Ayva's POVI suddenly woke up from sleep, gasping for breath and sweating profusely. My hand immediately reached for my bedside lamp and switched it on to illuminate the dark room. 3:07 am, I noticed the time displayed on the digital alarm clock. My breath was still heavy as I kept replaying my terrifying nightmare in my mind over and over again. What made it even scarier was the fact that the nightmare was about something that had happened before. It was the day I had that accident, the day my water broke. But unlike the events of that day, I wasn't the one driving my car but rather the masked man who'd taunted me for years. In my nightmare, he'd refused to drive me to the hospital because 'he'd never let me have another man's child' and instead had purposely driven us off a cliff. I died with my unborn baby on the spot which was what jolted me awake. I glanced down at my stomach and traced the long fading scar on it with tears in my eyes. For two years, I thought the scar was a r
Justin’s POV“Who is he? Please tell me.” Ayva repeated. I glanced down at my drink, swirling my cup before meeting her gaze again. How did she remember that? Even I had almost forgotten that I’d said something like that. “I… don’t know who he is.” As much as I felt ashamed to say my next words, I did, admitting that I didn’t know who he was. “That time, I got the wrong person.” The way her face fell made me feel guilty. She looked so disappointed and I felt as if I was to blame. Of course, I was. I should have never said those words then without doing appropriate findings. I should have made sure that I was right about who the masked man was before telling her anything about it. “Oh.” She said, leaning back in her seat and abandoning her drink. “I thought you did. For a second I thought I could finally get rid of my fears.” I wasn’t sure I was supposed to hear the last part of her statement but I did anyway and that only made me feel more guilty. She’d hoped she’d be able to put th
Ayva’s POV“Ayva,” Justin called after me as I walked out through the garage. I wasn’t going to answer him, I wasn’t waiting, I was furious. He shouldn’t have disrespected me like that and yet expect me to stick around with him. He had no right to have yelled at me no matter how touchy of a subject it was we were discussing. I picked up my pace when I sensed that he was closing in behind me. I was just about to leave the garage for the roadside where I’d be able to baile a cab when a strong hand gripped my arm tightly and then pulled me forcefully until I collided with a hard brick or rather a hard human chest that felt like a brick. “Let me go!” I spat, shooting daggers at him with my eyes. My breath was heavy, my chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath I took. I was so angry and wanted to be anywhere but near him. He was just holding me with one hand and yet I couldn’t pull out of his hold. His other hand reached up and he ran his fingers through his hair, scattering his
Justin's POVA smile appeared on my face when I looked at her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips were... relaxed and inviting. She wanted me to kiss her and that made my heart swell with pride. And for a moment, I almost wanted to abandon what I really wanted to do and just go for her lips but, where was the fun in that? I wasn't about to give in to what she wanted that easily. I grabbed the seatbelt from the other side of the car and clicked it in place. Her eyes snapped open immediately as she realized what had just happened. I gave her a knowing look which instantly made her cheeks tinted red. She looked out the window, trying to hide her face from me and I chuckled at her reaction as I found it too cute. She was too cute. I picked up her hand and before she could realize what I wanted to do and start a protest, I brought it up to my lips, planting a soft heart-melting kiss against her soft skin. "Soon baby, I promise. I'll make it happen soon." I whispered against her hand
Ayva’s POVI’d only ever kissed Justin three times and those times, I realized that not once was I sober. The first two kisses, I’d been so tipsy when it happened and the third, I didn’t even know it was him until we started kissing. But one thing all those kisses had in common was how they made me feel, despite being drunk. I also noticed how he usually tasted like strawberry-flavored Gatorade. And as much as I hated strawberry, I loved it when I tasted it on him. And now that I was fully sober, I couldn’t help but feel drunk by him. His taste, his scent, his everything, intoxicated me and I couldn’t get enough. Justin cradled my face in his hands as his lips continued to massage mine as if he couldn’t get enough of me. I could taste the wine we had earlier on him and somehow I thought it tasted better. One hand reached for my waist and he pulled me closer to him, till we were pressed against each other in ways that made certain thoughts swirl in my head. ‘This is wrong. This sho
Justin’s POV“Are you going to say something?” Ayva asked after a moment as I was yet to answer the question she asked. “What do you want me to say?” I asked stupidly before realizing that I’d said the wrong words. “What I meant was I thought we were clear about how I felt for you,” I said, hoping she’d let the question go but of course that never happened. There was a tense silence in the car and I didn’t need to look her in the face before knowing that there was a frown on it. A hand left the steering wheel and reached out to touch her but she swiftly moved her hand out of my reach, her gaze outside the window. “Ayva,” I called her name, my glance alternating between the road and her side profile. “You’re mad at me.”“I asked you a question and you avoided it, was that supposed to make me happy?” She snapped.“What do you want to hear? How I feel about you? You know that already. You’ve known that for years now.” Everyone who knew me well knew how I felt about Ayva. I might have
