Austin’s POVI find the fact that Lucy is nervous because I told her she can't leave yet a bit amusing, and if I’m being honest, a little bit offensive.While I’m no saint, I’d like to think that I don’t in any way look like a kidnapper, serial killer, or hitman as she accused me of being either. However, I also have to admit that she’s right to be cautious.I wouldn’t have told her about her family just yet, but since she was becoming increasingly agitated, and the doctor emphasized that she needed rest, not more stress, I had to tell her to reassure her that I don’t have any evil plans for her.Watching her face light up with different emotions, ranging from disbelief to hope, and then pure joy, is very satisfying and rewarding for me after all the work I’ve done to find her.But then she utters some words that cause me to do a double-take.“Are you my brother? I have a brother?!"The question catches me off guard. How on earth can she think that I’m her brother? That’s preposterous
Lucy’s POVI'm a nervous wreck, but for a good reason this time around. It’s been two days since Nathan divulged the fact that I have blood-related family members to me, and today, I’m finally going to meet with them.There are several unanswered questions flying around inside my head … questions which Nathan is unable, or perhaps unwilling, to answer for me. He keeps telling me that I’m going to get the answers to all my questions once I meet with my family, so I have no choice but to wait and see.From the little I can decipher from what Nathan has told me about them, and even from the way Nathan looks and acts, I can tell that my family is wealthy, and this makes me even more nervous.What on earth are they going to think of me? I have next to nothing in my name, even though Austin is well-to-do.I was his secretary before we got married, after all, and secretaries don’t make a lot of money. Whatever I have to my name is definitely going to be a grain of sand in the ocean, compare
Lucy’s POVMy birth mother and I hug each other for what feels like an eternity, as we shed tears of joy. I don’t ever want to let go of her, and from how tightly she’s holding me, I can tell that the feeling is mutual.Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder, and so I pull away from my mother, at the same time that she pulls away from me. The hand belongs to my father, who is trying to comfort us both.He smiles warmly at me, and I return the smile and happily accept the hug he gives me. “I thought that it is a good idea to step in because left to your mother, she’ll stay here hugging you for a week at the very least.” He jokes, and my mother laughs.I’m glad he called her my mother, because I’ve been wondering if they’d want me to refer to them that way, and this answers my question. He is a very handsome man, and I have his eyes.“Oh, stop it, honey.” My mother says, giggling a little and swatting him playfully on the arm.My eyes well up with tears instantly again. It is very clea
Nathan’s POVIt’s been a long, fulfilling, and rewarding day. I'm dead tired, but also very happy. The ecstatic look on Mr. and Mrs. Lewis’s faces after I presented them with their long-lost daughter is the best thing that I have seen in a long while.I hum happily as I take a shower, and recline on my sofa to watch the news. Since I already ate a hearty dinner at the Lewis’s house, I'm not hungry.My phone rings while I'm watching the news, and I check the caller ID to see that it’s Diane who’s calling. She's the only one who calls me at this time of the night anyway.“Hello, Diane,” I say into the phone.“Hello, baby. How are you doing?” She asks me. Although I’m not comfortable with that term of endearment, I don’t say anything about it. I will find time to talk to her about how I see her as nothing more than a friend, and how she has to accept that, so she doesn’t get hurt in the long run. I can’t see her any other way, considering the fact that we grew up together, and while I'
Lucy's POVThe sun is shining through slits in the blinds of the large and luxurious room in my parent’s house when I wake up the next morning.The whole meeting still feels so surreal to me, like it’s a dream I’m going to wake up from any time now. In fact, I pinch myself to see if I'm going to wake up, but no, I don’t, because I'm already awake and this is no dream.It is my reality now. I’ve gone from being alone, with no one to call my own, to having a rich, influential family that is thrilled to find me in the blink of an eye. Happiness fills my entire being until it feels like I'm going to burst from it.Humming happily, I get out of bed and stretch luxuriously, then I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a quick shower, after which I head downstairs in search of my family. I find them downstairs in the grand living room and say a general greeting.“Ah, good morning, honey. I was just about to send someone to wake you up. We’re about to have breakfast. Did you sleep we
Lucy’s POVIt’s been a few days since I got the life-changing information that I’m now a multi-millionaire, and still, each day, I wake up surprised that it’s not all a dream.This morning, my mother and I went shopping for clothes for me. In my haste to leave Austin’s house, I didn’t take all of my clothes, and even the few I took along do not befit my new status as a multi-millionaire, or so Asher tells me, playfully, of course.I know that he’s right, though, and since it isn’t my intention to embarrass my family members, plus I now have more money than I would ever know what to do with, I let my mother take me shopping for new clothes.Now, we’re on our way to a shopping mall she owns, which she has been eager to show off to me.Once we get there, she shows me around the huge and classy mall, which is filled with numerous shoppers. No one pays us any attention, except for the staff, who, of course, knows who she is.They clearly don’t know who I am, though, because my parents are k
