(Vincent’s POV).“No” she snapped at my words and moved to the side to walk ahead leaving me behind, “Ray, you are coming with us”I sighed and turned to look at Ray who was looking at me like he was imagining himself punching my handsome face. I chuckled to myself and followed Laura from behind. I was not going to give up. This was going to be my chance to get close to her when Calvin was not in sight.My bodyguard did not follow us. I wanted him to look around to ensure no harm was coming to Laura. I knew she had enemies and I was not letting anyone to hurt her.She may look tough and confident from the outside, but beneath all that appearance she was projecting, I knew my Julia was still there inside her. Afraid. I could sense it.Ray may looked intimidating with his muscular body. But, I was not affected by it.My mind was solely focusing to get her attention that day and I was not going to fail!“Laura, about the project, I had gone through the plan and thought-“ I paused as she
(Laura’s POV).I stood in between Vincent and the three men wearing bikers’ jacket and jeans. One men was much bigger than the other two who I guessed would be the leader as he was walking in front.“Who sent you? I give one chance to tell me the name and back-off!” I could feel Vincent trying to pull my arm to get me to stand behind him. I shook his hand off mine and continued asking the leader of the three men that were sent to kill me.I was not afraid.It had just too many times where someone tried to warn or kill me.“What do you want to get you to talk? Money? I’ll double what they are paying you” I said and took few steps forward to meet the leader who was not interested to what I had told him. Why was he ignoring me, “Are you deaf?”But then, I was carried by my waist by Vincent who had circled his arms from behind. I yelped and shouted for him to let me go, “Stop it, Vincent! Let me go! I need to know. What are you doing?”He held my body closed to his and whispered to my ea
(Vincent’s POV).I punched and kicked the skinny man that was obviously stronger than how he looked like. It took me longer than I had expected to defeat him. While the man was still down on the ground, I pulled him up by his neck and shouted at him, “Who sent you to kill her?”The man was half awake and half unconscious. I was not sure if he could actually hear me clearly. So, I had repeated my questions several time while I shook his body.“Laura!” the voice of Calvin was heard from far. I looked around and did not see Laura in sight nor the leader of the three men that came to hurt her.Ray was seen punching another of them till he fainted on the hard ground. Blood was on his hand and he too looked beaten up. The man showed no signs of pain or defeat.Where did Laura find all her bodyguards? Were they all military trained?The sound of a woman screaming was heard and it snapped me back to reality. “Ray! We need to find her”I stood up and started to trace some steps from where I h
(Author’s POV).Laura was seated next to Calvin as he drove his Porsche out from the site of the resort. The interrogation with the police went smoothly especially when he knew who the chief of police was in Bloom City.They had taken everyone’s statement and held the attackers under arrest. Ray found a way to be involved in the interrogation which surprised both Calvin and Vincent. They had underestimated Ray’s potential.All the time during the reporting process, Calvin saw how Vincent had looked at Laura. It was the look that Calvin had not seen him showing to a woman before. Not even for Rachel.It had bothered him and for once Calvin was jealous. But, they were best of friends and had agreed no woman would be the cause of them ending their friendship.For a moment, he thought he was not wrong. In the first place, Vincent never confessed his love for Laura so that had given Calvin a way to claim her heart.‘May the best man wins’ that was what Calvin had thought while driving bac
(Laura’s POV).I was smiling when I entered my bedroom. My fingers were touching on what felt like my slightly swollen lips. I chuckled to myself and closed the door to my room with my back on the door.“Calvin Dubois kissed me again” I smiled and walked to my bed to take a rest.As I closed my eyes, I recalled how it felt being kissed by the dashing looking Calvin. My heart had pounded on my chest. I could only focus on how soft and gentle his lips were on mine, gliding and sliding wanting where his tongue wanted to touch mine.It had made me moaned softly when he finally succeeded in parting my lips with his tongue. It was so addictive and I wanted more. I sighed to that thought and turned to my side.I felt so good and for a moment I had wished Vincent could kiss me like that. Would he?From the close distance I was with Calvin, I could see the colour of his sexy eyes. It was actually green with some shades of brown. He was gorgeous. I could not believe that gorgeous Adonis lookin
(Vincent’s POV).It had been almost two weeks since I last saw Laura. She was avoiding me.“How long will you hide from me, Laura?” I asked to myself while looking at an invitation card to attend a dinner party hosted by her uncles. It looked like a grand dinner party planned for Laura.“I thought she hated her uncles” that was what my private investigator had told me. It seemed she was taking back all that her uncles had taken from her while she was missing.Well, technically not missing. She was hiding from them while being married to me.I smiled to that.For a long time, I have been trying to figure out on why she had married me. She used me for protection like how I had used her to get Rachel back.If I had known who she was and the kind of trouble she was in, I would have helped her. She was indeed Lucas Knight’s daughter. A respectable man that I had admired.“Mister Verdi, your car is ready” Flora had worked late night to help me up on my other family business. The Jewels of