Ayva’s POV“What do you mean it wasn’t a date?” Olivia exclaimed with wide eyes and opened mouth. I groaned, still feeling drowsy. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, as I looked up at her with half-open eyes. “Can I go back to sleep now?” I asked as I moved back to a sleeping position in my bed. “No. Not until you tell me everything!” She said, pulling my arm to drag me up. “Come on Liv,” I cried as I pulled myself up to a sitting position. When I arrived home the previous night, I was relieved to see Olivia passed out on the couch in the living room because I knew she would have questioned me tirelessly if she’d been awake. I’d hoped I’d be able to prolong that conversation for as long as possible but well Olivia had other plans because the first thing she did when she woke up was hop into my bed and start interrogating me. “I’ve told you everything. Let me sleep, please. I’m tired.” I mumbled, a yawn escaping my lips. “Did you have sex with him?” She suddenly asked, he
Justin’s POV“If it isn’t the man of the hour. The one that deserves all praises.” Aiden said as he approached me, stretching his hand out for a handshake. My jaw clenched together as I slowly raised my hand and accepted his handshake. If it weren’t for the many people watching in the room, I wouldn’t have accepted it. Something about the guy’s presence pisses me off. I don’t care if he wasn’t Zion, I was always going to treat him like the trash Zion was. “Congratulations.” He said, but it sounded nothing genuine. It sounded very different from the congratulatory words I’d been told by others all day. It sounded as if he was mocking me. But well, jokes on him ‘cause I could make or break him now. When I first walked into the conference meeting that morning and saw him amongst the investors that had been requesting a meeting with me for the past thirteen months, I’d been so pissed that I wanted to reject their proposal without even hearing what it was. But then something stopped me f
Justin’s POV“Mom!” I warned with a glare as I tried to caution her. She continued glaring at Ayva whom I’d now pulled to stand behind me, shielding her from any other impending attack from my mom. “Oh my, oh God! What is happening? My son has- oh lord! I no longer recognize the man I birthed.” She staggered, but Emily held her before she could fall. “Where is he? What happened to my son?” She cried out dramatically, attracting unnecessary attention from passersby. My jaw ticked, “Mom, this is not the time or place for this.” I gritted through my teeth. “Oh Emily what has happened to your brother? How could he be so cruel to me?” She continued, ignoring my warnings. “Stop this now or I’m going to leave.” I kept on clenching and unclenching my teeth, trying to keep the anger and irritation o felt away. “Now he’s threatening me. He’s threatening his own mother. He’s not my—” “Mom!” I barked, gaining more eyes on us. She looked stunned and so did Emily. And their shock was because
Justin's POV"What do you mean by that?" I inquired, casting a skeptical glance at Samantha.She approached my desk, placing an iPad on the surface. I eyed her suspiciously before picking up the iPad.True to her words, there was a video of Bella on live TV. I was taken aback. What was she doing there? She had mentioned feeling unwell that morning, causing me to arrive at work late, yet there she was on TV, looking nothing like she had described earlier.The presenter was asking her questions, but I couldn't hear clearly as the iPad's volume was low. I quickly connected my AirPods to the iPad to listen to what she was saying."Oh, that's all false. My husband and I are stronger than ever. All the divorce rumors are just tabloid trash," Bella claimed. "Did I mention that we also have plans to renew our wedding vows?"We do?"Really?" The presenter seemed surprised by the news. Well, that made two of us. "That's great news, Bella. We heard rumors about Mr. Mount having a mistress. Ther
Ayva's POV"Ms. Wesley, Ayva, are you still here?" Martinez's voice jolted me out of what I was reading on my phone.I blinked multiple times, sat up in my chair, and nodded. "Of course, I am. What were we talking about again?" I said, placing my phone down on the desk with the screen facing down. I intertwined my fingers together as my elbow rested on the desk."I said the only way to prove his identity is false is to confirm if he's truly Allison's father," Martinez said. "But you know we can't use DNA samples acquired illegally, so he has to be aware of the DNA test.""But then he'd know what I'm onto," I said, and Martinez slowly nodded. "There has to be another way," I mumbled. Although I'd yet to scientifically confirm if Aiden was truly Zion like Justin had claimed, since that day that he said it, I'd been unable to shake off that idea from my head. As days went on, I slowly accepted that Justin might be right.It'd been two months since I decided that we needed to take a break
