CHAPTER 45DEVON'S POVI have always found her breath taking. Her smile, her cerulean eyes so full of life and her bubbly personality. She made me want to be around her all the time. My heart ached for more than just friendship but I was afraid. She was my best friend and I didn't want to ruin it. What if she didn't feel the same way about me and I ended up complicating things? What if she rejects me if I tell her how I felt? Things between us would become awkward and that wasn't good, especially since we were partners at work too. So I bottled up my feelings and stuck by her side as her friend and someone who would always be there for her.I looked up and saw her walking towards me, her brown hair a shade of red under the sun. She smiled immediately her eyes met mine but there was sadness in them. I knew her like the back of my hand. I guess she'd had the talk already."Hey partner." I called, my arms open wide. She walked right into my arms and buried her head on my chest sobbing qu
CHAPTER 46ARIANA'S POVSilence hung in the air, stretching for a few seconds. My words sounded like a bombshell and for those silent moments, multiple shocked faces stared back at me. I stood in front of my parents, my sister and her family, my luggage behind me."What do you mean you're returning to London? Why would you do that?" My mother asked."I've told you already that there are dangerous people there, people from your past who will hunt you until they bring you to nothing." My father added.Sophie said nothing, a bewildered expression on her face. It seemed like her worst nightmare was coming to reality."I remember everything now." I told my parents.They looked at each other, stunned."You do? How..?" My mother asked, looking at Sophie."I can't believe you did that to me. How could you all lie to me for such a long time?""We were only trying to protect you Ariana. What was the point in remembering things that would only cause you pain? You left to protect your child and t
CHAPTER 47LORENA'S POVIt was Maria's day off, and a few days after the shooting incident. Andrew was feeling a lot better now but he still needed to heal completely before returning to the office. Alfredo had been holding things down in the meantime. I was in the kitchen now, making breakfast. I'd finished making some pancakes and wanted to make some scrambled eggs when my phone rang. I picked it up and stared at the screen. It was my mom.I hadn't spoken to her since I'd confronted her about my identity. I knew she would be worried about me but I wanted to fix this myself. Andrew wasn't a bad person and frankly, I was starting to like living with him. This was the first time I was actually living. When I first got here, I was angry at Andrew for taking me and looked forward to the day my parents would take me home, but I didn't feel that way anymore. I couldn't go back to being locked up again and I definitely didn't want to deal with my father's gambling anymore. I would work har
CHAPTER 49ANDREW'S POVI hadn't been to the office in days. It wasn't strange because I went on a lot of business trips and was sometimes too busy to show up at work but this time, it was definitely obvious that I'd gone AWOL.Trisha had been calling me. I'd seen several calls from her but I wasn't interested in speaking to her. She was supposed to give me some space for the one month I was given. Her persistence wasn't going to make me change my mind. She wasn't the woman for me. I knew that too well."Are you ready?" Lorena asked, entering my room."I am, are you?"She nodded and walked up to me. She reached for my tie and helped me fix it. "Are you sure you'll be okay? I think you still need to rest till you're fully healed.""I'll be fine, don't worry. I won't be able to rest easy if I can't monitor the company. I also need to get started with the new project. The sooner I can meet with Jonathan Railings, the better." I replied. "You look really beautiful." I added, taking the ti
CHAPTER 49ZOILA'S POVThe house was at the outskirts of the city, old and lonely, almost empty but we could tell there was someone inside from the smoke coming out of the chimney. After all the digging and non-stop investigation, we ended up here, Dev and I.We had done everything we planned to do; read through the documents from the accident and gathered a list of people who were never found at the scene of the accident. We also got the names of people who were found but did not reconnect with their families. I reached out to them from the numbers in the log book and most of them confirmed that they reunited with their families on a later day, others had changed their numbers and so there was no way to reach them. Devon called the women who had been travelling with babies to find out if they had found their children after the accident or if they lost them at sea.We did everything we could, really but got nothing. My mom and Dad found out we were looking into the accident, their co
CHAPTER 50LORENA'S POVThere was absolute silence at the table where the four of us sat. It was still quite early in the day so the restaurant wasn't filled with people, they were probably at work already.Andrew had managed to send Trisha away despite how curious she was to understand the situation and find out what was happening. She was beyond pissed when Andrew told her to leave and not come back to the company if it wasn't work related. He had driven us to a restaurant away from the office so we could talk without being watched.I thought I would have a lot to say when I finally met my mother. I had imagined it in my had so many times, went over the questions I would ask her. I even imagined how I would feel; Angry, disappointed, pained? But right now, I couldn't explain what I felt and every question I had flew out the restaurant's window."Your father is on his way here." My mother announced. "We all need to be here to talk about this and about the way forward after everything
CHAPTER 51ARIANA'S POVMy hands were queasy and moist and I wiped them severally on my dress. The others had left us alone to talk so we sat, facing each other in awkward silence. We had both ordered coffee and some cake. We took a few bites in silence. I had never been this nervous in my life, not even when Jonathan had told me he still loved me years after his marriage. This was so much different. I knew I had told her that she didn't have to accept me, that she didn't have to go home with me and let me be her mother for once, but in truth, that was all I wanted and it would be devastating if she didn't want me in her life.I took a sip of my iced Americano and studied her features as I looked at her. She had similar features to mine but her smile was definitely Jonathan's. She had a dimple on both her cheeks which I didn't have. She got it from her father. Her face shape was his too. I knew this because I knew him pretty well and his face was still etched on my mind. I had forgott
CHAPTER 52JACOB'S POVAndrew had always been a smart kid. Right from when he was little, he got the best grades and won a lot of medals from being first place on difficult exams and competitions. I had high hopes for him. Alex did good too, but he didn't come close to Andrew. I did my best to love them both equally and not pick favorites but I couldn't help but have a special place in my heart for Andrew. I didn't let it show, at least I thought I didn't.But things began to change as he grew up. When he started highschool, I thought it best to let them in on the business and how things worked but it turned out Andrew had a different mindset from mine. He was a softie and thought the world was all rosy and green. He began to question the way I ran my business and never agreed with me on anything. He must have known I wanted him to take over from me, he was more than capable and he knew it, Alex did too but he didn't want to.He saw me like the devil himself because of where I came fr