“Finally, they’ve left the house. I think they’re heading to the mall with the kid,” a male voice said over the phone.“Excellent. Keep watching them,” Marie instructed, ending the call and dialing Isabelle. “Hey, it’s time for your son to play his part. They’re at the mall with the little one.”“Perfect. And lucky for us, it’s his day off, so today is definitely our big day.”“Got it. I’ll see you at the south entrance so we can find them and start the show,” she said, finishing the call. “Well, let’s get ready. Today, Jayden will be back in my arms,” she said, striding toward her wardrobe to choose a very provocative outfit.Meanwhile, Deborah and Jayden had gone out to buy more clothes for James.They entered the mall casually and made their way to the baby boutique, where they began searching for summer clothes and a few formal outfits for when they went out.“Look at this,” Jayden said, holding up a green T-shirt with a cute brown bear face on it. “Do you like it?”“It’s ad
“And so what?” Deborah frowned.“That…”“And what does it matter to you what we do or don’t do?” Deborah said, stepping closer to her beloved and placing herself between them. “And though it hurts, Jayden is the father of our child, and…”“Actually, you’re mistaken there,” a male voice interrupted from behind them.Deborah turned around in surprise to see Roger approaching.“I’m James’ father, and I hope you haven’t forgotten what we agreed on last night.”“What?” Jayden exclaimed angrily, grabbing her arm. “Deborah, what does this mean?”“Jayden… I… I actually made an agreement with Roger last night and…”“What? Are you serious?” he yelled, releasing her and stepping back. “Are you really going to let him near James? He never cared about him!”“Cooper, stop whining. No matter what you do, that child has my blood, so he will always be my son, no matter how much you try to deny it,” Roger said with a smile, moving closer to Deborah.“Stay away from them,” Jayden said, position
At a safe distance from the commotion, Sophia and Isabelle watched the entire scene with smiles on their faces.“Poor thing, she’s lost her golden goose,” Sophia mocked, sipping her juice.“And now we just need to get rid of that kid,” Isabelle said, finishing her coffee.“I guess… but there’s something I don’t understand.”“What’s that?”“Roger is going to register him as his son?”“Obviously,” Isabelle said as she stood up and tossed her empty cup in the trash. “I need George to see that Roger is interested in the kid, so he can get his position back as president.”“I suppose you’re right, but what about me?” Sophia asked, mimicking her and throwing away her trash as they started walking to their vehicle.“For now, you’ll act like a loving stepmother and…”“Forget it… I don’t want to be changing diapers, especially not for a kid who isn’t mine.”“That’s already the case, you fool,” Isabelle snapped, annoyed. “But you need to say that to bother Deborah.”“Ah… got it.”“Onc
“Let him go!” Isabelle demanded, moving in to help her son. She slapped Deborah, sending her sprawling to the ground and making her release the baby. Deborah scowled, glaring hatefully at Isabelle, who flinched under the intensity of that look. “Say another word and I swear you’ll never see your brat again,” Isabelle warned. “Talk about a hypocrite. Just a moment ago he was your grandchild, and now he’s just a brat.” “Obviously, because you’re so useless you couldn’t even give birth to a child who looks like my baby. Therefore, I can’t recognize him as my grandchild.” “Mom, enough.” “You shut up, Roger. I’m doing this for your own good,” Isabelle snapped. “With this brat on our side, we’ll reclaim everything that belongs to us.” “I’m not going to let you use my son as a bargaining chip! Give him back!” Deborah said, trying to advance towards Roger to take him back. But Sophia intervened, shoving her away. “Listen to my mother-in-law and step back,” Sophia ordered, laugh
Isabelle smiled triumphantly as she saw the small lump on the ground, which had stopped crying after the impact. Sophia was in shock, staring at the baby’s body. It was one thing to say they’d get rid of him and another to make it a reality... Roger was equally stunned by what had happened, not believing his mother was capable of such an act. Deborah had fallen to her knees, her head lowered, silent and motionless. “Well, I think I’m satisfied now,” Isabelle said with a smug grin, dusting off her hands. “Yeah, I suppose you are,” Deborah said, struggling to stand while discreetly pulling something from her clothes. “Oh, come on. You’re still young, and I hope next time you’ll give birth to a child who actually looks like his father,” Isabelle said, adjusting her clothes. “You know, it’s funny what you’re saying,” Deborah said, lifting her gaze to meet Isabelle’s eyes. “Because if we follow that logic...” she said, pointing a gun at Roger, “then we should kill Roger becaus
“Wait… you knew about this?”“What the hell is going on?” Isabelle demanded furiously as she struggled to stand with Sophia's help.“I think it’s pretty obvious, Mom.”“We organized this to teach you a lesson,” came a sharp voice from behind them.The voice was so familiar that it made Isabelle tremble. She spun around to find George, Elliot, and several police officers staring back at her.“So...” Elliot said, glancing sideways at the detective, Alistair.“With all this evidence, we can place Isabelle in a psychiatric facility where she will be safely confined without harming anyone,” Alistair stated.“What…? A psychiatric facility?” Sophia echoed, her voice trembling. “But she… she just killed the baby...”“Sophia, be grateful that this beautiful baby only represents a financial loss,” Deborah said, approaching the bundle on the ground to pull back the blanket. Beneath it were shards of porcelain and a sound box. “If it had really been my James, you and this old hag would alr
