~ANASTASIA~I was here, physically, but my mind wasn't. I sipped on my tea before my thoughts consumed me.I still didn't understand how Juliette was Mr. and Mrs. Grant's daughter while she was working for Hudson; it just didn't make sense.Last night, after seeing the picture, I kept it to myself but didn't know how to act, so I made up a lie that my stomach was upset and then left without speaking to Mr. Grant.Luckily I still didn't find William or Jimena, which was unusual as the Jimena I knew wouldn't give me a chance to rest. Well, I thought maybe they were at a hotel or something, which was not my concern as at least I was left alone.Today I woke up and found that they were not yet back. I was happy, but when I reached the office and found that William was not there too, I got a little worried and was going to call him if not that Vivi had called earlier, and of course, I told her I was going to call William, but she forbade me from doing so. She even asked why I still had his
~JIMENA~I was feeling much better; meeting them was really a great idea because they calmed me. They assured me that everything would work out; I was not going to lose William, and the baby was going to be born. Yes, I was not pregnant, but we had another plan.I parked the car and took a deep breath as I was about to go inside where I knew my mom was waiting to force me to make the video, which I was now more than happy to make.I was just about to open the car door when my phone started to ring. I didn't want to pick it up, but seeing it was my mother, I rolled my eyes and picked it up.“I'm outside.”“Good, now go in there and get your pretty face crying.”“Wait, you're not home?”“I came for a drink; this might be my last night out.”“Yes. I mean, I'm going to make the video now.”“You better, because if I go down—”“I’m coming with you; I got that part okay.” I cut her off as she was beginning to irritate me.“Good, now let me not distract you.” And with that, she ended the call
My whole body was shivering, and I knew standing further would just make me faint, so I sat on the bed and I tried to put myself together; it was very difficult with William standing in front of me as he waited for an explanation, which I didn't have.I just blamed myself for purchasing online and having them deliver to this address; what even came over me?“That's it? You're not going to explain this?” I heard him ask; his voice sounded harsh, and it hurt me because William, no matter the mistake I made, would always side with me. He never lost his cool with me. I sent Anastasia a vibrator on their anniversary; it was very disrespectful, and I knew it was, but William just warned me not to do it again.Whenever we were out, I would take pictures and send them to Anastasia, but he would do nothing. I even intentionally bullied her in his face but he still sided with me, now hearing him shout at me caused my heart pain.“Jimena?!” he yelled, and that's when I let tears roll down my che
~ANASTASIA~I was very shocked hearing Mrs. Grant say that. I then agreed to go to a cooking lesson with her as I wanted to hear what she knew and why she did what she did—putting me in the same room with William.I couldn't even concentrate. I really wanted to hear Mrs. Grant out, so as soon as it was lunch, I informed Sebastian I had something important to attend to. Of course, he tried to stop me, but I used William. I told him how I didn't have a partner, and he fell for it as he let me go.Outside, I didn't even need to tell my driver where I was going, as he told me Mrs. Grant had informed him already.In the car I kept my mind busy by thinking of Hudson's situation; I didn't understand why he didn't want his child when even the devil rushed and took me to the hospital to get me tested when he heard I was pregnant. I could read William, so when the doctor told him I was not pregnant, I could tell what he was feeling. I wasn't sure at that time, but now thinking of it, William lo
I was so upset. I remember Hudson speaking to me about announcing the pregnancy as his. I asked him to wait; I was still thinking about it. I know Vivi told me it was a great idea; that that way I could get rid of William, but there was no getting rid of William. We had Ivy, and no matter what, we would still be connected.I calmed myself, as I didn't want to cause a scene, but I knew if I stood there any longer and pretended everything was okay, I would be lying to myself, and all I wanted was to confront Hudson about it, so I gave Mrs. Grant her phone back and told her I had to go. She tried to stop me, but I didn't listen, and not wanting to cause a scene, she let me go.I was already outside about to enter the car when my phone started ringing; I quickly reached for my handbag and picked it up.“Santiago?”“I saw the news; I'm so proud of you.”“What news?” I asked, entering the car.“The pregnancy, you don't know how much you saved our family’s name. Finally, you are doing someth
Years back I would immediately cry; whenever Carol said something bad to me, I would cry—cry to William, who never did a thing about it. Well, I thank God for my experience because now I know how to defend myself; calming myself, I cleared my throat and asked her what she was talking about.“It is not a joke.”“I know it's not; that's why I'm confused. What do you mean by my baby is my ex-husbands’? Did Hudson say that?”“Hudson is a fool, but I'm not. There's no way you got pregnant when you rarely spend time—”“When I was in Sedona, I met Hudson.”“W-what?”“How sure are you that we were not having an affair? How sure are you that we didn't sleep together, Mrs. Frost, or do you have cameras installed in his apartments?”“No, it's impossible.”“Hudson and I are expecting our first child. Yes, Maddison is pregnant too, but I'm his legal wife, and the public will support me.” I really didn't want to do this with her, but if I had to defend myself, this was the only way.“No, that baby
