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 IDEREK’S POV Lily held on to my arms as tears ran down her eyes uncontrollably. She was visibly shaken by whatever had happened or is happening. I rubbed my hands against her back once she let go. She was murmuring some incoherent words, scaring me to my bones. I’ve seen this coming and Henry had warned me about it as well but what I never knew was the magnitude. “Won’t you ask me anything?” Lily asked. She was still crying and shaking in my arms. “How can I ask you anything when you’re in this state?” “Did you read the text?” she removed herself from me and pointed at her phone. I shook my head. I could already predict what was there. I ran my fingers through her hair, and cleaned her tears while she hiccupped. The tears had finally stopped but with the way she held on to my shirt, I’m sure she wasn’t feeling too well. “Do you need me to get you water? Or maybe your drugs?” She shook
DEREK’S POV “You need to release her to me, Derek,” My mom argued. I didn’t know how it happened but it appeared that Lily had made a distress call to the foundation while I was with her and the next thing I knew was my mom banging hard at my front door in less than an hour.“I already told you, mom. She’s not leaving this place,” I protested. We’ve been going back and forth about lily staying or leaving. She was just as stubborn as I was.“At least, let me into the house so I can see her,” She asked.I shook my head. “The last time I checked, it’s my house, not yours and if I want, I’ll let you come into my house,”“You do realize that you’re talking to your mother, right, Derek?”I scoffed. “I’m hundred percent sure that you’re not here today as my mom. You act all protective when
DEREK’S POV A few hours after my mom left, Lily walked into my room. I was sitting at the edge of the bed with my head down, my arm crossed against my chest, deep in thought.“What are you thinking about?” She asked as she waltzed in.“Aren’t you cold?” I pointed to the sleeveless top she was wearing.“I don’t even know if I can feel anything right now. It’s even hard to think,” She folded her hand against her chest. I reached out to her and pulled her to me.“Hey. Come here,” She walked into my arms and I made her sit on my lap.I placed her head on my shoulder, cradling her in my arms like a child. She needed to feel protected and that’s my new responsibility.“You’ll be fine, I promise,” I assured her.“It’s not about me anymore, Derek. If anything happens to
LILY’S POV Reluctantly, I stood up from bed the next morning. I’d been awake for more than twenty minutes but I refused to get up from the bed. IT’s not because I was being lazy but because I was mentally exhausted. I hadn’t taken a second look at my phone since I got the messages yesterday and I hope I never get to pick up that phone again. I’ve thought of a lot of things since I woke up and one of them was asking Derek for a new phone but I knew I shouldn’t stress him about that. He’s been through enough just for my sake. I don’t know why I decided to wait here instead of going back to the foundation but one thing I know was the fact that I could trust Derek with my life. Talking about Derek, I didn’t see him when I woke up but I’ve heard his movement and voices around the room till he finally walked out. When I opened my eyes during the night, I could see Derek leaning against the wall. He was awake and stari
LILY’S POV I was in the middle of the exams when Derek stood up and went outside to attend to his friends that came to visit. The same ones he mentioned earlier. Before I started the exam, he had told me he received other messages from Scarlet. I told him I would call her after the exam. “Can you come outside once you’re done?” Derek asked from behind me. “Okay,” I mouthed the word back to him. “Sorry I interrupted you,” he apologized. I wanted to tell him it was okay but he walked out at once. I swallowed my words and focused back on the exam. I had to submit both the workings and the answer making this exam harder than the paper I had yesterday. After I was done, I stretched since I’d been sitting for more than two hours. After stretching, I walked out of the room. The first person I saw standing outside the room while on a call was a total stranger. I hadn’t seen his face bef
LILY’S POV “You’re joking, right?” I asked as disbelief washed over me. I looked at the four of them, hoping someone will laugh about it but instead, they all had a serious look on their faces. I moved closer to Derek and held his arm.“Say something, Derek,” I whispered.Luke groaned, gaining my attention to him. “Don’t you feel any hatred towards them?” He asked, pointing at the pictures I haven’t even bothered to look at. I’m surprised about a lot of things but the worst was the fact that Derek told them what I had told him.“You know what happened,” I asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer from them. I turned to see Derek staring at me.“I don’t, and neither do Sebastian and Henry. Derek only told us you’ve been receiving threat messages from them. We couldn’t sit back and do nothing when he as
DEREK’S POV “You’re right, Lucas. We have the right people except for the third guy. I think he joined the mafia gang after Lily left,” I announced as I walked into my kitchen to meet the three men talking about something. “How long has the foundation kept her hidden from Roman and his cohort?” Sebastian asked. “I think three years,” I replied, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. “That’s enough time for them to have a new addition but still, it doesn’t save him from whatever is going to hit them,” Luke added. Sebastian snorted. “I don’t trust you enough to believe you won’t leave us hanging after the plan has been hatched,” “He did it years ago, he can do it again,” Henry concluded Sebastian’s statement. “Whatever he does is none of my business,” I said, quickly closing off the topic before another round of argument starts again. “All I’m intere
DEREK’S POV “Are you sure you shouldn’t go in with any weapon?” Henry asked for the umpteenth time, getting on my nerves. I turned to glare at him but he already had a deep frown on his face. I smacked my lips. “It’s not necessary. I’ve sorted that part out,” “Is he in there already?” he asked yet another question. “Yes. Lucas already sent the signal and I’m supposed to go into the club in five minutes,” I replied. Lucas and Sebastian were already inside, assessing the level of danger. We had tried to arrange some of Lucas’ men disguised like regular people into the club. Henry suddenly started nagging. “What?” I yelled. He was getting on my last nerve and I pray I don’t kick his ass before murdering him right here. “Why are we never out of trouble? From cultism to the mafia, what next? Only God can tell, right?”I nodded. “Only God and time can tell,”“I think we should stay away from Lucas after this. He’s definitely a bag of trouble,” I frowned at him. He sounded weird becau
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