POV: Victoria
It’s just one week after moms surgery, I was taking care of her while Claire gets the house ready for her return. She will be discharged today and I want everything in order before she gets home. She’s been acting strange since her surgery, I guess she is tired of this hospital environment. We need to take her back home and take proper care of her. She was lying peacefully on the bed, taking a nap while I put her things together. Then suddenly, the door to her hospital room pushed open, and I turned to Carl standing by the door, glaring at me. “My boss wants to see you in his office!” he stated brusquely. “Right Now!” he added in a fierce tone, giving me no chance to argue or refuse his request. I had no choice, he looked as if he was ready to drag me out if I dare to defy him. So I had to leave mom all alone in the hospital and follow him out. I had no idea what was going on, I’ve been to busy to play with my phone and surf the Internet. I don’t leave mom’s bedside unless I want to take a breath of fresh air for a few minutes. When I stepped out of the building with Carl, I noticed a group of people gathered in front of the building taking pictures of me and asking each other questions. These looked like reporters taking pictures of a celebrity, I was going to explain to them that they are mistaking me for someone else because I’m not a celebrity, I don’t even have a good job. But Carl pulled be away from them, shielding me as he forced me into a car and drove off with speed. “You are now a celebrity, you used my boss to gain popularity, are you happy now? Your face is all over the internet, on blogs and papers. Reporters are struggling to get your pictures and grant you interviews. I guess you got what you wanted after all,” he told me in mocking tone. He scoffed and focused on the road, calling me a gold digger without saying the word. I grabbed my phone and got on the internet immediately. I did not believe one word he just said until I saw the news with my own eyes. There are pictures and videos of Raphael and I. The stories circulating the Internet was that Raphael bullied me to date him. I can imagine how furious he would be right now. But its not my fault he let the press get too close to take pictures of us, is it? “What the hell is going on here? You can’t possibly think that I did this, why would I want to be in a scandal with your weird boss?” I asked angrily. But he did not flinch, he did not even act as if I was talking to him. He simply ignored me and took me to his furious boss who started yelling at me the moment I walked into his office. He’s the billionaire here, he should have made sure this never happened. Why the hell is he blaming me for this? “Are you trying to test my limits or what? Are you courting death!” He screamed at my face angrily. “I could make you disappear without traces, I could… I could…” he stuttered furiously, his eyes filled with anger. I did not say a word, I think this is a plot to get me in bed again and I’m not falling for it. He is a freaking billionaire, his family owns half of this city. If those pictures are out, it means he let it leak out, not me. “What do you want from me? Are you torturing me because I owe you money?” I asked him, my eyes fixed on him. He looked back at me for a while, then he leaned his back on the couch and started at me some more, making me feel uncomfortable. “If this is about the money, please say so immediately. Stop making me feel guilty when I didn’t do anything wrong.” I told him sternly as I put my elbow on his table and leaned on them, fixing him a stern gaze. They said he is unable to look anyone in the eye because when he was a child, he suffered from a rare condition called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). But he doesn’t flinch when he speaks to me, and he feels comfortable looking into my eyes. “Could they be lying about his condition?” I thought within me. “These rumors will tarnish my image and cause damage to my company. My grandfather already believes the rumors, my mom is going crazy about it. We need to fix it, we need to make it go away.” He responded calmly. “Your reputation, your company, and your grandfather… What has that got to do with me?” I asked him, contorting my eyebrow curiously. “As far as in concerned, all I owe you is money, and as soon as mom gets settled in at home, I’ll go back to work and start pay you back your money.” I told him firmly, stating the facts “What if you don’t have to pay me back that money, what if you never have to go back to being an escort?” he asked me, his eyes fixed on mine. I sat up immediately my eyes dangling with excitement as I looked at him curiously. He did not continue immediately, he let my imagination run wild, letting me wait impatiently for his answer. “W… W… What are talking about?” I asked him, trying not to sound too desperate or greedy. He smiled and leaned forward to look at me more closely “I’m talking about the rumors, Victoria. I will not deny the rumors, and neither will you. You will pretend to be my girlfriend, and after a few months, we’ll announce our engagement to the world. We are getting married soon, Vic,” He told me, saying it as if it was just a mere business contract. “You know what? You are insane! I can see that the rumors about you are all true. If you think I would get involved with you just because of money, then you need to think again. I’m not getting involved in this scandal, sort it out yourself!” I yelled in his face and walked away. He is toying with me because of a few thousand dollars he lent to me. I heard him chuckle as I headed for the door. That made me so pissed and I slammed the door so hard as I got out. I’ve never been this humiliated before, I feel so hurt and broken. He’ll keep coming back to me as long as I owe him money, I have to swallow my pride and do something I have not done in twelve years. I took a cab to my father’s house, the mansion we used to live in before he brought in his mistress and her daughter and kicked us out of the house. The security at the huge gate let me in because they still recognized me. As I walked down the driveway to the huge mansion, I thought of my beautiful childhood and how Claire and I used to play in this huge compound when we were kids. I got to the door and pressed the doorbell, waiting for the butler or maid to open the door. But no one did, and I heard some voices at the garden where mom and dad used to sit always when they want to be alone. I went around the back and to my greatest surprise, my moms garden has been transformed to an outdoor pool and lounge. I wanted to scream in