"Look here, mister. You are too young to understand but sometimes, the truth is painful that once it is out, people cry. But telling the truth is way better than lying. Didn't your mother tell you that?"His son shook his head. "Mommy did tell me that lying is not good but she did not say that it will be painful."Hyperion smirked as he ruffled his hair."Then, consider that as a lesson from me. Now, let's give her some time to be alone. It's already time to feed you so let's head to the kitchen."Descending the stairs, he added, "And by the way, do not call me uncle again just because you think I did a bad thing. Just consistently call me 'Dad.' Is that clear?""I will think about it."His response was definitely not a good thing but since only recently did Trevor call him that, Hyperion simply let his reply slide. Forcing him to do something he does not like should not be a thing he must do. "But Dad..." Trevor a
The next day, Shantala headed to her attorney's office on time for their discussion of her upcoming trial. "Can I ask for a favor?" she asked before letting the attorney speak."Of course. Do not hesitate to speak your mind.""I know that you are a good friend of my husband and you have greatly helped me when I was first taken to the court. However, for today and tomorrow's events, can you keep it from Gavin?"This somehow puzzled him since the Devon couple had always been open to each other... at least, that was his observation when he started working with them."You see, he returned to Vidale City because of a problem in their company. I do not want him to rush back here because of me so it would be better to keep things from him for a while until the problem gets resolved."Seeing her point, he simply nodded in response with a bit of doubt if he could actually keep quiet about it. And not to mention that Gavin had asked him t
"There," she whispered upon seeing a small black bug underneath the side table. Her immediate thought on who most likely installed it was the intruders the other day. It was a good thing she did not speak a lot about the whereabouts of Tricia's impostor. Not wanting to alert the ones who installed it, she let it be and simply left the room. The first person she approached was the head bodyguard."There is a listening device in my room. It was probably done by those men the other day. Search every crook and cranny of the house to look for the other devices. Just locate them and do not ever destroy them," she instructed with a low tone of voice. Who knows? There might be another bug just around them. The head bodyguard immediately alerted the others and started the search. She could only heave a sigh. Just when she thought she was finally going to have her rest, it seemed like she had to deal with Tricia's double first. Thus, she headed down to t
When Shantala's trial was ongoing, Mr. Devon called the head bodyguard at the residence of his son."Why did you report that matter so late?!" he yelled.He was referring to the imprisonment of Replica A1 and since that woman was involved in Shantala's kidnapping, Mr. Devon feared that she would confess the truth to his son's wife. If ever that happens, not only will their plan fail but there would be a high possibility of his son being already out of his control. And not to mention, Gavin was also looking into the matter of his wife's kidnapping."I apologize, sir." That was the only response of the head bodyguard which simply angered his boss even more."You better release that woman before she nonchalantly opens her mouth," he instructed with gritted teeth. "Let Hyperion deal with her.""Right away, sir.""And keep your eyes on my son. He is already on his way back there so make sure he will file for a divorce as soo
Before she could take the time to digest the bombarding information, another person entered the scene—Hyperion showed up with his men just behind him. Valerie saw him and her resolution of helping Shantala instead of fleeing fueled her to go up to him and tell him the secret she had kept for years. She also considered this as a way to finally drop the burden she had been carrying as well as to free her and Machiavelli from having to hide and run away. Walking in his direction; she gathered every ounce of her courage."Drop the charge against Shantala, Helios. She... She did not kill Tricia... she did not kill me. I-I actually planned to deceive you that night and run away with another man because I never loved you. It was the only way I thought of to escape from you. And it just so happened that Shantala got there–""Get out of my way," Hyperion demanded. His piercing gaze was cold and the tone of his voice sent shivers down Valerie's spine, mak
The words of the doctor seemed to have killed Shantala's soul as they replayed in her mind like a broken record. Her sobs ceased and her tears stopped falling down her cheeks as if everything inside her had been frozen over. Without saying another word, she walked past the doctor and nurses and slowly entered the emergency room filled with deafening silence. Her eyes were locked onto the bed where her son was lying–unmoving and breathless. When she stood near him, she held his small hand and cupped his cheek. She wanted to believe that this was not real... that she was just having the most terrible nightmare. However, the reality was that she was holding her son right there and then just slapped her with the fact that it was no mere nightmare."Honey," she muttered, "Mommy's here already. It's okay now, please. Please, honey, open your eyes. Let's go back home. Papa is already here... He is coming for you... for the both of us so we could all go back home. Ho
