VALERIE'S POV After having a light lunch at the Red Bites just like Rob had 'instructed', I headed home. There wasn't anything urgent that needed my attention at the office anyway, and besides I had already dealt with at least half of the documents on my desk. Surely, a half day off wouldn't stop the company from running now, can it? So therefore, here I was tied up in a white apron preparing dinner for the kids. It has been quite a while since I made them dinner myself, "Should I slice the vegetables, ma'am?" one of the new help asked. I turned from the boiling pot to check behind me at the sound of her voice. She quickly pointed to the bowl of carrots and "oh, I haven't done that? I will get right to it don't worry." "Please ma'am," she insisted, her voice calm but still held a sense of urgency in them. "I was sent here to work and help out. If the chairman finds out I'm doing the opposite then... I don't... I don't know what he might do to me." I sighed and took in he
Valerie's POV I stood up from the floor where I was cowering in anxiety and raced to the door with all my will power, leaving back all the dark memories that threatened to consume. Those double doors had never looked so beautiful, just standing there, shining like the key to my salvation. And finally, when I reached the handles I swung it right open, the warm breeze of the evening immediately hitting my tear stained cheeks and I slammed the door shut behind me. Trembling from both adrenaline and relief as I relaxed my back against it. Just as I thought I was safe, sharp excited screams suddenly filled the air and shook the devil out of me. "Surprise!!!" I stood frozen, my panicked eyes wide as I slowly took in the scenario in front of me. Everyone was present, Papa, Nanny Beth, the kids and even the staffs of the house, both old and new. Each person blinking excitedly at me while holding unto balloons and roses. By the side in the spacious yard was a long line of buffet, hel
HUDSON'S POV "So you see Madame, it's a win win situation. You help me, i help you." I said with a small smile and clapsed my hands on the table. I had just delivered a top notch offer on a platter of gold. An offer that would send all those old bastards who called themselves my investors crawling on the floor with greed and excitement. An offer she wouldn't get on a normal day, but instead of excitement all i met was the same expression that she had on ever since she got here, totally blank. I could understand though, a person of her caliber ought not to show weakness to anyone to avoid being taken advantage of. I applaud her skill to maintain But I was getting fed up at the same time. Time was not on my side and she knew that, so what's with all the silence? "So what do you say?" I asked, " Madame?" my tone a bit forceful. She cocked her head to the side at the change in my tone, but could you really blame me? I was the person in the position of need, I needed her on
HUDSON'S POV "You cannot do this! This should be illegal!" Cornels yelled, red veins popping on his forehead. "I can't do what exactly?" I asked calmly, a smirk playing on my lips. This dumb ass man thought he was the only one authorized to play the game, he had some nerves. The other investors had already filed out, leaving myself, Paul and red faced Cornels in the room that was used for the meeting, that obviously ended in my favour. None of the other idiots that had planned this whole coup with Cornels even dared to speak for him. Such traitorous old bastards! The minute I walked in, okay, maybe more like barging in since it was a supposed secret meeting to leave me stranded and then the assistant sent as Madame Joyce's representative appeared and announced her newest investments, every other person on the board of investors quickly switched sides in the blink of an eye. Could you believe that? If you didn't know, you would think Cornels was on drugs to even propose tha
Hudson POV As soon as the words left the mouth of whoever was at the door, I shot up from my seat and literally ran to the door. My legs had a mind of it's own at this point, with excitement coursing through me i flung the door wide open, causing it to bang against the wall behind as I yelled, "James! Hand over the evidence!"But instead of meeting James, I came face to face with a dark haired man. What the hell? My eyebrows knitted together as I assessed the the man's work clothes. "Errhm, Sir?" The same feminine voice that announced someone was at the door said. I let my eyes drift to her, and sure enough it was that daring brunette from down the hall.What was her name again, b...Blair?...Bendy? Beth...Ugh, whatever. I had to give it her though, the woman really was persistent. She had been actively trying to get on my bed for months now, always showing up randomly at my door when Paul was not close by. Where was Paul anyway?"Sir," she called again, straightening up, her boobs
HUDSON'S POV "Boss," he repeated, walking inside the office. "I apologize for taking so long boss, I had a bit of a err... situation..."I remained quiet, staring intensely at the nervous looking engineer seated in front of me.The man kept darting his eyes between James and I, while still holding onto his chair. "Err, boss?" James called out again, this time his tone was more skeptical. But I didn't acknowledge him.I was pretty sure I looked just about angry at this point but that wasn't the case at all. For some unknown reason my heart kept pounding loudly in my chest, Since James walked in. I had been struggling to control my quickened pulse rate, but it only seems to get worse as the brown envelope in James hand came into my line of sight.But why though? Was it excitement? I mean, I could understand if it was. I would finally be getting the info about that... that...ugh! That man, yeah, THAT man.I would be getting all the info I wanted about him. It was a thing of joy, wasn't