~ANONYMOUS~I took off my coat and gave it to the guard waiting by the door before I stepped in. I went straight to where everyone was, and reaching there, I found that they were seated, already discussing ideas, so I walked to the head seat and joined them.I remained silent as I listened to their ideas, but none were impressive, so I asked them to keep quiet.“How far are we with the girl?”“She's ready to step into the world,” one of them answered.“And she knows what we want?”“She wants the same.”“But you know only one can get it right?”“Yes, we use her; after she gets what we want, we take it from her.”“By holding something against her while she's still on our side.”“And do you have anything?”“Not yet, but we will soon. If we don't find any, we will create our own.”“Good, an update on Ms. Lancaster?”“Still in Los Angeles, she hasn't fallen for Mr. Frost, but her love for Mr. Rogers is dying.”“Why do you say so?”“She doesn't look at him the same way, and with the way she
~HUDSON~After hearing Williams' voice, Anastasia ended the call which left me feeling uncertain as I ran a hand through my hair.I didn't want to overthink it, Anastasia admitted to not wanting William to know of the baby so it was alright, if William was there she was going to tell him the baby was mine and she would do anything to get away from him, she was Anastasia, she wouldn't cheat on me even if the man was who she loved.“Shit.” I cursed under my breath and then dialed a contact.“Mr. Frost?”“I asked the reporter not to publish anything without my permission; I was going to ask Anastasia for permission first.”“I understand, but you know how untrusted reporters are; a little gossip like that looks like clicks and paid pages; they can't just take your word for it,” Juliette said, and she was right; I shouldn't have mentioned that in my interview, but the interview was a few weeks ago. Why did they wait until now?“It doesn't matter; I know that the reporter wouldn't mention a
Vivi abruptly ended the call, and knowing Vivi well, I knew there was going to be trouble. She was someone who never took betrayal, so turning to Trey, I spoke:“You did not kill Dad; it was his time to go, and it just so happened you were the one with him, but he is gone now. Drinking, gambling, or even getting into fights won’t bring him back; it will just bring more problems. Santiago is not well; you know how death reminds him of Susanna. Everything is on Gianna now, which is not fair. Get treated and get back on your feet; help Santiago like he had helped us.” I said it in one breath, and I don’t know if he was listening, but he was quiet.“I’m leaving now; the doctor will come and treat you. Once you’re good, I want you to go back to the mansion and take it from there. I can’t do it; I’ll be going into labor soon.” Standing up, I walked toward the door and was met with Nicole, Hudson, and a man, who by his dressing code I recognized was a doctor. “He’s ready for you. Hudson; we
I didn't know where to even start, but as Nicole said, if I didn't show up, Trey might die, and I knew how stubborn Trey was, so telling Hudson who was waiting for me to explain, I turned to leave, but he, of course, stood in my way.“You've just regained your consciousness, you need rest.”“That same consciousness won't let me rest, knowing my brother is about to die.”“I'll take care of it, take a bath, have dinner, and relax, Trey will be fine, I'll—”“I'd rather go there. I hadn't seen him in a while. I need to speak to him,” I insisted, and Hudson, seeing I wasn't giving in, had no choice but to allow me to go with him.Everything moved so fast that, before I knew it, we were in the car. Matt drove us to Williams' home.“Vivi, can I call you back?” I said as I picked up my ringing phone.“I can't wait, Ana, I need you.”“Alright, what happened?” I said, rubbing my forehead.“It's Harriot. He doesn't want to leave prison, he thinks he deserves it. He said he would be pleading guil
I wish I could say Carmen had an explanation for this, but she didn't. Instead, she looked down, avoiding me, and that was enough to give me an answer… I really couldn't deal with this right now, and just as I was about to say my goodbye because with how this turned out, she didn't deserve to be here, she had to leave even if I had to kick her out myself, well, that's when someone knocked, and I asked them to come in.“It’s your phone, Mrs. Frost.” It was the servant who took my handbag earlier; I had forgotten that my phone was in the bag, so looking at Carmen one last time, I walked out, taking my phone from the servant.“Santiago?”“Hi, Ana. Are you with Hudson? Is… it true?”“W-what's true? Can you calm down?”“He… Susanna…”“Yes, what about her?”“Her death… it wasn't natural; someone caused it.”“What?!” Okay, what was this?“Hudson just called.”“Hudson? But how…?” I stopped myself as I thought for a second, how did Hudson know about Susanna? “How does Hudson know about Susanna
I couldn't even imagine what she was feeling; it was painful, and the thought made me wish I could erase her memory so she could start afresh like she said because I will not be able to count the times I wanted to start over.When Mom passed…I even traveled, but of course, I never succeeded, and don't get me started on when I was married to William; if it weren't that I loved him, I could have started over long back.I wouldn't be here now.I would be in Africa; it's the most affordable and quiet continent, or… England, for a good education for my daughter.Yes, I booked tickets for both continents. I even spoke to apartment owners. Well, like I said, if I didn't blindly love William because I would make up my mind, Vivi would be there waiting, but as soon as William walks in and I see his thin lips and muscles, everything would go hazy, and I would forget to go to the airport.Well, I was stupidly in love back then, and no, I wasn't blaming myself or William; everything happens for
The maid looked confused like I had just said something that was not making sense.“She’s only been gone for a few hours; the police would advise us to wait.”“It doesn’t matter; this family has been in danger lately; we can’t risk another life now; call 911.”“Alright, Mrs.” She finally walked to the telephone while I stood still for a second as I wondered why she didn’t look worried. I mean, didn’t Gianna know, Carmen? Because Margot was the head, she was like family, and despite the betrayal, she still did a lot for this family. Sure, she was paid to do it, but nobody paid her to love us like her children, so she was still very important to the family.After calming down, I finally looked up. Well, my hate for stairs came with the pregnancy. I sighed and was going to give it a try when one of the servants came from the stairs, struggling with a big suitcase.“Wait, whose bag is that?” I asked as looking at it, I could tell someone packed to leave, not for vacation.“Mrs. Lancaster.
