Katherine Smith thought she'd left her past behind. But when she returns home with her twin children, she's face-to-face with Dacre Silver - the man who broke her heart. He's still ruthless and manipulative, but now he's determined to claim what he thinks is his. As they clash, secrets come to light, and Katherine must confront the lies that tore them apart. Will she forgive Dacre's past mistakes, or will their love remain just a memory?
View MoreKatherine's Pov
Ring!! Ring!!! My phone rang incessantly on the bed, making me jerk awake. I stared at the caller ID, it was Joan. “What the heck is wrong with this guy? I told him I wasn't ready for a relationship yet.” I murmured angrily, turning off my phone and going to take a shower. My brother was critically ill. How would I have the chance to get into a relationship? I got dressed up very quickly and headed to the hospital, not paying any mind to the woman on the chair. I rushed to the hospital to see the doctor and ask how my brother was doing. However, the news I got made me remember just how difficult his sickness was. “He'll die in a few days if you don't pay up for the surgery, it's been almost three weeks since we've been giving him free treatments, and we can't continue to do that anymore.” I was informed by the attending doctor. “What? Free treatments? What are you talking about, I've been paying for his treatments, it's only the money for the surgery that I have been looking around for. Doctor, there must be some kind of mistake…” I said but the doctor cut me off. “Miss Katherine, if you think we are lying, you can follow me to check the records. Your mother used to work here before she died and that's the reason why I have been treating your brother without accepting payment. But for the surgery, I am not the one that's going to perform the surgery on him or else, I would have known how to help you. However, there's nothing I can do.” I stumbled, the world spinning around me. How was it possible? I had always paid for his treatments duly, never missing one. How could it be that… Oh. That money that I handed over every week, where had it gone?! How could… “I… I don’t understand.” I whispered, feeling my knees weaken beneath me. The doctor’s words echoed in my mind, but there was one thing I knew for sure, I needed to get answers and I knew exactly where to get them. “I need to go, I'll be back in a bit.” I muttered abruptly, cutting off whatever else the doctor was saying. I turned on my heel and ran, my feet pounding against the cold hospital floors. Bursting through the entrance doors, I didn’t stop, I ran down the street, the wind whipping against my face as I pushed myself faster and faster. How could this happen? I'd worked so hard in order to save that money and pay it all, I had taken extra shifts, dropped out of school and sacrificed so much to ensure that my brother had a chance at survival and this is how I found out that none of the money went to me? My legs burned but I didn't stop running, my breaths came out in harsh pants, and tears blurred my vision. No, no, I wouldn’t cry, not now. After what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the small house I shared with my father, stepmother and stepsister, I stumbled up the steps, barely able to catch my breath and my hands shook as I gripped the doorknob and flung the door open. There she was, sitting comfortably in the living room as if she didn't have a care in the world, she glanced at me and a scowl appeared on her pale lips. “What's the fuss all about? Don't you have manners, how many times have I told you not to fling the door open like that?” She asked lazily, popping a grape into her mouth. I stood there, panting and trembling with barely controlled rage, “Where is it?” I demanded, my voice shaking, “Where is the money I’ve been giving you every week for my brother’s treatment?” She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and slowly reached for another piece of fruit, “What are you talking about?” She asked casually, her tone was annoyingly calm. “Don't play dumb with me!” I yelled, my voice cracking from the strain, “You know exactly what I'm talking about. The money I gave you for my brother's treatments, to help me pay them to the doctor, where is it!” My stepmother let out a soft, almost mocking laughter, “Oh that?” She said, waving her hands dismissively, “Why are you getting so worked up over that, Katherine? As for the money, I used it.” She glanced up at me, a bored look on her face. “What?” “There was an entrance exam f*e for my daughter's new school, it was quite expensive you know.She said nonchalantly, as if we were talking about something so trivial like buying groceries, “Your father never left anything for her so I had to do with what I had left, but you don't need to worry about that, I'll pay you back in due time. Your brother only has to spend a little more time in the hospital.” It felt like the ground had crumbled beneath me, I stared at her, disbelief and horror coursing through me, “You what?” I whispered. “I used it for my daughter’s university entrance exam.” She repeated, sounding almost amused by my reaction, “After all, she deserves a good education, doesn’t she? It’s not like your brother would have survived much longer anyway. The boy’s as good as dead.” Something inside me snapped. I lunged forward, grabbing the fruit bowl from her hands and throwing it across the room. It shattered against the wall, pieces of porcelain and fruit flying in every direction, “You took my money?” I screamed, my voice breaking with fury and anguish, “The money that was meant to save his life? You used it for that?” “Calm down, Katherine,” She said coolly, “You’re being dramatic. It’s not like I used it for something useless.” “You selfish, heartless…” I choked on my words, tears of rage burning in my eyes, “You know how much he means to me! You knew I was working myself to the bone to save him, and you, you just…” My voice broke, and I felt the tears spill over, my vision blurring. “He’s just dead weight.” She continued, completely unfazed, “There’s no point wasting money on someone who’s only going to drag us down. But my daughter? She has a future and she’s worth investing in, more so than that deadweight brother of yours.” I didn't even know how it happened, I didn't know when I stepped forward, grabbing her by the hair and hitting her face on the edge of the couch. She screamed in pain, but I didn't stop, I raised her head with her hair again, this time, hitting it on the ground and the sound of something breaking echoed in the sitting room. “H… help me!” She screamed as I continued to hit her, “She'll kill me! She's going to kill me! Help me!” In my haze of anger, I was suddenly pushed away from her, the back of my head hitting the glass table. I groaned as black spots filled my vision, and it didn't stop at that, my head suddenly turned to the side and a shot of pain went through my body. My eyes cleared instantly and I stared in shock at the person who just slapped me, my father. “Katherine! What the heck are you trying to do right now?! Are you insane?!”Dacre’s povThe words were harder to come out than I meant, but I wasn’t lying. I wasn’t bluffing. If my mother or Renee were responsible for this, if they’d so much as said a single word telling kidnappers to get her, then they would pay.They’d be sorry.