VALERIE'S POV "Say you will take it, mommy. Say it," Miley whined while holding on tightly to the seat belt of the Pink Ferrari. I sighed, rolling my eyes at the eagerness of my four year old daughter that wants to go to school in a pink Ferrari. What does she even know about cars? "C'mon out, you're still in your uniform and it's probably smelly by now" I responded, moving to open the door of the car. The car was absolutely closed, with no space for even an ant to crawl in so how did she get inside with the doors closed? I mentally gauged the height of the car door and Miley's height, they weren't too far apart. So the possibility of her climbing in through the windows was very high. I sighed at the realization, "Ugh, these kids..." They just keep doing the most unusual things. I pressed the door handle and it spread open like a butterfly wing revealing an awe struck brown haired Miley. Her green eyes shun with wonder and excitement the more the door opened to it's limit, i
HUDSON'S POV It has been at least a couple of weeks, if not a month since I started frequently a certain Red Bites restaurant a couple of blocks away from Val's office and at least a two hours drive away from my office.You might want to ask why I kept driving from such a distance, taking so much stress and literally coming from the one end of the city to the other just to have dinner/lunch. But honestly? Even I don't know the answer to that question. I have been asking myself over and over for the past three weeks now and somehow I still came up with nothing. This was all James fault, I asked him to deliver to me complete info of the man messing around with Val, but instead of doing that he went right ahead to take those devilishly tempting pictures of her and then delivered it to me!There has been no single info about the mysterious man till this very day. Heck! Till this very minute that I was seated at the back of my Bentley staring out through the windows to the damned Red Bi
HUDSON'S POVWith one last exhale to calm the nerves, “I apologize.” I said, “I apologize for showing up on your property without an invite. For continuously trying to barge my way through every time i came here… I have thought about it all through my time out at your entrance and it truly doesn’t sound good.”“So, you do realize that, hm?” He mocked calmly, keeping his eyes trained on me.“Though my means was and still is wrong at the moment, but my reason for this is truly urgent.” I explained, “I am here today, because I am guilty man! A man that has done you wrong and simply disregarded you all these years, especially after finding out that things weren’t as I assumed. I have… I have hurt your daughter. Your granddaughter, Valerie. I hurt her, I abandoned her and totally neglected her when we were married!”“Oh? So, you married her?” He sneered, the distaste in his tone clear. “You married a daughter of mine without my knowledge?!”“Yes!” I confirmed, taking the bull by the horns.
HUDSON’S POV“I’m sorry sir, but the chairman is currently resting and won’t be able to see you.” The elderly man who I assumed was the chief butler of the mansion addressed me. His words, not surprising at all seeing as they were literally the exact words he used on me a few weeks back.Ever since I had officially gotten back together with Val after our last issue over housing arrangements, I had made it a point to reach out to her family. To get to know them, introduce myself and let them know I would be taking responsibility for my kids and Valerie seriously. Unlike how I had behaved 5 years ago.5 years ago, I wasn’t even aware Val had a family. That she had people, or even ones as powerful and commanding as the Hernandez backing her… I was clueless and quite foolish, as I have let you all know by now. But I couldn’t continue to be like that.I couldn’t continue to make up excuses and not take responsibility for my actions, especially as now, I badly wanted to be with her. Making
HUDSON’S POV“Son,”“I know you must be terribly mad at me right now; you don’t even want to listen to me explain any thing to you. But… I just want to say that I am sorry. I am so sorry for everything!”“I feel ashamed, disgusted with myself and completely embarrassed that I did all these things as your father. It wasn’t right, it was wrong on so many levels and I should have put a stop to it before it got to this extent. I shouldn’t have given in and let them use me, let them play you like this…it is all my fault. All my fault! My selfishness and desire to keep a clean slate without letting everyone know what I had gotten into pushed me even more to do this despicable thing! I-I am terribly sorry son. I am…so sorry. I’m so sorry!” He pleaded, his voice breaking a bit as he addressed me from his position on the floor. Where Mom had left him.I had thought yesterday was a lot, but honestly, today was even worse!So much worse that I almost wished these whole happenings were just a dre