(Vincent’s POV).I saw her. She was wearing a cream coloured dress showing the perfect curves of her body which I never knew she had. All the while we were married, my eyes saw her as a plain looking skinny girl. Weak and naïve. She had a pretty face. Average among the girls I had dated in the past.But now, that plain looking woman I had divorced had turned into a beautiful woman. Perfect in every angle. And I only have one thing in mind at that moment of time.I wanted her back.As I walked towards her, my eyes never left her sight.She saw me with her eyes were trying to avoid mine. I knew she was nervous. I could sense it even from far.As I reached standing infront of her, I bowed slightly like a gentleman. “Good evening, Miss President Knight. And where is that imbecile friend of mine who was supposed to accompany you?” I stood infront of her with my eyes staring deep into her blue dazzling looking eyes.“Good evening, Mister Verdi. If you are referring to Calvin, he has some f
(Laura’s POV).I had to get out from the hall to take some fresh air. It was suffocating in there with Vincent’s presence. “A bet? Was it true?” I asked myself and felt my chest tightened out of air.I looked around and saw some couples were kissing at the balcony under the moonlight. I wondered who they are. Must be Clara’s friends who I never met before.My head felt a little dizzy and felt my body swaying as I took the steps down to the garden. My Uncle Leroy’s house was big. The lush garden was beautifully kept by his young wife who I thought had a brain of a pea size. She had no clue what kind of a man she married.All she wanted was money and Uncle Leroy only wanted her body.I had hoped my cousin, Sara was in presence that night. But, I knew Uncle Leroy’s wife did not like Sara who was born from Uncle Leroy’s affair with a woman he did not want to marry.“What a jerk!” I scoffed after recalling the bad things he did to Sara’s mother and to his own daughter. My late father was
(Laura’s POV).Several years had gone by. I was happily married with Vincent keeping his wedding vow to love me and stay loyal to me as long as his heart was still beating.His wedding vow for me was what the press stated as something they never expected coming from a well known feared man would ever say to a woman. He poured his heart out to me in his vow. I recalled myself in tears, and of course with abundance of joy.The wedding was held at Tuscany with a garden theme filled with fresh flowers and nature. He kept to his words making it my dream wedding. I had to thank both my mother in laws who had helped me to prepare it. I loved them both and I was happy to have both of them to fill the void in my heart that was empty since my own mother passed away.Life was perfect and having three children with him made it more exciting.Three boys, who would have thought I could go through that at such a young age! This was not what I had planned in my life after the death of my parents.I
(Vincent’s POV).I was looking around. Mostly to find a way to exit the crowded little ice cream parlour filled with mostly people from Laura’s side. The look of her angry eyes at me after knowing I had read her diary was piercing my soul. Her beautiful blue eyes were on fire.I raised both of my hands in a surrender mode and said, “I can explain. You need to calm down. Not good for our babies that you are carrying. Your stress level needs to be managed”What the hell was I rambling about? It was not going to help me save myself from her wrath that was coming to me.“You did read my diary! How could you do such thing” She said before her face was turning red. She was blushing and for a moment I thought I was wrong. She was not angry, she was embarrassed.Then, I recalled on what I read in her diary. I was pretty embarrassing. She wroter things about me and how she adored me all those years. There was even a picture of my younger self kept in her pink shimmering diary.“I hate you!” L
(Laura’s POV).A month has passed. Time had moved so swiftly and my pregnant belly was starting to show.Vincent was true to his words, being by my side taking care of me and my constant need of attention. I blamed it on my pregnancy hormones. I was never like this, wanting him by my side most of the time.It had been a challenging process with me having nausea and sensitivity of things around me. I had even lost some weight as my body was rejecting some food, even those that I used to like to eat.“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Vincent said and lifted my chin to give me a brief kiss on my lips. We were walking towards the place where we first met. A little ice cream shop in Tuscany where I had first saved him from being hit by a motorcycle.The place where I fell in a nearby ditch, stuck for almost an hour until my brother, Henry came to the rescue. I smiled to that thought as he moved to caress my cheeks, smiling at me. “What’s so funny?”I laughed softly and pointed to the exa
