MasukThe harsh sunlight of the morning must have been the reason I woke. The first thing I noticed was that the bedroom I was in was unfamiliar, the bedroom was quite spacious and well furnished.
My head pounded and I barely could remember what happened from the night before and wait why was I in a strange bed and a strange house. Why was I here? Where is Jas……
I choked down a sob, the memory came flooding back and suddenly the tears I was trying so hard to hold came flooding out. I didn’t deserve, I never even wanted to be married in the first place. I did and I fell in love with a man who played me and even go ahead to be cheating on me with my best friend.
I must have sobbed for maybe a full twenty minutes before I realized that Jason wasn’t worth crying for. Maybe it was also my fault, if only I was only to give him kids.
“You done?” came that vaguely familiar voice and I whirled around to find that man from yesterday staring at me. His presence suddenly made the room feel like it was closing on me, his frame alone filled the door.
“You” I frowned when I remembered what he did yesterday. “You drugged me, made me go to sleep” I said with a scowl and he shrugged.
“You were a fucking mess, had to put you to sleep, you were raving on about some “Jason” in your sleep too” he said and I turned away.
Shit
“I don’t know who that is” I lied and his green eyes suddenly bore into mine like he could see clearly see that I was lying. It took all my willpower not to look away, and I would have did if not that the green in his eyes looked so mesmerizing, as if it was pulling me in—holding me in some kind of trance.
“Is he the reason you’re crying?” He asked and I stared at him in surprise. How perceptive can he be?
“No” I stuttered and he cocked his head to the side, he leaned into the door frame.
“That doesn’t sound convincing” he said and I glared at him already disliking the persistent.
“You’re Fucking persistent. I don’t need to be…….”
“You curse?” He interrupted and I stopped, he walked over till he was standing in front of me, he towered over me making me tilt my head.
“Who doesn’t?” I countered and he smiled or just the barest hint of one.
“Fair point” he said. His eyes skimmed over my face in concern. “You should get a bath”
“Why?” I said suspiciously and he shrugged.
“You reek” he said simply and leaned in “Of alcohol” he whispered in my ear and I shivered. I took a step back, afraid of my own body reactions to a mere whisper. I stared at the huge glass windows and nodded.
“Thank you…..for Uhh last night” I said to him and he nodded, he pivoted on his heel and walked away. I let out the pent up breath I had been holding up. I don’t know, but standing so close to him made my head dizzy like I was high on something and I blushed.
I didn’t spend long in the shower because of how self conscious and weird I was feeling, when I came back to the bedroom a new set of clothes were laid out on the bed for me. I picked them up and I gasped, it was my favorite gown, how did he…….
Nevermind.
I must have mumbled it all in my drunken sleep, I headed to the sound of clanging in the kitchen and stopped at the doorway when I saw him.
He was shirtless and I stood there frozen; not in shock but in hypnosis, Jason was hot but seeing this man in front of me made all my hairs stand on end, I could barely breathe I didn’t even notice my ragged breathing, the sign of my effort to act normal.
“You’re done” he announced, watching me and my head snapped up to his.
“Yeah, yeah. I was hungry and I heard someone in the kitchen I decided to check” I blurted out and he nodded. He handed me a cup of coffee and I downed it in one gulp, he grinned at that.
“Hungry much?” He asked and I sighed dramatically.
“Starving”
“I can see that” he tossed me toast and I wolfed it down and he laughed, the sound was so endearing that I started at him in surprise.
“You eat like a cow” he said and I nodded, not paying heed to his remarks instead concentrating on finishing my food.
“I know” I said after I shoved down the last of the toast. He studied me and leaned forward.
“Who’s Jason?” He asked and I stopped, annoyance brewing in my gut.
“It’s none of your business” I retorted and he nodded, he leaned forward and took a lock of my hair playing with it and my heart beat faster.
“You’re stubborn” he said and I stared at his lips, fighting the urge to lick mine.
“I am?”
“I think you know” he answered and I looked down, avoiding his eyes.
“Your name?” I blurted out, desperate to say something and he grinned.
“Call me Four”
“Four” I chuckled, “Is that……..”
Suddenly my stomach lurched and I ran to the toilet, and opened the lid and retched into the bowl, throwing up the content of what I just ate. I gasped as I wiped my mouth and stared at the mirror.
Why did I look pale?
For some reason I fished out the pregnancy tester from my blouse pocket and I tried it.
My eyes widened,
I am pregnant.