rage, but I just had to let it go because I really need him to help us this time. “Look dad, it’s your bastard daughter,” Cindy lets out in disgust when she spotted me walking towards them. She was the first to see me, and her outburst brought their attention to me immediately. “What the hell is she doing here?” my step mother asked my father, her eyes blazing in anger. Then she turned to me with a fake smile that tells just how much she detests me, “We don’t have leftovers to give to paupers, child. Why don’t you come back after we have fed the dogs, maybe they’ll let you have their leftovers for you and your dying mother!” she told me in a mocking tone, causing Cindy to burst into a fit of laughter.POV: RaphaelIt took a few days for the girls to get back on their feet. Turns out the poison Eloise used on them is a deadly chemical that could turn them invalid for the rest of their lives if not handled properly. If they had stayed there longer for her to administer another dosage, it would have been detrimental to their health. Good thing we got to them on time, good thing we took her out before she could hurt them more than she already has, especially Victoria who is a few weeks pregnant with my child. She had no idea she was pregnant, I had no fucking idea. It was discovered during her body exam at the hospital, and I couldn’t be happier in my life. This changes everything…It doesn’t just validate our relationship; it’s going to keep every other man away from her; it will be the one reason why I will fight everyone, including my grandfather, just to keep her. I couldn’t take my eyes away from her, even when she fell asleep on the hospital bed. It’s amazing to know that a lit
POV: VictoriaSo it turns out that Eloise Kendall was still lying and playing games with us down to the last minute. After the building exploded, Raphael got up as fast as he could and ran up to me, making sure I was okay. Miguel was here the next second, and they smothered me with love and care, checking to see if I was not hurt. “Claire…My sister…Where is my sister, where is Claire?” I managed to ask in my confused state, turning around to find her. They heard me asking for her, and they turned around with me, searching for her. We spotted her in Dominic’s arms as he struggled to get her to wake up.“No! No! No! No!Claire!Wake up!Claire!” I called out to her, struggling to get up but failing miserably as usual. Raphael took one look at me, and he turned in my direction, and he knew I needed my sister. “Stay with her; keep her safe!” he told Miguel as he left my side and ran to Claire’s side, administering mouth-to-mouth while Dominic called out to her, yelling at the top of h
POV: Victoria“Move away from here; she has a bomb; she is going to kill us all!” I yelled in Carl’s direction as I saw him approaching us slowly, thinking that my Mom was not seeing him. Of course, she is seeing him through the device in her hand; she knew the moment they took off the power grid that they were here. She came up to us and smiled excitedly, clapping her hands as if it were the happiest day of her life.“The guys are here to save you. Your Prince Charming has arrived, and they came prepared to save you. Are you not excited?” She asked us, smiling so happily. I turned to Claire in fear, and she had the same look of fear on her face, too. “Let them go, Mom; they don’t have to die because of us,” I begged her.“Of course, they do. Why the hell would you ever think that they deserve to live, why would you think that?” she asked me angrily.“I have been waiting for them for so long, they are the reason why we are still here. Of course, they would get what they deserve; the
POV: Raphael“How is he?” I asked Miguel a few minutes later after he spoke to the guys he put in charge of his parents. We have been waiting for their report and for a minute there we thought that something bad has happened, we thought they were under another attack from Eloise. We were contemplating whether or not to cancel the mission tomorrow and go back to Havana to save the Myers and get them out of town before coming back to face Eloise. But the call came in just a few minutes before we made the decision to cancel the mission. Turns out that the guys are even more efficient than we thought. Immediately after Shaun came out from surgery, they moved him and the Myers out of the hospital and took them to a safe house outside the city. “You did good, guys; I’m proud of you. Where are they now? Where did you take them?” he asked the boys after confirming that they were safe. “I’m sorry boss, but we can’t disclose our location to anyone yet, not even you, Mr Myers.” They told him
POV: RaphaelWe were all awake all night, going over the plans over and over again, looking for any flaws. Dominic and I did not have any misunderstanding as we worked together, in fact, you will never know that we even had a fight before we started. Saving the girls is more important to us and that’s what we focused on.We could not walk up to the front gate together because that was where she was expecting us to follow. We flew a drone over the property, and we saw that half of her security guards were stationed at the entrance, waiting patiently for us. I’m sure that she must be expecting us to show up at her gate any moment from now. I mean, she wasn’t expecting us to back down, was she?“Get the helo ready, we leave two hours after the ground team,” I instructed Carl. We decided to split the teams into two so one team could create a diversion while the second team sneaks into the house and saves the girls. We agreed to use a helicopter to drop a few guys on the building while th
POV: Raphael“If you are here to give me attitude and make my job more difficult for me, I suggest you get the fuck out of here right now. I’m too busy to deal with your attitude, Raphael, I mean it!” He told me furiously, glaring daggers at me. It’s obvious to everyone looking that this guy is angry with me for a completely different reason. I mean, he cannot be this furious because I said I wasn’t helping, right?“I’ll do anything to save Victoria, even if it means putting up with your bullshit!” I told him, repeating my earlier response and ignoring his earlier comments about my attitude.“Are you testing my patience? Are you trying to piss me off?” he yelled at me, letting the others turn to us curiously as they wondered what was going on between us. I turned to face him and he came to stand in front of me, glaring at me as if he wanted to punch me.“If you have something to say, why don’t you say it to my fucking face, Dominic. You keep saying you have moved past my betrayal, but