“I should’ve gone with her. I should’ve just called a cab and followed.”“Stop,” I said. “This isn’t your fault. They made that choice. Not you.”She kept nodding, but I could see she didn’t believe me yet.My phone suddenly buzzed. I snatched it out, my heart in my throat.But it wasn’t news. Just a stupid check-in from someone asking if I was “holding up.”I threw my phone on the dashboard and clenched my teeth. I hated waiting. Grace looked at me, her voice shaking. “Mr Dacre… what if she thinks you had something to do with it?”My heart stuttered. I asked quietly. "What?"“She might think— I mean… the family is always fight her.”I shook my head, face twisting. “No. No, she knows me. She knows I’d never—”"You have to find her
Marcus’s povI sighed and looked around.“It was an accident. She attacked one of my men and fled. I caught her and she grabbed a stick and came at me swinging like she knew what she was doing.”“You let her get her hands on a weapon?” she snapped.“I mean, sorry I didn’t walk away from it, right? Sorry that instead of killing her and going to bes I got a thumb up my ass.”‘You better not be lying to me that she is still with you,’ she said.‘I’m not,’ I replied. ‘She’s back in there. Tied up. She’s not going anywhere.’“You sure?”I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Renee. I’m sure.”There was a silence. I could hear her breathing. She was probably pacing, in those high heels she always wore, even when it made no damn sense. The type of person who’d wear a ball gown to a funeral and call it grief.“She cannot get away again,” she said slowly now. Her voice had changed. It had gone cold too. Dead cold. That tone you used when you really did not want to repeat yourself.“She won’t,” I said.“Good.
Katherine’s povI slowly sat as he pointed his gun at me.“Repeat that stunt again and I’ll make it your last time.” I flinched and looked down. My hands were shaking in my lap, so I stuck them up under my legs to hide it.“Why me?” I asked faintly. “What did I do?”“Pretend to be dead and you’ll not get hurt,” he muttered. I jerked my gaze up at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”“It means don’t piss me off.”“And what if I do?” I said with a bold tone. “You’ll kill me?”“Push me and you’ll find out.” He nodded to the others. “Watch her. I need to make a call.”Marcus left the room, the door locking behind him.It was quiet for a moment – the only noise was the ticking of that crappy clock against the wall, and shuffling cards. I kept staring at that floor. There were smudges on it, and these big nasty wads of old gum stuck up under the bedframe. I could feel panic moving in my throat.Then finally one of them said: “You got nerve, lady. But being brave won’t save you.”I ignored
Renee’s povI looked away from Grace and tried to focus on my surroundings when I noticed how everyone was acting. All these people were truly acting like Katherine was saint of the fucking century or something. Not even hours ago half of them called her a parasite to her face, whispered about her behind their glasses of champagne, laughed at her and said she didn’t belong.Now it's “oh poor Katherine . . . " “How could this happen to such a good person?” The way people switch up decently kept me entertained. hypocrites.I felt an eye roll coming on with such force, I was pretty sure my eyes would get permanently stuck in the back of my head.I avoided Grace’s look like the plague because, honestly? If anyone were to throw down and fight right now, it would be her. That girl was lethal when she wanted something. And, tonight she wanted something big time. I could practically feel her eyes burrowing into my scalp as I crossed the garden to go to a secluded place.I acted like I was in
Dacre’s povI couldn’t believe what I had heard from my mother. Katherine was missing.That was it. No details or timeline or anything else I felt I deserved: nothing but annoyance in her voice, a pettiness she wore like her turtlenecks and heavy-handed perfume.My keys were on the counter. My heart was thudding so fast against my chest.I immediately called Grace and placed the cold phone to my ears. It rang twice before she picked up.“Sir…”“Where are you?” I barked.She stuttered. “Still at the venue. The police are here. It’s… it’s bad. Katherine has been…”“Send me the address. Now.”I cut the call as almost immediately she sent me the address.I grabbed my coat and keys as I ran out the door and jumped into my car.I didn’t wait as I drove through the slow open gates as the sides of my Lamborghini scratched but I didn’t care. Katherine was more important.While I rode through the streets, my knuckles baring white on the steering, I noticed that I had developed a strange liking
Zelda’s povI stood there, my arms folded, and watched the police officer leave after scribbling something in his notebook. He didn’t say anything really, just nodded and gave one of those courteous half-smiles that meant “we’ll call you” except we both knew he wouldn’t.I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and looked up at the night sky. It's supposed to be a party; it turned into CSI.“Katherine this, Katherine that,” I grumbled beneath my breath. “Always causing drama…”“Zelda,” I heard Renee call me as I turned to see her coming to me.I cocked my head and looked her over. "You alright?"She nodded. “As okay as one can be when someone gets kidnapped from a party.”I squinted my eyes at her a bit. “You are handling all of this a bit too well.”“What do you want me to do, cry then throw myself dramatically into a bush?”I snorted before giving her a slight grin. “Possibly. The level of dramatic would match the atmosphere today.”She wanted to laugh but held herself.I glan
Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
Comments