILY’S POV “You should put me down, Derek. I can walk,” I commanded. He shook his head and kept on walking till we entered the house. I’d just been discharged from the hospital after spending two days. The doctor came with another prescription for my antidepressant and I was surprised when Derek collected it and went to the pharmacy to get them for me.I didn’t know if I should ask him why he did that or ask if he knew why I was using such drugs but in the end, I sealed my lips. After Arianna revealed what he did, he never addressed it, despite how many times his mom asked him.“We’re inside the house now, Derek. I can walk to my room all by myself,” I protested. “I never said you couldn’t. I’m just helping,” He climbed the stairs with me still in his hands while Q and Scarlet followed behind us with my bags.
LILY’S POV “Why do I feel like Derek is trying to change my mind about the divorce in a sneaky way?” Arianna stared at me and furrowed her eyebrows. Arianna was spending the weekend with us, courtesy of Mrs. Miller. She felt I needed someone to stay with me while Derek attend to his club affairs.“What do you mean?”It’s been two days since I came back from the hospital. Derek has changed, he still doesn’t talk much and when he does, he has nothing nice to say. He sleeps on the couch while he insists I sleep on the bed. No matter how hard I try to change his mind, it never worked. Even when I tried to sleep in my room, he didn’t let me.“Lily!” Arianna called out, dragging me out of my thoughts. I focused my attention back on her and gave her an awkward smile.“What was your question again?” I asked.
LILY’S POV We heard heavy footsteps on the marble floor. I stopped laughing so I could pay better attention to my surrounding. Derek was not supposed to be back until after midnight and we were surprised when we both looked up and realized it was Derek.“Hey cousin,” Arianna sang.He ruffled her hair as he stared at me. “Thank you for coming,”“I would do a thousand and ten things for you without a problem. You’re my favorite cousin in the whole wide world,”Derek nodded. “I don’t have a dime that I’m giving you tonight, Ari. Don’t bother flattering me,” He revealed.Arianna glared at him as she stood up from the seat. “I take back my words. You’re not my favorite,” “I’ve heard that ten thousand times, Ari. It wouldn’t change a thing,” She poi
LILY’S POV“You need to let her know,”“How’s this any of your fucking business? I’ll sort this out myself, back off,”I could hear the hushed whispers as I stood outside the kitchen door. I recognized Derek’s voice as the one who told someone to back off while I couldn’t place the other voice but for sure, I knew it wasn’t someone around me. I contemplated on knocking the door to get their attention or just barging into the kitchen.It’s been a week since the accident and I’d gotten so much better. I was supposed to resume classes so I could start the exams with Scarlet and the rest of the class. Even though I’m glad that Scarlet would be here till after exams, thinking about her leaving gives me a bad headache.“What will you gain from keeping this from her?”“Really, tell me what the fuck I
LILY’S POV ONE YEAR LATER “Love, can you please check up on the baby? I need to pee,” I called out to Derek before rushing into the bathroom. I heard him saying something that sounded like yes but I didn’t bother to listen. I was so pressed that if I didn’t rush into the toilet like that, I would’ve messed myself up. Once I was done, I took my time before coming out. I knew Derek got her, he’s been by her side the moment she was born and never left mine either. He has proved to me that he was a good dad and I’m so proud of him. Three months into my pregnancy, I told him I got a job but he was not comfortable with it and I had to convince him that it wasn’t anything strenuous. I’d learned how to program as a starter and I got an internship program that helped developed me into a junior developer. I know it's stressful when combined with college and the baby but I took a gap year to focus on my career and my child. Once I’m ready, I’ll get back it college and maybe change my degre
DEREK'S POV “Would that have made you feel so much better about yourself? Would you have felt accepted by the family? Would that have been enough to erase the fact that you’re nothing but a bastard?” I gritted my teeth.He started growling like a wild dog, repeatedly.“You shouldn’t have messed with Lily. She wasn’t a part of the family from the start, she shouldn’t have had to pay for the sins of our parents, she had enough already on her plate. Q wouldn’t have died and the family wouldn’t be in so much pain,” I told him.“She chose you and that was her offense. I had my eyes on her since she was at mom’s agency. I’ve always wanted to have a taste of her but mom took her to you and even when I moved into your house, all she wanted was you and not me, why? I would rather kill her than listen to that answer,” Inodded, realizing he was an unapologetic, unrepentant and crazy bastard.“I’m not disappointed in you, Caster because I knew just who you are, I could see through you when othe
DEREK’S POVI banged my hand on the table, controlling the anger that was already boiling inside of me. I was at the police station with my parents, Alex and Arianna. Lily had refused to come to see Caster on the excuse that she had a class but I knew it was because she didn’t want to see him or she wasn’t ready.I don’t know how Arianna summoned the courage to come with us but if I was her, I wouldn’t have been able to. Alex, on the other hand, had tried talking to Arianna but she wasn’t bulging. I was the only person she was talking to, the rest were being ignored and I mean my parents.“You’re telling me that someone knew Caster messed up with Lily’s car but you had to wait till the accident before you did something, right?” I asked my dad again for the third time because I didn’t want to believe the answer he was giving me every damn time.“I’m sorry, Derek, the guy I hired said the only way they could lure him out was to wait for the accident to happen. There’s no way Caster woul