(Author’s POV).At the same time, seated in a rented car, Marie was looking out of the window not wanting to start any conversation with the man who was seated next to her. He was driving with his focus on the road.At times she knew, he was taking few glances at her, hoping that she would start the conversation.After a few minutes, the silence was getting weird.“Are you happy with him?” Henry wished he could take that questions back. His words slipped his tongue as they waited in the car being stuck in traffic.“It is none of your concern. Please focus on your driving” Marie said while pretending to look outside the window. There was nothing else to see except for the cars on the road stuck with them in the traffic.“Do you love him? Why.. him?” Henry exhaled his breath and gripped the sterring wheel hard while controlling his anger, “I don’t get it, Marie. At one point, you did not believe in marriage. Now, you are engaged with a man I know you are definitely not in love with”Hi
(Laura’s POV).I came out from the cold waters while pulling Vincent’s unconscious body with me. He was heavy and I struggled to pull him further.I needed to check on his breathing so I placed my ear next to Vincent’s mouth and nose. I smiled after feeling some air from his mouth warming my cheeks. “Vincent? Wake up” I said while caressing his cheeks.He did not respond to me calling him several times. I then placed my finger to check on his pulse. It was getting weaker. That made me panic for a moment.I felt his body getting cold and that frightened me further, “Vincent, please. Wake up”There was no response.I then whispered to his ears while placing my hand on his cheeks, “I know you can hear me. Please don’t leave me alone in this cold place. Please don’t leave us alone. I want our baby to grow up with a father. The father that I love very much”I then cried and rested my head on his shoulders as I let out my sadness and tiredness on his body. I was tired. I did not sleep well
(Author’s POV).Out from the busy current of Rivera river, Cherry managed to hold on to a large tree trunk and held on it with her trembling hands. She was panting out of air and was choking out water stuck in her throat.After a few minutes, she took one deep breath before climbing on the tree to get out from the cold waters. She knew if Vincent had arrived, it would mean he would have by then blocked her way out from Rivera. There would be no way out using the normal route.It was time for her to execute her contingency plan.But first, Cherry needed to locate an acquaintance who she knew could get her new identification card and passport to escape from the country. She knew Vincent was not going to make it easy for her. She knew she needed him to think that she was dead.Smiling to that thought, she was ready to fight him.As Cherry reached the shore, she walked slowly towards what looked like houses built near the river. They were local folks living in Rivera. A signage was seen
(Vincent’s POV).I was running fast leaving the rest behind. The woods were thick with many trees blocking my way.I heard her. And I knew that voice was her pleading for help. She was in trouble.Jumping over branches of trees and pushing aside any obstacle that was blocking my way, I felt no pain. All I had in mind was to save my Laura. I hope I was not going to be too late for that.I wanted to call her name and assured her everything was going to be fine. I was closeby and I knew all this drama would end soon. But, calling her name would alert the attacker. I needed to be careful.I knew who it was. The crazy woman who was obsessed with me, Cherry, was to be blamed for all that had happened to Laura. I was going to end it. Tonight, it would be over.Cherry would be placed behind bars.Standing behind a tree, I then saw her. My Laura.She was looking weak and shaken.Laura was standing too close to the edge of the cliff while Cherry was pointing a gun at her. They were arguing and
(Laura’s POV).I took steps slowly back as I saw Cherry coming closer to me. There was blood on her clothes which I thought most likely may not be hers. She looked fine, or was she pretending to look fine?I did not know her well. A deceiving woman who seemed to fight for what she believed in. And I knew all that she believed in was her being the daughter of Lucas Knight and my half-sister.“Do you realised we kind of look alike?” she said with a smile showing her perfectly shaped teeth. It was kind of scary with her eyes looking at me as if I was an object of her admiration.“We have the same eyes. Different colour though. And your hair, look” she touched her hair with one hand, “It is the same colour as mine. Do you think people would believe we are actually related?”Was she kidding me? I knew Cherry made herself look like me. She was obsessed to be me.I opened my mouth to say something but she cut me off with her words, “Laura. You want to know the truth?” Cherry smiled and sang
(Vincent’s POV).I got up from a short nap that I took without even realising it. Pieces of papers were scattered on the chair I was seated on. A large map of Rivera was spread on the table where I had marked on the potential places that Laura could be at.Something was not right. I felt a pain inside my chest. Was it Laura? Was she in trouble?I got up from my chair and walked to the drinking cabinet in my room to get a drink. A strong one I hoped to find.I hoped I could find Laura soon. Calvin and Cherry had already arrived in Rivera and I knew it would not be long until they move Laura again. I needed to be fast.My men were following Cherry and two hours ago I was informed that they had lost track of Cherry who went into the dark woods of Rivera. One thing for sure, both Cherry and Calvin were still in town. I would make sure they will never leave Rivera until I found my Laura.I rubbed my temple and walked to the bathroom to do my business. Taking a glance at the mirror in the