“But it was what pushed me.” Gregory insisted. “That was the genesis of all my wrong decisions! I took your heritage, gambled and lost it! I tried to get them back and got into more debt! Tried some more and got into more and more debts! Which was why when Drake approached me, I took his bait! Without even thinking! Why?! Because I didn’t want to ruin things between us, Amelia. I didn’t want to totally lose relevance in my father’s eyes and most definitely not in my son’s eyes! Hudson was all I had left. I couldn’t bear to become a disappointment to him, so I did it!”“I settled all my debts and everything but what I didn’t realize was that Drake wouldn’t take back money as payment. Instead, he wanted me to marry his daughter-Charlotte. That was where I met her. I couldn’t of course, I had a wife and a son almost Charlotte’s age, how could I do such a thing?!”“Good heavens!” Grandpa exclaimed, banging the arm of his chair as he stood up abruptly. Fury burning within him as he paced a
CHAPTER 247“Drake,” Hudson repeated, his deep voice vibrating in the air as he spoke for the very first time. “How do you know, Drake?”Gregory’s eyes widened in surprise at that question. Realizing what was supposed to be his quiet thought had been voiced out instead, even reaching the others of the others in the living room!Everyone’s eyes were on him. Zooming in on him and filling him with dread as he swallowed, hard. “You just mentioned Drake,” Hudson repeated, this time his voice even more firm. “How do you know him? Why did you mention him and what does he have to do with this recording?”“I- err-I-” Gregory stammered,“Answer me!” Hudson blasted. His sudden anger startling everyone, but it was to be expected. He hadn’t confronted Gregory ever since everything that happened at the hospital. His anger was justified. But even at that, Amelia couldn’t help but cut in.“But who is this, Drake?” She questioned with confusion, seemingly feeling whoever that was could not possibly be
THIRD PERSON POVIt’s been less than 24 hours since the Rodriguiez mansion received the rude awakening that they had yet another family member and ever since, peace has seized to exist in the family mansion!Angry yellings and explanations bounced off their walls, multiple times at night and even continuing the next morning. And even until this moment!“Throw it out!” Amelia yelled at a confused maid.“Keep it down! I said keep it down!” Gregory instructed, countering Amelia’s order. Leaving the maid even more confused and slightly worried for her own safety as she looked between the couple.Or should I say, ex-couple.“Amelia, please. Let’s talk like grown adults! We don’t need to be like this, please” Gregory pleaded, repeating the words he had been saying since yesterday. But those very words seemed to drive Amelia even more mad with anger! So much that she charged at the maid, grabbing the set of clothes in her hands and threw them downstairs by herself.“I said, GET HIS FUCKING BA
VALERIE’S POV“I did it all for you, Huddie!”“It was all for you. Because I loved you and still do!” Charlotte cried out, her voice raw with emotion like she wasn’t the one spewing shit just a moment ago. Gosh! This woman… I would never understand her, never!“I love you, Huddie. Let’s start all over, please” She pleaded, sniffling back her tears as she moved to his direction. But instead, all she got was cold shoulder from Hudson as he walked right past her, like she was nothing in his eyes. “The only person I need to start all with is my woman who I abandoned because of how foolish I was. Next to her, you’re simply insignificant and that’s all you will ever be!”Woah‘Look at that nonchalance people! That man is so done with her ass!’And he doesn’t know the full story yet! Hahaha!“Amelia?”“Amelia! Sweetheart please, let’s talk. I can totally explain! I can-“GET. YOUR. HANDS. OFF ME!” Amelia declared; her eyes murderous as they spat fire at Gregory. He refused at first but after
HUDSON’S POV“Wah…what is she talking about?”“What is she talking about, Gregory?!” Mom’s voice bounced off in the air, further sinking in Charlotte’s words into my mind.“I don’t-i-Amelia listen” Dad tried to explain, gently taking mom’s hands. “I have no idea what she is-“You have no idea what I’m saying?” Charlotte cut in; her tone irritated. “You have no idea about the fact that we’ve been meeting up at hotels behind her back?! That you’ve been sleeping with me? or that Abrille is actually your daughter and not my Huddie’s?! What exactly is confusing you, Gregory? Or are you just trying to make me look stupid?!”“What?!” Mom exclaimed; her expression crowned with the exact same feeling of disbelief that I felt watching this entire show!A show! That’s what’s happening here!A fucking show for the premieres!“You…”“You…Greg… what?!” Mom shrilled again, disgust filling her bones as she immediately moved out of dad’s hold. “What th- you…Haha! This is a joke! A one big joke! What t
Valerie that stood by the side blinked back her tears a few times, her eyes feeling heavy from watching the actual videos and hearing grandpa silently sob in front of the TV screen. Even Amelia seemed shaken by it all. Most of those videos… she vividly remembered fighting against those accusations on Charlotte. She remembered even throwing a few people out of the house simply because she believed they were just ganging up against Charlotte when they knew she had no one and could barely stand up for herself as a result of her weak body.Little did she know… little did she know!You would think it was all over after going through so many videos, watching so many anger provoking scenes… but Hudson went further, wanting to see it all for himself! Wanting to see for himself the continuous wicked sneer Charlotte had on her face in every single scene!As though to convince himself that there was no redemption for her, she wasn’t confused when all these happened. They were all deliberate and