Lydia was stopped at the reception of Smith Group and left in disgrace.She could not help but recall the times before the old hag of the Smiths forced Jonathan to marry that bitch Liliana.She was the woman of Jonathan’s dream and could get in anytime she wanted without a prior appointment.The truth was Jonathan only let her inside when he was sure to be called into a meeting in a few minutes, and she would then have to leave.Deep in his heart, Jonathan knew Lydia was not his Lil, but he could not snub her outright since she knew something about it. So, he adopted this tactic.Lydia was too dumb to realize it.Lydia stormed inside the Aprice Group, reminiscing about her remarkable past with Jonathan.She barged into Lester Aprice’s office and shooed everyone away even though the people Lester had been talking with were the prominent shareholders of Aprice Group and were older than even Lester.The shareholders looked at Lester coldly and huffed.They were veterans of the company an
Lydia stammered for a while and could not even form coherent sentences.Fortunately, amidst shock and fear, she remembered her purpose of coming to see Jonathan.“President Smith, if you are not close with me, who are you close with, if I may ask? Your wife?” Lydia hissed.“Do you love your bitch wife now? Have you already forgotten how she had schemed to marry you before?”Jonathan frowned at her words and asked, “What nonsense are you spouting? What wife?”Just as the words had left his lips, he remembered that he was indeed married before.He hated that his family forced him to marry a stranger so much that he had rejected everything about her instinctively. He never thought of her. In fact, he actively rejected any thoughts about her.Since she did not show up in front of him again, he soon forgot that he was even married.Lydia’s words reminded him that he was married.All this time, he had been thinking about Liliana and how she had a family of her own, leaving no place for him
Jonathan was still trying to process the fact that he was married. He drove around the city aimlessly, lost in thought.The revelation had come from nowhere. He had downright forgotten that he was married.It had been a forceful marriage and a blurry three nights and two days where they managed to get the certificates and consummate the union in their half-blurry, drugged state.He suddenly wondered where his wife was, and then he realized he could not even recall how she looked or what her name was.He felt sorry for her. He had assumed that she was a scheming gold-digger who had managed to sway his family into forcing him.But thinking back, perhaps she was also forced.She had never asked him for anything, she never published their marriage, and she did not do any of the nonsense he was expecting of her.Lydia had filled his head, and Lester Aprice and his wife Rose Aprice had confessed that his wife, whose name he could not remember, was Lester’s daughter from an escort who had dr
Jonathan drove aimlessly and stopped outside Liliana’s Villa. He had no idea why or how, but he was there.He wanted to drive around and leave but suddenly received a call from Liliana.“Come in! Since you are already at the gate.” She said and hung up before he could say anything.He went inside unhurriedly with a ton of disturbing thoughts in his head.In the last few months since Liliana had moved back to P city, Jonathan had formed quite a good equation with Liliana and her kids.The longing in his heart kept increasing day by day.He could only be their mother’s friend to the twins. He hated it so much. But he had no right to ask for more.Liliana seemed to have seen his somber mood as she guided him to the swings in the garden instead of inviting him inside the house where the twins would be taking classes at that time.“What’s wrong with you?” She asked directly, trying to sound normal and hiding her emotions.He looked up at her with a complicated expression, and she panicked.
Jonathan continued after a short pause.“After I returned home, I went abroad. I came back to P city when I was 22. She must have been 17 then. I searched for her, but we hadn’t shared any personal details. We were just kids and had not thought of it. So, I did not know where to find her exactly.”“Lydia Aprice came to me saying it was her. She had pictures, travel records, hotel records, and more photos.”Liliana was stunned at that revelation. She had no idea that Lydia had started playing tricks at a young age.But she could not have done it at all by herself. Lester must have helped her.She realized she needed to investigate it further.Jonathan had no idea what the news meant to Liliana. He continued.“I instinctively thought it was not Lydia Aprice and sent Vincent to investigate. All search results led back to Lydia. Even so, I thought it was not her. The eyes, the vibe, everything seemed wrong with her. However, we could not find anything, so it was just there.”Jonathan sigh
Liliana listened intently. She did not know what to think or feel anymore. She was overwhelmed with all sorts of conflicting emotions.Jonathan took a deep breath and continued.“Despite hating and not knowing my wife, I had only ever been with her. Well, apart from that quick kiss on the beach when I was 13.” Jonathan said somewhat embarrassedly.They both knew he did not need to reveal that to her.Liliana was shocked. She had only ever been with him but had not hoped for the same.Jonathan’s following words, however, made her burn in rage.“At least, that was the case until four years ago. I was at a business party in another city, and I was drugged.”“I locked myself in a hotel room. There was no phone connection, no WIFI, and no water. Vivian Stone tricked me and entered the room. She tried to negotiate into being my mistress in exchange for my support for her company. I declined. The last thing I remember is passing out.”Liliana’s heart filled with anger as she heard him. She c
Vincent had been searching for Mrs. Smith for two weeks, but the trail had hit a dead-end outside their wedding house.Finally, they switched to priority 2, looking at the finances.They looked into the debit card Jonathan had left for her, the household expenses of their wedding home, and the state of all the properties which were the bride price.Jonathan’s remorse crossed all bounds on seeing the results.The woman he had accused of being a gold digger was paying all the expenses, including the staff salaries on their wedding house all these years. The debit card had money coming in on the 1st of every month for the last seven years, and there was no debit transaction. The properties that had been given to her were flourishing and had expanded, but she had never taken a penny from it for herself, reinvesting it instead.He did not know what to think anymore.He had someone check the finances of the Aprice Group. Her name did not come up anywhere. She was not taking anything from th
Jonathan looked at the messy bed, and strange emotions surged into his heart.He took a calming breath to keep away the sob that filled his chest.It turned out that the bed had not been made for so many years. Perhaps, his wife had told the maids not to enter their bedrooms without permission.The marriage certificates were there precisely as he had seen them before. He opened them hesitatingly and saw two names -Jonathan Tyler SmithLiliana Petrova ApriceHe laughed at the irony. His wife that he had hurt had the same name as the woman he had claimed to love. But it was the face that stopped his laughter mid-sentence.Why was the face so similar to Liliana, who was the girl from his childhood?Was she his wife?He shook his head vigorously. He wasn’t sure if he wanted them to be the same person or not.Either way, unless he had concrete evidence, he wasn’t going to say anything. This time he vowed not to screw things up.Besides the marriage certificate was the card that he had lef