Four's POVI went back to the cemetery alone the next morning. The sun was barely up, casting long shadows across the headstones. My breath came out in white puffs in the cold February air. I stood in front of my father's grave again, but this time felt different. Quieter somehow. Like the rage that had lived in my chest for decades was finally wearing itself out."I came back," I said to the stone. My voice sounded strange in the empty cemetery. "I said what I needed to say yesterday but I do not think I was done. I do not think forgiveness happens all at once. It is a process, like Dr Morrison keeps telling me."A bird called from somewhere in the trees. Life continues despite death. Despite trauma. Despite everything."I forgive you," I said clearly."Not because what you did was acceptable. It was not. You were a monster and I spent decades s
Veronica's POVI watched Four follow Thomas into the study and felt my stomach drop. Something was wrong. Thomas looked like he was carrying a weight that had finally become too heavy. The door closed behind them and I was left in the kitchen with Beverly, who was staring at that closed door with worry written across her face."What is going on?" I asked quietly."I do not know," Beverly said, but her eyes said she suspected something. "Thomas has been distant the last few weeks. I thought it was just stress from the holidays."Inside the study, I imagined what conversation could be happening. What secret could Thomas be holding that required pulling Four aside during Christmas? My mind went to worst-case scenarios. Illness. Financial problems. Some threat we had not anticipated.Twenty minutes passed. The party continued in the living room with children laughing and adults talking. Normal holiday chaos that felt wrong when I knew something serious was happening behind that closed doo
Four's POVI stared at my phone after Dominic Torres hung up. He had gotten my letter. He wanted to talk. My half-brother, the sibling I never knew existed, was real and willing to engage. The knowledge sat heavily in my chest."What did he say?" Veronica asked from where she stood in the kitchen doorway."He wants to meet. Next weekend if I can make it to Portland.""Are you going?""I have to," I said. "He deserves answers and I need to see if he is real. If this is not some elaborate scam or mistake."I flew to Portland the following Saturday. Alone because this felt like something I needed to do without distraction. Dominic had suggested meeting at a coffee shop near his house. Neutral territory. Public but quiet enough for a difficult conversation.I arrived fifteen minutes early and sat in my rental car t
Chapter 217Veronica's POVThe film offered sat between us like a third person in our bedroom. Four had been pacing for twenty minutes while I sat on the bed watching him process. Our lives turned into entertainment. Our trauma was displayed for millions. The idea was overwhelming and terrifying and somehow inevitable."What do you think?" Four asked finally, stopping in front of me."I think it is your story to tell," I said carefully. "But it is also my story. And Monte's story. We all get a say in this.""The kids," Four said, sitting down heavily beside me. "How do we explain this to them?""Honestly and age-appropriately like we do everything else."We gathered the family that weekend for a discussion. Monte was ten now, tall and serious with Four's dark eyes. Sophia was eight, still fearless and opinionated. Manuel was eighteen mont
Chapter 216Four's POVWriting the memoir was harder than I expected. I thought I had processed everything through therapy and time but putting it into words on a page opened wounds I did not know still existed. My childhood was under my father's fists. Watching my mother waste away. Learning to be cruel because cruelty was currency in that world.I hired a ghostwriter named Sarah Chen, a woman in her fifties who specialised in memoirs about trauma and recovery. She asked questions I did not want to answer. Pushed me to go deeper when I wanted to stay surface level. Made me sit with uncomfortable truths instead of glossing over them."Why did you stay in the organisation as long as you did?" she asked during one of our early sessions."Because I did not know there was another option.""But you did know. You saw how normal people lived. You understood that you
Chapter 215Veronica's POVLife with three children was chaos in the best possible way. Our house was never quiet anymore. Someone was always crying or laughing or asking questions or needing something. The laundry multiplied like some kind of evil magic trick. I found Cheerios in places Cheerios should never be. Sleep became a distant memory again.But it was joyful chaos. The kind I had dreamed about during those dark years with Jason when I thought happiness was something that happened to other people.Monte took his role as big brother seriously. He helped with diaper changes even though he wrinkled his nose at the smell. He sang to Manuel when the baby cried. He read him board books with exaggerated voices that made Sophia giggle. At eight years old, Monte was already more nurturing than most adults I knew.Sophia was intensely curious about everything baby Manuel did. Why d
Chapter 208Four's POVElena and I had grown close in ways I never expected. After years of separation caused by our father's cruelty, we had rebuilt our sibling relationship from scratch. Weekly phone calls turned into monthly visits. She knew Monte and Sophia as her nephew and niece. Veronica and
Veronica's POVI stared at my phone for ten minutes after the UN representative hung up. The kitchen felt too bright, too ordinary for the magnitude of what had just happened. They wanted me to speak at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Me. A woman who three years ago had been sleeping i
Four's POVI broke down completely. The whiskey glass slipped from my hand and shattered on Manuel's hardwood floor but I barely heard it. I doubled over in the chair, sobbing like a child, unable to control the grief pouring out of me. Manuel was
Veronica's POVFour stopped eating. I watched him disappear into himself over the following days, his eyes hollow and distant. He sat in the nursery we had painted together, staring at the empty crib like it was a grave. The lavender walls that had