A little while earlier, Jayden had quickly walked away, pretending to be hurt by Deborah’s ‘betrayal.’ He also noticed a reporter following them closely, which meant Marie had paid someone to record everything happening to create a scandal around their breakup.“Jayden...” Marie called out as she ran to catch up with him, grabbing his arm.“Marie, seriously... I want to be alone,” he said, stopping to look at her, trying to hold back tears.“No, my love, don’t cry. That woman doesn’t deserve it,” she said, moving closer to touch his face and trying to dry his tears.This close moment was discreetly photographed, just as Marie had planned. She continued playing the role of the supportive shoulder for her beloved.“But I loved her, and... and I thought the three of us...”“If what you want is a family, I can give you that,” she said, taking his face in her hands.“What...” Jayden looked at her, confused.“Yes, Jayden, you know, all this time we’ve been apart, I never stopped th
After adjusting her clothes, Marie tried to cling to Jayden’s arm, hoping to tempt him with her body.Unfortunately, she noticed that he wasn’t interested or reacting to her flirting; he was just staring out the window, which frustrated her a bit... but she wouldn’t give up. She was determined to make him forget that woman and become the only owner of his heart.Jayden, on the other hand, was holding back the urge to push her away because he was disgusted by women like her, especially when he knew the real reason behind her sudden persistence.To distract himself and ignore Marie, he kept his mind busy thinking about Deborah, knowing they should be on their way to the key point where the police were waiting to arrest those women. Roger had better protect her, or he’d have to answer to him.Just then, he received a message, which he discreetly checked, noticing it was from Caroline with a picture of James playing with Christian and two stuffed animals. The image was accompanied by a
Extra 40: A Happy and Perfect Life Part 2That promise came to an end for one of them three years later, as Nicholas was the first to go due to his heart, which began to fail until it simply stopped beating one cold December morning.Despite the immense pain she felt, Deborah fulfilled her father’s last wish… so they buried him with the diamond pendant that had belonged to her mother and grandfather.It was a very sad time, and everyone came together to keep Deborah from falling apart, as she now felt alone, as though she had lost her family again.But her children reminded her that she wasn’t alone, and because of this, they tried to distract her by having her organize the Christmas party.The days continued to pass, and just when they were preparing for James’ wedding, Eric and Samantha Cooper passed away due to old age.That was news that covered all the media outlets, with the headline telling a beautiful love story, as they had gone to sleep together and passed away to the n
Extra 40: A Happy and Perfect Life Part 1Time began to pass quickly, bringing good, bad, and sad moments that gradually changed the family.One good thing that happened was that after much reflection, Roger managed to make peace with his father, asking for forgiveness for all the stupid things he had done when he was younger. He also apologized to his little brother for being such a jerk.Even though he didn’t want to, Elliot reluctantly accepted the apologies because his wife convinced him that holding onto grudges wasn’t healthy.Unfortunately, the Peterson family only got to celebrate being united for a short period of time because two weeks after that reconciliation… George passed away of natural causes.That was a tragic moment for everyone, one that shook his friends, reminding them of how precious and short life is. Those who suffered the most from the loss of their Grandpa George were Howard and Fiona. But their parents, uncles, and maternal grandparents showered them wit
Extra 39: Deborah and JamesAfter lunch, and taking advantage of when his father taking his little siblings to their extracurricular activities, James sought out his mom to talk with her.“Mom,” he called out when he saw her in her study, reading some papers.“Hey, come in,” she said, looking up and setting aside the documents for a moment.“More work?”“Not exactly. These are the reports of the current buildings for sale in the city.”“Huh… are you already looking into that?”“Well, son, your sister graduates next year, and a year is not a lot of time to start a company from scratch.”“Will it already be furnished for her?” he asked, taking the documents to read them.“Yes, that’s why I want to buy a warehouse to remodel or a vacant lot so you and your dad can work your magic to build it and make it just like Elizabeth wants.”“It’s a project I can’t wait to start,” James said excitedly.“Your little siblings are also helping me, looking into sewing stores to buy industrial
