AMELIAThe hospital room seemed deathly quiet yet at the same time a certain kind of tension rose slowly as Jessica finally left the room, leaving only Roman and me. I watched as he fiddled, with the image from the scan and then sometimes my fingers, looking he intended to say something but yet kept deciding against it. I studied him carefully. The past hours had etched themselves into his face – deep lines around his eyes that hadn't existed before, a slight tremor in his usually rock-steady hands, the way his shoulders carried an invisible weight that seemed to press down on him with relentless gravity. He looked both familiar and foreign – my husband, yet someone I was still struggling to completely understand.He had a past. An entire life that I knew nothing about and I knew he intended to keep it that way because he feared what my reaction would be… I got a bit of an idea of what his life would've been like. Lonely. A child sent by a parent to assume a responsibility he was
I was in the hospital for a few more days, under strict observation as the doctor wanted to make sure my blood pressure would be back normal and wouldn't become a complication. In those three days I stayed in the hospital, Roman tried as much as possible to spend his nights by my side while also juggling his work and mine. Colson still hadnt returned from his leave and when I asked Roman about it, he admitted that he hadn't heard from him in a while. Roman was exhausted, being stretched out to think and despite how well he hid his tiredness I could see right through his facade. We spent the evenings speaking about his past, or at least, the little parts he would tell me. The PG rated version of everything he'd experienced…and done. And even that in its own way was all shades of messed up. Still. He wasn't that person anymore… Though sometimes he spoke like…he missed it? "Tell me about your relationship with Alexander," I said, my tone deliberately neutral. I'd learned over ye
MARCUSWhat is a man without a craft? Without a passion? Without a purpose? I spent the first half of my life roaming endlessly, doing what was expected of me, doing everything a good son would do for parents as expectant as mine.A diploma, a degree, a doctorate, a phd, whatever the fuck i could achieve just to get them satisfied. It was never enough, they always wanted more, always thought I was capable of more.Then they died and i realized…fuck them!And the rest of the world thinks they can dictate the fate of a man like me. One capable of everything and so much…On the day i put those two fuckers in the ground, that was when i met her…Amelia Grayson.She didn't know who I was before she approached me, offering an umbrella I didn't even need at the time. I was enjoying the rain soaking me thoroughly but the second she offered, I realized that was the first time someone had offered something to me without asking for something else in return.Just plain kindness.I was enraptu
AMELIAOnce the clock struck ten pm, I knew it was going to be the worst night of my life. Amelia Grayson, EXPELLED. I read the email with tightly clenched fists, unable to stop the anger that spread through my chest. I spent two whole years working on my application, getting a fucking scholarship into the most prestigious university in the country and yet, I had just been expelled. The reasons? Nudity, leaving the hostel past curfew, stealing, bullying, and abusing fellow students both physically and verbally. “You got to be fucking kidding me,” I let out a shaky sigh, unable to contain my anger. The list went on and it had only one person’s name written on it. Bertha. My step-sister. My father’s illegitimate turned legitimate child and of course the family's golden child. I grabbed my phone from the table, still with the email open as I left my bedroom and stomped downstairs with a dark expression. Everything else, she could take away, everything else, she could steal fr
ROMANI knew it was going to be the worst evening in a while once the clock struck ten pm. My alarm rang and I blinked myself back to reality, the realization dawning on me that I’d worked overtime, again. Unintended but then again, a part of me just like every other day, dreading going back home. There was nothing to look forward to, just Amelia, my empty, bore of a wife who trapped me in a marriage just as empty as she is. In the three years since we've been married, it has taken great heights of my self-control not to break the promise I made to my grandfather. To stay settled with the daughter of his god-daughter, to have an heir for the Wellington empire before I am thirty-five. That’s in four fucking years, and quite frankly I have no interest in keeping that promise. The first and last time I kissed that woman still haunted me, the sheer disgust and hatred I have for her forbids me from ever doing it again! I paged my assistant and grabbed the divorce papers my lawyer had
AMELIAMy head ached so badly that I cried out, and along with my stomach ache it felt like I was intentionally being tortured. I heard voices, both familiar and unfamiliar, I heard the urgency of that man's voice…I heard his anger although this time not directed at me. Strangely while I floated in the darkness, I was aware of everything around me, the man barking out instructions to another nervous-sounding man. A doctor, I assumed. I felt the softness of a mattress beneath me and the sting of spirit coming in contact with my open wounds. Then the unmistakable feeling of an IV needle being stuck in my arm. After a while, it all quietened and the aches eased. My eyes opened groggily, my vision blurry at first as I tried to regain my composure. Then memories of what happened a few hours ago came rushing in and my eyes snapped open completely and I lifted off the bed with a gasp, my eyes wide with shock. Shit! Shit! What the fuck is going on? Where am I? I looked around in a
