When the clock struck two in the afternoon and the sun rose high in San Francisco's sky, Seth's eyes slowly opened from a long drowsy sleep. They caught the ceiling of the room and he blinked several times to adjust his vision.At first, he felt immobile, his legs and arm laid stiffly on the bed and his body felt too heavy to move. His head pounded as if a thousand speakers were playing on his brain and he groaned. Damn, he must've drunk a ton the day before. He hadn't done that in a while and now he knew why. Getting hungover was the worst of all consequences. Slowly, he tried rolling his toes to improve his blood circulation and tapped his fingers against the bed to wake them up. What had happened the night before that had made him drink so hard? Seth closed his eyes to recollect but his head hurt too much to try and sighed. He would need Advil. A good thing he was in his mother's house then. They may disagree a lot, but she always kept a glass of water and some Advil on the beds
Isabella took a moment to reflect before straightening up to stretch her back. She had spent several minutes hunched over as she folded her baby's clothes into a big black travel box that was placed on her bed. She was wearing a long maxi purple dress and had her black hair tied up. It was completely full, and she was beginning to fear that there would be no room for their toys.She wiped sweat beads from her forehead as she glanced at her babies, who were soundly sleeping in the crib. Was she acting ethically? leaving San Francisco to return to Los Angeles? Shaking her head, she sighed. She was going to leave; she had made up her mind.As she tucked the final set of infant onesies into the bag, she tried to persuade herself that she should leave. Her urgent desire for employment was one of the main ones. She hardly knew anyone else outside of her mother in San Francisco... And Mrs Allen. But since she knew people in LA, it would be much simpler to find employment there. One who wouldn
"No." She whispered to herself as she slid down the wall. Her babies! He was going to take her babies! Isabella tugged at her hair that had fallen freely over her shoulders and felt anxiety cripple her nerves slowly. It didn't help that she was broke. A court case was impossible. She could barely afford her trip back to LA! Maybe he was joking. Isabella shook her head to shake the niggling hope away. He hadn't been joking. Dear God, Seth hadn't been joking! She had seen it in his eyes, the anger, he meant it. He meant every word of his. ...I'm done messing around, Isa...What would she freaking do if he took her children away? They were all she had left. Her everything! A sob tore low in n her throat and tears spilt from the side of her eyes. Isabella tried to swallow the sobbing sounds, but she felt so tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of struggling so hard. Tired of the drama. Tired of every freaking thing that happened. She was exhausted. And so she gave in to the pent-up emoti
The air felt so tense and thick, that Isabella thought it could be cut with a knife. She sat on the edge of her bed, still dressed in her maxi dress and had dragged the baby cot to herself so she could sit and peer at them, her mind roaming through all the possibilities.She had to find a way to keep her children to herself. Samuel cooed as she gently rocked the cot, occasionally giggling and opening his eyes lazily. His sister however remained fast asleep. Victoria was much calmer among the twins and she reminded Isabella of her sister. Rasing a thumb, she stroked the baby's cheek and giggled when Victoria's mouth opened. Almost immediately, tears spilt from her eyes. What would she do if Seth took them away? Would she even be allowed to see them or would she become completely nonexistent to the twins? A knock on the bedroom door startled her and she clutched the cot tighter to herself. "Isabella?" Her mom called out tentatively. "It's been like ten hours, honey. You can't lock yo
"Isabella, this has gone far enough!" Mrs. Rogers yelled outside the bedroom door. She had grown quite tired of her daughter's antics. Knocking harder, she yelled again. "Isabella!"Not getting a reply, she sighed. Sometimes, no, every time she missed her daughter, Irene. Irene Victoria had been calmer, sweeter and the stark opposite of Isabella. Of course, she would never compare the two sisters. She just silly missed having a cool-headed daughter who didn't make her stress or shout so much. But Irene's cool-headedness had cost her life. And her death had cost them their own family. It had caused Isabella to drift farther from her. And had sent her into this mess. Mrs. Rogers felt her heart beat in guilt. Somehow, she felt responsible. Responsible for Irene's death. Responsible for Isabella's pain. Her daughters had suffered in the hands of men and she always found out about it too late. How had she not suspected when Isabella first arrived in San Francisco? How had she not read t
Tired lines marred Seth's forehead as he took a bottle of gin from his mother's cabinet. His green eyes were concerned, they had lost their ever-present playfulness as he mulled over things in his mind.Grabbing a glass, he shifted to the sofa and poured himself a drink. He glanced around wondering where his mother had gone to. She seemed to have left in a hurry, he thought as he eyed her open windows. And when he had called her to tell him he had arrived, the place she was in was rather loud. "It can't be a club, can it?" He thought and chuckled at the vision of his mother in a nightclub, wearing a crop top and ragged jeans. "Nope. Definitely not a club."His phone buzzed showing the name Nate on the phone and he picked up the call. "Hey man? Have you arrived yet?"Seth took a sip of his gin and lolled the liquid about on his tongue for a while before swallowing. "Currently raiding my mother's gin collection.""Oooh, B's going to kill you." Nate sang and Seth laughed. "I'm her on
Isabella was dozing off when she heard a knock at the door and quickly flaunted her eyes open. She was very tired after feeding and taking care of the babies all through the night. Yeah, she should have been resting after she got discharged from the hospital about five days ago but she couldn't just continue to ignore her babies and allowed them to be continuously fed from a feeding bottle. She sighed as she wondered who it was that was there to disrupt the little time she had to relax herself before the two babies woke up again. The knock sounded again, this time, a lot louder than the previous one. "I'm coming." She yawned and quickly rushed to the door to see who was there. When she opened the door and saw who was there, she let out a surprised gasp. Her first thought was to slam the door on his face but she decided against it. "Why are you here?" By now, the sleep threatening to take over her completely vanished and her eyes were wide with shock.Seth ignored the woman and her s
"Welcome to the Allen villa, ma'am." A woman who looked to be in her late 50's welcomed Isabella.She and Seth and the babies just arrived at the compound where he lives. While Isabella was trying her best not to look surprised, it kept feeling like a mission impossible to her. Like who lived in such a big house alone? With just a maid?"This is Rita. She helps with the cleaning and every other household works. She only comes here in the morning and once she is done with the chores, she leaves," Seth explained to her."Oh," she nodded her head to show that she understood the explanation. Then, she turned in the direction of the older lady, "Thank you for the warm welcome." She extended her hand out, "I'm Isabella. And please, just call me that, and not ma'am.""Where did you find her, Seth? She's such a keeper!" Rita squeaked, hugging Isabella firmly.Isabella was surprised that the woman was calling her boss by name. So, she turned a questioning look at Seth who just shrugged."She's