Ayva’s POV"Ms. Wesley, Ayva, are you still here?" Martinez's voice jolted me out of what I was reading on my phone.I blinked multiple times, sat up in my chair, and nodded. "Of course, I am. What were we talking about again?" I said, placing my phone down on the desk with the screen facing down. I intertwined my fingers together as my elbow rested on the desk."I said the only way to prove his identity is false is to confirm if he's truly Allison's father," Martinez said. "But you know we can't use DNA samples acquired illegally, so he has to be aware of the DNA test.""But then he'd know what I'm onto," I said, and Martinez slowly nodded. "There has to be another way," I mumbled. Although I'd yet to scientifically confirm if Aiden was truly Zion like Justin had claimed, since that day that he said it, I'd been unable to shake off that idea from my head. As days went on, I slowly accepted that Justin might be right.It'd been two months since I decided that we needed to take a break
Justin’s POVI felt like shit. Seeing Ayva so broken, shocked, and disappointed in me made me want to disappear. I was beyond embarrassed.And the worst part was I had no excuse, nothing I could say to fix how she felt about me now, which just made everything worse.I’ve had my suspicions about Allison for years but didn't confirm it until a month ago when Amanda called Ayva to the hospital. I half expected Ayva to catch on when she was told she was a match with Allison. It seemed fishy that neither Amanda nor Aiden was a match, but Ayva was. And when I realized she hadn't figured it out, I promised myself I'd tell her when the time was right. If only I knew that jerk would beat me to it.Ayva wiped her nose with the back of her hand. I offered her a handkerchief, but she didn't take it, choosing to wipe her tears with her sleeves instead."What else?" She sniffed. "What else are you keeping from me? It feels like there's always something you're hiding." Her words hit hard. "Tell me
Ayva’s POV“Ayva, how did you-”“Answer my question, Justin!” I snapped before taking a deep breath to steady my nerves. I shouldn’t be getting angry with him, not when he was most likely the only one who could help me find her. “I…” I sucked in a deep air into my lungs. “I just want to know Justin. I need to know where she is and— please,” I grabbed his hand, my desperation evident in my eyes. “Tell me the truth, I promise I won’t get mad.” I wasn’t exactly sure I could keep that promise but it didn’t matter at that moment. I was ready to do anything, say anything to make him tell me what I wanted to hear. He sighed, casting his gaze downwards to his desk before looking up at me again. With a heavy breath, he asked, “How did you find out? Who told you about this?” I shook my head at him in disappointment. “Seeing as you’re avoiding answering my question, that means you knew about it. How long Justin? How long have you known this? How long have you… watched me suffer in silence. W
Justin’s POV"What do you mean by that?" I inquired, casting a skeptical glance at Samantha.She approached my desk, placing an iPad on the surface. I eyed her suspiciously before picking up the iPad.True to her words, there was a video of Bella on live TV. I was taken aback. What was she doing there? She had mentioned feeling unwell that morning, causing me to arrive at work late, yet there she was on TV, looking nothing like she had described earlier.The presenter was asking her questions, but I couldn't hear clearly as the iPad's volume was low. I quickly connected my AirPods to the iPad to listen to what she was saying."Oh, that's all false. My husband and I are stronger than ever. All the divorce rumors are just tabloid trash," Bella claimed. "Did I mention that we also have plans to renew our wedding vows?"We do?"Really?" The presenter seemed surprised by the news. Well, that made two of us. "That's great news, Bella. We heard rumors about Mr. Mount having a mistress. Ther
Ayva’s POVI suddenly shot up in bed, startled by a dream that had felt more like a nightmare and had sent cold sweat down my back. My breath came in short gasps, and I was drenched in sweat as if the nightmare had seeped into my waking world.Letting out a heavy sigh, I turned my gaze to the alarm clock resting on the bedside table. It had just ticked past ten. Despite sleeping for nearly ten hours, it felt like only ten seconds had passed since I closed my eyes.I fumbled around the bed, searching for my phone, and finally unlocked it. As I scrolled through my missed calls and messages, a text from my boss caught my eye. He’d asked if I was still interested in being a part of the company or if I’d simply removed myself. At that moment, his message held little significance to me; the thought of losing my job didn't faze me. Instead, my mind lingered on the absence of any message or missed calls from Justin, the one I had been eagerly anticipating.The disappointment that I felt was i
Ayva’s POVBella, with a stern look, asked me, “Are you going to tell me why you were in my husband’s room, why you are in my house, or do I have to call the cops for trespassing.”I felt her gaze pierce through me across the corridor. I guessed I had indeed trespassed. After all neither Justin nor Bella were aware that I was going to drop by."I'm sorry, I was just heading out," I muttered as I made my way towards the stairs.But Bella wasn't letting me off that easy. "I asked you a question," she stated firmly, making me stop and turn to face her. "I think I deserve to know why you were in my husband's room while he was sleeping."Her stress on 'husband' was clear, like she was reminding me she was still married to him and had every right to ‘interrogate me.’ "I mean, you've gotta be a whole new level of shameless to show up here knowing full well that his wife was gonna be home with him," she remarked, taking deliberate steps toward me. "For seven days, my husband was off with you