AMELIAI watched with a blank expression as a nervous-looking man with a doctor's briefcase walked into the bedroom. Getting into the bedroom wasn’t an easy feat, it took Trenton convincing Roman he didn’t have to throw me over his shoulder…the fucking psycho. For a man who claimed to be my husband, he sure acted like I was his lifelong nemesis. I was seated at the edge of the bed while being questioned. “What is the last thing you remember?” The nervous man said, Dr. Britton, he called himself and I wondered if I was supposed to remember him too. “I got expelled, I ran away from home, now I’m here,” I said, leaving out the part where I eagerly wanted a truck to hit me intentionally. Roman's brooding expression darkened even further as I spoke and Trenton’s was filled with worry. Dr. Britton nodded with an understanding gaze, checked my eyes, my mobility, asked about my headache and stomach ache, what I ate last—which I didn’t remember—shocker. After what seemed to be hours but
AMELIAI spent the rest of the day in the bedroom I’d slept in.Roman’s warning was enough to keep me livid for the better half of the day, rethinking my life choices, including the ones I couldn’t remember.Now I had a birthday party to attend…my supposed father-in-law who I knew nothing about. The more time passed, the more worried I became.I found a phone I was sure belonged to me, seeing as the wedding portrait was on the lock screen. There was no way it would belong to Roman who hated me.I didn’t know the password. I tossed it aside with a frustrated sigh, my eyes landed on the clock by the bed and I realized I had to get ready.Roman had said 6:30, it was 6 pm.Begrudgingly I walked into the rather spacious walk-in closet and ruffled through my side.Again, I found nothing sensible enough to wear out, just long, loose dresses that looked more like maternity gowns. Then suits…why the hell did I buy so many suits?I ended up settling for a dress I remembered, one I bought a few
MARCUSWhat is a man without a craft? Without a passion? Without a purpose? I spent the first half of my life roaming endlessly, doing what was expected of me, doing everything a good son would do for parents as expectant as mine.A diploma, a degree, a doctorate, a phd, whatever the fuck i could achieve just to get them satisfied. It was never enough, they always wanted more, always thought I was capable of more.Then they died and i realized…fuck them!And the rest of the world thinks they can dictate the fate of a man like me. One capable of everything and so much…On the day i put those two fuckers in the ground, that was when i met her…Amelia Grayson.She didn't know who I was before she approached me, offering an umbrella I didn't even need at the time. I was enjoying the rain soaking me thoroughly but the second she offered, I realized that was the first time someone had offered something to me without asking for something else in return.Just plain kindness.I was enraptu
I was in the hospital for a few more days, under strict observation as the doctor wanted to make sure my blood pressure would be back normal and wouldn't become a complication. In those three days I stayed in the hospital, Roman tried as much as possible to spend his nights by my side while also juggling his work and mine. Colson still hadnt returned from his leave and when I asked Roman about it, he admitted that he hadn't heard from him in a while. Roman was exhausted, being stretched out to think and despite how well he hid his tiredness I could see right through his facade. We spent the evenings speaking about his past, or at least, the little parts he would tell me. The PG rated version of everything he'd experienced…and done. And even that in its own way was all shades of messed up. Still. He wasn't that person anymore… Though sometimes he spoke like…he missed it? "Tell me about your relationship with Alexander," I said, my tone deliberately neutral. I'd learned over ye
AMELIAThe hospital room seemed deathly quiet yet at the same time a certain kind of tension rose slowly as Jessica finally left the room, leaving only Roman and me. I watched as he fiddled, with the image from the scan and then sometimes my fingers, looking he intended to say something but yet kept deciding against it. I studied him carefully. The past hours had etched themselves into his face – deep lines around his eyes that hadn't existed before, a slight tremor in his usually rock-steady hands, the way his shoulders carried an invisible weight that seemed to press down on him with relentless gravity. He looked both familiar and foreign – my husband, yet someone I was still struggling to completely understand.He had a past. An entire life that I knew nothing about and I knew he intended to keep it that way because he feared what my reaction would be… I got a bit of an idea of what his life would've been like. Lonely. A child sent by a parent to assume a responsibility he was