This time, she pulled away from him and looked him directly in the eyes."Can you, at least, explain to me how he ended up like this? I gave way and let him be under your supervision, Hyperion, with the hope that you would look after him... because whether I like it or not, you are still his father. But what exactly happened?"The mafia boss felt cornered for the very first time. This was no situation he could get away with because, first and foremost, she deserved to know the truth. Lying to her would not make things any better.Thus, he replied, "Stacey gave him the poison."Hearing his response, Shantala immediately slapped him across the face. Her hand throbbed in pain but seeing the red mark on Hyperion's cheek satisfied her nonetheless."And you did not do anything about it!" she hissed."I did not know, Shantala. I thought she decided to finally accept Trevor–"She slapped him for the second time but this time, sh
Shantala grew up as the breadwinner of her family. She worked harder and even sold her body to earn money for their expenses. There was not a time that she thought of doing something that put herself first before anyone else until Gavin proposed to her. He was the man she never knew who would make her feel wanted, loved, and adored despite her bitter past... even though she had a son from another man.However, all she had been fighting for up until this moment seemed to be slowly being taken away from her. First, she lost her brother and her sister hated her. And now, her son also left her. Will she also lose her husband? That question never left her when the doctor told her that Gavin's situation was still unstable even though the surgery conducted was successful.Half a day had already passed and yet, there was still no sign of Gavin ever waking up."He was driving at full speed and was about to crash into another car. He immediately steered to the right
Hyperion and Stacey were currently in his office while tension lurked around them. Even the mafia boss' secretary could feel the ominous aura trapped inside the office so he never dared go in. The couple had just finished arguing about what happened with the meeting with Mr. Devon."Are you really being serious about this? Have you not even considered my feelings? I already let the fact that you fucked my sister slide but taking her son to take care of him... no!" Stacey asked for the nth time. She just could not sit still and wait for her sister to take away what she already had. She would never let her take her husband away. NEVER. Even if Shantala had already given birth to the son of her husband, it was still not enough for Stacey to let go of her love. Hyperion, who was already tired of this argument, chose to remain quiet. He just knew that if he said another word, they would be shouting at each other again.Just then, a knock was heard on the
"Hi! I am Tricia Miller, the substitute nurse sent by Sir Helios," the guest greeted. Linda was unsure of what to do so before letting her in, she went back inside to consult the nurse and Shantala. "What's the matter?" Lily asked. "A young woman came and said that she is the temporary substitute nurse," Linda replied. Lily stood from her seat since she had been expecting the nurse Helios mentioned before. She went to the door and escorted Tricia inside, however, when the guest and her patient saw each other, she noticed the change in Shantala's expression. "Replica A1?" she muttered, wondering why she would suddenly appear again after some time. Tricia smiled and replied, "That used to be my name but my real name is Tricia. And I will be your nurse for the upcoming days." Shantala actually doubted her since they were not on good terms during
It was almost midnight and Hyperion had just gotten back from the company after dealing with the trouble that one of his employees brewed. Though, it was not fully resolved so he had to return anytime soon. It exhausted him but still, it did not stop him from heading to the Devon's residence to check on Shantala.It's already been almost a week since he last visited and he wanted to see how she was doing. Upon arriving at the house, he stopped in his tracks when he saw the kitchen lights on. Curious about whoever was in there, he took careful steps in order not to alert the person inside. Though, he was quite sure that it was no burglar or anything of that sort since he had the entire house under surveillance.When he stood by the entrance, he immediately recognized Shantala even though her back was facing him. She was wearing a white dress shirt which was obviously not hers but Gavin's since it was oversized, falling right to the middle of her thighs, covering her