Lucy’s POVMy nerves are shot because it is today I'm going to start learning business management, something I know next to nothing about, as an intern at Nathan’s company.I’ve only ever worked as a secretary for my ex-husband, and this role I’m training for is very different from that. The last thing I want to do is to screw up, hence the nerves.However, I'm also a little excited and eager to learn and prove myself to my parents for the chance that they’ve given me and all that they’ve done for me in the little time that they’ve known me.Thus, I arrive promptly at Nathan's company at the stipulated time. I'm dressed impeccably in blazers and tailored trousers, and my hair is professionally done.The driver that my dad assigned me drops me off in front of the building, and I step out of the car, take a deep breath, and then go into the large and impressive building.In no time, I locate where I'm to work and exchange pleasantries with the people I’m to work with. It turns out that
Nathan's POV“Hello, Nathan. How are you doing?” Mr. Ralph Lewis, Lucy’s father, asks me over the phone.The man has been nothing short of grateful ever since I found Lucy, and finding her has made me even closer to the family.“I’m very well, sir, and you?”“I’m fine as well. Listen, son, I know you’ve done a lot for my family in recent times, and I’m very grateful for that, but I have one last favor to ask from you.”“Sure, sir. What do you need me to do?” I ask him.“It’s about my daughter, Lucy. As I hoped she would be, she’s very interested in learning my business and taking over it from me one of these days. So she needs to learn a lot of business skills in a short time. I was hoping you’d help me show her the ropes. I believe that no one can teach her as fast as you can.”“Of course, sir. That’s not a problem. I’ll be glad to teach her. Do send her to my office as soon as she’s ready to start.” I reply.“Thank you, son. I really appreciate your kindness and I’m indebted to you.
“Doris? Doris is here? What’s wrong with her?” Asher asks worriedly.For the first time since I’ve known him, every sign of playfulness is gone from his expressive face, and is now replaced by grave concern.I can sense Nathan’s reluctance to answer the question. He looks a little embarrassed, which is weird because there’s no reason why he should be embarrassed that his sister needs treatment.“She was beaten up pretty badly.” He says at last.“Beaten up? What the fuck? Who on earth would beat up Doris of all people? She’s the calmest and kindest person I know. Was it a robbery or something? Please tell me that it was!” Asher exclaims, but his tone says that he knows it wasn't.“Asher, calm down. No, it wasn’t a robbery. That bastard, Steven, was the one who did it. The police have been searching for him, but they haven’t found him yet.”Asher doesn’t look surprised, but he does look extremely furious. I have no idea who this Steven person they’re talking about is, but one thing I kn
Lucy’s POV I have never liked hospitals, but to be fair, I don't think anybody likes them. According to what I've been told, I spent almost six months in one, after I was found swaddled in a cardboard.Naturally, I don't remember that time, but I do remember when Amanda was hospitalized for a long time because she needed a heart transplant.That had been one of the scariest times of my life, as there was the possibility that I was going to lose the one person whom I loved most in the world.However, my fear of hospitals is the last thing on my mind as I pace up and down the hospital hallways, waiting for an update on Amanda. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing, and when I check it, I see that it’s my mom who’s calling. It is then that I realize that in my panic, I forgot to update her that I'm going to come back home very late. “Hello, Mom.”“Honey, where are you? I hope there’s no problem?" Her voice sounds worried.“I’m so sorry, Mom. I meant to inform you guys, but somehow, I got c
Austin’s POV“I think we should get married.”The words hit me like a ton of bricks, and I stare at Amy incredulously, wondering if she’s lost her mind.Get married? To her? That has to be the funniest joke of the century.As far as I'm concerned, we’re only fucking, and while I'm glad that she’s going to give me a baby, I sure as hell have no desire to be married to her, so what the fuck is she talking about?I just got out of a marriage, which ended because Amy was feeling spiteful and jealous of my wife, for crying out loud. The last thing I need is to jump headfirst into another marriage.“I’m not interested in getting married … not now, not anytime soon,” I tell her flippantly, and watch as her eyes become fiery orbs of anger.Nothing new there. Everything seems to annoy her nowadays. I don’t know if it’s the hormones from her pregnancy that’s causing it, or if she just gets easily irritated.Even my mom has been complaining about how rude Amy is to her. There’s no way I'm going