Wow, this was something I never expected. I mean, it was Jimena; she always wanted William, so of course she would do anything to be with him, including faking a pregnancy, which is truly hard to believe. As I was a mother, I would never fake a pregnancy.After calming myself down, I asked my assistant to get the job done, getting the cleaner to clean the place. I asked her to supervise as I needed the desk scrubbed or, if possible, changed.“Send me the documents to my email; I will have a look at home,” I said before finally leaving.I could tell the employees were giving me eyes; I knew they knew, but I didn't have the time; I needed to get to the house so I could speak to Carmen about her daughter; something really needed to be done.“Hudson can take down any news reports, right?” I asked Matt as I got in, and he nodded his head, “If I ask him, he might not believe me, or better yet, he will just think I'm hallucinating.”“I can do it, Mrs. Frost; you don't have to ask him.”“News
She sounded confident, making me gasp in shock; her confidence shocked me. I mean, this was absurd; this company was mine. It didn't matter if she managed it for a month or so; I was the rightful owner, and no board member would choose who to manage as this was Adira, very different from all other companies.Hearing the knock on the door, I walked and got it.“Mrs. Frost.” It was the Director, also a board member. “I was in—”“Get security; we have a trespasser.”“I—”“Now and let others know that they won't be voting; I am back.”“Yes, Mrs. Frost, guard!” He called for a guard who I assume was patrolling.“Wait, you're not serious, are you?”“If I were you, I would use the few minutes I have to button up my shirt and leave as soon as possible because I am very sure reporters are on their way. See, we have spies here, and they probably heard of this.”“Oh, I don't care. Like you said, I'm not a Lancaster; I have no reputation to uphold.”“Even better, the media will destroy you as an
I mean, she is a cheater since she slept with Harriot too, but Daniella was new and a woman, so how did they already hit it off?I silently watched as she asked Jimena to excuse us—she even called her babe?…Well, Jimena, who looked ashamed as she couldn't even meet my eyes, rushed out, leaving Daniella and me alone.“Why are you here?” was the question she thought was important, “an hour ago you were enjoying your series looking all miserable, and now you're here all… dressed? What's this? A comedy? Are there hidden cameras I don't know about?” She started looking around, making me shake my head. “Ana, you—”“Do you know she's married?” I cut her off with a question, sure, after what William made me go through, Jimena cheating on him shouldn't be my concern; in fact, it should make me happy, but I wasn't a fan of cheaters, so this disturbed me.“Excuse me?”“Jimena and I didn't know you liked women, but to do it in my office? Now that's unacceptable.”“Wait, wait, wait, did…” She lau
I was waiting for Hudson to explain why I couldn't go, but he just swallowed his saliva, insisting that I couldn't just go. Well, I really wanted to see my company, so not listening, I told him I would be back before dinner.“Actually… I'm thinking the restaurant. Feels like I've been locked up here for years.” I added it before finally leaving.Outside I was glad to find Matt already waiting by the car.“Mrs. Frost.” He said as he held the door open for me, at least he was the only one who wasn't looking at me like I was a ghost or something.“Thank you, Matt,” I said as I got in, and after closing the door, he got in the driver's seat, and without saying a word, started the car.The ride to the company was quiet.I was wondering what was happening with Hudson, why he didn't want me to come to my company. Well, I was suspecting the part about Dad because he also asked that I not see him, but I didn't want to overthink it; it would just give me unnecessary stress.I was lost in my tho