Chapter Twenty-Six Raffael ~~~~ She went into the room and I followed behind her. Aurora was lying on the bed while the doctor was examining her. “What’s wrong with her?” She asked. “Are you the mother?” The doctor asked. “Yes.” “Luckily, it’s nothing too serious. Just a slight headache and fever. She should be better by tomorrow.” The doctor said. “She should be awake in a couple of hours. I’ll come back to check on her.” He left the room. She rushed to her side and sat down on the chair beside the bed. I stood at the side and watched her. She buried her head in sheets close to her. She stayed in that position for a few seconds then I heard sobbing. I went to her and saw that she was crying. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked. She raised her head and sniffed. She cleaned her tears with the back of her palm. “I’m a bad mum.” She said. “Why do you think that?” I asked. “I didn’t even notice my daughter was sick before I left the house. What kind of mother am I? I
Chapter Twenty-SevenCamilla~~~~After Raffael left, I went straight to the shower. I cried my eyes out in there. I didn’t even know why I was crying but I knew something was wrong.I wiped my tears and went to check up on Rory. I carried her to my bed so I could keep a better eye on her. Slowly but surely, I fell asleep.I woke up the next morning and went to prepare a bath for Rory. I woke up her up.“Baby, are you feeling better?” I asked, checking her temperature.“Yes, mummy.”“Come on, let’s go take a bath.” I carried her to the bathroom.I got her ready for the day and got ready myself. I made breakfast came we ate. I called her teacher to let her know she wouldn’t be in school because she was sick. She was happy not to go to school because she wanted to go with me to pick up Pops and Skye from the airport.I gave her her medications and then she had a little nap. By the time she woke up, it was already time to go pick them up from the airport.I grabbed my keys and we were ou
Chapter Twenty-Eight Raffael ~~~~“Sam, cancel my flight back home I still have things to do here.”“Are you sure?”“Yes. You can survive without me for a few weeks.”“Few weeks?” He asked.I nodded.“Fine. When are you going to come back?” He asked.“When I wrap up what I’m doing.”“Do you man. I have to go back.” He said.“Safe trip.” I said and we hugged each other and he left.I didn’t want to go back to New York without officially meeting my daughter. What if Camilla ran off again? I was going to pay a visit to them later in the day. I still had some work to take care of.I made breakfast for myself and went straight to work. Since I wouldn’t be going back to New York now, my workload became much. I had to finish up on that before anything else.I was finally done with work after almost five hours and left the house. I was driving Sam’s car. Luckily, I remembered the way to their house, also with the help of a Google map.I arrived there almost immediately. I went up to their a
Chapter Twenty-NineCamilla~~~~“Why are you guys yelling?” I turned around and saw Rory standing by the doorway. “What are you guys arguing about?”“It’s nothing, baby. Go back inside.” I said.“Then why are you yelling?”“Camilla, I think we should tell her now.” My grandpa said.“I don’t think it’s the right time. I’m not in the right state for this.”“Camilla.” I left and went into the bathroom. Everything Raffael said was true. Was I a bad mother for keeping her away from him?I didn’t know when I started crying. I was selfish. I wish I hadn’t run into him that day at the office. I wished had just stayed out of our lives.I thought about it and realized I was being selfish again. I didn’t want him in my life but what about Rory? She needed her dad in her life. Why was I depriving her of the one thing I didn’t have growing up? A dad.“Camilla, can I come in?” Skye asked knocking on the bathroom door.I didn’t reply but she came in anyway.“Oh, Camilla.” She said and wrapped her
Chapter Thirty Raffael ~~~~After I hugged her, the chairman and I started chatting. I also told Aurora about the doll house I got for her.Camilla and Skye came into the living room.“Mummy, Daddy said he had a present for me.” Aurora said. It was exciting hearing the word daddy come out of her mouth even though I had heard it a million times from Jason.“Really? That’s nice.” Camilla said.“It’s in the car. I’ll go get it.” I said and stood up.“I’ll come with you.” Aurora said.“No, Rory. Let him go by himself.” Camilla said.She sat back down with a sad expression on her face. It’s like Camilla didn’t think she would be safe with me alone.“Wait for me. I’ll be back in two minutes.” I said and went out the door.I got to the car and I brought out the doll house from the back seat. I was contemplating bringing it with me and I decided to just put it in the car.I went back up and rang the doorbell and Camilla came and opened the door for me and I went inside.“Here you go.” I sai
Chapter Thirty-One Camilla’s POV We got into his car and I gave him directions and we were on our way. The drive there wasn’t quiet as Rory and Raffael were chattering, Rory, doing most of the talking. After 10 minutes, we arrived at her school and we escorted her to her class. Raffael said his goodbyes and went to wait in the car while I went in to talk to her teacher. “Ms. Ruth, can I speak with you?” I said when I approached her. “Yes. Is there a problem?” She asked seeing as my demeanor wasn’t good. “There is.” I said. “My daughter came home the other day and complained that some of the girls in her class have been teasing her about not having a dad.” “I’m sorry about, Ms. Brown.” She said. “So I was thinking maybe you should talk to the girls and maybe their parents. They should also apologize to Rory.” “I most definitely will do that. I will talk to the girls and make sure they apologize. I’m sorry about it, it’ll never happen again. I’ll make sure of that.” “