"How dare you show up in this place!" Mr. Devon roared. "Up until now, can't that fucking tiny brain of yours realize that the cause of my son's death is you? Or do you just have no shame at all that you still chose to stay even though you ruined his life?!"The stinging pain on her cheek did not really matter to Shantala because it was not any more hurtful than losing her husband. The accusation that her father-in-law made against her did not affect her as well because she knew who was really at fault.Despite having the chance of getting another slap from him, Shantala still looked back at him with no sign of fear. She could see how enraged he was but, for sure, it was not because he lost Gavin but because he lost the chance of marrying him off to Phoebe Romalia.She scoffed. "Instead of pointing your finger at me, why don't you reflect on the actions you did? Didn't you threaten him to divorce me that was why he returned here? Didn't you want him to mar
Back in Vidale City, Mr. Devon was currently playing golf with his business partners. It was his usual hobby whenever things were going quite well. In the middle of their conversation, he received a call from one of the bodyguards staying in his son's residence."Sir, I just spoke with the attorney. Both Sir Gavin and Miss Kierra signed the divorce papers," he reported."That's great, that's great," Mr. Devon responded with a smile before ending the call. "We should celebrate.""For what occasion?" one of his business partners asked.They knew that Mr. Devon rarely held any sort of party so it made them curious as to why he would initiate a celebration."For a new beginning."Thus, in no time, the mansion of Mr. Devon was filled with people from different elite families. He was a bit disappointed, though, since Mr. Romalia was not there to celebrate the beginning of their soon-to-be prosperous business. "Hey, Dad," Amelia c
Mr. Romalia was quite puzzled. The successful separation of the couple should be something that his daughter should be happy about. However, she looked rather exhausted and no hint of happiness was on her. Plus, he noticed a bruise on her cheek."What happened? Shouldn't we celebrate such great news?""Gavin is rushed to the hospital. It... It seemed like his condition worsened because of my negligence. I just realized that Kierra is the only fitting woman to be his wife. I'm giving up."Upon hearing her reply, Hyperion immediately stood."Mr. Romalia, I apologize but let us discuss this matter further some other time. I will contact you as soon as possible." Even before Mr. Romalia could respond, Hyperion immediately ran out of the mansion and got into his car. At full speed, he rushed to the hospital. He very well knows that he promised himself that he should stay away from Shantala until her relationship with Gavin was legally severed
Gavin could only look away while Shantala left the living room. Staring up at the ceiling, he tried his hardest not to let a single tear escape from his eyes.A little while later, Phoebe came in together with his attorney. The first thing that the Romalia heiress looked at was the divorce documents. Upon seeing the signature of Shantala, she was over the moon that she immediately pounced on Gavin."We are getting married!" she exclaimed.The attorney cleared his throat to notify the young heiress that he was still there. He gathered the papers and put them back in his case before returning his gaze to Gavin."I will take care of the rest and make sure that Ms. Kierra will get her alimony as soon as possible." After saying that, the attorney left rolling his eyes to the side upon meeting the gaze of Phoebe.The young heiress was about to charge toward him but she calmed herself with the thought of acting as the perfect wife and partner fr
This was where Shantala got confused. She was sure that the dead person in that room was her mother but how come her death was not reported? And how come the police confirmed that she was that person instead?"How did you do that?" she asked. "You know, the thing wherein the police saw that the body was you?""Chiavelli actually paid the officers who investigated the scene. Thus, they ended up confirming that I was indeed that person. But as for the body..." Valerie looked away as she pursed her lips.She waited for her, not wanting to rush her or anything.After a minute, Valerie added, "It was someone else's body with the same face as mine. It may sound absurd but a few hours before the engagement party, she suddenly came out of nowhere and told me to help her. She was beaten up and clearly, she was so scared. What was even weirder about that incident was that she introduced herself as Replica A0."Shantala's eyes widened as she remembe
Since Shantala got into an agreement with the attorney, she let him go to the house first. She will, later on, be going back home to make it look like she has gone somewhere else. She simply feared that if she and the attorney went together, Gavin would become suspicious. Wanting to take her time, she was about to go to the grocery store only to bump into Valerie and Chiavelli.And now that she saw the person who claimed herself to be the original Tricia Vexmore, the questions she had on the day her trial turned into chaos came rushing back to her. Only weeks had passed ever since that day but Shantala felt like it was already years ago due to the consecutive stressful events she had gone through. And instead of greeting her, she just stood there staring at her with wide eyes.Thus, Valerie took the initiative to start their conversation. Besides, this might be the last time they will see each other. Chiavelli also left for them to have some privacy."It's