Jessica's eyes darted between Roman and me, her gaze sharp and calculating. She was dressed in her coat, she looked like she'd just run over without any prior preparation, her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. I looked between her and Roman, mirroring her actions as I wondered if he was the person who called her here or if she found out on her own that I was in here. She was fuming, hands crossed over her chest and a deadly glare being sent in Roman's direction. "Do you both have any idea how serious this is?" Her voice was a controlled explosion, each word measured but heavy with enough emotion to make the hospital room thick with tension. She wasn't just here as a friend, from the looks of things she was here as a doctor as well. Roman immediately looked chastened, his shoulders dropping several inches. I'd never seen him look so vulnerable, so stripped of his usual commanding presence. Today he looked that way and even worse.I was beginning to feel bad, thinking up words
When I woke up, the world reassembled itself in soft, sterile white and cream. The familiar antiseptic smell. The rhythmic, almost musical beeping of medical equipment creating a strange symphony that sobered me up completely. I was in a hospital, a rather spacious room from what I could see. My entire body felt like it didn't belong to me, except for my eyes that took in every detail of my surroundings. And Roman.He looked tired. Beyond exhaustion.There were dark circles beneath his eyes and an unusual slump of his shoulders. His blue eyes looked dull, pain filled as he stared down at his hand. His hair was disheveled, as though he had been running his fingers through it repeatedly.His hand was wrapped around mine. Not just holding. Clutching. As though I might disappear if he were to let go.Seeing him in that state made my heart ache. How long had he been by my side? How long have I been here? "Roman," I rasped, my voice was hoarse, like I'd swallowed a fucking frog.His r
“Oh I see…” Monica chuckled, I could already imagine her satisfied expression as she spoke. “You've gone silent because you realize you've lost, haven't you?”My brows furrowed, “You think this is a competition? You think this is something to be prideful about?” I scoffed, “You should be advising your daughter as her mother to not throw herself into a married man's lap, much less a man like Yaakov,” I shook my head, feeling immense disappointment at the woman on the other end. “But then again,” My voice turned dark, “Why am I surprised when you did the same thing to my mother?” I stated the obvious. Like mother, like daughter as they say. Monica probably didn't see anything wrong with what Bertha did because she saw it as nothing. And yet my mother is the one they call a whore.“You fucking bitch!” She screeched, “You're only mad because my Bertha has surpassed you…time and time again she has continued to surpass you in everything. What use is the son when we have the father? The
AMELIAThe moment Victoria's words hung in the air, time seemed to fracture. My heart raced, a thunderous rhythm that echoed in my ears, drowning out everything except the sudden roar of blood rushing through my veins. I stared at her, my mind struggling to process the accusation, my body frozen in disbelief."I don't…I don't know what you're talking about," I managed, my voice a careful whisper. Each word was measured, controlled, despite the hurricane of emotions swirling inside me.Because what the actual fuck does she mean by that?! Bertha…and Yaakov? Oh hell no! Even the image of it made my stomach churn yet, I could see the seriousness in Victoria's gaze and deep inside, I could see something that bordered on desperation. Victoria's perfectly manicured fingers – nails a, nude shade that caught the light with every movement, curled into fists. Her immaculate composure cracked, just for a moment. A hairline fracture in her usual porcelain exterior.She looked fucking stressed i
AMELIAAfter breakfast Roman decided he had a much better way to spend our day off. “You can't be serious,” I rolled my eyes, still I found myself watching intently as he pulled his shirt over his shoulders, heat pooling in my belly as those sharp blue eyes met mine with a glint of mischief in them. “I am very serious, Amy,” He took a slow step forward, and then another…and then another until his bare chest was pressed against my chest and his arms went around my waist. “Is it wrong of me to want to have a nap with my wife?” His lips stretched into a lazy smile and I chuckled, feeling his heart race against mine. “Of course not, but why do we have to do it naked?”He shrugs, “Body warmth is good for the baby,”I smacked his shoulder playfully but didn't pull away, instead I kissed him slowly, feeling his hardness press into my abdomen. I pulled away and smiled knowingly, “Just say what you really want,” I teased. He chuckled softly, “A nap…with benefits,” He confessed sheepishly
I huffed out in annoyance, taking a bit of my toast and glaring at the man. He had this all knowing expression on his face that I wished I could slap off it. He spoke like I was a child who couldn't own up to her actions. I hated it. For many reasons. “Yes,” After a long stretch of silence, I finally replied. I noticed he cocked up an interested brow but he didn't raise his eyes to meet mine anymore. He remained silent, as if trying to prove his point and I became increasingly annoyed. But I was more hungry, and I knew better than to poke a man who I'd seen kill another for too long. Even so…why was I conjuring up excuses for what I saw? Have I gone mad? The silence in the condo was suffocating, broken only by the distant sounds of Mexico City coming alive outside. Colson cleared the dishes from the table and proceeded to wash them. I didn't stop him. Instead I stood there watching as I let my mind shamelessly wander. I watched Colson move with a predatory grace that both ter