Chapter Thirty-TwoRaphael’s POVWe got to the school and dropped Aurora off. I said goodbye and went to wait outside while Camilla talked to the teacher.I stood outside looking around the school building. From everything I’d seen, it was a really good school except for the fact that the student bullies.I got in the car after I saw Camilla coming out of the building.“What did the teacher say?” I asked as she got in the car.“She’s going to handle it. She'll talk to the girls and their parents and make them apologize.” She said putting on her seatbelt.“Ok. Do I need to drive you to the office?” I asked and started the car.“No, you can just drop me off at the house. I go to the office by myself.” She replied. I knew she would say that. I was just trying to be nice. I could tell she wasn’t comfortable with me being around but she was tolerating me for our daughter’s sake.I thought about a lot of things the previous day and realized how badly I’d done her. I broke her heart and lef
Chapter Thirty-ThreeCamilla’s POVI drove to the school and when we got there, I went in to get her while Raphael waited outside. When I got to her class, her teacher was having a conversation with two parents whom I recognized. They were the mothers of the girls who were talking about Rory.They all turned to look at me when I entered the class.“She’s here.” One of the women said when they saw me.“Ms. Brown. Good afternoon. Can you join us please?” The teacher said.I moved to where they were standing to join in on the conversation because it was obviously about my daughter and me.“I’ve talked to them about the incident that happened and they are refusing to apologize or make their kids apologize.” The teacher said again.“Listen young lady. My child is not wrong in this situation. It's not her fault you decided to whore around and not know the father of your child.” The other woman said.“Excuse me.” I was taken completely aback by what she said.“You heard me right. I have to
Chapter Sixty-SevenCamilla’s POVThe past week was just a rush of things. We moved out of our old house into a much safer house. We also hired private security just in case. I was thinking of changing schools for Rory but I just decided to let her continue going there. It’d be hard for her to adapt to a new environment.I spent almost all my time at work. I put in all the hours I’d taken off before. I met with Alexander one time and vented to him. He was a good friend, he reassured me and gave me words of encouragement to keep going. It was finally Friday and I was happy to spend the weekend in bed. I dropped Rory off at school and then went to work. I went to my office and got started on work. During my lunch break, I got a call from Alexander. “Hey. How are you doing?”“I’m fine. How are you?”“Good, good. How’s the new place?”“It’s alright. It’s a lot different than our old house and Rory’s a bit scared to sleep in her new room but she’ll come around.”“I know she will. Any ne
Chapter Sixty-SixRaphael's POVI sat down on the couch in defeat. I’d mange’s to make Camilla angry at me again. Every time we wanted to talk, I somehow always said the wrong thing and pushed her further away from me.It wasn’t my intent to shame her for her decisions when she was younger or make her think Aurora was something to be hidden. I’d fucked up, once again.The chairman who had followed behind her returned to the living room.“She’s leaving, tonight. She’s packing already.”“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say all those things to her.”“But you did. You can’t seem to let go of the past, can’t you? You always bring that up in every conversation you guys have. She’s already apologized for that countless times. Why do you have to keep punishing her? She’s already going through enough.”“I know. I'm sorry but she took those years of my life. I can never get that back. You had a hand in that too.”“You know, you could have refused the marriage. But you didn’t, because of your father
Chapter Sixty-FiveCamilla’s POVI stormed out of the living room after I slapped Raphael. Normally I wouldn’t resort to violence but he riled me up so fast I didn’t know when I walked up to him and slapped him.How dare he? Shame me for being in love. And I thought we were already past that but if seemed we still had a lot to talk about.I went to my room and started packing up my things. I also went to Rory’s room to pack her bags. Whether he liked it or not, we were going to leave tonight.I didn’t know if I was angry with what he said because it was true or not. I wasn’t ashamed of my daughter, I could never be. I was only trying to protect her from the things I was exposed to. No child deserves to grow up under the limelight and scrutiny of the media. I was crying and I didn’t even know it. My eyes were clouded with tears and I could barely see. I sat down on the bed trying to calm myself down.I heard a knock on the door and I looked up to see a figure of my grandpa.“Are you o