Extra 38: A Father’s FearsHonestly, it was a strange conversation for James, one he never thought he’d have… in fact, not even in his wildest dreams did he imagine having this kind of interaction with the man who was supposedly his biological father.After telling him a bit about his school life, James paid the bill and said goodbye to Roger, as he had to get back to the office; he didn’t want to be away from work for too long.When he entered the conference room, he saw his father talking to some other architects.“Great, we’re all set then,” Jayden said, dismissing them. “Son, how did it go?” he asked as James approached him.“Fine, but it was weird.”“So... has he started to feel his age?”“I think so,” James replied, making a face.“And what did he want?”“Well, he just started talking to me, apologizing for being absent, and now he wants us to meet up to talk because he wants to get to know me,” James said, scratching his head. “I don’t know… it seemed odd that he wants
Extra 37: A Late Talk Part 2“Wow, sorry for the confusion.”“Don’t worry about it. My family supported me, and thanks to learning the truth, I understood why we had three grandfathers.”“I imagine you became an architect because of Jayden.”“That’s right. My motivation was seeing how his drawings came to life… it excited me to the point where I wanted to do the same, and as the days went by, that desire grew stronger, so I decided to make it a reality,” he said, his excitement evident in his words. “Though I also saw that Uncle did something similar by turning his sketches into beautiful jewelry, but that didn’t impress me as much.”“I see, but didn’t my dad teach you the basics of the company?”“Yes, Grandpa showed me the trade,” James said with a smile. “In fact, I’m a good appraiser, and I know how to make jewelry because Uncle also taught me the basics of jewelry design and creation. But I see that as a hobby because the only jewelry I’ve made has been for my mom, my sisters
Extra 37: A Late Talk Part 1“I’ll ask you again. What are you doing here?” James questioned, frowning slightly.“James… I…” Roger stammered nervously, his words catching in his throat and refusing to come out.“Are you here to apologize on behalf of your daughter?”“Something like that,” he said, finally managing to speak, though he made a face. “Would you let me talk to you?”“To me?” James asked, confused, pointing to himself. “About what?”“Can I invite you for a drink so we can talk?”“What do you want with my son?” At that moment, Roger saw his longtime rival approaching and standing next to the young man.“Jayden, please let me talk to James,” Roger pleaded.The now platinum-blonde looked confused at his rival. It was the first time Roger had called him by his name, and he could see that Roger seemed genuinely sorry and defeated. Jayden let out a sigh. “James, go with him.”“What?” James looked at him, surprised and confused.“Are you serious?” Roger said, a note of h
Extra 36: Late Regrets Part 2The next morning, during breakfast, Roger was focused on his phone, determined to reach out to James and be the one to make the first contact.“Hey, Dad,” Cassandra called out, trying to get his attention, noticing he was more focused on his phone than his breakfast.“What is it?” Roger asked, looking up.“Well... hey, what are we going to do about last night?”“What?” he said with a frown.“Come on, Dad, aren’t you going to do something about Grandpa and—”“Casandra, enough... I think whatever happened last night should have made the situation clear.”“But…”“They no longer see me as family, and they never recognized you as such, so just forget about it because it’s only the three of us, no one else.”“No…”“Cassandra, enough,” her mother scolded. “I told you yesterday not to go, and all you did was humiliate yourselves in public,” she said, looking her daughter in the eyes. “Grow up already. You lost that boy because you chased something that
Extra 36: Late Regrets Part 1Roger didn’t return home for the rest of the night. He ignored the cries of his ‘daughter’ as he headed to the nearest bar to have a drink and try to clear his mind.Seeing his father defeated and exhausted had made him stop and think.While sipping his third beer, he raised his gaze and saw his reflection in the mirror behind the bar, realizing that an old man was staring back at him... which scared him. He now looked at his hands, which had more wrinkles than he remembered. When had he changed so much?His once beautiful hair was now streaked with gray, his face showed his age, and he had dark circles under his dull eyes.When had he gotten so old?And why did he look like this?He was supposed to age gracefully, but that wasn’t the case... because what he saw in that mirror was a shell of the successful man he once was.He thought back to James. That boy had surpassed him in height; he was the version of himself Roger had always wanted to be: ta
Extra 35: Total BreakElliot was furious to see Roger and his daughter at the party.“Why did you hurt my daughter?” Roger hadn’t recognized James and just wanted to help his princess. “Who do you think you are…?” Then he saw James and, how could he not recognize him? He was Roger’s spitting image, giving the latter the same hateful look Roger himself wore.“I should ask you the same thing, sir. Who do you think you are, crashing a private event?” James asked.Roger was about to respond, but…“What’s the meaning of this?” George asked, approaching them.“Grandpa, they attacked me, and…” Cassandra started to say.“Miss, don’t call my grandpa ‘Grandpa,’” declared Howard.“Tom, call security,” Eric ordered. “Get these two out of the party.”Among the guests, a blond young man recognized Cassandra but didn’t go to help her because his parents didn’t allow it. They didn’t want to end up caught in the middle of the problem and become collateral damage, nor did they want to fall out