DEREK’S POV We decided to keep the pregnancy news from the family. It was a mutual agreement between Lily and I. we thought it was for the best for the safety of both mother and child. The family was still dealing with Caster’s case and we didn’t want to put ourselves in danger by revealing the news.“Why did all these pregnancy symptoms decide to wait for two months before hitting me?” Lily groaned as she walked down the stairs.“Did you throw up again?” She nodded.“For the second time this morning alone,” Damn! That was bad. I was beginning to get worried about her. Even though the doctor said it was normal, I still wasn’t okay with it.“You should’ve called me, baby,” She laughed as she walked into the kitchen.“Meanwhile, what bomb have you been cooking up in here? Everywhere is a mess,” She started laughing again. I could only smile as I watch her laughing her ass off at the current state of the kitchen.“Well, I’ve been preparing pancake,”She stopped laughing, her mouth fell
LILY’S POV “You can leave now, my family will soon be here for me,” I dismissed the woman standing in front of me.“You don’t have to be so mean, Ataraxia,”I gritted my teeth as I glared at her. It took everything in me not to face her and yell like a lunatic right now.“My name is Lily, not Ataraxia, and thank you for your help, I’ll compensate you if you want,” I told her again for the tenth time and still counting.A few hours ago, I was on my way to get some groceries from the store when my car’s brake stopped working all of a sudden. I couldn’t even hold my emotions together as I saw my life flash in front of my eyes. I could only beg God to take the wheels because, at that point, death was calling. My car maneuvered out of the road and hit a street pole.Even though that stopped the car, both the car and street pole were damaged. Smoke was everywhere in the car and as I tried to open the door, I realized that I was stuck. I couldn’t find my phone to make a call and help wasn’t
DEREK’S POV “I found out that Roman returned to Italy a few weeks ago, precisely two days after Q was buried,” Sebastian informed us.Well, we were currently meeting at my office together with Luke. Someone has been messing up with things a lot around my house and the mansion. My parents don’t feel safe and my dad had to suggest for my mom leave town for a few months till we can get things back to normal.Caster is still MIA but we could all tell some of those things were his handwork. Threat notes were being sent to our homes, strange calls as well as someone messing up with the car tires while we were out. It’s like he’s stalking us all every minute.“Your Intel is fast, I’ll give him that,” Sebastian rolled his eyes at Luke’s comment.“Are you serious right now? I’m trying to help here, what have you done?” Luke scoffed.“It took you and your Intel a few weeks to realize that Roman wasn’t in town and probably not helping Caster. Stop giving yourself more credit than you should, Se
DEREK’S POV “Uh, I still want to sleep,” Lily groaned as I drove to my parents’ house that Saturday morning. I had to wake her up by eight and she grumbled for more than thirty minutes as we got dressed and left the house. “You should have some sleep before we get there,” I advised. She mumbled something incoherent before she closed her eyes and slept off. I smiled as I took in her features; her plump pink lips, those butterfly eyelashes, and her beautiful nose, I want to keep kissing them for the rest of my life. A few minutes later, we arrived at the house. She was already awake, complaining about how she still needed more sleep. “We can officially call you sleeping beauty now,” I joked. She glared at me and I smiled. “You don’t have the right to throw a joke at me right now,” I frowned. “Why?” “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that we’ll be visiting your parents this morning? We were at the club till 1 am and you still didn’t let me sleep when I got back,” I grinned. “Don’t
DEREK’S POV It took everything in me to not stand up and punch Damien when he walked into my club a few hours after the show started.The artist that was invited had already concluded his performance and left after signing and taking pictures with some of his fans. I thought Lily would love a picture with him but my girl stood back, shook her head when I mentioned it, and told me she wasn’t a fan. She was just here to support me and accompany Brandon and Scarlet.After the concert ended, about a hundred thousand fans of the guy wanted to party at the club but I had to turn down about 90,000 of them. Ten thousand people were enough, I couldn’t risk having such a large number of people in such a place. It’ll be bad for business.“Don’t do anything crazy, Derek,” Lily pulled my hand, already noticing how I was glaring at Damien. He had told me he won’t be here, so what’s with the surprise?“I promise, I’ll only hit him once,” I smirked, letting her know he was getting his ass beaten up
LILY’S POV On Friday afternoon, after my final paper, I came out to find Brandon and Scarlet waiting for me. I was surprised that Brandon would actually be here. I know I told Scarlet that I would be giving them free passes to the concert at Derek’s club but I still doubted Brandon’s presence because of what happened with Derek. That was the last time I saw him though. He’s been MIA since then around me and even though Scarlet and I met a few times after that, he never showed up.“I wasn’t expecting you to show up, Brandon. I thought you still hate me and Derek,” He snorted. I couldn’t help smiling.“I might hate Derek but I don’t hate you and who am I to say no to a free pass to that concert. So many people are trying to buy the ticker but can’t. It’s not even available anymore,” He said excitedly.The concert has been the talk of the town and for like a week now, everywhere I turn to in school, people were talking about buying the concert. I’m so proud of my man.“So, am I off your