Chapter Sixty-FourRaphael's POV“Did you see the news about Camilla?” Sam asked as I came out of the meeting room.“What news?”“They leaked her address, her job back in California, and her phone number. Everything about the life she’s been living these last few years is on the internet.”“What the hell? Did they say anything about Aurora?”“No. They didn’t. But I’m sure they know about her too. They’re just kind enough not to put that out.”“She must be devastated.”“I know right? Have you talked to her? When was she thinking about going back?”“I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything. I’ll call her right now.” I said.“Ok, bro. I’ll get back to work. See you later.” He said and left. I went back to my office and picked up my phone to call her. It seemed her phone was switched off. Of course it would, it would be blowing up by now with messages and calls from random people.I went online to check for the news Sam talked about. It was kind of nasty. The comments said mean things abou
Chapter Sixty-ThreeCamilla’s POVAfter spending the whole night trying to figure out what my next decision would be, I finally made uo my mind to go back to California. I wanted to spend the rest of the week here before returning though.I got up and got ready for the day. I went to check up on my grandpa and took him out for a walk around the compound.“I’ll be leaving next week.” I announced.“That’s good. You’ve spent a long time here anyway. It’s time to return to your normal life.”“But this was my life though. Here in New York.”“And it’s not anymore. You started a new one that you can’t leave behind.”We continued the walk in silence. After circling the compound, we returned to the house. Rory was already up by this time. My grandpa was to return to work in a few weeks after the doctor cleared him. For now, he was taking a break and letting Jeremy handle the company.We had breakfast and then my grandpa headed to his study. He was invested in reading nowadays. Rory kept beggin
Chapter Sixty-TwoRaphael's POVI worked from home today so I could spend a little bit of time with Aurora. Camilla still hadn’t made up her mind about when to leave for California. To be honest, it was making me kind of nervous that I didn’t know when my daughter would be leaving me.Aurora was in the middle of the room playing with her toys while I worked away on my computer. “Daddy, when will Jason be back?” She asked.“He won’t be back for long, honey. He’s at school, remember.”“Why didn't I go to school? I miss my friends.” She said.“You’ll be back to school in a bit. When you guys return home.”“Are you going to come with us?”“Uhm. I don’t know yet.”“Well, I do want you to come. And Jason too.”“We’ll think about it.”“Okay.” She said going back to her toys.After an hour or two, I went to make her something to eat.“Daddy, can we go to the park and then go get ice cream? I don’t want to stay inside all day.” She complained.“I’ll have to ask your mummy first. We can’t go o
Chapter Sixty-OmeCamilla’s POV“I really don’t need the wheelchair. I can walk fine on my own.”“Not according to the doctor. You don’t need to strain yourself.”“I’ll use the cane. I don't want them to see me as weak, going in there with a wheelchair.” He protested.“Fine.” I gave up. “You can use the cane, only for this meeting.”“Thank you.” They put the wheelchair back in the car and handed the cane to him to support himself while he walked. He has been out of the hospital for two days and today he had a meeting with the board of directors.I insisted on accompanying him even though he didn’t want me to. We finally agreed on me escorting him to the office and going back to the house.“Bye.” I said waving at him.“Goodbye. See you later.” He said.I got back in the car and was on my way back to the house.When I got home, I went to lie down for a bit. It was only me in the house apart from the staff. Rory was at Rapheal’s house. She has been spending a lot of time there as we did
Chapter SixtyRaphael’s POVAfter my call with Camilla, I began to think hard and long. I didn't want them to leave. Not just yet. They had only been around for a few days but I liked the fact that they were close to me.I sent a text to Emily instead of calling her and went to get ready for work. It was going to be a long day. I said bye to Jason and left the house. The driver was going to take him to school today.I went to the project site we were working on instead of the office. They were already working by the time I got there so I joined them. I didn’t usually go to sites unless it was an important client, which this was. After an hour or two, Mr Edison arrived.“Hey.” He said.“Hey.”“How’s it going?”“Fine.” I responded. That day he came by the house, he asked me so many questions but I didnr give him a reply. I told him the person he had to speak to was Camilla.“So I talked to Camilla.”“You did? She answer all your questions?”“Yeah. So you’re Rory’s father, huh? And Cami
Chapter Fifty-NineCamilla’s POV“Why didn’t you want them to tell me?” I asked my grandpa.“Because I knew I’d be fine. See, I'm still alive.”“Stop with the jokes, Grandpa. I would never have forgiven you or myself if things had gone wrong.”“I just didn’t want you to worry.”“You need to think about yourself first.”“Enough with all this talk. Fill me in. What’s going on?”“So the board made a vote today. Jeremy Steel is acting CEO.”“That little fucker.”“Pops. Watch your language. Who is he anyway? Why’d you curse at him?”“Oh, nothing. His father is Carson Steel. You remember him.”“Oh. I do. He’s the boy you tried to set me up with before.”“Yes, he is.”“Oh, wow. Maybe I have taken that offer then.”“Then, you wouldn’t have Rory.”“That’s true. Glad I passed on that.”“Where is Rory anyways?”“She’s at home. With Skye. I call her to bring her over even though I told her you were on a trip.” I said and he laughed.I stepped outside and called Skye. She was happy to hear the new