Lucy’s POVMemories from the past flash in my head as I make the drive down to the airport to pick up my friend, Amanda.They're not good memories, but they remind me of how Amanda has always had my back since I can remember, and how she's the closest thing I have to a sister.The memories range from ones of Amanda and me, hiding away from the mean girls who were hell-bent on making our lives pure hell in the orphanage, to ones of her protecting me with her body, and taking most of the beating that was meant for me, because I was the smaller, weaker one.She had always been the stronger one of the two of us, even though back then, she was no more than a child herself, and it remained that way until we grew up and parted ways when it was time for us to go to college.The panicked, broken, and scared voice I heard on the phone this morning though, sounds nothing like the strong, self-assured voice I'm used to, and it breaks my heart to bits.Something is wrong with my friend. I have to
Nathan’s POVEven though I had no idea that my sister was being physically abused by her husband, because she kept this information from me and our parents, I can't stop inwardly berating myself for not somehow figuring it out, and coming to her aid sooner.Naturally, she’s devastated to learn about the loss of her baby, and while I feel sad for her, I’m also relieved. It's probably callous of me to feel that way, but at least, this way, there won't be anything linking her to her abuser, so the likelihood that she will go back to him after all this will be reduced. The police still haven’t found Steven, and neither have we heard from him, which is for the best. After spending exactly a week away from work - I took a few days off after I got back - I finally resume back to work.Everyone is glad to see me, as I am to see them. I'm especially eager to see Lucy. She hasn't been with us for long, but she's fast becoming my favorite person at work, so I stop by her desk to say hello.As
Lucy’s POVFrom the little I manage to piece together from office gossip, I find that Diane and Nathan are in some relationship of sorts.“If you love your job, it’s better you stay away from the boss. She makes sure that any attractive female who comes here to work, and whom she thinks the boss may be interested in gets fired. I overheard her accusing the boss of being interested in you the other day.” Ashley, a young intern who has been here a few months before me, warns me out of the blues, as Diane emerges from Nathan’s office and begins to walk out of the building, her head held high.“Huh? What are you talking about?”“I’m talking about Diane. Nobody here likes her. She looks down on everyone and everything and thinks she’s better than everyone else. We all believe that the boss can do better than her, and we know he doesn’t really like her that much, at least not in a romantic way. She’s just forcing herself on him.”Nathan hasn’t been to the office in two days now, and no one
POV unknownIt’s a few minutes past midnight, which means that I should long have been asleep, yet sleep eludes me like a plague. The reason for my sudden insomnia is pure, unadulterated fear, coupled with anger. Yes, fear that the sins of my past are going to catch up with me long after I committed them.The anger is because the perfect plan that I hatched and perfected over the years is soon going to be messed up, big time, and all my patience over the years is going to be in vain.There’s no way on earth I'm going to let that happen, which means that I have to start thinking of the perfect way to get rid of the problem.This whole thing started just this afternoon. I was doing some late afternoon shopping when I heard the sound of twinkling laughter.Although my back was turned, which meant I couldn’t see who was laughing, I recognized that laughter immediately. It traumatized me enough when I was younger.When I turned to see who was laughing, it felt like I’d been slammed right
Nathan’s POVThe next hour is a blur that I can hardly remember. Somehow, I manage to dial 911 and give them all the necessary information. Luckily, help arrives fast, and soon, we’re on our way to the hospital, where she's admitted immediately. To my greatest relief, although my sister is unresponsive, she is still alive, and the paramedics begin to work on her immediately.I sit in the waiting room, feeling equal measures of rage and helplessness, and I call my parents to let them know what's going on. Finally, after some hours have passed, a doctor comes over to talk to me, his expression grim.“She’s suffered severe trauma from the beating she took. She’s still unconscious and will be for a while, but thankfully, we’ve managed to stabilize her. She’s lucky that you brought her in right on time. She’ll recover fully, but it will take time and patience. I hope that the person who did this to her will be found quickly, but even more importantly, I hope that she gets the help she nee
Nathan’s POVI’ve never liked late-night calls, so when my phone suddenly starts to ring sometime after midnight, I bolt upright in bed immediately to check who’s calling.My heart sinks with dread when I see that it’s my older sister, Doris, but I quickly answer the call."Doris? What's up?"“Nathan, he’s started acting up again. Can you come get me, please? It’s really urgent.” She whispers fearfully.“You fucking bitch! I thought I told you not to call anyone? Who the fuck are you talking to on the phone?” I hear Doris ask angrily, after which there comes the sound of a small crash and a yelp of pain from Doris.Every trace of sleep vanishes from my eyes, and I get up immediately, rummage through my closet, pick up the first trousers I can find, and shove my legs into them.“Doris, what’s going on? Talk to me, dammit!” I say into the phone, as I find a shirt and wear it.I do not get a response from Doris, despite desperately asking her several times what’s going on. Soon, the call